230 On llic Arabian Fiontier of Egypt. 



( Succoth ] r Ethani or Pithom,* 1 ■, „,. „*•+„,. „i,;„4^:„„ 

 (Scen^ ^"-^ tThoumorPatumos,] ^^^"^^""**"^^^'"^'"^ 



the neighbourhood of | rr^^f ^' v , \ they turned out of 



the second and only remaining frontier route, and re-en- 

 tered the wilderness, t to encamp in face of the heights of 



r Baal-zephon, | , ^j^^ ^^^ . ^^^ ^^^^^ 



I rort JDaneon and Iberapeum, J •' 



ceive by the map,J that, if they left this, their last encamp- 

 ment, in the morning, just as the host of Pharaoh appeared 

 in sight, an easy day's journey would bring them to a spot 

 which satisfies all the conditions required by the Mosaic 

 narrative of the passage of the Red Sea.§ This spot is ex- 

 actly opposite the unidentified ruins where the Persepolitan 

 remains were seen ; at the northern end of the great shoal, 

 separating the upper gulf-basin from the present Gulf of 

 Suez, and about 12 geographical miles, or a day's journey, 

 from the site to which, hitherto, the passage of the Israelites 

 has most generally been referred. The strait, there, can 

 hardly have been more than two miles wide, which would 

 admit of the whole army crossing over " before the morning 

 watch,'' " when the sea returned to its strength." The pass 

 is even now 10 feet below the level of the Red Sea. It 

 may not have gained materially in height since this memor- 

 able event; as the southern end of the shoal was the one 

 most exposed to the effects of the accumulations, which finally 

 cut oif the sea from the gulf-basin. In the time of Moses, 

 the sea there must have been much too deep to be fordable 

 under owy ordinary circumstances. But on this one moment- 

 ous occasion, when the effects of a supernatural strong wind|| 

 were permitted, by the manifest interposition of Divine 

 Providence, to combine with the excessive tides of the 

 equinoctial season, the entire strait must have been laid dry 

 xmder so unsual and unexpected a combination of circum- 

 stances, which it required a miraculous special interference 

 to produce, and a no less miraculous special guidance to be, 

 like Moses, prepared for. 



- Exod. xiii. 20. t lb. xiv. 1-9. J Fide, Plate IV. 



§ Vide, Section 1 Plate V. |1 Exod. xiv. 21-27. 



