Page 581 - Arabian Gulf Intellegence

GULF OF PERSIA. 537

Colville’s Cove.
The entrance to Colville’s Cove is in lat. 26° 17' 50" N., long.
56° 24' 10" E. ; is nearly four miles deep, and generally about one mile
wide ; has soundings from twenty-eight fathoms at the entrance to seven
fathoms at the bottom of it. At the northern point of the entrance is a
high steeple rock, which is situated about one mile to the southward of
Remarkable Cliff. At the entrance, both sides of the cove are formed
of clifTs from one hundred to about one hundred and fifty feet high,—the
northern one is nearly perpendicular; large masses of rock are constant­
ly detaching themselves, and falling at the base. The rocks are much
excavated by the beating of the sea against them. The cove runs near­
ly NW. and SE., and consequently is exposed to north-westers, when
the sea runs high, and dashes with great fury against the rocks.
Roob Ali.
Roob Ali, a village at the bottom of Colville’s Cove, has a small
sandy beach in front of it, and a small mosque ; a few date and fig
trees grow among the houses. Some wells of good water were found
here. The inhabitants are about one hundred, subject to the Shaikh of
Kassaab, and are of the Shehaheen Tribe, mostly fishermen.

Elpiiinstone Inlet.
The entrance to Elphinstone Inlet is in lat. 26° 12' 30" N., long.
56° 24' E. This inlet stretches in various undulations nearly eight
miles, exhibiting many romantic aspects. Its width, at the entrance,
is nearly two-thirds of a mile, and its narrowest part one-third of a
mile. The hills, like most others about this part, are high and rugged,
and the separation from the coves on the opposite side are in some
places not above two hundred yards at the base. This was one
of the many places into which the pirates used to escape from our
cruisers.
Kassaab Fort.
Kassaab Fort is in lal. 26° 13' 10" N., long. 56° 20'46" E., and bears
from Ras Shaikh Mansood S. 31° E., about three and a half miles ; is
situated on a sandy beach, forming between two points of land, which
project from it in a curve of about a mile wide, and the same depth.
The hills are high and rugged, in some parts hanging over the sea. On
the western one is a small look-out house. A flat runs off from the fort
a considerable way, and dries at low-water. Under one of the hills, on
the eastern side, are some wells of good water, convenient for watering.
I watered here in the Honorable Company’s cruiser Psyche in Decem­
ber 1821, with great ease. The hills at this time
were covered with