Page 106 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

v.] SHERRI TO SINAI. 87

who, as we were informed, had been im­
mured within these walls for forty years,
looked hale, vigorous, and contented with
their condition.
The present monastery was constructed

and endowed by the Greek emperor Justinian,
during the latter years of his reign; and an
inscription on a marble tablet over a gate, now
closed up, describes it as a memorial of himself
and his wife Theodora. It is built in a valley,
extending from north to south, and so exceed­
ingly narrow, that in order to avoid blocking
it up, and thereby endangering the building
by the rush of the mountain torrent, the

architect was obliged to erect a portion on the
summit of the ascent of the western mountain.
The whole covers a large space of ground, in
the form of an oblong square, and, at a dis­
tance, presents the appearance of an ill-
arranged mass of buildings, with a few tall
cypresses rising above them, and surrounded
with lofty walls, rudely constructed, and of
unequal height. On the eastern side, there

are several towers, as well as broad and
massive buttresses to strengthen the walls.
A considerable portion of the irregularity ob­
servable in the distribution of the interior,