Page 341 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

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COAST OF NUBIA. [ch.

period which Bruce has allowed himself for
the voyage from Kosa'ir to the latter place,
which, being a distance of nearly 400 miles,
could not possibly have been performed in
four days, as he asserts.
3rdly. Bruce has stated that at Makowar,
in lat. 24° 2' north, the Arab vessels make

their point of departure for the opposite
coast, whereas it has been asserted by his
critics that the native boats cross to the Arab
coast when they arrive in lat. 20° 38', the
situation of the true Makowar, which, they
suppose, must have misled our traveller.
Of these objections to the veracity of
Bruce’s account, and the authenticity of his
visit to these islands, all those which refer to
Makowar hinge on the position of that island.

Were the circumstances fully and fairly stated
in the above passages, little could be said in
defence of Bruce. But this has not been the
case, nor does it appear that his critics pos­
sessed a local knowledge of this portion of
the Red Sea, which would alone have justified
them in making so outrageous an attack on
the reputation and memory of a meritorious
traveller. It is true that a Jebel Makowar