20 15' N. In The Very Mouth Of The Harbour
There Are Two Very Low Points, Lying N. By E. And S. By W. From Each
Other, Distant A League And Half.
As no great sea can enter here it is a
very good harbour, having 10 and 12 fathoms water on a mud bottom,
diminishing inwards to five fathoms.
Along the land within the bay on
the south side there are nine small islands in a row, and in other
places there are some scattered islets, all very low and encompassed by
shoals. The land at this bay is very dry and barren, and it has no
water.
On the 25th we continued along the coast, having many rocks to seawards
about a league off; and at ten o'clock we entered a very large harbour
named Arekea, four leagues beyond Fushaa, the coast between running
N. and S. with some tendence to N.W. and S.E. Arekea, the strongest
and most defensible harbour I have ever seen, is 22 leagues beyond
Swakem. In ancient times it was called Dioscori according to Pliny.
In the middle of the entry to this port there is a considerable island,
about a cross-bow shot in length and breadth, having a bank or shoal
running from it on the south side to the main land, so shallow that
nothing can pass over it. But on the north side of this island the
channel is about a cross-bow shot in breadth and 15 fathoms deep,
running N.W. and S.E. and on both sides this channel is very shallow and
full of rocks, the fair way being in the middle.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 511 of 809
Words from 139321 to 139599
of 221361
