All the sandy desert at the foot of the mountains is called Tehama, which extends to Mocha. But in the maps it is marked as a separate country from Arabia Felix, whereas it is but the low part, or sea-coast of it, and is not a separate jurisdiction. It is called Tema in scripture, and derives its name from Taami in Arabic, which signifies the sea-coast. There is little water here, as it never rains; there is also no animal but the gazel or antelope, and but a few of them. There are few birds, and those which may be found are generally mute.
The 15th, we sailed with little wind, coasting along the shore, sometimes at two miles distance, and often less. The mountains now seemed high. I sounded several times, and found no ground at thirty fathoms, within a mile of the shore. We passed several ports or harbours; first Mersa Amec, where there is good anchorage in eleven fathom of water, a mile and a half from the shore; at eight o’clock, Nohoude, with an island of the same name; at ten, a harbour and village called Dahaban. As the sky was quite overcast, I could get no observation, though I watched very attentively. Dahaban is a large village, where there is both water and provision, but I did not see its harbour. It bore E. N. E. of us about three miles distant. At three quarters past eleven we came up to a high rock, called Kotumbal, and I lay to, for observation. It is of a dark-brown, approaching to red; is about two miles from the Arabian shore, and produces nothing. I found its latitude to be 17° 57´ north. A small rock stands up at one end of the base of the mountain.
We came to an anchor in the port of Sibt, where I went ashore under pretence of seeking provisions, but in reality to see the country, and observe what sort of people the inhabitants were. The mountains from Kotumbal ran in an even chain along the coast, at no great distance, but of such a height, that as yet we had seen nothing like them. Sibt is too mean, and too small to be called a village, even in Arabia. It consists of about fifteen or twenty miserable huts, built of straw; around it there is a plantation of doom-trees, of the leaves of which they make mats and sails, which is the whole manufacture of the place.
Our Rais made many purchases here. The Cotrushi, the inhabitants of this village, seem to be as brutish a people as any in the world. They are perfectly lean, but muscular, and apparently strong; they wear all their own hair, which they divide upon the crown of their head. It is black and bushy, and, although sufficiently long, seems to partake of the woolly quality of the Negro. Their head is bound round with a cord or fillet of the doom leaf, like the ancient diadem. The women are generally ill-favoured, and go naked like the men. Those that are married have, for the most part, a rag about their middle, some of them not that. Girls of all ages go quite naked, but seem not to be conscious of any impropriety in their appearance. Their lips, eye-brows, and foreheads above the eye-brow, are all marked with stibium, or antimony, the common ornament of savages throughout the world. They seemed to be perfectly on an equality with the men, walked, sat, and smoked with them, contrary to the practice of all women among the Turks and Arabs.
We found no provisions at Sibt, and the water very bad. We returned on board our vessel at sun-set, and anchored in eleven fathom, little less than a mile from the shore. About eight o’clock, two girls, not fifteen, swam off from the shore, and came on board. They wanted stibium for their eye-brows. As they had laboured so hard for it, I gave them a small quantity, which they tied in a rag about their neck. I had killed three sharks this day; one of them, very large, was lying on deck. I asked them if they were not afraid of that fish? They said, they knew it, but it would not hurt them, and desired us to eat it, for it was good, and made men strong. There appeared no symptoms of jealousy among them. The harbour of Sibt is of a semi-circular form, screened between N. N. E. and S. S. W. but to the south, and south west, it is exposed, and therefore is good only in summer.
The 16th, at five in the morning, we sailed from the port of Sibt, but, the wind being contrary, were obliged to steer to the W. S. W. and it was not till nine o’clock we could resume our true course, which was south-east. At half past four in the afternoon the main bore seven miles east, when we passed an island a quarter of a mile in length, called Jibbel Foran, the Mountain of Mice. It is of a rocky quality, with some trees on the south end, thence it rises insensibly, and ends in a precipice on the north. At six, we passed the island [198]Deregé, low and covered with grass, but round like a shield, which is the reason of its name. At half past six Ras Tarfa bore E. S. E. of us, distant about two miles; and at three quarters after six we passed several other islands, the largest of which is called Saraffer. It is covered with grass, has small trees upon it, and, probably, therefore water, but is uninhabited. At nine in the evening we anchored before Djezan.
Djezan is in lat. 16° 45´ north, situated on a cape, which forms one side of a large bay. It is built, as are all the towns on the coast, with straw and mud. It was once a very considerable place for trade, but since coffee hath been so much in demand, of which they have none, that commerce is moved to Loheia and Hodeida. It is an usurpation from the territory of the Imam, by a Sherriffe of the family of Beni Hassan, called Booarish. The inhabitants are all Sherriffes, in other terms, troublesome, ignorant fanatics. Djezan is one of the towns most subject to fevers. The Farenteit[199], or worm, is very frequent here. They have great abundance of excellent fish, and fruit in plenty, which is brought from the mountains, whence also they are supplied with very good water.
The 17th, in the evening, we sailed from Djezan; in the night we passed several small villages called Dueime, which I found to be in lat. 16° 12´ 5´´ north. In the morning, being three miles distant from the shore, we passed Cape Cosserah, which forms the north side of a large Gulf. The mountains here are at no great distance, but they are not high. The whole country seems perfectly bare and desert, without inhabitants. It is reported to be the most unwholesome part of Arabia Felix.
On the 18th, at seven in the morning, we first discovered the mountains, under which lies the town of Loheia. These mountains bore north north-east of us, when anchored in three-fathom water, about five miles from the shore. The bay is so shallow, and the tide being at ebb, we could get no nearer; the town bore east north-east of us. Loheia is built upon the south-west side of a peninsula, surrounded every where, but on the east, by the sea. In the middle of this neck there is a small mountain which serves for a fortress, and there are towers with cannon, which reach across on each side of the hill to the shore. Beyond this is a plain, where the Arabs intending to attack the town, generally assemble. The ground upon which Loheia stands is black earth, and seems to have been formed by the retiring of the sea. At Loheia we had a very uneasy sensation, a kind of prickling came into our legs, which were bare, occasioned by the salt effluvia, or steams, from the earth, which all about the town, and further to the south, is strongly impregnated with that mineral.
Fish, and butcher meat, and indeed all sorts of provision, are plentiful and reasonable at Loheia, but the water is bad. It is found in the sand at the foot of the mountains, down the sides of which it has fallen in the time of the rain, and is brought to the town in skins upon camels. There is also plenty of fruit brought from the mountains by the Bedowé, who live in the skirts of the town, and supply it with milk, firewood, and fruit, chiefly grapes and bananas.