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MOUNT SINAI.
killed me in returning from Djebel Katerin. I told him that he and
his tribe would have been responsible to the Pasha of Egypt for
such an act; and in short that I never paid any tribute in the Pasha’s ¬
dominions. It ended by my giving him a few pounds of coffeebeans, ¬
wrapped up in a good handkerchief, a few squares of soap,
and a loaf of sugar, to present to his women, and thus we parted
good friends. In the evening his brother came and also received
a few trifles. He had brought a fat sheep to kill in honour of El
Khoudher (St. George), a saint of the first class among Bedouins,
and to whose intercession he thought himself indebted for the recovery ¬
of the health of his young wife. In the convent, adjoining to
the outer wall, is a chapel dedicated to St. George; the Bedouins,
who are not permitted to enter the convent, address their vows
and prayers to him on the outside, just below the chapel. I was
invited to partake of the repast prepared by the brother of Sheikh
Hassan, and much against the advice of the monks, I let myself
down the rope from the window, and sat below for several hours
with the Arabs.
I was invited also to the great feast of Sheikh Szaleh, in Wady
Szaleh, which was to take place on the morrow, but as I knew that
Szaleh, the great chief of the Towara, was to be there, and would
no doubt press me hardly by his inquiries why I had come without
the Pasha’s Firmahn ; and as the Arabs were greatly exasperated
against me for my late excursion to Om Shomar in addition to
other causes of displeasure, I thought it very probable that I
might be insulted amongst them, and I therefore determined to
seize the opportunity of this general assembly in Wady Szaleh to
begin my journey to Cairo; by so doing, I should also escape
the disagreeable necessity of having Bedouin guides forced upon
me. I engaged Hamd and his brother with two camels, and left the
convent before dawn on the 30th, after having taken a farewell
