ip() Geographical Obfervations 



bitants, by Sultan hen Eglih ; 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 VefTels before It. If This therefore, or That 

 at Mdha-refs fliould be the Caftle taken Notice of by Leo \ Jt 

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

 Country or of the Sea Coaft. 

 iikmaite. ^^ Ellama'tte, four Leagues further to the W. S.W. there are 

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

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

 Infcriptions: and after Them we meet with nothing remark- 

 able, 'till leaving Seedy Med-duh, a Moorifi San6luary, on the 

 right Hand, and pafling over the dry Channel of the River ^c- 

 woodriff: crojide, we come to JVoodnff 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 Ellama'tte. 

 Gabs, -n^e ^t QahSy the Eplchm probably of Scylax and the Tacape of 

 £vc.p.3. c. other antient Geographers, we have a Heap of Ruins, that are 

 13! F. p.'ai- chiefly remarkable for fome beautiful Square Pillars olGranate 

 H, ^■nl'.?eut. Marble, fuch as I have met with in no other Part of y4frica. 

 The old City, where we fee thefe Ruins, was built upon a riling 

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

 formerly wafhed 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. Thcy 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 J'treed. But the chief Branch of 

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



I Machres caftellum noftris temporibus ab /^fris earn ob caufatn ad fretum Capes conditum 

 ut regionem illam ab hoftium incurConibus tutam fervarent. Diftat ^ Lotopbagtus Infula 

 <juiTiquaginta fere paffuum millia. J. Leo. p-2»y. 2 Exc. p. 8. D. 



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