Page 263 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat
P. 263

244             COAST OF ARABIA.             [cm.
   -

                              varying from fifty to a hundred feet, with  no
   .
                              beach. To the southward it is more sandy
  %                           and less elevated : the inlets and harbours of
                              the former tract may be styled coves, in the
                              latter they are lagoons. We observed in all
                              those indentures that a valley (the lower part
                              of which in some cases bore evident traces of
                              having been the bed of a torrent, and in all
                               exhibited signs of the former existence of

                              fresh water) led from the interior, and opened
                              into them. It was therefore surmised that
                              the water brought down by the torrents had
                              either destroyed the coral which formerly
                              existed in these, or prevented its formation.
                                 To the southward, from Yembo’ to Jiddah,
                              the coast, consisting of sandbanks, with coral
                              bases, is lined with reefs, which run nearly
                              parallel to the shore, and are in many places
                              connected with it. The inlets, or, as they are
                              styled by the natives, sherms, we have pointed

                              out in the charts; but, from the nature of the
                              coast, it would be difficult, if not impossible,
                              to distinguish their entrance without the as­
                              sistance of a pilot. To the natives they  com-
                              pensate in some degree for the deficiency of
                              other anchorages; and are so situated in re-
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