Page:On the Desert - Recent Events in Egypt.djvu/189

 basin — there was something oppressive in the nearness of the precipices, and I could not but wonder what state of nerve one would be in during Summer and in seasons of storm. The lightning must fill this space like a flood, and the thunder must die hard among the echoes of these steep barriers." "What must the reverberating thunder have been among these precipices to the Hebrews, who [in Egypt] had scarcely ever seen a cloud in the sky!"

This Convent life was not unpleasant, especially when enlivened with social intercourse. Our friend, the Archimandrite, was always ready to come into our rooms, and have a chat over a cup of coffee. Dr. Post had removed a sty from one of his eyes, for which he was very grateful, expressing the utmost satisfaction at the relief he had obtained, "grace à Dieu et à monsieur le docteur." I had half a suspicion (confirmed by what I learned afterwards) that he was in exile for some ecclesiastical offence, perhaps heresy or insubordination to his superiors. He had not been long in the desert; he had lived in cities, and seemed to like to talk of the world he had left behind. There was an old Archbishop of Gaza, perhaps in exile too, but who certainly bore his expatriation with remarkable serenity, for never was a prelate more smiling and benignant. He looked as if he were overflowing with goodness, and always ready to pronounce a benediction.

With the rest of the brethren we had just enough acquaintance to make our intercourse pleasant. We came to know them, and they to know us, and when we met in the court or on the corridors, they gave us a kindly recognition, and seemed pleased with the sight of strange human faces. There are now twenty-four members, who form a community entirely among themselves, being quite apart from the rest of the world. Some of them have been here thirty or forty years, perhaps not once in all that time