- E.]

Every thing at Goa being placed in order, the viceroy now determined upon carrying the enterprise against Aden into execution, which had been formerly ordered by the king of Portugal.

Without communicating his intentions to any one, he caused twenty ships to be fitted out, in which he embarked with 1700 Portuguese troops, and 800 native Canaras and Malabars. When just ready to sail, he acquainted the captains with the object of his expedition, that they might know where to rendezvous in case of separation. Setting sail from Goa on the 18th of February 1513, the armament arrived safe at Aden. This city, called Modocan by Ptolemy, is situated on the coast of Yemen or Arabia Felix, in lat. 12 deg. 45' N. near the mouth of the Red Sea, and looks beautiful and strong from the sea, being rich and populous owing to the resort of many nations for trade. But Immediately behind are the barren and rocky mountains of Arzira, which present numerous cliffs and precipices. The soil is arid, having very little water, which is procured from a few wells and cisterns, as this part of the country is scarcely watered from the heavens above once in two or three years. Hence it is devoid of all trees, and has neither gardens nor orchards.

Immediately on the arrival of the Portuguese fleet, Miramirzan the governor sent a complimentary message to the viceroy with a present of provisions; but as there was no prospect of voluntary submission or surrender, Albuquerque resolved upon carrying the place by assault, but found the enterprise more difficult than he expected. Having landed his men early in the morning, the troops advanced to the walls with scaling ladders: but after a considerable number had got up to the top of the wall, the ladders broke under the weight of the multitudes who pressed to get up; so that Albuquerque was obliged to order down those who had already ascended, by means of a single ladder constructed out of the broken fragments of the rest. Thus, after four hours engagement, the Portuguese were forced to desist from the attack with some loss, occasioned more by the insufficiency of the ladders than by the prowess of the enemy. George Sylveyra and five men were killed on the spot, but several others died afterwards of their wounds, and some from bruises occasioned by falling from the walls and ladders. Submitting to his bad fortune, and by the persuasion of his officers, Albuquerque resolved to abandon this enterprise, that he might have sufficient time remaining to sail for the month of the Red Sea. But before leaving Aden, he took a redoubt or bulwark which defended the entrance into the harbour, where a great many Moors, or Arabs rather, were slain, and 37 pieces of cannon taken. Having plundered the ships in the harbour, they were all burnt; and on the fourth day after arriving at Aden, the fleet set sail for the mouth of the Red Sea, on their arrival at which great rejoicings were made by Albuquerque and the Portuguese, as being the first Europeans who had ever navigated that celebrated sea.

The form of the Red Sea is not unlike that of a crocodile, having its mouth at the narrow Straits of Mecca or Babelmandeb, the head being that sea which lies between Cape Guardafu and Fartaque, and the extremity of the tail at the town of Suez. Its general direction is from N.N.W. to S.S.E. being 530 leagues long, and 40 over where broadest[132]. The channel for navigation is about the middle, where it has sufficient depth of water for the largest ships, but both sides are very shallow, and much encumbered by sand banks and numerous small islands. No river of any note falls into it during its whole extent. It is called by the Moors or Arabs, Bahar Corzu or the Closed Sea, and by others the Sea of Mecca; but by Europeans the Arabian Gulf or the Red Sea, owing to the red colour it derives from its bottom, as was proved by a subsequent viceroy, Don Juan de Castro, who caused some of the bottom to be dragged up in several places, when it was found to consist of a red coralline substance; while in other places the bottom was green, and white in some, but mostly red. The water itself, when taken up, is as clear as in any other part of the sea. The Red Sea does not abound in fish, but it produces small pearls in many places. The mouth of the Red Sea, called the Straits of Mecca or of Bab-al-mandeb, is in lat. 12 deg. 40' N. and is as it were locked up by seven small islands, the largest of which, now Mehun, was called by Ptolemy Perantonomasiam. On going from the straits towards Suez along the eastern or Arabian shore, there are only a few small ports of no note for the first 44 leagues, till we come to the island of Kamaran, which is subject to the king of Aden. At 60 leagues from thence we come to Gezan a large town; thence 130 leagues to Yambo, all in the dominions of Mecca, having several good towns and harbours. Among these are the famous and well known ports of Ziden and Juddah, or Joda; Mecca being 15 leagues inland from the latter. From Yambo it is 60 leagues to Toro, where the children of Israel are said to have crossed the Red Sea, which at this place is 3 leagues across. Thence to Suez is 40 leagues, and there ends the Arabian shore. On sailing back to the straits along the western shore of Egypt and Ethiopia, from Suez which is 20 leagues from Grand Cairo the vast metropolis of Egypt, it is 45 leagues to Al-cosier; thence 135 to the city of Suakem, in which space there are many ports: From thence 70 leagues farther on is the island and port of Massua, and opposite to it Arkiko; and thence other 85 leagues bring us back to the Straits of Bab-el-mandeb.

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