Wadi

at eleven o'clock we reached the little oasis of el haswe and were pleased to see palm-trees surrounded by gardens well and carefully tended the wadi then became overgrown with the torf shrubs from which a yellow gum exudes some supposed that this was the manna but the quantity that can be furnished is infinitesimal compared to what would be required by the thousands of israel a little rill trickled along the sand so we stopped beside it for lunch a girl closely veiled but with lively black eyes came to see us she was acquainted with our escort and her husband was one of those whom we had met in wadi her first exclamation was ma fiche harim are these not women she could not grasp the idea of our going about with uncovered faces she did not know her own age but a agi suggested twenty-five she had been three years married and had two children i showed her my dear husband's portrait and also coloured pictures of cambridge colleges but the green turf was quite beyond her comprehension She was much pleased at being photographed.

Her clothes were very dirty, but she wore magnificent bracelets of coral and amber.

We also photographed a hill, which commands an extensive view on both sides, just where there is a bend in the longest of wadis.

Here it is supposed that Moses viewed the battle with the Amalekites for access to their springs, whilst Aaron and Hur held up his hands.

The mountain sides are full of caves and niches, once the homes of anchorites.

Our eyes were much irritated by the dust thrown off by an ill-smelling plant called svaka, which it is often necessary to grasp in order to get over some boulder.

At length we reached the foot of the great, inaccessible rock which crowns the summit, a rock which no human foot has ever rested on, and, peering over a windswept ledge, had a magnificent view of the extensive plain of Irraha beneath us.

the monk who was named euphemios had brought only bread and cheese for his lunch the agility which he had displayed in climbing tempted us to think that he had the advantage of us flesh-eaters but a glance at his sunken cheeks banished the thought he told us that he had been fifteen years in a tailor's shop in athens and had come to sinai after the death of his wife having no children he had often attended dr kalapathake's services and received much instruction from them this enabled him to understand exactly what our form of worship is channa who is a roman catholic struck a false note by making a disparaging remark about moses having probably picked it up from some german travellers this was no proof of his sense for we should certainly not have employed him to bring us there had we not believed in the divine mission of moses as i knew there were three roads by which we might descend i asked channa three times which of these we were on saying we should prefer to return either by the path we had come up or by a steeper and shorter one which led directly to the convent hana thereupon directed euphemios to lead us down the very longest way possible by a path that brought us into a wadi on the side of jebel moosa farthest from the convent so that we had still five miles to walk over rough stones in fact to make a half circuit of horeb at its base i was very angry and scolded hana for not consulting me we were not consoled by being conducted through two little olive gardens belonging to the convent in other wadis nor even by being shown the genuine rock a big boulder which moses struck in anger i was so tired that i could hardly walk and long after the moon had risen i was obliged to sit down on stones to rest we reached our tents at eight o'clock an arab coming out with a lamp to meet us our excursion had occupied eleven hours ten of which we had spent in quick walking and climbing over the roughest of rocks and stones so that it may be imagined we lost no time in retiring to rest Next morning being Sunday, we were told that a lady and gentleman were about to arrive from Tours.