John the Sabaite also dwelt at Arselao (a place not identified), where he was approached by a female porker (or hyæna) who laid her blind young at his feet. He mixed his spittle with earth and applied it to the eyes of the creature which became seeing. On the following day the mother-beast reappeared dragging an enormous cabbage which she laid at the feet of the old man. But he smiled, charging her with stealing it from another man’s garden, and bade her take it back, a command which she forthwith obeyed (_Anast._, no. 15). Arselao was the home also for a time of a certain George, who was fetched to the convent to pray for oil, as the store had given out, and “the road to Palestine was held by the barbarians.” His prayers brought oil to the cask, like Elijah’s to the widow’s cruse, and like that of the cruse, it never failed. The cask was placed under the protection of the Virgin (_Anast._, no. 9). The need of oil led the monks to cultivate the olive in their gardens, which they did with considerable success, olives being among their produce which attracted the attention of the Arab writers. At Tholas, which was mentioned in the earlier accounts, John Climacus dwelt for forty years, at the conclusion of which he became head of the convent. The Wadi Tla’ah is one of the few valleys which has preserved its character. Prof. Palmer described it in glowing terms in the Ordnance Survey. Another hermitage was at Gonda, situated fifteen miles from the Holy Bush (_Anast._, no. 31). John the Sabaite was living here with Stephen of Cappadocia, when Father Martyrios arrived with a youthful disciple, who was John Climacus. John the Sabaite, having the gift of foresight, recognised the future superior of the convent in him (_Anast._, no. 6). This Stephen of Cappadocia told John Moschus that he was once in the church at Raithou when two men entered, who were without clothes. No one saw them but himself. He followed them out and begged to be allowed to accompany them. But they bade him stay where he was, and he saw them walk away across the Red Sea (_Moschus_, no. 122). There was also the monk Sisoeis, who dwelt in the hermitage of St. Anthony between the Red Sea and Egypt, where he was visited by a monk of Pharan who told him that it was ten months since he had seen a human being. To which Sisoeis replied that it was eleven months since he had seen one himself. The hermit life in Sinai was at its height when the lady Etheria visited the peninsula, intent on identifying the sites of which she had read in the Bible. Her eagerness seems to have stirred the imagination of the monks, and led to decisions as to localities which were accepted as authentic for centuries to come. The account of Etheria calls for a few words of comment.