384

ASCENT OF SINAI.

CHAPTER XXI.

Mount Sinai.-Ascent.-Egress from the Convent.-Garden of the Con vent.-Artificial Steps.-Obstructions.-Mountain Springs.-Chapel of the Virgin. Monkish Legends.-Gates.-View.-Valley of the Cypress. -Verdure.-Chapel of Elias.-Portrait.-The Ascent.-Low Temperature.-Summit of Sinai.-Church and Mosque.-Grotto.-Legend of the Monks. Noble View. - General Character and Aspect of the Sinai Mountains.-Wild and various Forms.-Colours.-Their awful Sublimity. A fit Theatre for Divine Manifestations.-Station of Moses during the Battle with the Amalekites.-Camel's Track.-The Sinai of the Monks not the Sinai of Moses.-Horeb.-Jebel Sooksafa.-Wady el Raha.-Wady Sheik.-The Camp of the Israelites.-Ascent of Sooksafa. -Ignorance of the Bedouins and Monks.-Difficulties of the Ascent.Character of the Mountain.-Perilous Situation.-The Summit of Sooksafa.-Reasons for believing Sooksafa to be the true Sinai.-Lord Lindsay's Opinion.-Objections to it.—His Objections to Sooksafa.—The Decalogue on Mount Sinai.-Descent from the Mountain.-Impassable Ravines.-Unsuccessful Attempts to reach the Valley.-Anxious Moments. -Imprudence.-Return to the Convent.-Jebel Mennagia.-Its Elevation and General Character.-Valley of Rephidim.-Jebel Mennagia not the true Sinai.-Wady el Deir.-Traditionary Objects around Jebel Sooksafa.-Description of the Convent.-Romantic Situation.-The Buildings.-Charities of the Monks.-Their Bread.-Arab Servants.-Interior of the Convent.- Corridors.- Chambers.- Style of Workmanship.Tour of the Convent.-The Chapels.-Doubtful Interpretation.-Legends.-The Mosque.-Its Origin.-The Church, its Origin, Ornaments, and Traditions.-St. Catherine.- Library.- Wolf, the Missionary.— Unique Cemetery.-The Monks.-Their Ignorance and Indolence.-Influence upon the Bedouins.-Their Hospitality.-Ill-disguised Cupidity.— Prices.-Arak.-Drunken Servants.-Gardens of the Convent.-Mechanical Skill of the Monks.-Influence of the Monastic Life.-Monkish Traditions.-The Rock of Horeb.-The Valley of Rephidim.-Probably near to Sinai.-Sinai and Horeb.-Springs on Mount Sinai.-Geographical Position.-Number and Mode of Life of the Monks.

MARCH 14. Our first enterprise was the ascent of Mount Sinai. The fatigues of our journey through the wilderness had prepared our party for sound repose, which was protracted by some of them to a rather late hour this morning.

Established habit and the inspiring scenes with which I was surrounded did not permit me to sleep after the first dawn of day; but nothing was to be done till a late hour, except to gaze upon the lofty peaks of the mountains, which almost overhang the monastery. About 10 o'clock we left our gloomy cells, not by the window through which our ascent had been achieved, but by a low arched passage, almost perfectly dark, and barely wide enough to allow of our egress without particular inconvenience. It is secured with iron doors, scarcely four feet in height. After feeling our way with our heads bowed low towards the earth, to avoid a contact with the top of the passage, the distance of, perhaps, fifty yards, we found ourselves in the garden of the convent. Compared with all I had seen during this jour ney, it was a paradise indeed. The industry of man has here achieved a complete victory over the sterility of nature. Tall cypresses, olives, pomegranates, apricots, almond, pear, fig, apple, and other fruit trees, many of them now in full bloom, presented a scene of luxuriant beauty peculiarly grateful to the eye after its long and painful familiarity with bare rocks, and arid, gloomy wastes of sand.

Visiters have free use of this entrance during the day, and by it ladies are admitted into the convent. From the garden we passed through an open gate, kept by a porter, to the narrow, rocky slope that lies between the convent and the mountain. We then proceeded southward for a quarter of an hour, when we arrived at the bottom of a narrow, steep ravine, which leads up towards the top of Sinai. The ascent is difficult and extremely laborious. Rough masses of granite have been arranged into a kind of stairs a great part of the way; but many of them are now displaced, and no skill seems to have been used in choosing the most eligible route, or in obviating the natural difficulties of the ascent. The ravine is choked up by rolling stones and many huge masses of rock, which have been VOL. I.-K K

25

386

MOUNTAIN SPRINGS.

arrested in their descent from the higher regions of the mountain. Frequent detours are necessary to pass around projecting points in the rock, and at the end of more than an hour we found ourselves but half way up the toilsome steep.

Several objects of interest occur on the way to invite momentary repose and lighten the toils of the ascent. Beautiful fountains burst out of the rock, and form a sparkling torrent, which runs along the bottom of the ravine, sinking sometimes under the shelving rocks and immense accumulations, and again reappearing. We often had recourse to its cool, clear waters to quench our thirst, which was provoked by extreme toil and the rays of the sun, that exerted great power in this deep glen, though we shivered with cold before reaching the summit of the mountain. We were first stopped by our guide, a monk from the convent, to examine a fountain which springs up in a deep grot formed by an overhanging mass of granite He assigned to it a miraculous origin in connexion with a holy shoemaker, concerning whom he related a silly story. A little farther on is a small chapel, dedicated to the Virgin, built of rough, unhewn stones, and destitute of all elegance or ornament. It stands upon a spot where the Holy Mother appeared to the monks when, in a fit of despondency, they were preparing to desert the sacred precincts about Mount Sinai. She encouraged them to remain, promising exemption from the plague and from vermin in all future timea pledge which they affirm she has fully redeemed. The promise, I suppose, did not extend to visiters, at least the latter clause of it.

Another laborious effort along the steep path, which was here overhung by tall cliffs, brought us to a small gateway, to which the projecting points of rock at this place narrowed the ravine. Here, as we were told, a porter was formerly stationed, to whom a permission from the controlling

CYPRESS-CHAPEL OF ELIAS.

387

authority of the establishment was delivered by those who wished to ascend to the top of Sinai. This precaution was probably suggested by the danger of the times, and is now neglected when no longer necessary. In a few minutes more we reached another gate, similar to the first, and built for a similar purpose, where a second permission was required, an excess of caution which shows the fears of the monks no less than the actual perils of the times. Nothing can exceed the grandeur of the view enjoyed by the spectator on this part of the route, especially when he turns and looks down upon the yawning gulf he has left behind him. Before him opens an unexpected scene of loveliness. There is a deep valley, bounded on the right and left by tall, bare cliffs. A magnificent and graceful cypress, which rises near its centre, invites the weary pilgrim to repose in its shade, and a well of excellent water offers him its welcome refreshment. Favoured by the congenial moisture of this elevated region, small plots of grass flourish with a luxuriance unknown in the valleys below. Our guide here kindled a fire, and urged us to partake of a cup of coffee. He consented, however, to carry his apparatus and provisions to the summit of the mountain, whither we were anxious to proceed without farther delay.

At a little distance beyond this delicious resting-place is a small chapel, rudely constructed, like all the edifices on the Holy Mount, and dedicated to the prophet Elias. Here, according to the tradition, that wonderful man had the memorable interview with the Almighty, after his flight from the persecuting rage of Jezebel. It is certain that Mount Horeb afforded a refuge to the prophet, but that this is the precise spot where he heard the still small voice which followed the thunder and the earthquake, can hardly be known with certainty. Our credulous guide, who takes the most marvellous account for the true, showed us the cavern where the prophet slept, and even the tomb where he was buried. A coarse,

388

CHURCH-MOSQUE.

heavy portrait which hangs in this chapel passes for that of Elijah.

The top of the mountain still rose high above us, and the undiminished toil of the ascent was compensated by the increasing sublimity of the view. The atmosphere was now chilly, and the rocks, down which the water of a small rivulet trickled, were covered with ice. In two hours and a quarter from the commencement of the ascent, not including stops, we had reached the summit of Sinai.

Two small buildings nearly cover the level in which the mountain terminates, the one a Christian chapel, the other a mosque. The first edifice covers, according to the teaching of the monks, the spot where the Almighty dictated the law to Moses. Just by, we were shown a grotto where the prophet was sheltered while the glory of God passed by, and from which he was indulged with such a view of the Divine presence as is allowed to a mortal. Our guide crept under the shelving rock, and put himself in the attitude of Moses, whom he represented as peeping through a small hole. In the same place and posture he was when he wrote the law as it was dictated to him by the Almighty. It was painful to listen to tales of credulity and fiction uttered in such a place.

The view from the top of Sinai is said to be greatly surpassed by that from Mount St. Catherine, which lies a short distance to the southwest. From its greater elevation, a wider field is spread out before the spectator, and a greater number of interesting objects embraced. It is destitute, however, of sacred associations, and my strength was too heavily tasked in exploring places of easier access and at least equal interest, to allow me the gratification of making the ascent. As I do not propose, then, to look from St. Catherine, I may reasonably despair of enjoying another view embracing such a range of grand and impressive objects as that from the summit of Sinai. The region through