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 same was the origin of our name of *[1] Gibraltar, 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 Orneôn in Ptolemy, the Bird-Island, the same 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
- ↑ * Jibbel Teir, the Mountain of the Bird ; corruptly, Gibraltar.
- Jibbel Teir, the Mountain of the Bird; corruptly, Gibraltar.
