The 1st of August we ate drammock, made with cold water and raw flour, mixed with butter and honey, but we soon found this would not do, though I never was hungry, in my life, with so much good provision about me; for, besides the articles already spoken of, we had two skins of wine from Loheia, and a small jar of brandy, which I had kept expressly for a feast, to drink the King’s health on arriving in his dominions, the Indian Ocean. I therefore proposed, that, leaving the Rais on board, myself and two men should cross over to the south side, to try if we could get any wood in the kingdom of Adel. This, however, did not please my companions. We were much nearer the Arabian shore, and the Rais had observed several people on land, who seemed to be fishers.
If the Abyssinian shore was bad by its being desert, the danger of the Arabian side was, that we should fall into the hands of thieves. But the fear of wanting, even coffee, was so prevalent, and the repetition of the drammock dose so disgusting, that we resolved to take a boat in the evening, with two men armed, and speak to the people we had seen. Here again the Rais’s heart failed him. He said the inhabitants on that coast had fire-arms as well as we, and they could bring a million together, if they wanted them, in a moment; therefore we should forsake Perim island for the time, and, without hoisting in the boat, till we saw further, run with the vessel close to the Arabian shore. There, it was conceived, armed as we were, with ammunition in plenty, we should be able to defend ourselves, if those we had seen were pirates, of which I had not any suspicion, as they had been eight hours in our sight, without having made one movement nearer us; but I was the only person on board that was of that opinion.
Upon attempting to get our vessel out, we found the wind strong against us; so that we were obliged, with great difficulty and danger, to tow her round the west point, at the expence of many hard knocks, which she got by the way. During this operation, the wind had calmed considerably; my quadrant, and every thing was on board; all our arms, new charged and primed, were laid, covered with a cloth, in the cabbin, when we found happily that the wind became due east, and with the wind our resolution changed. We were but twenty leagues to Mocha, and not above twenty-six from Azab, and we thought it better, rather to get on our return to Loheia, than to stay and live upon drammock, or fight with the pirates for firewood. About six o’clock, we were under weigh. The wind being perfectly fair, we carried as much sail as our vessel would bear, indeed, till her masts nodded again. But before we begin the account of our return, it will be necessary to say something of these famous Straits, the communication between the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
This entrance begins to shew itself, or take a shape between two capes; the one on the continent of Africa, the other on the peninsula of Arabia. That on the African side is a high land, or cape, formed by a chain of mountains, which run out in a point far into the sea. The Portuguese, or Venetians, the first Christian traders in those parts, have called it Gardefui, which has no signification in any language. But, in that of the country where it is situated, it is called Gardefan, and means the Straits of Burial, the reason of which will be seen afterwards. The opposite cape is Fartack, on the east coast of Arabia Felix, and the distance between them, in a line drawn across from one to another, not above fifty leagues. The breadth between these two lands diminishes gradually for about 150 leagues, till at last it ends in the Straits, whose breadth does not seem to me to be above six leagues.
After getting within the Straits, the channel is divided into two, by the island of Perim, otherwise called Mehun. The inmost and northern channel, or that towards the Arabian shore, is two leagues broad at most, and from twelve to seventeen fathom of water. The other entry is three leagues broad, with deep water, from twenty to thirty fathom. From this, the coast on both sides runs nearly in a north-west direction, widening as it advances, and the Indian Ocean grows straiter. The coast upon the left hand is part of the kingdom of Adel, and, on the right, that of Arabia Felix. The passage on the Arabian shore, though the narrowest and shallowest of the two, is that most frequently sailed through, and especially in the night; because, if you do not round the south-point of the island, as near as possible, in attempting to enter the broad one, but are going large with the wind favourable, you fall in with a great number of low small islands, where there is danger. At ten o’clock, with the wind fair, our course almost north-east, we passed three rocky islands about a mile on our left.
On the 2d, at sun-rise, we saw land a-head, which we took to be the Main, but, upon nearer approach, and the day becoming clearer, we found two low islands to the leeward; one of which we fetched with great difficulty. We found there the stock of an old acacia-tree, and two or three bundles of wreck, or rotten sticks, which we gathered with great care; and all of us agreed, we would eat breakfast, dinner, and supper hot, instead of the cold repast we had made upon the drammock in the Straits. We now made several large fires; one took the charge of the coffee, another boiled the rice; we killed four turtles, made ready a dolphin; got beer, wine, and brandy, and drank the King’s health in earnest, which our regimen would not allow us to do in the Straits of Babelmandeb. While this good chear was preparing, I saw with my glass, first one man running along the coast westward, who did not stop; about a quarter of an hour after, another upon a camel, walking at the ordinary pace, who dismounted just opposite to us, and, as I thought, kneeled down to say his prayers upon the sand. We had launched our boat immediately upon seeing the trunk of the tree on the island; so we were ready, and I ordered two of the men to row me on shore, which they did.
It is a bay of but ordinary depth, with straggling trees, and some flat ground along the coast. Immediately behind is a row of mountains of a brownish or black colour. The man remained motionless, sitting on the ground, till the boat was ashore, when I jumped out upon the sand, being armed with a short double-barrelled gun, a pair of pistols, and a crooked knife. As soon as the savage saw me ashore, he made the best of his way to his camel, and got upon his back, but did not offer to go away.
I sat down on the ground, after taking the white turban off my head, and waving it several times in token of peace, and seeing that he did not stir, I advanced to him about a hundred yards. Still he stood, and after again waving to him with my hands, as inviting him to approach, I made a sign as if I was returning to the shore. Upon seeing this, he advanced several paces, and stopt. I then laid my gun down upon the land, thinking that had frightened him, and walked up as near him as he would suffer me; that is, till I saw he was preparing to go away. I then waved my turban, and cried, Salam, Salam. He staid till I was within ten yards of him. He was quite naked, was black, and had a fillet upon his head, either of a black or blue rag, and bracelets of white beads upon both his arms. He appeared as undetermined what to do. I spoke as distinctly to him as I could, Salam Alicum.—He answered something like Salam, but what it was I know not. I am, said I, a stranger from India, who came last from Tajoura in the bay of Zeyla, in the kingdom of Adel. He nodded his head, and said something in an unknown language, in which I heard the repetition of Tajoura and Adel. I told him I wanted water, and made a sign of drinking. He pointed up the coast to the eastward, and said, Raheeda, then made a sign of drinking, and said Tybe. I now found that he understood me, and asked him where Azab was? he pointed to a mountain just before him, and said, Eh owah Azab Tybe, still with a representation of drinking.
I debated with myself, whether I should not take this savage prisoner. He had three short javelins in his hand, and was mounted upon a camel. I was on foot, and above the ancles in sand, with only two pistols, which, whether they would terrify him to surrender or not, I did not know; I should, otherwise, have been obliged to have shot him, and this I did not intend. After having invited him as courteously as I could, to the boat, I walked towards it myself, and, in the way, took up my firelock, which was lying hid among the sand. I saw he did not follow me a step, but when I had taken the gun from the ground, he set off at a trot as fast as he could, to the westward, and we presently lost him among the trees.
I returned to the boat, and then to dinner on the island, which we named Traitor’s Island, from the suspicious behaviour of that only man we had seen near it. This excursion lost me the time of making my observation; all the use I made of it was to gather some sticks and camel’s dung, which I heaped up, and made the men carry to the boat, to serve us for firing, if we should be detained. The wind was very fair, and we got under weigh by two o’clock.