178 TRAVELS IN AFRICA, 
coral, being of a hue between fcarlet and criinfon, and of a 
fpungy feel and quality. I know not if any ufe be made of it, 
nor am I acquainted with its Arabic name ; but it ftrikes me, 
that, if found in great quantities at any former period, it may 
have given the recent name to this fea ; for this was the Ara- 
bian gulf of the Antients, whofe Mare Hrythraiim^ or Red Sea, 
was the Indian Ocean. This weed may perhaps be the DID fuph 
of the Hebrews, whence DID D* Yam Suph^ their name for this 
fea. 
The fhores here abound in beautiful fhells of various kinds ; 
a circumftance which might alfo have been remarked in fpeak- 
ing of Maadie near Abukir. 
On the 8th of March 1793, palTed the ford at Suez, and on 
the 14th arrived at Tur. So many journies to Mount Sinai 
have been publifhed, that I jQiall not dwell much on the parti- 
culars. The route from Suez to Tur at firfl lies along a barren 
coaft, but afterwards fome pleafant vales of verdure are found, 
particularly Wadi Corondel^ where grow fome date trees and 
fhrubs. Mountains of red granite are feen, perhaps too inter- 
fperfed with porphyry. 
A fpot is pointed out by the Greek priefts of a fmall convent 
near Tur, where a church is faid to have been buried, and mi- 
raculous noifes ftill heard, but on vifiting it, in the mere expec- 
tation of fome natural phenomenon, found nothing. 
On 
