1847.] 



Visit to Mount Si?tai. 



63 



rock (ialled by our monk Hajjar Marlam. It is about a foot deep by 

 4 or 5 broad of clear, delicious, crystal water, delightfully cool. 

 Temp. 59^ 5 Faht. Air in shade 75°. 



In twenty minutes more up the ravine, the chapel of the Virgin of 

 the Ikonomos was reached; and a quarter of an hour more saw us 

 through the two old confessional portals and the narrow defile, 

 having taken second breath under the single cypress which stands 

 a solitary sentinel near the well and chapel of Elias or proper- 

 ly speaking of Elijah and Elisha. Having provided ourselves 

 with a rope and brass cup we were enabled to take a draught 

 of the sweet water which lies at about 14 feet from the surface. 

 The depth of the water was 7 feet. Temp. 58 5°. Air in shade 

 73° 4. 



After a steep ascent of 15 minutes we stood on a bold, high, narrow 

 mass of granite overlooking the valley of Es Sebaieh, on which the 

 monk assured us Moses watched the battle of the children of Israel 

 with those of Amalek ('* Amalek Polemasser") in the valley of Re- 

 phidim (Sebayeh) below. 



Thirty minutes more of a steep ascent brought us, breathless, to 

 the summit of Sinai, partly lost in astonishment at the arid rugged- 

 ness of the wilderness of confused rocks which lay like a petrified 

 stormy sea at our feet — and partly agitated by the certainty of 

 having at length attained at least the immediate vicinity of the most 

 sacred spots recorded in the Old Testament. 



The monk pointed out a cleft in the rock as that in which Moses 

 sat when he saw Jehovah pass before him. It is a natural fissure in 

 the granite in which I could barely get shelter from the sun ; 

 situated under a large impending mass of granite at the eastern 

 extremity of the peak. 



The peak itself is a small platform of granite about 40 paces long 

 by 20 broad. On it stands a mosque and 12 paces N. E. of it a 

 small chapel, and the shell apparently of an old watch tower, evident 

 remains of more ancient buildings. Under the mosque is a narrow 

 grotto formerly the dwelling place of the anchorites and penitents 

 who used to spend a period of prayer and penance on this secluded 

 spot. A little below the peak is a well or reservoir of good water 

 filled, it is said, by the rains and melted snows, 10 feet deep and 

 16 to the surface of the water. Its temp, was 55° 5^ and that of 

 the air in shade 75. 



