473
WADY GHARENDEL.
no other road of three days march in the way from Suez towards
Sinai, nor is there any other well absolutely bitter on the whole of
this coast, as far as Ras Mohammed. The complaints of the bitterness
of the water by the children of Israel, who had been accustomed to
the sweet water of the Nile, are such as may daily be heard from
the Egyptian servants and peasants who travel in Arabia. Accus
tomed from their youth to the excellent water of the Nile, there
is nothing which they so much regret in countries distant from
Egypt; nor is there any eastern people who feel so keenly the want
of good water as the present natives of Egypt. With respect to the
means employed by Moses to render the waters of the well sweet,
I have frequently enquired among the Bedouins in different parts
of Arabia whether they possessed any means of effecting such a
change, by throwing wood into it, or by any other process ; but I
never could learn that such an art was known.
At the end of three hours we reached Wady Gharendel (a,eo))
which extends to the N. E. and is almost a mile in breadth, and full
of trees. The Arabs told me that it may be traced through the whole
desert, and that it begins at no great distance from El Arysh, on
the Mediterranean, but I had no means of ascertaining the truth of
this statement. About half an hour from the place where we halted, ¬
in a southern direction, is a copious spring, with a small rivulet,
which renders the valley the principal station on this route. The
water is disagreeable, and if kept for a night in the water skins, it
turns bitter and spoils, as Ihave myself experienced, having passed
this way three times.
If we admit Bir Howara to be the Marah* of Exodus (xv. 23),
then Wady Gharendel is probably Elim, with its wells and date
trees, an opinion entertained by Niebúhr, who, however, did not
* Morra in Arabic means “ bitter." Marah in Hebrew is " bitternes.
3 P
