THE EOUTE OP THE EXODUS. 29 



In the case of the Israelites, Scripture relates in the plainest 

 words what occurred : in a place where, as I said, the water 

 was shallow, a strong east wind opened the sea and made a 

 way through which the people passed. The mountains of 

 water which are mentioned seem to indicate that there was 

 a current of some kind which must have been produced by 

 the tide. It has been objected that an east wind would have 

 driven the water towards the Israelites, and not opened the 

 sea, as the wind never acts as a wedge.* It may be 

 answered that here we must not take the word east as 

 meaning east sharp ; it is much more likely south-east, the 

 well known Khamseen, which blows frequently at that time 

 of the year, and often changes direction in the course of the 

 day from east to south-west. f The Septuagint translate 

 ave/xos votos, and the Vulgate ventus urens. In my opinion, 

 which I express only as a conjecture, the Khamseen acted 

 on the tide as the wind did on the Rhone, it stopped the cur- 

 rent, 1 should say the ebb, and prevented the water from 

 flowing. In the morning, the wind ceasing suddenly, the 

 water took its level violently, and swept off everything 

 winch was on its way. 



In the description given above of what to my mind seems 

 to have been the route chosen by the Israelites, there is a 

 point which I consider as very important : it shortens con- 

 siderably the distances over which they had to travel. We 

 have seen that it was quite possible that Pharaoh was at 

 Bubastis when he received the visits of Moses and Aaron. 

 The city of Rameses was in the Wady Tumilat, not far from 

 Tell el-Kebir ; iSuccoth was the district around Tell el-Mask- 

 hutah ; and the place where they crossed the Red Sea was 

 about fifteen or seventeen miles south of Succoth. The 

 whole covers a space which in width was not more than forty 

 miles. I consider the distance to be one of the chief objections 

 to the place proposed by Prof. Ebers for the crossing of the 

 sea, immediately north of Suez. Besides, this opinion is open 

 to the same objection as the place advocated by Sir William 

 Dawson, the southern part of the Bitter Lakes, viz., the 

 Israelites would have had to pass over the ridge of Gebel 

 Geneffe, of no inconsiderable height, and no easy access. In 

 travelling by railway from Ismailia to Suez, before reaching 

 the Bitter Lakes, the way seems entirely closed by the Gebel 

 Geneffe and its highest summit the Peak Chebrewet. The 



* Dillmann, "Exodus," p. 150. 

 t Linant, 1.1., p. 207. 



