MEMOIR OF BRUCE. 45 



instantly made for getting him the strongest possible 

 recommendations to the Naib or governor of Mas- 

 suah, to the sovereign of Abyssinia, and the king 

 of Sennaar. All the English at Jidda were par- 

 ticularly attentive to his wishes, and it was agreed 

 that a native Abyssinian, called Mahomet Gibberti, 

 should accompany him, to be an eye-witness of the 

 treatment he should receive. 



While these preparations were getting ready, 

 Bruce prosecuted his survey of the Red Sea. Leav- 

 ing Jidda on the 8th of July, he landed at Gonfodah, 

 and thence continued his voyage to Gibel Raban, 

 a small island in the Straits of Babelmandeb, where 

 he drank from a jar of brandy to the health of his 

 Britannic majesty. Having determined the latitude 

 and longitude of the straits, and other places on the 

 adjacent coast, he sailed northward (8th of August) 

 and arrived at Loheia, an Arabian town directly 

 opposite Massuah, and the port of Abyssinia. Here 

 he was joined by his new guide, Mahomet Gibberti, 

 who brought the firman for the Naib, and letters for 

 Ras Michael, governor of the great province of Tigre. 

 Quitting Loheia on the 3d of September, they passed 

 Gibbel Teir, a volcanic isle, about midway from 

 either shore ; on the 1 4th they reached Dahalac, 

 the largest island in the Red Sea, being thirty-seven 

 miles in length and eighteen in breadth; and on 

 the 19th, the vessel came to anchor in the harbour 

 of Massuah. 



During his circumnavigation of the Arabian Gulf, 

 Bruce made a great number of notes and observa- 



