THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA BY THE ISRAELITES. 271 



district. From the position of Tel-el-Kebir (the great 

 mound) it is quite possible that when excavations are 

 made it will be found to be Rameses. 



It may be asked how it is that such a fertile part of 

 Egypt as that referred to is now a swamp or a desert? 

 There were two causes which eventually brought about 

 this result, viz., bad government which neglected the 

 defence of Egypt and allowed it to be conquered by 

 eastern nations ; and then in time of war and hostile 

 occupation there would be no money forthcomiug to 

 maintain the great public irrigation and drainage works 

 necessary to keep clear the Pelusiac and Tanitic Nile 

 branches. Consequently these would gradually silt up, 

 and then the fertile land would become a desert or a 

 swamp according to its elevation. Another cause would 

 also operate to close the Nile branches, viz., the strong 

 easterly gales in winter which brought such masses of 

 drift sand from the desert, and which have helped to fill 

 up not only the ancient eastern bi'anches of the Nile, but 

 have also closed the channel of communication between 

 the former northern extension ot the ancient Red Sea 

 (now the Bitter Lakes) and the present limit of the Red 

 iSea at Suez. This, as already stated, was reopened by 

 Darius, but the passage was subsequently again closed 

 by drift sand. A vague statement that there must liave 

 been a modern upheaval of the land near Suez has found 

 favour with some travellers, but a careful examination of 

 the ground will undoubtedly prove that drift sand, and 

 drift sand only, has raised the level of the ground. The 

 cuttings now being made to increase the width of the south 

 end of the Canal just below Lake Timsah show curious strata 

 which are well worth examining. 



Very little is yet known of the history of Egypt at the 

 time the Israplites first arrived, excepting that the delta 

 was occupied by the Hyksos or shepherds, who, coming from 

 the eastward, had conquered the Egyptians. A Hyksos 

 Pharaoh ruled in Lower Egypt with probably an Egyptian 

 Governor at Thebes. The shepherd race naturally gave a 

 cordial welcome to a handful ot distressed people, evidently 

 their kinsfolk, who followed the same occupation, viz., that 

 of shepherds (Genesis xlvi, 32), but when the Egyptians 

 succeeded in throwing off the yoke of the Hyksos, the new 

 Pharaoh would naturally be no friend of the Israelites. 



Turning now to Bible history, it is recorded that the 



