24 EDOUAED NAVILLE ON 



where, until a few years ago, there was a bilingual tablet, 

 Egyptian and cuneiform, dedicated by King Darius, which 

 was most wantonly destroyed at the time of the digging of 

 the canal. This Migdol was a watchtower, and it was also a 

 protection against the raids of the nomads who, thanks to a 

 phenomenon which took place occasionally, found the sea open, 

 or could easily wade through, in order to pillage the royal 

 domains on the Egyptian side. As it was, it proved to be a 

 defence sufficiently effective to compel the nomads to ask 

 permission from the officials stationed there, when they wished 

 to pass for getting food for their cattle. 



Knowing now the exact site of Pithom and of the region 

 of Succoth, and the vicinity of the sea, which possibly 

 extended as far as Magfar ; having also determined con- 

 jecturally the sites of Pi Hahiroth, Baal Zephon, and Migdol, 

 let us revert to the narrative of Scripture. The Israelites are 

 dwelling in the Wadi Tumilat. From the original Goshen, the 

 territory allotted to them near Bubastis, they have spread in 

 the land of Rameses, on the east, as far as Pithom, which they 

 have built, and on the south towards Heliopolis. The recent 

 excavations made at Bubastis have shown that not only 

 under the Hyksos kings, but also at the time of Rameses II., 

 the city had a great importance : it probably was one of the 

 chief resorts of the kings in the Delta, and the starting point 

 of the expeditions to Syria and Palestine. I found there the 

 statue of one of the sons of the king who was the fifth in 

 the series, and who after the death of his elder brother 

 became first cavahy officer of his father, and chief of the 

 horse, meaning the chariots, which were an important part 

 of the Egyptian armies, while there seems to have been only 

 very little real cavalry. It was an officer of this rank who 

 had the command of the chariots which perished in the Red 

 Sea. Menephthah, the King of the Exodus, seems also to have 

 resided at Bubastis ; and it is quite possible that during the 

 events which preceded the departure of the Israelites, the 

 king was at Bubastis, very near the Israelites, and not at 

 Tanis, as was generally supposed. This circumstance would 

 considerably shorten the distances, and make the narrative 

 more intelligible. 



"And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to 

 Succoth." * We have seen before that the site of the city of 

 Rameses has not yet been determined; it must have been 

 somewhere east of Saft el-Henneh, near Tell el-Kebir. 



* Exodus xii., 37. 



