Page 27 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

JO TOR TO SUEZ. [CH.

themselves also in fishing, while others obtain
a scanty subsistence by collecting and dispos­
ing of petroleum from the wells of Zeete, on
the Egyptian shore. All are, however, mi­
serably poor.
Though situated on a gentle eminence, the

air of the town is very close and sultry; for
the advantage of its elevated position is more
than counteracted by an extensive tract of
marshy ground extending to the northward,
and also by the glare of a sandy plain, rising
with a gradual slope to the seaward front of
the mountain ranges. If we except one small
square building dignified by the name of a
chapel, and decorated with a few miserable
pictures, there is nothing in T6r to interest
the traveller. The native dwellings are of
the meanest description; the rooms being

observation to the Red Sea : the same fragile and misshapen bark,
which has probably from the very earliest period traversed its
tempestuous bosom, is still—and with better models before them—
in general use; and their inability to encounter the prevailing
north-westerly breezes, against which a vessel possessing moderate
sailing qualities would be able to make good way (the Palinurus,
the vessel to which I was attached, was a perfect tub), may be
inferred from the circumstance of our finding several vessels here,
which, rather than encounter them, had remained from three to
six weeks at anchor in the harbour.

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