MEMOIR OF BURCKHARDT. 109 



and different encampments of the chosen race, have 

 hecome too obscure, through time and change, to 

 be traced with accuracy. That it must have been 

 in the neighbourliood of Suez is obvious, as the 

 breadth of tlie Gulf lower d(nvn is too great (ten 

 or twelve leagues) to have been traversed by the 

 Hebrew fugitives in a single night, with so many 

 encumbrances as they carried with them. 



This is the opinion of Burckhardt, and of nu- 

 merous other oriental travellers. Referring to the 

 distance, and comparing natural facts with the 

 statements of the Bible, he comes to the following 

 conclusion : — " In moving with a whole nation, the 

 march (about forty miles) may Avell be supposed to 

 have occupied three days ; and the bitter well at 

 Marah corresponds exactly with that of Howara. 

 This is the usual route to Mount Sinai, and was 

 probably therefore that which the Israelites took 

 on their escape from Egypt ; provided it be admit- 

 ted that they crossed the Red Sea near Suez, as 

 Niebuhr (the Danish traveller) with good reason 

 conjectures. There is no other road of three days' 

 march on the way from Suez towards Sinai ; nor is 

 there any other well absolutely bitter, on the whole 

 of this coast, as far as Ras Mohammed. The com- 

 plaints of the bitterness of the water by the children 

 of Israel, w^ho had been accustomed to the sweet 

 water of the Nile, are such as may be daily heard 

 from the Egyptian servants and peasants who travel 

 in Arabia." 



With respect to the means employed by Moses 



