File:1832-40-El Wuish, Red Sea.png

English: Engraved plate

El Wuish, Red Sea

El Wuish, Red Sea. See text from page 37 of Views in India, China, and on the Shores of the Red Sea, Volumes 1-2 by Robert Elliott.
El Wuish forms another of those small havens upon the northern coast of the Red Sea, to which Arab vessels, in that difficult navigation hasten to take shelter during the night, or on the approach of bad weather. It lies towards the upper part of this land-locked gulf of the Indian Ocean, and is distinguished from other coves upon the coast by its magnificent back-ground of of lofty mountains,^[1]

Text from "The Chinese Empire illustrated : being a series of views from original sketches, displaying the scenery, architecture, social habits etc. of that ancient and exclusive nation" The view, on steaming from Suez, is picturesque. Instead of the desert which has just been quitted. Mount Sinai is seen, attractive iu itself, aud much more so from the holy associations connected with it. Other hills and mountains are also seen on the Arabian shore. The Gulf of Suez is twenty-eight miles in length, and ridges of table-land rise on both sides, to the height of near 3,000 feet. It terminates at the extremity of the peninsula of Siuai, where the Gulf of Akabah joins it; and from thence to the Straits of Bab-el- Mandeb, the united mass of waters is called the Red Sea, or Sea of EJom. This sea, 1,280 miles long, 200 miles broad, having a depth of -iOO feet, and containing 800,030 cubic miles, receives no river, and is covered with sunken rocks, sand-banks, and small islands, rendering the navigation very intricate and dangerous. Many of the rocks are coral reefs ; and from those reefs, or from the blood-red hue frequently imparted to the waters by animalcnlge, the name is supposed to have been derived. The principal chain of mountains in Arabia runs nearly parallel with the east shore; and they increase in elevation as they extend inland. Prom the decks of the passing vessels, this ever- changing mountain scenery is very grand; but nothing can be more desolate and dreary than the shore itself. The monsoons continually prevail in this sea ; the south-west monsoon for eight months, and the north-west for four. The heat is intense ; and the passage from Suez to Aden, which occupies eight days, is the most trying to the passengers, and deaths are not unfrequent. In the 1,300 miles, very few towns are seen. Thubare and El Wuish are two small harbours at the upper part of the sea, on the Arabian coast ; beyond which, the mountains rise in lofty magnificence. Native vessels, conveying goods, and others with fishermen, are seen off the ports. On the African side is Cosseir (El Qoseir), where passengers are taken up ; and lower down, on the Asiatic bank, Jeddah, where the pilgrims disembark, on their way to Mecca and Medina — a place rendered notorious by the wanton massacre of the French consul there, with other Europeans, in 1858 ; for which a speedy vengeance was taken by Captain PuUen, in her majesty's frigate Cyclops. As the steamer nears the Straits of Bab-el- Mandeb, the town of ]Mocha, so famous for its coffee, can be distinctly seen.

The Straits of Bab-el-Maudeb, which unite the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean, are about twenty miles across. . They are terminated by the Peak of Bab-el-Mandeb (the south-west extremity of Arabia), to the east.^[2]