6 
BOMBAY TO BUSHIRE. 
thermometer was 90°. On the 6th. a hot wind came from off the land, 
and warped the tables, mathematical rulers, and the furniture in the 
cabin, besides slackening all our rigging. This wind brought with it a 
thick mist of an impalpable sand, which gradually cleared away, and 
left us the first view of Cape Jasques. 
Oct. 7th. at about one o’clock in the morning, a breeze sprung- 
up from the southward, and in five hours we had passed the Quoins , in 
the Gulph of Persia, and were abreast of the island of Kishmis. We saw 
at the same time the high land of the Arabian shore, terminating in a 
lofty and marked peak; it is the land about Cape Musseldom. The 
entrance of the gulph may be properly marked between Cape Bomba- 
reek and Cape Musseldom. I call these places by their names, as laid 
down in our sea charts; because their more proper appellations would 
probably not be understood. Bombareek for instance, which by sailors 
is also called Bombay rock , is derived originally from “ Moobarek , 
happy, fortunate." Musseldom is still a stronger instance of the per¬ 
version of words. The genuine name of this head-land is Mama Selemeh , 
derived according to the story of the country from Selemeh , who was a 
female saint of Arabia, and lived on the spot or in its neighbourhood. 
The Indians, when they pass the promontory, throw cocoa nuts, fruits 
or flowers into the sea, to secure a propitious voyage. My informer 
added, that the superstition was not practised by the Persians. 
On the shore of Cape Bombareek is an insulated and very singular 
mass of rock, in which we could perceive from the ship a large natu¬ 
ral aperture. To me the shape of the whole mass appeared like a 
tankard, and the aperture formed its handle. After having rounded 
Cape Musseldom (which is eighteen leagues to the westward of Bom¬ 
bareek), we came to the five small islands generally called altogether 
the Quoins. 
Kishmis is the largest island in the gulph; and, according to the ac¬ 
count which I received, is capable of being made very productive : it is 
at present in almost total abandonment, though still nominally the pro¬ 
perty of Persia. We next passed two small and low islands, called the 
Great and Little Tomb . 
