THE ORIGIN OF THE SUEZ CANAL. 217 



"January 8, 1855. 



" At eight we start to make an excursion to the 

 ruins of Rameses, and we halt for a quarter of an hour 

 upon the hill where was Succoth, the first station of 

 the Israelites, and we reach the place whence they 

 started on their journey. There can be no longer any 

 doubt as to the site of Rameses since the discovery of 

 the statues which Linant, as you will see, has sketched 

 for me. The hieroglyphic inscriptions which are carved 

 on the blocks of granite, and which have been trans- 

 lated, explain that the figures represent Rhamses II. 

 (Sesostris) and his two sons. The ground is strewn 

 with fragments of the ancient bricks the making of 

 which rendered the lives of the Israelites so * bitter 

 with hard bondage '(Exodus, chap. 1, v. 14.). 



" We breakfast in the presence of Sesostris, and 

 return to camp after having followed a part of the 

 ancient canal connecting the Nile and the Red Sea." 



" January 4, 1855. 



" We start at seven to go round Lake Timsah in a 

 westerly direction. We mark the site of Baalsephon 

 upon a hill at the foot of which the main canal will 

 pass. The sky becomes covered with clouds and the 

 sand begins to whirl around the bushes, and as we are 

 threatened with a tempest similar to that under cover 

 of which the Israelites escaped from the chariots of the 

 Egyptians, we hasten back to camp." 



