DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12664#0276
THE CONVENT OF MOUNT SINAI,
261
around a large fire, and in a few moments stood at
the foot of the convent wall. My camels were
lying down eating their evening meal, and my
Bedouins were asleep on the ground close under
the walls.
Knowing that they would not be admitted them-
selves, they had not demanded entrance ; and as I
had not told them to do so, they had not given
notice of my coming. The convent was a very
large building, and the high stone walls surrounding
it, with turrets at the corners, gave it the appear-
ance of a fortress. Exposed as they are to occa-
sional attacks by the Bedouins, the holy fathers
are sometimes obliged to have recourse to carnal
weapons. The walls are accordingly mounted
with cannon, and there is no entrance except by a
subterraneous passage under the garden, or by &
small door in one of the walls, about thirty feet
from the ground. My Bedouins had stopped un-
der this door, and here we commenced shouting
for admission, first singly, and then all together, in
French, English, and Arabic ; but no one came to
admit us. I was strongly reminded of the scene
under the walls of the little convent in the desert,
on my attempted expedition to the great Oasis*
Then, as now, it was a moonlight night, and the
scene was a convent, a lonely habitation of Chris-
tians, with its door closed against a fellow- Chris-
tian. I remembered that then I had to force my
way in and make my own welcome, and I resolved
that no trifle should keep me from an entrance
here. The convent belonged to the Greek church,
261
around a large fire, and in a few moments stood at
the foot of the convent wall. My camels were
lying down eating their evening meal, and my
Bedouins were asleep on the ground close under
the walls.
Knowing that they would not be admitted them-
selves, they had not demanded entrance ; and as I
had not told them to do so, they had not given
notice of my coming. The convent was a very
large building, and the high stone walls surrounding
it, with turrets at the corners, gave it the appear-
ance of a fortress. Exposed as they are to occa-
sional attacks by the Bedouins, the holy fathers
are sometimes obliged to have recourse to carnal
weapons. The walls are accordingly mounted
with cannon, and there is no entrance except by a
subterraneous passage under the garden, or by &
small door in one of the walls, about thirty feet
from the ground. My Bedouins had stopped un-
der this door, and here we commenced shouting
for admission, first singly, and then all together, in
French, English, and Arabic ; but no one came to
admit us. I was strongly reminded of the scene
under the walls of the little convent in the desert,
on my attempted expedition to the great Oasis*
Then, as now, it was a moonlight night, and the
scene was a convent, a lonely habitation of Chris-
tians, with its door closed against a fellow- Chris-
tian. I remembered that then I had to force my
way in and make my own welcome, and I resolved
that no trifle should keep me from an entrance
here. The convent belonged to the Greek church,