RESEARCHES IN SINAI.*
PROFESSOR FLINDERS PETRIE spent the winter and early spring of 1904-5--so we presume, for he gives the months exactly, but without the year—in exploring the Sinai Peninsula. His first two chapters are devoted to the conditions of life under which his work was carried on, to sundry experiences of travel and residence, and to pictures of the Bedaween "at home" and of the home itself. All this is very interesting, nor are there wanting some useful hints which the traveller of the future • Researches in Sinai. By W. M. Flinders Petrie, D.C.L., &a. With Chapters by C. T. Currelly, M.A. London : John Murray. f21s. net.] will do well to note. The population figures are, of course, of very great importance if, as Professor Petrie believes, circum- stances have not materially changed in historical times. The Bedaween are not, and never could have been, numerous. Their habitual use of words which in a general way connote number shows as much. A Bedawy, asked whether there was a village in a place from which some vegetables had come, said " Yes." "And how many people are there ?" " One," he said. Another pointed out from a mountain height four black tents in the valley. " Behold," he said, " the medineh (city) of the 'Alequat." But though they are few, they count for something. Professor Petrie admires them, though one of his reasons sounds a little odd from one of the most hard- working men in the world,—the " great bondage of time " is unknown to them. For himself, he has, we see, to count his days very carefully.
The chief objects of the " Researches " were the mines and the Temple of Serabit, and the two are closely connected locally and historically. It was the mines that brought men into the region, and the Temple may be said to mark a stage in the development of life which they brought about. The same thing may be seen in our own centres of industry. Two centuries ago there were two churches in Birmingham, and now there are more than forty. The Temple of Serabit began, it would seem, with the sacred cave at the top of the plateau; it grew through the piety of many dynasties till it reached a length of two hundred and thirty feet. Professor Petrie assigns the beginning to the reign of Sneferu, the last King of the Third Dynasty. Sneferu's date he gives as 4787-4757 B.C.; but it must be remembered that Professor Breasted's chronology differs in respect of these early times very materially. He gives 2900 as the end of Sneferu's reign. It is not till we reach the Eighteenth Dynasty that we find firm chronological ground. Amenhotep I. certainly belongs to the sixteenth century B.C. But the question will be found argued at length in Professor Petrie's twelfth chapter. The cave, as it is the earliest, so is the most interesting spot in the whole place. In front of it are a number of enclosures, which line the road by which it is approached (substitutes for the cave when this had been enclosed as a shrine). There were sleeping-places provided for visitors who came to consult the dream oracle of the cave. We find the practice in the Greece of later times. The cave of Trophonius is an early example ; the Temple of Aesculapius, where the primitive accommodation was developed into some- thing like a lodging-house (as we see in the Plutus), was a later. The practice is not even now extinct. But the most familiar example is the story of Jacob at Bethel. The exile has a dream which, anxious as he was about his future, must have seemed to him to have a profoundly religious signifi- cance. He concludes that the spot which he had casually selected as a resting-place is holy. He takes one of the stones which had served as his pillow, and sets it up as a stele, consecrating it with an allusion of oil. So among the Serabit sleeping-places there are ^teles. These are dated by various designs. Exposed as they have been to the weather, the inscriptions on them are mostly illegible. On one of them, however, is found a prayer invoking a blessing on the leaders of an expedition. And here comes in the practical purpose. These expeditions, it must be remembered, were for mining purposes. The object sought was turquoise. The divinity of the place was designated "Mistress of Turquoise." Her favour was besought, all the more earnestly because the search was one that might very easily fail. The precious stone was hidden in the rock. Time and labour might be very probably lost in a general search. What more natural than that the deity should be entreated to indicate in a dream the spot where search might most profitably be made. Pro- fessor Petrie remarks that all this was not after the Egyptian ways of thinking. But then the Egyptians followed the practice, which indeed all religions follow more or less— Christianity owes to it most of its corruptions—of keeping the customs of the country. In Sinai they worshipped accord- ing to the Sinai custom, though they did not forget to render honour to their own gods ; the names of Ptah and Soped, and even of the mighty Amon, are found on these offerings to the local Arabian powers. Professor Petrie follows out in detail and illustrates with maps, as well as with photographs of the localities, the growth of the Temple and its worship, but it ie impossible to give here any account of his conclusions. Scarcely less interesting is the information which is supplied about the organisation of the mining expeditions—sometimes made on a very large scale, and always most elaborately arranged—about the methods of work, the tools employed, and other details. The mines were, as may be supposed when the nature of the object sought is considered, on a small scale. The opening of the largest mine in the Wady Thiba measures twelve feet by six feet eight inches. The galleries are not quit© six feet wide, and between five and six feet high. The turquoise veins are three in number, and respectively twenty inches, fifty-five inches, and ten inches deep. Stone tools are found in abundance ; but Professor Petrie thinks that the Egyptian workers " used metal in all ages for their heavy work." The marks in the rock are too regular for any other kind of implement. The stone-crushers, &c., were used for breaking up the masses extracted. But the irregular workers at all times used flint scrapers. It is a highly interesting example of the Stone and Metal Ages over- lapping. Here, again, we can give but one or two scraps from the rich treasure of Professor Petrie's discoveries.
There is no part of Professor Petrie's volume which to a numerous class of readers will be found more difficult than his conclusions drawn from his Sinai experiences as to the Exodus story. He finds generally that the narrative of the itineraries given in Exodus and Numbers—the two must be taken as supplementing each other—fits the facts of the case. The occurrence and non-occurrence which is the most important element in such a matter is exactly as it is represented in the Bible story, There are good reasons for thinking that the climate and rainfall were much about the same in the Exodus time as they are now. But there comes in the question of numbers. The total area of the Goshen region is between sixty and eighty square miles. This might hold about twenty thousand people, but not so many if we calculate on a pastoral basis. It is a familiar experience among ourselves that grass-land shows a smaller average than arable. But the census of Exodus gives six hundred thousand men, implying a population of three millions. This is equally inconsistent with what we know of the Sinai Peninsula. It now contains some six thousand, and can hardly at any time have contained more. How, then, are we to account for the huge numbers of Exodus and Numbers? Professor Petrie's method is this. The census of Reuben, to take an example, is 46,500, in Exodus 43,750. It is suggested that the thousands (46) give the number of tents, the other digits the number of people (500). This would give an average of nine per tent. Some of the discrepancies between the two censuses are very striking. Simeon, which was concerned in the tragedy of Baal-Peor, shows a falling-off from 59,300 to 22,200. Taking these figures, as Professor Petrie suggests, we find that the tents are diminished from 59 to 22, the people from 300 to 200. The average per tent is, of course, increased ; but then, when a tribe had suffered heavily families would be broken up, and the fragments would be compelled to combine. The details are worked out along with the Pentateuch narrative in a way that is certainly persuasive. Another point may be mentioned. It has a curiously close bearing on quite recent events. It has been asked, Could Israel have escaped into the Sinai country when that country belonged to Egypt ? The answer is that Egypt never maintained a permanent occupation of the country. There are no traces of forts or the like. The fugitives, therefore, had no hostile establishments to dread. But this does not contradict the immemorial claim of Egypt to the country. Then, as now, to occupy Sinai would be to threaten the Laud of the Nile.
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