NAVIGATIOX. 



143 



17° 3' 5"), and pieces of it were swept up to 

 Brava (N. lat. 1° & 8"), upwards of 1000 miles. 

 The crew is supposed still to be in captivity 

 amongst the Abghal tribe ; and in 1865 an Arab 

 merchant brought to Zanzibar a hide marked 

 with letters which resembled X P B X. A writer 

 in the Fall Mall opined the letters to be ' Wasm ' 

 or tribal brands, justly observing that c all the 

 Bedawin have these distinguishing marks, 5 but 

 forgetting that he was speaking of the analpha- 

 betic Somal, to whom such knowledge does not 

 extend. As we might expect, the Mozambique 

 stream, south of Cape Delgado, always flows 

 southerly with more or less westing. The rate is 

 said to vary from 20 to 80 miles a day. 



Our hydrographical charts are correct enough 

 to guide safely into and out of port any ship- 

 master who will sound, and can take an angle. 

 As, however, the navigation is easy, so accidents 

 are common. Any land-lubber could steer a 

 ship from Bombay to Karachi (Kurrachee), and 

 yet how many have been lost ! Often, too, it is 

 in seamanship as in horsemanship, when the best 

 receive the most and the heaviest falls. In May 

 1857 the Jonas, belonging to Messrs Yidal, was 

 sunk by mistaking Chumbi Island for its neigh- 

 bour Bawi. Three or four days afterwards the 



