Page 248 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

XI.] COAST OF ARABIA. 229

how beautiful was their colouring! sometimes
appearing of a brilliant red, blue, or purple;
sometimes gorgeously diversified with orange,
crimson, or the deepest black.
By a well-known delusion, as we glided
along, these vast ocean caverns seemed to

pass away from beneath us. Now they were
partially illumined by the beams of the sun
glancing thereon from the undulations of the
waves, and at the next moment sinking into
their former gloom! Can we be surprised
that the superstitious fancy of the Arab should
people them with evil spirits, whom they be­
lieve reside there, and lure to destruction the
helpless mariner and his bark?
However much the Naturalist might have
been gratified with such a spectacle, or with
such reflections, I must confess that Cap­

tain Moresby viewed their beauties with a
less enraptured eye. His only feelings of
pleasure connected with them were derived
from placing himself at a most respectful
distance; this a light air, and the aid of all
our boats, at length enabled us to effect.
Jebel Sub-h is a mountain remarkable for
its magnitude and elevation, which is greater