DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12664#0253
242
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
shore of the sea. It is admitted that from the
earliest history of the country, there was a caravan
route from the Rameseh of the Pharaohs to this
spot, and it was perfectly clear to my mind that,
if the account be true at all, Moses had taken that
route; that it was directly opposite me, between
the two mountains, where he had come down with
his multitude to the shore, and that it was there he
had found himself hemmed in, in the manner de-
scribed in the Bible, with the sea before him, and
the armv of Pharaoh in his rear ; it was there he
had stretched out his hand and divided the waters;
and probably on the very spot where I sat, the
children of Israel had kneeled upon the sands to
offer thanks to God for his miraculous interpo-
sition. The distance, too, was in confirmation of
this opinion. It was about twenty miles across ;
the distance which that immense multitude, with
their necessary baggage, could have passed in the
space of time (a night) mentioned in the Bible.
Besides my own judgment and conclusions, I had
authority on the spot, in my Bedouin Toualeb,
who talked of it with as much certainty as if he
had seen it himself; and, by the waning light of the
moon, pointed out the metes and bounds according
to the tradition received from his fathers. " And
even yet," said he, "on a still evening like this, or
sometimes when the sea is raging, the ghosts of
the departed Egyptians are seen walking upon the .
waters; and once, when, after a long day's jour-
ney, I lay down with my camels on this very spot,
I saw the ghost of Pharaoh himself, with the crown
INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL.
shore of the sea. It is admitted that from the
earliest history of the country, there was a caravan
route from the Rameseh of the Pharaohs to this
spot, and it was perfectly clear to my mind that,
if the account be true at all, Moses had taken that
route; that it was directly opposite me, between
the two mountains, where he had come down with
his multitude to the shore, and that it was there he
had found himself hemmed in, in the manner de-
scribed in the Bible, with the sea before him, and
the armv of Pharaoh in his rear ; it was there he
had stretched out his hand and divided the waters;
and probably on the very spot where I sat, the
children of Israel had kneeled upon the sands to
offer thanks to God for his miraculous interpo-
sition. The distance, too, was in confirmation of
this opinion. It was about twenty miles across ;
the distance which that immense multitude, with
their necessary baggage, could have passed in the
space of time (a night) mentioned in the Bible.
Besides my own judgment and conclusions, I had
authority on the spot, in my Bedouin Toualeb,
who talked of it with as much certainty as if he
had seen it himself; and, by the waning light of the
moon, pointed out the metes and bounds according
to the tradition received from his fathers. " And
even yet," said he, "on a still evening like this, or
sometimes when the sea is raging, the ghosts of
the departed Egyptians are seen walking upon the .
waters; and once, when, after a long day's jour-
ney, I lay down with my camels on this very spot,
I saw the ghost of Pharaoh himself, with the crown