282 THE MOHAMMEDAN PILGRIMAGE. 



mination, that most of the crevices are the work of 

 art,- three or four of them perhaps are natural, 

 and these may have given rise to the tradition. 

 That the incrustation is the effect of moisture may be 

 quite true ; for the adjoining rocks, where water is 

 still dripping, are marked in the same manner ; so 

 that if a fragment of the cliff were to fall down, it 

 might be difficult in a few years to make a distinc- 

 tion between the two. What renders the locality 

 of this venerated stone more suspicious, is the fact 

 that this part of the desert abounds with perennial 

 springs, which seems to prove decidedly that it 

 cannot be the parched vale of Rephidim, " where 

 there was no water for the people to drink/' While, 

 therefore, the miracle of Moses remains untouched, 

 we may be permitted to doubt the accuracy of the 

 monks and Bedouins, who are naturally pleased to 

 see strangers struck with religious surprise at the 

 same objects which they themselves revere, perhaps 

 with all the sincerity of a conscientious belief. 



Not far from Sinai a valley was discovered about 

 the beginning of the eighteenth century, which 

 created a considerable sensation in Europe from 

 the rocks being covered with inscriptions in un- 

 known characters and uncouth figures ; this was the 

 famous Gebel Mokkateb or Written Mountain. 

 Learned societies and several governments encour- 

 aged travellers to examine them ; and Mr Clayton, 

 bishop of Clogher, offered 500 to defray the ex- 

 penses of the journey, provided any man of letters 

 would undertake to copy them. Expectations were 

 entertained that these inscriptions mightfurnish some 

 testimony concerning the passage of the Israelites 

 through the Desert, or their residence in that 

 country. But on nearer inspection these sanguine 



