Page 578 - Arabian Gulf Intellegence

534 NAVIGATION OF THE

PART I *

ARABIAN SIDE OF THE GULF.

Has Musseldom.

Has Musseldom, in lat. 26° 23' 45" N., long. 56° 35' 10" E., is the
south-eastern point of the Gulf of Persia, and the outer or lowest point
of the island of the same name. The island is a barren rock, about
two miles in length, and half that in breadth. Its highest part is about
four or five hundred feet, formed of steep cliffs. All round the cape
is the lowest part, which is about thirty feet high, increasing in some
parts to one hundred and fifty. It is at the southern entrance of the
Gulf. Between the island (Jazeerat Musseldom) and the opposite
promontory of Ras Goberhindee there is a channel, with from twenty
to forty fathoms in it; the narrowest part is not quite one-third of
a mile wide, and the currents being strong and irregular, together with
being liable to sudden shifts of wind, it is unsafe for navigation.
Ras Goberiiindee.
Ras Goberhindee (Cape of the Indian’s Grave), or Ras-ool-Gebal
(Mountainous Cape), the name by which it is best known to the Arabs,
is the Maceta of the Greeks, and part of the Asabo or Black Mountains
of the ancients ; is in lat. 26° 22' 18" N., long. 56° 33' 44" E.; is oppo­
site* to Jazeerat Musseldom, and is about one hundred and fifty or one
hundred and eighty feet perpendicular above the sea.
Ras-ool-Bab.
Ras-ool-Bab is a high, remarkable promontory, consisting of basal­
tic rocks ; is nearly W. by S. from Ras Goberhindee, and forms one
point of a bay, about three miles in depth, and one in breadth. At its
entrance, round the whole of which the land is high, barren, and
rugged, the soundings are from twenty-eight to forty fathoms close
to the rocks, the bottom hard sand and rocks. This bay should never
be entered unless in case of necessity, the anchorage being bad, and
Close to Ras-ool-Bab stands a high perpendicular
the winds baffling,
rock, with deep water close to it, and appears a part of the cape until
you are close to it.
Koomza.
Koomza is a town situated at the bottom of a cove, having soundings
* Dated 21st August 1829.