THE WRITTEN MOUNTAIN. 249 



eoncerning the passage of the Israehtes through 

 the Desert, or their residence in that country. But 

 on nearer inspection these sanguine hopes vanished. 

 The carvings were found by those who examined 

 them to be for the most part httle else than the 

 names of travellers or pilgrims, ill-engraven in Greek, 

 Jewish, and Arabic characters. Crosses were seen 

 among these hieroglyphics, and a great many draw- 

 ings of mountain-goats and camels, the latter some- 

 times laden, or with riders. The whole sandstone 

 cliffs, occasionally to the height of twelve or fifteen 

 feet, are thickly covered with such delineations, 

 which are continued for several miles with only a 

 few intervals. 



Different opinions have been entertained as to the 

 age and purport of these writings ; the most proba- 

 ble is that which ascribes them to the hajjis in the 

 sixth century, who were in the habit, during the 

 pilgrimage, of visiting the holy places about Sinai, 

 or rather Mount Serbal ; which Burckhardt sup- 

 poses to have been anciently the principal place of 

 devotion, from the circumstance that, though similar 

 inscriptions abound in other parts, none are to be 

 found at Gebel Mousa or Gebel Katerin. Pococke, 

 Montague, Niebuhr, and other travellers, copied 

 them ; but little success has been made in decipher- 

 ing their meaning, though, from what is knowTi, the 

 general opinion is that they are of no great import- 

 ance. The top of the Written Mountain is covered 

 with large stones inscribed with hieroglyphics, some 

 of them standing upright, while others are lying flat. 

 They appear to be sepulchral monuments with epi- 

 taphs, and may either indicate that the ruins in the 

 neighbourhood were once populous cities, or be 

 attributed to the v/ell-known propensity of the Arabs 

 to bury their dead on high places. There are few 

 of the Bedouin tribes who have not one or more 

 tombs of sheiks or protecting saints on the top of 

 the hills, in whose honour they still offer sacrifice. 



