WASIN ISLAND. 



107 



About sunrise we again made sail, and, guided 

 by that excellent landmark, the Peaks of Wasin, 

 whose height is in charts 2500 feet, we entered, 

 after three hours, the narrow channel, with 

 never less than 5 fathoms of water, which, run- 

 ning nearly due east and west, separates Wasin 

 Island from the continent. The north of this 

 coralline bank, an 'insula opaca,' about 2 J 

 miles long by 1 in breadth, is defended by sundry 

 outlying ledges and diminutive cliffs, where the 

 gulls and terns take refuge, and upon which the 

 combing sea breaks its force. The low southern 

 shore is rich in the gifts of floatsom and jetsom ; 

 here the tide, flowing amongst the mangrove 

 fringes and under shady crags, forms little bays, 

 by no means unpicturesque. To windward, or 

 south, lies the Wasin Bank, with three or four 

 plateaux of tree-tufted rock emerging a few feet 

 above sea-level. 



The Island, which does a little cultivation, 

 belongs to Zanzibar, and the only settlement, 

 about the centre of its length, is on the north- 

 ern shore, fronting Wanga Bandar on the 

 Continent. Wasin contains three Mosques, long 

 flat-roofed rooms of coral ra^? and lime rans^ed 

 obliquely to face Meccah, and scattered amongst 

 little huts and large houses of ' bordi ' or man- 



