THE PASSAGE OF THE EED SEA BY THE ISRAELITES. Zto 



For 8ome time it was believed that Tel-Mashkuta was the 

 site of Rameses, and it was so marked on all maps for many 

 years. On the supposition that such was correct, I wrote to 

 the Standard in 1883, under the signature of "Nemo," 

 giving a short account of my observations the previous 

 year, but my letter was more particularly written in order 

 to draw attention to the wouderfid dynamic effect of strong 

 wind on large expanses of shallow water, in the hope that 

 some person, capable of doing so, would make further in- 

 vestigations in regard to its bearing upon the passage of 

 the Red Sea as mentioned in Exodus ; the effect of the 

 letter is unknown, except that it was referred to in some so- 

 called religious publications, not always in complimentary 

 terms. 



In 1883, however, the Egyptian Exploration Fund was 

 established, especially to examine the mounds in the delta, 

 and in the district of the old land of Goshen. The first 

 explorer sent out by the Society was Monsieur Naville. 

 who commenced at Tel-Mashkuta on the supposed site of 

 Rameses, and found that the mound was not the remains of 

 Rameses but those of Pithom, which was also Succoth. 

 Unfortunately, being abroad at the time M. Naville's book 

 on the subject was published, and busily engaged profes- 

 sionally, I have not yet seen it; however, a short time ago 

 I came across Miss Edwards' work on Egypt, and there 

 found some most interesting accounts of M. Maville's dis- 

 coveries at Tel-^Iahouta, or Mashkuta as it is now spelt. 

 She states as follows : " M. Naville found under the mounds 

 a great enclosing wall 24 feet thick containing the site of a 

 temple, and a space of 55,000 square yards filled with a 

 series of most curious subterranean structures entirely unlike 

 any architectural remains ever discovered in Egypt or else- 

 where. These subterranean store chambers, magazines, or 

 granaries, are solidly built square chambers of various sizes, 

 divided by massive partition walls about 10 feet in thick- 

 ness, without doors or any kind of communication ; evidently 

 destined to be filled and emptied from the top by means of 

 trap doors and ladders. Excepting the corner occupied b}* 

 the temple, the whole area of the great walled inclosure is 

 honey-combed with these cellars. The bricks are large and 

 are made of Nile mud pressed in a wooden mould and dried 

 in the sun ; also, they are bedded in icith mortar, which is not 

 connnon, the ordinary method being to bed them with mud, 

 which dries innnediately and holds almost as tenaciously as 



