G18 
SINAI, OR SINA* 
pened to be enclosed, and in the way of the passage of the water, would 
be equally incrusted with, and in appearance turned into, stone. The 
place from whence the ancients tell us they had this stone w^as Assos, 
a city of Lycia, in the neighbourhood of which it was dug; and De- 
bout informs us, that in that country, and in some parts of the East, 
there are also stones of this kind, which, if tied to the bodies of living 
persons, would in the same manner consume their flesh. 
Sinai, or Sina. 
This is a famous mountain of Arabia Petrjea, upon which God 
gave the law to Moses. It stands in a kind of peninsula, formed by 
the two arms of the Red Sea, one of which stretches out towards the 
north, and is called the gulf of Colsura ; the other extends towards 
the east, called the gulf of Elan, or the Elanitish sea. At this day the 
Arabians call Mount Sinai by the name of Tor, i. e. the Mountain, by 
way of eminence; or, Gibel or Jibel Mousa, the Mountain of Moses. 
It is two hundred and sixty miles from Cairo, and generally it requires 
a journey of ten days to travel thither. The wilderness of Sinai, where 
the Israelites continued encamped for almost a year, and where Moses 
erected a tabernacle of the covenant, is considerably elevated above 
the rest of the country ; and the ascent to it is by a very craggy way, 
the greatest part of which is cut out of the rock. The traveller then 
comes to a large space of ground, which is a plain surrounded on all 
sides by rocks and eminences, whose length is nearly twelve miles. To- 
wards the extremity of this plain on the north side, two high moun- 
tains shew themselves, the highest of which is called Sinai, and the 
other Horeb. The tops of Horeb and Sinai have a very steep ascent, 
and do not stand upon much ground, in comparison to their extra- 
ordinary height ; that of Sinai is at least one third part higher than the 
other, and its ascent is more upright and difficult. Two German 
miles and a half up the mountain, stands the convent of St. Catherine. 
The body of this monastery is a building of one hundred and twenty 
feet in length, and almost as many in breadth. Before it stands another 
small building, in which is the only gate of the convent, which remains 
always shut, except when the bishop is here. At other times, what- 
ever is introduced within the convent, whether men or provisions, is 
drawn up in a basket, and with a cord and pulley. The whole 
building is of hewn stone, which in such a desert must have cost 
a prodigious sum. Near to this chapel issues a fountain of very 
good fresh water. Five or six paces from it, they shew a stone, the 
height of which is four or five feet, and breadth about three, which, 
they say, is the stone whence Moses caused the water to gush out. 
Its colour is of a spotted gray, and it is as it were set in a kind of 
earth, where no other rock appears. This stone has twelve holes or 
channels, which are about a foot wide, whence it is thought the 
water came forth for the Israelites to drink. 
Much has been said of the writings to be seen at Sinai, and in the 
plain about it; and hopes were entertained of discoveries respecting 
the wanderings of the Israelites, from these writings. But the accu- 
rate Danish traveller, Niebuhr, found no writings there, but the 
