234 TRAVELS TO DISCOVER 



were then fuppofed to flee without a view of returning, be- 

 caufe they had left the way of the defert ; and therefore 

 Pharaoh, that he might induce the Egyptians to follow 

 them, tells them that the Ifraelites were now entangled a- 

 mong the mountains, and the wildernefs behind them, 

 which was really the cafe, when they encamped at Pihahi- 

 roth, before, or fouth of Baal-Zephon, between Migdol and 

 the fea. Here, then, before Migdol, the fea was divided, 

 and they paffed over dry fhod to the wildernefs of Shur, 

 which was immediately oppofite to them; a fpace fome- 

 thing lefs than four leagues, and fo eaiily accomplifhed in 

 one night, without any miraculous interpofition. 



Three days they were without water, which would bring 

 them to Korondel, where is a fpring of brackifh, or bitter 

 water, to this day, which probably were the waters ofMarah *. 



The natives ftill call this part of the fea Bahar Kolzum, 

 or the Sea of Deftru&ion ; and juft oppofite to Pihahiroth is 

 a bay, where the North Cape is called Ras Mufa, or the Cape 

 ofMofes, even now. Thefe arc the reafons why I believe 

 the paffage of the Ifraelites to have been in this direction. 

 There is about fourteen fathom of water in the channel, 

 and about nine in the fides, and good anchorage every 

 where ; the fartheft fide is a low fandy coaft, and a very 

 eafy landing-place. The draught of the bottom of the Gulf 

 given by Doctor Pococke is very erroneous, in every part of 

 it. 



It was propofed to Mr Niebuhr, when in Egypt, to in- 

 quire, upon the fpot, Whether there were not fome ridges 



of 



* Such is the tradition among the Natives. 



