Page 151 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

132 SURVEY OF THE [Cli.

pilotage of tlie vessel on her approach to, and
passage through, the reef, as if the ship, and
not his boat and children, had been the ob­
ject of his solicitude. It was true he did not
often trust himself to look at her; and there
were few among us who could endure more
than an occasional hurried glance. Within
the bay the water was smooth; and here,
with two anchors ahead, we were left to con­
sole ourselves for our second attempt to reach
’Akabah.

It was, however, during the four days we
remained there (the gale, especially at night,
blowing with such violence that we could
have carried no canvass to it), some consola­
tion to reflect that we had been saved in a
dark night from encountering, in an unknown
and narrow sea, its full fury, by the reef
which, in the first instance, had so nearly
proved our destruction.

Within the Gulf it is not difficult to trace
the causes of the unusual violence of the wind,
nor the high and dangerous swell which it
creates. On looking over a map of this por-
tion of the globe, we perceive that one straight
and continuous valley extends from the Dead