In A Row Of Wooden Chests Are Deposited
The Bones Of The Archbishops Of The Convent, Which Are Regularly Sent
Hither, Wherever The Archbishops May Die.
In another small chest are
shewn the sculls and some of the bones of two “Indian princes,” who are
Said to have been shipwrecked on the coast of Tor, and having repaired
to the convent, to have lived for many years as hermits in two small
adjoining caves upon the mountain of Moses. In order to remain
inseparable in this world, they bound two of their legs together with an
iron chain, part of which, with a small piece of a coat of mail, which
they wore under their cloaks, is still preserved. No one could tell me
their names, nor the period at which they resided here. At the
DJEBEL MOUSA
[p.565] entrance of the charnel houses is the picture of the hoary St.
Onuphrius. He is said to have been an Egyptian prince, and subsequently
one of the first monks of Djebel Mousa, in which capacity he performed
many miracles.
After two days repose in the convent and its delightful garden, I set
out for the holy places around it, a pilgrimage which I had deferred
making immediately on my first arrival, which is the usual practice,
that the Arabs might not confound me with the common run of visitors, to
whom they shew no great respect. The Djebalye enjoy the exclusive right
of being guides to the holy places; my suite therefore consisted of two
of them loaded with provisions, together with my servant and a young
Greek. The latter had been a sailor in the Red sea, and appeared to have
turned monk chiefly for the sake of getting his fill of brandy from the
convent’s cellar.
May 20th.—We were in motion before sunrise for the Djebel Mousa or
Mountain of Moses, the road to which begins to ascend immediately behind
the walls of the convent. Regular steps were formerly cut all the way
up, but they are now either entirely destroyed, or so much damaged by
the winter torrents as to be of very little use. After ascending for
about twenty-five minutes, we breathed a short time under a large
impending rock, close by which is a small well of water as cold as ice;
at the end of three quarters of an hour’s steep ascent we came to a
small plain, the entrance to which from below is through a stone
gateway, which in former times was probably closed; a little beneath it
stands, amidst the rocks, a small church dedicated to the Virgin. On the
plain is a larger building of rude construction, which bears the name of
the convent of St. Elias; it was lately inhabited, but is now abandoned,
the monks repairing here only at certain times of the year to read mass.
Pilgrims usually halt on this spot, where a tall cypress tree grows by
the side of a stone tank, which receives the winter rains.
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