They were both to the Deity equally easy. ---The author has fortunately given us the breadth of the sinus about twenty miles below Suez, as he took it upon the eastern coast. This must have been nearly the spot where the Israelites first came upon land in the desert of Etham. 1 Dans le dessein de mesurer la largeur du Golfe Arabique, je m' eloignai le 24° Septemb. de la caravane, environ à une distance de cinq milles au sud de Suès, et dans la plaine d' Etti, ou Tuérik, comme disoit l'un des nos Arabes. D'après mes observations, et mon calcul, je la trouvai etre a peu près de trois milles d'' Allemagne: mais cette fois ci encore je ne pu former une base assez longue pour donner à mon mesurage toute l'exactitude requise.

2

I should be sorry to detract from the honours due to this excellent Danish traveller, by whose diligence and sagacity the world has profited greatly. It is only in this one article. that I presume to differ from him; and this I have done with more confidence, and as he sometimes seems himself not to be perfectly

I

Voyage, T. 1. p. 202.

→ About twelve English miles.

3 Je n'ose pas rejetter entierement une opinion adoptée par tant de savans. Arabie, p. 351.

determined. I have at the same time paid little regard to the opinions of the modern Arabs, and to the names which they assign to places, unless they have the sanction of antiquity. For we are told by Mr Neibuhr,

Si l' en falloit croir les relations des Arabes qui habitent a l'est du golfé, les enfans d' Israel auroient passeé la Mer Rouge toujours a l'endroit precis, ou on leur fait la question.

3 Ainsi les traditions et les rapportes contradictoires des Arabes du commun ne sont ici d' aucune valoir. However, where there are names of long standing, and accounts incidentally introduced by authors who knew not the original history, and consequently could have no system to maintain, their evidence must necessarily have weight, and demand our attention. Such is the evidence of + Diodorus Siculus, who mentions the tradi

I

Upon this account I take no notice of the fountains near Suez, though they are stiled by the Arabs the fountains of Moses; for there is no reason to think that they were ever visited by that person; the place where the Israelites passed over being far below. Les mêmes Arabes, qui nous avoient dit auparavant, que les enfans d' Israel avoient passé la Mer Rouge pres d' Aijun Musa, nous dirent alors, que c'etoit dans le voisinage de Girondel. Niebuhr, Voy. T. 1. p. 184. 3 Ibid. p. 349.

2

* Arabie, p. 348.

+ Diodorus, 1. 3. p. 174.

tions which prevailed among the people upon the coast, that the Red-sea upon a time retired in a wonderful manner, and left the channel dry. The region also will often bear witness for itself. For when travellers arrive at that part of the bay where the Israelites are supposed after their transit to have been engaged, they find names of places, and other memorials which greatly illustrate and confirm the sacred history. It is said, that they came into the region of Etham, which is still called Etti, the inhabitants of which were the Autæi of Pliny. Here also at this day is the wilderness of Sdur and Sin, and the region of Paran. Beyond Corondel is a hill called Gibel Al* Marah, and the coast downward seems to have the same name as it had of old, from the bitter waters with which it still abounds; the inhabitants of which were probably the Maranæi of Pliny. The names of Elath and Midian also remain, and are mentioned by 3 Abulfeda. Below this region are

1

I Niebuhr, above.

2

Pocock, p. 156. Shaw, 349. Not far from hence the desert still called Sin, p. 350.

3 Geog. Gr. Minores, v. 3. p. 73. He also alludes to the people of Teman, p. 43.

the palm-trees and the twelve wells of water in Elim-So Moses brought Israel from the Redsea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah; for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.Here the Lord shewed to Moses a tree, which he cast into the waters, and they were made sweet. And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm-trees: and they encamped there by the waters. Exod. xv. 22, 23, 27. This encampment was towards the lower part of the bay; and after the Israelies had been journeying from their place of passage several days. For they were three days without water, and upon the fourth they came to Marah, and sometime afterward arrived at ' Elim. Diodorus Siculus gives an account of this palm grove, as it was described by Ariston, who was sent by Ptolemy to descry the coast of Arabia upon the Red-sea. He calls it the Phoenicon, and says that it lay upon the western side of the desert, at some distance from an island denominated Phocarum

• Exodus xv. 27.

2 Diodorus 1. 3. p. 175.

Insula, the same which is now called Tiran; consequently the grove Phoenicon must have been towards that part of the bay. The place was held in great reverence on account of these palms, which grew there in great numbers; and a man and a woman were constituted as a priest and priestess to preside there. All the country around is exposed to violent heats, and is destitute of good water. But in this spots ολίγαι πηγαι και λιβαδες εκπιπ τουσιν εν αὐτῷ, ψυχροτητι χιόνος εδεν λειπομενοι there are a number of springs, and scantlings of water, which fall as cool to the taste as snow. Just above this part of the desert he places the Maranæi. These were the ancient inhabi

1 Diodurus above. See also Agatharchides Geog. Græci Min. v. 1. p. 57.

→ Diodorus Sic. 1. 3. p. 175.

3 In these names, I think, we may see traces of the an cient Marah, as well as of the Gerandæni, in Corondel; which probably was denominated from the latter people. The engravings upon the rocks seem still to remain, as such were seen by Mons. Monconys just in this part of the desert, as he was returning from Mount Sinai. A la fin du valon il y a quantité de grosses roches; sur lesquelles il y a des characteres gravés, et des lignes entieres d'écriture: et à plusieurs des grandes il y a des huit, ou dix lignes: a mon avis ces lettres ont eté faites avec des eaux fortes; et non pas avec le ciseau ; tant à cause de la diverse couleur, qu'elles