Upon the 6th, in the morning, while at breakfast, I was told that three servants had arrived from Tigrè; one from Janni, a young man and slave, who spoke and wrote Greek perfectly; the other two servants were Ras Michael’s, or rather the king’s, both wearing the red short cloak lined and turned up with mazarine-blue, which is the badge of the king’s servant, and is called shalaka. Ras Michael’s letters to the Naybe were very short. He said the king Hatzè Hannes’s health was bad, and wondered at hearing that the physician, sent to him by Metical Aga from Arabia, was not forwarded to him instantly at Gondar, as he had heard of his being arrived at Masuah some time before. He ordered the Naybe, moreover, to furnish me with necessaries, and dispatch me without loss of time; although all the letters were the contrivances of Janni, his particular letter to the Naybe was in a milder stile. He expressed the great necessity the king had for a physician, and how impatiently he had waited his arrival. He did not say that he had heard any such person was yet arrived at Masuah, only wished he might be forwarded without delay as soon as he came.

To us Janni sent a message by a servant, bidding us a hearty welcome, acknowledging the receipt of the patriarch’s letter, and advising us, by all means, to come speedily to him, for the times were very unsettled, and might grow worse.

In the afternoon I embarked for Masuah. At the shore I received a message from the Naybe to come and speak to him; but I returned for answer, It was impossible, as I was obliged to go to Masuah to get medicines for his nephew, Achmet.

CHAP. II.
Directions to Travellers for preserving Health—Diseases of the Country—Music—Trade, &c. of Masuah—Conferences with the Naybe.

We arrived in the island at eight o’clock, to the great joy of our servants, who were afraid of some stratagem of the Naybe. We got every thing in order, without interruption, and completed our observations upon this inhospitable island, infamous for the quantity of Christian blood shed there upon treacherous pretences.

Masuah, by a great variety of observations of the sun and stars, we found to be in lat. 15° 35´ 5´´, and, by an observation of the second satellite of Jupiter, on the 22d of September 1769, we found its longitude to be 39° 36´ 30´´ east of the meridian of Greenwich: the variation of the needle was observed at mid-day, the 23d of September, to be 12° 48´ W. From this it follows, that Loheia, being nearly opposite, (for it is in lat. 15° 40´ 52´´) the breadth of the Red Sea between Masuah and Loheia is 4° 10´ 22´´. Supposing, then, a degree to be equal to 66 statute miles, this, in round numbers, will bring the breadth to be 276 miles, equal to 92 leagues, or thereabouts.

Again, as the generality of maps have placed the coast of Arabia where Loheia stands, in the 44°, and it is the part of the peninsula that runs farthest to the westward, all the west coast of Arabia Felix will fall to be brought farther east about 3° 46´ 0´´.

Before packing up our barometer at Loheia, I filled a tube with clean mercury, perfectly purged of outward air; and, on the 30th of August, upon three several trials, the mean of the results of each trial was, at six in the morning, 26° 8´ 8´´; two o’clock in the afternoon, 26° 4´ 1´´; and, half past six in the evening, 26° 6´ 2´´, fair, clear weather, with very little wind at west.

At Masuah, the 4th of October, I repeated the same experiment with the same mercury and tube; the means were as follow: At six in the morning 25° 8´ 2´´; two o’clock in the afternoon, 25° 3´ 2´´; and, at half past six in the evening, 25° 3´ 7´´, clear, with a moderate wind at west, so that the barometer fell one inch and one line at Masuah lower than it was at Loheia, though it often rose upon violent storms of wind and rain; and, even where there was no rain, it again fell instantly upon the storm ceasing, and never arrived to the height it stood last at on the coast of Arabia. The greatest height I ever observed Fahrenheit’s thermometer in the shade, at Masuah, was on the 22d of October, at two in the afternoon, 93°, wind N. E. and by N. cloudy; the lowest was on the 23d, at four in the morning, 82°, wind west. It was, to sense, much hotter than in any part of Arabia Felix; but we found no such tickling or irritation on our legs as we had done at Loheia, probably because the soil was here less impregnated with salt.