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COAST OF AHAUIA. [cii.

are kept in, the sails will take off the strain
from the machinery. On arriving in lati­
tude 9° N., the force of the monsoon will be
found to have abated. Let her in that pa-
rallel, or further to the southward, if neces­

sary, steam direct across to the African
shore, keeping gradually away as she ap­
proaches it, and being careful to make Cape
Gardefui, even should she be proceeding to
the Island of Socotra, for the currents of this
coast there run with great rapidity. As soon
as she rounds the Cape, calms and light
breezes will be experienced on the African
shore, which should be kept close on board,
until she approaches the straits. By adopt­
ing this route the distance would not be in­

creased more than eight or nine hundred
miles, and would with ease be accomplished
in twelve, or at furthest in thirteen days.
It has been too hastily assumed that the
north-east monsoon would not retard the in­
tercourse between India and the Red Sea.
But in the months of December, January,
and February its violence in the open sea is

scarcely inferior to that of the south-west
monsoon. Nor do I therefore conceive it