villages. It is fourteen miles long and six miles broad. The most remarkable oasis is undoubtedly that of Siwah, celebrated for the ruins of the temple of Jupiter Ammon and the ancient oracle. This oasis is nine miles long and two miles broad, abounding in dates, of which a large exportation takes place every year. The temple was built in the most fertile part of the oasis, and the statue of the god was of bronze, ornamented with emeralds and other precious stones. It was borne in a bark, or shrine of gold, and more than one hundred priests formerly officiated at the temple. The site is said to have been determined by the flight of a dove from Thebes. By the lips of the oldest priest the god is said to have delivered his oracles, which were amongst the most highly esteemed of all antiquity. The oracle was consulted by Hercules, Perseus, and others, and one of its last recorded declarations is the flattery which it manifested towards Alexander the Great, in pronouncing him the son of Jupiter. With many other of the heathen oracles, it ceased to give utterance to its ambiguous counsels about the period of our Saviour's nativity.

Not far from the temple, in the same oasis, is the fountain of the sun. It is six fathoms in depth, and small bubbles are constantly rising to the surface, the temperature becoming warm at night and cold in the day. Belzoni visited the spot in 1816, and found it surrounded by a pleasant grove of palm trees. This oasis is situated five degrees to the west of Cairo, and

is seldom visited by travellers. The city of Siwah contains a population of between two and three thousand persons. Cambyses, the Persian conqueror of Egypt, wished to destroy the temple, but was unable to cross the desert with his army. The oases now constitute the most valuable resting-places for caravans crossing the desert and carrying on the trade between Egypt and the interior of Africa.

At the eastern boundary of Egypt lies the Red Sea. It is a gulf of the Indian Ocean, and by many has been considered as originally connecting the Mediterranean and Indian Seas, the upper part of the gulf, which now forms the Isthmus of Suez, having in course of time become filled up by the accumulation of the sands of the desert. The navigation of the Red Sea is dangerous, from the great number of sunken rocks, sand banks, and coral reefs, which are found in it. The red coral, which is abundant, gives the name to the sea. On the Egyptian side of it are bold promontories and lofty rocks, the space between the sea and the Nile being partially desert, and having valleys in certain places full of springs and covered with verdure. The northern arm of the Red Sea is the same distance from the Mediterranean as the city of Cairo. Within the fork made by the two arms of the sea is the desert of Sinai, and the scene of the encampments of the Israelites. At the extremity of the eastern arm is situated the town of Akabah.

Far in the south, immediately on a line with

the Egyptian frontier, is situated the old port of Egypt, Berenice. It is on the coast of the Red Sea. A road was made by Ptolemy Philadelphus from this place to Coptos on the Nile, and the trade with Arabia and India was conducted from this port, the vessels thereby avoiding the difficult navigation of the northern part of the Red Sea. The place is now deserted, but has a fine harbour, and was formerly a large town. The goods were transported from Berenice by camels, and ten wells mark in succession the course of the ancient caravans. To the north-west of Berenice lie the Emerald Mountains, the wealth of which remains inaccessible to the moderns. Further north, on the coast of the Red Sea, is Cosseir, the place of passage for pilgrims to Mecca. It is situated at the termination of a pleasant valley, opening from the Red Sea towards the Nile.

Difference of opinion prevails as to the precise spot at which the children of Israel effected their escape from the armies of Pharaoh by the passage of the Red Sea. It is not easy, owing to the shifting nature of the sandy shores, to determine with any certainty the position of the various localities mentioned in Scripture. Suez, once a place of considerable trade, is a poor small town near the head of the gulf bearing its name. Below it are some shoals, which, according to Robinson, "are still left bare at the ebb, and the channel is sometimes forded -a distance of three or four miles from shore to shore." Here, according to some authorities,

the passage of the Israelites took place. Others, with more evidence in their favour, have objected to this locality, as being inconsistent with the narrative in Exodus, and tending to divest it of its miraculous character. The breadth of the sea at Suez is such as would scarcely occupy the Israelites a quarter of an hour in crossing, and according to the narrative of the Bible, the night was employed in the passage. Another position has been described, to which we certainly give the preference. It is about thirty miles lower down the gulf, near Mount Attaka, where, in harmony with the Scriptural account, the Israelites were shut in by the sea, the desert, the mountain, and the army of Pharaoh. Here the gulf is about ten or twelve miles wide, and the opinion that here the miraculous passage of the Israelites took place, is confirmed by the names of many places in the locality.

We must not fail to mention the efforts which have been made to unite the Mediterranean and Red Seas by means of a canal, and thus to open a direct communication between the south of Europe and the Indian Ocean. The difficulty to be overcome in this enterprise, and which has hitherto prevented its accomplishment, is the great difference of level between the two seas, the waters of the Red Sea being much higher than those of the Mediterranean. Passengers from India now cross the isthmus on camels, or in travelling vans drawn by Arabian horses. A canal was formerly cut, in part if

not altogether, between the two seas by some of the Egyptian kings, which has been to a great extent filled up by the accumulation of the sands of the desert. The emperor Napoleon, during his expedition to Egypt, in company with his engineers, discovered and followed for some distance the track of it, but was obliged to abandon the prosecution of the inquiry by reason of the sudden return of the tide.

Under the rule of the Ptolemies, the whole country was divided into thirty-six provinces or nomes, which were probably of a much earlier origin. This division continued to prevail till the invasion by the Saracens, and the conquest of Egypt by the followers of Mohammed, A.D. 640. According to the French system of geographical arrangement, it is now composed of twenty-four departments.

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