1 66 î ravels into the Levant. Part 1. 
C H A P. XXVI. 
Of ToTy andof our arrival at Mount Sinai. 
TOR is no confiderable place, neverthelefs it has a good harbour for 
Ships and Galleys. This Port is guarded by a little fqnare CallJe on 
the Sea- fide, with a Tower at each corner and two fmall Guns on the out-fide 
before the Gate: an is Governour of this Caftle where none but Turks 
lodge : Near to it there is a Convent of Greeks dedicr^ted to St. Catherine 
and to the Apparition of God to Mofes in the Burning-Bufh. We delivered 
the j4ga the Letter from the Bey of Suez,, but becaufe we had no prefent 
for him, he made no great account of us. We lodged in the Convent, which 
is very fair and fpacious ; there we were very well received, entertained with 
the Beft, and ate Fifh of the Red-Sea ; at that time there were thirty Monks 
in it. We fearched for Provifions there, but could not find any ; only the 
Monks commifcrating our condition, gave us Olives, Dates, Onions, and a 
Jar of Brandy, which v/e husbanded as well as we could : we ftayed a day 
there becaufe the Monks told us that we needed two Septiers more of Flower \ 
fo that having bought the Corn and" got it ground, they baked Bread of one 
half of it, to give our Arabs by the way and upon the Mount, and all this 
they did in a very obliging manner. While we were there, we bought of thefe 
poor Greeks feveralilone-Mulhromes, which in that place are got out of the 
Red'Sea \ as alfo fmall Stone- fiirubs,' or branches of Rock, whieh they call 
white Coral, and many great fhells, all taken out of the Sea, ai3d very plea- 
fant for artificial works •• But they could noc furnifh me with any thing of 
KSa-mAn, a certain Filh, which they call a Sea-man j however I got the hand of one 
fince. This Fifh is taken in the Red-Sea, about little llles, that are clofe by 
T or. It is a great flrong Fifh and hath nothing extraordinary but two hands, 
which are indeed, like the hands of a man , faving that the Fingers are 
joined together with a skin like the foot of a Gcofè, but the skin of the 
Fifh is like the skin of a wild Goat, ov Shamois. When they fpie that Filh, 
they Urike him on the back with Harping- Irons, as they ^o Whales, and 
fo kill him: They ufe the skin of it for making Bucklers, which are Mufquet 
proof. 
Having payed all and made a Prefent of fome Piailres to the Monks, for 
their kind reception, wejprepared to be gbne, but were obliged firft to pay 
a due of twenty eight Maidins a head, to wit, four for Tor, and twenty 
four for the Mount, and all to the ufe of the Arabs. 
We parted from Tor on Thtsrfday the lafc of January^ about eleven a 
clock in the Fore-nqon, with a Monk whom they fent with us, tolhewnisthe 
chief Places of the Mount, and we payed for a Camel to carry him thither 
and back again. He fpoke to us Turkifli and ArMck, for he underftood not 
a word of Lingua Franca, we faw on our way the Garden of the Monks of 
Tor, which is not far from it ; this Garden is the place which in Holy Scrip- 
Elm. tureis called Elim, where when the Jfraehtes^ went that way there were only 
feventy Palm-Trees, and twelve wells of bitter water, which Mofes made 
fweet, by calling a piece of Wood into them: thefe Wells are flill in 
being, being near one another, and molt of them within the precinds of 
the Garden ; the reft are pretty near, they are all hot, and are returned 
again to their firft bitternefs, for I tailed of one of them where People 
Umm Moujii ^^^^ thçmfelves,which by the Arabs is called Kamam Monfa, that is to fay, the 
Bath of Mofes ; it is in a little dark Cave, there is nothing in that Garden, but 
abundance of Palm-Trees, which yield fome rent to the Monks, but the 
feventy old Palm-Trees are not there now. After we had feen thefe things, 
we filled our Borrachios with the water of a Well near to that place, which 
, belongs 
