Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile/Volume 1/Book 1/Chapter 13
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 sand 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-eaft 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 weft point off Baccalan, W.N.W.¼ weft, 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 diftant ; 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 ufe 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 Bivalves *[1].
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 stroller 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. ¾E. 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 himfelf 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 ap prehensive 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 sailed, 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 conse quence: 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 hyaenas 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 hyaena 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. i6° 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, dstant 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 ghofts." "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 same was the origin of our name of *[2] 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 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 isand 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 Rasab you have soundings from 20 to 35 fathom, with sand and rocks; and on the north-east fide 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 vulcano. Such, at leaft, 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 Masfcatte; 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 reclined 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 Yafine, 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 :-—
Dallacken, - - distant - 6 miles, - - E. by S. Racka, - - do. - 6 do. - - S.E.by S. Germ Malco, - do. - 6. do. - - S.S.W. Dalgrousht, - - do. - 4 do. - - E.N. E. Dennifarek, - do. - 7 do. - - N.N.W. Seide el Arabi,- do. - 4 do. - - W.by S. Dahal Couss, - - do. - 9 do. - - N.W.by N.
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 with-in, 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 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, 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 furnilh with *[3] dora, 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, arc 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 mohogany. There are, besides, blacks among them, who come from Arkeeko and the Main, but even these, upon marrying, grow less black in a generation. The inhabitants of Dahalac seemed to be a simple, fearful, and inoffensive people. It is the only part of Africa, or Arabia, (call it which you please) where you see no one carry arms of any kind; neither gun, knife, nor sword, is to be seen in the hands of any one. Whereas, at Loheia, and on all the coast of Arabia, and more particularly at Yambo, every person goes armed; even the porters, naked, and groaning under the weight of their burden, and heat of the day, have yet a leather belt, in which they carry a crooked knife, so monstrously long, that it needs a particular motion and address in walking, not to lame the bearer. This was not always the case at Dahalac; several of the Portuguese, on their first arrival here, were murdered, and the island often treated ill, in revenge, by the armaments of that nation. The men seem healthy. They told me they had no diseafes among them, unless sometimes in Spring, when the boats of Yemen and Jidda bring the small-pox among them, and very few escape with life that are infected. I could not observe a man among them that seemed to be sixty years old, from which I infer, they are not long livers, though the air should be healthy, as being near the channel, and as they have the north wind all summer, which moderates the heat.
Of all the islands we had passed on this side the channel, Dahalac alone is inhabited. It depends, as do all the rest, upon Masuah, and is conferred by a firman from the Grand Signior, on the Bashia of Jidda; and, from him, on Metical Aga, then on the Naybe and his servants. The present governor's name was Hagi Mahomet Abd el cader, of whom I have before spoken, as having sailed from Jidda to Masuah before me, where he did me all the dis-service in his power, and nearly procured my assassination. The revenue of this governor consists in a goat brought to him monthly by each of the twelve villages. Every vessel, that puts in there for Masuah, pays him also a pound of coffee, and every one from Arabia, a dollar or pataka. No sort of small money is current at Dahalac, excepting Venetian glass-beads, old and new, of all sizes and colours, broken and whole.
Although this is the miserable state of Dahalac at present, matters were widely different in former times. The pearl fishery flourished greatly here, under the Ptolemies; and even long after, in the time of the Caliphs, it produced a great revenue, and, till the sovereigns of Cairo, of the present miserable race of slaves, began to withdraw themselves from their dependency on the port (for even after the reign of Selim, and the conquests of Arabia, under Sinan Basha, the Turkish gallies were still kept up at Suez, whilst Masuah and Suakem had Bashas) Dahalac was the principal island that furnished the pearl fishers, or divers. It was, indeed, the chief port for the fishery on the southern part of the Red Sea, as Suakem was on the north; and the Basha of Masuah passed part of every summer here, to avoid the heat at his place of residence on the Continent.
The fishery extended from Dahalac and its islands nearly to lat. 20°. The inhabited islands furnished each a bark, and so many divers, and they were paid in wheat, flour, &c. such a portion to each bark, for their use, and so much to leave with their family, for their subsistence; so that a few months employment furnished them with every thing necessary for the rest of the year. The fishery was rented, in latter times, to the Basha of Suakem, but there was a place 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 *[4] 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 horns for turning, plenty of gum Arabic, cassia, myrrh, frankincense, and many other precious articles; these were all bartered, at Masuah and Suakem, for India goods. But nothing which violence and injustice can ruin, ever can subsist under Turkish government. The Bashas paying dearly for their confirmation at Constantinople, and uncertain if they should hold this office Long enough to make reimbursements for the money they had already advanced, had not patience to stay till the course of trade gradually indemnified them, but proceeding from extortion to extortion, they at last became downright robbers, seizing the cargo of the ships wherever they could find them, and exercising the most shocking cruelties on the person they belonged to, flaying the sailors alive, and impaling those that remained in their hands, to obtain, by terror, remittances from India. The trade was thus abandoned, and the revenue ceased. There were no bidders at Constantinople for the farm, nobody had trade in their heads when their lives were every hour in danger. Dahalac became therefore dependent on the Basha of Jidda, and he appointed an *[5] Aga, who paid him a moderate sum, and appropriated to himself the provisions and salary allowed for the pearl fishery, or the greatest part of them.
The Aga at Suakem endeavoured, in vain, to make the Arabs and people near him work without salary, so they abandoned an employment which produced nothing but punishment; and, in time, they grew ignorant of the fishery in which they once were so well skilled and had been educated. This great nursery of seamen therefore was lost, and the gallies, being no longer properly manned, were either given up to rot, or turned into merchant-ships for carrying the coffee between Yemen and Suez, these vessels were unarmed, and indeed incapable of armament, and unserviceable by their construction; besides, they were ill-manned, and so carelessly and ignorantly navigated, that there was not a year, that one or more did not founder, not from stress of weather, (for they were sailing in a pond) or from any thing, but ignorance, or inattention.
Trade took again its ancient course towards Jidda. The Sherriffe of Mecca, and all the Arabs, were interested to get it back to Arabia, and with it the government of their own countries. That the pearl fishing might, moreover, no longer be an allurement for the Turkish power to maintain itself here, and oppress them, they discouraged the practice of diving, till it grew into desuetude; this brought insensibly all the people of the islands to the continent, where they were employed in coasting vessels, which continues their only occupation to this day. This policy succeeded; the princes of Arabia became again free from the Turkish power, now but a shadow, and Dahalac, Masuah, and Suakem, returned to their ancient masters, to which they are subject at this instant, governed indeed by Shekhs of their own country, and preserving only the name of Turkish government, each being under the command of a robber and assassin.
The immense treasures in the bottom of the Red Sea, have thus been abandoned for near two hundred years, though they never were richer in all probability than at present. No nation can now turn them to any profit, but the English East India Company, more intent on multiplying the number of their enemies, and weakening themselves by spreading their inconsiderable force over new conquests, than creating additional profit by engaging in new articles of commerce. A settlement upon the river Frat, which never yet has belonged to any one but wandering Arabs, would open them a market both for coarse and fine goods from the southern frontiers of Morocco, to Congo and Angola, and set the commerce of pearls and tortoise shell on foot again. All this section of the Gulf from Suez, as I am told, is in their charter, and twenty ships might be employed on the Red Sea, without any violation of territorial claims. The myrrh, the frankincense, some cinnamon, and variety of drugs, are all in the possession of the weak king of Adel, an usurper, tyrant, and Pagan, without protection, and willing to trade with any superior power, that only would secure him a miserable livelihood.
If this does not take place, I am persuaded the time is not far off, when these countries shall, in some shape or other, be subjects of a new master. Were another Peter, another Elizabeth, or, better than either, another Catharine to succeed the present, in an empire already extended to China; — were such a sovereign, unfettered by European politics, to prosecute that easy task of pushing those mountebanks of sovereigns and statesmen, these stage-players of government, the Turks, into Asia, the inhabitants of the whole country, who in their hearts look upon her already as their sovereign, because she is the head of their religion, would, I am persuaded, submit without a blow that in stant the Turks were removed on the other side of the Hellespont.
There are neither horses, dogs, sheep, cows, nor any sort of quadruped, but goats, asses, a few half-starved camels and antelopes at Dahalac, which last are very numerous. The inhabitants have no knowledge of fire-arms, and there are no dogs, nor beasts of prey in the island to kill them; they catch indeed some few of them in traps.
On our arrival at Dahalac, on the 14th, we saw swallows there, and, on the 16th, they were all gone. On our landing at Masuah, on the 19th, we saw a few; the 21st and 22d they were in great flocks; on the 2d of October they were all gone. It was the blue long-tailed swallow, with the flat head ; but there was, likewise, the English martin, black, and darkish grey in the body, with a white breast.
The language at Dahalac is that of the Shepherds; Arabic too is spoken by most of them. From this island we see the high mountains of Habesh, running in an even ridge like a wall, parallel to the coast, and down to Suakem.
Before I leave Dahalac, I must observe, that, in a wretched chart, in the hands of some of the English gentlemen at Jidda, there were soundings marked all along the east-coast of Dahalac, from thirteen to thirty fathoms, within two leagues of the shore. Now, the islands I have mentioned occupy a much larger space than that; yet none of them are set down in the chart; and, where the soundings are marked thirty, forty, and even ninety fathom, all is full of shoals under water, with islands and sunken coral rocks, some of them near the surface, though the breakers do not appear upon them, partly owing to the waves being steadied by the violence of the current, and somewhat kept off by the island. This dangerous error is, probably, owing to the draughts being composed from different journals, where the pilot has had different ways of measuring his distance; some using forty-two feet to a thirty-second glass, and some twenty-eight, both of them being considered as one competent division of a degree; the distances are all too short, and the soundings, and every thing else, consequently out of their places.
Whoever has to navigate in the Abyssinian side of the channel, will do well to pass the island Dahalac on the east side, or, at least, not approach the outmost island, Wowcan, nearer than ten leagues; but, keeping about twelve leagues meridian distance west of Jibbel Teir, or near mid-channel between that and the island, they will then be out of danger; being between lat. 15° 20' and 15° 40', which last is the latitude, as I observed, of Saiel Noora, and which is the northern island, we saw, three leagues off Ras Antalou, the northmost cape of Dahalac.
Both at our entering into the port of Dobelew on the 14th, and our going out of it on the 17th, we found a tide running like a sluice, which we apprehended, in spite of our sails being full, would force us out of our course upon the rocks. I imagine it was then at its greatest strength, it now being near the equinoctial full moon. The channel between Terra Firma and the island being very narrow, and the influence of the sun and moon then nearly in the equator, had occasioned this unusual violence of the tide, by forcing a large column of water through so narrow a space.
On the 17th, after we had examined our vessel, and found she had received no damage, and provided water (bad as it was) for the remainder of our voyage, we sailed from Dobelew, but, the wind being contrary, we were obliged to come to an anchor, at three quarters past four o'clock, in ten fathom water, about three leagues from that port, which was to the south-west of us; the bearings and distances are as follow:—
| Derghiman Kibeer, | distant | 10 | miles, | W.S.W. |
| Deleda, | do. | 7 | do. | W.by N. |
| Saiel Sezan, | do. | 4 | do. | S. E. |
| Zeteban, | do. | 5 | do. | N.E. |
| Dahalac, | do. | 12 | do. | S.S.W. |
| Dahalhalem, | do. | 12 | do. | N.W.by N. |
On the 18th, we sailed, standing off and on, with a contrary wind at north-west, and a strong current in the same direction. At half past four in the morning we were forced to come to an anchor. There is here a very shallow and narrow passage, which I sounded myself in the boat, barely one and a half fathom, or nine feet of water, and we were obliged to wait the silling of the tide. This is called the Bogaz, which signifies, as I have before observed, the narrow and shallow passage. It is between the island Dahalac and the south point of the island of Noora, about forty fathom broad, and, on each side, full of dangerous rocks. The islands then bore, Derghiman Seguier, - distant 3 miles, - - S. W. Derghiman Kibeer, do. 5 do - - S. Dahalhalem, - - - do. 4 do. - - E.N.E. Noora, - - - do. 2 do. . - - N. E. b. N.
The tide now entered with an unusual force, and ran more like the Nile, or a torrent, or stream conducted to turn a mill, than the sea, or the effects of a tide. At half past one o'clock, there. was water enough to pass, and we soon were hurried through it by the violence of the current, driving us in a manner truly tremendous.
At half after three, .we passed between Ras Antalou, the North Cape of Dahalac, and the small island Dahalottom, which has some trees upon it. On this island is the tomb of Shekh *[6] Abou Gafar, mentioned by Poncet, in his voyage, who mistakes the name of the saint for that of the island. The strait between the Cape and the island is a mile and a half broad. At four in the afternoon, we anchored near a a small island called Surat. All between this and Dahalac, there is no water exceeding seven fathom, till you are near Dahalac Kibeer, whose port has water for large vessels, but is open to every point, from south-west to north-west, and has a great swell.
All ships coming to the westward of Dahalac had better keep within the island Drugerut, between that and the main, where there is plenty of water, and room enough to 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 *[7] 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 be necessary now to speak in some detail, although the connection they all have with the trade of the Red Sea, and with each other, will oblige me to go back to very early times, to the invention of letters, and all the useful arts, which had their beginning here, were carefully nourished, and came probably to as great a perfection as they did ever since arrive at any other period.
- ↑ * See the article Pearl in the Appendix.
- ↑ * Jibbel Teir, the Mountain of the Bird ; corruptly, Gibraltar.
- ↑ * Millet, or Indian corn.
- ↑ * See the article Tortoise in the Appendix.
- ↑ * A Subaltern Governor.
- ↑ * Poncet's Voyage, translated into English, printed for W. Lewis in 1709, in 12mo, page 121.
- ↑ * This must not be attributed wholly to the weather. We spent much time in surveying the islands, and in observation.