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-