CONVENT OF
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of Selim. The descendants of these Hadjis, now poor Bedouins,
are called Retheny (), they still continue to be the servants of
the mosque, which they clean on Thursday evenings, and light the
lamps; one of them is called the Imam. The mosque is sometimes
visited by Moslim pilgrims, but it is only upon the occasion of the
presence of some Mussulman of consequence that the call to
prayers is made from the Minaret.
In the convent are two deep and copious wells of spring water;
one of them is called the well of Moses, because it is said that he
first drank of its water. Another was the work, as the monks
say, of an English Lord, it bears the date 1760. There is also a
reservoir for the reception of rain water.
None of the churches or chapels have steeples. There is a bell,
which, I believe, is rung only on Sundays. The usual mode of calling ¬
the monks to morning prayers is by striking with a stick upon
a long piece of granite, suspended from ropes, which produces a
sound heard all over the convent; close by it hangs a piece of dry
wood, which emits a different sound, and summons to vespers. A
small tower is shewn which was built forty or fifty years ago for the
residence of a Greek patriarch of Constantinople, who was exiled
to this place by the orders of the Sultan, and who remained here
till he died.
According to the credited tradition, the origin of the convent of
Mount Sinai dates from the fourth century. Helena, the mother
of Constantine, is said to have erected here a small church, in commemoration ¬
of the place where the Lord appeared to Moses in the
burning bush, and in the garden of the convent a small tower is
still shewn, the foundations of which are said to have been laid by
her. The church of Helena drawing many visitors and monks
to these mountains, several small convents were erected in different
