xiii 
PREFACE. 
sula and Judæea, have not, like the latter country, preserved many 
ofthe names of Holy Scripture, the new information of Burckhardt 
contains many facts in regard to their geography and natural 
history, which may be useful in tracing the progress of the Israelites 
from Egypt into Syria. 
The bitter well of Howara, 15 hours southward of Ayoun Mousa, 
corresponds as well in situation as in the quality of its water, with 
the well of Marah, at which the Israelites arrived after passing 
through a desert of three days from the place near Suez where 
they had crossed the Red Sea.* 
The Wady Gharendel, two hours beyond Howara, where are 
wells among date trees, seems evidently to be the station named 
Elim, which was next to Marah, and at which the Israelites found 
« twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees.”j And it 
is remarkable, that the Wady el Sheikh, and the upper part of the 
Wady Teiran, the only places in the peninsula where manna is ga 
thered from below the tamarisk trees, accord exactly with that part 
of the desert of Sin, in which Moses first gave his followers the sweet 
substance gathered in the morning, which was to serve them for 
bread during their long wandering; for the route through Wady 
Taybe, Wady Feiran, and Wady el Sheikh, is the only open and 
easy passage to Mount Sinai from Wady Gharendel; and it re 
quires the traveller to pass for some distance along the sea shore 
after leaving Gharendel, as we are informed that the Israelites ac 
tually did, on leaving Elim.§ 
The upper region of Sinai, which forms an irregular circle of 30 
or 40 miles in diameter, possessing numerous sources of water, 
a temperate climate, and a soil capable of supporting animal and 
vegetable nature, was the part of the peninsula best adapted to 
* Exodus, c. xv. Numbers, c. xxxiii. 
* Exodus, c. xiv. Xv. Numbers, c. xxxiii. 
§ Numbers, c. xxxiii. v. 10, 11. 
Exodus, c. xvi