The Ships Of The Red Sea-Infamous Region Of Rocks, Reefs, And
Shoals-Cruise Along The Coast By Day, And
At night lay-to in the first
cove they find; they do not sail when it blows hard, and as
In winter
time the weather is often stormy and the light of day does not last
long, the voyage is intolerably slow.[FN#8] At sunset we stayed our
adventurous course; and, still within sight of Suez, comfortably
anchored under the lee of Jabal Atakah, the "Mountain of
Deliverance,[FN#9]" the butt-end of Jabal Joshi. We were now on classic
waters. The Eastern shore was dotted with the little grove of
palm-trees which clusters around the Uyun Musa, or Moses' Wells; and on
the west, between two towering ridges, lay the mouth of the valley
(Badiyah, or Wady Tawarik, or Wady Musa) down which, according to
Father Sicard,[FN#10] the Israelites fled to
[p.196] the Sea of Sedge.[FN#11] The view was by no means deficient in
a sort of barbarous splendour. Verdure there was none, but under the
violet and orange tints of the sky the chalky rocks became heaps of
topazes, and the brown-burnt ridges masses of amethyst. The rising
mists, here silvery white, there deeply rosy, and the bright blue of
the waves,[FN#12] lining long strips of golden sand, compensated for
the want of softness by a semblance of savage gorgeousness.
Next morning (7th July), before the cerulean hue had vanished from the
hills, we set sail.
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