jeanflop/post-ocr-correction huggingface dataset:
most of the water had been lost by absorption and evaporation. What remained over the requirements of the well-irrigated basins furnished its way into the field of Zoan and though late and in totally insufficient quantities, still sufficed to wet the ground sufficiently to ensure inferior crops over fairly large areas. Not a drop of water reached the salted lands near the lakes. The first plague began early in August and resulted in the destruction of all the fish in the tail reaches of the Nile branches. This was followed by all the fish dying in the canals, the pools,
by all the fish dying in the canals, the pools, and the ponds from which the further supply of fresh water was cut off. The sub-soil water of the field of Zoan was salted and the people had to content themselves with drinking the stagnant filthy water of the pools and ponds and such water as they could find in pits dug round about the rivers. The destruction of fish on a much smaller scale was witnessed annually by the Israelites on the arrival of the red water of the Nile flood, and it was on this account doubtless that
Nile flood, and it was on this account doubtless that the records tell of the magicians of Egypt doing likewise with their enchantments. The magicians in this case were probably the irrigation engineers. The Bible record adds that seven days were fulfilled after the Lord had smitten the river, from which we infer that the first plague was sudden and soon over, for within a week the salt water had traveled up all the streams and killed all the fish. Dr. W. F. Hume, Director of the Geological Survey of Egypt, thus accounts for the fact of there being sweet
Egypt, thus accounts for the fact of there being sweet sub-soil water in the land of Goshen and salt sub-soil water in the field of Zoan: "It seems to me that we might perhaps think of it thus: Two branches of the Nile were passing, one through Tumilat, the other past Faqus, the former being the more ancient of the two. Consequently, the annual flood through the soil itself had washed out the salt to a large extent in the Tumilat area, but had not succeeded in doing so in the San el Haggar district owing to the low Nile.
the San el Haggar district owing to the low Nile. Both Hebrews and Egyptians were led to try for water away from the Nile, and both furnished the flood water of previous years not returned to the head of the river, or trapped from various causes. The Tumilat area lying further south from the lake area supplied fresh water, the other salt, the second plague was one of the frogs. As the salt water traveled up the branches and canals of the river, the fish died immediately, while the frogs were able to leave the water and stray onto the
were able to leave the water and stray onto the land. The land in August was dry and parched and covered in many places with salt efflorescence thrown off the salted areas bordering the brackish lakes. The frogs had nothing to drink on the baked earth. They consequently swarmed into the houses, into the bed-chambers, into the beds and into the empty ovens and kneading troughs, maddened with thirst and unable to move about on the heated ground. This plague, like the first, had been often witnessed by the Israelites in ordinary low Nile floods, and the records again state
in ordinary low Nile floods, and the records again state that the magicians did in like manner with their enchantments. The frogs died out of the houses, out of the courts, and out of the fields, and they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. This does not refer to the whole of Egypt but to the field of Zoan. Those of the Israelites who were settled along the lower reaches of the rivers suffered these plagues as well as the Egyptians, and they doubtless emigrated annually in August with their flocks and herds to the main settlements
August with their flocks and herds to the main settlements in the land of Goshen, where they had no canals in communication with the sea and where they had abundance of sweet water a few feet below the surface of the ground. It was with this water that they irrigated the cucumbers, the melons, the leaks, the onions, and the garlic which they often longed for in the wilderness. So far, no mention has been made of there having been any difference between the difficulties of the Israelites and the Egyptians. The third plague of the sand-flies (called lice in
Egyptians. The third plague of the sand-flies (called lice in the text, but sand-flies or fleas in the margin) and the fourth plague of flies may be considered as the insect pest, which takes us through the latter half of August and the whole of September. The ground was dry and parched and covered often with salt efflorescence, and as the water delayed in coming, the plague of sand-flies by night and midges by day began and was followed immediately after by that of the flies living on the heaps of dead frogs which corrupted the country. These plagues continued
of dead frogs which corrupted the country. These plagues continued into October and November when the cold nights finally put an end to them. The sand-flies and midges in the aggregated form in which they appeared did not accompany ordinary low floods when limited amounts of fresh water furnished their way northwards, and it is stated that the magicians failed to perform this plague. It is not stated that there was any difference between the field of Zoan and the land of Goshen in the matter of sand-flies, but it is distinctly stated that the plague of flies was confined
is distinctly stated that the plague of flies was confined to the field of Zoan which would follow naturally from there being no dead fish and no dead frogs in the land of Goshen. The fifth plague of murrain of cattle and the sixth plague of boils breaking forth upon man and upon beast may be considered as the plagues of animals and men following upon the drinking of impure and contaminated water. The murrain is a disease prevalent in Egypt among cattle, especially buffaloes, and known as barbone. In the bulletin of this institute for 1889 is an article
the bulletin of this institute for 1889 is an article by our President, Piot Bey, from which the following extracts are taken: "Barbone is practically unknown in Upper Egypt, and in Lower Egypt it appears wherever the following conditions are fulfilled: (1) If the drinking water has to be obtained from a small canal full of aquatic plants and the water nearly stagnant. (2) In the low-lying marsh region where the drinking water is obtained from drains or infiltration. (3) If the canals are nearly dry. (4) When the water in flood returns to these same canals. " Under the
in flood returns to these same canals. " Under the existing perennial irrigation the disease is confined to the period from June to mid-November. Under the conditions of the old world basin irrigation the same conditions would have prevailed from August to December. I again quote from Piot Bey: "Barbone is not as deadly as cattle-plague, but like most of the plagues of Egypt, it comes suddenly and leaves as suddenly. It is rare that the malady rages more than a week in the same locality. Buffaloes and oxen alone are attacked, while horses, mules, donkeys, camels and sheep are
are attacked, while horses, mules, donkeys, camels and sheep are immune. Death from septic poisoning follows in ten hours after the first symptoms. Rarely does any animal which is attacked recover." Of the fifth plague it is stated that the cattle of the children of Israel escaped altogether. As these were supplied with their drinking water from wells of fresh water and not from stagnant pools they would be free from this plague, as were all the cattle of Upper Egypt and Southern and Lower Egypt. The plague was confined, like the others, to the field of Zoan. Of the
like the others, to the field of Zoan. Of the sixth plague of boils, Dr. Frank G. Madden gives this explanation: "The Nile boil is a particularly virulent and painful variety of boil, which flourishes along the whole length of the Nile valley in the late summer and which often comes out in crops and lasts a very long time. In the damper months there is also a special prevalence of a combination of prickly heat, dirt, boils and scabies and other local domestic fauna, which gives rise to the condition known throughout Egypt as Hamza-en-Nil, which connotes anything from
condition known throughout Egypt as Hamza-en-Nil, which connotes anything from a mild attack of prickly heat to the most formidable skin eruption and infection imaginable; the sovereign remedy for which is rubbing with a slice of watermelon which the Bible mentions as existing in the land in those days." This boil was probably what was known later as the boil of Egypt. In a year of very low flood, with its long continued absence of green food and pure water, this plague must have raged in the crowded villages of the field of Zoan. The seventh plague was hail. I
the field of Zoan. The seventh plague was hail. I have been in Egypt for thirty years and have seen but one fall of hail, and that was in April 1888, just south of Lake Buhrollos in the same latitude as the field of Zoan. Mr. H. E. Hirst, the head of the Meteorological Department of Egypt, has kindly supplied me with information about hail, from which I have learned that in the 38 years between 1876 and 1912, hail fell in Cairo twelve times, but none of the falls were serious. Two of the falls were in October and
were serious. Two of the falls were in October and the remaining ten between February and April. In February 1912 destructive hail fell in parts of Dakahlia, the old field of Zoan. Though I have not seen destructive hail in Egypt, I frequently saw it in Northern India, where the standing crops of wheat and barley were completely destroyed on long narrow strips of land, with the edges of destruction occasionally on lines as straight as an engineer could have laid down. The largest hailstones I have seen in Northern India were that size one and a half inches in
India were that size one and a half inches in diameter which killed cattle standing in the open and beat down pea fowl taking shelter in trees. This seventh plague was probably in the month of January, for it says that the flax and barley were smitten, but the wheat and vetches escaped as they were not grown up. As there are no basins today in the field of Zoan it is difficult to tell with exactitude the dates on which the different crops were sown in antiquity; but this elucidation of the time seems to be an effort of
elucidation of the time seems to be an effort of some scribe who lived in Palestine or Syria, where barley and flax on one hand and wheat and vetches on the other are sown deliberately at different intervals of time, as distinct from the basin lands of Egypt where the seedsman follows up the retreating water of the basin and throws his seed broad-cast on the slime. Occasionally, wheat follows ploughing but the interval of time is small, and the vetches, owing to the milder winter, are not delayed as they are in Syria. This text is to my mind
they are in Syria. This text is to my mind in keeping with the one which adds bitumen to the pitch with which Moses’ ark was smeared. In the field of Zoan today the wheat and barley if sown early, are put in on November 25; and if late, up to the 10th of January. As the field of Zoan was immediately south of Lake Menzaleh and the Mediterranean, the hailstorm fell severely there; while the land of Goshen, lying further south and separated from the former by a wide stretch of desert, escaped. The plague of hail was in
stretch of desert, escaped. The plague of hail was in no way connected with the low Nile flood, and could have occurred as readily in a year of very high flood. Of the plague of hail Mr. D. A. Cameron, G. M. G., Consul General of Alexandria, thus records his experience: «I venture to think that the following testimony of myself as eyewitness may be of some service. One winter, early this century at Port Said, we had a most terrible hailstorm; it lasted for a brief time, but it was a cannonade from above with hailstones like peas, marbles,
was a cannonade from above with hailstones like peas, marbles, and tennis and cricket balls, one after the other. The manager of a home for seamen took a photograph, showing one hailstone (pile) as big as a new cricket ball, and a copy of the photograph was left by me at Port Said Consulate in 1909. I quite agree that during hail devastating Zoan, south of Port Said-Menzaleh.» The eighth plague of locusts coming between the hail and sand-storms was a spring visitation. Mr. A. T. McKillop, Inspector General of the Ministry of Agriculture, who supervised the fight against the
the Ministry of Agriculture, who supervised the fight against the locusts during the severe visitation of 1915 thus summarizes his information: «During 1915 the locusts came principally from the east, across the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, but some swarms came from the west. All the locusts seen in the northeast corner of Lower Egypt came from the east and crossed the canal between Ismailia and Port Said. The first light in 1916, was reported from Baharia Oasis in January, the last light seen was recorded from Aswan on Christmas Day. The locusts were more abundant from February 7
Christmas Day. The locusts were more abundant from February 7 to May than at any other time.» Travelling in April 1911 between Der Zor on the Euphrates and Aleppo, I have seen the steppes literally swarming with locusts in the foot-follower stage, and a drought in those regions or a sudden increase in numbers beyond what the steppes could support must cause them to emigrate. In the spring of 1912 I saw myriads in the eastern Delta coming from the east where they were reported to have destroyed the standing crop of Palestine. Their appearance in Egypt in the time
crop of Palestine. Their appearance in Egypt in the time of the Exodus had nothing to do with the first six plagues which were the direct result of the being from the Nile, which also caused the ninth and tenth. As hail never falls over continuous stretches of land but over strips of country, the locusts would settle down and destroy the crops which had escaped the hail. We may note that in Psalm this plague was one of caterpillars, which would be much more in keeping with a very low Nile which had killed all their enemies, especially the
low Nile which had killed all their enemies, especially the frogs. There is no mention of the fact that the land of Goshen escaped the invasion of locusts, but being under pasture in great part, without gardens, orchards and trees, and in winter and early spring having crops only of onions and garlic, the damage they did must undoubtedly have been slight. As the plagues were in the field of Zoan which lay west of the northern section of the present Suez Canal, a strong west wind would have driven the locusts into the marshes surrounding the Serbonian bog which
the locusts into the marshes surrounding the Serbonian bog which is here called the Yam Suf and translated the Red Sea, a piece of water far away to the south. The ninth plague of darkness came without any premonitory signs. In Egypt, as a whole, the boisterous winds, which plunge the country into darkness on occasions, come from the south, and are often followed by strong north-west winds which blow hard for two or three days. The plague of darkness which visited the field of Zoan must have resulted from this north-west wind blowing hard for three days. The strip
this north-west wind blowing hard for three days. The strip of country between the last basin and the edge of Lake Menzaleh must always have been, as it is to-day, a mass of rolling mounds of salted dust, capable of being raised by high winds and darkening the sky for days. With perennial irrigation, as we have it today, there are always great stretches of land under water which prevent the salted dust from traveling in the way it did in a year of very low flood during the basin days when the whole country was without water, and the
days when the whole country was without water, and the dust had it all its own way. The area covered by the water of Lake Menzaleh depended entirely on the strength of the flood, and a very low flood must have left a wide stretch of dry salted land ready to be blown into dust. On such occasions the salted dust, when once really alive, must have been a veritable mantle over the earth. In the thirty years I have been in Egypt I have only once seen a dust storm which lasted three days and on the last day
storm which lasted three days and on the last day produced real darkness. As the field of Zoan lay to the north of the land of Goshen with a hard pebbly desert between them, while north-west of Goshen lay the last basins which had been irrigated, the dust storms which swept over the field of Zoan were scarcely felt in the land of Goshen. The children of Israel consequently had light in their dwellings while the Egyptians were enveloped in the darkness which could be felt. The tenth plague of heavy infant mortality, dramatically described as the death of the
heavy infant mortality, dramatically described as the death of the first-born, was the final calamity which befell the Egyptians in the field of Zoan. The drinking of polluted water by the Egyptians for many months naturally terminated in a severe infant mortality, for the elders were spared and escaped. The Israelites, who were now all congregated in the land of Goshen, with its fresh water springs, escaped this plague. The destroying angel passed by their doors when the land of Egypt was smitten. The impression made by this last signal deliverance, not only on the Israelites but even on the
deliverance, not only on the Israelites but even on the world, was indelible; and in Christendom today the feast of Easter has taken the place of the Passover. The deliverance itself was a direct fulfillment of the call from the bush: "I know the king of Egypt will not give you leave to go, no, not by a mighty hand. And I will put forth my hand and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof; and after that he will let you go." There was no necessity for miracle upon miracle. One very
There was no necessity for miracle upon miracle. One very low flood in the field of Zoan, with all that it involved in the old basin days, secured the deliverance of the captives, whose afflictions God had seen. Heaven exercises as much economy in the use of its resources as the best regulated household in this world. The ten plagues of Egypt were followed by the immediate departure of the children of Israel from Egypt and their passage of the Red Sea. Just as in my lecture before the Sultaniye Geographical Society in 1913 I had shown how the whole
Geographical Society in 1913 I had shown how the whole story of Noah’s flood had been reduced to absurdity by the rendering of the word jebel as "mountain" instead of "desert"; so I shall now show how the passage of the Red Sea has been made impossible by the rendering of the word bahr as "sea" instead of "river". If today you point to the Red Sea and ask an Egyptian what that is, he will say "Bahr el Achar". If you point to the Mediterranean he will say "Bahr el Abiad", or "the white sea", or the very name
el Abiad", or "the white sea", or the very name he gives to the White Nile. If you point to the Nile he will say "Il Bahr". He does not mean "The Sea", but he has only one word for sea or river. He never says "The Nile". He has one word, "Il Bahr", "the sea" or "the river". Salt and fresh water are the same. They are water as distinct from land. Now it was the same in antiquity. Dr. Pisces says that the Sumerians had no word for river. As a matter of fact they had one word
river. As a matter of fact they had one word for sea and river, just as they had one word for mountain and desert plain. To the Arab everything is simple. Salt or fresh water is one — it is water; hill or plain out of reach of inundation is one — it is desert; God is one. In the silence of the night while you sleep with Muslim troops in the desert, through the watches, you hear only one word called: Wahid "one" (God is one). It is easy to understand the attraction this conception of unity and simplicity
to understand the attraction this conception of unity and simplicity has for a traveler in the deserts where everything is simple and uniform. In Europe we see nature in her most variegated forms, and our conceptions of God and His works are complex indeed compared with those of the Arabs. When asked about my religion by an Arab, I always answer in the simple kind of formula they use themselves: Allah is my Father, Sayedna Eesa is my Brother. We are immediately on terms of intimacy and friendship. There is not a human being who does not understand the meaning
not a human being who does not understand the meaning of Father and Brother, and the duties we owe them. In Nahum, Thebes, 600 miles up the Nile, is described as situated among the rivers, with her wall by the sea, and with the sea as a rampart. This is a palpable mistranslation. It should be described as situated among the canals, with her wall by the Nile, and with the Nile as a rampart. The Euphrates is frequently called a "sea" in the English translation, and so also is the Jordan. In exactly the same way, the two words
the Jordan. In exactly the same way, the two words "Yam Suf" translated "Red Sea" do not mean "Red Sea", but mean "the reedy river", or "the reedy branch of the Nile", or "The Serbonian bog". This is how Diodorus Siculus describes this piece of water: "For between Cairo and Egypt there is a lake, of very narrow width, but of a wonderful depth, and extending in length about 200 stadia (20 miles), which is called Serbonis: and it exposes the traveller approaching it unawares to unforeseen dangers. For its basin being very narrow, like a throat, and surrounded on
basin being very narrow, like a throat, and surrounded on all sides by great banks of sand, when south winds blow for some time a quantity of sand is drifted over it. This sand hides the sheet of water and confuses the appearance of the lake with the dry land, so that they are indistinguishable. From which cause many have been swallowed up with their whole armies." I have taken this translation from Sir Henry Browne's Land of Goshen and the Exodus, a book full of information which I have freely used, though I differ from him entirely in his
freely used, though I differ from him entirely in his conclusions; just as I have freely used Brugsch Pasha's Egypt under the Pharaohs, differing entirely from him as to the location of Ha-Uar. But just as I was in accord with Mr. Cope Whitehouse as to the position of Ha-Uar, so now I am entirely in accord with Brugsch Pasha as to the Serbonian bog being the site of the disaster which overtook Pharaoh's army. The fact that the land of Goshen is the Wady Tumilat and not the country round Zoan, as Brugsch imagined, makes the location of the
round Zoan, as Brugsch imagined, makes the location of the Yam Suf in the Serbonian bog fit in exactly with the Bible records as we shall soon see. The description of the bog is exactly that of an old branch of the Nile which had had its water cut off, and the branch of the Nile of those parts was the Pelusiac branch. And it is to be remembered that there was a steady tradition in antiquity, a tradition which Milton preserves in Paradise Lost, that an army had been swallowed up in the Serbonian bog. A gulf profound as
swallowed up in the Serbonian bog. A gulf profound as that Serbonian bog, Between Damietta and Mount Casius old, Where armies whole have sunk. No such tradition has attached to the Red Sea, the gulf of Suez or any imaginary prolongation of the gulf of Suez. "Yam Suf" was the Hebrew expression for the water in which Pharaoh's host was drowned. Its literal translation is "Reedy River" or "Reedy Sea". In after years, when the children of Israel had been long in Palestine, and become more familiar with the location of the gulf of Aqaba than with that of the