containing an inscription "in five long lines, and immediately underneath, a single figure on a large scale, probably the date." They describe the letters as well cut, and in a wonderful state of preservation, owing to the shelter which they receive from the projection of cornices and an eastern aspect. None of the party had ever seen these characters before, excepting Mr. Bankes; who, upon comparing them, found them to be exactly similar to those which he had seen scratched on the rocks in the Wady Mukatteb, and about the foot of Mount Sinai." This inscription they copied; but it has never been made public, and still lies in the portfolios of Mr. Bankes. See Travels of Irby and Mangles, pp. 411, 412, 413.

When we were at Wady Musa, I was not aware of the position of this inscription; and the circumstances in which we were there placed, prevented our finding it.

In Cairo I was told that similar inscriptions exist in the im mense ancient quarries back of Tura just above Cairo ; and also in the granite quarries of Aswân. It was said also, that they had been copied by travellers; but nothing of the kind has ever been made public.

NOTE XVIII. Pages 185, 200.

THE CONVENT AND ITS SERFS. The following passage from the Arabic Annals of Eutychius, (Sa'id Ibn el-Batrik,) Patriarch of Alexandria in the latter half of the ninth century, has been hitherto apparently overlooked; and seems of sufficient importance to be inserted here in a translation. It is found in Eutychii Annales, Tom. II. p. 160, seq. Oxon. 1658.

"But when the monks of Mount Sinai heard of the clemency of the emperor Justinian, and that he delighted to build churches and found convents, they made a journey to him and complained, how the wandering sons of Ishmael were wont to attack them suddenly, eat up their provisions, desolate the place, enter their cells and carry off every thing; and how they also broke into the church and devoured even the holy wafers. Then the emperor Justinian said to them, 'What do ye desire?' And they said, 'We ask of thee, O emperor, that thou wouldst build for us a convent which may be a strong-hold.' For before this time there was no convent in Mount Sinai common to all the monks; they lived scattered upon the mountains and in the vallies round about the bush, out of which God (his name be praised!) spoke with Moses. Above the bush they had a great tower, which remains

to this day, and in it was the church of St. Mary. And when danger was near, the monks fled into this tower and fortified themselves in it. The emperor dismissed them, and sent with them a legate furnished with a great sum of money; and he wrote to his prefect in Egypt, to supply the legate with money, as much as he needed, and also with men, and to see that he likewise received corn from Egypt. And he commanded the legate to build a church at Kolzum, and the convent Râyeh (Raithu?), and a convent in Mount Sinai; and to build this so strong, that in all the world there should not be found one stronger; and so secure, that from no quarter should there be any harm to fear, either for the monks or the convent.

"And the legate came to Kolzum, and built there the church of St. Athanasius; and he built also the convent Râyeh. Then he came to Mount Sinai; and found there the bush in a narrow place between two mountains, and the tower near by, and fountains of water springing up; but the monks were dispersed in the vallies. At first he thought to build the convent high above upon the mountain, and far from the bush and tower. But he gave up this purpose on account of water; for there was no water above upon the mountain. He built therefore the convent near the bush on the place of the tower, including the tower in the convent; in the narrow place between two mountains. So that any one on the top of the northern mountain, might throw down a stone into the midst of the convent and injure the monks. And he built the convent in this place, because here was the bush, and other celebrated monuments, and water. And he built a chapel on the top of the mountain, on the spot where Moses received the law. The name of the prior of the convent was Daula.

"Then the legate returned back to the emperor Justinian, and told him of the churches and convents he had built, and described to him how he had built the convent of Mount Sinai. And the emperor said unto him, 'Thou hast done wrong, and hast injured the monks; for thou hast delivered them into the hand of their enemies. Wherefore hast thou not built the convent on the top of the mountain?' And the legate said unto him, 'I have built the convent near by the bush, and near water. Had I built it above on the top of the mountain, the monks would have been without water; so that if ever they had been besieged, and cut off from the water, they must have died of thirst. Also the bush would have been far distant from them.' Then the emperor said, 'Thou oughtest then at least to have levelled to the ground the

northern mountain; so that from it no one could do the monks any harm.' The legate said to him, 'Had we laid out all the treasures of Egypt and Rome and Syria upon it, we could not have made an end of this mountain.' Then the emperor was wroth, and commanded to strike off his head.

"Thereupon he sent another legate, and with him a hundred slaves out of the slaves of Rome, with their wives and children; and commanded him also to take from Egypt another hundred slaves out of the slaves of Rome, with their wives and children; and to build for them dwellings outside of Mount Sinai, wherein they might dwell, and so guard the convent and the monks; and also to provide for their sustenance, and to see that a supply of corn was furnished to them and to the convent from Egypt. When now the legate had come to Sinai, he built many dwellings outside of the convent towards the East, and fortified them, and placed in them the slaves, to guard and protect the convent. And the place is called unto this day Deir el-'Abid, 'Convent of the Slaves.'

"But when after a long time many children were born unto them, and they were multiplied, and the religion of Muhammed was spread abroad, (this took place under the Khalif Abd el-Melek Ibn Merwàn,) then they fell upon one another and killed each other. And many were slain, and many fled, and others embraced the Muhammedan religion. And to this day their posterity in the convents profess this religion, and are called Benu Salih, and are also named Children (Servants) of the Convent. Among them are the Lakhmiyin. But the monks destroyed the dwellings of the slaves, after they had embraced the religion of Muham med; so that no one could any more dwell therein. And they remain desolate unto this day."

NOTE XIX. Page 249.

TEZKIRAH, or Passport of the Governor of 'Akabah. "The rea son of writing it is, that when it was Wednesday the 10th of Muhurram, year 1254, there came to us Mr. Robinson, and with him two others, having an answer from the Council to us. This answer he gave to us, and we have read it and understood what is in it. In it we are informed that they need Arabs and camels to take them to Wady Musa. Now we have found no camels in our neighbourhood, all the Arabs being in Syria. Therefore we said to them, 'How is your opinion? We have no Arabs nor

camels. We will send for you to Hussein.' They said, 'We shall be detained.' And we said, 'Consult your views; that we may be at ease, both we and you.' And they said, 'We will go. to Gaza; Wady Mûsa is not necessary; we will go to Gaza.' So we gave them Arabs of the Tawarah, and one guide to conduct them as far as Wady el-Abyad. And they went towards Gaza, with the peace of God most High.

"We have written this answer, to prevent interference with them; and no one must interfere with them."

HAJ STATIONS. The following is a list of the stations on the Haj-route from Cairo as far as Muweilih, with the portions of the road for which the various tribes of Arabs are responsible and

Between el-Beda' and Muweilih, Rüppell inserts another station, Ainune as he calls it, the Eynunah of Moresby's chart. Reisen in Nubien, etc. p. 218.

The Ta

Convoys. The route from Cairo to 'Ajrud is free. warah are then responsible for it from 'Ajrûd to Nükhl. But ever since they plundered a caravan several years ago, and were punished for it by the Pasha, they have been deprived of their tolls from the Haj; though it is still their duty to furnish an escort, and they are still responsible for the safety of the caravan on this part of the route.-The Tiyahah are responsible only at Nükhl.The Haiwat from Nükhl to Râs en-Nükb.-The 'Alawin, from Râs en-Nukb to 'Akabah. The 'Amrân from 'Akabah to el-Beda'.The Haweitât from el-Beda' to Muweilih, etc.-All these tribes, except the Tawarah, receive tolls.

A list of stations on the route of the Syrian Haj, from Damas

cus to Mecca, is given in the Appendix to Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, etc. p. 656, seq.

NOTE XXI. Page 287.

'ABDEI, EBODA. Our 'Amrân guides knew these ruins only der the name of 'Aujeh. Tuweileb called them 'Abdeh; but told us afterwards, that he knew this name only from M. Linant, who had visited the place a few years before. In Hebron we were asked, whether we had been at 'Abdeh, which was said to be three days distant from that town. From what was there told us, we were for some time in doubt, whether the place we had visited was the 'Abdeh of the Arabs. For a long time we could get no definite information, nor find any person who had been there. Some said it lay nearer to the 'Arabah, eastward of elBirein. It was not till after our return from Wady Musa in June, that we became satisfied on this point. We then found in Hebron a very intelligent owner of camels, who himself had travelled through all Syria and the adjacent countries, and had been at 'Abdeh. He described to us the route he had taken, and gave a minute account of the ruins and their situation; mentioning expressly that they lay N. W. of el-Bîrein. His account tallied so exactly with what we had ourselves seen, that we no longer had any doubt on the subject.

These ruins have not been described by any traveller; nor am I sure that they have been visited by any one, except M. Linant, as above mentioned. Sir F. Henniker, indeed, in crossing the desert from the convent to Gaza, speaks of having seen somewhere in this quarter, "two large stone buildings, having the appearance of fortresses, and situate on the edge of a lofty rock." (Notes, etc. p. 253.) This language and the circumstances of the case, would lead to the conclusion that 'Abdeh was here meant; but the other details of his account are so totally at variance with what we saw, that I must distrust either this conclusion, or the accuracy of the writer. Seetzen, in 1807, travelled direct from the vicinity of Gaza to Sinai. On the third day he came to a place called 'Abdeh, of which he before had heard much; but he found only a "town whose houses all lay in ruins, and exhibited nothing worth seeing." (Zach's Monatl. Corr. XVII. p. 144.) This could not well have been the 'Abdeh that we saw; and I conjecture it may perhaps have been Elusa. M. Callier also, in passing in 1834 among the mountains bordering on the 'Arabah, where the Wadys