Page 416 - Travels in Arabia (Vol 2)_Neat

XIX.J SOUTHERN ARABIA. 389

summits or pinnacles, at an elevation of one
thousand two hundred feet, are seen turrets
and watch-towers. On one lofty point to
the eastward, they have even contrived to get
an enormous gun, traversing on a swivel,
which, considering the nature of the country,
must have been a work of great labour. The
town itself appears to have been walled only
on the sea and western sides: it is with diffi­
culty the foundations of the former can be

traced, and the face of the latter is covered
with a slope of sand reaching to its summit.
The visiter suits his own convenience either
in walking over this or entering through either
of the miserable gates. One of these is dig­
nified by the appellation of Bab el Ashur,
and, for form’s sake, is generally kept closed.
A battery formerly extended along the whole
length of the sea-face; and here, mounted on
rude and frail carriages, are still seen those
enormous guns which have attracted the at­
tention of travellers. They are pierced for a
sixty or sixty-eight pound ball, and their
dimensions are as follow:—length 17 feet
2 inches ; circumference at the breech, 6 feet