1C2 
MOUNT. 
by them to the prophet Elias, who alfo affeCts this high 
place of devotion. In the reign of Heraclius, a couple of 
adventurous prjefts, father and fon, undertook to vilit the 
relics in the mountain. The old man fucceeded ; he 
brought down a rag of the tent in which the cradle is 
placed, and a chip of the cradle itfelf, both of which bore 
the moil authentic marks of antiquity, for the cloth was 
•worm-eaten, and the wood was worm-eaten; befides 
which, he obtained a fample of the treafure of the Virgin 
Mary, from which it appeared, that, in the days of the 
Virgin Mary, the current coin was very much like the 
Tu-rkifh paras which were afterwards coined in the days 
of the emperor Selim. The old prieft prefented his ac¬ 
quisitions to his fon ; and then he informed him, that it 
was his indention to afcend the hill again, to rejoin the 
company of the holy angels and the ftory ends in myf- 
tery, for he certainly never returned. It is thought that 
he peri (lied arnongft the fnows. We can recognife the 
lame vein of fabling in the tales which lir John Mandeville 
has given refpe&ing “ Mounte Araraihe, which a man 
rnaye not gon up for gret plentie of fnow that is alle weys 
in that mountayne. So that no man may gon up there; 
no, never man did fith the tyme of Noe, faf a monke, that 
by the grace of God brought one of the planks of the ark 
down, which is yet in the mynlter at the foot of the 
mountayne.” 
Engiehardt and Parrott were labouring up the glaciers, 
when their guide told them they muft (top: “ No one 
dares to go further than yonder crag ; if you try to pals 
beyond it, the mountain will difappear in darknefs, and 
your lives will be forfeited.” But from this fpot, he faid, 
they could fee the wonders of Kalbeck ; “ the crofs on 
that ridge of rocks, and the monaftery on the inaccef- 
fible cliff, in which the cradle of Chrift, and other inva¬ 
luable treafures, are depofited.” Whilfthe was fpeaking, 
two pillars of cloud emerged out of the gulf before them, 
and hid the rocks to which he was pointing. The Geor¬ 
gian now appeared feized with a fit of enthufiafm, which 
caufed him to forget his warnings ; and he ran beyond the 
fated crag, eroding himfelf, and exclaiming aloud, Chrifte, 
Chrifte, Chrifte ! The clouds became thinner; lie lifted 
up his voice, and repeated his ejaculations; when all at 
once there arofe a violent guft of wind, which rent the 
cloudy veil. The guide was overjoyed at the fuccefs of 
liis exorcifms : he (hatched the telelcope from Engiehardt, 
and exclaimed, that he faw the crofs, and the iron door 
and (hining pillars of .the monaftery. The travellers took 
the telefcope in their turn, but they could difeover no¬ 
thing lave rocks of porphyry, (liivered and broken in fan- 
taftic forms; and they began to fuppole, that the won¬ 
drous obje&s in which the hunter was rejoicing, were no¬ 
thing more than the creations of his fancy; when at length 
they alfo diftin&ly (aw the crofs on the rocks. They 
would gladly have purfued the enterprife: but the clouds 
gathered round them again, and it was near nightfall; 
they were therefore compelled to make the beft of their 
way to the (hepherd’s hut, a mere hovel of ftones rudely 
piled, where they parted the night. On the next day 
they renewed their endeavours to furmount the difficul¬ 
ties which oppofea them ; but there was no probability 
of perfuading the guide to proceed much further than 
they had done on the preceding day. Dr. Parrott (bowed 
him a couple of ducats; but neither bribes, nor threats, 
nor entreaties, could move him; and the dottor was 
compelled to’proceed alone along the glaciers bearing his 
barometer in his hand. As he afeended, the fiffures in the 
frozen fnow became wider, the (lope became deeper ; and, 
when be had reached a ftation which he afeertained by ba¬ 
rometric adtneafurement to be 2003 toifes above the level 
of the Black Sea, he was reluctantly compelled to deiiltr. 
By dint of great exertion, however, he reached the crofs 
which he had feen from below ; it was hewn out of a block 
of porphyry, and fixed, by means of fmaller ftones, on an¬ 
other block which projected from the face of the cliff. 
Near the crofs was alow circular wall of loofc (tones; and, 
on the other fide, there is a cairn of ftones of considerable, 
height, near which is (landing a rude pillar of porphyry. 
The monaftery, zs the guide called it, and which is the lub- 
jeft of lo many legends, is a grotto excavated in the cliff, 
about 150 toifes higher than the crofs : it appeared wholly 
inacceftibie from beneath ; but Dr. Parrott conjectured, 
that it might be entered by gaining the top of the rocks, 
and then letting the adventurer down in front by means 
of a rope. A part of the rock was cut fmooth ; and in 
the centre of this fpace was the portal of the cavern, 
which is partly clofed by two (labs of Hone refembling 
folding doors. They are fupported on each fide by pil¬ 
lars ; and the (lone doors, as well as the pillars, glitter 
like mica. The great elevation of this grotto, renders it 
exceedingly remarkable. The rock is at lead five hun¬ 
dred toifes above the boundary of perpetual fnow; and, 
in this refpeft, we believe that, whether it be of Chriltian 
origin, or whether, as is more probable, it (hould be re¬ 
ferred to a period anterior to the introduction of Chris¬ 
tianity, the grotto of Mount Kafbeck is without a paral¬ 
lel arnongft the cavern temples and fepulchres of anti¬ 
quity. Dr. Parrott was indefatigable; and he made a 
third attempt to gain the fummit of Mount Katbeck, in 
company with four Ruffian foldiers from the garrifon of 
Stephan Zminda; and, although he did not reach the very 
top, yet he came fufficiently near to it to enable him to 
afeertain the total height of the mountain with tolerable 
accuracy. He reckons it at 2400 toifes above the level of 
the Black Sea. 
Our travellers lament that they had notan opportunity 
of extending their botanical refearches through the Cau- 
cafian ranges, particularly as they found the vegetation of 
Mount Kalbeck was rich in new and interefting appear¬ 
ances. At the height of 1800 toiles above the level of 
the fea, and four hundred higher than Ramond, under an 
equal parallel of latitude, they found the laft plant in the 
Pyrenees; they difeovered a new fpecies of Ceraftium, to 
which they gave the name of Ceraftium Kajbeclt. The 
plants which fprun'g from the debris of the decompofed 
porphyry rocks, in which there was not the (lighted ad¬ 
mixture of vegetable mould, were both in bud and in 
flower: “ It was to be expected that fuch an unufual ha¬ 
bitat would be attended with correfponding phenomena 
in the (truCture of the plant; and many particulars were 
obfervable, which were fufficiently remarkable. The 
buds, the capfules, and the feeds, had fuftained no altera¬ 
tion ; the fil'd were full as large as in the Ceraftium al- 
pinum. On the contrary, the llalks and leaves wore a 
new appearance. The former were exceedingly thin and 
creeping. The leaves were of a yellowifli green ; Come of 
the nfual form, but very fir.all; others were very long and 
narrow, like the leaves of graffes. lleife in die Knjm und 
den Kauhafus; Berlin, 1815. 
MOUNT LEIN'STER, a mountain of Ireland, in the 
county of Carlow, on the borders of Wexford : twelve 
miles louth-fouth-eaft of Carlow. 
MOUNT MA'JOR, a mountain of New Hampftiire, on 
the fide of Lake Winnipiffiokee. Lat. 43. 23. N. Ion. 71, 
20. W. 
MOUNT MIS'ERY, a mountain of the ifland of St. 
Cbriftopher, near the weft end. 
MOUNT MIS'ERY, a town of the (late of Connecticut: 
eight miles north-ealt of Norwich. 
MOUNT IvIORI'AH. See Moriah, vol. xv. 
MOUNT NU'GENT, a (mail poft-town of Ireland, in 
the county of Cavan : forty-fix miles north-weft from 
Dublin. 
MOUNT of OL'IVES, or Olivet, a beautiful emi¬ 
nence in Paleftine, (ituated to the eall of Jerufaiem, about 
a mile diftant, and commanding a profpeCt of the whole 
city, from which it is parted by the brook Kidron, or 
Cedron, and the valley of Jeholhaphat. This is not a 
Angle hill, but rather part of a long ridge, with three, or, 
according to Pococke, four, heads or fummits, extending 
from north to loutli; the middlemoft of which is that 
3 from 
