itten
in the Samaritan character: they possess also a very famous roll or
volume of the Pentateuch, which is said to have been written by Abishai
the grandson of Aaron. It is contained in a curiously ornamented octagon
case of brass about two feet high, on opening which the MS. appears
within rolled upon two pieces of wood. It is sixteen inches wide, and
must be of great length, as each of the two parts of the roll are four
or five inches in diameter. The writing is small and not very distinct,
and the MS. is in rather a dilapidated condition. The Samaritan Rabbi
Ibrahim Israel, true to his Jewish origin, would not open the case until
he had been well paid. He affirmed that in this MS. the blessings were
directed to be given from Mount Ebal and the curses from Mount Gherizim.
However this may be, in an Arabic translation of the Samaritan
Pentateuch, which is in my own collection, the 12th and 13th verses of
the 27th chapter of Deuteronomy are the same as the usually received
text in other Bibles.

Jerusalem was at this time (1834) under the dominion of the Egyptians,
and Ibrahim Pasha arrived shortly after we had established ourselves in
the vaulted dungeons of the Latin convent. He took up his abode in a
house in the town, and did not maintain any state or ceremony; indeed he
had scarcely any guards, and but few servants, so secure did he feel in
a country which he had so lately conquered. He received us with great
courtesy in his mean lodging, where we found an interpreter who spoke
English. I had been promised a letter from Mohammed Ali Pasha to Ibrahim
Pasha, but on inquiring I found it had not arrived, and Ibrahim Pasha
sent a courier to Jaffa to inquire whether it was lying there; however
it did not reach me, and I therefore was not permitted to see the
interior of the mosque of Omar, or the great church of the Purification,
which stands on the site of the Temple of Solomon, and into which at
that time no Christian had penetrated.

CHAPTER XV.

Expedition to the Monastery of St. Sabba--Reports of Arab
Robbers--The Valley of Jehoshaphat--The Bridge of Al Sirat--Rugged
Scenery--An Arab Ambuscade--A successful Parley--The Monastery of
St. Sabba--History of the Saint--The Greek Hermits--The Church--The
Iconostasis--The Library--Numerous MSS.--The Dead Sea--The Scene of
the Temptation--Discovery--The Apple of the Dead Sea--The
Statements of Strabo and Pliny confirmed.