Page:On the Desert - Recent Events in Egypt.djvu/125

 It was as if we could not face the Mount, and go up straight into the cloud, but must approach by a way more gentle and winding, but in which, though we seemed to be only going round and round, we were all the while climbing higher and higher. Gradual as was the ascent, yet we knew that we were slowly mounting: for as we looked backward now and then, we perceived by comparison with surrounding heights that we had reached a greater elevation. As they sank lower, we knew that we had risen higher. A camel's back is a good perch from which to look down into deep mountain valleys. But there came a point where we must leave the camels, and continue on foot. The ascent, however, is not to be compared to that of Serbal; indeed it is not at all difficult, for pious hands have piled up stones as rude steps for the feet of pilgrims, so that we go up slowly, but steadily and easily, to the top of the Mount. Riding and walking, the whole time of the ascent from the Convent was less than three hours, while that of Serbal was six.

We were now on Jebel Mousa, the summit which ancient tradition assigns as the place of the giving of the Law; although, as we shall see, later explorers incline to another peak of the same mountain which more directly overlooks the plain of Er Rahah. Jebel Mousa is over six hundred feet higher than Serbal, though in appearance it is less imposing. But it is a magnificent dome of rock. As I crept to the verge of the cliff, the dragoman grasped me by the arm and drew me back, lest I should be made giddy by the fearful height: for one slip there, and I should be dashed a thousand feet below. The view also is of great extent, and very similar in its general character to that from Serbal, with the same vast stretch over the Peninsula — the same waters of the Red Sea encompassing the same wilderness of mountains. But the