as such plenty, that we could buy as much for 3_d_. as would
suffice ten men for a meal. The town is under the government of the
Turks, who punish the Arabians severely for any offence, having gallies
for that purpose, otherwise they would be unable to keep them in awe and
under subjection.
[Footnote 288: In the original it is Mockoo, and on the margin Moha, but
these are not the Straits of Mokha, but of Mecca--Astl. I. 348 b.
The proper name of the entrance into the Red Sea is Bab-al-Mondub,
usually called Babelmandel, signifying the gates of lamentation, owing
to the dangers of the navigation outwards to India.--E.]
We departed from Mokha on the 18th July, repassing the straits, where we
lost two anchors. From thence we sailed to Socotora, and about the 5th
August cast anchor opposite the town of _Saiob_, or _Sawb_, where the
king resides. One of our merchants went ashore, desiring leave to
purchase water, goats, and other provisions, which he refused, alleging
that the women were much afraid of us; but if we would remove to another
anchorage about five leagues off, we might have every thing his country
afforded. We accordingly went there, where we bought water, goats,
aloes, dragon's blood, &c. We set sail from Socotora on the 18th.[289]
[August?], and on the 28th came to Moa,[290] where one of the natives
told us we might have a pilot for 20 dollars to bring us to the road of
Surat, but our wilful master refused, saying that he had no need of a
pilot.
[Footnote 289: This date is inexplicable, but was probably the 18th of
August; the month being omitted by the editor of Astley's Collection, in
the hurry of abbreviation.--E.]
[Footnote 290: Jones says they fell in with the coast of Diu about eight
leagues to the eastward of that place, and steering seven leagues more
along the coast, came to anchor at a head-land, where they sent the
skiff ashore, and bought sheep and other things, and were here offered a
pilot to Surat for seven dollars. Fifteen leagues east from Diu would
bring them to near Wagnagur, almost directly west from Surat river, on
the opposite coast of the Gulf of Cambay. _Moa_ was probably a village
on the coast.--E.]
The 29th [August?] we proceeded, thinking to hit the channel for the bar
of Surat, getting first from ten fathoms into seven, and afterwards into
six and a half. We now tacked westwards, and deepened our water to
fifteen fathoms; but the next tack brought us into five. When so
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