zio RECOLLECTIONS OF FORTY YEARS. 



reached, and the result of our observations is that the 

 maritime canal, at the entrance to Suez, would receive, 

 in the course of twenty-four hours, a supply of ten 

 million cubic metres of water from the Eed Sea tides, 

 and that with this as well as with the waters of the 

 Mediterranean it will be easy to fill the basin of the 

 Bitter Lakes, which is to form an immense reservoir 

 holding two thousand million cubic metres of water. 

 This mass of water will suffice to feed the canal, and 

 will create, when the winds do not force it back, a 

 slight current towards the Mediterranean." 



" January 2, 1855. 



""We start at six, the wind being cold and unpleasant. 

 "We visit a second Persepolitan monument erroneously 

 called Serapeum, and we travel along the dyke of the 

 old canal, which now forms a road. At two o'clock we 

 reach the place where we form our third encampment, 

 near Lake Timsah (the Lake of Crocodiles), against 

 the bir (well) Abdullah. This place is called in Scrip- 

 ture Pi-hahiroth, which in Hebrew means the Valley of 

 Eeeds, and it is still called by a similar name in Arabic, 

 Oued-bet-el-Bouze. We are in the midst of the land of 

 Gessen (Goshen), and I may here quote the verses 

 from the Bible relating to this country, which we 

 shall visit to-morrow. 



" Genesis, chap. 46, v. 28. 'And he sent Judah 

 before him unto Joseph, to direct his face unto Goshen ; 

 and they came into the land of Goshen.' 



