Page 346 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat
P. 346

xv.]            COAST OF NUBIA.              325

         so familiar to us during our survey of this
         region, that we never hesitated to attribute

         the above inconsistency to this cause. Such
         optical phenomena we also observed to occur
                                                                                  :
         more frequently, and in a more striking man­
         ner, about the place I am now considering
         than in any other part of the Red Sea.
           The feat performed by Bruce on the occa­
         sion of this voyage, of taking the large mat
         sail of the boat in his arms and cutting
         it adrift, has excited the scepticism of his
         critics. I may, however, remark that I have                              .V
                                                                                  £
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         frequently observed at Jiddah a single boat­
         man manage the large sail of a bagala with
         so little difficulty, as to leave no doubt in my
         mind of the possibility of Mr. Bruce’s story.
            Upon the whole, it is candid to admit that
                                                                                  1
         Bruce’s account of his visit to these islands
         is by no means clearly or perspicuously nar­
         rated. But surely this defect cannot justify
          the harsh comments which have been made
          on it by those who have never visited the
          locality, but have formed a premature de­
          cision on its merits from hearsay evidence

          given by natives, who, it is beyond doubt,
         referred to latitudes totally different from
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