GULF OF SUEZ-CORAL REEFS. 35 majestic granitic range of Mount Sinai in view; but Jebel Músá itself is not visible in any part of the Red Sea, except near the bluff of Ḥammám Farȧun, where, it is said, a glimpse of it can occasionally be caught. The village of Tor is the ing coral reefs, block up the entrance into the bay of 'Akabah. Fennater, however, is no coral bank. Where the water is shallow, coral banks and isles abound, but not a single coral reef rises out of deep water. The Arabian seamen of Tor told us expressly that the bay of Suez, in the southern part of which there are many large coral banks at some distance from the shore, is nowhere very deep. According to their account, the greatest depth of the bay of Suez, in the middle part, does not exceed fifty fathoms. All coral banks in the Red Sea are flat, and run parallel with the surface of the water. The shape is not circular with a lake in the middle, as has been observed in the South Seas. The water is extremely deep on the side towards the open sea, so that the depth of the sea sometimes exceeds a hundred fathoms. The depth is generally the greater the more distant the reefs are from the shore. . . . The whole of the coral reefs examined by ourselves owe their peculiar shape, not merely to the small petrifying animals which we call corals, but more particularly to the geological conditions of the coast, and the bottom of the sea. . . . Large fields of coral reef have a striking and pleasing effect, when seen under favourable circumstances, at low water and in a quiet sea. They appear like meadows covered with flowers, in the midst of which the bark is gliding along, without one knowing, indeed, which of these flowers to contemplate coral branch forms a whole bound together by knots, according to certain laws, whose parts are a great number of organic individual animals, which cannot separate themselves at will, but are connected by parts not essential to their individual life. I noticed upon the coral reefs of the Red Sea, immense blocks of living meandra and fabia. . . Many of them measured more than a fathom, and one and a-half fathoms in diameter, which, considering that they are nearly as round as a ball, will make them immensely large masses. There is not a single island in a state of growth, but all are in a state of decay, and consequently the corals do not promote the growth of the island, but serve only as borders and covers to the submarine rock. Thus it appears that the corals do only delay or hinder the total destruction of the islands by waves, but do not produce new ones."-Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Oct. 1843. nearest accessible point to it from the Red Sea, being within a two days' journey of it; but here the steamer does not stop. On the morning of the 20th, we were opposite and near the high and bold land of Abu Deráj, "the father of steps," on the Egyptian side. It comes close to the sea, along which it extends for several miles. The long range of Jebel Ráhah, which we shall afterwards have occasion to notice, runs parallel to it, but at a considerable distance from the shore, on the opposite coast. We then passed a remarkable opening in the mountains between Abu Deráj and Jebel Atákah, which is marked in Captain Moresby's admirable chart as Wádí Músá. I shall say nothing more respecting it at present, than that the officers of the Indian navy, almost with one consent, have fixed upon it as the valley in which the Israelites were encamped immediately before they passed through the Red Sea on dry land. We viewed it from the deck of the steamer with great interest. We turned our attention from it to the Ayún Músá, or Wells of Moses, to the north-east, where we saw several camels drinking of the brackish water. Suez, our desired haven, then appeared in sight. The firing of guns from our steamer announced our approach. We cast anchor about four miles distant from the town. We were soon boarded by the assistant of the English consular agent, and the servants of Messrs. Hill & Co., with whom, before leaving Bombay, we had engaged for our transit across the desert to Cairo. I got into one of the first boats which visited us, with our friends, Mr. and Mrs. Brownrigg. We remarked the exceeding clearness and stillness of the water, and its shallowness to the S.S.E. of the town. A large shark followed us a long way like an affectionate pet dog, and quite regardless of the splashing of the oars. The town, which stands on a small extension of land stretching into the bay, has nothing interesting in its appearance as seen from its extremity, as you approach it. On the side of the sea, it has no walls. The houses are almost all with flat roofs, and some of them are of considerable size, especially the public buildings or kháns near the shore. They are, in general, built of small round stones, or sun-dried bricks, and most of them exhibit symptoms of decay and wretchedness. Four or five minarets raise themselves in the midst of them; but they are remarkably plain. The shipping which we saw, with the exception of two Europe-built brigs lying outside, consisted of bagalás and other native craft, drawn up in a small creek to the east of the town. We landed about eleven o'clock in the forenoon, amidst the gabble of Arabs and Negroes, who welcomed us to the shores of Egypt with cordial cries for bakshish, before they had it in their power to render us any service. THE house yclept a hotel, into which we were conducted on landing on the shores of Egypt, was a wretched affair; but quite adequate to afford us necessary shelter, during our brief sojourn in Suez. My first concern, after taking a peep into it, was to see our luggage disposed of on the camels which were to convey it over the desert to Cairo. When I had gone through this duty, I returned for a moment to the place at which we had disembarked, to inquire after some of my friends, who had not yet made their appearance from the steamer. There I found the Portuguese gentleman who had come with us from India in a sorrowful plight. He was in the middle of a circle of natives who had determined to curtail his liberty of movement, till they succeeded in extorting from him something in the way of bakshish.1 What this 1 The Persian a present. This is one of the very few Persian words which have found their way into the Arabic. It has been introduced principally through the Turks. article was, however, he could not understand. At length, making a happy guess at its meaning, he called out to me, "What is the value of a bakshish? What kind of a coin is it that they want?" It was of little use to tell him that it might vary from a párah to a purse,1 as I succeeded in liberating him from his persecutors, by lecturing them on their unseemly rapacity. After this adventure I betook myself again to the "hotel," where I found the passengers discussing the viands which had been provided for our dinner, with no very moderate haste. There was no great occasion for the effort they were making, as the first of the vans which were to convey the party across the desert, were not to start till a couple of hours later. Our seats were allotted in these vans. according to the order in which we stood in the lists of the agent for the transit at Bombay. I found that I was destined to be accommodated in the second set which would leave a couple of hours later than the first, to enable us, a stage in advance, to be taken up by the horses which were to be engaged in doing the needful for the party which might precede us. In company with Dhanjibháí and the Jew Mordecai, I went first to the bázár. We found it a narrow street, with a row of shops on each side, altogether a more respectable place than we expected to see on the edge of the desert, filled with abundance of grains, fruits, and provisions of various kinds, principally brought from the banks of the Nile, and having a few places also for the sale of cloth and cooking utensils. We bought a quantity of figs, dates, raisins, and nuts, from which Mordecai, who, as an Asiatic Jew, would decline to be fed on some of the fare cooked by Christians or Musalmáns, which was likely to be offered to him, was to be furnished with ra 1 A párah is the fortieth part of a piastre, nearly a quarter of a farthing, about 100 piastres being reck oned to the pound A purse is 500 piastres, or L.5 sterling. |