lat. 15° 39', and is distinguished by a white house, or fortress, on the west end of it, where you will procure excellent water, in greater plenty than at Azab; but no provisions, or only such as are very bad. If you should not wish to be seen, however, on the coast at all, among the chain of islands that reaches almost across the Gulf from Loheia to Masuah, there is one called Foosht, where there is good anchorage; it is laid down in my map in lat. 15° 59' 43" N. and long. 42° 27' E. from actual observation taken upon the island. There is here a quantity of excellent water, with a saint or monk to take care of it, and keep the wells clean. This poor creature was so terrified at seeing us come ashore with fire-arms, that he lay down upon his face on the sand; nor would he rise, or lift up his head, till the Rais had explained to me the cause of his fear, and till, knowing I was not in any danger of surprise, I had sent my guns on board.
From this to Yambo there is no safe watering place. Indeed if the river Frat were to be found, there is no need of any other watering place in the Gulf; but it is absolutely necessary to have a pilot on board before you make Ras Mahomet; because, over the mountains of Auche, the Elanitic Gulf, and the Cape itself, there is often a great haze, which lasts for many days together, and many ships are constantly lost, by mistaking the Eastern Bay, or Elanitic Gulf, for the entrance of the Gulf of Suez; the former has a reef of rocks nearly across it.
After you have made Sheduan, a large island three leagues farther, in a direction nearly north and by west, is a bare rock, which, according to their usual carelessness and indifference, they are not at the pains to call by any other
