276 THE MOHAMMEDAN PILGRIMAGE. 



tracts attention ; upon which is represented at full 

 length the figure of the Empress Anne of Russia, 

 who entertained the idea of being interred here, al- 

 though the monks were disappointed of that honour. 

 There are twenty-seven smaller churches or chapels 

 dispersed over the convent, in many of which daily 

 masses are read, and in all of them one at least every 

 Sabbath. None of them have steeples ; and as there 

 is but one bell, which is rung only on Sundays, it 

 is customary to summon the monks to daily prayers 

 by striking with a stick on a long piece of granite 

 suspended from ropes, the sound of which is heard 

 all over the premises. The call to vespers is made 

 by striking a piece of dry wood in the same manner. 



In former times every principal Christian sect, 

 except Lutherans and Calvinists, had its chapel in 

 the convent of Sinai ; but most of these have long 

 been abandoned by their owners. What may be 

 considered more remarkable is, that close by the great 

 church stands a Mohammedan mosque spacious 

 enough to contain two hundred people at prayers. 

 It is said to have been built in the fifteenth or six- 

 teenth century to prevent the destruction of the 

 monastery, and is sometimes visited by straggling 

 pilgrims. The greatest number of these is perhaps 

 from sixty to eighty annually ; but so late as the 

 last century regular haj. caravans used to come from 

 Cairo as well as from Jerusalem ; 800 Armenians 

 are stated to have arrived in one day, and 500 Copts 

 on another occasion. Adjoining the convent is a 

 pleasant well-stocked garden, which is entered by a 

 subterraneous passage. It produces fruits and ve- 

 getables of various kinds, and of the finest quality. 



The number of monks, most of whom are na- 

 tives of the Greek islands, does not now exceed 



