of volcanic mountains, beginning about lat. 28 degrees 4’ and running south, rear their lofty peaks
at intervals above the limestone, generally about 15 miles distant.
•Ancient limits.—The most important change in the Red Sea has been the drying up of its northern
extremity, “the tongue of the Egyptian Sea.” about the head of the gulf has risen and that near the
Mediterranean become depressed. The head of the gulf has consequently retired gradually since
the Christian era. Thus the prophecy of Isaiah has been fulfilled, (Isaiah 11:15; 10:5) the tongue
of the Red Sea has dried up for a distance of at least 50 miles from its ancient head. An ancient
canal conveyed the waters of the Nile to the Red Sea, flowing through the Wadi-t Tumeylat and
irrigating with its system of water-channels a large extent of country. It was 62 Roman miles long,
54 feet wide and 7 feet deep. The drying up of the head of the gulf appears to have been one of
the chief causes of the neglect and ruin of this canal. The country, for the distance above indicated,
is now a desert of gravelly sand, with wide patches about the old sea-bottom, of rank marsh land,
now called the “Bitter Lakes.” At the northern extremity of this salt waste is a small lake, sometimes
called the Lake of Heropolis; the lake is now Birket-et-Timsah “the lake of the crocodile,” and is
supposed to mark the ancient head of the gulf. The canal that connected this with the Nile was of
Pharaonic origin. It was anciently known as the “Fossa Regum” and the “canal of Hero.” The time
at which the canal was extended, after the drying up of the head of the gulf, to the present head is
uncertain, but it must have been late, and probably since the Mohammedan conquest. Traces of
the ancient channel throughout its entire length to the vicinity of Bubastis exist at intervals in the
present day. The land north of the ancient gulf is a plain of heavy sand, merging into marsh-land
near the Mediterranean coast, and extending to Palestine. This region, including Wadi-t-Tumeylat,
was probably the frontier land occupied in pact by the Israelites, and open to the incursions of the
wild tribes of the Arabian desert.
•Navigation.—The sea, from its dangers and sterile shores, is entirely destitute of boats. The coral
of the Red Sea is remarkably abundant, and beautifully colored and variegated; but it forms so
many reefs and islands along the shores that navigation is very dangerous, and the shores are
chiefly barren rock and sand, and therefore very sparsely inhabited so that there are but three cities
along the whole 1450 miles of its west coast—Suez, at the head, a city of 14,000 inhabitants;
Sanakin, belonging to Soudan, of 10,000; and Massau, in Albyssinia, of 5000. Only two ports,
Elath and Ezion-geber, are mentioned in the Bible. The earliest navigation of the Red Sea (passing
by the pre-historical Phoenicians) is mentioned by Herodotus:—“Seostris (Rameses II.) was the
first who passing the Arabian Gulf in a fleet of long vessels, reduced under his authority the
inhabitants of the coast bordering the Erythrean Sea.” Three centuries later, Solomon’s navy was
built “in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea (Yam Suph), in the land
of Edom.” (1 Kings 9:20) The kingdom of Solomon extended as far as the Red Sea, upon which
he possessed the harbors of Elath and Ezion-geber. [Elath, Eloth; EZION-GEBER] It is possible
that the sea has retired here as at Suez, and that Ezion-geber is now dry land. Jehoshaphat also
“made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold; but they went not; for the ships were broken at
Ezion-geber.” (1 Kings 22:48) The scene of this wreck has been supposed to be Edh-Dhahab. The
fleets appear to have sailed about the autumnal equinox, and returned in December or the middle
of January. The Red Sea, as it possessed for many centuries the most important sea-trade of the
East contained ports of celebrity. The Heroopolite Gulf (Gulf of Suez) is of the chief interest; it
was near to Goshen, it was the scene of the passage of the Red Sea, and it was the “tongue of the
Egyptian Sea.” It was also the seat of the Egyptian trade in this sea and to the Indian Ocean.
frankie
(Frankie)
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