DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4592#0131
LIBRARY. 131
this was built about three hundred years ago, when
the convent was threatened by one of the Moslem
rulers of Egypt. Permitting this mosque to be built
was a compromise with the Infidel, and this, say the
monks, saved the convent.
The library contains a very considerable number of
books, both in print and manuscript; principally in
Greek and Arabic. They are in sad confusion, and
appear to be but little used. The good old superior
seemed to be very innocent of any knowledge of their
contents. Knowing that I spoke the English language,
he put into my hands a very thin octavo, to which he
appeared to attach considerable value. It was an an-
nual report of the London Bible Society !
In the garden of the convent is the cemetery of the
monks. We were conducted to this charnel-house
with some seeming reluctance. This may be owing
to some indiscreet travelers having wounded the feel-
ings of the monks, by expressing either disgust or
great horror at the ghastly spectacle. A narrow stair-
case, cut into the rock, led down to an excavated
square of about twenty feet. On the left of this was
a small door opening into a vault, where formerly the
bodies of dead monks were laid on an iron grating,
till all the flesh was wasted away, and only the bones
remained. Now they are buried for about three years.
The bones are then taken up, washed and placed in the
great cemetery, which is situated directly opposite.
In following to this great depository of human skulls
and bones, we first passed a small ante-chamber, and
from this through a low door into the great cemetery.
This is also divided into two rooms or vaults ; one
this was built about three hundred years ago, when
the convent was threatened by one of the Moslem
rulers of Egypt. Permitting this mosque to be built
was a compromise with the Infidel, and this, say the
monks, saved the convent.
The library contains a very considerable number of
books, both in print and manuscript; principally in
Greek and Arabic. They are in sad confusion, and
appear to be but little used. The good old superior
seemed to be very innocent of any knowledge of their
contents. Knowing that I spoke the English language,
he put into my hands a very thin octavo, to which he
appeared to attach considerable value. It was an an-
nual report of the London Bible Society !
In the garden of the convent is the cemetery of the
monks. We were conducted to this charnel-house
with some seeming reluctance. This may be owing
to some indiscreet travelers having wounded the feel-
ings of the monks, by expressing either disgust or
great horror at the ghastly spectacle. A narrow stair-
case, cut into the rock, led down to an excavated
square of about twenty feet. On the left of this was
a small door opening into a vault, where formerly the
bodies of dead monks were laid on an iron grating,
till all the flesh was wasted away, and only the bones
remained. Now they are buried for about three years.
The bones are then taken up, washed and placed in the
great cemetery, which is situated directly opposite.
In following to this great depository of human skulls
and bones, we first passed a small ante-chamber, and
from this through a low door into the great cemetery.
This is also divided into two rooms or vaults ; one