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.
