UNIV. OF of Baideah, is the desert, as it is called, of Sdur, the same with Shur, Exod. xv. 22. where the Israelites landed, after they had passed through the interjacent gulf of the Red Sea. The situation of this gulf, which is the Jam Suph, 1', the weedy sea, or the tongue of the Egyptian Sea, in the Scripture language, the gulf of Heroopolis in the Greek and Latin geography, and the western arm, as the Arabian geographers call it, of the sea of Kolzum*, stretches itself nearly N. and S. and therefore lies very properly situated † to be traversed by that strong east wind which was sent to divide it, Exod. xiv. 21. The division that was thus made in the channel, the making the waters of it to stand on a heap, (Psal. lxxviii. 13.) their being a wall to the Israelites on the right hand and on the left, (Exod. xiv. 22.) besides the twenty miles distance at least of this passage from the extremity of the gulf, are circumstances which sufficiently vouch for the miraculousness of it, and no less contradict all such idle suppositions as * Sues vulgo non habet Abulfeda, sed ejus loco Alkolzum : videntur tamen duo loca distincta: nam noster Kalkashandi mox post Sues ponit Alkolzum ad meridiem ejusdem Sues in litore Ægyptiaco: at vero Mekrisi expresse ait Alkolzum esse dirutum et loco ejus hodie Sues esse. V. c. Joh. Gagn. Not. in Abulf. Geogr. Ad oram extimam brachii orientalis maris Alkolzum sita est Ailah, et ad oram extimam brachii occidentalis fuit urbs Alkolzum; utriusque latitudines ferme eædem sunt. Vid. Abulf. Descrip. Maris Alkolzum.---Haud procul ab Alkolzum est locus in mari ubi demersus fuit Faraone. Id.---Alkolzum, or Kolzum without the article, seems to have some affinity with Clysma, another name that this gulf was formerly known by. The same is laid down by Philostorgius, 1. iii. c. 6. † Vid. Golii not. in Alfarganum. as pretend to account for it from the nature and quality of tides, or from any such extraordinary recess of the sea, as it seems to have been too rashly compared to by Josephus *. In travelling from Sdur towards Mount Sinai, we come into the desert, as it is still called, of Marah, where the Israelites met with those bitter waters, or waters of Marah, Exod. xv. 23. And as this circumstance did not happen till after they had wandered three days in the wilderness, we may probably fix these waters at Corondel, where there is still a small rill, which, unless it be diluted by the dews and rain, still continues to be brackish. Near this place, the sea forms itself into a large bay, called Berk el Corondel t, i. e. the lake of Corondel, which is remarkable for a strong current that sets into it from the northward, particularly at the recess of the tide. The Arabs, agreeably to the interpretation of Kolzum, their name for this sea, preserve a tradition that a numerous host was formerly drowned at this place; occasioned, no doubt, by what is related Ex. xiv. 30. that the Israelites saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore; i. e. all along, as we may presume, from Sdur to Corondel; and at Corondel especially, from the assistance and termination of the current, as it has been already mentioned. There is nothing further remarkable, till we see the Israelites encamped at Elim, (Exod. xv. 27. Numb. xxxiii. 9.) upon the northern skirts of Jos. Antiq. 1. ii. c. 7. + Note, p. 100. of the desert of Sin, two leagues from Tor, and near thirty from Corondel. I saw no more than nine of the twelve wells that are mentioned by Moses; the other three being filled up by those drifts of sand which are common in Arabia. Yet this loss is amply made up by the great increase in the palm trees, the seventy having propagated themselves into more than two thousand. Under the shade of these trees, is the Hammam Mousa, or bath of Moses, particularly so called, which the inhabitants of Tor have in great esteem and veneration; acquainting us, that it was here where the household of Moses was encamped. We have a distinct view of Mount Sinai from Elim; the wilderness, as it is still called, of Sin (a) lying betwixt them. We traversed these plains in nine hours, being all the way diverted with the sight of a variety of lizards and vipers, that are here in great numbers. We were afterwards near twelve hours in passing the many windings and difficult ways, which lie betwixt these deserts and those of Sinai. The latter consist of a beautiful plain, more than a league in breadth, and nearly three in length, lying open towards the N. E. where we enter it, but is closed up to the southward by some of the lower eminences of Mount Sinai. In this direction, likewise, the higher parts of this mountain make such encroachments upon the plain, that they divide it into two, each of them capacious enough to receive the whole encampment of the Israel VOL. II. ites. ites. That which lies to the eastward, may be the desert of Sinai, properly so called, where Moses saw the angel of the Lord in the burning bush, when he was guarding the flocks of Jethro, Exod. iii. 2. The convent of St Catharine is built over the place of this divine appearance. It is near ccc feet square, and more than XL in height, being built partly with stone, partly with mud and mortar mixed together. The more immediate place of the Shekinah is honoured with a little chapel, which this old fraternity of St Basil has in such esteem and veneration, that, in imitation of Moses, they put off their shoes from off their feet whenever they enter it. This, with several other chapels dedicated to particular saints, are included within the church, as they call it, of the transfiguration, which is a large beautiful structure, covered with lead, and supported by two rows of marble columns. The floor is very elegantly laid out in a variety of devices in Mosaic work. Of the same tesselated workmanship likewise, are both the floor and the walls of the presbyterium; upon the latter whereof is represented the effigies of the emperor Justinian, together with the history of the transfiguration. Upon the partition which separates the presbyterium from the body of the church, there is placed a small marble shrine, wherein are preserved the skull, and one of the hands of St Catherine; the rest of the sacred body having been bestowed, at different times, upon such Christian princes as |