[320], where he heard of no such
thing. He thought likewise that the Christians about Mount Sinai would
never have permitted such a thing, as they all considered that woman as
a saint, and held her body in great reverence. He told me also that two
or three leagues before coming to _Suez_ there is a fountain which was
given to the Jews at the intercession of Moses, whom they call _Muzau_,
the water of which surpasses all others in goodness. On inquiring what
kind of a place was the town of _Suez_, he said he had never been there,
as no person could enter that town except those appointed by the
governor of Cairo for taking care of the gallies, nor come nearer than
two leagues under pain of death.

[Footnote 320: Mecara, perhaps by mistake for Mecara or Mezara, which is
very near Mesr as it is called by the Turks. Cairo is an Italian
corruption of Kahera or al Kahira--Astl.]

SECTION VIII.

_Continuation of the Voyage from Taro or al Tor to Suez._

We set sail the day after our arrival at Toro, being the 23d of April
1541, and on the 24th we were in the lat. of 27 deg. 17' N. At this place,
which is 20 leagues beyond Toro and 52 leagues from _al Kossir_, the
land of Egypt, or that coast of the Red Sea which continueth all the way
from Abyssinia, comes out into the sea with a very long and low point,
which winds a great way inwards to the land and more crooked than any
other I have seen. After forming a large fine bay, it juts out into a
large high cape or point, which is three short leagues from _Suez_, at
the other extremity of this bay, and from that first promontory to
_Suez_ the land bears N.W. by N. and S.E. by S. The shore of this bay is
very high and rough, and at the same time entirely parched and barren.
The whole of this large bay, except very near the shore, is so deep that
we had no ground with fifty fathom, and the bottom is a soft sand lake
ouze. This bay I hold to have been undoubtedly the _Sinus Elaniticus_ of
the ancients, though Strabo and Ptolemy, being both deceived in regard
to its situation, placed it on the coast of Stony Arabia at _Toro_.
This I mentioned before, when describing _Toro_, that Strabo says the
Arabian Gulf ends in two bays, one called _Elaniticus_ on the Arabian
side, and the other on the Egyptian side where stands the _City of
Heroes_[321]. Ptolemy evidently fixes the _elanitic sinus_ on the coast
of Arabia, where Toro now stands; which is very wonderful, considering
that Ptol