1 
THROUGH THE RED SEA. 355 
which six hundred thousand men, their children, and cattle, could 
reach the sea from Egypt. Sicard and others have believed this to 
be the line of their march, but I am inclined to the conjecture of 
Niebuhr, that Attake was the southern boundary of their journey. 
To place this in a clearer light, it will be necessary to ascertain, 
whence the Children of Israel began their journey, and to consider 
the account given of their movements by Moses. The ancient 
metropolis of Lower Egypt was On, or Heliopolis, and there it is 
probable the Pharaohs resided in the time of Joseph. Joseph 
placed his brethren in a part of the country named Goshen, but 
which is afterwards called Ramesses. In the 46th ch. of Genesis, 
it is said that Joseph went up to meet Israel his father to Goshen ; 
which is translated in the Septuagint %oi.^* YL^taoav ttoXiv, eig yviv ^PaiJLsa-crTj. 
Monsieur Du Bois Ayme, in a paper read before the Institute of 
Egypt, very justly observes, that, as this translation was made by 
the Seventy only fifty years after the Macedonians had established 
themselves, the Egyptian names must have been still known, and 
consequently, that we are perfectly safe in believing Heroopolis to 
have been situated in the land of Ramesses, or Goshen. 
To fix the position of Heroopolis is rather difficult, in conse- 
quence of the apparently contradictory assertions of ancient authors. 
Moses, in the text above referred to, clearly shews that it was on 
the direct road from Canaan to Heliopolis, while Strabo speaks of 
it as being near to Arsinoe, and at the top of the gulf called Heroo- 
politan. To reconcile these assertions in any degree, the Arabian 
Gulf must have formerly extended much farther north than it does 
now, or a considerable latitude must be allowed to the expression 
of Strabo. 
VOL. III. z z 
