CHAP. LXXI. Of the Desarts of St. Macharius.

*ONE should also see the Desarts of St. Macharius, where there are four Monasteries, to wit, of St. Macharius, the Syrians, Balsarion, and of our Lady. I did not see them, having still put it off from day to day: However, I will here give you a Relation of them, which I got. You must take Water at Boulac, with a Janizary or two, and fall down as far as a Village called Terrana, where there is a Cachef, to whom it will not be a miss to make some small present of Sweet-meats, or the like, that you may be the better prote∣cted by him. Then the Janizaries wait upon the said Cachef, and inform him that their Company have a desire to go to the Desarts of St. Macharius: Imme∣diately the Cachef gives orders to two of his Men, and to Arab Scheiks, to make ready to attend the Travellers, and provides Beasts to carry them. For the price, you must endeavour to agree as cheap as you can, and it must be made in presence of the Cachef, before you set out, for if you delay till you come back, they'll exact the more. The hire commonly for going and coming is two Piastres for each Horse or Camel, and one Piastre for each Ass, besides three or four Piastres for every Horse-man that accompanies you, which pays both for Man and Horse. Such as would spare Charges, should at Caire strike in with one of the Monks of some of the Monasteries of the said Desart, who will oblige himself to Conduct them thither and back again to Caire,* and they are to go down the River with him, to a Village called Dris, where these Monks have a House. There the Monk will do well to take with him an Arab that is known in the Moun∣tain, and every one being mounted on an Ass, they may begin their Journey.

Page  243First, They go to the Manastery of St. Macharius,* a days Journey from Terrana, and lies right West. This is a very ancient Monastery, the Walls are very high, but it is much decaied. There are many holy bodies in it, but only one of these approved of by the Church of Rome; to wit, that of St. Macha∣rius, as also five or six Altar-Tables of lovely Marble. Within the Precinct of this Monastery, there is a kind of a big square Tower, into which you enter by a Draw-bridge; and wherein there is a Church, a Well, and all that is necessary for the Service of the Church, and the sorry sustenance of the Re∣ligious, who sometimes retreat into it. For when they find themselve abused, and pursued by stranger Arabs, they betake themselves to this kind of strong Hold, and pull up the Draw-bridge after them, keeping there whatever they have of Value in the Monastery, especially all their Books which they so esteem, that no Monk dares to Sell, or put out of the way any of them, under the pain of Anathema. In this manner, all the three other Monasteries, (of which we shall speak hereafter) have Towers in them. This Monastery is the greatest, but also the most ruinous, and especially the Church that seems to have been very fair in times past. There is no Garden belonging to it, and the Water which the Monks drink is somewhat brackish.

From St. Macharius, you go to another, called Ambabichoye,* lying North∣ward of the former, three or four Hours journey only. Upon the way thither, you see a great many little Eminences, or Risings, about a step over, which cut the way, and reach far into the Western Desart: The Religious say, and find it Recorded in their Books (which are very ancient,) that this Rising was made by Angels, to serve for a path to the Hermites, who many times lost their way, when on Sundays they were coming to Mass in the Monastery, and therefore they call it Tarik el Melaike, that is to say, the Angels Way.* By the way also you see many old Walls, which are the ruines of several Mona∣steries that heretofore have been there, and as the Monks say, to the number of three hundred, round that Mountain; but the Ruines which remain at pre∣sent, make it not appear that the number has been so great. It is true, one must not think, that they have been perfect Monasteries, but only little Houses built by Seculars, who had a mind to retire into the Desart, and lead a Reli∣gious Life there; being obliged on Sundays and all Holy Days, to come to Mass in the next Monastery, there to assist at Divine Service. And in that Monastery there was an Abbot, with a certain number of residing Monks, who when they had a mind to lead a more austere Life, and were found to be suf∣ficiently qualified for that, by their Superiour, were suffered by him to leave the Convent, and go live more solitary further off in the Mountain, where they built little Hermitages, and there spent their lives in great Austerity, Silence, and continual Meditation; and this is the account the Religious give. It is not good to follow that Angels way, nor to be too curious in ask∣ing questions of the Arabs about it, for then they would presently conclude, that you were come to the Mountain to search for some Treasure hid in it, which they fancy the Franks know of. Among these old buildings, you see the ruines of a Monastery, built in honour of St. John the Little, and is called Juhhanna el Kasir, where there is still a Dome, and the dry Rod, which being watered by that good Hermite, at the command of his Superiour, was changed into a fair Tree, which is to be seen at this day, as a monument of the merit of Obedience. The Monks call this Tree Chadgeret el Taa, that is to say,* the Tree of Obedience. The Monastery of Ambabichoye, is the pleasantest of all the four, for it has a fair Church, a lovely Garden, and good Water, with a big Tower in it, as in that of St. Macharius. There were a great many holy bodies therein, which on Palm-Sunday, in the Year 1656. were burnt by a spark that fell from a Taper that had been left burning there; whereupon the Monks being vexed that they had lost their Saints, gave it out that they had been carried away by a French Merchant, who came into those Quarters to buy Natron. But finding that the device would not take, though it cost the Merchant Money, (for the Turks would not let slip that occasion,) they raised some dead bodies and brought them into their Church, publishing that they were the bodies of their Saints, which had escaped out of the French Ships, and were come back to their Church. From Ambabichoye you go to Page  244 another Monastery,* called the Monastery of the Syrians, a quarter of a League distant from Ambabichoye; it is but small, but very pleasant, has good Water, and is the best in order of all. There you see two fair Churches, one for the Syrians, and another for the Cophtes, in which are many Relicks. In this last is the Staff of St. Ephrem, who being come to visit another Hermite, and ha∣ving left his Staff at the Door, whilst he was in discourse with the other whom he came to see, his Staff took root and blossomed, and is now a lovely great Tree, and the only in Aegypt of its kind. From the Monastery of the Syrians, you go to the Mountain of the Eagles Stones, and by the way you see the dry Sea, which was dried up (as the Monks say) at the Prayers of the Hermites who at that time lived by it, and chiefly of St. Macharius; because the Pirats of that Sea much infested them,* it is called Bahr el Malame, that is to say, Mare Convicii. There you may find a great many petrifications of Wood, and some Bones converted into Stone, which are pretty curious. On the side of that Sea to the West,* is the Mountain of Eagles Stones, called Dgebel el Masque; where digging in the Earth, and especially in time of heat and drought, they find several Eagles Stones of different bigness, so called, because the Eagles carry them to their Nests, to preserve their young ones from Serpents; they have many Vertues, and the Monks say, that there are commonly many Eagles to be seen there. You must make as short a stay there as you can, for fear of the Arabs. From the Mountain of Eagles Stones, you go (making a Triangle) to the fourth Monastery, and all the Journey from Ambabichoye to this Mona∣stery,* is performed in one day: This Monastery is called Dir el Saydet, that is to say, the Monastery of our Lady; it is very spacious, but a little ruinous. It hath a fair Church and Garden, but the Water is brackish, and nevertheless, there are more Monks in this Monastery than in the other three, because the Revenue of it is greater, and they have some Relicks also. From this Mona∣stery you go to the Lake of Natron,* called Birquet el Natroun, only two Leagues distant from it; this Lake is worth ones Curiosity to see, and it looks like a large Pond frozen over, upon the Ice whereof, a little Snow had fallen: It is divided into two, the more Northern is made by a Spring that rises out of the Ground, though the place of it cannot be observed; and the Southern proceeds from a great bubbling Spring, the Water being at least a Knee deep, which immediately as it springs out of the Earth congeals, and makes as it were great pieces of Ice; and generally the Natron is made and perfected in a Year by that Water, which is reddish. There is a red Salt upon it six or seven Fingers thick,* then a black Natron, which is made use of in Aegypt for Lye, and last is the Natron much like the first Salt, but more solid. Higher up there is a little Well of Fresh-water, which is called Aain el Goz; and a great many Camels come dayly to the Lake, to be loaded with that Natron. From this Lake you go to another, where there is Salt at Whitsontide, made in form of a Pyramide,* and therefore is called Pyramidal Salt, and in Arabick Melh el Mactaoum. From the said Lake you return and Lodge in one of the Monasteries, and next day come back to the Nile, where you must stay for a passage to Caire, or Rossetto, if you have not retained the Boat that brought you.