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[-Shut,-]{+52
Dr. Wallin’s Route in Northern Arabia.
Shut,+} in reference to its assumed position as a port at the entrance of the famed
canal across the isthmus. The author of the Karaus and other writers, however,
derive the name of Kulzum to this town and the adjacent sea from its Arabic
signification, “ to swallow up/’ in allusion to Pharaoh’s host having been swallowed up
by the waves near the same spot (Abul-Feda, in ‘Descrip.de l’Eg.,’ tom. xi.
p. 36C; Ben Ayns, idem, p.367; Kamils, ill v. Kulzum; Golius, in notis ad
Alferg., p 88). In 997 a.t>. (A1 Mesihhy, in ‘ Descrip, de l’Eg.,’ tom. xi. p. 387)
Kulzum appears to have been the place where the dues on vessels were levied ; hut
Ytikutu-l-Hamawy, iu his hook ‘ Mu’agamu-l-Bulddn/ written in the beginning of
the thirteenth century, or 230 years later (sub v. Kulzum), states that “ it was (then)
a ruin, with a gate, and that a place near to it, called Suweis, had become the port,
and that it also was like a ruin, and had not many inhabitants.”
Iu the Kamtis, and in the European lexicons, with the exception of Meninski’s,
where Golius, in uotis ad Alfergahum, is cited, the word Suweis does not occur.
All that Golins says in the above work (pp. 88, 184) is, that Suweis succeeded
Kulzum as a port to lower Egypt. In the notice of Suweis by M. J. M. Le Pere
(Descr. tie l’Eg., tom. xi. p. 170) is a passage, of which the translation is,—
“ The town of Suweis has succeeded to that of Kulzum, of which the ruins exist
a little to the north. Under the Ptolemies it bore the name of Arsinoe, or
Cleo-pittris; and under the Arabs took that of Kulzum, as may be seen in Makrfzy and
Ben Ayds; and, since, that of Suweis. We are iguoraut of the etymology of the
wortl Suweis. May not the Arabs, who have given this name to the present town,
have considered the district of Kulzum as an oasis, a word which they pronounce
Soui/eli, and which Europeans have rendered by Suweis. Nevertheless, various
Arabian authors, and particularly the geographer ’Abdn-l-Kashid al-Bakify (iu
1412) expressly distinguish Suweis from Kulzum.” In a foot-note it is added,
that “ Makrizy, in speaking of the oasis of Ammon, expresses himself thus:—
“ Santaryefi is at the present day a very small district, which is called Sywah, and
which the Arabs pronounce Suyeh and that, according to the learned orientalist
M. Lnngles (‘ Voyage de Homemann/ tom. ii. p. 343), the etymology of the word
Sj/wuh is to he sought for in the Egyptian word withe, which signifies an inhabited
place in the desert, and which the Greeks have hellenized into oasis.
According to al-Bakuy (idem, tom. ii. p. 3(J9), Suweis was sumamed al-Hagar,
or the stony, or rocky, front the aspect of its locality. D’Herbelot (Hibl. Orient,
in v. Sons) states the word to be either Sous or Souis. If he is right, and if al-Hagar
may he taken as a distinguishing appellative, the name, after all, may he the same
with that of the towns of this name in Khnzistiin, Morocco, Tunis, and other places,
ami the diminutive noun Suweis would then signify “ Little Stfs.” Stephan us (in
v. Xoi/o-sc, cecclvi., vol. ii.) associates the etymology of this word, as the name of the
antient Susa in Khuzistdn, with the Greek word anv<rm, a lily, which he states to he
of Phoenician or Phrygian origin; and Susan, Snsiln, and Shtfsan signify a lily in
Turkish, Arabic, and Hebrew, respectively. The antient city is likewise supposed
to have been named from the old Persian word Slnis, pleasant (Col. Kinneir’s
1 Geogr. Memoir of the Persian Empire,’ p. 100, et seq.). Beyond these vague
suggestions, I have been unable to find anything illustrative of the origin or of the
name of the present town of Suweis.
The inhabitants of Suweis have a tradition, that in the early ages of Christianity
the site of Suweis was occupied by some Arabs only, who lived by fishing and
smuggling (Descr. de l’Eg., t. xi. p. 171).—A.
Note.— Tidal Flats, p. 5.—The Gulpli of Suweis extends in a N.N.E. direction
for some distance above the town. There is a considerable variation as to the actual
limits of the gulph on the maps. The latest map, and that which should he the
most authentic, namely, that embodying the results of the surveys of the lied Sea
executed between 1830 and 1833, terminates the gulph in a confused line at Suweis
itself; and the supplemental sheet of the northern harbours exhibits the bend of the
gulph at about 2000 yards, or a nautical mile, to the N. of the town. The nuip
accompanying the report of the engineers who examined the Isthmus in 1847, with
a view to the re-establishment of a canal, affords no certain view of the head of the
gulph. The French plan of the port of Suweis (Dcscrip, de l’Eg. E. M , vol. i.
pi. II.), which is on a larger and more detailed scale than the others, places the
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