Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/162

 good fortune, to ascertain this point satisfactorily, I have done myself the pleasure of dedicating my chart of the Bay to Dr. Vincent, as a trifling testimony of friendship and of the obligation which I feel for the very candid manner in which he treated my former remarks respecting the Adulitic inscription.

The mention of the opsian stone and bay in the Periplus is as follows: "About eight hundred stadia (from Adoole) is another very deep bay, where at the entrance on the right lies a great accumulation of sand, at the bottom of which is found the opsian stone, produced only in that single spot." These eight hundred stadia, if Roman, would exceed the actual distance from Adoole; and this circumstance appears to confirm Lord Valentia's conjecture, that the Egyptian stadia were those employed by the author of this work, which was likely to have been the case, were it written, as is supposed, by an Alexandrian merchant. In the evening we returned on board the Marian.

On the 30th, the Captain and myself, for the purpose of completing our survey, went in a boat to the Island of Buckah, passing round the western side of Howakil, in the track marked in the chart. On our way we noticed a fine bason, with four and five fathoms water, but to which unfortunately we could not discover any entrance for a ship. Soon after we crossed a well-sheltered harbour, with four, five, and six fathoms, which bore the appearance, from the imperfect examination we were able to give it, of being the most secure place for anchorage in the whole Bay. The entrance, so far as we could examine it, seemed to be perfectly safe and easy of access, but it should not be attempted by a large vessel without a more accurate knowledge of the soundings than it was in our power, from the shortness of our stay, to obtain.