Tor may be known at a distance by two hills that stand near the water side, which, in clear weather, may be seen six leagues off. Just to the south-east of these is the town and harbour, where there are some palm-trees about the houses, the more remarkable, that they are the first you see on the coast. There is no danger in going into Tor harbour, the soundings in the way are clean and regular; and by giving the beacon a small birth on the larboard hand, you may haul in a little to the northward, and anchor in five or six fathom. The bottom of the bay is not a mile from the beacon, and about the same distance from the opposite shore. There is no sensible tide in the middle of the Gulf, but, by the sides, it runs full two knots an hour. At springs, it is high water at Tor nearly at twelve o’clock.
On the 9th we arrived at Tor, a small straggling village, with a convent of Greek Monks, belonging to Mount Sinai. Don John de Castro[167] took this town when it was walled, and fortified, soon after the discovery of the Indies by the Portuguese; it has never since been of any consideration. It serves now, only as a watering-place for ships going to, and from Suez. From this we have a distinct view of the points of the mountains Horeb and Sinai, which appear behind and above the others, their tops being often covered with snow in winter.
There are three things, (now I am at the north end of the Arabian Gulf,) of which the reader will expect some account, and I am heartily sorry to say, that I fear I shall be obliged to disappoint him in all, by the unsatisfactory relation I am forced to give.
The first is, Whether the Red Sea is not higher than the Mediterranean, by several feet or inches? To this I answer, That the fact has been supposed to be so by antiquity, and alledged as a reason why Ptolemy’s canal was made from the bottom of the Heroopolitic Gulf, rather than brought due north across the Isthmus of Suez; in which last case, it was feared it would submerge a great part of Asia Minor. But who has ever attempted to verify this by experiment? or who is capable of settling the difference of levels, amounting, as supposed, to some feet and inches, between two points 120 miles distant from each other, over a desert that has no settled surface, but is changing its height every day? Besides, since all seas are, in fact, but one, what is it that hinders the Indian Ocean to flow to its level? What is it that keeps the Indian Ocean up?
Till this last branch of the question is resolved, I shall take it for granted that no such difference of level exists, whatever Ptolemy’s engineers might have pretended to him; because, to suppose it fact, is to suppose the violation of one very material law of nature.
The next thing I have to take notice of, for the satisfaction of my reader, is, the way by which the children of Israel passed the Red Sea at the time of their deliverance from the land of Egypt.
As scripture teaches us, that this passage, wherever it might be, was under the influence of a miraculous power, no particular circumstance of breadth, or depth, makes one place likelier than another. It is a matter of mere curiosity, and can only promote an illustration of the scripture, for which reason, I do not decline the consideration of it.
I shall suppose, that my reader has been sufficiently convinced, by other authors, that the land of Goshen, where the Israelites dwelt in Egypt, was that country lying east of the Nile, and not overflowed by it, bounded by the mountains of the Thebaid on the south, by the Nile and Mediterranean on the west and north, and the Red Sea and desert of Arabia on the east. It was the Heliopolitan nome, its capital was On; from predilection of the letter O, common to the Hebrews, they called it Goshen; but its proper name was Geshen, the country of Grass, or Pasturage; or of the Shepherds; in opposition to the rest of the land which was sown, after having been overflowed by the Nile.
There were three ways by which the children of Israel, flying from Pharaoh, could have entered Palestine. The first was by the sea-coast by Gaza, Askelon, and Joppa. This was the plainest and nearest way; and, therefore, fittest for people incumbered with kneading troughs, dough, cattle, and children. The sea-coast was full of rich commercial cities, the mid-land was cultivated and sown with grain. The eastern part, nearest the mountains, was full of cattle and shepherds, as rich a country, and more powerful than the cities themselves.
This narrow valley, between the mountains and the sea, ran all along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, from Gaza northward, comprehending the low part of Palestine and Syria. Now, here a small number of men might have passed, under the laws of hospitality; nay, they did constantly pass, it being the high road between Egypt, and Tyre, and Sidon. But the case was different with a multitude, such as six hundred thousand men having their cattle along with them. These must have occupied the whole land of the Philistines, destroyed all private property, and undoubtedly have occasioned some revolution; and as they were not now intended to be put in possession of the land of promise, the measure of the iniquity of the nations being not yet full, God turned them aside from going that way, though the nearest, least they “should see war[168],” that is, least the people should rise against them, and destroy them.