ENCAMPMENT OF THE AULAD-SA’ID. 
This scene represents the arrival of the caravan of the Artist and his companions, 
in the country, and at the tents of the Aulad-Sa’id. They were friendly with the 
Beni-Sa’id, under whose guidance and protection he travelled . 1 The Aulad-Sa’id were 
encamped close to the base of Mount Serbal. The Mountain is red granite, without 
a trace of vegetation; and rises majestically to the height of five thousand feet. The 
powerful tribe which finds its home in this district has been the guardian of the 
Convent of St. Catherine, from perhaps the period of its foundation. One of the 
travellers on this occasion thus describes the general appearance of the Arab community. 
“At five o’clock we arrived at the encampment of the Aulad-Sa’id. Our painted 
pavilions looked a little out of place beside the black Arab tents, which were more 
in character with the dark and wild mountains which formed the back-ground of 
the picture, and the wild figures who were moving about. The whole scene was 
quite patriarchal in its character, and carried the mind back to the times when men 
were hunters, and shepherds in the field, and dwellers in tents. A kid had been killed 
for us, and our servants were busy, cooking it at a fire in the open air: before one 
of the tents, two women, seated on the ground, were grinding at a small hand-mill, one 
turning the stone, while the other poured in the corn: at another, a girl was baking 
the Arab bread for us. The camels, relieved from their burthens, were cropping 
the scanty herbage around the tents: troops of boys and girls were driving home 
the goats from their pasture in the' neighbouring valleys; and although some of the 
highest peaks were still lighted by the setting sun, the moon was beginning to shed a 
sweet silvery light over the valley .” 2 
“ Here,” says Robinson, “ was a fine view of Mount Serbal: as thus seen it presents 
the appearance of a long, thin, lofty ridge of granite, with numerous points or peaks, 
of which there are reckoned five principal ones, the whole being strictly what the Germans 
call a Kdmm. We saw it now in the bright beams of a morning sun, a grand and 
noble object, as its rugged peaks were defined upon the deep azure beyond. 
Here the interior peaks of the great circle of Sinai began to open upon us — black, 
rugged, desolate summits; and as we advanced, the dark and frowning front of Sinai 
itself (the present Horeb of the Monks) began to appeal’. We were still gradually 
ascending, and the valley gradually opening; but as yet all was a naked desert. 
Afterwards, a few shrubs were sprinkled round, and a small encampment of black 
tents was seen on our right, with camels and goats browsing, and some asses belonging 
to the Convent. The scenery through which we now passed, reminded me strongly 
of the Mountains around the Mer de Glace, in Switzerland. I had never seen a 
spot more wild and desolate .” 3 
But it is to be recollected that, although in these Sketches the customary names 
of the Mountains have been adopted, their claims as the sites of the Delivery of the 
Law have excited much learned discussion. Jebel Mousa, the Sinai of the Monks, 
exhibits features incompatible with the Sacred History; Jebel Katerin, the loftier peak 
of Horeb (which is now regarded as the original name of the range), seems scarcely 
1 Roberts’s Journal. 2 Kinnear’s Cairo, Petra, and Damascus. 3 Biblical Researches, i. 125, 130. 
