THE ROUTE OP THE EXODUS. 27 



receded under the influence of the wind. " The Lord caused 

 the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night, and 

 made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided/'* It 

 has often been noticed by travellers in Egypt, that under the 

 influence of a strong wind the sea recedes sometimes for a 

 great distance, and comes back again to its former bed when 

 the wind ceases or changes its direction. This phenomenon 

 is not rare iu Lake Menzaleh, which communicates with the 

 sea ; in Lake Bourlos, or even along the track of sand which 

 lines the Mediterranean on the east of the Suez Canal to- 

 wards the Syrian coast. There is nothing extraordinary in 

 this taking place in the part of the sea between Lake 

 Timsah and the Bitter Lakes; there the slow rising of the 

 ground, which in later times cat off Lake Timsah from the 

 Bitter Lakes, was already being felt ; the sea must have been 

 shallow and probably not very wide. I should even go 

 further, and say that it had been known before that this 

 phenomenon occurred at that particular spot, and that this is 

 the reason why the spot is pointed out so exactly to Moses ; 

 that is also, in my opinion, the reason why the Pharaohs 

 built there a khetem, or stronghold. I imagine that the 

 result of the action of a strong wind was, in most cases, 

 to cause the water to recede, and to create there a temporary 

 and occasional ford, which people could easily wade through, 

 as was seen north of Suez, at the end of the present lied 

 Sea, before the canal was dug. As the wind in lowering 

 the depth of the water could sometimes create a passage, it 

 was necessary to close it ; and, for this purpose the Pharaohs 

 built there a watch tower, a Migdol, in order that the 

 nomads coming from the desert, and who might be attracted 

 by the rich pastures of Pithom, could not pass without being 

 seen. 



To the action of the wind we must add that of the tide, 

 which is now felt in the Bitter Lakes. As for the wind alone, 

 its effects on the sea are known in Egypt to the present day. 

 That it should affect shallow water in a flat country is 

 easily intelligible. Much more striking instances of the 

 power of the wind compelling even a strong current to stop 

 for a certain time have occurred elsewhere, and especially 

 in my native country. On the title page of a book 

 printed at Geneva in 1495, and which is called "Le Fardelet 

 hystorial" (Htt., the historical bundle), one reads the following 



* Exodus xiv., 21. 



