.04 of an inch square. Perhaps at Tor we may meet them.”
“I perceive, captain, that this is not the first time you have traversed the Red Sea.”
“No.”
“Well, as you were speaking just now of the passage of the Israelites, and the destruction of the Egyptians, I would ask if any submarine traces of this fact have been discovered?”
“No, Monsieur, and for a very excellent reason.”
“What is that?”
“Because the spot where Moses crossed over with his people is now so silted up that camels can scarcely bathe their limbs there. Even my Nautilus could not float in that spot.”
“And where is the place?”
“It is situated a little below the Isthmus of Suez, in the arm that formerly formed a deep estuary at the time when the Red Sea extended to the Salt Lakes. Now, whether this passage was miraculous or not, the Israelites did not the less pass there to gain the Promised Land, and the army of Pharaoh perished at that identical spot. I think, therefore, that excavations into these sands would be successful in discovering a quantity of ancient Egyptian arms and accoutrements.”
“No doubt,” I replied, “and it is to be hoped, for archæologists, that these excavations will be made when towns shall be built upon the isthmus after the construction of the Suez Canal. A very useless canal for such a ship as the Nautilus.”
“I daresay; but very useful to the world in general,” replied Captain Nemo. “The ancients understood the utility of establishing a water communication between the
