To return to the description of the coast: sixty leagues from
Suaquem is an island called Mazna, only considerable for its ports,
which make the Turks reside upon it, though they are forced to keep
three barks continually employed in fetching water, which is not to
be found nearer than at a distance of twelve miles. Forty leagues
from hence is Dalacha, an island where many pearls are found, but of
small value. The next place is Baylur, forty leagues from Dalacha,
and twelve from Babelmandel.
There are few things upon which a greater variety of conjectures has
been offered than upon the reasons that induced the ancients to
distinguish this gulf, which separates Asia from Africa, by the name
of the Red Sea, an appellation that has almost universally obtained
in all languages. Some affirm that the torrents, which fall after
great rains from the mountains, wash down such a quantity of red
sand as gives a tincture to the water: others tell us that the
sunbeams being reverberated from the red rocks, give the sea on
which they strike the appearance of that colour. Neither of these
accounts are satisfactory; the coasts are so scorched by the heat
that they are rather black than red; nor is the colour of this sea
much altered by the winds or rains. The notion generally received
is, that the coral found in such quantities at the bottom of the sea
might communicate this colour to the water: an account merely
chimerical. Coral is not to be found in all parts of this gulf, and
red coral in very few. Nor does this water in fact differ from that
of other seas. The patriarch and I have frequently amused ourselves
with making observations, and could never discover any redness, but
in the shallows, where a kind of weed grew which they call gouesmon,
which redness disappeared as soon as we plucked up the plant. It is
observable that St. Jerome, confining himself to the Hebrew, calls
this sea Jamsuf. Jam in that language signifies sea, and suf is the
name of a plant in Aethiopia, from which the Abyssins extract a
beautiful crimson; whether this be the same with the gouesmon, I
know not, but am of opinion that the herb gives to this sea both the
colour and the name.
The vessels most used in the Red Sea, though ships of all sizes may
be met with there, are gelves, of which some mention hath been made
already; these are the more convenient, because they will not split
if thrown upon banks or against rocks. These gelves have given
occasion to the report that out of the cocoa-tree alone a ship may
be built, fitted out with masts, sails, and cordage, and victualled
with bread, water, wine, sugar, vinegar, and oil. All this indeed
cannot be done out of one tree, but may out of several of the same
kind. They saw the trunk into planks, and sew them together with
thread which they spin out of the bark, and which they twist for the
cables; the leaves stitched together make the sails. This boat thus
equipped may be furnished with all necessaries from the same tree.
There is not a month in which the cocoa does not produce a bunch of
nuts, from twenty to fifty. At first sprouts out a kind of seed or
capsula, of a shape not unlike the scabbard of a scimitar, which
they cut, and place a vessel under, to receive the liquor that drops
from it; this drink is called soro, and is clear, pleasant, and
nourishing. If it be boiled, it grows hard, and makes a kind of
sugar much valued in the Indies: distil this liquor and you have a
strong water, of which is made excellent vinegar. All these
different products are afforded before the nut is formed, and while
it is green it contains a delicious cooling water; with these nuts
they store their gelves, and it is the only provision of water which
is made in this country. The second bark which contains the water
is so tender that they eat it. When this fruit arrives to perfect
maturity, they either pound the kernel into meal, and make cakes of
or draw an oil from it of a fine scent and taste, and of great use
in medicine; so that what is reported of the different products of
this wonderful tree is neither false nor incredible.
It is time we should come now to the relation of our voyage. Having
happily passed the straits at the entrance of the Red Sea, we
pursued our course, keeping as near the shore as we could, without
any farther apprehensions of the Turks. We were, however, under
some concern that we were entirely ignorant in what part of the
coast to find Baylur, a port where we proposed landing, and so
little known, that our pilots, who had made many voyages in this
sea, could give us no account of it. We were in hopes of
information from the fishermen, but found that as soon as we came
near they fled from us in the greatest consternation; no signals of
peace or friendship could prevail on them to stay; they either durst
not trust or did not understand us. We plied along the coast in
this uncertainty two days, till on the first of March having doubled
a point of land, which came out a great way into the sea, we found
ourselves in the middle of a fair large bay, which many reasons
induced us to think was Baylur; that we might be farther assured we
sent our Abyssin on shore, who returning next morning confirmed our
opinion. It would not be easy to determine whether our arrival gave
us greater joy, or the inhabitants greater apprehensions, for we
could discern a continual tumult in the land, and took notice that
the crews of some barks that lay in the harbour were unlading with
all possible diligence, to prevent the cargo from falling into our
hands, very much indeed to the dissatisfaction of many of our
soldiers, who having engaged in this expedition, with no other view
than of filling their pockets, were, before the return of our
Abyssin, for treating them like enemies, and taking them as a lawful
prize.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 9 of 41
Words from 8153 to 9223
of 41322
