[p.624] sea-shore, one hour distant N.W. We followed the shore for three
quarters of an hour in a N.W. b. N. direction, and then halted close by
the sea, where the maritime level is greatly contracted by a range of
chalk hills which in some places approaches close to the water. Before
us extended the large bay of Birket Faraoun, so called, from being,
according to Arab and Egyptian tradition, the place where the Israelites
crossed the sea, and where the returning waves overwhelmed Pharaoh and
his host. There is an almost continual motion of the waters in this bay,
which they say is occasioned by the spirits of the drowned still moving
in the bottom of the sea; but which may also be ascribed to its being
exposed on three sides to the sea, and to the sudden gusts of wind from
the openings of the valleys. These circumstances, together with its
shoals, render it very dangerous, and more ships have been wrecked in
the Bay of Birket Faraoun than in any other part of the gulf of Tor,
another proof, in the eyes of the Arabs, that spirits or demons dwell
here.
This evening and night we had a violent Simoum. The air was so hot, that
when I faced the current, the sensation was like that of sitting close
to a large fire; the hot wind was accompanied, at intervals with gusts
of cooler air. I did not find my respiration impeded for a moment during
the continuance of the hot blast. The Simoum is frequent on this low
coast, but the advantage of sea bathing renders it the less distressing.
June 5th.We rode close by the shore, at the foot of sandy cliffs; but
as the road was passable only at low water, we were obliged, as the tide
set in, to take a circuitous route over the mountain. At the end of an
hour we again reached the sea, and then proceeded north over a wide
sandy plain. Towards the mountain is a tract of low grounds several
miles in breadth, in which the shrubs Gharkad and Aszef were growing in
great plenty. At the end of two hours and a half, having reached a very
conspicuous