Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/92

 des thons, et je leur laissai dans un plat une piastre et demie." This imprudent step cost him dear, for on a second attempt to land, the natives assembled and killed no less than seven of the boat's crew, "et tout le monde assura, qu'on se souviendroit longtemps de l'Abyssinie."

After our return to the ship, a strong breeze sprung up, and at midnight we passed over a shoal projecting from a low point to the eastward of Mount Felix, on which we had ten fathoms water only, the mountain bearing at the time W. by S. ½ south, distant about five leagues. This shoal is not laid down in the charts, and evidently proves the danger of trusting to the assertion made in some Oriental Directories, that "the shore between Guardafui and Mount Felix is so bold, that if occasion require, you may come within a mile of it." Var. 4° 40′ W.

September 30. Having lost the current in the night, we passed Mount Felix, or as it might with more propriety be called, Cape Elephant, from the Arabic "Ras el Feel," which is its true name (being the Elephas Mons also of the Romans,) and we continued all day sailing along the coast, to which the high mountains inland seem to run parallel. Therm. 89°, var. 5° 43′ W. We continued to proceed in sight of the coast with light breezes, which invariably blew from the north-east, until the second of October, when we quitted the land, and steered directly over to the Arabian coast. The thermometer kept up at 88°, but we found the air much cooler after we had got into the open channel.

On the 3d of October, in the morning, we came in sight of the rugged mountains of Aden, and at two in the afternoon arrived abreast of the town. On our firing a gun, a boat came off with three native fishermen, by whom we were advised to carry the vessel into Back Bay, as the roads in front of the town were considered unsafe at this season of the year. Captain Weatherhead complied with this advice, and soon brought the ship to an anchor behind the rock, in an excellent situation, in four fathoms water, with good holding ground. From the observations made in the course of this voyage up the coast of Africa, it appears that no natural obstacles exist to have prevented early navigators from