As Soon As We
Had Cast Anchor We Went On Shore, Whence We Saw The End Of This Sea,
Which We Had Hitherto Thought Without End, And Could Plainly See The
Masts Of The Turkish Ships.
All this gave us much satisfaction, yet
mixed with much anxiety.
As the wind blew hard all night from the north,
we remained at anchor behind the point till day.
On the morning of the 27th, the wind blowing hard at N.N.W. we remained
at anchor till ten, when we departed from the point and made for Suez
with our oars. When about a league from the end of the sea, I went
before with two catures to examine the situation of Suez and to look
out for a proper landing-place. We got close up to Suez about three
o'clock in the afternoon, where we saw many troops of horse in the
field, and two great bands of foot-soldiers in the town, who made many
shots at us from a blockhouse. The Turkish navy at this place consisted
of forty-one large gallies, and nine great ships. Having completed the
examination, and returned to our fleet, we all went to the point of land
to the west of the bay, and came to anchor near the shore in five
fathoms water, in an excellent harbour, the bottom a fine soft sand.
It is certain that in ancient times Suez was called the City of
Heroes, for it differs in nothing as to latitude situation and bearings
from what is said in Ptolomy, Table III. of Africa. More especially as
Suez is seated on the uttermost coast of the nook or bay where the sea
of Mecca ends, on which the City of Heroes was situated, as Strabo
writes in his XVII book thus: "The city of Heroes, or of Cleopatra,
by some called Arsinoe, is in the uttermost bounds of the Sinus
Arabicus, which is towards Egypt.". Pliny, in the VI. book of his
Natural History, seems to call the port of Suez Danao, on account of
the trench or canal opened between the Nile and the Red Sea. The
latitude of Suez is 29 deg. 45' N. being the nearest town and port of the
Red Sea to the great city of Cairo, called anciently Babylon of Egypt.
From Suez to the Levant Sea or Mediterranean, at that mouth of one of
the seven branches of the Nile which is called Pelusium, is about 40
leagues by land, which space is called the isthmus, or narrow neck of
land between the two seas. On this subject Strabo writes in his XVII.
book, "The isthmus between Pelusium and the extreme point of the Arabian
Gulf where stands the City of Heroes, is 900 stadia." This is the port
of the Red Sea to which Cleopatra Queen of Egypt, after the victory
obtained by Augustus over Antony, commanded ships to be carried by land
from the Nile, that they might flee to the Indians.
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