bosom one might expect to see the foulness and damp of impurity, but he who has neither industry to learn nor elevated feeling to appreciate the productions of such minds, and who finds his lazy level in communion with the corrupting novels of Fielding or the poetry of Byron and Moore." The licentious poetry of antiquity is generally too gross and the drinking songs too insipid to excite the jaded appetite of the inebriate or inflame the passions of the sensualist, till dressed out in a modern suit. It is not probable that any student's imagination was ever fired and his drooping spirits roused for a drunken revel by reading the "Nunc est bibendum" of Horace, as they are by the delicate and insinuating address of that "sentimental fool" Tom Moore (as he is significantly named by the author of the Puritan): "Friend of my life this wine cup sip, or that other drinking song of Campbell: "Drink ye to her that each loves best," etc. Such sentiments are committed to memory by the student, and are garnered in the store-house of the soul as the choicest flow. ers of poesy," the beauties" of these admired authors. There, like a slow poison, they sap the moral constitution and gradually introduce moral death. Licentiousness when dressed in the simple costume of anti. quity has comparatively little to kindle unhallowed emotions, but, "tricked out in the tawdry finery of modern sensualism, with all the meretricious ornaments of a refined voluptuousness, it easily attracts the attention of the unsophisticated, decoys the unwary, and steals upon the prudent even in retirement." Thus the mind of the reader is debased, his imagination polluted, his passions inflamed, his appetites vitiated, and his soul ruined. SECOND SERIES, VOL. III. NO. II. 5 ARTICLE III. THE LAND OF GOSHEN, AND THE EXODUS OF THE ISRAELITES. By Edward Robinson, D. D., Prof. Bib. Lit. New-York Theol. Sem., New-York. To the Editor of the Biblical Repository: DEAR SIR, In the number of the Biblical Repository for Oct. 1832, Vol. II. p. 743, sq., there is an article by me on the Land of Goshen, and the miraculous passage of the Red Sea by the Israelites. That article was prepared with the best helps which were then accessible, particularly the Travels of Niebuhr and Burckhardt; and I am not aware that any better than these are yet extant. But having been permitted to visit the country in question in the spring of 1838, in company with the Rev. Eli Smith, the same subject naturally claimed a first place among the objects of our attention. We both entered upon the inquiry, I believe, with a sincere and earnest desire to arrive only at the truth; without regard to the opinions of former travellers, or our own previous views. We could have no other wish or interest, than to serve the cause of truth. The reader will find in the present article, that the result of our investigations led only to a stronger conviction of the general correctness of my former view. Indeed, the nature of the country, and the circumstances of the case, are so marked, that I hardly think any candid person acquainted with the whole subject, who should view the Red Sea and the adjacent country on the spot, would find it possible to come to any other conclusion. The following pages comprise an extract from the account of our Journey, which will not be published for several months to come. Whoever chooses to compare this article with the former one, will not be slow, I think, to perceive the difference between the report of an eyewitness and that of a mere compiler. Berlin, Oct. 9th, 1839. E. R. Thursday, March 15th, 1838. Our encampment for the last night was in the valley between Jebel 'Aweibid and the western ridges of 'Atâkah. We first descended along the valley, which after a time takes the name of Wady Emshâsh. At 9h. 15' we left it, taking a course E. S. E. around a small hill called el-Muntŭla', and down a narrow pass, which was formerly considered dangerous. The pass gradually opens, and we had a glimpse of 'Ajrûd. We thought too that the Red Sea lay in sight before us; but it turned out to be only the mirage. At the foot of the pass, and near 'Ajrûd, we dismounted from our camels, and ascended a hill on the right, from which we had a wide prospect over the plain into which the pass opens, the fortress of 'Ajrûd on the left, and Suez on the right in the S. E. with the Red Sea beyond. The atmosphere to-day seemed specially adapted to produce the mirage; for as we looked towards Suez it seemed wholly surrounded by water; while lakes and ponds apparently extended from the sea far up from the shore upon the desert plain. This plain, which we now overlooked, is not far from ten miles square, extending with a gentle slope from 'Ajrûd to the sea west of Suez, and from the hills at the base of 'Atâkah to the arm of the sea N. of Suez. But it retains the same general character as the desert we had passed. Hills and mountains and the long narrow strip of salt water were indeed around and before us; but not a tree, nor scarcely a shrub, and not one green thing was to be seen in the whole circle of vision. 4 * 'Ajrûd is the next station on the Haj route after Dâr elHŭmra. It is a fortress with a well of bitter water two hundred and fifty feet deep, built for the accommodation and protection of the pilgrims on their way to and from Mecca. Near by it is a mosk with a saint's tomb, also enclosed with walls. The fortress stands on the S. side of Wady Emshâsh, along which on the north a range of low hills stretches from W. to E. The Haj route passes by the * Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, etc., p. 628. Edrisi mentions 'Ajrûd about the middle of the 12th century. Rúppell singularly enough writes the name Hadgi Routh; Reise in Abyssinien, I. p. 135. The Arabic orthography has been fixed at least ever since the days of Edrîsi. castle on the south, and continues its course directly towards the mountains which lie E. of the line of the Gulf, and constitute the ascent to the high plain of the eastern desert. Two summits were pointed out to us, between which the road passes on towards 'Akabah; the northern one called Mukhsheib, and the southern er-Râhah, as belonging to the more southern chain of that name. Before reaching 'Ajrûd our road separated from that of the Haj, turning more S. E., and we passed the fortress at 11h. 40', leaving it about twenty minutes distant on our left. From 'Ajrûd to Suez is reckoned four hours. Crossing the plain, which is every where intersected by water-courses, we came at 2h. 50' to Bîr Suez, one hour from the town. Here are two deep wells, surrounded by a square massive building of stone, with towers at the corners, erected in the seventeenth century, as appears from an inscription. The water is brackish, and is carried to Suez on asses and camels only for cooking and washing; being too salt to be drank. Even where it flows upon the ground round about the building, it produces no vegetation, causing only a saline efflorescence. In Niebuhr's time the water was drawn up by hand,* but is now raised by wheels turned by oxen, and runs into a large stone trough outside, where animals drink and water-skins are filled. Here our camels were watered for the first time. They had been fed in Cairo with green clover; and had not drank, it was said, for twelve days before our departure. Yet they now drank little, and some of them none at all. We reached Suez (Arabic Suweis) at 3. 50', and pitched our tent outside of the walls, on the north of the town, near the shore having first reconnoitered the interior and found no spot so clean and convenient among all its open places; to say nothing of the annoyance and risk to which we should have been exposed from idlers. From the gate of Cairo to Suez we reckoned 32 hours of march; equivalent to 64 geogr. miles, or somewhat less than 75 English miles. Our whole time, including the stops at night, was 713 * Reisebeschr. I. p. 217. These would seem to be the wells mentioned by Edrîsi under the name el-'Ajûz, between 'Ajrûd and Kolzum; p. 329, ed. Jaubert. hours or nearly three whole days. The India mails had just before been carried across in twenty-two hours; and the Pasha is said to have once crossed on horseback in thirteen hours, by having relays of horses stationed on the way. We paid our respects to the English Vice-consul, Mr. Fitch, to whom we had letters; and of whose kindness we retain a grateful remembrance.* He had been only five weeks in the place; and his chief business was the agency for the Bombay steamers, which were to arrive and depart every month. At his invitation we attended his soirée, where, however, we met only three other persons, and these in his employ. They were three brothers Manueli, natives of the place, and members of the Greek Church. One of them, Nicola, had been for many years English Agent at Suez, until recently superseded by the Vice-consul, under whom he now acted as Dragoman and fac-totum. We found him to be a very intelligent and well-informed man, and obtained from him satisfactory information on many points of inquiry connected with this region. At the suggestion of the Vice-consul, he procured for us a letter from the Governor of Suez to the Governor of 'Akabah; which, however, we found to be of little importance. Suez is situated on the angle of land between the broad head of the Gulf, the shore of which here runs nearly from E. to W., and the narrow arm which runs up northward from the eastern corner of the Gulf. It is poorly walled on three sides; being open to the water on the E. or rather N. E., where is the harbor and a good quay. Here were lying quite a number of the Red Sea craft, vessels of considerable size, with neat white bottoms, but with only one mast and sail, and no deck except over the cabin. The timber and materials for all vessels built here, have usually been brought from the Nile on camels.† Within the walls are many open places, and several khans built around large courts. In the large open space connected with the building occupied by the consulate, a beautiful tame gazelle was running about, belonging to the Governor, whose house was *This gentleman died a year afterwards at Alexandria. † Niebuhr Reisebeschr. I. p. 218. Compare Wilkin's Gesch. der Kreuzzuge, III. ii. p. 223. |