228 RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



manded intolerance or set an example of fanaticism. 

 Before he began to preach, at the time when he was 

 sent by his first wife, who was older than himself, to 

 trade in Syria, he was the guest of the monks in the 

 Holy Land, and he received the teaching, especially 

 in matters of religion, from the monks who kept 

 watch over the Holy Sepulchre. On returning to 

 Arabia, he spent some time on Mount Sinai ; and he 

 was so grateful for the way he was treated during his 

 twelve months' stay there, that he left with the 

 Patriarch a document, at the foot of which he placed 

 his hand dipped in ink by way of a signature. This 

 document conveyed a grant to the Patriarch of Mount 

 Sinai of certain privileges and of various properties in 

 the region one day to be conquered by Islam. The 

 grant was recognised as valid after the establishment 

 of the Turks at Constantinople, and it is deposited in 

 the Treasury at Stamboul. The concessions granted 

 by Mahomet were carried out, and this was what 

 made the Patriarchate of Sinai the wealthiest religions 

 establishment in the East. Among the concessions 

 granted by the Prophet was the produce of the cus- 

 toms at Suez. I discovered this little-known fact in 

 the following manner. One day Said Pasha, the 

 Viceroy of Egypt, who had granted me the conces- 

 sion, told me that he had purchased from the Patriarch 

 of Sinai the Suez customs, which would, he added, be 

 a profitable transaction if our enterprise succeeded. 

 Mahomet, in enjoining hostility against the infidels, 



