236 



Bibliorum Codex Sinaitieus. 



In the church of the convent is a chapel erected by the 

 Empress Helena on the very spot where stood the burning 

 bush. The place is covered with silver, and all those who 

 enter it, must, like Moses, first remove their shoes, for "the 

 place is holy." Hard by this chapel is a well, which the 

 tradition of the church makes the one from which Moses 

 watered Jethro's flocks. 



The library of the convent contains about 1,500 volumes 

 of printed Greek books, and according to Burckhardt 700 

 manuscripts; but until Tischendorfs interesting discovery 

 of this, which he has called the Codex Sinaitieus, neither 

 books nor manuscripts were supposed to possess any great 

 value. 



Indeed a traveler in writing from the convent before 

 Tischendorfs visit says, " There is a library in the monas- 

 tery, but no one except a stray and curious traveler ever 

 thinks of entering it." 



Admission to the monastery can only be gained by pro- 

 ducing a letter from the branch convent at Cairo which, 

 when the traveler reaches the convent, he fastens to a 

 rope let down to him from a battlement above, where 

 stand two of the monks reconnoitering. The letter having 

 been closely scrutinized and all found en regie, the rope 

 is again let down and to this his dragoman fastens the tra- 

 veler, when, by means of a windlass he is hoisted up to a 

 dizzy height by a sturdy monk, who drags him in on to the 

 platform. The Bedouin guard, of course, are not admitted, 

 but must pitch their tents outside of the convent walls. 



Once in the monastery a sweet sense of repose steals 

 over the pilgrim. He finds everything conducing to a 

 soothing quiet; the deep silence of the building; the moan- 

 ing of the mountain breeze as it sweeps through the long 

 corridors; the solemn step and sombre costume of the 

 holy fathers; and more than all, the plaintive murmurs of 

 the chanted prayers, as they swell away from the chapel, 



