All the rest of the afternoon, we saw mountains of a perfectly purple colour, all of them porphyry; nor has Ptolemy151 much erred in the position of them. About four o’clock, we pitched our tent at a place called Main el Mafarek. The colour of the valley El Hamra continued to this station; and it was very singular to observe, that the ants, or pismires, the only living creatures I had yet observed, were all of a beautiful red colour like the sand.
The 20th, at six o’clock in the morning, we left Main el Mafarek, and, at ten, came to the mouth of the defiles. At eleven we began to descend, having had a very imperceptible ascent from Kenné all the way.
We were now indemnified for the sameness of our natural productions yesterday; for, on each side of the plain, we found different sorts of marble, twelve kinds of which I selected, and took with me.
At noon, we came to a plain planted with acacia-trees, at equal distances; single trees, spreading broader than usual, as if on purpose to proportion the refreshment they gave to the number of travellers who stood in need of it. This is a station of the Atouni Arabs after rain. From our leaving Legeta, we had no water that, nor the following day.
On the right-hand side of this plain we found porphyry and granite, of very beautiful kinds. All the way, on both sides of the valley, this day, the mountains were of porphyry, and a very few of stone.
At a quarter past four, we encamped at Koraim, a small plain, perfectly barren, consisting of fine gravel, sand, and stones, with a few acacia-trees, interspersed throughout.
The 21st, we departed early in the morning from Koraim, and, at ten o’clock, we passed several defiles, perpetually alarmed by a report, that the Arabs were approaching; none of whom we ever saw. We then proceeded through several defiles, into a long plain that turns to the east, then north-east, and north, so as to make a portion of a circle. At the end of this plain we came to a mountain, the greatest part of which was of the marble, verde antico, as it is called in Rome, but by far the most beautiful of the kind I had ever seen.
Having passed this, we had mountains on both sides of us, but particularly on our right. The only ones that I myself examined were of a kind of granite, with reddish veins throughout, with triangular and square black spots. These mountains continued to Mesag el Terfowey, where we encamped at twelve o’clock; we were obliged to bring our water from about five miles to the south-east. This water does not appear to be from springs, it lies in cavities and grottos in the rock, of which there are twelve in number, whether hollowed by nature or art, or partly by both, is more than I can solve. Great and abundant rains fall here in February. The clouds, breaking on the tops of these mountains, in their way to Abyssinia, fill these cisterns with large supplies, which the impending rocks secure from evaporation.
It was the first fresh water we tasted since we left the Nile; and the only water of any kind since we left Legeta. But such had been the foresight of our caravan, that very few resorted thither, having all laid in abundant store from the Nile; and some of them a quantity sufficient to serve them till their return. This was not our case. We had water, it is true, from the Nile; but we never thought we could have too much, as long as there was room in our water-skins to hold more; I therefore went early with my camel-drivers, expecting to have seen some antelopes, which every night come to drink from the well, having no opportunity to do it throughout the day.
I had not concealed myself half an hour, above a narrow path leading to the principal cave, before I saw, first one antelope walking very stately alone; then four others, closely following him. Although I was wholly hid as long as I lay still, he seemed to have discerned me from the instant that I saw him. I should have thought it had been the smell that had discovered me, had not I used the precaution of carrying a piece of burnt turf along with me, and left, one with my horse likewise; perhaps it was this unusual smell that terrified him. Whatever was the cause, he advanced apparently in fear, and seemed to be trusted with the care of the flock, as the others testified no apprehension, but were rather sporting or fighting with each other. Still he advanced slower, and with greater caution; but, being perfectly within reach, I did not think proper any longer to risk the whole from a desire to acquire a greater number. I shot him so justly, that, giving one leap five or six feet high, he fell dead upon his head. I fired at the others, retiring all in a crowd; killed one likewise, and lamed another, who fled among the mountains, where darkness protected him. We were perfectly content with our acquisition, and the nature of the place did not prompt us to look after the wounded. We continued at the well to assist our· companions who came in want of water, a duty with which necessity binds us all to comply.
We returned near midnight with our game and our water. We found our tents all lighted, which, at that time of night, was unusual. I thought, however, it was on account of my absence, and to guide me the surer home. We were however surprised, when, coming within a moderate distance of our tent, we heard the word called for; I answered immediately, Charlotte; and, upon our arrival, we perceived the Turks were parading round the tents in arms, and soon after our Howadat Arab came to us, and with him a messenger from Sidi Hassan, desiring me to come instantly to his tent, while my servants advised me first to hear what they had to say to me in mine.
I soon, therefore, perceived that all was not well, and I returned my compliments to Hassan, adding, that, if he had any thing to say to me so late, he would do well to come, or send, as it was past my hour of visiting in the desert, especially as I had not eat, and was tired with having the charge of the water. I gave orders to my servants to put out all the extraordinary lights, as that seemed to be a mark of fear; but forbade any one to sleep, excepting those who had the charge of our beasts, and had been fetching the water.
I found that, while our people had been asleep, two persons had got into the tent and attempted to steal one of the portmanteaus; but, as they were chained together, and the tent-pole in the middle, the noise had awakened my servants, who had seized one of the men; and that the Turks had intended instantly to have dispatched him with their knives, and with great difficulty had been prevented by my servants, according to my constant orders, for I wished to avoid all extremities, upon such occasions, when possible. They had indeed leave to deal with their sticks as freely as their prudence suggested to them; and they had gone, in this case, fully beyond the ordinary limits of discretion, especially Abdel Gin, who was the first to seize the robber. In short, they had dealt so liberally with their sticks, that the thief was only known to be living by his groans, and they had thrown him at a small distance, for any person to own him that pleased. It appeared, that he was a servant of Sidi Hassan, an Egyptian slave, or servant to Shekh Hamam, who conducted or commanded the caravan, if there was any conduct or command in it.
There were with me ten servants, all completely armed, twenty-five Turks, who seemed worthy to be depended upon, and four janissaries, who had joined us from Cairo, so that there were of us forty men perfectly armed, besides attendants on the cattle. As we had people with us who knew the wells, and also a friend who was acquainted with the Atouni, nothing, even in a desert, could reasonably alarm us.
With great difficulty we pulled down an old acacia-tree, and procured some old-dried camels dung, with which we roasted our two antelopes: very ill-roasted they were; and execrable meat, though they had been ever so well dressed, and had had the best sauce of Christendom. However, we were in the desert, and every thing was acceptable. We had some spirits, which finished our repast that night: it was exceedingly cold, and we sat thick about the fire.
Five men with firelocks, and a number of Arabs with lances, having come towards us, and being challenged by the centinel for not giving the word, were then desired to stand, or they would be fired upon. They all cried out, Salam Alicum! and I intimated that any three of them might come forward, but desired them to keep away the Arabs. Three of them accordingly came, and then two more. They delivered a message from Sidi Hassan, that my people had killed a man; they desired that the murderer might be delivered to them, and that I should come to his tent, and see justice done. “I told them, that none of my people, however provoked, would put a man to death in my absence, unless in defence of their own lives; that, if I had been there, I should certainly have ordered them to fire upon a thief catched in the act of stealing within my tent; but, since he was dead, I was satisfied as to him, only expected that Sidi Hassan would give me up his companion, who had fled; that, as it was near morning, I should meet him when the caravan decamped, and hear what he had to say in his defence. In the mean time I forbade any person to come near my tent, or quarters, on any pretence whatever, till-day light.” Away they went murmuring, but what they said I did not understand. We heard no more of them, and none of us slept. All of us, however, repeated our vows of standing by each other; and we since found, that we had stood in the way of a common practice, of stripping these poor strangers, the Turks, who come every year this road to Mecca.
At dawn of day, the caravan was all in motion. They had got intelligence, that two days before, about 300 Atouni had watered at Terfowey; and, indeed, there were marks of great resort at the well, where we filled the water. We had agreed not to load one of our camels, but let the caravan go on before us, and meet the Atouni first; that I only should go on horseback, about two hundred yards into the plain from the tent, and all the rest follow me on foot with arms in their hands.
Hassan, too, was mounted on horseback, with about a hundred of his myrmidons, and a number of Arabs on foot. He sent me word that I was to advance, with only two servants; but I returned for answer, that I had no intention to advance at all; that if he had any business, he should say so, and that I would meet him one to one, or three to six, just as he pleased. He sent me again word, that he wanted to communicate the intelligence he had of the Atouni, to put me on my guard. I returned for answer, that I was already upon my guard, against all thieves, and did not make any distinction, if people were thieves themselves, or encouraged others to be so, or whether they were Atouni or Ababdé. He then sent me a message, that it was a cold morning, and wished I would give him a dish of coffee, and keep those strangers away. I therefore desired one of my servants to bring the coffee-pot, and directing my people to sit down, I rode up to him, and dismounted, as he did also, when twenty or thirty of his vagabonds came, and sat down likewise. He said he was exceedingly surprised, after sending to me last night, that I did not come to him; that the whole camp was in murmur at beating the man, and that it was all that he could do to hinder his soldiers from falling upon us, and extirpating us all at once; that I did wrong to protect those Turks, who carried always money to Mecca for merchandise, and defrauded them of their dues.
My servant having just poured out a dish of coffee to give him, I said, Stay, Sir, till we know whether we are in peace. Sidi Hassan, if that is the way of levying dues upon the Turks, to send thieves to rob them in my tent, you should advise me first of it, and then we should have settled the business. With regard to your preventing people from murdering me, it is a boast so ridiculous that I laugh at it. Those pale-faced fellows who are about you muffled up in burnooses for fear of cold in the morning, are they capable to look janissaries in the face like mine? Speak lowly, and in Arabic, when you talk at this rate, or perhaps it will not be in my power to return you the compliment you did me last night, or hinder them from killing you on the spot. Were ever such words spoken! said a man behind; tell me, master, are you a king? If Sidi Hassan, answered I, is your master, and you speak to me on this occasion, you are a wretch; get out of my sight; I swear I will not drink a dish of coffee while you are here, and will mount my horse directly.
I then rose, and the servant took back the coffee-pot; upon which Hassan ordered his servant out of his presence, saying, “No, no; give me the coffee if we are in peace;” and he drank it accordingly. Now, says he, past is past; the Atouni are to meet us at the 152mouth of Beder; your people are better armed than mine, are Turks, and used to fighting. I would wish you to go foremost, and we will take charge of your camels, though my people have 4000 of their own, and they have enough to do to take charge of the corn. “And I,” said I, “if I wanted water or provision, would go to meet the Atouni, who would use me well. Why, you don’t know to whom you are speaking, nor that the Atouni are Arabs of Ali Bey, and that I am his man of confidence, going to the Sherriffe of Mecca? The Atouni will not hurt us; but, as you say, you are commander of the caravan, we have all sworn we will not fire a shot, till we see you heartily engaged; and then we will do our best; to hinder the Arabs from stealing the Sherriffe of Mecca’s corn, for his sake only.” They all cried out El Fedtah! El Fedtah! so I said the prayer of peace as a proxy; for none of the Turks would come near him.
Opposite to where we were encamped is Terfowey, a large mountain, partly green-marble, partly granite, with a red blush upon a grey ground, with square oblong spots. About forty yards within the narrow valley, which separates this mountain from its neighbour, we saw a part of the fust or shaft of a monstrous obelisk of marble, very nearly square, broken at the end, and towards the top. It was nearly thirty feet long, and nineteen feet in the face; about two feet of the bottom were perfectly insulated, and one whole side separated from the mountain. The gully had been widened and levelled, and the road made quite up to underneath the block.
We saw likewise, throughout the plain, small pieces of jasper, having green, white, and red spots, called in Italy, “Diaspo Sanguineo.” All the mountains on both sides of the plain seemed to be of the same sort, whether they really were so or not, I will not say, having had no time to examine them.
The 22d, at half past one in the morning, we set out full of terror about the Atouni. We continued in a direction nearly east, till at three we came to the defiles; but it was so dark, that it was impossible to discern of what the country on each side consisted. At day-break, we found ourselves at the bottom of a mountain of granite, bare like the former.
We saw quantities of small pieces of various sorts of granite, and porphyry scattered over the plain, which had been carried down by a torrent, probably from quarries of ancient ages; these were white, mixed with black spots; red, with green veins, and black spots. After this, all the mountains on the right hand were of red marble in prodigious abundance, but of no great beauty. They continued, as the granite did, for several miles along the road, while the opposite side was all of dead-green, supposed serpentine marble.
It was one of the most extraordinary sights I ever saw. The former mountains were of considerable height, without a tree, or shrub, or blade of grass upon them; but these now before us had all the appearance, the one of having been sprinkled over with Havannah, the other with Brazil snuff. I wondered, that, as the red is nearest the sea, and the ships going down the Abyssinian coast observe this appearance within lat. 26°, writers have not imagined this was called the Red Sea upon that account, rather than for the many weak reasons they have relied upon.
About eight o’clock we began to descend smartly, and, half an hour after, entered into another defile like those before described, having mountains of green marble on every side of us. At nine, on our left, we saw the highest mountain we had yet passed. We found it, upon examination, to be composed of serpentine marble; and, thro’ about one-third of the thickness, ran a large vein of jasper, green, spotted with red. Its exceeding hardness was such as not to yield to the blows of a hammer; but the works of old times were more apparent in it, than in any mountain we had seen. Ducts, or channels, for carrying water transversely, were observed evidently to terminate in this quarry of jasper: a proof that water was one of the means used in cutting these hard stones.
About ten o’clock, descending very rapidly, with green marble and jasper on each side of us, but no other green thing whatever, we had the first prospect of the Red Sea, and, at a quarter past eleven, we arrived at Cosseir. It has been a wonder with all travellers, and with myself among the rest, where the ancients procured that prodigious quantity of fine marble, with which all their buildings abound. That wonder, however, among many others, now ceases, after having passed, in four days, more granite, porphyry, marble, and jasper, than would build Rome, Athens, Corinth, Syracuse, Memphis, Alexandria, and half a dozen such cities. It seemed to be very visible, that those openings in the hills, which I call Defiles, were not natural, but artificial; and that whole mountains had been cut out at these places, to preserve a slope towards the Nile as gentle as possible: this, I suppose, might be a descent of about one foot in fifty at most; so that, from the mountains to the Nile, those heavy carriages must have moved with as little draught as possible, and, at the same time, been sufficiently impeded by friction, so as not to run amain, or acquire an increased velocity, against which, also, there must have been other provisions contrived. As I made another excursion to these marble mountains from Cosseir, I will, once for all, here set down what I observed concerning their natural appearance.
The porphyry shews itself by a fine purple sand, without any gloss or glitter on it, and is exceedingly agreeable to the eye. It is mixed with the native white sand, and fixed gravel of the plains. Green unvariegated marble, is generally seen in the same mountain with the porphyry. Where the two veins meet, the marble is for some inches brittle, but the porphyry of the same hardness as in other places.
The granite is covered with sand, and looks like stone of a dirty, brown colour. But this is only the change and impression the sun and weather have made upon it; for, upon breaking it, you see it is grey granite, with black spots, with a reddish cast, or blush over it. This red seems to fade and suffer from the outward air, but, upon working or polishing the surface, this colour again appears. It is in greater quantity than the porphyry, and nearer the Red Sea. Pompey’s pillar seems to have been from this quarry.
Next to the granite, but never, as I observed, joined with it in the same mountain, is the red marble. It is covered with sand of the same colour, and looks as if the whole mountain were spread over with brick dust. There is also a red marble with white veins, which I have often seen at Rome, but not in principal subjects, I have also seen it in Britain. The common green (called Serpentine) looks as if covered over with Brazil snuff. Joined with this green, I saw two samples of that beautiful marble they call Isabella; one of them with a yellowish cast, which we call Quaker-colour; the other with a blueish, which is commonly termed Dove-colour. These two seem to divide the respective mountains with the serpentine. In this green, likewise, it was we saw the vein of jasper; but whether it was absolutely the same with this which is the bloody jasper, or blood-stone, is what we had not time to settle.
I should first have made mention of the verde antico, the dark green with white irregular spots, because it is of the greatest value, and nearest the Nile. This is produced in the mountains of the plain green, or serpentine, as is the jasper, and is not discoverable by the dust, or any particular colour upon it. First, there is a blue fleaky stone, exceedingly even and smooth in the grain, solid, and without sparks or colour. When broken, it is something lighter than a slate, and more beautiful than most marble; it is like the lava of volcanoes, when polished. After lifting this, we come to the beds of verde antico; and here the quarrying is very obvious, for it has been uncovered in patches, not above twenty feet square. Then, in another part, the green stone has been removed, and another pit of it wrought.
I saw, in several places in the plain, small pieces of African marble scattered about, but no rocks or mountains of it. I suppose it is found in the heart of some other coloured marble, and in strata, like the jasper and verde antico, and, I suspect, in the mountains of Isabella marble, especially of the yellowest sort of it, but this is mere conjecture. This prodigious store of marble is placed upon a ridge, whence there is a descent to the east or west, either to the Nile or Red Sea. The level ground and hard-fixed gravel are proper for the heaviest carriages, and will easily and smoothly convey any weight whatever to its place of embarkation on the Nile; so that another wonder ceased, how the ancients transported those vast blocks to Thebes, Memphis, and Alexandria.
Cosseir is a small mud-walled village, built upon the shore, among hillocks of floating sand. It is defended by a square fort of hewn stone, with square towers in the angles, which have in them three small cannon of iron, and one of brass, all in very bad condition; of no other use but to terrify the Arabs, and hinder them from plundering the town when full of corn, going to Mecca in time of famine. The walls are not high; nor was it necessary, if the great guns were in order. But as this is not the case, the ramparts are heightened by clay, or by mud-walls, to screen the soldiers from the fire-arms of the Arabs, that might otherwise command them from the sandy hills in the neighbourhood.
There are several wells of brackish water on the N. W. of the castle, which, for experiment’s sake, I made drinkable, by filtering it through sand; but the water in use is brought from Terfowey, a good day’s journey off.
The port, if we may call it so, is on the south-east of the town. It is nothing but a rock which runs out about four hundred yards into the sea, and defends the vessels, which ride to the west of it, from the north and north-east winds, as the houses of the town cover them from the north-west.
There is a large inclosure with a high mud-wall, and, within, every merchant has a shop or magazine for his corn and merchandise: little of this last is imported, unless coarse India goods, for the consumption of Upper Egypt itself, since the trade to Dongola and Sennaar has been interrupted.
I had orders from Shekh Hamam to lodge in the castle. But a few hours before my arrival, Hussein Bey Abou Kersh landed from Mecca, and Jidda, and he had taken up the apartments which were destined for me. He was one of those Beys whom Ali Bey had defeated, and driven from Cairo. He was called Abou Kersh, i. e. Father Belly, from being immoderately fat; his adversity had brought him a little into shapes. My servants, who had gone before, thinking that a friend of the Bey in power was better than an enemy outlawed, and banished by him, had inadvertently put some of my baggage into the castle just when this potentate was taking possession. Swords were immediately drawn, death and destruction threatened to my poor servants, who fled and hid themselves till I arrived.
Upon their complaint, I told them they had acted improperly; that a sovereign was a sovereign all the world over; and it was not my business to make a difference, whether he was in power or not. I easily procured a house, and sent a janissary of the four that had joined us from Cairo, with my compliments to the Bey, desiring restitution of my baggage, and that he would excuse the ignorance of my servants, who did not know that he was at Cosseir; but only, having the firman of the Grand Signior, and letters from the Bey and Port of janissaries of Cairo, they presumed that I had a right to lodge there, if he had not taken up the quarters.
It happened, that an intimate friend of mine, Mahomet Topal, captain of one of the large Cairo ships, trading to Arabia, was a companion of this Hussein Bey, and had carried him to see Captain Thornhill, and some of our English captains at Jidda, who, as their very laudable custom is, always shew such people some civilities. He questioned the janissary about me, who told him I was English; that I had the protection I had mentioned, and that, from kindness and charity, I had furnished the stranger Turks with water, and provision at my own expence, when crossing the desert. He professed himself exceedingly ashamed at the behaviour of his servants, who had drawn their sabres upon mine, and had cut my carpet and some cords. After which, of his own accord, he ordered his kaya, or next in command, to remove from the lodging he occupied, and instead of sending back my baggage by my servant, he directed it to be carried into the apartment from which the kaya had removed. This I absolutely refused, and sent word, I understood he was to be there for a few days only; and as I might stay for a longer time, I should only desire to succeed him after his departure, in order to put my baggage in safety from the Arabs; but for the present they were in no danger, as long as he was in the town. I told him, I would pay my respects to him in the evening, when the weather cooled. I did so, and, contrary to his expectations, brought him a small present. Great intercourse of civility passed; my fellow-travellers, the Turks, were all seated there, and he gave me, repeatedly, very honourable testimonials of my charity, generosity, and kindness to them.
These Turks, finding themselves in a situation to be heard, had not omitted the opportunity of complaining to Hussein Bey of the attempt of the Arab to rob them in the desert. The Bey asked me, If it happened in my tent? I said, It was in that of my servants. “What is the reason, says he, that, when you English people know so well what good government is, you did not order his head to be struck off, when you had him in your hands, before the door of the tent?”—“Sir,” said I, “I know well what good government is; but being a stranger, and a Christian, I have no sort of title to exercise the power of life and death in this country; only in this one case, when a man attempts my life, then I think I am warranted to defend myself, whatever may be the consequence to him. My men took him in the fact, and they had my orders, in such cases, to beat the offenders so that they should not steal these two months again: They did so; that was punishment enough in cold blood.”—“But my blood,” says he, “never cools with regard to such rascals as these: Go (and he called one of his attendants) tell Hassan, the head of the caravan, from me, that unless he hangs that Arab before sun-rise to-morrow, I will carry him in irons to Furshout.”
Upon this message I took my leave; saying only, “Hussein Bey, take my advice; procure a vessel and send these Turks over to Mecca before you leave this town, or, be assured they will all be made responsible for the death of this Arab; will be stripped naked, and perhaps murdered, as soon as your back is turned.” It was all I could do to get them protected thus far. This measure was already provided for, and the poor Turks joyfully embarked next morning. The thief was not at all molested: he was sent out of the way, under pretence that he had fled.
Cosseir has been mistaken by different authors. Mr Huet, Bishop of Avranches, says, It is the Myos Hormos of antiquity; others, the Philoteras Portus of Ptolemy. The fact is, that neither one nor other is the port, both being considerably farther to the northward. Nay, more, the present town of Cosseir was no ancient port at all; old Cosseir was five or six miles to the northward. There can be no sort of doubt, that it was the Portus Albus, or the White Harbour; for we find the steep descent from Terfowey, and the marble mountains, called, to this day, the Accaba, which, in Arabic, signifies a steep ascent or descent, is placed here by Ptolemy with the same name, though in Greek that name has no signification. Again, Ptolemy places 153Aias Mons, or the mountain Aias, just over Cosseir, and this mountain, by the same name, is found there at this day. And, upon this mountain, and the one next it, (both over the port) are two very remarkable chalky cliffs; which, being conspicuous and seen far at sea, have given the name of the White Port, which Cosseir bore in all antiquity.
I found, by many meridian altitudes of the sun, taken at the castle, that Cosseir is in lat. 26° 7´ 51´´ north; and, by three observations of Jupiter’s satellites, I found its longitude to be 34° 4´ 15´´ east of the meridian of Greenwich.
The caravan from Syené arrived at this time, escorted by four hundred Ababdé, all upon camels, each armed with two short javelins. The manner of their riding was very whimsical; they had two small saddles on each camel, and sat back to back, which might be, in their practice, convenient enough; but I am sure, that, if they had been to fight with us, every ball would have killed two of them, what their advantage would have been, I know not.
The whole town was in terror at the influx of so many barbarians, who knew no law whatever. They brought a thousand camels loaded with wheat to transport to Mecca. Every body shut their doors, and I among the rest, whilst the Bey sent to me to remove into the castle. But I had no fear, and resolved to make an experiment, after hearing these were people of Nimmer, whether I could trust them in the desert or not. However, I sent all my instruments, my money, and the best of my baggage, my medicines and memorandums, into a chamber in the castle: after the door was locked, and the key brought to me, the Bey ordered to nail up pieces of wood across it, and set a centinel to watch it all day, and two in the night.
I was next morning down at the port looking for shells in the sea, when a servant of mine came to me in apparent fright and hurry. He told me the Ababdé had found out that Abdel Gin, my Arab, was an Atouni, their enemy, and that they had either cut his throat, or were about to do it; but, by the fury with which they seized him, in his sight, he could not believe they would spare him a minute.
He very providently brought me a horse, upon which I mounted immediately, seeing there was no time to be lost; and in the fishing-dress, in which I was, with a red turban about my head, I galloped as hard as the horse could carry me through the town. If I was alarmed myself, I did not fail to alarm many others. They all thought it was something behind, not any thing before me, that occasioned this speed. I only told my servant at passing, to send two of my people on horseback after me, and that the Bey would lend them horses.
I was not got above a mile into the sands, when I began to reflect on the folly of the undertaking. I was going into the desert among a band of savages, whose only trade was robbery and murder, where, in all probability, I should be as ill treated as the man I was attempting to save. But, seeing a crowd of people about half a mile before me, and thinking they might be at that time murdering that poor, honest, and simple fellow, all consideration of my own safety for the time vanished.
Upon my coming near them, six or eight of them surrounded me on horseback, and began to gabble in their own language. I was not very fond of my situation. It would have cost them nothing to have thrust a lance through my back, and taken the horse away; and, after stripping me, to have buried me in a hillock of sand, if they were so kind as give themselves that last trouble. However, I picked up courage, and putting on the best appearance I could, said to them steadily, without trepidation, “What men are these before?” The answer, after some pause, was, they are men; and they looked very queerly, as if they meant to ask each other, What sort of a spark is this? “Are those before us Ababdé, said I; are they from Shekh Ammer?” One of them nodded, and grunted sullenly, rather than said “Aye, Ababdé from Shekh Ammer.” “Then Salam Alicum! said I, we are brethren. How does the Nimmer? Who commands you here? Where is Ibrahim?”
At the mention of Nimmer, and Ibrahim, their countenance changed, not to any thing sweeter or gentler than before, but to a look of great surprise. They had not returned my salutation, peace be between us; but one of them asked me who I was?—“Tell me first, said I, who that is you have before?”—“It is an Arab, our enemy, says he, guilty of our blood.”—“He is, replied I, my servant. He is a Howadat Arab, his tribe lives in peace at the gates of Cairo, in the same manner your’s at Shekh Ammer does at those of Assouan.” “I ask you, Where is Ibrahim your Shekh’s’ son?”—“Ibrahim, says he, is at our head, he commands us here. But who are you?”—“Come with me, and shew me Ibrahim, said I, and I will shew you who I am.”
I passed by these, and by another party of them. They had thrown a hair rope about the neck of Abdel Gin, who was almost strangled already, and cried out most miserably, for me not to leave him. I went directly to the black tent which I saw had a long spear thrust up in the end of it, and met at the door Ibrahim and his brother, and seven or eight Ababdé. He did not recollect me, but I dismounted close to the tent-door, and had scarce taken hold of the pillar of the tent, and said Fiarduc154, when Ibrahim, and his brother both knew me. “What! said they, are you Yagoube our physician, and our friend?”—“Let me ask you, replied I, if you are the Ababdé of Shekh Ammer, that cursed yourselves, and your children, if you ever lifted a hand against me, or mine, in the desert, or in the plowed field: If you have repented of that oath, or sworn falsely on purpose to deceive me, here I am come to you in the desert.” “What is the matter, says Ibrahim, we are the Ababdé of Shekh Ammer, there are no other, and we still say, Cursed be he, whether our father, or children, that lifts his hand against you, in the desert, or in the plowed field.” “Then, said I, you are all accursed in the desert, and in the field, for a number of your people are going to murder my servant. They took him indeed from my house in the town, perhaps that is not included in your curse, as it is neither in the desert nor the plowed field.”—I was very angry. “Whew! says Ibrahim with a kind of whistle, that is downright nonsense. Who are those of my people that have authority to murder, and take prisoners while I am here? Here one of you, get upon Yagoube’s horse, and bring that man to me.” Then turning to me, he desired I would go into the tent and sit down: “For God renounce me and mine, (says he), if it is as you say, and one of them hath touched the hair of his head, if ever he drinks of the Nile again.”
A number of people who had seen me at Shekh Ammer, now came all around me; some with complaints of sickness, some with compliments; more with impertinent questions, that had no relation to either. At last came in the culprit Abdel Gin, with forty or fifty of the Ababdé who had gathered round him, but no rope about his neck. There began a violent altercation between Ibrahim, and his men, in their own language. All that I could guess was, that the men had the worst of it; for every one present said something harsh to them, as disapproving the action.
I heard the name of Hassan Sidi Hassan often in the dispute. I began to suspect something, and desired in Arabic to know what that Sidi Hassan was, so often mentioned in discourse, and then the whole secret came out.
The reader will remember, that this Arab, Abdel Gin, was the person that seized the servant of Hassan, the Captain of the Caravan, when he was attempting to steal the Turk’s portmanteau out of my tent; that my people had beat him till he lay upon the ground like dead, and that Hussein Bey, at the complaint of the Caramaniots, had ordered him to be hanged. Now, in order to revenge this, Hassan had told the Ababdé that Abdel Gin was an Atouni spy, that he had detected him in the Caravan, and that he was come to learn the number of the Ababdé, in order to bring his companions to surprise them. He did not say one word that he was my servant, nor that I was at Cosseir; so the people thought they had a very meritorious sacrifice to make, in the person of poor Abdel Gin.
All passed now in kindness, fresh medicines were asked for the Nimmer, great thankfulness, and professions, for what they had received, and a prodigious quantity of meat on wooden platters very excellently dressed, and most agreeably diluted with fresh water, from the coldest rock of Terfowey, was set before me.
In the mean time, two of my servants, attended by three of Hussein Bey, came in great anxiety to know what was the matter; and, as neither they nor the Arabs chose much each others company, I sent them with a short account of the whole to the Bey; and soon after took my leave, carrying Abdel Gin along with me, who had been clothed by Ibrahim from head to foot. We were accompanied by two Ababdé, in case of accident.
I cannot help here accusing myself of what, doubtless, may be well reputed a very great sin. I was so enraged at the traitorous part which Hassan had acted, that, at parting, I could not help saying to Ibrahim, “Now, Shekh, I have done every thing you have desired, without ever expecting fee, or reward; the only thing I now ask you, and it is probably the last, is, that you revenge me upon this Hassan, who is every day in your power.” Upon this, he gave me his hand, saying, “He shall not die in his bed, or I shall never see old age.”
We now returned all in great spirits to Cosseir, and I observed that my unexpected connection with the Ababdé had given me an influence in that place, that put me above all fear of personal danger, especially as they had seen in the desert, that the Atouni were my friends also, as reclaiming this Arab shewed they really were.
The Bey insisted on my supping with him. At his desire I told him the whole story, at which he seemed to be much surprised, saying, several times, “Menullah! Menullah! Mucktoub!” It is God’s doing, it is God’s doing, it was written so. And, when I had finished, he said to me, “I will not leave this traitor with you to trouble you further; I will oblige him, as it is his duty, to attend me to Furshout.” This he accordingly did; and, to my very great surprise, though he might be assured I had complained of him to Shekh Hamam, meeting me the next day, when they were all ready to depart, and were drinking coffee with the Bey, he gave me a slip of paper, and desired me, by that direction, to buy him a sabre, which might be procured in Mecca. It seems it is the manufacture of Persia, and, though I do not understand in the least, the import of the terms, I give it to the reader that he may know by what description he is to buy an excellent sabre. It is called Suggaro Tabanne Haresanne Agemmi, for Sidi Hassan of Furshout.
Although pretty much used to stifle my resentment upon impertinences of this kind, I could not, after the trick he had played me with the Ababdé, carry it indifferently; I threw the billet before the Bey, saying to Hassan, “A sword of that value would be useless and misemployed in the hand of a coward and a traitor, such as surely you must be sensible I know you to be.” He looked to the Bey as if appealing to him, from the incivility of the observation; but the Bey, without scruple, answered, “It is true, it is true what he says, Hassan; if I was in Ali Bey’s place, when you dared use a stranger of mine, or any stranger, as you have done him, I would plant you upon a sharp stake in the market-place, till the boys in the town stoned you to death; but he has complained of you in a letter, and I will be a witness against you before Hamam, for your conduct is not that of a Mussulman.”
While I was engaged with the Ababdé, a vessel was seen in distress in the offing, and all the boats went out and towed her in. It was the vessel in which the twenty-five Turks had embarked, which had been heavily loaded. Nothing is so dreadful as the embarkation in that sea; for the boats have no decks; the whole, from stern to stem, being filled choak-full of wheat, the waste, that is the slope of the vessel, between the height of her stem and stern, is filled up by one plank on each side, which is all that is above the surface of the waves. Sacks, tarpaulins, or mats, are strowed along the surface of the wheat upon which all the passengers lye. On the least agitation of the waves, the sea getting in upon the wheat, increases its weight so prodigiously, that, falling below the level of the gunnel, the water rushes in between the plank and that part of the vessel, and down it goes to the bottom.
Though every day produces an accident of this kind from the same cause, yet such is the desire of gaining money in that season, which offers but once a-year, that every ship sails, loaded in the same manner as the last which perished. This was just the case with the vessel that had carried the Turks. Anxious to go away, they would not wait the signs of the weather being rightly settled. Ullah Kerim! they cry, ‘God is great and is merciful’; and upon that they embark in a navigation, where it needs indeed a miracle to save them.
The Turks all came ashore but one; the youngest, and, according to all appearance, the best, had fallen over board, and perished. The Bey received them, and with great charity entertained them all at his own expence, but they were so terrified with the sea, as almost to resolve never to make another attempt.
The Bey had brought with him from Jidda, a small, but tight vessel belonging to 155Sheher; which came from that country loaded with frankincense, the commodity of that port. The Rais had business down the Gulf at Tor, and he had spoken to the Bey, to recommend him to me. I had no business at Tor, but as we had grown into a kind of friendship, from frequent conversation, and as he was, according to his own word, a great saint, like my last boatman, a character that I thought I could perfectly manage, I proposed to the Bey, that he and I should contribute something to make it worth this Captain’s pains, to take our friends the Turks on board, and carry them to Yambo, that they might not be deprived of that blessing which would result from their visit to the Prophet’s tomb, and which they had toiled so much to earn. I promised, in that case, to hire his vessel at so much a month upon its return from Yambo; and, as I had then formed a resolution of making a survey of the Red Sea to the Straits of Babelmandeb, the Rais was to take his directions from me, till I pleased to dismiss him.
Nothing was more agreeable to the views of all parties than this. The Bey promised to stay till they sailed, and I engaged to take him after he returned; and as the captain, in quality of a saint, assured us, that any rock that stood in our way in the voyage, would either jump aside, or become soft like a spunge, as it had often happened before, both the Turks and we were now assured of a voyage without danger.
All was settled to our mutual satisfaction, when, unluckily, the Turks going down to their boat, met Sidi Hassan, whom, with reason, they thought the author of all their misfortunes. The whole twenty-four drew their swords, and, without seeking sabres from Persia, as he had done, they would have cut Sidi Hassan in pieces, but, fortunately for him, the Turks had great cloth trowsers, like Dutchmen, and they could not run, whilst he ran very nimbly in his. Several pistols, however, were fired, one of which shot him in the back part of the ear; on which he fled for refuge to the Bey, and we never saw him more.
Voyage to Jibbel Zumrud—Return to Cosseir—Sails from Cosseir—Jaffateen Islands—Arrive at Tor.
The Turks and the Bey departed, and with the Turks I dispatched my Arab, Abdel Gin, not only giving him something myself, but recommending him to my beneficent countrymen at Jidda, if he should go there.
I now took up my quarters in the castle, and as the Ababdé had told strange stories about the Mountain of Emeralds, I determined, till my captain should return, to make a voyage thither. There was no possibility of knowing the distance by report; sometimes it was twenty-five miles, sometimes it was fifty, sometimes it was a hundred, and God knows how much more.
I chose a man who had been twice at these mountains of emeralds; with the best boat then in the harbour, and on Tuesday the 14th of March, we sailed, with the wind at North East, from the harbour of Cosseir, about an hour before the dawn of day. We kept coasting along, with a very moderate wind, much diverted with the red and green appearances of the marble mountains upon the coast. Our vessel had one sail, like a straw mattress, made of the leaves of a kind of palm-tree, which they call Doom. It was fixed above, and drew up like a curtain, but did not lower with a yard like a sail; so that upon stress of weather, if the sail was furled, it was so top-heavy, that the ship must founder, or the mast be carried away. But, by way of indemnification, the planks of the vessel were sewed together, and there was not a nail, nor a piece of iron, in the whole ship; so that, when you struck upon a rock, seldom any damage ensued. For my own part, from an absolute detestation of her whole construction, I insisted upon keeping close along shore, at an easy sail.
The Continent, to the leeward of us, belonged to our friends the Ababdé. There was great plenty of shell-fish to be picked up on every shoal. I had loaded the vessel with four skins of fresh water, equal to four hogsheads, with cords, and buoys fixed to the end of each of them, so that, if we had been shipwrecked near land, as rubbing two slicks together made us fire, I was not afraid of receiving succour, before we were driven to the last extremity, provided we did not perish in the sea, of which I was not very apprehensive.
On the 15th, about nine o’clock, I saw a large high rock, like a pillar, rising out of the sea. At first, I took it for a part of the Continent; but, as we advanced nearer it, the sun being very clear, and the sea calm, I took an observation, and as our situation was lat. 25° 6´, and the island about a league distant, to the S. S. W. of us, I concluded its latitude to be pretty exactly 25° 37´ North. This island is about three miles from the shore, of an oval form, rising in the middle. It seems to me to be of granite; and is called, in the language of the country, Jibbel Siberget, which has been translated the Mountain of Emeralds. Siberget, however, is a word in the language of the Shepherds, who, I doubt, never in their lives saw an emerald; and though the Arabic translation is Jibbel Zumrud, and that word has been transferred to the emerald, a very fine stone, oftener seen since the discovery of the new world, yet I very much doubt, that either Siberget or Zumrud ever meant Emerald in old times. My reason is this, that we found, both here and in the Continent, splinters, and pieces of green pellucid chrystaline substance; yet, though green, they were veiny, clouded, and not at all so hard as rock-crystal; a mineral production certainly, but a little harder than glass, and this, I apprehend, was what the Shepherds, or people of Beja, called Siberget, the Latins Smaragdus, and the Moors Zumrud.
The 16th, at day-break in the morning, I took the Arab of Cosseir with me, who knew the place. We landed on a point perfectly desert; at first, sandy like Cosseir, afterwards, where the soil was fixed, producing some few plants of rue or absinthium. We advanced above three miles farther in a perfectly desert country, with only a few acacia-trees scattered here and there, and came to the foot of the mountains. I asked my guide the name of that place; he said it was Saiel. They are never at a loss for a name, and those who do not understand the language, always believe them. This would have been the case in the present conjuncture. He knew not the name of the place, and perhaps it had no name, but he called it Saiel, which signifies a male acacia-tree; merely because he saw an acacia growing there; and, with equal reason, he might have called every mile Saiel, from the Gulf of Suez to the line.
We see this abuse in the old Itineraries, especially in the 156Antonine, from such a town to such a town, so many miles; and what is the next station? (el seggera) ten miles. This el seggera157, the Latin readers take to be the name of a town, as Harduin, and all commentators on the classics, have done. But so far from Seggera signifying a town, it imports just the contrary, that there is no town there, but the traveller must be obliged to take up his quarters under a tree that night, for such is the meaning of Seggera as a station, and so likewise of Saiel.
At the foot of the mountain, or about seven yards up from the base of it, are five pits or shafts, none of them four feet in diameter, called the Zumrud Wells, from which the ancients are said to have drawn the emeralds. We were not provided with materials, and little endowed with inclination, to descend into any one of them, where the air was probably bad. I picked up the nozzels, and some fragments of lamps, like those of which we find millions in Italy: and some worn fragments, but very small ones, of that brittle green chrystal, which is the siberget and bilur of Ethiopia, perhaps the zumrud, the smaragdus described by Pliny, but by no means the emerald, known since the discovery of the new world, whose first character absolutely defeats its pretension, the true Peruvian emerald being equal in hardness to the ruby.
Pliny158 reckons up twelve kind of emeralds, and names them all by the country where they are found. Many have thought the smaragdus to be but a finer kind of jasper. Pomet assures us it is a mineral, formed in iron, and says he had one to which iron-ore was sticking. If this was the case, the finest emeralds should not come from Peru, where, as far as ever has been yet discovered, there is no iron.
With regard to the Oriental emeralds, which they say come from the East Indies, they are now sufficiently known, and the value of each stone pretty well ascertained; but all our industry and avarice have not yet discovered a mine of emeralds there, as far as I have heard. That there were emeralds in the East Indies, upon the first discovery of it by the Cape, there is no sort of doubt; that there came emeralds from that quarter in the time of the Romans, seems to admit of as little; but few antique emeralds have ever been seen; and so greatly in esteem, and rare were they in those times, that it was made a crime for any artist to engrave upon an emerald159.
It is very natural to suppose, that some people of the East had a communication and trade with the new world, before we attempted to share it with them; and that the emeralds, they had brought from that quarter, were those which came afterwards into Europe, and were called the Oriental, till they were confounded with the 160Peruvian, by the quantity of that kind brought into the East Indies, by the Jews and Moors, after the discovery of the new Continent.
But what invincibly proves, that the ancients and we are not agreed as to the same stone, is, that 161Theophrastus says, that in the Egyptian commentaries he saw mention made of an emerald four cubits, (six feet long,) which was sent as a present to one of their kings; and in one of the temples of Jupiter in Egypt he saw an obelisk 60 feet high, made of four emeralds: and Roderick of Toledo informs us, that, when the Saracens took that city, Tarik, their chief, had a table of an emerald 365 cubits, or 547½ feet long. The Moorish histories of the invasion of Spain are full of such emeralds.
Having satisfied my curiosity as to these mountains, without having seen a living creature, I returned to my boat, where I found all well, and an excellent dinner of fish prepared. These were of three kinds, called Bisser, Surrumbac, and Nhoude el Benaat. The first of these seems to be of the Oyster-kind, but the shells are both equally curved and hollow, and open with a hinge on the side like a mussel. It has a large beard, like an oyster, which is not eatable, but which should be stript off. We found some of these two feet long, but the largest I believe ever seen composes the baptismal font in the church of Notre Dame in Paris162. The second is the Concha Veneris, with large projecting points like fingers. The third, called the Breasts of the Virgin, is a beautiful shell, perfectly pyramidal, generally about four inches in height, and beautifully variegated with mother-of-pearl, and green. All these fishes have a peppery taste, but are not therefore reckoned the less wholesome, and they are so much the more convenient, that they carry that ingredient of spice along with them for sauce, with which travellers, like me, very seldom burden themselves.
Besides a number of very fine shells, we picked up several branches of coral, coralines, yusser163, and many other articles of natural history. We were abundantly provided with every thing; the weather was fair; and we never doubted it was to continue, so we were in great spirits, and only regreted that we had not, once for all, taken leave of Cosseir, and stood over for Jidda.
In this disposition we sailed about three o’clock in the afternoon, and the wind flattered us so much, that next day, the 17th, about eleven o’clock, we found ourselves about two leagues a-stern of a small island, known to the Pilot by the name of Jibbel Macouar. This island is at least four miles from the shore, and is a high land, so that it may be seen, I suppose, eight leagues at sea, but is generally confounded with the Continent. I computed myself to be about 4´ of the meridian distant when I made the observation, and take its latitude to be about 24° 2´ on the centre of the island.
The land here, after running from Jibbel Siberget to Macouar, in a direction nearly N. W. and S. E. turns round in shape of a large promontory, and changes its direction to N. E. and S. W. and ends in a small bay or inlet; so that, by fanciful people, it has been thought to resemble the nose of a man, and is called by the Arabs, Ras el Anf, the Cape of the Nose. The mountains, within land, are of a dusky burnt colour; broken into points, as if intersected by torrents.
The coasting vessels from Masuah and Suakem which are bound to Jidda, in the strength of the Summer monsoon, stand close in shore down the coast of Abyssinia, where they find a gentle steady east wind blowing all night, and a west wind very often during the day, if they are near enough the shore, for which purpose their vessels are built.
Besides this, the violent North-East monsoon raking in the direction of the Gulf, blows the water out of the Straits of Babelmandeb into the Indian Ocean, where, being accumulated, it presses itself backwards; and, unable to find way in the middle of the Channel, creeps up among the shallows on each coast of the Red Sea. However long the voyage from Masuah to Jibbel Macouar may seem, yet these gentle winds and favourable currents, if I may so call those in the sea, soon ran us down the length of that mountain.
A large vessel, however, does not dare to try this, whilst constantly among shoals, and close on a lee-shore; but those sewed together, and yielding without damage to the stress, slide over the banks of white coral, and even sometimes the rocks. Arrived at this island, they set their prow towards the opposite shore, and cross the Channel in one night, to the coast of Arabia, being nearly before the wind. The track of this extraordinary navigation is marked upon164 the map, and it is so well verified, that no ship-master need doubt it.
About three o’clock in the afternoon, with a favourable wind and fine weather, we continued along the coast, with an easy sail. We saw no appearance of any inhabitants; the mountains were broken and pointed, as before taking the direction of the coast; advancing and receding as the shore itself did. This coast is a very bold one, nor was there in any of the islands we had seen, shoals or anchoring places, unless upon the rock itself; so that, when we landed, we could run our boltsprit home over the land.
This island, Jibbel Macouar, has breakers running off from it at all points; but, though we hauled close to these, we had no soundings. We then went betwixt it and the small island, that lies S. S. E. from it about three miles, and tried for soundings to the leeward, but we had none, although almost touching the land. About sun-set, I saw a small sandy island, which we left about a league to the westward of us. It had no shrubs, nor trees, nor height, that could distinguish it. My design was to push on to the river Frat, which is represented in the charts as very large and deep, coming from the Continent; though, considering by its latitude that it is above the tropical rains, (for it is laid down about lat. 21° 25´), I never did believe that any such river existed.
In fact, we know no river, north of the sources of the Nile, that does not fall into the Nile. Nay, I may say, that not one river, in all Abyssinia, empties itself into the Red Sea. The tropical rains are bounded, and finish, in lat. 16°, and there is no river, from the mountains, that falls into the desert of Nubia; nor do we know of any river which is tributary to the Nile, but what has its rise under the tropical rains. It would be a very singular circumstance, then, that the Frat should rise in one of the dryest places in the globe, that it should be a river at least equal to the Nile; and should maintain itself full in all seasons, which the Nile does not; last of all, in a country where water is so scarce and precious, that it should not have a town or settlement upon it, either ancient or modern, nor that it should be resorted to by any encampment of Arabs, who might cross over and traffic with Jidda, which place is immediately opposite.
On the 18th, at day-break, I was alarmed at seeing no land, as I had no sort of confidence in the skill of my pilot, however sure I was of my latitude. About an hour after sun-set, I observed a high rugged rock, which the pilot told me, upon inquiry, was Jibbel, (viz. a Rock), and this was all the satisfaction I could get. We bore down upon it with a wind, scant enough; and, about four, we came to an anchor. As we had no name for that island, and I did not know that any traveller had been there before me, I used the privilege by giving it my own, in memory of having been there. The south of this island seems to be high and rocky, the north is low and ends in a tail, or sloping bank, but is exceedingly steep to, and at the length of your bark any way from it, you have no soundings.
All this morning since before day, our pilot had begged us to go no farther. He said the wind had changed; that, by infallible signs he had seen to the southward, he was confident (without any chance of being mistaken) that in twenty-four hours we should have a storm, which would put us in danger of shipwreck; that Frat, which I wanted to see, was immediately opposite to Jidda, so that either a country, or English boat would run me over in a night and a day, when I might procure people who had connections in the country, so as to be under no apprehension of any accident; but that, in the present track I was going, every man that I should meet was my enemy. Although not very susceptible of fear, my ears were never shut against reason, and to what the pilot stated, I added in my own breast, that we might be blown out to sea, and want both water and provision. We, therefore, dined as quickly as possible, and encouraged one another all we could. A little after six the wind came easterly, and changeable, with a thick haze over the land. This cleared about nine in the evening, and one of the finest and steadiest gales that ever blew, carried us swiftly on, directly for Cosseir. The sky was full of dappled clouds, so that, though I, several times, tried to catch a star in the meridian, I was always frustrated. The wind became fresher, but still very fair.
The 19th, at day-break, we saw the land stretching all the way northward, and, soon after, distinctly discerned Jibbel Siberget upon our lee-bow. We had seen it indeed before, but had taken it for the main-land.
After passing such an agreeable night, we could not be quiet, and laughed at our pilot about his perfect knowledge of the weather. The fellow shook his head, and said, he had been mistaken before now, and was always glad when it happened so; but still we were not arrived at Cosseir, though he hoped and believed we should get there in safety. In a very little time the vane on the mast-head began to turn, first north, then east, then south, and back again to all the points in the compass; the sky was quite dark, with thick rain to the southward of us; then followed a most violent clap of thunder, but no lightning; and back again came the wind fair at south-east. We all looked rather downcast at each other, and a general silence followed. This, however, I saw availed us nothing, we were in the scrape, and were to endeavour to get out of it the best way we could. The vessel went at a prodigious rate. The sail that was made of mat happened to be new, and, filled with a strong wind, weighed prodigiously. What made this worse, was, the sails were placed a little forward. The first thing I asked, was, if the pilot could not lower his main-sail? But that we found impossible, the yard being fixed to the mast-head. The next step was to reef it, by hauling it in part up like a curtain: this our pilot desired us not to attempt; for it would endanger our foundering. Notwithstanding which, I desired my servant to help me with the haulyards; and to hold them in his hand, only giving them a turn round the bench. This increasing the vessel’s weight above and before, as she already had too much pressure, made her give two pitches, the one after the other, so that I thought she was buried under the waves, and a considerable deal of water came in upon us. I am fully satisfied, had she not been in good order, very buoyant, and in her trim, she would have gone to the bottom, as the wind continued to blow a hurricane.
I began now to throw off my upper coat and trowsers, that I might endeavour to make shore, if the vessel should founder, whilst the servants seemed to have given themselves up, and made no preparation. The pilot kept in close by the land, to see if no bight, or inlet, offered to bring up in; but we were going with such violence, that I was satisfied we should overset if we attempted this. Every ten minutes we ran over the white coral banks, which we broke in pieces with the grating of a file, upon iron, and, what was the most terrible of all, a large wave followed higher than our stern, curling over it, and seemed to be the instrument destined by Providence to bury us in the abyss.
Our pilot began apparently to lose his understanding with fright. I begged him to be steady, persuading him to take a glass of spirits, and desired him not to dispute or doubt any thing that I should do or order, for that I had seen much more terrible nights in the ocean; I assured him, that all harm done to his vessel should be repaired when we should get to Cosseir, or even a new one bought for him, if his own was much damaged. He answered me nothing, but that Mahomet was the prophet of God.—Let him prophecy, said I, as long as he pleases, but what I order you is to keep steady to the helm; mind the vane on the top of the mast, and steer straight before the wind, for I am resolved to cut that main-sail to pieces, and prevent the mast from going away, and your vessel from sinking to the bottom. I got no answer to this which I could hear, the wind was so high, except something about the mercy and the merit of Sidi Ali el Genowi. I now became violently angry. “D—n Sidi Ali el Genowi, said I, you beast, cannot you give me a rational answer? Stand to your helm, look at the vane; keep the vessel straight before the wind, or, by the great G—d who sits in heaven, (another kind of oath than by Sidi Ali el Genowi), I will shoot you dead the first yaw the ship gives, or the first time that you leave the steerage where you are standing.” He answered only, Maloom, i. e. very well.—All this was sooner done than said; I got the main-sail in my arms, and, with a large knife, cut it all to shreds, which eased the vessel greatly, though we were still going at a prodigious rate.
About two o’clock the wind seemed to fail, but, half an hour after, was more violent than ever. At three, it fell calm. I then encouraged my pilot, who had been very attentive, and, I believe, had pretty well got through the whole list of saints in his calendar, and I assured him that he should receive ample reparation for the loss of his main-sail. We now saw distinctly the white cliffs of the two mountains above Old Cosseir, and on the 19th, a little before sun set, we arrived safely at the New.
We, afterwards, heard how much more fortunate we had been than some of our fellow-sailors that same night; three of the vessels belonging to Cosseir, loaded with wheat for Yambo, perished, with all on board of them, in the gale; among these was the vessel that first had the Turks on board. This account was brought by Sidi Ali el Meymoum el Shehrie, which signifies ‘Ali, the ape or monkey, from Sheher.’ For though he was a saint, yet being in figure liker to a monkey, they thought it proper to distinguish him by that to which he bore the greatest resemblance.
We were all heartily sick of Cosseir embarkations, but the vessel of Sidi Ali el Meymoum, tho’ small, was tight and well-rigged; had sails of canvas, and had navigated in the Indian Ocean; the Rais had four stout men on board, apparently good sailors; he himself, though near sixty, was a very active, vigorous little man, and to the full as good a sailor as he was a saint. It was on the 5th of April, after having made my last observation of longitude at Cosseir, that I embarked on board this vessel, and sailed from that port. It was necessary to conceal from some of my servants our intention of proceeding to the bottom of the Gulf, least, finding themselves among Christians so near Cairo, they might desert a voyage of which they were sick, before it was well begun.
For the first two days we had hazy weather, with little wind. In the evening, the wind fell calm. We saw a high land to the south-west of us, very rugged and broken, which seemed parallel to the coast, and higher in the middle than at either end. This, we conceived, was the mountain that divides the coast of the Red Sea from the eastern part of the Valley of Egypt, corresponding to Monfalout and Siout. We brought to, in the night, behind a small low Cape, tho’ the wind was fair, our Rais being afraid of the Jassateen Islands, which we knew were not far a-head.
We caught a great quantity of fine fish this night with a line, some of them weighing 14 pounds. The best were blue in the back, like a salmon, but their belly red, and marked with blue round spots. They resembled a salmon in shape, but the fish was white, and not so firm.
In the morning of the 6th we made the Jaffateen Islands. They are four in number, joined by shoals and sunken rocks. They are crooked, or bent, like half a bow, and are dangerous for ships sailing in the night, because there seems to be a passage between them, to which, when pilots are attending, they neglect two small dangerous sunk rocks, that lie almost in the middle of the entrance, in deep water.
I understood, afterwards, from the Rais, that, had it not been from some marks he saw of blowing weather, he would not have come in to the Jaffateen Islands, but stood directly for Tor, running between the island Sheduan, and a rock which is in the middle of the channel, after you pass Ras Mahomet. But we lay so perfectly quiet, the whole night, that we could not but be grateful to the Rais for his care, although we had seen no apparent reason for it.
Next morning, the 7th, we left our very quiet birth in the bay, and stood close, nearly south-east, along-side of the two southermost Jaffateen Islands, our head upon the center of Sheduan, till we had cleared the eastermost of those islands about three miles. We then passed Sheduan, leaving it to the eastward about three leagues, and keeping nearly a N. N. W. course, to range the west side of Jibbel Zeit. This is a large desert island, or rock, that is about four miles from the main.
The passage between them is practicable by small craft only, whose planks are sewed together, and are not affected by a stroke upon hard ground; for it is not for want of water that this navigation is dangerous. All the west coast is very bold, and has more depth of water than the east; but on this side there is no anchoring ground, nor shoals. It is a rocky shore, and there is depth of water every where, yet that part is full of sunken rocks; which, though not visible, are near enough the surface to take up a large ship, whose destruction thereupon becomes inevitable. This I presume arises from one cause. The mountains on the side of Egypt and Abyssinia are all (as we have stated) hard stone, Porphyry, Granite, Alabaster, Basaltes, and many sorts of Marble. These are all therefore fixed, and even to the northward of lat. 16°, where there is no rain, very small quantities of dust or sand can ever be blown from them into the sea. On the opposite, or Arabian side, the sea-coast of the Hejaz, and that of the Tehama, are all moving sands; and the dry winter-monsoon from the south-east blows a large quantity from the deserts, which is lodged among the rocks on the Arabian side of the Gulf, and confined there by the north-east or summer-monsoon, which is in a contrary direction, and hinders them from coming over, or circulating towards the Egyptian side.
From this it happens, that the west, or Abyssinian side, is full of deep water, interspersed with sunken rocks, unmasked, or uncovered with sand, with which they would otherwise become islands. These are naked and bare all round, and sharp like points of spears; while on the east-side there are rocks, indeed, as in the other, but being between the south-east monsoon, which drives the sand into its coast, and the north-west monsoon which repels it, and keeps it in there, every rock on the Arabian shore becomes an Iland, and every two or three islands become a harbour.