583
EL BOSTAN.
It is to be observed, that none of these inscriptions are found
higher up the valley than the water rock, being all upon blocks
on the way from thence to the convent, which seems to be a strong
proof, that they were inscribed by those persons only who came
from the convent or from Cairo, to visit the rock, and not by pilgrims ¬
in their way to the mountain of Moses or of St. Catherine,
who would undoubtedly have left some record farther up the valley,
and more particularly upon the sides and summits of the mountains ¬
themselves : but I could there find no inscriptions whatever,
although I examined the ground closely, and saw many smooth
blocks by the road, very suitable to such inscriptions.
At forty minutes walk from Erbayn, where the valley El Ledja
opens into the broad valley which leads eastwards to the convent,
is a fine garden, with the ruins of a small convent, called El Bostan
water is conducted into it by a small channel from a spring in the
Ledja. It was full of apricot trees, and roses in full blossom. A few
Djebalye live here and take care of the garden. From hence to the
convent is half an hour ; in the way is shewn the head of the golden ¬
calf, which the Israelites worshipped, transmuted into stone.
It is somewhat singular that both the monks and the Bedouins call
it the cow’s head (Ras el Bakar), and not the calf's, confounding
it, perhaps, with the “ red heifer, of which the Old Testament and
the Koran speak. It is a stone half-buried in the ground, and
bears some resemblance to the forehead of a cow. Some travellers
have explained this stone to be the mould in which Aaron cast the
calf, though it is not hollow but projecting ; the Arabs and monks
however gravely assured me that it was the “ cow’s” head itself.
Beyond this object, towards the convent, a hill is pointed out to the
left, called Djebel Haroun, because it is believed to be the spot
where Aaron assembled the seventy elders of Israel. Both this and
the cow’s head have evidently received these denominations from
