tion of the Convent and its Inhabitants--Plan of
the Church--Books and MSS.--Ancient excavations--Stone Quarries and
ancient Tombs--Alarm of the Copts--Their ideas of a Sketch-book.

The Coptic monasteries were usually built in desert or inaccessible
places, with a view to their defence in troubled times, or in the hope
of their escaping the observation of marauding parties, who were not
likely to take the trouble of going much out of their way unless they
had assured hopes of finding something better worth sacking than a poor
convent. The access to Der el Adra, the Convent of the Virgin, more
commonly known by the name of the Convent of the Pulley, is very
singular. This monastery is situated on the top of the rocks of Gebel el
terr, where a precipice above 200 feet in height is washed at its base
by the waters of the Nile. When I visited this monastery on the 19th of
February, 1838, there was a high wind, which rendered the management of
my immense boat, above 80 feet long, somewhat difficult; and we were
afraid of being dashed against the rocks if we ventured too near them in
our attempt to land at the foot of the precipice. The monks, who were
watching our manoeuvres from above, all at once disappeared, and
presently several of them made their appearance on the shore, issuing in
a complete state of nudity from a cave or cleft in the face of the rock.
These worthy brethren jumped one after another into the Nile, and
assisted the sailors to secure the boat with ropes and anchors from the
force of the wind. They swam like Newfoundland dogs, and, finding that
it was impossible for the boat to reach the land, two of the reverend
gentlemen took me on their shoulders and, wading through a shallow part
of the river, brought me safely to the foot of the rock. When we got
there I could not perceive any way to ascend to the monastery, but,
following the abbot, I scrambled over the broken rocks to the entrance
of the cave. This was a narrow fissure where the precipice had been
split by some convulsion of nature, the opening being about the size of
the inside of a capacious chimney. The abbot crept in at a hole at the
bottom: he was robed in a long dark blue shirt, the front of which he
took up and held in his teeth; and, telling me to observe where he
placed his feet, he began to climb up the cleft with considerable
agility. A few preliminary lessons from a chimney-sweep would now have
been of the greatest service to