[p.583] It is to be observed, that none of these inscriptions are found
higher up the valley than the water rock, being all upon blocks on the
way from thence to the convent, which seems to be a strong proof, that
they were inscribed by those persons only who came from the convent or
from Cairo, to visit the rock, and not by pilgrims in their way to the
mountain of Moses or of St. Catherine, who would undoubtedly have left
some record farther up the valley, and more particularly upon the sides
and summits of the mountains themselves: but I could there find no
inscriptions whatever, although I examined the ground closely, and saw
many smooth blocks by the road, very suitable to such inscriptions.
At forty minutes walk from Erbayn, where the valley El Ledja opens into
the broad valley which leads eastwards to the convent, is a fine garden,
with the ruins of a small convent, called El Bostan; water is conducted
into it by a small channel from a spring in the Ledja. It was full of
apricot trees, and roses in full blossom. A few Djebalye live here and
take care of the garden. From hence to the convent is half an hour; in
the way is shewn the head of the golden calf, which the Israelites
worshipped, transmuted into stone. It is somewhat singular that both the
monks and the Bedouins call it the cows head (Ras el Bakar), and not
the calfs, confounding it, perhaps, with the red heifer, of which the
Old Testament and the Koran speak. It is a stone half-buried in the
ground, and bears some resemblance to the forehead of a cow. Some
travellers have explained this stone to be the mould in which Aaron cast
the calf, though it is not hollow but projecting; the Arabs and monks
however gravely assured me that it was the cows head itself. Beyond
this object, towards the convent, a hill is pointed out to the left,
called Djebel Haroun, because it is believed to be the spot where Aaron
assembled the seventy elders of Israel. Both this and the cows head
have evidently received these denominations from