The 28th, at five o’clock in the morning, we saw the small island of Rasab; at a quarter after six we passed between it and a large island called Camaran, where there is a Turkish garrison and town, and plenty of good water. At twelve we passed a low round island, which seemed to consist of white sand. The weather being cloudy, I could get no observation. At one o’clock we were off Cape Israel.

As the weather was fair, and the wind due north and steady, though little of it, my Rais said that we had better stretch over to Azab, than run along the coast in the direction we were now going, because, somewhere between Hodeida and Cape Nummel, there was foul ground, with which he should not like to engage in the night. Nothing could be more agreeable to me. For, though I knew the people of Azab were not to be trusted, yet there were two things I thought I might accomplish, by being on my guard. The one was, to learn what those ruins were that I had heard so much spoken of in Egypt and at Jidda, and which are supposed to have been works of the Queen of Sheba, whose country this was. The other was, to obtain the myrrh and frankincense-tree, which grow upon that coast only, but neither of which had as yet been described by any author.

At four o’clock we passed a dangerous shoal, which is the one I suppose our Rais was afraid of. If so, he could not have adopted a worse measure, than by stretching over from Cape Israel to Azab in the night; for, had the wind come westerly, as it soon after did, we should have probably been on the bank; as it was, we passed it something less than a mile, the wind was north, and we were going at a great rate. At sun-set we saw Jibbel Zekir, with three small islands, on the north side of it. At twelve at night the wind failing, we found ourselves about a league from the west end of Jibbel Zekir, but it then began to blow fresh from the west; so that the Rais begged liberty to abandon the voyage to Azab, and to keep our first intended one to Mocha. For my part, I had no desire at all to land at Mocha. Mr Niebuhr had already been there before us; and I was sure every useful observation had been made as to the country, for he had staid there a very considerable time, and was ill used. We kept our course, however, upon Mocha town.

The 29th, about two o’clock in the morning, we passed six islands, called Jibbel el Ourèe; and having but indifferent wind, we anchored about nine off the point of the shoal, which lies immediately east of the north fort of Mocha.

The town of Mocha makes an agreeable appearance from the sea. Behind it there is a grove of palm-trees, that do not seem to have the beauty of those in Egypt, probably owing to their being exposed to the violent south-westers that blow here, and make it very uneasy riding for vessels; there is, however, very seldom any damage done. The port is formed by two points of land, which make a semi-circle. Upon each of the points is a small fort; the town is in the middle, and if attacked by an enemy, these two forts are so detached that they might be made of more use to annoy the town, than they could ever be to defend the harbour. The ground for anchorage is of the very best kind, sand without coral, which last chafes the cables all over the Red Sea.

On the 30th, at seven o’clock in the morning, with a gentle but steady wind at west, we sailed for the mouth of the Indian Ocean. Our Rais became more lively and bolder as he approached his own coast, and offered to carry me for nothing, if I would go home with him to Sheher, but I had already enough upon my hand. It is, however, a voyage some man of knowledge and enterprise should attempt, as the country and the manners of the people are very little known. But this far is certain, that there all the precious gums grow; all the drugs of the galenical school, the frankincense, myrrh, benjoin, dragons-blood, and a multitude of others, the natural history of which no one has yet given us.

The coast of Arabia, all along from Mocha to the Straits, is a bold coast, close to which you may run without danger night or day. We continued our course within a mile of the shore, where in some places there appeared to be small woods, in others a flat bare country, bounded with mountains at a considerable distance. Our wind freshened as we advanced. About four in the afternoon we saw the mountain which forms one of the Capes of the Straits of Babelmandeb, in shape resembling a gunner’s quoin. About six o’clock, for what reason I did not know, our Rais insisted upon anchoring for the night behind a small point. I thought, at first, it had been for pilots.

The 31st, at nine in the morning, we came to an anchor above Jibbel Raban, or Pilots Island, just under the Cape which, on the Arabian side, forms the north entrance of the Straits. We now saw a small vessel enter a round harbour, divided from us by the Cape. The Rais said he had a design to have anchored there last night; but as it was troublesome to get out in the morning by the westerly wind, he intended to run over to Perim island to pass the night, and give us an opportunity to make what observations we pleased in quiet.

We caught here a prodigious quantity of the finest fish that I had ever before seen, but the silly Rais greatly troubled our enjoyment, by telling us, that many of the fish in that part were poisonous. Several of our people took the alarm, and abstained; the rule I made use of in choosing mine, was to take all those that were likest the fish of our own northern seas, nor had I ever any reason to complain.

At noon, I made an observation of the sun, just under the Cape of the Arabian shore, with a Hadley’s quadrant, and found it to be in lat. 12° 38´ 30´´, but by many passages of the stars, observed by my large astronomical quadrant in the island of Perim, all deductions made, I found the true latitude of the Cape should be rather 12° 39´ 20´´ north.

Perim is a low island, its harbour good, fronting the Abyssinian shore. It is a barren, bare rock, producing, on some parts of it, plants of absynthium, or rue, in others kelp, that did not seem to thrive; it was at this time perfectly scorched by the heat of the sun, and had only a very faint appearance of having ever vegetated. The island itself is about five miles in length, perhaps more, and about two miles in breadth. It becomes narrower at both ends. Ever since we anchored at the Cape, it had begun to blow strongly from the west, which gave our Rais great apprehension, as, he said, the wind sometimes continued in that point for fifteen days together. This alarmed me not a little, least, by missing Mahomet Gibberti, we should lose our voyage. We had rice and butter, honey and flour. The sea afforded us plenty of fish, and I had no doubt but hunger would get the better of our fears of being poisoned: with water we were likewise pretty well supplied, but all this was rendered useless by our being deprived of fire. In short, though we could have killed twenty turtles a-day, all we could get to make fire of, were the rotten dry roots of the rue that we pulled from the clefts of the rock, which, with much ado, served to make fire for boiling our coffee.

The 1st of August we ate drammock, made with cold water and raw flour, mixed with butter and honey, but we soon found this would not do, though I never was hungry, in my life, with so much good provision about me; for, besides the articles already spoken of, we had two skins of wine from Loheia, and a small jar of brandy, which I had kept expressly for a feast, to drink the King’s health on arriving in his dominions, the Indian Ocean. I therefore proposed, that, leaving the Rais on board, myself and two men should cross over to the south side, to try if we could get any wood in the kingdom of Adel. This, however, did not please my companions. We were much nearer the Arabian shore, and the Rais had observed several people on land, who seemed to be fishers.

If the Abyssinian shore was bad by its being desert, the danger of the Arabian side was, that we should fall into the hands of thieves. But the fear of wanting, even coffee, was so prevalent, and the repetition of the drammock dose so disgusting, that we resolved to take a boat in the evening, with two men armed, and speak to the people we had seen. Here again the Rais’s heart failed him. He said the inhabitants on that coast had fire-arms as well as we, and they could bring a million together, if they wanted them, in a moment; therefore we should forsake Perim island for the time, and, without hoisting in the boat, till we saw further, run with the vessel close to the Arabian shore. There, it was conceived, armed as we were, with ammunition in plenty, we should be able to defend ourselves, if those we had seen were pirates, of which I had not any suspicion, as they had been eight hours in our sight, without having made one movement nearer us; but I was the only person on board that was of that opinion.

Upon attempting to get our vessel out, we found the wind strong against us; so that we were obliged, with great difficulty and danger, to tow her round the west point, at the expence of many hard knocks, which she got by the way. During this operation, the wind had calmed considerably; my quadrant, and every thing was on board; all our arms, new charged and primed, were laid, covered with a cloth, in the cabbin, when we found happily that the wind became due east, and with the wind our resolution changed. We were but twenty leagues to Mocha, and not above twenty-six from Azab, and we thought it better, rather to get on our return to Loheia, than to stay and live upon drammock, or fight with the pirates for firewood. About six o’clock, we were under weigh. The wind being perfectly fair, we carried as much sail as our vessel would bear, indeed, till her masts nodded again. But before we begin the account of our return, it will be necessary to say something of these famous Straits, the communication between the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.

This entrance begins to shew itself, or take a shape between two capes; the one on the continent of Africa, the other on the peninsula of Arabia. That on the African side is a high land, or cape, formed by a chain of mountains, which run out in a point far into the sea. The Portuguese, or Venetians, the first Christian traders in those parts, have called it Gardefui, which has no signification in any language. But, in that of the country where it is situated, it is called Gardefan, and means the Straits of Burial, the reason of which will be seen afterwards. The opposite cape is Fartack, on the east coast of Arabia Felix, and the distance between them, in a line drawn across from one to another, not above fifty leagues. The breadth between these two lands diminishes gradually for about 150 leagues, till at last it ends in the Straits, whose breadth does not seem to me to be above six leagues.

After getting within the Straits, the channel is divided into two, by the island of Perim, otherwise called Mehun. The inmost and northern channel, or that towards the Arabian shore, is two leagues broad at most, and from twelve to seventeen fathom of water. The other entry is three leagues broad, with deep water, from twenty to thirty fathom. From this, the coast on both sides runs nearly in a north-west direction, widening as it advances, and the Indian Ocean grows straiter. The coast upon the left hand is part of the kingdom of Adel, and, on the right, that of Arabia Felix. The passage on the Arabian shore, though the narrowest and shallowest of the two, is that most frequently sailed through, and especially in the night; because, if you do not round the south-point of the island, as near as possible, in attempting to enter the broad one, but are going large with the wind favourable, you fall in with a great number of low small islands, where there is danger. At ten o’clock, with the wind fair, our course almost north-east, we passed three rocky islands about a mile on our left.

On the 2d, at sun-rise, we saw land a-head, which we took to be the Main, but, upon nearer approach, and the day becoming clearer, we found two low islands to the leeward; one of which we fetched with great difficulty. We found there the stock of an old acacia-tree, and two or three bundles of wreck, or rotten sticks, which we gathered with great care; and all of us agreed, we would eat breakfast, dinner, and supper hot, instead of the cold repast we had made upon the drammock in the Straits. We now made several large fires; one took the charge of the coffee, another boiled the rice; we killed four turtles, made ready a dolphin; got beer, wine, and brandy, and drank the King’s health in earnest, which our regimen would not allow us to do in the Straits of Babelmandeb. While this good chear was preparing, I saw with my glass, first one man running along the coast westward, who did not stop; about a quarter of an hour after, another upon a camel, walking at the ordinary pace, who dismounted just opposite to us, and, as I thought, kneeled down to say his prayers upon the sand. We had launched our boat immediately upon seeing the trunk of the tree on the island; so we were ready, and I ordered two of the men to row me on shore, which they did.

It is a bay of but ordinary depth, with straggling trees, and some flat ground along the coast. Immediately behind is a row of mountains of a brownish or black colour. The man remained motionless, sitting on the ground, till the boat was ashore, when I jumped out upon the sand, being armed with a short double-barrelled gun, a pair of pistols, and a crooked knife. As soon as the savage saw me ashore, he made the best of his way to his camel, and got upon his back, but did not offer to go away.

I sat down on the ground, after taking the white turban off my head, and waving it several times in token of peace, and seeing that he did not stir, I advanced to him about a hundred yards. Still he stood, and after again waving to him with my hands, as inviting him to approach, I made a sign as if I was returning to the shore. Upon seeing this, he advanced several paces, and stopt. I then laid my gun down upon the land, thinking that had frightened him, and walked up as near him as he would suffer me; that is, till I saw he was preparing to go away. I then waved my turban, and cried, Salam, Salam. He staid till I was within ten yards of him. He was quite naked, was black, and had a fillet upon his head, either of a black or blue rag, and bracelets of white beads upon both his arms. He appeared as undetermined what to do. I spoke as distinctly to him as I could, Salam Alicum.—He answered something like Salam, but what it was I know not. I am, said I, a stranger from India, who came last from Tajoura in the bay of Zeyla, in the kingdom of Adel. He nodded his head, and said something in an unknown language, in which I heard the repetition of Tajoura and Adel. I told him I wanted water, and made a sign of drinking. He pointed up the coast to the eastward, and said, Raheeda, then made a sign of drinking, and said Tybe. I now found that he understood me, and asked him where Azab was? he pointed to a mountain just before him, and said, Eh owah Azab Tybe, still with a representation of drinking.

I debated with myself, whether I should not take this savage prisoner. He had three short javelins in his hand, and was mounted upon a camel. I was on foot, and above the ancles in sand, with only two pistols, which, whether they would terrify him to surrender or not, I did not know; I should, otherwise, have been obliged to have shot him, and this I did not intend. After having invited him as courteously as I could, to the boat, I walked towards it myself, and, in the way, took up my firelock, which was lying hid among the sand. I saw he did not follow me a step, but when I had taken the gun from the ground, he set off at a trot as fast as he could, to the westward, and we presently lost him among the trees.

I returned to the boat, and then to dinner on the island, which we named Traitor’s Island, from the suspicious behaviour of that only man we had seen near it. This excursion lost me the time of making my observation; all the use I made of it was to gather some sticks and camel’s dung, which I heaped up, and made the men carry to the boat, to serve us for firing, if we should be detained. The wind was very fair, and we got under weigh by two o’clock.

About four we passed a rocky island with breakers on its south end, we left it about a mile to the windward of us. The Rais called it Crab-island. About five o’clock we came to an anchor close to a cape of no height, in a small bay, in three fathom of water, and leaving a small island just on our stern. We had not anchored here above ten minutes, before an old man and a boy came down to us. As they had no arms, I went ashore, and bought a skin of water. The old man had a very thievish appearance, was quite naked, and laughed or smiled at every word he said. He spoke Arabic, but very badly; told me there was great plenty of every thing in the country whither he would carry me. He said, moreover, that there was a king there, and a people that, loved strangers.

The murder of the boat’s crew of the Elgin East-Indiaman, in that very spot where he was then sitting and praising his countrymen, came presently into my mind. I found my hand involuntarily take hold of my pistol, and I was, for the only time in my life, strongly tempted to commit murder. I thought I saw in the looks of that old vagrant, one of those who had butchered so many Englishmen in cold blood.

From his readiness to come down, and being so near the place, it was next to impossible that he was not one of the party. A little reflection, however, saved his life; and I asked him if he could sell us a sheep, when he said they were coming. These words put me on my guard, as I did not know how many people might accompany them. I therefore desired him to bring me the water to the boat, which the boy accordingly did, and we paid him, in cohol, or stibium, to his wishes.

Immediately upon this I ordered them to put the boat afloat, demanding, all the time, where were the sheep? A few minutes afterwards, four stout young men came down, dragging after them two lean goats, which the old man maintained to me were sheep. Each man had three light javelins in his hand, and they began to wrangle exceedingly about the animals, whether they were sheep or goats, though they did not seem to understand one word of our language, but the words sheep and goat in Arabic. In five minutes after, their number increased to eleven, and I thought it was then full time for me to go on board, for every one of them seemed, by his discourse and gestures, to be violently agitated, but what they said I could not comprehend. I drew to the shore, and then put myself on board as soon as possible. They seemed to keep at a certain distance, crying out Belled, belled! and pointing to the land, invited me to come ashore; the old hypocrite alone seemed to have no fear, but followed me close to the boat. I then resolved to have a free discourse with him. “There is no need, said I to the old man, to send for thirteen men to bring two goats. We bought the water from people that had no lances, and we can do without the sheep, though we could not want the water, therefore, every man that has a lance in his hand let him go away from me, or I will fire upon him.”

They seemed to take no sort of notice of this, and came rather nearer. “You old-grey headed traitor, said I, do you think I don’t know what you want, by inviting me on shore; let all those about you with arms go home about their business, or I will in a minute blow them all off the face of the earth.” He then jumped up, with rather more agility than his age seemed to promise, and went to where the others were sitting in a cluster, and after a little conversation the whole of them retired.

The old fellow and the boy now came down without fear to the boat, when I gave them tobacco, some beads, and antimony, and did every thing to gain the father’s confidence. But he still smiled and laughed, and I saw clearly he had taken his resolution. The whole burden of his song was, to persuade me to come on shore, and he mentioned every inducement, and all the kindness that he would shew me. “It is fit, you old rogue, said I, that, now your life is in my hands, you should know how much better men there are in the world than you. They were my countrymen, eleven or twelve of whom you murdered about three years ago, in the very place where you are now sitting, and though I could have killed the same number to-day, without any danger to myself, I have not only let them go away, but have bought and sold with you, and given you presents, when, according to your own law, I should have killed both you and your son. Now do not imagine, knowing what I know, that ever you shall decoy me ashore; but if you will bring me a branch of the myrrh tree, and of the incense tree to-morrow, I will give you two fonduclis for each of them.” He said, he would do it that night. “The sooner the better, said I, for it is now becoming dark.” Upon this he sent away his boy, who in less than a quarter of an hour came back with a branch in his hand.

I could not contain my joy, I ordered the boat to be drawn upon the shore, and went out to receive it; but, to my great disappointment, I found that it was a branch of Acacia, or Sunt, which we had every where met with in Egypt, Syria, and Arabia. I told him, this was of no use, repeating the word Gerar, Saiél, Sunt. He answered Eh owah Saiél; but being asked for the myrrh (mour), he said it was far up in the mountains, but would bring it to me if I would go to the town. Providence, however, had dealt more kindly with us in the moment than we expected. For, upon going ashore out of eagerness to get the myrrh, I saw, not a quarter of a mile from us, sitting among the trees, at least thirty men, armed with javelins, who all got up the moment they saw me landed. I called to the boatmen to set the boat afloat, which they immediately did, and I got quickly on board, near up to the middle in water; but as I went by the old man, I gave him so violent a blow upon the face with the thorny branch in my hand, that it felled him to the ground. The boy fled, and we rowed off; but before we took leave of these traitors, we gave them a discharge of three blunderbusses loaded with pistol-shot, in the direction where, in all probability, they were lying to see the boat go off.

I directed the Rais to stand out towards Crab-island, and there being a gentle breeze from the shore, carrying an easy sail, we stood over upon Mocha town, to avoid some rocks or islands, which he said were to the westward. While lying at Crab-island, I observed two stars pass the meridian, and by them I concluded the latitude of that island to be 13° 2´ 45´´ North.

The wind continuing moderate, but more to the southward, at three o’clock in the morning of the 3d, we passed Jibbel el Ourèe, then Jibbel Zekir; and having a steady gale, with fair and moderate weather, passing to the westward of the island Rasab, between that and some other islands to the north-east, where the wind turned contrary, we arrived at Loheia, the 6th, in the morning, being the third day from the time we quitted Azab. We found every thing well on our arrival at Loheia; but no word of Mahomet Gibberti, and I began now to be uneasy. The rains in Abyssinia were to cease the 6th of next month, September, and then was the proper time for our journey to Gondar.

The only money in the country of the 201Imam, is a small piece less than a sixpence, and by this the value of all the different denominations of foreign coin is ascertained. It has four names, Commesh, Loubia, Muchsota, and Harf, but the first two of these are most commonly used.

This money is very base adulterated silver, if indeed there is any in it. It has the appearance of pewter; on the one side is written Olmass, the name of the Imam; on the other, Emir el Moumeneen, Prince of the Faithful, or True Believers; a title, first taken by Omar after the death of Abou Becr; and since, borne by all the legitimate Caliphs. There are likewise Half-commeshes, and these are the smallest specie current in Yemen.

When the Indian merchants or vessels are here, the fonducli is raised three commeshes more, though all specie is scarce in the Imam’s country, notwithstanding the quantity continually brought hither for coffee, in silver patakas, that is, dollars, which is the coin in which purchases of any amount are paid. When they are to be changed into commeshes, the changer or broker gives you but 39 instead of 40, so he gains 2½ per cent. for all money he changes, that is, by giving bad coin for good.

The long measure in Yemen is the peek of Stamboul, as they call it; but, upon measuring it with a standard of a Stamboul peek, upon a brass rod made on purpose, I found it 26⅝ inches, which is neither the Stambouline peek, the Hendaizy peek, nor the el Belledy peek. The peek of Stamboul is 23⅗ inches, so this of Loheia is a distinct peek, which may be called 202Yemani.

The weights of Loheia are the rotolo, which are of two sorts, one of 140 drachms, and used in selling fine, the other 160 drachms, for ordinary and coarser goods. This last is divided into 16 ounces, each ounce into 10 drachms; 100 of these rotolos are a kantar, or quintal. The quintal of Yemen, carried to Cairo or Jidda, is 113 rotolo, because the rotolo of these places is 144 drachms. Their weights appear to be of Italian origin, and were probably brought hither when the Venetians carried on this trade. There is another weight, called faranzala, which I take to be the native one of the country. It is equal to 20 rotolo, of 160 drachms each.

The customs, which at Mocha are three per cent. upon India goods, are five here, when brought directly from India; but all goods whatever, brought from Jidda by merchants, whether Turks or natives, pay seven per cent. at Loheia.

Loheia is in lat. 15° 40´ 52´´ north, and in long. 42° 58´ 15´´ east of the meridian of Greenwich.—The barometer, at its highest on the 7th day of August, was 26° 9´, and its lowest 26° 1´, on the 30th of July.—The thermometer, when at its highest, was 99° on the 30th of the same month, wind north-east; and its lowest was 81° on the 9th of August, wind south by east.

On the 31st of August, at four o’clock in the morning, I saw a comet for the first time. The head of it was scarcely visible in the telescope, that is, its precise form, which was a pale indistinct luminous body, whose edges were not at all defined. Its tail extended full 20°. It seemed to be a very thin vapour, for through it I distinguished several stars of the fifth magnitude, which seemed to be increased in size. The end of its tail had lost all its fiery colour, and was very thin and white. I could distinguish no nucleus, nor any part that seemed redder or deeper than the rest; for all was a dim-ill-defined spot. At 4^hrs. 1´ 24´´, on the morning of the 31st, it was distant 20° 40´ from Rigel; its tail extended to three stars in Eridanus.

The 1st of September Mahomet Gibberti arrived, bringing with him the firman for the Naybe of Masuah, and letters from Metical Aga to 203Ras Michael. He also brought a letter to me, and another to Achmet, the Naybe’s nephew, and future successor, from Sidi Ali Zimzimia, that is, ‘the keeper of Ishmael’s well at Mecca, called Zimzim.’ In this letter, Sidi Ali desires me to put little trust in the Naybe, but to keep no secret from Achmet his nephew, who would certainly be my friend.

CHAP. XIII.

Sails for Masuah—Passes a Volcano—Comes to Dahalac—Troubled with a Ghost—Arrives at Masuah.

All being prepared for our departure, we sailed from Loheia on the 3d of September 1769, but the wind failing, we were obliged to warp the vessel out upon her anchors. The harbour of Loheia, which is by much the largest in the Red Sea, is now so shallow, and choked up, that, unless by a narrow canal through which we enter and go out, there is no where three fathom of water, and in many places not half that depth. This is the case with all the harbours on the east-coast of the Red Sea, while those on the west are deep, without any banks or bars before them, which is probably owing, as I have already said, to the violence of the north-west winds, the only constant strong winds to be met with in this Gulf. These occasion strong currents to set in upon the east-coast, and heap up the land and gravel which is blown in from Arabia.

All next day, the 4th, we were employed at warping out our vessel against a contrary wind. The 5th, at three quarters past five in the morning, we got under sail with little wind. At half past nine, Loheia bore east north-east about four leagues distant; and here we came in sight of several small, barren, and uninhabited islands. Booarish bore south-west two miles off; Zebid one mile and a half distant, east and by north; Amar, the smallest of all, one mile south; and Ormook, south-east by east two miles.

The Arabs of the mountain, who had attempted to surprise Loheia in the spring, now prepared for another attack against it, and had advanced within three days journey. This obliged the Emir to draw together all his troops from the neighbourhood; all the camels were employed to lay in an extraordinary stock of water.

Our Rais, who was a stranger, and without connections in this place, found himself under great difficulties to provide water enough for the voyage, for we had but a scanty provision left, and though our boat was no more than sixty feet long, we had about forty people on board of her. I had indeed hired the vessel for myself, but gave the Rais leave to take some known people passengers on board, as it was very dangerous to make enemies in the place to which I was going, by frustrating any person of his voyage home, even though I paid for the boat, and still as dangerous to take a person unknown, whose end in the voyage might be to defeat my designs. We were resolved, therefore, to bear away for an island to the northward, where they said the water was both good, and in plenty.

In the course of this day, we passed several small islands, and, in the evening, anchored in seven fathom and a half of water, near a shoal distant four leagues from Loheia. We there observed the bearings and distances of several islands, with which we were engaged; Foosht, W.b.N.¼ north, four leagues; Baccalan N.W.b.W. three leagues; Baida, a large high rock above the water, with white steep cliffs, and a great quantity of sea-fowl; Djund, and Mufracken, two large rocks off the west point off Baccalan, W.N.W.¼ west, eleven miles; they appear, at a distance, like a large heap of ruins: Umsegger, a very small island, nearly level with the water, W.N.W.¼ west four miles distant; Nachel, S.E.¼E. one league off; Ajerb S.E.b.E.½ south, two leagues; Surbat, an island S.E.b.E.¾ south, distant ten miles; it has a marabout or Shekh’s tomb upon it: Dahu and Dee, two small islands, close together, N.W.¼ west, about eleven miles distant; Djua S.E.½ south; it is a small white island four leagues and a half off: Sahar, W.¼ north, nine miles off.

On the 6th, we got under sail at five o’clock in the morning. Our water had failed us as we foresaw, but in the evening we anchored at Foosht, in two fathoms water east of the town, and here staid the following day, our sailors being employed in filling our skins with water, for they make no use of casks in this sea.

Foosht is an island of irregular form. It is about five miles from south to north, and about nine in circumference. It abounds in good fish. We did not use our net, as our lines more than supplied us. There were many kinds, painted with the most beautiful colours in the world, but I always observed, the more beautiful they were, the worse for eating. There were indeed none good but those that resembled the fish of the north in their form, and plainness of their colours. Foosht is low and sandy on the south, and on the north is a black hill or cape of no considerable height, that may be seen at four leagues off. It has two watering-places; one on the east of the island, where we now were, the other on the west. The water there is bitter, but it had been troubled by a number of little barks, that had been taking in water just before us. The manner of filling their goat skins being a very slovenly one, they take up much of the mud along with it, but we found the water excellent, after it had settled two or three days; when it came on board, it was as black as ink. It was incomparably the best water we had drank since that of the Nile.

This island is covered with a kind of bent grass, which want of rain, and the constant feeding of the few goats that are kept here, prevent from growing to any height. The end of the island, near the north cape, sounds very hollow, underneath, like Solfaterra, near Naples; and as quantities of pumice stones are found here, there is great appearance that the black hill was once a volcano. Several large shells from the fish called Bisser, some of them twenty inches long, are seen turned upon their faces, on the surface of large stones, of ten or twelve ton weight. These shells are sunk into the stones, as if they were into paste, and the stone raised round about, so as to conceal the edge of the shell; a proof that this stone has, some time lately, been soft or liquified. For, had it been long ago, the weather and sun would have worn the surface of the shell, but it seems perfectly entire, and is set in that hard brown rock, as the stone of a ring is in a golden chasing.

The inhabitants of Foosht are poor fishermen, of the same degree of blackness as those between Heli and Djezan; like them too, they were naked, or had only a rag about their waist. Their faces are neither stained nor painted. They catch a quantity of fish called Seajan, which they carry to Loheia, and exchange for Dora and Indian corn, for they have no bread, but what is procured this way. They also have a flat fish, with a long tail to it, whose skin is a species of shagreen, with which the handles of knives and swords are made. Pearls too are found here, but neither large nor of a good water, on the other hand, they are not dear; they are the produce of various species of shells, all Bivalves204.

The town consists of about thirty huts, built with faggots of bent grass or spartum, and these are supported within with a few sticks, and thatched with the grass, of which they are built. The inhabitants seemed to be much terrified at seeing us come a-shore all armed; this was not done out of fear of them, but, as we intended to stay on shore all night, we wished to be in a situation to defend ourselves against boats of strollers from the main. The saint, or Marabout, upon seeing me pass near him, fell flat upon his face, where he lay for a quarter of an hour; nor would he get up till the guns, which I was told had occasioned his fears, were ordered by me to be immediately sent on board.

On the 7th, by an observation of the meridian altitude of the sun, I found the latitude of Foosht to be 15° 59´ 43´´ north. There are here many beautiful shell-fish; the concha veneris, of several sizes and colours, as also sea urchins, or sea-eggs. I found, particularly, one of the pentaphylloid kind, of a very particular form. Spunges of the common sort are likewise found all along this coast. The bearings and distances of the principal islands from Foosht are:

Baccalan is an island, low, long, and as broad as Foosht, inhabited by fishermen; without water in summer, which is then brought from Foosht, but in winter they preserve the rain-water in cisterns. These were built in ancient times, when this was a place of importance for the fishing of pearls, and they are in perfect repair to this day; neither the cement of the work, nor the stucco within, having at all suffered. Very violent showers fall here from the end of October to the beginning of March, but at certain intervals.

All the islands on this east-side of the channel belong to the Sherriffe Djezan Booarish, but none are inhabited except Baccalan and Foosht. This last island is the most convenient watering-place for ships, bound up the channel from Jibbel Teir, from which it bears N. E. by E. ¾ E. by the compass, nineteen leagues distant. It should be remembered, however, that the western watering-place is most eligible, because, in that case, navigators need not engage themselves among the islands to the eastward, where they will have uneven soundings two leagues from the land; but, though they should fall to the eastward of this island, they will have good anchorage, from nine to eighteen fathoms water; the bottom being good sand, between the town and the white rock Baida.

Having supplied our great and material want of water, we all repaired on board in the evening of the 7th; we then found ourselves unprovided with another necessary, namely fire; and my people began to remember how cold our stomachs were from the drammock at Babelmandeb. Firewood is a very scarce article in the Red Sea. It is, nevertheless, to be found in small quantities, and in such only it is used. Zimmer, an island to the northward, was known to afford some; but, from the time I had landed at Foosht, on the 6th, a trouble of a very particular kind had fallen upon our vessel, of which I had no account till I had returned on board.

An Abyssinian, who had died on board, and who had been buried upon our coming out from Loheia bay, had been seen upon the boltsprit for two nights, and had terrified the sailors very much; even the Rais had been not a little alarmed; and, though he could not directly say that he had seen him, yet, after I was in bed on the 7th, he complained seriously to me of the bad consequences it would produce if a gale of wind was to rise, and the ghost was to keep his place there, and desired me to come forward and speak to him. “My good Rais,” said I, “I am exceedingly tired, and my head achs much with the sun, which hath been violent to-day. You know the Abyssinian paid for his passage, and, if he does not overload the ship, (and I apprehend he should be lighter than when we took him on board) I do not think, that in justice or equity, either you or I can hinder the ghost from continuing his voyage to Abyssinia, as we cannot judge what serious business he may have there.” The Rais began to bless himself that he did not know any thing of his affairs.—“Then,” said I, “if you do not find he makes the vessel too heavy before, do not molest him; because, certainly if he was to come into any other part of the ship, or if he was to insist to sit in the middle of you (in the disposition that you all are) he would be a greater inconvenience to you than in his present post.” The Rais began again to bless himself, repeating a verse of the Koran; “bismilla sheitan rejem,” in the name of God keep the devil far from me. “Now, Rais,” said I, “if he does us no harm, you will let him ride upon the boltsprit till he is tired, or till he comes to Masuah, for I swear to you, unless he hurts or troubles us, I do not think I have any obligation to get out of my bed to molest him, only see that he carries nothing off with him.”

The Rais now seemed to be exceedingly offended, and said, for his part he did not care for his life more than any other man on board; if it was not from fear of a gale of wind, he might ride on the boltsprit and be d——n’d; but that he had always heard learned people could speak to ghosts. Will you be so good, Rais, said I, to step forward, and tell him, that I am going to drink coffee, and should be glad if he would walk into the cabbin, and say any thing he has to communicate to me, if he is a Christian, and if not, to Mahomet Gibberti. The Rais went out, but, as my servant told me, he would neither go himself, nor could get any person to go to the ghost for him. He came back, however, to drink coffee with me. I was very ill, and apprehensive of what the French call a Coup de soleil. “Go, said I to the Rais, to Mahomet Gibberti, who was lying just before us, tell him that I am a Christian, and have no jurisdiction over ghosts in these seas.”

A moor called Yasine, well known to me afterwards, now came forward, and told me, that Mahomet Gibberti had been very bad ever since we failed, with sea-sickness, and begged that I would not laugh at the spirit, or speak so familiarly of him, because it might very possibly be the devil, who often appeared in these parts. The Moor also desired I would send Gibberti some coffee, and order my servant to boil him some rice with fresh water from Foosht; for hitherto our fish and our rice had been boiled in sea water, which I constantly preferred. This bad news of my friend Mahomet banished all merriment, I gave therefore the necessary orders to my servant to wait upon him, and at the same time recommended to Yasine to go forward with the Koran in his hand, and read all night, or till we should get to Zimmer, and then, or in the morning, bring me an account of what he had seen.

The 8th, early in the morning, we sailed from Foosht, but the wind being contrary, we did not arrive at our destination till near mid-day, when we anchored in an open road about half a mile from the island, for there is no harbour in Baccalan, Foosht, nor Zimmer. I then took my quadrant, and went with the boat ashore, to gather wood. Zimmer is a much smaller island than Foosht, without inhabitants, and without water; though, by the cisterns which still remain, and are sixty yards square, hewed out of the solid rock, we may imagine this was once a place of consequence: rain in abundance, at certain seasons, still falls there. It is covered with young plants of rack tree, whose property it is, as I have already said, to vegetate in salt water. The old trees had been cut down, but there was a considerable number of Saiel, or Acacia trees, and of these we were in want.

Although Zimmer is said to be without water, yet there are antelopes upon it, as also hyænas in number, and it is therefore probable that there is water in some subterraneous caves or clefts of the rocks, unknown to the Arabs or fishermen, without which these animals could not subsist. It is probable the antelopes were brought over from Arabia for the Sherriffe’s pleasure, or those of his friends, if they did not swim from the main, and an enemy afterwards brought the hyæna to disappoint that amusement. Be that as it will, though I did not myself see the animals, yet I observed the dung of each of them upon the sand, and in the cisterns; so the fact does not rest wholly upon the veracity of the boatman. We found at Zimmer plenty of the large shell fish called Bisser and Surrumbac, but no other. I found Zimmer, by an observation of the sun at noon, to be in lat. 16° 7´ North, and from it we observed the following bearings and distances.

We sailed in the night from Zimmer. When we came nearer the channel, the islands were fewer, and we had never less than twenty-five fathom water. The wind was constantly to the north and west, and, during all the heat of the day, N. N. W. At the same time we had visibly a strong current to the northward.

The 9th, at six o’clock in the morning, the island Rapha bore N. E. by east, distant about two leagues, and in the same direction we saw the tops of very high mountains in Arabia Felix, which we imagined to be those above Djezan; and though these could not be less than twenty-six leagues distance, yet I distinguished their tops plainly, some minutes before sun-rise. At noon I observed our latitude to be 16° 10´ 3´´ north, so we had made very little way this day, it being for the most part calm. Rapha then bore E. ¾ north, distant thirteen miles, and Doohaarab N. N. W. five miles off. We continued under sail all the evening, but made little way, and still less during the night.

On the 10th, at seven in the morning, I first saw Jibbel Teir, till then it had been covered with a mist. I ordered the pilot to bear down directly upon it. All this forenoon our vessel had been surrounded with a prodigious number of sharks. They were of the hammer-headed kind, and two large ones seemed to vie with each other which should come nearest our vessel. The Rais had fitted a large harpoon with a long line for the large fish in the channel, and I went to the boltsprit to wait for one of the sharks, after having begged the Rais, first to examine if all was tight there, and if the ghost had done it no harm by sitting so many nights upon it. He shook his head, laughing, and said, “The sharks seek something more substantial than ghosts.” “If I am not mistaken, Rais, said I, this ghost seeks something more substantial too, and you shall see the end of it.”

I struck the largest shark about a foot from the head with such force, that the whole iron was buried in his body. He shuddered, as a person does when cold, and shook the shaft of the harpoon out of the socket, the weapon being made so on purpose; the shaft fell across, kept fixt to the line, and served as a float to bring him up when he dived, and impeded him when he swam. No salmon fisher ever saw finer sport with a fish and a rod. He had thirty fathom of line out, and we had thirty fathom more ready to give him. He never dived, but sailed round the vessel like a ship, always keeping part of his back above water. The Rais, who directed us, begged we would not pull him, but give him as much more line as he wanted; and indeed we saw it was the weight of the line that galled him, for he went round the vessel without seeking to go farther from us. At last he came nearer, upon our gathering up the line, and upon gently pulling it after, we brought him along-side, till we fastened a strong boat-hook in his throat: a man swung upon a cord was now let down to cut his tail, while hanging on the ship’s side, but he was, if not absolutely dead, without the power of doing harm. He was eleven feet seven inches from his snout to his tail, and nearly four feet round in the thickest part of him. He had in him a dolphin very lately swallowed, and about half a yard of blue cloth. He was the largest, the Rais said, he had ever seen, either in the Red Sea or the Indian Ocean.

About twenty minutes before twelve o’clock we were about four leagues distant from the island, as near as I could judge upon a parallel. Having there taken my observation, and all deductions made, I concluded the latitude of the north end of Jibbel Teir to be 15° 38´ north; thirty-two leagues west longitude from Loheia, fifty-three east longitude from Masuah, and forty-six leagues east of the meridian of Jidda. Jibbel Teir, or the Mountain of the Bird, is called by others, Jibbel Douhan, or the Mountain of Smoke. I imagine that the fame was the origin of our name of205Gibraltar, rather than from Tarik, who first landed in Spain; and one of my reasons is, that so conspicuous a mountain, near, and immediately in the face of the moors of Barbary, must have been known by some name, long before Tarik with his Arabs made his descent into Spain.

The reason of its being called Jibbel Douhan, the Mountain of Smoke, is, that though, in the middle of the sea, it is a volcano, which throws out fire, and though nearly extinguished, smokes to this day. It probably has been the occasion of the creation of great part of the neighbouring islands. Did it burn now, it would be of great use to shipping in the night, but in the earliest history of the trade of that sea, no mention is made of it, as in a state of conflagration. It was called Orneón in Ptolemy, the Bird-Island, the name as Jibbel Teir. It is likewise called Sheban, from the white spot at the top of it, which seems to be sulphur, and a part seems to have fallen in, and to have enlarged the crater on this side. The island is four miles from south to north, has a peek in form of a pyramid in the middle of it, and is about a quarter of a mile high. It descends, equally, on both sides, to the sea; has four openings at the top, which vent smoke, and sometimes, in strong southerly winds it is said to throw out fire. There was no such appearance when we passed it. The island is perfectly desert, being covered with sulphur and pumice stones.

Some journals that I have seen are full of indraughts, whirlpools, and unfathomable depths, all around this island. I must however take the liberty of saying to these gentlemen, who are otherwise so very fond of soundings as to distribute them all over the channel, that they have been unfortunate in placing their unfathomable depths here, and even soundings. It is probable these are occasioned by the convulsions in the earth made by this volcano; but the only indraught we saw was a strong current setting northward, and there are soundings as far as three leagues east of it, in 33 fathom water, with a sandy bottom. Between this and the island Rafab you have soundings from 20 to 35 fathom, with sand and rocks; and on the north-east side you have good anchoring, from a league’s distance, till within a cable’s length of the shore, and there is anchorage five leagues S. W. by W. in twenty-five fathoms, and I believe also, in the line from Loheia to Dahalac, the effects of the convulsions of this volcano. Such, at least, is the information I procured at Masuah from the pilots used to this navigation in search of sulphur; such was the information also of my Rais, who went twice loaded with that commodity to his own country at Mascatte; no other people go there. Both Abyssinians and Arabians believe that this is the entry or passage by which the devil comes up to this world.

Six leagues E. by S. of this island there is a dangerous shoal with great overfalls, on which a French ship struck in the year 1751, and was saved with very great difficulty. Jibbel Teir is the point from which all our ships, going to Jidda, take their departure, after sailing from Mocha, and passing the islands to the southward.

We left Jibbel Teir on the 11th with little wind at west, but towards mid-day it freshened as usual, and turned northward to N. N. east. We were now in mid-channel, so that we stood on straight for Dahalac till half past four, when a boy, who went aloft, saw four islands in a direction N. W. by W.¼ west. We were standing on with a fresh breeze, and all our sails full, when I saw, a little before sun-set, a white-fringed wave of the well-known figure of a breaker. I cried to the Rais for God’s sake to shorten sail, for I saw a breaker a-head, straight in our way. He said there was no such thing; that I had mistaken it, for it was a sea-gull. About seven in the evening we struck upon a reef of coral rocks. Arabs are cowards in all sudden dangers, which they consider as particular directions or mandates of providence, and therefore not to be avoided. Few uncultivated minds indeed have any calmness, or immediate resource in themselves when in unexpected danger. The Arab sailors were immediately for taking the boat, and sailing to the islands the boy had seen. The Abyssinians were for cutting up the planks and wood of the inside of the vessel, and making her a raft.

A violent dispute ensued, and after that a battle, when night overtook us, still fast upon the rock. The Rais and Yasine, however, calmed the riot, when I begged the passengers would hear me. I told them, “You all know, or should know, that the boat is mine, as I bought it with my money, for the safety and accommodation of myself and servants; you know, likewise, that I and my men are all well armed, while you are naked; therefore do not imagine that we will suffer any of you to enter that boat, and save your lives at the expence of ours. On this vessel of the Rais is your dependence, in it you are to be saved or to perish; therefore all hands to work, and get the vessel off, while it is calm; if she had been materially damaged, she had been sunk before now.” They all seemed on this to take courage, and said, they hoped I would not leave them. I told them, if they would be men, I would not leave them while there was a bit of the vessel together.

The boat was immediately launched, and one of my servants, the Rais, and two sailors, were put on board. They were soon upon the bank, where the two sailors got out, who cut their feet at first upon the white coral, but afterwards got firmer footing. They attempted to push the ship backwards, but she would not move. Poles and handspikes were tried in order to stir her, but these were not long enough. In a word, there was no appearance of getting her off before morning, when we knew the wind would rise, and it was to be feared she would then be dashed to pieces. Mahomet Gibberti, and Yasine, had been reading the Koran aloud ever since the vessel struck. I said to them in passing, “Sirs, would it not be as wise for you to leave your books till you get a-shore, and lend a hand to the people?” Mahomet answered, “that he was so weak and sick, that he could not stand.” But Yasine did not slight the rebuke, he stripped himself naked, went forward on the vessel, and then threw himself into the sea. He, first, very judiciously, felt what room there was for standing, and found the bank was of considerable breadth, and that we were stuck upon the point of it; that it rounded, slanting away afterwards, and seemed very deep at the sides, so the people, standing on the right of it, could not reach the vessel to push it, only those upon the point. The Rais and Yasine now cried for poles and handspikes, which were given them; two more men let themselves down by the side, and stood upon the bank. I then desired the Rais to get out a line, come a-stern with the boat, and draw her in the same direction that they pushed.

As soon as the boat could be towed a-stern, a great cry was set up, that she began to move. A little after, a gentle wind just made itself felt from the east, and the cry from the Rais was, Hoist the fore-sail and put it a-back. This being immediately done, and a gentle breeze filling the fore-sail at the time, they all pushed, and the vessel slid gently off, free from the shoal. I cannot say I partook of the joy so suddenly as the others did. I had always some fears a plank might have been started; but we saw the advantage of a vessel being sewed, rather than nailed together, as she not only was unhurt, but made very little water. The people were all exceedingly tired, and nobody thought they could enough praise the courage and readiness of Yasine. From that day he grew into consideration with me, which increased ever after, till my departure from Abyssinia.

The latitude of our place, at noon, had been 15° 32´ 12´´. I rectified my quadrant, and hung it up. Seeing the clear of the Lyre not far from the meridian, I was willing to be certain of that dangerous place we had fallen upon. By two observations of Lucida Lyræ, and Lucida Aquilæ, and by a mean of both, I found the bank to be in lat. 15° 28´ 15´´ north.

There was a circumstance, during the hurry of this transaction, that gave us all reason to be surprised. The ghost was supposed to be again seen on the boltsprit, as if pushing the vessel ashore; and as this was breaking covenant with me, as a passenger, I thought it was time some notice should be taken of him, since the Rais had referred it entirely to me. I inquired who the persons were that had seen him. Two moors of Hamazen were the first that perceived him, and afterwards a great part of the crew had been brought to believe the reality of this vision. I called them forward to examine them before the Rais, and Mahomet Gibberti, and they declared that, during the night, they had seen him go and come several times; once, he was pushing against the boltsprit, another time he was pulling upon the rope, as if he had an anchor ashore; after this he had a very long pole, or stick, in his hand, but it seemed heavy and stiff, as if it had been made of iron, and when the vessel began to move, he turned into a small blue flame, ran along the gunnel on the larboard side of the ship, and, upon the vessel going off, he disappeared. “Now,” said I, “it is plain by this change of shape, that he has left us for ever, let us therefore see whether he has done us any harm or not. Hath any of you any baggage stowed forwards?” The strangers answered, “Yes, it is all there.” Then said I, go forward, and see if every man has got his own. They all did this without loss of time, when a great noise and confusion ensued; every one was plundered of something, stibium, nails, brass wire, incense and beads; in short, all the precious part of their little stores was stolen.

All the passengers were now in the utmost despair, and began to charge the sailors. “I appeal to you, Yasine and Mahomet Gibberti, said I, whether these two moors who saw him oftenest, and were most intimate with him, have not a chance of knowing where the things are hid; for in my country, where ghosts are very frequent, they are always assisted in the thefts they are guilty of, by those that see and converse with them. I suppose therefore it is the same with Mahometan ghosts.” “The very same, said Mahomet Gibberti and Yasine, as far as ever we heard.” “Then go, Yasine, with the Rais, and examine that part of the ship where the moors slept, while I keep them here; and take two sailors with you, that know the secret places.” Before the search began, however, one of them told Yasine where every thing was, and accordingly all was found and restored. I would not have the reader imagine, that I here mean to value myself, either upon any supernatural knowledge, or extreme sagacity, in supposing that it was a piece of roguery from the beginning, of which I never doubted. But while Yasine and the sailors were busy pushing off the vessel, and I a-stern at an observation, Mahomet Gibberti’s servant, sitting by his master, saw one of the moors go to the repository of the baggage, and, after staying a little, come out with a box and package in his hand. This he told his master, who informed me, and the ghost finding his associates discovered, never was seen any more.

The 12th, in the morning, we found that this shoal was a sand bank, with a ridge of coral rocks upon it, which stretches hither from Selma, and ends a little farther to the northward in deep water. At sun-rise the islands bore as follow:—

These islands lie in a semi-circle round this shoal. There were no breakers upon it, the sea being so perfectly calm. I suppose if there had been wind, it would have broken upon it, as I certainly saw it do before we struck; between Megaida and Zober is a small sharp rock above the surface of the sea.

We got under sail at six in the morning, but the wind was very fast decaying, and soon after fell dead-calm. Towards eleven, as usual, it freshened, and almost at due north. At noon I found our lat. to be 15° 29´ 33´´ north, from which we had the following bearings:—

—and the rocks upon which we struck, E. by S.½S. something less than five miles off.

At four o’clock in the afternoon we saw land, which our pilot told us was the south end of Dahalac. It bore west by south, and was distant about nine leagues. As our course was then west by north, I found that we were going whither I had no intention to land, as my agreement was to touch at Dahalac el Kibeer, which is the principal port, and on the south end of the island, where the India ships formerly used to resort, as there is deep water, and plenty of sea-room between that and the main. But the freight of four sacks of dora, which did not amount to ten shillings, was sufficient to make the Rais break his word, and run a risk of cancelling all the meritorious services he had so long performed for me. So certain is it, that none of these people can ever do what is right, where the smallest trifle is thrown into the scale to bias them from their duty.

At six in the evening we anchored near a small island called Racka Garbia, or West Racka, in four fathom of stony-ground. By a meridian altitude of Lucida Aquilæ, I concluded the lat. to be 15° 31´ 30´´ north, and our bearings as follow:—

On the 13th, a little after sun-rise, we continued our course west, and a very little southerly, with little wind. At eight o’clock we passed Dalgrousht, north by east about a league distance, and a new island, Germ Malco west by north. At noon, I observed our latitude to be 15° 33´ 13´´ north; and our bearings as follow:—

The south cape of the island of Dahalac is called Ras Shouke, which, in Arabic, means the Cape of Thorns, because upon it are a quantity of sunt, or acacia, the thorny-tree which bears the gum-arabic. We continued our course along the east side of Dahalac, and, at four o’clock in the afternoon, saw Irwée, which is said to answer to the centre of the island. It bore then south-west of us four miles. We also saw two small islands, Tarza and Siah el Sezan; the first, north by west three miles; the second, north-east by east, but something farther. After having again violently struck on the coral rocks in the entry, at sun-set we anchored in the harbour of Dobelew.

This harbour is in form circular, and sufficiently defended from all winds, but its entrance is too narrow, and within, it is full of rocks. The bottom of the whole port is covered with large ramifications of white coral, with huge black stones; and I could no where observe there were above three fathom water, when it was full sea. The pilot indeed said there were seven, or twelve at the mouth; but so violent a tide rushed in through the entrance, that no vessel could escape being driven upon the rocks, therefore I made no draught of it.

Dobelew is a village three miles south-west of the harbour. It consists of about eighty houses, built of stone drawn from the sea; these calcine like shells, and make good enough morter, as well as materials for building before burning. All the houses are covered with bent-grass, like those of Arabia. The 17th, I got my large quadrant a-shore, and observed the sun in the meridian in that village, and determined the lat. of its south-west extremity, to be 15° 42´ 22´´ north.

Irwee is a village still smaller than Dobelew, about four miles distant. From this observation, compared with our account, we computed the southern cape of Dahalac, called Ras Shouke, to be in lat. 15° 27´ 30´´; and Ras Antalou, or the north cape, to be in lat. 15° 54´ 30´´ north.

The whole length of the island, whose direction is from north-west to south-east is thirty-seven miles, and its greatest breadth eighteen, which did within a very little agree with the account the inhabitants gave us, who made its length indeed something more.

Dahalac is by far the largest island in the Red Sea, as none, that we had hitherto seen, exceeded five miles in length. It is low and even, the soil fixed gravel and white sand, mixed with shells and other marine productions. It is destitute of all sorts of herbage, at least in summer, unless a small quantity of bent grass, just sufficient to feed the few antelopes and goats that are on the island. There is a very beautiful species of this last animal found here, small, short-haired, with thin black sharp horns, having rings upon them, and they are very swift of foot.

This island is, in many places, covered with large plantations of Acacia trees, which grow to no height, seldom above eight feet, but spread wide, and turn flat at top, probably by the influence of the wind from the sea. Though in the neighbourhood of Abyssinia, Dahalac does not partake of its seasons: no rain falls here, from the end of March to the beginning of October; but, in the intermediate months, especially December, January, and February, there are violent showers for twelve hours at a time, which deluge the island, and fill the cisterns so as to serve all next summer; for there are no hills nor mountains in Dahalac, and consequently no springs. These cisterns alone preserve the water, and of them there yet remain three hundred and seventy, all hewn out of the solid rock. They say these were the works of the Persians; it is more probable they were those of the first Ptolemies. But whoever were the constructors of these magnificent reservoirs, they were a very different people from those that now possess them, who have not industry enough to keep one of the three hundred and seventy clear for the use of man. All of them are open to every sort of animal, and half full of the filth they leave there, after drinking and washing in them. The water of Dobelew, and Irwée, tasted strong of musk, from the dung of the goats and antelopes, and the smell before you drink it is more nauseous than the taste; yet one of these cisterns, cleaned and shut up with a door, might afford them wholesome sweet water all the year over.

After the rains fall, a prodigious quantity of grass immediately springs up; and the goats give the inhabitants milk, which in winter is the principal part of their subsistence, for they neither plow nor sow. All their employment is to work the vessels which trade to the different parts of the coast. One half of the inhabitants is constantly on the Arabian side, and by their labour is enabled to furnish with 206dora, and other provisions, the other half who stay at home; and when their time is expired, they are relieved by the other half, and supplied with necessaries in their turn. But the sustenance of the poorer sort is entirely shell and other fish. Their wives and daughters are very bold, and expert fisher-women. Several of them, entirely naked, swam off to our vessel before we came to an anchor, begging handfuls of wheat, rice, or dora. They are very importunate and sturdy beggars, and not easily put off with denials. These miserable people, who live in the villages not frequented by barks from Arabia, are sometimes a whole year without tasting bread. Yet such is the attachment to the place of their nativity, they prefer living in this bare, barren, parched spot, almost in want of necessaries of every kind, especially of these essential ones, bread and water, to those pleasant and plentiful countries on both sides of them. This preference we must not call strange, for it is universal: A strong attachment to our native country, whatever is its condition, has been impressed by Providence, for wise ends, in the breasts of all nations; from Lapland to the Line, you find it written precisely in the same character.

There are twelve villages, or towns, in Dahalac, little different in size from Dobelew; each has a plantation of doom-trees round it, which furnish the only manufacture in the island. The leaves of this tree, when dried, are of a glossy white, which might very easily be mistaken for sattin; of these they make baskets of surprising beauty and neatness, staining part of the leaves with red or black, and working them into figures very artificially. I have known some of these, resembling straw-baskets, continue full of water for twenty-four hours, without one drop coming through. They sell these at Loheia and Jidda, the largest of them for four commesh, or sixpence. This is the employment, or rather amusement of the men who stay at home; for they work but very moderately at it, and all of them indeed take special care, not to prejudice their health by any kind of fatigue from industry.

People of the better sort, such as the Shekh and his relations, men privileged to be idle, and never exposed to the sun, are of a brown complexion, not darker than the inhabitants of Loheia. But the common sort employed in fishing, and those who go constantly to sea, are not indeed black, but red, and little darker than the colour of new mahogany. There are, besides, blacks among them, who come from Arkeeko and the Main, but even these, upon marrying, grow less black in a generation.