170 
.BAY OF AMPHILA 
moderate computation, one hundred and twenty thousand gallons 
of water. These cisterns seem to have been constructed by the 
same people who formed those which I have formerly described on 
the Island of Dahalac. A tradition current among the natives 
ascribes this undertaking to the Pharsees, or Persians, who con- 
quered Yemen from the Abyssinians early in the seventh century, 
and for some time held unrivalled possession of the commerce of 
the Red Sea. The same tradition leads to the belief, that they were 
at last compelled to desert the coast by a famine ; but at what 
time this occurred is uncertain ; though it probably did not take 
place till a considerable time after the birth of Mahomed. I should 
myself feel inclined to conjecture, that the works in question must 
have been constructed by the Turks at a much later period. 
The other islands do not seem to have been at any time inha- 
bited ; but those which are accessible from the continent at low 
water, are sometimes visited by the natives, and the vegetation 
found upon them affords sustenance to a great number of camels, 
goats and kids, the flesh of which latter, in a wild state, is almost 
equal to venison. 
The iishermen also, at particular seasons of the year, frequent 
these islands, as the numerous remains of sharks, saw-fish, and 
turtle, on which they had been regaling, sufficiently testified ; 
and occasionally, as appears from a scene witnessed by Captain 
Weatherhead and myself, the natives come over to indulge in 
feasts of a still more extraordinary description. The instance to 
which I allude occurred on the 25th of December, during one of 
our excursions on the Island of Anto Sukkeer, when we met with a 
party, composed of three men and two women, assembled round a 
