and Horeb as synonymous names for the same mountain, or to extend the latter, as the monks do, to the whole of the isolated mass, to the southern extremity of which they give the name of Sinai, while my fellow-travellers and myself concurred in assigning it to the northern. If we suppose Rephidim, and, of course, the rock of Horeb, to have been much more distant from the mount where the law was given, it will be extremely difficult to understand the use of these terms in the Bible. If Horeb was twelve miles or more from Wady el Raha, what connexion had it with Sinai, or how shall we avoid confusion in the application of these names?

There is no lack of water at present in the neighbourhood of Sinai. Winter and spring, however, are the time for rains; and we may presume that many of the mountain streams fail during the summer, the season when the Israelites encamped here, or that the quantity of water may then be so diminished as to be insufficient to satisfy the wants of a vast multitude.

According to the observations of several travellers, the latitude of Mount Sinai is about 28 degrees north, longitude 34 east from Greenwich.

I understood that only nineteen monks at present reside in the convent. They formerly amounted to thousands. They are forbidden to eat flesh or drink wine, and they live mostly on dates and other fruits, bread, vegetables, &c.

420

DEPARTURE FROM SINAI.

CHAPTER XXII.

Journey from Sinai to Acaba-Preparations.-Meager Resources of the Convent.-Crowd of Bedouins.-Confusion.-Gratuities.-Impositions.— Departure from the Convent.-Encampment in Wady Sheik.-Our Caravan.-Twalib.-Rumours of Danger-Policy of the Alouins.--Unexpected Storm.-A Magnificent Scene-Uproar in the Camp.-Bloodless Battle-Bedouin Usages.-Camp in Wady Tahfi.-Negotiations with Twalib.-Envy of the Sheiks.-Aspect of the Desert.-Wady Gemmanına. -Sandstone Mountains.-Laborious Progress.-High Temperature.— Wady Megara-Acacias.-Wady el Ain.-Large Trees.-Ruins.-Fountain of El Ain.-Bad Water.-Suffering from Thirst.-Improved Health.Bedouins.-Desolate Regions.-Interesting Mountain Pass.-Geological Curiosity. Singular Formation of the Sandstone Mountain.-Incrusted Pebbles.-Wady Souana.-Geological Phenomena.-Wady Shubaka.— Ignorance of our Guides.- Aspect of the Desert.-Ain Shara.-Wady Tih.-The Mountains.-Wady el Sata.-Thirst.-Excessive Heat.Hadji Route from Cairo to Mecca.- Wild Scenery.- Descent to the Gulf of Acaba.-Granite Mountains.-Simple Monuments.-Palm-trees. -Arrival at Acaba.

come.

MARCH 18. This was the day appointed for resuming our journey towards Palestine, and the whole forenoon was spent in making preparation for our departure. Our provisions and other stores needed recruiting. It was requisite to replenish our bottles with the excellent water of Sinai, as the Desert affords none for two or three days to Travellers should not fail of taking provisions in Cairo for the whole journey, as nothing is to be had of a good quality and at a fair price afterward. The stores of the convent are, perhaps, ample enough to satisfy the wants of a party of ordinary size; but for our large company they were found wholly inadequate. We only obtained enough coarse bread to last two or three days, and a little charcoal. From the Bedouins in the vicinity we bought a few lambs, which were very small and lean, as well as tough and un

palatable. I paid twenty-seven piasters for one which did not weigh more than seven or eight pounds. These, with some chickens, and a few goats, which subsist upon the mountain shrubs, are the only domestic animals that I saw in the neighbourhood.

Our departure from the convent created a scene of indescribable confusion. Several hundred Bedouins were assembled below the window through which we had entered, and by which our cumbrous baggage, as well as our persons, must be lowered to the earth. This employed the greater part of the day. Some mistakes would unavoidably occur. Trunks, water, &c., were placed upon the wrong camels, and must be re-assorted and properly distributed at the outset, in order to guard against more serious errors. On such occasions the Bedouins are filled with excitement. They do not speak to explain, inquire, or remonstrate, but at the top of their voices, and their gestures are all violent and even furious. I was compelled to plunge into the midst of the throng, in order, so far as possible, to give to my effects the right direction, Ibrahim being quite stupified with the arack, which the good monks dispensed to the last, even supplying some extra bottles to keep these recreant Mussulmen intoxicated upon their journey. I never dwelt an hour in the midst of such bewildering and unutterable confusion, and have seldom felt more pleasure than I did when I mounted my dromedary, after having seen my baggage made fast to the pack-saddles with ropes. The venerable acting principal was forthcoming to receive my hundred piasters, which he counted very carefully, as if I were paying a bond instead of making a present. It was the first interview I had been honoured with, though I often saw him moving about the convent. Nineteen piasters I gave to the porter who managed the windlass, and half that sum to the chief of the culinary department, with smaller gratuities to the under-servants. This was pretty high pay VOL. I.-N N

422

FIRST ENCAMPMENT.

for a small, dark chamber, unfurnished, and a few loaves of bad bread, the only consideration I had received. As our party was too large to eat at the table of the monastery, my own servant had cooked and done everything else in his line, and I had paid separately for all services rendered me by the fraternity. These, I learned, were the sums which it was customary to pay, and I chose to make custom my rule. One gentleman, who preferred to judge for himself in the matter, was grievously insulted, and had his supplies retained, which he was only able to rescue, after a good deal of difficulty, by appealing to the chief. All, I believe, were glad to turn the back upon an establishment where, upon the whole, we had been ungraciously received and entertained. I doubt not that the feeling of satisfaction was reciprocal. Our overwhelming numbers had fairly overrun the accommodations of the convent, and the drunken and half-drunken dragomen kept their usually quiet corridors in a perpetual uproar, nor was it possible, with our best endeavours, to restore order so long as the monks supplied them with arack, which they did to the hour of our departure.

We encamped within two or three miles of Sinai, in Wady el Sheik, a romantic valley encompassed by lofty, bare mountains, which almost overhung our tents. This vale enters Wady el Raha through its eastern side, near Sooksafa.

March 19. Our encampment this morning presented a very picturesque and imposing aspect. We were reinforced at the convent, and now number eight tents, and are, in all, fifteen travellers, of whom six are English, four Americans, three Austrians; one is Scotch, and one a Venetian. This is the largest party of Franks who have ever passed through the Desert to Mount Sinai and Petra, as I learned from Twalib, the well-known Bedouin sheik, who has been with us a day or two. Our guides are of his tribe,

RUMOURS OF DANGER.

423

and our acting sheik, Salah, claims to be his brother, though, probably, no more than a kinsman, or, perhaps, only a clansman. Twalib says that he has not known more than three or four persons make this journey together. We hope to profit by our numbers, both by greater security, and by obtaining camels and an escort on more favourable terms of Sheik Hussein, who resides near Acaba, and has become rather notorious by his extortions. We have heard the usual quantum of rumours as to the dangers of the route from Acaba to Petra and Hebron, and at one time they came in a form so authentic that a majority of the party, who feared interruption and loss of time, resolved to abandon that way, and to proceed directly from Sinai to Gaza. After making many inquiries of Twalib, who had just come from Acaba, we could not learn that any more danger existed now than at any other time for several years past. Some of the Bedouin tribes are restless, and all are disposed to extort money from strangers by every method not exactly involving robbery and murder. An armed guard is thought necessary from Acaba to Hebron, and since it is to the interest of Hussein and the other chiefs to furnish as large a one as possible, this necessity will always be urged and magnified. It probably exists to some extent, but the transportation of passengers has become so important an interest with the Bedouins, that we may begin to calculate on security from depredations on commercial principles. They have more to gain by driving a hard bargain with travellers than by robbing them. After a good deal of inquiry and discussion we have all resolved to proceed by Acaba. Whatever may be found necessary in the way of additional guards, our party make a show of some ability to defend themselves. Nearly all have fine double-barrelled guns, and all but myself are armed with swords, pistols, and long knives.

We went to bed last night, as usual in the desert, at an