270 MAJOE-GENEEAL TULLOCH, C.B.^ C.M.G., ON 



of crossing ; but a glance at the Admiralty chart will show 

 that at the present time the depth of water is 12 to 15 feet, 

 and formerly must have been much more ; but putting this 

 great depth on one side, from the direction of the narrows, 

 an east wind would have little or no effect on the water 

 there. 



All things considered, the broad shallows at the then 

 head of the Red Sea, viz., the north end of the Bitter 

 Lake, where, as now, there would be no tidal influence, 

 is the only place where the position of the Avater and its 

 depth could be affected by an east wind in the manner so 

 distinctly stated in Exodus xiv, 21. There is another reason 

 for Pharaoh's conclusion on hearing that the Israelites were 

 moving south, and that consequently "the wilderness had 

 shut them in," viz., the want of water. The fresh water 

 canal already referred to terminated at some port at the 

 then head of the Red Sea, and up to this point water would 

 be available, but beyond that none would be forthcoming 

 till the Israelites arrived at Marah on the other side of the 

 Red Sea. Now, even supposing that the crossing had been 

 made at the lower end of the Bitter Lake, that would be 

 at least three marches from the end of the fresh water canal, 

 to which another two marches must be added to arrive at 

 Marah. One well-known Egyptologist, Dr. Sayce, assumes 

 that the Red Sea at the time of the Exodus terminated as it 

 does now at Suez, and that the remains of the ancient canal 

 there was a fresh water one at the time referred to. The 

 Admiralty chart and official survey of the delta are alone 

 sufficient to show from the direction of the ruins that the 

 canal was a salt water one connecting the Red Sea with the 

 Bitter Lake for navigation purposes, and history states that 

 it was made in the time of Darius, on account of the old 

 channel silting up. 



The eastern portion of the delta, formerly irrigated by the 

 Tanitic and Pelusiac branches of the Nile, was in the time 

 of the Exodus a very fertile district, with Tanis (Zoan) as 

 its capital. Here, as recorded in the seventy-eighth Psalm, 

 Moses disputed before Pharaoh with the Egyptian Magicians. 

 Immediately south of that part of the country was the land 

 of Goshen, inhabited by the Israehtes, It may be men- 

 tioned that the first fight in the 1882 Campaign took place 

 at Tel-Mashkuta, apparently the eastern boundary of the 

 ancient land of Goshen, and the last fight at Tel-el-Kebir, 

 probably not far from the western boundary of the same 



