DESCRIPTIONS OF EGYPT. 185 
this remarkable event was preserved by tradition 
among the inhabitants of this coast at so late a pe- 
riod as the days of Diodorus. * The African coast 
is naked and rugged ; the water is so deep as fre- 
quently to afford no soundings along the shore, but 
it is interspersed with concealed rocks of the hard- 
est texture, and sharp as spears. Towards Suez the 
shore is skirted by some small islands, or rather 
rocks, which are as barren as the main land. The 
principal of these are the Jaffateen islands, which 
are four in number, and lie in the form of a semi- 
circle, connected by shoals and sunk rocks. After 
passing to the south of Gebel-el-Zeit, or the Mount 
of Petroleum, Myos Hormus, the harbour chosen 
in preference to Suez by Ptolemy Philadelphus, is 
the first station which presents itself. It is cover- 
ed by the Jaffateens, and lies in N. L. 27° 0'. The 
name of this harbour was afterwards changed to A- 
phrodites Hormus. For a considerable period this 
city was the emporium of the Arabian trade, but after 
it fell into the hands of the Romans, it seems to have 
been supplanted by Berenice. Old Cosseir, which 
lies about six miles to the north of the modern 
town, is the Leucos Portus of Ptolemy, being sur- 
mounted by two white chalky mountains, from 
which its former name was derived. The modern 
Cosseir, which is built on the shore among the hil- 
f" ; — 
* Diodor. Sicul. 1. iii. c. 3. 
