Journey through Arabia Petraea, to Mount Sinai, and the excavated city of Petra, the edom of the prophesis . inmany of which daily masses areread, and in all of them at leastone every Sunday. The convent formerly resem-bled in its establishment that ofthe Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem,which contains churches of varioussects of Christians. Every prin-cipal sect, except the Calvinistsand Protestants, had its churchesin the convent of Sinai. I wasshown the chapels belonging tothe Syrians, Armenians, Copts,and Latins, but they have longbeen abandoned by their church of the Latins fell int
Journey through Arabia Petraea, to Mount Sinai, and the excavated city of Petra, the edom of the prophesis . inmany of which daily masses areread, and in all of them at leastone every Sunday. The convent formerly resem-bled in its establishment that ofthe Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem,which contains churches of varioussects of Christians. Every prin-cipal sect, except the Calvinistsand Protestants, had its churchesin the convent of Sinai. I wasshown the chapels belonging tothe Syrians, Armenians, Copts,and Latins, but they have longbeen abandoned by their church of the Latins fell intoruins at the close of the seventeenthcentury, and has not been what is more remarkable thanthe existence of so many churches,is, that, close by the great church,stands a Mahometan mosque. Q * 232 CONVENT OF ST. CATHARINE. merits, all of which, as well as the wall of en-closure, are constructed on the side of the four peculiar features of the convent are con-spicuous : the mosque, the church, the solitarycypress, and the window, the sole entrance into thisgreat religious 1XTKHIOH. 01 THE CONVENT. When we entered the convent we were surprised,after having just quitted the desert, where we hadseen only a wretched and unsettled people, tofind the interior so neatly arranged and in such ex-cellent order, and inhabited by so many cheerfuland healthy looking monks. Ascending to their spacious enough to contain two the sixteenth century, to preventhundred people at prayers. The the destruction of the convent.—monks told me that it was built in Bnrckhardt, pp. 541—543. CONVENT OF ST. CATHARINE. 233 apartments, we beheld from them that magnificentprospect, to which no artificial addition has beenmade to increase the charm of reality. The air oftranquillity, however, which we observed is far frombeing uniform: clouds frequently lower over thispeaceable horizon. During my sojourn there, apilgrim received a ball in the thigh, skilfully aimedat him by a
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