I retired still gazing on the venerable and solemn scene; and read, with a humbled heart, the law as written by the finger of God, upon the two tables of stone.

Lord-write thy law on my heart with the finger of thy spirit!

It were idle to talk of feelings and emotions in reference to a spot like this.

Before we prepared to descend, our friends Angelo and Nicodemo led us to a charming clear well, near the summit; from which delicious water was drawn for immediate refreshment, and for the purpose of furnishing us with coffee. A fire was soon kindled, and the coffee made; and it was a study for a painter as we all sat together, partaking of a convent meal, brought in a rough-dressed goat skin, which was spread on the rock for our table-cloth. We occupied one side -Angelo and Nicodemo the other, and behind, a little apart, sat Hassenein and the Bedaween. Our breakfast consisted of very coarse brown bread, goat's-milk cheese, black olives dressed in oil, delicious coffee, fresh water from the spring, and a little flask of date spirit to qualify it. We did ample justice to our rude repast, after so much toil; and commenced an extremely difficult descent, by the deep rocky valley of El Ledja, formed by Gebel Mousa, and Gebel Katarina, which runs nearly parallel with the ravine in which the convent is situate. While passing along El Ledja, the monks pointed. out to us a huge mass of granite, lying as if hurled by some mighty hand from the masses above; and this they affirmed was the stone which, when smitten by the rod of Moses, gushed forth with water. They bade us notice several curious fissures, from which they say the water miraculously through clefts and horrible deserts, pulling and drawing one another, sometimes with our staves, sometimes with our belts, and sometimes with our hands, by the assistance of Almighty God, we all arrived at the top of the mountain. The top of Mount Sinai is scarce thirty paces in compass: there we took a large prospect of the countries round about us, and began to consider how much we had travelled by sea and by land, and how much we had to travel, what hazards and dangers, and what various changes of fortune, might probably befall us. While we were thus divided between fear and hope, and possessed with a longing for our native country, it is hard to imagine how much we were troubled."

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issued. But, after all, I feel fully persuaded that this is pure ly legendary. The ravine of El Ledja, cannot, I think, be the vale of Rephidim. Moreover, there is reason to believe that the present tradition had not its commencement till about the fourteenth century.

The whole expedition occupied nearly eight hours, attended by such an amount of fatigue and weariness, as rendered doubly grateful the cool quiet of our convent cells.

We spent the next day within the walls of the convent, and in the charming garden, resting and preparing ourselves for resuming our Desert route. I wrote letters to dear friends in England, to be dispatched on our arrival at Akabah. How delightful the assurance, that we could not only reach them in prayer, but also transmit to them across the wide waste of the great and terrible wilderness, the kindly affections of our hearts.

On the twenty-fifth of May, the day fixed at Cairo, for our departure from Mount Sinai, Sheikh Suleiman was at his post, and ready to resume the command of our caravan, and to make the needful adjustments. But departure with a caravan of Bedaween Arabs is not the work of a few minutes. It is like fitting out a ship for sea; especially when changes of camels and escort have to be made, which is generally the case, when travellers who have stayed at Mount Sinai go on to Akabah. We had personally nothing to do with these changes, but to endure the vexation of delay. The three convent tribes-or of the Tor, are all equally interested in transporting travellers and merchandize; and though they are on the most friendly footing with each other, yet they are all jealous of their rights; and a few piastres lost for the want of gaining them, is a matter of sore disquiet. The consequence of the changes necessary to be made, previous to our departure, was the loss of some "old familiar faces ;" and I was obliged to give up my nice easy-paced camel, which I had ridden from Cairo, for a heavier and far less agreeable beast. Two hours and more were spent in the usual squabblings, and in the loading, unloading, and reloading of camels.

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T'he repose of the convent was invaded, till it seemed like another Babel, though all this was, of course, transacted without the walls. At eleven o'clock, all was ready for our departure. We received kindly parting visits-with a present of bread and a conserve made of dates and almonds, from the superior and several others of the fraternity-drank a farewell cup of coffee-left behind us a suitable present in money -received and returned the usual symbols of courtesy, when again, the rope and windlass were in requisition, while, one by one, we were safely landed on terra firma; and, bidding farewell to that quiet retreat, whose green repose I shall never forget, we were soon on the backs of our camels, whose heads were turned towards Wadey Sheikh, north-eastward of the convent of Santa Katarina.

CHAPTER IV

THE DESERT;

FROM MOUNT SINAI TO AKABAH.

Departure from Mount Sinai-Route towards Akabah-The Mezzen-Desert Feud -Adventure with the Mezzeni-Wadey el Ayun-Arab Superstition-Wadey el Ayun-Fountain-Night-march-Murder of Sheikh Suleiman-The Journey Resumed-El Hanekh-Akabah-Future Movements-Encampment at Akabah— Sheikh Hussein-Final Arrangements-Panic-Termination of Sojourn at Akabah.

In the mind of the traveller who has once really felt the desolateness of a desert-route, and experienced somewhat of its privations, many an anxious and foreboding thought mingles itself with his bright pictures of pleasurable anticipation, when setting out for a second stage, amidst scenes all new, strange and venerable. And there is something, too, in the manner of desert life, which greatly stimulates the awakened imagination.

I felt, while sojourning in the quiet convent of Mount Sinai, that so far indeed had the good hand of God conducted us, as surely and safely as if we had beheld him in the pillar of the cloud and in the pillar of fire. And certainly, there is nothing that can brace up the heart for difficulty and danger, more than a simple perception of our filial relation to a God of love. I trust this was the real state of my mind, when again I found myself surrounded by the wild-eyed children of the wilderness, equipped, armed, and ready for the intended expedition to Akabah, the Ezion-geber of Scripture.* There was something in the very stir of preparation-in the moan

*Numb. xxxiii. 35, 36. Deut. ii. 8. 1 Kings ix. 26. 2 Chron. viii. 17.

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ing and gurgling of camels, and in the guttural volubility of Arab escorts, which carried back my mind, with vivid recollection, to the scenes we had passed; while far in the dim distance, imagination beheld the land of promise, and the Holy City of our God, to which every step was tending.

We had given orders to Sheikh Suleiman to conduct us by the ordinary route, described by Lord Lindsay and many others, which would have brought us soon to the shores of the north-eastern arm of the Red Sea, by way of Wadey Sa'l and Ayun Hudhera, to Ayùn en Nuweibìa; but, for reasons which will by and by be apparent, he determined to take us by a more circuitous way, of which we were quite ignorant, until our disappointment at not reaching the Red Sea, led to an enquiry, and moreover, to a confession on the part of Suleiman, that he had disobeyed orders. The truth is, he was aware of danger, and no doubt hoped by a little manage ment to avoid it.

On the day of our departure from Mount Sinai, our way lay partly across the plain of El Raha; when, striking off in a north-easterly direction, we entered Wadey Sheikh, which winds round to the west, and joins Wadey Feiran, and from which open off several passes over Debhet er Ramleh and Gebel el Tih, through one of which Suleiman conducted us. Soon after entering Wadey Sheikh, we noticed a Sheikh's tomb, of some antiquity, from which the present name of this pass is derived; and as we started so late in the day, we made but little way, and pitched our tents for the night at a small distance from the tomb. A Sheikh's tomb is always an object of superstitious veneration among the Arabs, as we had several opportunities of observing. On arriving at one, it is a common thing for them to gather up handfuls of sand, which they sprinkle upon the heads and into the ears of the camels, as a charm against accident and danger.

At six o'clock on the morning of the twenty-sixth of May, we recommenced our journey in good earnest; and, quitting Wadey Sheikh, soon entered upon a dreary and desolate waste, lifeless and herbless, where we encamped at noon; and during