- 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. We remained here all night, having ran 100 miles. On the 20th we came to an island 20 miles from the land named Khamaran, where we got provisions and good water. In this island there was a ruinous castle, altogether unoccupied, and about fifty houses built of boughs of trees, besides a few other huts scattered over the island. The inhabitants were barefooted and quite naked, of a small size, and having no head-dresses but their hair, and merely conceal their parts of shame by means of a clout.

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