COAST OF THE RED SEA, NEAR REPHIDINE AND DOPHKAH.

THE forced march of the Israelites from Egypt, and the exciting passage of the Red Sea, had quite exhausted their strength. Safe now from apprehension, they spread their tents along the eastern coast of the sea, and gave themselves up to rest; and probably, to reciting in a solemn and religious manner the triumphal song of Moses, as a part of their morning and evening worship. Ain Mousa, or the well of Moses, the name of the only fountain of note in the neighbourhood, is a striking memorial of their sojourn here.

About ten miles distant from the coast, and nearly parallel with it, is the gloomy and forbidding mountain range of Rehah. Between this range and the coast is a rough desert district, intersected by the gravelly beds of winter torrents, which in the rainy season flow to the sea. These are called Wadys, i. e. valleys; and one of the principal is still called Wady Sudr, which marks the "wilderness of Shur," of the Bible. From Ain Mousa the host of Israel advanced southward three days' journey in the stony and sterile district of Shur, and came to Marah, or the bitter wells. The valley Amarah, in which the modern traveller finds the fountain Hawarah, still attests this biblical station. It is about thirty-six miles from the fountain of Moses, a distance well corresponding with a march of three days by such a host as Moses led, composed in great part of women and children, and accompanied by vast flocks and herds. The waters of the fountain at the present time answer well to the ancient qualities ascribed to them in the Bible. When I tasted them in 1843, I thought them a villanous compound of Epsom salts and sulphur; and I could not but think it was very natural that the people "murmured against Moses, saying, what shall we drink?" It would be amusing, were it not so serious a subject, to read the accounts of the anxious inquiries travellers make of the Arabs, for the tree which the Lord showed to Moses, and which he commanded him to throw into the waters, and they became sweet. These inquirers forget, that the tree was the symbol of the divine power that rectified the fountain: to some extent it was a natural symbol containing a principle

naturally tending to sweeten the waters; and thus suggesting to man, that the remedies for all his natural ills and the supply of all his natural wants are to be found in the kingdom of nature, in which he is Lord. I found the fountain of Hawarah to be a large pit or shallow well, scooped out on the top of a broad flat mound, formed by a whitish substance deposited from the water through a lapse of many centuries. It is probable, that when the Israelites arrived here the hill had scarcely begun to form, and of course the waters were at a much lower level, and were evidently abundant. For there is no complaint of the quantity of water, but only of its quality. this station the people halted some days, as it said, "there the Lord made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them."

At

The host continued to advance southward, and made their next station at Elim, about six miles from Marah. They halted here because of the abundance and excellence of the water and pasturage, as is evident from the brief record in the Bible that they found "twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees." Notwithstanding the increasing drought and sterility of the country, during a period of thirty-five centuries, the distinguishing characteristics of this region, compared with other portions of the country, are still remarkable. Upon entering Wady Ghurundel, it seemed to us like green pastures, compared with the sterile and desolate tracts over which we had travelled since we left the Nile. It was full of large shrubs, and there were some small trees, among which were palms. As we passed down it, our hungry camels devoured the thorny bushes, particularly the luxuriant thistle, with great zest. Turning out of Wady Ghurundel, into a side valley (Wady Usait) on the left, we halted; and here, amid some young palm trees, our Arabs with their hands scooped out the sand. two or three feet deep in different places, and found plenty of sweet water. Here then, filled up by drifting sands, were the wells of Elim; and I doubt not, that an abundance of good water could be obtained here by sinking wells, and protecting them from the drifting sand.