between Suakem, and the supposed river Frat, in lat. 21° 28' north, called Gungunnah, which was reserved to the Grand Signior in particular, and a special officer was appointed to receive the pearls on the spot, and send them to Constantinople. The pearls found there were of the largest size, and inferior to none in water, or roundness. Tradition says, that this was, exclusively, the property of the Pharaohs, by which is meant, in Arabian manuscrip's, the old kings of Egypt before Mahomet.
In the same extent, between Dahalac and Suakem, was another very valuable fishery, that of *[1] tortoises, from which the finest shells of that kind were produced, and a great trade was carried on with the East Indies, (China especially) at little expence, and with very considerable profits. The animal itself (the turtle) was in great plenty, between lat. 18° and 20° , in the neighbourhood of those low sandy islands, laid down in my chart.
The India trade flourished exceedingly at Suakem and Masuah, as it had done in the prosperous time of the Caliphs. The Banians, (then the only traders from the East Indies) being prohibited by the Mahometans to enter the Holy Land of the Hejaz, carried all their vessels to Konfodah in Yemen, and from these two ports had, in return, at the first hand, pearls, tortoise-shell, which sold for its weight of gold, in China; Tibbar, or pure gold of Sennaar, (that from Abyssinia being less so) elephant's teeth, rhinoceros
- ↑ * See the article Tortoise in the Appendix.
- See the article Tortoise in the Appendix.
