Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, Volume 1 (of 5): In the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1773Bruce, James
History
Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, Volume 1 (of 5): In the years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1773
Bruce, James
Egypt -- Description and travel; Ethiopia -- Description and travel; Ethiopia -- History; Natural history -- Ethiopia; Nile River
A moor called _Yasine_, well known to me afterwards, now came forward,
and told me, that Mahomet Gibberti had been very bad ever since we
failed, with sea-sickness, and begged that I would not laugh at the
spirit, or speak so familiarly of him, because it might very possibly
be the devil, who often appeared in these parts. The Moor also desired
I would send Gibberti some coffee, and order my servant to boil him
some rice with fresh water from Foosht; for hitherto our fish and our
rice had been boiled in sea water, which I constantly preferred. This
bad news of my friend Mahomet banished all merriment, I gave therefore
the necessary orders to my servant to wait upon him, and at the same
time recommended to Yasine to go forward with the Koran in his hand,
and read all night, or till we should get to Zimmer, and then, or in
the morning, bring me an account of what he had seen.
The 8th, early in the morning, we sailed from Foosht, but the wind
being contrary, we did not arrive at our destination till near mid-day,
when we anchored in an open road about half a mile from the island,
for there is no harbour in Baccalan, Foosht, nor Zimmer. I then took
my quadrant, and went with the boat ashore, to gather wood. Zimmer is
a much smaller island than Foosht, without inhabitants, and without
water; though, by the cisterns which still remain, and are sixty yards
square, hewed out of the solid rock, we may imagine this was once a
place of consequence: rain in abundance, at certain seasons, still
falls there. It is covered with young plants of rack tree, whose
property it is, as I have already said, to vegetate in salt water. The
old trees had been cut down, but there was a considerable number of
Saiel, or Acacia trees, and of these we were in want.
Although Zimmer is said to be without water, yet there are antelopes
upon it, as also hyænas in number, and it is therefore probable that
there is water in some subterraneous caves or clefts of the rocks,
unknown to the Arabs or fishermen, without which these animals could
not subsist. It is probable the antelopes were brought over from Arabia
for the Sherriffe’s pleasure, or those of his friends, if they did
not swim from the main, and an enemy afterwards brought the hyæna to
disappoint that amusement. Be that as it will, though I did not myself
see the animals, yet I observed the dung of each of them upon the
sand, and in the cisterns; so the fact does not rest wholly upon the
veracity of the boatman. We found at Zimmer plenty of the large shell
fish called Bisser and Surrumbac, but no other. I found Zimmer, by an
observation of the sun at noon, to be in lat. 16° 7´ North, and from it
we observed the following bearings and distances.
Sahaanah, dist. 9 miles, S. by W.
Foosht, do. 8 do. N. W. by N.¼ W.
Aideen, do. 7 do. E.
Ardaina, do. 2 do. E. by S.
Rahha, do. 6 do. N. W.¼ N.
Doohaarab, do. 21 do. W. N. W.¼ W.
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