238 Captain P tingle's Route to India 



ports in the Red Sea ; but fowls, sheep, bread, coffee, &c, 

 can be procured at all times. The water at the ports on the 

 Red Sea is brackish, and that at Kosseir is also sulphurous. 



On the voyage, we were two in number, and each of us 

 had a servant. We hired the stern cabin, and the following 

 were the prices paid for our passage during the voyage : 

 From Kosseir to Jidda, twenty-five dollars each ; from Jidda 

 to Hodeida thirty-five ; from Hodeida to Mocha five ; and 

 from Mocha to Bombay ninety ; but these prices greatly ex- 

 ceed what would have been paid by natives. 



With the exception of a few palm trees round the villages 

 and towns, the shores of the Red Sea are mere deserts, which 

 extend to the mountains about thirty or forty miles distant. 

 If any vegetation shows itself on this flat, it consists of stunt- 

 ed acacias and other shrubs of the desert. The shores, there- 

 fore, offer nothing interesting ; but the mountains are high, 

 and have a fine serrated outline. 



In passing along the inhospitable shores of the Red Sea, 

 the only object is to make progress; but it is otherwise in 

 passing through Egypt, a country which gives the great in- 

 terest in the whole route. The time, therefore, to be passed 

 in it will vary, according to the pursuits and views of the tra- 

 veller. But in Egypt, also, there is a season to be attended 

 to ; that in which the plague usually prevails. This disease 

 is generally expected to break out in Alexandria about the 

 end of February ; and in Cairo a few weeks later. Some 

 years escape altogether, and in others it does not rage with 

 such violence as to require much precaution. It is always 

 considered as having ceased about the end of June. 



The usual mode of travelling in Egypt, is to hire a boat or 

 kanja. These boats are about seventy feet long. They car- 

 ry two large sails, and have a crew of seven or eight men, 

 who track the boat when the wind is not favourable. In the 

 spring, however, the prevailing wind blows up the river, and 

 at that time the current is not strong. The crew are com- 

 pletely under the orders of their employers ; and any com- 

 plaint made to a Turkish authority of their disobedience 

 would get them severely punished. But the traveller, as is 

 generally done, may punish them himself. 



