xvi PREFACE TO SECOND SECTION 
upon the spot, and very inquisitive, and very- 
minute and diligent in his description;" and 
that " we cannot suppose him to have been 
grossly mistaken." Bryant believed that tlie 
whole space between the Pelusiac branch of 
the Nile and the Red Sea was such a sandy 
waste, that the Israelites never could have in- 
habited it: although he confesses that *' the 
Jeivs, who, during the Captivity, betook them- 
selves to this country, thought it no despicable 
spot to settle in :" and although the present 
cities of Old and Neiu Cairo, by their situation, 
prove that this district has now the preference, 
he asserts that there were '' no Nomes, nor 
places of any repute," in that part of Egypt *. 
" AVhen they were occupied," says he -, " it 
was chiefly by foreigners, who obtained leave 
of the princes of Egypt to take up their habi- 
tation within them." Wherefore it should 
appear that the presumed allotment of this ter- 
ritory to the Israelites would be strictly con- 
sistent with the antient usages of the countrv. 
< ouutries of which he was i^iioraut, from the report? and w ritin^s of 
others; as in the account he gives of j4rgolis in Pchponnesus, where 
he acknowledges this, and proves his want of information, by affirm- 
ing that there existed in hi^ time no remains of the city of Myccntr. 
(l) See Observations, Clc. p. loj). 
02) Ibid. p. 107. 
