Page 269 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

250 COAST OF ARABIA. [ClI.

she should be unfortunate enough to strike
against the rocks, it by no means follows that

she would be certain of receiving material
injury : such accidents are of frequent occur­

rence with the large bagalas, some of two
hundred tons, that are of very slight construc­
tion. India-built ships have in this respect
a decided advantage. From Jiddah upwards,
along the Arabian shore, the practicability of
effecting the passage by the inner channel
has been proved, for the Palinurus twice pur­
sued that course without accident.
I will now call the reader’s attention to the
climate and natural productions of this por­

tion of Arabia. Though the sea-coast of
Hejaz is pronounced unhealthy, yet, afloat,
we did not find it so. Among our crew, con­
sisting of twenty-five Europeans and forty-
five natives, not a fatal case occurred during
our stay there. The temperature, compared
with that of the Persian Gulf, is moderate:
near the sea-coast, where the winds are light,

with intervals of calm, it is usually much
warmer than in the middle of the sea, where
there is rarely any intermission of the pre­
vailing breezes.