with which
the duration of the voyage may be calculated, eighteen or twenty days
being the usual period employed. In smaller steamers, and those of a
less favourable construction, accidents and delays are very frequent;
sometimes the coal is burning half the voyage, and thus rendered
nearly useless to the remaining portion, the vessel depending entirely
upon the sails.

During the hot weather and the monsoons, the navigation of the Red
Sea is attended with much inconvenience, from the sultriness of the
atmosphere and the high winds; it is only, therefore, at one season
of the year that travellers can, with any hope of comfort, avail
themselves of the route; it must, consequently, be questionable
whether the influx of voyagers will be sufficiently great to cover the
expense of the vessels required. A large steamer is now building
at Bombay, for the purpose of conveying the mails, and another is
expected out from England with the same object.

The shores of the Red Sea are bold and rocky, exhibiting ranges of
picturesque hills, sometimes seceding from, at others approaching, the
beach. A few days brought us to Mocha. The captain had kindly promised
to take me on shore with him; but, unfortunately, the heat and the
fatigue which I had sustained had occasioned a slight attack of fever,
and as we did not arrive before the town until nearly twelve o'clock,
I was afraid to encounter the rays of the sun during the day. We could
obtain a good view of the city from the vessel; it appeared to
be large and well built, that is, comparatively speaking; but its
unsheltered walls, absolutely baked in the sun, and the arid waste on
which it stood, gave to it a wild and desolate appearance.

We were told that already, since the British occupation of Aden, the
trade of Mocha had fallen off. It seldom happens that a steamer passes
down the Red Sea without bringing emigrants from Mocha, anxious to
establish themselves in the new settlement; and if Aden were made
a free port, there can be little doubt that it would monopolize the
whole commerce of the neighbourhood. The persons desirous to colonize
the place say, very justly, that they cannot afford to pay duties,
having to quit their own houses at a loss, and to construct others,
Aden being at present destitute of accommodation for strangers. If,
however, encouragement should be given them, they will flock thither
in great numbers; and, under proper management, there is every reason
to