DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12664#0295
278
INCIDENTS OP TRAVEL.
ney. I had no guide-books. Having formed no
definite plan in my wanderings, I never knew with
what books to provide myself, and therefore car-
ried none, trusting to chance for finding what I
wanted. As might be supposed, when I needed
them most it was utterly impossible to obtain any ;
and from the borders of Egypt to the confines of
the Holy Land, I was in some measure groping
in the dark; the Bible was my only guide ; and
though the best a man could have in his pilgrim-
age through life, and far better than any other in
this particular journey, yet others would have
been exceedingly valuable, as illustrating obscure
passages in the sacred book ; and particularly as
referring, besides, to circumstances and traditions
other than scriptural, connected with the holy
mountain.
In the book of one of the modern travellers, I be-
lieve of the lamented Burckhardt, I remembered to
have seen a reference to a tradition among the
Mussulmans, that Mohammed had ascended the
mountain on the back of his camel, and from its
lofty summit had taken his departure to the sev-
enth heaven, and that the prints of the beast's foot-
steps were still to be seen on the surface of the
rock. I questioned the Arab about this story. In
the more engrossing interest of the scene, I had
forgotten to look for the prints of the camel's feet,
and told him, with great truth, that I had examined
every thing carefully, but had not seen them. The
old monk, who had sat quietly munching his
bread and figs, scandalized at my inquiring into
INCIDENTS OP TRAVEL.
ney. I had no guide-books. Having formed no
definite plan in my wanderings, I never knew with
what books to provide myself, and therefore car-
ried none, trusting to chance for finding what I
wanted. As might be supposed, when I needed
them most it was utterly impossible to obtain any ;
and from the borders of Egypt to the confines of
the Holy Land, I was in some measure groping
in the dark; the Bible was my only guide ; and
though the best a man could have in his pilgrim-
age through life, and far better than any other in
this particular journey, yet others would have
been exceedingly valuable, as illustrating obscure
passages in the sacred book ; and particularly as
referring, besides, to circumstances and traditions
other than scriptural, connected with the holy
mountain.
In the book of one of the modern travellers, I be-
lieve of the lamented Burckhardt, I remembered to
have seen a reference to a tradition among the
Mussulmans, that Mohammed had ascended the
mountain on the back of his camel, and from its
lofty summit had taken his departure to the sev-
enth heaven, and that the prints of the beast's foot-
steps were still to be seen on the surface of the
rock. I questioned the Arab about this story. In
the more engrossing interest of the scene, I had
forgotten to look for the prints of the camel's feet,
and told him, with great truth, that I had examined
every thing carefully, but had not seen them. The
old monk, who had sat quietly munching his
bread and figs, scandalized at my inquiring into