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 Sbouke, 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.
