SINAITIC INSCRIPTIONS. בריך 123 "The contents of the inscriptions, so far as Professor Beer has yet proceeded, consist only of proper names, preceded by a word which is usually by peace, but sometimes memoriatus sit, and in a very few cases blessed. Between the names, the word or son, often occurs; and they are sometimes followed by one or two words at the end; thus the word priest occurs twice as a title. In one or two instances the name is followed by a phrase or sentence which has not yet been deciphered. The names are those common in Arabic, but have this peculiarity, that most of those which are single end in a Vau (1), whether they are in the nominative or genitive case, while the compound names end in Jod (.) Thus we have אוש אלהי יעבד אלחי and also ; אלמבקרו כלבו אישו יעודו יזידו by The Arabic article is frequent in the names, but has not always the Aleph () when in composition. It is a remarkable fact, that not one Jewish or Christian name has yet been found. The words which are not proper names seem rather to belong to an Aramæan dialect. A language of this kind Professor Beer supposes to have been spoken by the inhabitants of Arabia Petræa-in other words, by the Nabathæans, before the present Arabic language spread itself over those parts; and of that language and writing, these inscriptions he regards as the only monuments now known to exist. "The question as to the writers of the inscriptions receives very little light from their conter.ts. A word at the end of some of them may be so read as to affirm that they were pilgrims; and this opinion Beer also adopts. But this reading is not certain; and the opinion is to be supported chiefly from the fact that the inscriptions are found only on the great routes leading from Suez to Mount Sinai. The multitude of them in Wady Mukatteb, and around Serbal, may be accounted for by supposing that mountain, or some spot in its vicinity, to have been regarded as a holy place, though probably not as Sinai. That the writers were Christians seems apparent from the crosses connected with many of the inscriptions. The same inscription is, in several instances, found in more than one place, once with the cross, and again without it. The crosses are of such a shape that they could not be accidental nor unmeaning, e. g., Y, †, f. "The age, also, of the inscriptions receives no light from their contents, as no date has yet been read. On palæographic grounds, Professor Beer supposes the greater part of them could not have been written earlier than the fourth century. Had they been written later, some tradition respecting them would probably have existed in the time of Cosmas. The character of the writing also forbids this supposition. "Thus far Professor Beer, and thus far all is sufficiently clear. But there still remain some historical points of difficult solution. These Christian pilgrims, who were they? and whence did they come? The fact that all the inscriptions are found only on the great routes from Egypt, would seem to imply that they came from that country, or at least from the western side of the Gulf of Suez.. But if so, how comes it that not a trace of this alphabet and language is found in Egypt or its vicinity? Egypt too, we know, was 124 SINAITIC INSCRIPTIONS. full of Jews and Christians in the early centuries; how comes it, then, that no Jewish nor Christian names are found among the inscriptions? It is true that the heathen proper names continued to be used long after the introduction of Christianity, as we see from the names of the early fathers and bishops; but this will not account for the entire absence of Christian and Jewish names among such hosts of pilgrims coming from Egypt. cens, "On the other hand, were these pilgrims Nabathæans, Ishmaelites, Sarathe native inhabitants of the peninsula and of Arabia Petræa in general? The heathen names, and the language and writing, would lead to this conclusion. But, then, how comes it that all the inscriptions are on the western side of the peninsula, and not one upon the eastern? Besides, there is no historical evidence that any native Christian population existed in or around the peninsula in the early centuries, but rather the contrary. The Christian exiles from Egypt, and the hermits of these mountains, lived in constant exposure to slavery or death from the heathen around them. "Again, how comes it that in the time of Cosmas, about A.D. 530, all knowledge of this alphabet and language had already perished among the Christians of the peninsula, and no tradition remained respecting the inscriptions? "In the Travels of Irby and Mangles a fact is mentioned which deserves farther examination from travellers. In the vicinity of Wady Mousa, on the left-hand side of the track leading to the village of Dibdiba on the north, this party found, upon a tomb with a large front and four attached columns, an oblong tablet containing an inscription in five long lines, and, immediately underneath, a single figure on a large scale, probably the date.' They describe the letters as 'well cut, and in a wonderful state of preservation, owing to the shelter which they receive from the projection of cornices and an eastern aspect. None of the party had ever seen these characters before, excepting Mr. Bankes, who, upon comparing them, found them to be exactly similar to those which he had seen scratched on the rocks in the Wady Mukatteb, and about the foot of Mount Sinai.' This inscription they copied, but it has never been made public, and still lies in the portfolios of Mr. Bankes. See Travels of Irby and Mangles, p. 411, 412, 413. "When we were at Wady Mousa, I was not aware of the position of this inscription, and the circumstances in which we were there placed prevented our finding it. "In Cairo I was told that similar inscriptions exist in the immense ancient quarries back of Tura, just above Cairo, and also in the granite quarries of Aswan. It was said, also, that they had been copied by travellers, but nothing of the kind has ever been made public."—Robinson and Smith's Biblical Re searches in Palestine, &c., in the year 1838. APPEAL TO MY AMBITION.-A DINNER SPOILED. 125 CHAPTER XIII. WILDERNESS OF SINAI. Appeal to my Ambition.-Offer of a Young Wife.-A Dinner spoiled for Tualeb.-Wady Feiran.-Gebel Serbal.-Oasis in the Desert.-An Arab Village.-Making Acquaintances.-Stone Huts.-A Deserted City.-Feiran. -A Retired Cemetery.-Ruins of the Episcopal Church of Feiran.-Tualeb at Home.-Singular aluminous Deposite.-Was Serbal the Sinai of Scripture?-An Apollo in the Desert.-Pass of El-Deir.- First Sight of Mount Sinai.-Vale of Jethro.-Arrival at the Convent.-Reception. I HAD fallen into a revery, from which I was roused by an earnest conversation between Tualeb and Materh, accompanied with such action as showed that I was the subject of it. Calling Said to me, I learned that they proposed to make me chief sheikh, if I would come and dwell among them, and Tualeb was to give me his daughter Ghebeleyeh for a wife, adding, as a recommendation, that she was just twelve years old, the right age for a wife in his country. It was a question with me how far an invitation given to the sheikhs to dine with us on that day had led to these proposals. I was surprised, however, in the evening, when dinner was announced, that they did not appear. George, our Greek cook, not having much disposition to serve them, had thrown a little piece of swine's flesh into the pot in the presence of Tualeb, who was looking complacently into the caldron, watching the white rice and fine beef's tongue leaping about in the boiling water. He turned away in sorrow; but amends were made him by coffee and tobacco after dinner. On Friday morning, as our caravan moved up Wady Feiran, the summits of Gebel Serbal seemed to impend over us. The wady occasionally contracted, and then expanded into plains very much larger and more level 126 OASIS IN THE DESERT. than the plain before Horeb. Groves of seyal-trees occasionally appeared, on some of which were suspended the garments and blankets of the Arabs, who were away in the mountains with their flocks. They feared no loss: the climate is too beneficent to injure, and the Arab is too honest to plunder his fellow with whom he is in league. As we advanced we found piles of driftwood, among which were large trunks of palm, brought down in the rainy season from the groves of Feiran. The mountains increased in height, ruggedness, and gloom; but above them all Serbal loomed up with overpowering grandeur, and attracted our constant attention. Suddenly the wady made a short bend, and lo! groves, gardens, and water burst upon our view. We had not been prepared for such a scene in such a place, and it is impossible to describe the emotions it produced. The camels, in their eagerness, thrust their noses to the bottom of the stream; the Arabs knelt down, and drank or lifted the sparkling water to their mouths, and then walked in it with great delight, laving their feet and legs. Descending from my camel, and taking Suliman with me, I rambled through the little hamlets of mud and stone huts imbosomed in palm groves. In the course of our walk we startled one lone pigeon. The Arabs dwell here in date-time, but when we passed they were away with their flocks. In a retired spot I observed a coarse black tent, with one side open, and a little court enclosed with brushwood. As I approached, the dog barked, and, instead of inspiring fear, it recalled the image of home: a tawny Arab mother, with a very black babe in her arms, came forth, holding the corner of her garment over her face, but exhibiting a luxuriant head of hair, a pretty hand, and sparkling eyes. I broke my piece of bread, advanced, and offered one portion to the child, and another to herself. She shrunk a little at the presence of a Frank; but, endeavouring to reassure her by my attention to her babe, I took the occasion to examine the full knot of coarse black hair which was gathered tightly and bound on her forehead, and ornamented with small gay beads. I confess my stay at the tent was shortened by the recollection that her master might suddenly return; and I thought that although Suliman, his brother Arab, was with me (and showed a little impatient apprehension also), he might not choose to look very complacently upon the presence of a Frank at his tent. High up the mountain sides were many detached buildings of stone, perhaps thirty feet square, and from ten to twenty feet high on the lower sides. I examined several of them, and found that they contained no rooms, but were constructed of successive stories or floors of stone, with four or five equal and parallel passages, perhaps three and a half feet high, and two and a half wide, running entirely through the structure, and opening on each side. Where the lowest range runs north and south, the next runs east and west, and so on successively. These singular structures appear at a distance to be solid square masses, with small openings on each side. On the summit of the mountains were occasionally seen remnants of stone walls, and groups of small ruined buildings. At the bases and in the cliffs were. many small openings cut in the rock, as if for cells for holy men. Everywhere around were traces of a numerous and peculiar population. I had lost sight of the camels, which had advanced and halted in a palm grove. Hastening to overtake them, I came suddenly upon an insulated rocky plateau, lying on the south side of the valley, perhaps a mile in |