rits on
finding that the box of treasure was only a large old book. They
murmured and talked to themselves between the cups of rosoglio, and so
great was their disappointment that it was some time before they
recovered the equilibrium of their minds. "You found no treasure," I
remarked, "but I am a lover of old books; let me have the big one which
you thought was a box and the others which I have brought out with me,
and I will give you a certain number of piastres in exchange. By this
arrangement we shall be both of us contented, for the money will be
useful to you, and I should be glad to carry away the books as a
memorial of my visit to this interesting spot." "Ah!" said the abbot.
"Another cup of rosoglio," said I; "help yourself." "How much will you
give?" asked the abbot. "How much do you want?" said I; "all the money I
have with me is at your service." "How much is that?" he inquired. Out
came the bag of money, and the agreeable sound of the clinking of the
pieces of gold or dollars, I forget which they were, had a soothing
effect upon the nerves of the blind man, and in short the bottle and the
bargain were concluded at the same moment.

The Coptic and Syriac manuscripts were stowed away in one side of a
great pair of saddle-bags. "Now," said I, "we will put these in the
other side, and you shall take it out and see the Arabs place it on the
camel." We could not by any packing or shifting get all the books into
the bag, and the two monks would not let me make another parcel, lest,
as I understood, the rest of the brethren should discover what it was,
and claim their share of the spoil. In this dreadful dilemma I looked at
each of the books, not knowing which to leave behind, but seeing that
the quarto was the most imperfect, I abandoned it, and I have now reason
to believe, on seeing the manuscripts of the British Museum, that this
was the famous book with the date of A.D. 411, the most precious
acquisition to any library that has been made in modern times, with the
exception, as I conceive, of some in my own collection. It is, however,
a satisfaction to think that this book, which contains some lost
epistles of St. Ignatius, has not been thrown away, but has fallen into
better hands than mine.

THE CONVENT OF THE PULLEY.

CHAPTER IX.

The Convent of the Pulley--Its inaccessible position--Difficult
landing on the bank of the Nile--Approach to the Convent through
the Rocks--Descrip