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ARTHUR W. SUTTON, J. P., F.L.S.^ ON 



conceive, as the latter has this wonderful plain before it 

 for the encampment of the Israelities, but Jebel Musa 

 has nothing of the kind at all comparable. So close does the 

 plain Er-Raha come to Mount Sufsafa that one can at once 

 understand the need of " setting bounds about the mountain " 

 to prevent the people from touching it. 



To be at last, after nearly nine days' weary (though very 

 enjoyable) travelling, on such historic and sacred ground was 

 an experience we can never forget nor give any adequate idea 

 of. We dismounted and lingered for some time on the plain, 

 trying to grasp the great facts upon which Christianity is based : 

 such as the impossibility of severing the Old Testament from 

 the New ; the certainty that Jesus Christ himself accepted what 

 Moses wrote ; and that all the details of the Old Covenant 

 given on Mount Sinai were but types of the Xew Covenant 

 given by God in Christ. After taking many photographs we 

 walked on to the foot of the mountain where the plain joins the 

 Wadi es-Sheikh ; and then we mounted our camels for the last 

 two miles up the wadi, on the eastern side of the mountain, 

 and so came to the monastery. Here one of the monks met 

 us, and very courteously led us into the convent and up to the 

 guest chamber, where two other monks joined us. After some 

 time spent in conversation, during which coffee and the liqueur 

 of the monastery was served, we returned to the courtyard, 

 and pitched our luncheon tent in a spot as sheltered from the 

 wind as we could find. 



After lunch we went back to the convent, and were shown 

 the chapel, when we had time to take photographs, also to see 

 the " Chapel of the Burning Bush " (where we had to take off 

 our boots because Moses was told to do so), before the afternoon 

 service began. We chose a delightful spot for our camp in the 

 convent olive-yard, and then started for a walk up the road " 

 which we were afterwards to take for Tor, to a ridge near the 

 " Mountain of Conversation " of Catholic tradition, passing on 

 the way the path leading up to Jebel Musa. The view from 

 the ridge was very fine. 



As at Jerusalem, the Greek monks want to have all the 

 sacred sites in one place, and hence the Chapel of the Burning 

 Bush and the Mountain of Conversation, and other traditional 

 sites, are located by them here, though the Arabs locate them 

 at Feiran by Mount Serbal (or Horeb). 



On the Sunday we reviewed the library at tlie monastery, 

 spending some time over the manuscripts. Among these we were 

 shown the now famous Syriac text of the Gospels, found in 



