Sinai

si'na, or si'ni, a mountain of Arabia. It rises from the peninsula of Sinai, east of the Gulf of Suez. Properly speaking, Sinai is not a mountain but a mountainous region. There are three principal peaks about 8,000 feet in height. Although the Scriptural account speaks of a single peak, at the foot of which half a million men, with women, children, and cattle encamped for ten months, and on which the law was delivered to Moses, it is impossible to identify the exact locality. Much controversy has been wasted over this point in vain. Mount Sinai is composed of primitive rocks, granite, porphyry, gneiss, etc. The Egyptians found emerald, malachite, turquoise, and copper in this region. It was at one time well wooded, but the granite walls are now chiefly bare. After a heavy rain the deep valleys are filled with rushing torrents, but are soon reduced to dry, sandy channels. A few Bedouins inhabit the region, subsisting chiefly on sheep and goats. There are a number of aromatic plants of commercial value. The ibex or mountain goat and the hyena still lurk among the rocks. Large flights of quails alight in seasons of migration. In the early days of Christianity many anchorites or holy hermits, attracted by the sanctity of the region and the prevalence of caverns, made their homes among the rocks and mountains. The region is in dispute between Egypt and Asiatic Turkey.