Page 160 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

VIII.I GULF OF ’AKABAH. 141

the main. A short lull enabled us however
to warp and drop our anchor closer to the
island, where we were more sheltered: in
doing so our hawser parted, and, before the
sheet-anchor could be cut away, we were yet
nearer the rocks. A second attempt proved
more successful. Save Sherm Majowwik, every

anchorage in our progress up the sea was
exposed to these southward breezes in a simi­

lar manner to our last; and, had it set in
before, our destruction would have been cer­
tain. I now dismiss, with unfeigned pleasure,
all further allusion to our nautical mishaps:
four years in the Red Sea, amidst the nume­
rous reefs with which its waters are studded,
having rendered the perils of its navigation
familiar to us, I have not dwelt on them;
but in this Gulf, in a course of only ninety
miles, the incidents are so numerous and va­
ried, that I trust the reader will pardon my
prolixity.