Page 121 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

102 SHERM TO SINAI. [CH.

erection of the convent; and as we are in­
formed that at the period many devotees re­
sided in this locality, those he commissioned
for the purpose, aided probably by oral, as
well as written testimony, found less difficulty
in tracing out the precise spot, than we, at a
more remote period, in the entire absence of
the former, and nothing of the latter but what
is preserved in Holy Writ, can hope to do.

Advantages of situation connected with the
site of the present monastery evidently could
not have been the inducement for adopting
such a scheme. There is no deficiency of
water in other places; it is indeed abundant
through every part of Upper Sinai. It could
not have originated in security of position, for
the interior is commanded by the hill which
rises close to the rear of the building; in
short, from no motive of mere choice could it
have been selected.

The steps leading to the summit of this
mountain, and the appearance of the material
of which the present edifice is constructed,
indicate extreme antiquity, far beyond the
date of the erection of the convent.
For these several reasons, and from a care-