Some Ruins Round
The Church Indicate That A Much Larger And More Solid Building Once
Stood Here, And The Rock Appears To Have Been Cut Perpendicularly With
Great Labour, To Prevent Any Other Approach To It Than By The Southern
Side.
The view from this summit must be very grand, but a thick fog
prevented me from seeing even the nearest mountains.
About thirty paces from the church, on a somewhat lower peak, stands a
poor mosque, without any ornaments, held in great veneration by the
Moslems, and the place of their pilgrimage. It is frequently visited by
the Bedouins, who slaughter sheep in honour of Moses; and who make vows
to him and intreat his intercession in heaven in their favour. There is
a feast-day on which the Bedouins come hither in a mass, and offer their
sacrifices. I was told that formerly they never approached the place
without being
[p.567] dressed in the Ihram, or sacred mantle, with which the Moslems
cover their naked bodies on visiting Mekka, and which then consisted
only of a napkin tied round the middle; but this custom has been
abandoned for the last forty years. Foreign Moslem pilgrims often repair
to the spot, and even Mohammed Ali Pasha and his son Tousoun Pasha gave
notice that they intended to visit it, but they did not keep their
promise. Close by the footpath, in the ascent from St. Elias to this
summit, and at a small distance from it, a place is shown in the rock,
which somewhat resembles the print of the fore part of the foot; it is
stated to have been made by Mohammed’s foot when he visited the
mountain.
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