Page:On the Desert - Recent Events in Egypt.djvu/206

192 through the Plain of Philistia, and enter Palestine by the South Country, coming out at Hebron, or Gaza. This route would be entirely new, and in the latter part of it, at least, would have a spice of danger which would be an agreeable excitement. This decided our wavering choice.

With such a route marked out on the map, as we left Sinai we picked our way over the ledge of rocks which lies along the garden of the Convent, and rode down the narrow pass of the Wady ed Deir, keeping an eye on the cliffs which towered on the left. As we came near their base, we passed the camp of the other American party, whose camels were being made ready for their long march. We had now before us the plain of Er Rahah, but we were not to cross it again, nor to climb that fearful Pass of the Winds, but bore away to the right, passing the hillock on which Aaron set up the Golden Calf! A more authentic spot is the tomb of a Moslem saint, who was a contemporary of the Prophet himself, and whose virtues are celebrated in the Koran. Here the Bedaween of Sinai gather in great numbers at a festival every year, which they celebrate with sacrifices and feasting and camel-races, and other sports of the desert. At this point we parted from our friends, not to see them again till we met in Jerusalem. They kept to the east, while we followed the wady which circled round the base of the mountains. All this time we had been in sight of Ras Sufsafeh, and we could hardly go half a mile without turning our camels to take one more look. Thus we slowly retired from this mountain presence, half shrinking from it with awe, while yet it held us by the fascination of its sublimity. At length there came a bend in our course, and we lingered long before we could withdraw our gaze. We were to see Sinai again from