I Approved Much Of This Opinion;
For If The Passage Had Been At Suez, As Some Insist, The Egyptians Had
No occasion to have entered into the sea for persecuting the Jews, as
they could have gone round the bay
And got before them, more especially
as they were horsemen and the Jews all on foot. For though all these
things came about by a miracle, we see always on like occasions there is
a shew and manner of reason. I asked of this Moor if it were true that
the Christians of Cairo had carried away the body of St Catharine from
Mount Sinai; but he said he had never heard of it, neither did he
believe the story; and that only four months before he had been in
Cairo, which city they call Mecara[320], where he heard of no such
thing. He thought likewise that the Christians about Mount Sinai would
never have permitted such a thing, as they all considered that woman as
a saint, and held her body in great reverence. He told me also that two
or three leagues before coming to Suez there is a fountain which was
given to the Jews at the intercession of Moses, whom they call Muzau,
the water of which surpasses all others in goodness. On inquiring what
kind of a place was the town of Suez, he said he had never been there,
as no person could enter that town except those appointed by the
governor of Cairo for taking care of the gallies, nor come nearer than
two leagues under pain of death.
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