€OSSEIR, 
183 
tus of Ptolemy, being surmounted by two white 
chalky mountains, from which its former name 
was derived. The modern Cosseir, which is built 
on the shore among the hillocks of moving sand, 
lies in N. L. ^6° T 51^ and E. long. 34° 4' 15'\ 
The houses of the town are built of clay, and the 
inhabitants, in their manners and features, have 
a greater resemblance to the Arabians of the 
eastern shore of the Red Sea, than to the native 
Egyptians. The port is formed by a rock, which 
projects about four hundred yards into the sea. 
There is no cultivated land in the vicinity of the 
town, and the water is so brackish, that the in- 
habitants are forced to procure it from Terfowey, 
which is a day's journey distant, Cosseir ex- 
hibits no vestiges of antiquity, and is as little 
distinguished by modern grandeur as by ancient 
fame. Though more accessible than Suez, the 
only other Egyptian port on the Red Sea, it de- 
rives more advantage from lying in the route of 
the pilgrims of Mecca, than from its trade. The 
Maadan Uzzumurud, or Emerald Mi?2e, visited 
by Bruce, to the south of Cosseir, is probably the 
Smaragdus Mons of Ptolemy. Bruce observed 
five pits sunk at the foot of a mountain, a few 
miles from the shore, but did not explore the 
mineralogy of the district. Tracing the same 
bold, naked, and almost inaccessible coast, after 
doubling Ras-el-Ans, a large promontory, which 
