work, tho' even here, there are islands a-head; and clear weather, as well as a good look-out, will always be necessary.
On the 19th of September, at three quarters past six in the morning, we sailed from our anchorage near Surat. At a quarter past nine, Dargeli, an island with trees upon it, bore N. W. by W. two miles and a half distant; and Drugerut three leagues and a half north and by east, when it fell calm.
At eleven o'clock, we passed the island of Dergaiham, bearing N. by East, three miles distant, and at five in the afternoon we came to an anchor in the harbour of Masuah, having been *[1] seventeen days on our passage, including the day we first went on board, though this voyage, with a favourable wind, is generally made in three days; it often has, indeed, been sailed in less.
The reader will observe, that many of the islands begin with Dahal, and some with Del, which last is only an abbreviation of the former, and both of them signify island, in the language of Beja, otherwise called Geez, or the language of the shepherds. Massowa, too, though generally spelled in the manner I have here expressed it, should properly be written Masuah, which is the harbour or water of the Shepherds. Of this nation, so often mentioned already in this work, as well as the many other people less powerful and numerous than they that inhabit the countries between the tropics, or frontiers of Egypt and the Line, it will
- ↑ * This must not be attributed wholly to the weather. We spent much time in surveying the islands, and in observation.
- This must not be attributed wholly to the weather. We spent much time in surveying the islands, and in observation.
