24 PEOF. FLINDERS PETRIE, D.C.L., ON RESEARCHES IX SINAI. 



be congratulated on the success of his Labours, supplemented Ity 

 those of his wife and trained Staff. 



It was a happy thought when the author determined to 

 transfer his work to the wilderness of Sinai from " the green 

 plains of Egypt." The hope of doing so existed from the time 

 of his first visit to Egypt twenty-six years previously, and 

 while engaged in his excavations in the Xile valley, he often 

 cast a wistful eye towards that mysterious mountain region 

 lying to the east of the Xile and the Gulf of Suez described in 

 more or less detail by previous explorers, of which the late 

 Sir C. W. Wilson, Professor Palmer, Captain Eaymond Neill, 

 and others, including the writer of this paper, had published 

 reports of discoveries. As the land of the Exodus, the region 

 received an additional interest ; and it is gratifying to know that 

 the author is able to tlirow fresii light on the lUblical narrative 

 of that wonderful migration of the early Israelite host, and to 

 clear up some doubtful questions connected with the numbering 

 of the Tribes, which have hitherto given rise to adverse, though 

 not unfair, criticism. To this subject the author devotes an 

 entire chapter (xiv), in which he shows that the large numlier 

 of the Israelites at the time of the Exodus, as given in the Author- 

 ised Version, results from a probably incorrect translation of the 

 Hebrew word Alf, which has two meanings, either a thousand " 

 or " a group or family" ; so if we adopt the latter meaning, that 

 of a " family " or tent, each tent holding on an average 9"3 persons, 

 the total number is reduced to about 5,550 persons, a number 

 which is (juite consistent with the events both before and after 

 the crossing of the Eed Sea.* 



While on this subject it is gratifying to know that Professor 

 Petrie holds the view that at the time of the Exodus the Eed 

 Sea extended northwards from Suez so as to include the Bitter 

 Lakes, a view whicii I have advocated ever since my visit to 

 tliis country.f There has, therefore, been a slight elevation of 

 the land since this historic period, owhig to which the sea has 

 receded to its present limit at Suez. The " passage," therefore, 

 was mode to the north of this place, in a poeition now cut 



* Tliis explanation has been contested by an able writer in tlie 

 Saturda>f Review, Jn)y 21st, 1906. The statements of that writer are 

 incorrect. The exact meaning of alf in modern Arabic, where we can 

 en(|uire tlie meaning, is a group of ^>e/*,sY>?js, united^ hut not iivmerous^ 

 whicli agrees well to a tent group of family and servants. The same root 

 is in Hebrew and Assyrian. 



t This view is advanced by Sir W. Dawson {Modern Science in Dihle 

 Lands) and by the writer. See " The Passage of the Red Sea," by Major- 

 (ion. '] ullock, Tram. Vict. Inst., vol. xxviii, p. 277, etc. 



