Page:Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile - In the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772, and 1773 volume 1.djvu/322

214 rocky, the north is low and ends in a tail, or sloping bank, but is exceedingly steep to, and at the length of your bark any way from it, you have no soundings.

this morning since before day, our pilot had begged us to go no farther. He said the wind had changed; that, by infallible signs he had seen to the southward, he was confident (without any chance of being mistaken) that in twenty-four hours we should have a storm, which would put us in danger of shipwreck; that Frat, which I wanted to see, was immediately opposite to Jidda, so that either a country, or English boat would run me over in a night and a day, when I might procure people who had connections in the country, so as to be under no apprehension of any accident; but that, in the present track I was going, every man that I should meet was my enemy. Although not very susceptible of fear, my ears were never shut against reason, and to what the pilot stated, I added in my own breast, that we might be blown out to sea, and want both water and provision. We, therefore, dined as quickly as possible, and encouraged one another all we could. A little pafter six the wind came easterly, and changeable, with a thick haze over the land. This cleared about nine in the evening, and one of the finest and steadiest gales that ever blew, carried us swiftly on, directly for Cosseir. The sky was full of dappled clouds, so that, though I, several times, tried to catch a star in the meridian, I was always frustrated. The wind became fresher, but still very fair.

The 19th, at day-break, we saw the land stretching all the way northward, and, soon after, distinctly discerned Jibbel