Poole, Reginald S.: The cities of Egypt (London, 1882)

MIGDOL.

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caravan route to Palestine now passes to the north of
the lake. It is the old Egyptian military road. This
is attested by the mounds which define its course, the
remains of the ancient stations. Obviously the Pharaohs
would have chosen the best line of march, north of the
Red Sea, and so between the two seas.

A word must be said of the Mediterranean and the
lakes which are fed by it and by the Nile, the great back-
waters on the northern coast, for the route of the Exodus
must have depended on the condition of the country
between the starting-point and the sea to be crossed.
Here again we see a startling change of level. The rise
of the land on the south of the Isthmus of Suez has been
balanced by a fall on the north. We have said that Lake
Menzeleh has swallowed up the populous and fertile tract
which once stretched around the meres from which it has
grown, and along the Nile streams. But to show that
there is no conjecture here we must speak for a moment
of the recent geological history of the northern part of
the Delta.

In spite of the change within, the coast-line of the
Mediterranean seems to have scarcely varied in historical
times. The depression has taken place in the long range