is Mount Sinai." With what fear and reverence he gazed
upon it! Here it was that the voice of the great God was once heard
speaking out of the midst of the smoke, and clouds, and darkness!

How strange it must be to see in this lonely gloomy spot, a great
building! Yet there is one at the foot of the mountain. What can it be? A
convent. See those high walls around. It is necessary to have high walls,
because all around are bands of fierce robbers. It is even unsafe to have
a door near the ground. There is a door quite high up in the wall; but
what use can it be of, when there are no steps by which to reach it? Can
you guess how people get in by this door? A rope is let down from the
door to draw the people up. One by one they are drawn up. In the inside
of the walls there are steps by which travellers go down into the convent
below. The monks who live there belong to the Greek church.

The clergyman was lodged in a small cell spread with carpets and
cushions, and he was waited upon by the monks.

These monks think that they lead a very holy life in the desert. They eat
no meat, and they rise in the night to pray in their chapel. But God does
not care for such service as this. He never commanded men to shut
themselves up in a desert, but rather to do good in the world.

One day the monks told the traveller they would show him the place where
the burning bush once stood. How could they know the place? However, they
pretended to know it. They led the way to the chapel, then taking off
their shoes, they went down some stone steps till they came to a round
room under ground, with three lamps burning in the midst. "There," said
the monks, "is the very spot where the burning bush once stood."

There were two things the traveller enjoyed while in the convent, the
beautiful garden full of thick trees and sweet flowers; and the cool pure
water from the well. Such water and such a garden in the midst of a
desert were sweet indeed.

The Arabs, who accompanied the traveller, enjoyed much the plentiful
meals provided at the convent; for the monks bought sheep from the
shepherds around, to feed their guests. After leaving the convent,
Suleiman was taken ill in consequence of having eaten too much while
there. The clergyman gave him medicine, which cured him. The Arabs were
very fond of their chief, and were so grateful to the stranger for giving
him in medicine, that they called him "the good physician." Suleiman
himself showed h