were then supposed to flee without a view of returning, because they had left the way of the desert; and therefore Pharaoh, that he might induce the Egyptians to follow them, tells them that the Israelites were now entangled among the mountains, and the wilderness behind them, which was really the case, when they encamped at Pihahiroth, before, or south of Baal-Zephon, between Migdol and the sea. Here, then, before Migdol, the sea was divided, and they passed over dry shod to the wilderness of Shur, which was immediately opposite to them; a space something less than four leagues, and so easily accomplished in one night, without any miraculous interposition.
Three days they were without water, which would bring them to Korondel, where is a spring of brackish, or bitter water, to this day, which probably were the waters of Marah *[1].
The natives still call this part of the sea Bahar Kolzum, or the Sea of Destruction; and just opposite to Pihahiroth is a bay, where the North Cape is called Ras Musa, or the Cape of Moses, even now. These are the reasons why I believe the passage of the Israelites to have been in this direction. There is about fourteen fathom of water in the channel, and about nine in the sides, and good anchorage every where; the farthest side is a low sandy coast, and a very easy landing-place. The draught of the bottom of the Gulf given by Doctor Pococke is very erroneous, in every part of it.
It was proposed to Mr Niebuhr, when in Egypt, to inquire, upon the spot, whether there were not some ridges
- ↑ * Such is the tradition among the Natives.
