ip() Geographical Obfervations 



bitants, by Sultan hen Eglib \ but It doth not appear for what 

 Intent He made choice of This Situation, unlefs It was to fe- 

 cure fome Wells of good Water that are near It. For it is im- 

 mediately furrounded with a Morafs, all the Way from the S. W. 

 to the N.W. whilft the adjacent Country is either entirely bar- 

 ren, or made ufe of only for Pafturage. Neither is there any 

 Road or Station for VeiTels before It. If This therefore, or That 

 at Maha-refs ihould be the Caftle taken Notice of by Leo ', It 

 could be of little or no Service, either in the Defence of the 

 Country or of the Sea Coaft. 

 Eiiamaitc. ^^ ΕΙΙαπια'ιίβ , four Leagues further to the W. S.W. there are 

 a great Number of Sepulchres, as the Name, taken probably from 

 ( ^,^) mout, may import. Thefe are all without either Beauty or 

 Infcriptions: and after Them we meet with nothing remark- , 

 able, 'till leaving Seedy Med-dtth, a Μοον'φ Sandluary, on the 

 right Hand, and paiTing over the dry Channel of the River y4c- 

 woodriiF. croiide, we come to JVoodr'iff and other contiguous Date-Vil- 

 lages of leffer Note. Thefe are each of Them watered by a 

 Rivulet, and lye about three Leagues to the N. W. of Gahs, 

 and nine, in travelling along the Sea Shore, to the S. hy W. 

 of Ellamaiie. 

 Gabs, The ^t Gabs, the Epichus probably of Scylax and the Tacape of 

 Ev..p.?. c. other antient Geographers, we have a Heap of Ruins, that are 

 13! F. p. 11- chiefly remarkable for fome beautiful Square Pillars of (/r^;?^/e' 

 H. τίΖ'ρί/ζλ Marble, fuch as I have met with in no other Part of Africa. 

 ^^' The old City, where we fee thefe Ruins, was built upon a rifmg 

 Ground at half a Miles Diftance from the New, having been 

 formerly waihed by the Sea, which formed Itfelf here into a 

 Bay of near half a Mile in Diameter. But at prefent the great- 

 eft Part of It is filled up and gained from the Sea; which, from 

 the great Shallownefs of It, and the daily Difcharge of Mud, 

 Roots &c. into It by the River, will eafily fubmit to fuch En- 

 croachments. 

 The Trade. They havc here feveral large Plantations of Palm Trees ; 

 though the Dates are much inferiour both in Size and Deli- 

 cacy of Tafte to Thofe of the Jireed. But the chief Branch of 

 Trade, for which This Emporium, as Straho^ calls It, is famous 



I Macbres caftellum noftris temporibus ab j^fris earn ob caufam ad frerum Cipes conditum 

 ut regionem illam ab hoftium incurfionibus tutam fervarcnt. Diitac a Lotophj^itis Infula 

 quinquaginta fere pafluum millia. J. Leo. p. 225•. 2 Ex(. p. 8. D. 



at 



