That In Suez
And The Country Round It Seldom Rained, But When It Did At Any Time It
Was Very Heavy; And That The North-Wind Blew At Suez The Whole Year With
Great Force.
From Toro to Suez it is 28 leagues, without any island bank or shoal
in the whole way that can impede the navigation.
Departing from Toro by
the middle of the channel, the ran for the first 16 leagues is N.W. by
N. from S.E. by S. in all of which space the two coasts are about an
equal distance from each other, or about three leagues asunder. At the
end of these 16 or 17 leagues, the coasts begin to close very much, so
that the opposite shores are only one league distant, which narrowness
continues for two leagues; after which the Egyptian coast withdraws very
much towards the west, making the large fine bay formerly mentioned. The
mid channel from the end of the before mentioned 16 or 17 leagues, till
we come to the N.W. point of this bay trends N.N.W. and S.S.E. the
distance being 8 leagues. In this place the lands again approach very
much, as the Arabian shore thrusts out a very long low point, and the
Egyptian coast sends out a very large and high point at the end of the
bay on the N.W. side, these points being only a little more than one
league asunder. From these points to Suez and the end of this sea, the
coasts wind inwards on each side, making another bay somewhat more than
two leagues and a half long and one league and a half broad, where this
sea, so celebrated in holy scripture and by profane authors, has its
end. The middle of this bay extends N. and S. with some deflection to
W. and E. respectively, distance two leagues and a half. On the coast
between Toro and Suez, on the Arabian side, a hill rises about a
gun-shot above Toro very near the sea, which is all bespotted with red
streaks from side to side, giving it a curious appearance. This hill
continues along the coast for 15 or 16 leagues, but the red streaks do
not continue more than six leagues beyond Toro. At the end of the 15 or
16 leagues this ridge rises into a great and high knoll, after which the
ridge gradually recedes from the sea, and ends about a league short of
Suez. Between the high knoll and Suez along the sea there is a very low
plain, in some places a league in breadth, and in others nearer Suez a
league and half. Beside this hill towards Toro I saw great heaps of
sand, reaching in some places to the top of the hill, yet were there no
sands between the hill and the sea: "Likewise by the clefts and breaches
many broken sands were driven," whence may be understood how violent the
cross winds blow here, as they snatch up and drive the sand from out of
the sea and lift it to the tops of the hills. These cross winds, as I
noticed by the lying of the sands, were from the W. and the W.N.W.
On the other or Egyptian side of this gulf, between Toro and Suez, there
run certain great and very high hills or mountains appearing over the
sea coast; which about 17 leagues above Toro open in the middle as low
as the plain field, after which they rise as high as before, and
continue along the shore to within a league of Suez, where they entirely
cease. I found the ebb and flow of the sea between Toro and Suez quite
conformable with what has been already said respecting other parts of
the coast, and neither higher nor lower: Whence appears the falsehood of
some writers, who pretend that no path was opened through this sea for
the Israelites by miracle; but merely that the sea ebbed so much in this
place that they waited the ebb and passed over dry. I observed that
there were only two places in which it could have been possible for
Sesostris and Ptolomy kings of Egypt, to have dug canals from the Nile
to the Red-Sea: One of these by the breach of the mountains on the
Egyptian coast 17 leagues above Toro, and 11 short of Suez; and the
other by the end of the nook or bay on which Suez stands; as at this
place the hills on both sides end, and all the land remains quite plain
and low, without hillocks or any other impediment. This second appears
to me to be much more convenient for so great a work than the other,
because the land is very low, the distance shorter, and there is a haven
at Suez. All the rest of the coast is lined by great and high mountains
of hard rock. Hence Suez must be the place to which Cleopatra commanded
the ships to be brought across the isthmus, a thing of such great labour
that shortness was of most material importance: Here likewise for the
same reason must have been the trench or canal from the Nile to the Red
Sea; more especially as all the coast from Toro upwards is waste, and
without any port till we come to Suez.
During all the time which we spent between Toro and Suez, the heaven was
constantly overcast with thick black clouds, which seemed contrary to
the usual nature of Egypt; as all concur in saying that it never rains
in that country, and that the heavens are never obscured by clouds or
vapours: But perhaps the sea raises these clouds at this place, and
farther inland the sky might be clear; as we often see in Portugal that
we have clear pleasant weather at Lisbon, while at Cintra only four
leagues distant, there are great clouds mists and rain.
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