I Rose To Eight Piastres, But On His
Smiling, And Shrugging Up His Shoulders At This, I Rose, And Declared
That We Would Try Our Luck Alone.
We took our guns and our provision sack, filled our water skin at a
neighbouring well, called Ain Rymm [Arabic], and began ascending the
mountain straight before us.
I soon began to wish that I had come to
some terms with the Djebalye; we walked over sharp rocks without any
path, till we came to the almost perpendicular side of the upper Serbal,
which we ascended in a narrow difficult cleft. The day grew excessively
hot, not a breath of wind was stirring, and it took us four hours to
climb up to the lower summit of the mountain, where I arrived completely
exhausted. Here is a small plain with some trees, and the ruins of a
small stone reservoir for water. On several blocks of granite are
inscriptions, but most of them are illegible; I copied the two
following: [not included].
After reposing a little, I ascended the eastern peak, which was to our
left hand, and reached its top in three quarters of an hour, after great
exertions, for the rock is so smooth and slippery, as well as steep,
that even barefooted as I was, I was obliged frequently to crawl
[p.607] upon my belly, to avoid being precipitated below; and had I not
casually met with a few shrubs to grasp, I should probably have been
obliged to abandon my attempt, or have rolled down the cliff. The summit
of the eastern peak consists of one enormous mass of granite, the
smoothness of which is broken only by a few partial fissures, presenting
an appearance not unlike the ice-covered peaks of the Alps. The sides of
the peak, at a few paces below its top, are formed of large insulated
blocks twenty or thirty feet long, which appeared as if just suspended,
in the act of rushing down the steep. Near the top I found steps
regularly formed with large loose stones, which must have been brought
from below, and so judiciously arranged along the declivity, that they
have resisted the devastations of time, and may still serve for
ascending. I was told afterwards that these steps are the continuation
of a regular path from the bottom of the mountain; which is in several
parts cut through the rock with great labour. If we had had the guide,
we should have ascended by this road, which turns along the southern and
eastern side of Serbal. The mountain has in all five peaks; the two
highest are that to the east, which I ascended, and another immediately
west of it; these rise like cones, and are distinguishable from a great
distance, particularly on the road to Cairo.
The eastern peak, which from below looks as sharp as a needle, has a
platform on its summit of about fifty paces in circumference. Here is a
heap of small loose stones, about two feet high, forming a circle about
twelve paces in diameter. Just below the top I found on every granite
block that presented a smooth surface, inscriptions, the far greater
part of which were illegible. I copied the three following, from
different blocks; the characters of the first are a foot long. Upon the
rock from which I copied the third there were a great many others; but
very few were legible.
There are small caverns large enough to shelter a few persons, between
some of the masses of stone. On the sides of these caverns are numerous
inscriptions similar to those given above.
As the eye is very apt to be deceived with regard to the relative
heights of mountains, I will not give any positive opinion as to that of
Mount Serbal; but it appeared to me to be higher than all the peaks,
including Mount St. Catherine, and very little lower than Djebel Mousa.
The fact of so many inscriptions being found upon the rocks near the
summit of this mountain, and also in the valley which
[p.609] leads from its foot to Feiran, as will presently be mentioned;
together with the existence of the road leading up to the peak, afford
strong reasons for presuming that the Serbal was an ancient place of
devotion. It will be recollected that no inscriptions are found either
on the mountain of Moses, or on Mount St. Catherine; and that those
which are found in the Ledja valley at the foot of Djebel Katerin, are
not to be traced above the rock, from which the water is said to have
issued, and appear only to be the work of pilgrims, who visited that
rock. From these circumstances, I am persuaded that Mount Serbal was at
one period the chief place of pilgrimage in the peninsula: and that it
was then considered the mountain where Moses received the tables of the
law; though I am equally convinced, from a perusal of the Scriptures,
that the Israelites encamped in the Upper Sinai, and that either Djebel
Mousa or Mount St. Catherine is the real Horeb. It is not at all
impossible that the proximity of Serbal to Egypt, may at one period have
caused that mountain to be the Horeb of the pilgrims, and that the
establishment of the convent in its present situation, which was
probably chosen from motives of security, may have led to the
transferring of that honour to Djebel Mousa. At present neither the
monks of Mount Sinai nor those of Cairo consider Mount Serbal as the
scene of any of the events of sacred history: nor have the Bedouins any
tradition among them respecting it; but it is possible that if the
Byzantine writers were thoroughly examined, some mention might be found
of this mountain, which I believe was never before visited by any
European traveller.
The heat was so oppressive during the whole day, that I felt it even on
the summit of the mountain; the air was motionless, and a thin mist
pervaded the whole atmosphere, as always occurs in these climates, when
the air is very much heated.
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