DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12664#0273
260
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
towered in awful grandeur, so huge and dark that
it seemed close to us and barring ail farther prog-
ress, the end of my pilgrimage, the holy moun-
tain of Sinai. On our left was a large insulated
stone, rudely resembling a chair, called the chair
of Moses, on which tradition says that Moses
rested himself when he came up with the people
under his charge ; farther on, upon a little emi-
nence, are some rude stones which are pointed out
as the ruins of the house of Aaron, where the
great high-priest discoursed to the wandering Isra-
elites. On the right is a stone, alleged to be the
petrified golden calf. But it was not necessary
to draw upon false and frivolous legends to give
interest to this scene; the.majesty of nature was
enough. I felt that I was on holy ground, and,
dismounting from my dromedary, loitered for more
than an hour in the valley. It was cold, and I
sent my shivering Bedouins forward, supposing
myself to be at the foot of the mountain, and lin-
gered there until after the sun had set. It was
after dark as alone, and on foot, I entered the last
defile leading to the holy mountain. The moon
had risen, but her light could not penetrate the
deep defile through which I was toiling slowly on
to the foot of Sinai. From about half way up it
shone with a pale and solemn lustre, while below
all was in the deepest shade, and a dark spot on
the side of the mountain, seeming perfectly black
in contrast with the light above it, marked the
situation of the convent. I passed a Bedouin tent,
under which a group of Arabs were sleeping
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
towered in awful grandeur, so huge and dark that
it seemed close to us and barring ail farther prog-
ress, the end of my pilgrimage, the holy moun-
tain of Sinai. On our left was a large insulated
stone, rudely resembling a chair, called the chair
of Moses, on which tradition says that Moses
rested himself when he came up with the people
under his charge ; farther on, upon a little emi-
nence, are some rude stones which are pointed out
as the ruins of the house of Aaron, where the
great high-priest discoursed to the wandering Isra-
elites. On the right is a stone, alleged to be the
petrified golden calf. But it was not necessary
to draw upon false and frivolous legends to give
interest to this scene; the.majesty of nature was
enough. I felt that I was on holy ground, and,
dismounting from my dromedary, loitered for more
than an hour in the valley. It was cold, and I
sent my shivering Bedouins forward, supposing
myself to be at the foot of the mountain, and lin-
gered there until after the sun had set. It was
after dark as alone, and on foot, I entered the last
defile leading to the holy mountain. The moon
had risen, but her light could not penetrate the
deep defile through which I was toiling slowly on
to the foot of Sinai. From about half way up it
shone with a pale and solemn lustre, while below
all was in the deepest shade, and a dark spot on
the side of the mountain, seeming perfectly black
in contrast with the light above it, marked the
situation of the convent. I passed a Bedouin tent,
under which a group of Arabs were sleeping