Sailing Ninety Leagues Farther, You See
The Noted Port Of Jodda, Where The Pilgrims That Go To Mecca And
Medina Unlade Those Rich Presents Which The Zeal Of Different
Princes Is Every Day Accumulating At The Tomb Of Mahomet.
The
commerce of this place, and the number of merchants that resort
thither from all parts of the world,
Are above description, and so
richly laden are the ships that come hither, that when the Indians
would express a thing of inestimable price, they say, "It is of
greater value than a ship of Jodda." An hundred and eighteen
leagues from thence lies Toro, and near it the ruins of an ancient
monastery. This is the place, if the report of the inhabitants
deserves any credit, where the Israelites miraculously passed
through the Red Sea on dry land; and there is some reason for
imagining the tradition not ill grounded, for the sea is here only
three leagues in breadth. All the ground about Toro is barren for
want of water, which is only to be found at a considerable distance,
in one fountain, which flows out of the neighbouring mountains, at
the foot of which there are still twelve palm-trees. Near Toro are
several wells, which, as the Arabs tell us, were dug by the order of
Moses to quiet the clamours of the thirsty Israelites. Suez lies in
the bottom of the Gulf, three leagues from Toro, once a place of
note, now reduced, under the Turks, to an inconsiderable village,
where the miserable inhabitants are forced to fetch water at three
leagues' distance. The ancient Kings of Egypt conveyed the waters
of the Nile to this place by an artificial canal, now so choked with
sand, that there are scarce any marks remaining of so noble and
beneficial a work.
The first place to be met with in travelling along the coast of
Africa is Rondelo, situate over against Toro, and celebrated for the
same miraculous passage. Forty-five leagues from thence is Cocir.
Here ends that long chain of mountains that reaches from this place
even to the entrance of the Red Sea. In this prodigious ridge,
which extends three hundred leagues, sometimes approaching near the
sea, and sometimes running far up into the land, there is only one
opening, through which all that merchandise is conveyed, which is
embarked at Rifa, and from thence distributed through all the east.
These mountains, as they are uncultivated, are in some parts shaded
with large forests, and in others dry and bare. As they are
exceedingly high, all the seasons may be here found together; when
the storms of winter beat on one side, on the other is often a
serene sky and a bright sunshine. The Nile runs here so near the
shore that it might without much difficulty be turned through this
opening of the mountains into the Red Sea, a design which many of
the Emperors have thought of putting in execution, and thereby
making a communication between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean,
but have been discouraged either by the greatness of the expense or
the fear of laying great part of Egypt under water, for some of that
country lies lower than sea.
Distant from Rondelo a hundred and thirty leagues is the Isle of
Suaquem, where the Bassa of that country chooses his residence, for
the convenience of receiving the tribute with greater exactness,
there being a large trade carried on here with the Abyssins. The
Turks of Suaquem have gardens on the firm land, not above a musket
shot from the island, which supply them with many excellent herbs
and fruits, of which I doubt whether there be not a greater quantity
on this little spot than on the whole coast of Africa besides, from
Melinda to Suez. For if we except the dates which grow between Suez
and Suaquem, the ground does not yield the least product; all the
necessaries of life, even water, is wanting. Nothing can support
itself in this region of barrenness but ostriches, which devour
stones, or anything they meet with; they lay a great number of eggs,
part of which they break to feed their young with. These fowls, of
which I have seen many, are very tame, and when they are pursued,
stretch out their wings, and run with amazing swiftness. As they
have cloven feet, they sometimes strike up the stones when they run,
which gave occasion to the notion that they threw stones at the
hunters, a relation equally to be credited with those of their
eating fire and digesting iron. Those feathers which are so much
valued grow under their wings: the shell of their eggs powdered is
an excellent remedy for sore eyes.
The burning wind spoken of in the sacred writings, I take to be that
which the natives term arur, and the Arabs uri, which blowing in the
spring, brings with it so excessive a heat, that the whole country
seems a burning oven; so that there is no travelling here in this
dreadful season, nor is this the only danger to which the unhappy
passenger is exposed in these uncomfortable regions. There blows in
the months of June, July, and August, another wind, which raises
mountains of sand and carries them through the air; all that can be
done in this case is when a cloud of sand rises, to mark where it is
likely to fall, and to retire as far off as possible; but it is very
usual for men to be taken unexpectedly, and smothered in the dust.
One day I found the body of a Christian, whom I knew, upon the sand;
he had doubtless been choked by these winds. I recommended his soul
to the divine mercy and buried him. He seemed to have been some
time dead, yet the body had no ill smell. These winds are most
destructive in Arabia the Desert.
Chapter IV
The author's conjecture on the name of the Red Sea.
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