Page 291 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

272 COAST OF ARABIA. [CH.

reefs, we procured mullet, sardines, a species
of pomphlet, cavalls, seer, and king-fish, &c.
The natives consider the latter to be very for­
midable, and they are much dreaded by the
divers. Sharks of a small species, rarely at­
taining a greater length than six or seven feet,
abound upon the coral banks ; yet they are not
often seen at the surface, but mostly remain
near the bottom. Boats are often despatched

for the sole purpose of catching them, the
natives greatly esteeming their flesh, which is
preserved and sold in the markets at Yembo’
and Jiddah. Medicinal virtues are also as­
cribed to some part of the head, and oil of an
indifferent quality is extracted from their liver
by the very simple process of cutting it into
small pieces, and exposing it in bladders to
the sun until the whole of the oil has exuded.
A lucrative trade is also carried on in their
skins and fins, which the Indian ships take
H from Jiddah and Mokhafor the China market.
I
The ancients knew that seals visited this sea,
for Shadw&n was called by them the Island
of Seals. They are still seen to the north, by
fishermen who, on several occasions, showed
us their skins and tusks. Whales have been
: