Leaving Kor On The 11th Of July, We Sailed Along Shore Till Noon 30
Miles, When We Came To A City Named Zidem[217], Which Is The Emporium
Or Landing Place Of All The Spices From Calicut And Other Parts Of
India.
This place is a stage and a half from Mecca; and though there are
several shoals both above and under water, the port is good, and the
town has abundance of provisions:
But no water is to be met with, except
from a few cisterns which are filled with rain water. This place abounds
in merchandize, and the country round produces dates, ginger of
Mecca[218], and other sorts. In a mosque on the outside of the town is a
tomb, which according to the Mahometans is the burial-place of Eve. The
inhabitants go almost naked, and are meagre and swarthy. The sea
produces abundance of fish. The natives tie three or four pieces of
timber together about six feet long, on one of which slight rafts a man
rows himself with a board, and ventures out to sea eight or nine miles
to fish in all weathers. At this place the fleet remained four days and
took in a supply of water.
[Footnote 217: Otherwise Jiddah or Joddah, the port of Mecca. In his map
of Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinia, De L'Isle makes Zidem, which he also
names Gidde, doubtless a corruption of Jiddah, a distinct place a
little to the south from Jiddah. This must be a mistake; as Jiddah has
for many ages been the port of Mecca, as Zidem is said to be in the
text. This is farther confirmed by the mention of Eves tomb in the
text, which Pitts saw at Jiddah. Thevenot says her tomb is at Gidde,
which De L'Isle supposed to have been a different place from Gidda,
Joddah, or Jiddah, whence arose his mistake. - Astl. I.90. b.]
[Footnote 218: Perhaps we ought to read Balsam of Mecca. - E.]
At our departure on the 15th of July, five small vessels were missing by
chance, which we learnt from a man who had escaped from a foist. This
day we sailed 80 miles S.W. by S. The 16th our course was S.E. with
very little wind, making only 30 miles till night; and before sunrise 50
miles farther. The 17th we sailed S.E. till night 100 miles; and from
thence till sunrise 16 miles, S.E. by S. On the 18th we steered S.E.
140[219] miles during the day, which was dusky; and in the night 50
miles S.E. by E. The 19th sailing E. by S. with a brisk wind till nine
in the morning, we came among certain islands called Atfas, almost
entirely desert, and only inhabited by people who come from other
islands to fish and seek for pearls, which they get by diving to the
bottom of the sea in four fathom water. They drink rain water, which is
preserved in cisterns and ponds.
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