FROM SUEZ TO SINAI.' 



25a 



The greater part of Sunday (March 10th) was spent quietly 

 in camp in the Wadi Gharandel, and here our Bedouin servants 

 refilled the water barrels. Although there were signs that a 

 powerful river sometimes ran through the wadi, the only means 

 we found of obtaining water was by digging small wells, and 

 then the water was very brackish. 



On the next day we reached Wadi Uset, one of the three 

 traditional sites of Elim. The other two sites that have been 

 claimed are Ayun Musa and Wadi Gharandel. As to the 

 last-named place, the absence of tall palm trees (though 

 it abounds in stunted palms and tamarisks) makes it unlike 

 anything we had pictured in our minds for Elim ; and Ayun 

 Musa may be dismissed as too near the passage of the Eed 

 Sea. The other spot, Wadi Uset, though smaller, has several 

 fine tall palms, and is altogether more what we expected, and is 

 truly a lovely spot. 



Passing Wadi et-Tal, we turn south-west down the Wadi 

 Tayyibeh(" Pleasant Valley" — or "Fruitful "), between limestone 

 cliffs which throw out a terrible glare of heat. Here we came upon 

 an oasis of palms with water running for a short distance and 

 then disappearing in the sand, but brackish and unpleasant. It 

 was to us a grateful change from the glare of our desert marches. 

 Green caper bushes cling to the face of the vertical cliffs, and 

 the scenery is very wild and grand. 



We see on our left a fine bluff of lava and conglomerate, 

 interspersed with bright bands of black, red, and brown, and in 

 four miles come to the mouth of Wadi Tayyibeh, where it opens 

 on the seashore, on the plain Er-Markha. Here, somewhere 

 on this plain, was the " Encampment by the Sea " of the 

 Israelites, We walked down to the sea, which looked so near 

 but, as a fact, was one and a-half miles off'. It was perhaps 

 necessary that the Israelites should thus be brought down to the 

 sea again after many days' wandering on the desert plains with 

 only bitter and brackish water, to be reminded of the mighty 

 works which God had so lately done for them in delivering them 

 from the hosts of Pharaoh. 



The absence of all signs of animal life was very striking. 

 We had thus far seen only about six black " ravens " or hawks, 

 and a very few, perhaps six, small birds, in three and a-half 

 days' journey. And the only plant life, except in the Oasis 

 Gharandel consisted of stunted, scrubby, greyish-white plants 

 which camels eat for want of anything better. 



As our journey proceeded, so the landscape became more 

 interesting. Thus, on Tuesday, March 12th, in the early morning,, 



