Page 105 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

86 SHERM TO SINAI. [cm.

groves in the garden, and in the vale of Re-
phidc?n.
Like other Greeks, lent is enjoined them
thrice during the year, besides a great many

fasts or saints’ days; all of which they are said
to observe most scrupulously. Though animal
food is strictly prohibited, the monks partake
freely of a pleasant spirit. To this the tars I
had with me were of course much attached ;
and when the hospitality of the monks sup­
plied them freely with it, they would kindly,
and with much earnestness, reason with them
on their abstinence from the “ flesh pots.”
I am not aware that they were ever success­

ful, but one told me with great glee, that after
repeated invitations, he had prevailed with
several to indulge their olfactories with the
savoury steam of some meat then roasting.
At the period of my visit, the Superior was
a young man of handsome appearance and
prepossessing manners: he had recently re­
turned from Cairo, whither he was summoned
by the Patriarch to answer some complaints
made against him by the Bedowins. Most of

the young men appeared melancholy, pale,
and sickly ,* while some of the aged monks,