IJO Travels into tbehE\ a.n t. , Parr L 
by which thofe that were within drew up the Pilgrims into the Monaftery 
with a Basket which they letdown by a Rope that runsin a Pully, tobefeen 
above at the Window, and the Pilgrims went into it one afrer another, and fo 
were hoifted up; by the fame place they alio let down Viduals to the ^^.éf 
with a Rope. We entered- not into that Monaflery, becaufe it was (liut. To 
underftand the reafon^f this, you mofl know the Hiflory of this Monaflery. 
C H A P. ■ XXIX. 
Of the Monajlery of St. Catherine. 
TheMonafte- T710 R thefe th^ufand years, the Greeks have been in PcirefTion of this Mona- 
îlerke.^ ' ^' fi"ery, which was given them by a Greek Empereur, called Jujlinim ^ and 
they afterwards living there, on a certain day,Af.?/5owa,who ( as the Greeks fay) 
was their Camel Driver, weary after the toyl of bringing in Provifions upon 
the Camels, fell a fleep before the Gate of the Monaftery ^ while he was a fieep, 
An Eagle 0- there came an Eagle and hovered for a long time over his Head, v/hich the Por- 
^ç^^'^''"'''"^ ter of the Monaflery obferving, ran in great amazement to acquaint the Abbot 
with it, who immediately coming, faw the fame thing, and refleding there- 
upon, as foon as Mahomet awoke, asked him, whether or not, if being a Great 
and Mighty Lord, he would be kind to them? Mahomet made anfvi^er, that he 
neither was, nor ever like to be fuch ; but the other ftill infilling upon that 
Suppolition, Mahomet told him, that he ought not at all to doubt of it, but 
that if it were in his power, he would do them all the good he could, becaufe 
mdomt's he had his livelihood from them ; the Abbot v/ould needs have that Promiie 
Proraife. from him in writing, but Mahomet affirming that he could not write, the Abbot 
iW^toeKould fent for an Ink-horn, and A4ahomct having wet his Hand in the Ink, clapt it 
not write. upon a leaf of clean Paper, and made thereon the impreffion of his Hand, which 
he gave them as a confirmation of what he faid. Having fometime after attained 
to that Grandeur which was prefaged to him by the bagle, he called to mind 
his Promife, and preferved to them their Monaflery, with all the Land belong- 
ing to it, but upon condition, that they fhould give Viduals to all the Arabs of 
the neighbourhood. And for that reafbn, when there are any Monks in the 
Monaftery, they ^re obliged to give Half a Peck of Corn to every Arab that 
comes, and thefe Arabs grind it in a little Mill that they carry always about 
with them, who come fometimes to the number of an hundred and fifty, tw^o 
hundred, nay, four hundred in a day, and mufl all be ferved ^ fo that it 
amounts fometimes to many Quarters of Corn , and to fome they give three or 
four Piaftres a year, more or lefs, according as they deferve it . Now about two 
years, before I was there, Provifions coming to the Monaftery, the Arf^hs robb'd 
them j which made the Greeks forfake the Convent, the Gate whereof is walled 
up, and the Walls fo high, that they cannot be fcaled, and without Cannon, 
that place cannot be taken, if there were any within to defend it : But now for 
two years there has no body lived in it, becaufe they would punifh the Arabs,b^ 
depriving them of the fuftenance which they daily had of them, till they can 
bring them to reafon , and therefore it was that we found fo many Monks in 
that Monaftery of Tor, whither they were almoft all retired, for there are not 
fo many there, when the Convent of Mount Sinai is open. Thefe Monks had 
many Rents in Candy^ which they loft by the Invafion of the Turks. They 
have a Bifiiop, who is called the Biihop of Mount Sivai, on whom depend all 
thefe Convents and Chappels, even the Convent of Tor too i and this Bifhop 
depends not on the Patriarch, he was at that time at C^^Ve. We were fain 
to reft fatisfied then, with what we faw of that Monaftery from the top of the 
Mount. 
CHAP. 
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