Page 124 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

VI.] SIIERM TO SINAI. 105

evidence of the miracle, as we have no war­
rant for conjecturing that the water flowed

for a sufficient length of time to have worn
channels or apertures in the stone; and it is
very certain little faith can be placed in local
traditions. At the same time it is most gra­
tifying to find that, by the reading I have
given, these and the several other localities
step into their proper places, while many
passages of Scripture, before obscure and
apparently contradictory, are elucidated. At
the same time we are furnished with another
strong proof corroborative of the important
fact—that, the more minutely these inte­

resting regions are investigated, the more
satisfactorily they will establish the scrupu­
lous fidelity of the Sacred Writings.
We now descended towards the summit of
Horeb*, passing in our way there a small hol­
low in the rock, which the Bedowins, by the
way of improving on monkish legends, have
attributed to the impression of the foot of the
Prophet’s camel. From hence we descended
by a steep path to the convent of El Eraibein,
or “ Forty Martyrs,” situated in a narrow

* 1 have retained the Bedowin application of this term.