From This Last Point The Coast Of The
Great Bay Or Nook Winds Inwards To The West, And Afterwards Turns
Out
again, making a great circuit with many windings, and ends in a great
and notable point called Ras-al-
Nashef, or the dry cape, called by
Ptolomy the promontory Pentadactilus in his third table of Africa.
The island Zemorjete is about eight leagues E. from this cape; and
from that island, according to the Moorish pilots, the two shores of the
gulf are first seen at one time, but that of Arabia is a great deal
farther off than the African coast. This island, which is very high and
barren, is named Agathon by Ptolomy. It has another very small island
close to it, which is not mentioned in Ptolomy. Now respecting the shelf
Shaab-al-Yadayn, it is to be noted that it is a great shelf far to
seaward of the northern end of the great bay, all of it above water,
like two extended arms with their hands wide open, whence its Arabic
name which signifies shelf of the hands. The port of this shelf is to
landward, as on that side it winds very much, so as to shut up the haven
from all winds from the sea. This haven and cape Ras-al-Nashef bear
from each other E.S.E. and W.S.W. distant about four leagues.
[Footnote 299: In our mode of counting time, three in the morning of the
8th.
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