Page:Mount Seir, Sinai and Western Palestine.djvu/79

Rh forms, in view of which the ideas of solitude, of waste, and of desolation contend with those of awe and admiration. The summit on which you stand is over seven thousand feet above the sea, but some distance to the south is the still loftier height of Katarina. Beyond, in the same direction, the eye wanders over a succession of rugged mountains and deep ravines, forming the Sinaitic peninsula, and bounded on either hand by the deep depressions in which lie the Gulfs of Suez and Akabah. Distant glimpses of the table-land of the Tîh to the north, and of the mountains of Edoni which bound the Wâdy el Arabah on the east, are also obtained. Having planted the theodolite on the flat roof of the mosque, Major Kitchener was able to take angles on several prominent points in the direction of our future line of march. The mosque and little Greek church are constructed from the materials of the ancient church supposed to have been erected by the Empress Helena. That it was a work of much beauty, and involving great labour and expense, is testified by the fragments of the ancient building in the form of the pedestal of a granite pillar, portions of a cornice, and other architectural fragments in white marble, or in red sandstone, which are strewn about; all of which must have been brought from long distances, and carried to the summit of the mountain only by great labour.

We came down from the mount by the Pilgrims’ Road, more direct and precipitous than the former, and accompanied by a monk of the convent. Our eyes were gladdened in this dry and barren land by an actual running stream, descending along the gorge of granite cliffs from a little reservoir constructed in a natural basin close to “Elijah's Cave,” and a remarkably tall cypress, which all travellers have noticed. No one, who has not a firm step and a good eye, should try this path, as a sprained ankle, or possibly a broken leg, may follow a false step. Just as we came in view of the convent and gardens, we had a good illustration of the deceptive appearance, as regards size and distance, which all objects in this region assume, owing to the wonderful transparency of the air. It may be said, with truth, that,