The Island _and_ Harbour _of_ MASUAH] TRAVELS TO DISCOVER THE SOURCE OF THE NILE. BOOK V. ACCOUNT OF MY JOURNEY FROM MASUAH TO GONDAR--TRANSACTIONS THERE--MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE ABYSSINIANS. CHAP. I. _Transactions at Masuah and Arkeeko._ Masuah, which means the port or harbour of the Shepherds, is a small island immediately on the Abyssinian shore, having an excellent harbour, and water deep enough for ships of any size to the very edge of the island: here they may ride in the utmost security, from whatever point, or with whatever degree of strength, the wind blows. As it takes its modern, so it received its ancient name from its harbour. It was called by the Greeks _Sebasticum Os_, from the capacity of its port, which is distributed into three divisions. The island itself is very small, scarce three quarters of a mile in length, and about half that in breadth, one-third occupied, by houses, one by cisterns to receive the rain-water, and the last is reserved for burying the dead. Masuah, as we have already observed, was one of those towns on the west of the Red Sea that followed the conquest of Arabia Felix by Sinan Basha, under Selim emperor of Constantinople. At that time it was a place of great commerce, possessing a share of the Indian trade in common with the other ports of the Red Sea near the mouth of the Indian Ocean. It had a considerable quantity of exports brought to it from a great tract of mountainous country behind it, in all ages very unhospitable, and almost inaccessible to strangers. Gold and ivory, elephants and buffaloes hides, and, above all, slaves, of much greater value, as being more sought after for their personal qualities than any other sort, who had the misfortune to be reduced to that condition, made the principal articles of exportation from this port. Pearls, considerable for size, water, or colour, were found all along its coast. The great convenience of commodious riding for vessels, joined to these valuable articles of trade, had overcome the inconvenience of want of water, the principal necessary of life, to which it had been subjected from its creation. Masuah continued a place of much resort as long as commerce flourished, but it fell into obscurity very suddenly under the oppression of the Turks, who put the finishing-hand to the ruin of the India trade in the Red Sea, begun some years before by the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, and the settlements made by the Portuguese on the continent of India. The first government of Masuah under the Turks was by a basha sent from Constantinople, and from thence, for a time, the conquest of Abyssinia was attempted, always with great confidence, though never with any degree of success; so that, losing its value as a garrison, and, at the same time, as a place of trade, it was thought no longer worth while to keep up so expensive an establishment as that of a bashalik.