556
CONVENT OF MOUNT SINAI.
them. The monks, in their turn, have fired occasionally upon
the Bedouins, for they have a well furnished armory, and two
small cannon, but they take great care never to kill any one.
And though they dislike such turbulent neighbours, and describe
them to strangers as very devils, yet they have sense enough to
perceive the advantages which they derive from the better traits in
the Bedouin character, such as their general good faith, and their
placability. * If our convent,” as they have observed to me,“ had
been subject to the revolutions and oppressions of Egypt or Syria,
it would long ago have been abandoned ; but Providence has preserved -
us by giving us Bedouins for neighbours.
Notwithstanding the greediness of the Bedouins, I have reason
to believe that the expenses of the convent are very moderate.
Each monk is supplied annually with two coarse woollen cloaks,
and no splendour is any where displayed except in the furniture of
the great church, and that of the Archbishop’s room. The supplies
are drawn from Egypt; but the communication by caravans with
Cairo is far from being regular, and the Ikonómos assured me that
at the time I was there the house did not contain more than one
month's provision.
The yearly consumption of corn is about one hundred and sixty
Erdebs, or two thousand five hundred bushels, which is sufficient
to cover all the demands of the Bedouins, and I believe that
L1000. sterling, or 4000 dollars, is the utmost of the annual expenditure. ¬
The convent at Cairo expends perhaps two or three
times that sum. The monks complain greatly of poverty; and
the prior assured me that he sometimes has not a farthing left
to pay for the corn that is brought to him, and is obliged to borrow ¬
money from the Bedouins at high interest ; but an appearance
of poverty is one of their great protections; and considering
