Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/146

, who conquered Yemen from the Abyssinians early in the seventh century, and for some time held unrivalled possession of the commerce of the Red Sea. The same tradition leads to the belief, that they were at last compelled to desert the coast by a famine; but at what time this occurred is uncertain; though it probably did not take place till a considerable time after the birth of Mahomed. I should feel myself inclined to conjecture, that the works in question must have been constructed by the Turks at a much later period. The other islands do not seem to have been at any time inhabited; but those which are accessible from the continent at low water, are sometimes visited by the natives, and the vegetation found upon them affords sustenance to a great number of camels, goats and kids, the flesh of which latter, in a wild state, is almost equal to venison. The fishermen also, at particular seasons of the year, frequent these islands, as the numerous remains of sharks, saw-fish, and turtle, on which they had been regaling, sufficiently testified; and occasionally, as appears from a scene witnessed by Captain Weatherhead and myself, the natives come over to indulge in feasts of a still more extraordinary description. The instance to which I allude occurred on the 25th of December, during one of our excursions on the Island of Anto Sukkeer, when we met with a party, composed of three men and two women, assembled round a fire, enjoying a feast, consisting of about a dozen young eagles, of an half grown size, recently taken from their nests, and about two bushels of shell-fish, all of which, after being broiled, were ate without either bread or salt; and the natives seemed to consider it as a most delicious repast; while the screams of the parent birds hovering over their heads, furnished very appropriate music to this savage entertainment. At the bottom of the bay, on the main land, lie the two villages of Madir and Duroro, the latter of which is considerably the larger, and more conveniently situated for traffic, as it lies scarcely half a mile removed from the port in which the dows usually anchor. From this point we made several excursions mounted upon mules, which