AT SEA. 
339 
the 53d, for in the night the wind came round to the northward, 
and blew so fresh, that had we been on the other side of Ras Jehan, 
it would have been impossible to weather it. The swell was but 
trifling from the narrowness of the sea, and the little depth of water. 
After we had entered the sea of Suez we constantly had soundings. 
The change in the climate was very sudden ; and the cold rendered 
the cabin quite uncomfortable. At day light we were close in with 
Hummaum Faroun, or Pharaoh's Bath, so called on account of 
some warm springs which break out there. It is a very high, bluff 
point, in latitude 2,9^ 7'N.; but the point is in 2,9° 10', off which 
Captain Court anchored in 1795. During the day it was hazy, but 
cleared up towards the evening, and for the first time we were 
enabled to discover land all around us. To the north of Hum- 
maum Faroun the hills were low and flat ; on the opposite shore 
was a high and long bluff land, called Abou Daraja. It was red, 
veined with purple, as were the others, which we had seen since 
passing Shaduan. The wind moderated at sunset, when we had 
the pleasure of seeing Attake, the last mountain on the Egyptian 
shore, and close to Suez. 
January 55.— The light airs from the north still prevailed, but 
the smoothness of the sea, in a bason not twelve miles wide, permitted 
us to make but little way. The day was beautiful, and a clear sky 
enabled us to see the African mountains to great advantage ; yet 
our impatience to reach Suez, which seemed at length almost 
within our grasp, precluded the possibility of our enjoying the 
scene. At twelve we were in latitude 59° 59', and an opposing 
tide left us no hope of reaching the shore before the following 
jnprning. 
VOL. III. XX 
