%%0 DHALAG. 
Mr. Maxfield informed me, that on leaving Mocha roads he had 
not been able to weather the Aroe Islands, but had been carried to 
the northward by the strength of the current, where he had found 
a free passage, which is laid down in the charts. Agreeably to the 
instructions he had received, he steered for Howakil, and came to 
an anchor among the Sarbo Zeghir Islands, forming a very safe bay, 
which he named Assaye Bay. He attempted to enter the harbour 
behind Howakil^ but was driven back by a very strong current, 
which he could not stem with his sweeps, as the wind was adverse. 
The only passage that appeared practicable was extremely narrow, 
and had two shoals extending from the points of entrance. The na- 
tive's account, that it is passable only for dows, seems therefore to 
be true; and Howakil Bay can be an object of curiosity only to 
ascertain whether the Opsian stone is found in it ; for I think the 
description of the Periplus so exactly accords with what we have 
seen, that there can be no doubt of its being the Opsian Bay. 
The vast accumulation of sand, that existed in the time of the 
Egyptian traveller, is now become a cluster of low sandy islands, 
nearly level with the sea, which are designated in the chart as the 
Arenah Islands ; and the bay itself most admirably answers the de- 
scription of l^oc^vTUTog ; for it is the deepest on the whole western 
coast of the Red Sea, except Foul Bay in lat. ^3°, which cannot, from 
its position, be the one described. The distance from Aduli to the 
Opsian Bay, as stated in the Periplus, is eight hundred stadia, or, 
according to Dr. Vincent, eighty miles, which it ought to be, if the 
stadium used was the Roman, of ten to a mile; but I confess I am 
inclined to suppose that it was the Egyptian, of fifteen to a mile, 
which will make the distance a little more than fifty-three miles. 
