On the 12th Sept. Sir Harford Jones, accompanied by Mr. Sheridan and myself, embarked on board his Majesty’s frigate Nereide, Captain Corbett; Capt. Sutherland and Mr. Willock went in the Sapphire, Capt. Davis: and the H. C. cruizer Sylph carried the Persian secretary, &c. The Governor of Bombay drew out the troops of the garrison to salute the Envoy on his embarkation: they formed a lane from the government-house to the entrance of the dock-yard; and as He passed the troops presented arms, and the music played “God save the King.” A salute of fifteen guns was fired on his quitting the shore, and was answered by another from the frigate; a ceremony which always excites a powerful feeling of respect in the minds of the natives.
On Sunday, the 18th. Capt. Corbett read prayers to the ship’s company on the quarter-deck. The scene struck me as more simple and more impressive than any that, for a long time, I had witnessed. The cleanliness of the ship, the attention of the sailors, the beauty of the day, all conspired to heighten the solemnity of the service, and I felt persuaded that the prayers, offered up to God by such men and in such a manner, would be favourably accepted.
On the 18th. we lost sight of the coast. On the 24th we again saw land, which in appearance was remarkable. It was a very long range of table land, the soil of which, though light coloured, was strongly marked in horizontal strata. As we approached it, we discovered several curious capes, rising in a varied succession of grotesque forms; and among them one so very singular, that we were surprised that it had not been particularly described by those who have compiled the directories for navigating these seas. By our chronometers we took this land to be Cape Moran.7 The shore gradually shallows from twelve to five fathoms, when we tacked and stood off again in the evening, expecting a land breeze to spring up, but were disappointed. The sea is here very much discoloured, the effect probably of black mud at the bottom.
25th. Sept. Cape Arubah is a long slip of table land, which on its first appearance looks like an island.8 Its soil seems to be clay, and of a colour a few shades darker than Portland stone. We did not discover, among the head-lands into which it was broken, the particular cape which might have given its name to the whole; but the highest point to the westward appeared to deserve the preference. Beyond that western extremity of the table land, the coast immediately recedes into a bay, which is terminated by a long range of extremely rugged mountains. In one of the recesses of the cliffs of Arubah, we fancied that we had discovered a village, and even through our glasses were still positive that we could mark its white buildings; but as we drew closer to the shore, we ascertained that the houses in appearance were in reality large clods of white soil, which had fallen from the cliffs above, and were arranged so happily, some in separate piles, and some in rows, as to give to the whole the full effect of a town. A number of small boats with white lateen sails were creeping quietly along the shore, as we passed; but we could not get close enough to them, to ascertain the people who managed them, or the nature of the goods which they carried.
On the 26th. the weather was very foggy; the thermometer was 75°. On the 27th. as the fog still increased, we came to an anchor in nine fathoms. On the 28th. as the fog cleared away, we discovered the small island of Ashtola, which is of an equal height along its whole extent, a length perhaps of about two miles, and seems to be of the same soil as the capes on the mainland. Not far from the island, we caught turtle. The continent as seen from Ashtola, appears extremely high, in long continued ranges; but the lands which more immediately border on the sea, are very low. The soundings are regular, and there is no danger, as long as the lead is going. At eight o’clock we were off Cape Posmee, a remarkable head-land.
Their rocky summits, split and rent,
Form’d turret, dome, and battlement,
Or seem’d fantastically set
With cupola or minaret,
Wild crests as pagod ever deck’d
Or mosque of eastern architect.
Lady of the Lake, Canto I. xi. p. 14.
Cape Posmee.
Drawn by James Morier Esqr.
Published by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, Paternoster Row, May 1, 1811.
One piece of land in particular, forming an entrance to the bay behind Cape Guadel, has the most striking resemblance to a long range of gothic ruin. We perceived three camels grazing on the heights of the cape, and some few signs of cultivation, which we had discovered on no other spot along the coast before.
On the 3d. we saw the town of Chubar; and plainly distinguished among other objects a walled building, which we at first took to be a fort, but which according to the Directory, is a place of burial. We saw several boats with lateen sails, of a canvas very conspicuously white, cut exactly like the sails of the boats on the coast of Italy and Sicily. The thermometer was 84°. The 5th. was very sultry, and the 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 Bombareek 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 perversion 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 natural 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 Bombareek), we came to the five small islands generally called altogether the Quoins.
Kishmis is the largest island in the gulph; and, according to the account which I received, is capable of being made very productive: it is at present in almost total abandonment, though still nominally the property of Persia. We next passed two small and low islands, called the Great and Little Tomb.
Cape Museldom.
Drawn by James Morier Esqr.
Published by Messrs. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, Paternoster Row, May 1, 1811.
The strong south wind, with which we were now favoured, was at this season considered extraordinary. It blew so strong that the Nereide, with every sail set, went ten and eleven knots. It is accompanied with much haze, not indeed to be compared to that which came with the hot wind from off the shore, though in the same manner it warped the furniture and slackened the rigging.
On the 8th. we passed the island of Busheab, which, in Heather’s map, is placed much too far to the eastward, and which ought to be called “Khoshaub, or pleasant water,” from the fresh spring in its territory. It is a long and low slip, but the land on the continent behind it is extremely high. We had a light sea breeze all day, that carried us off Cape Nabon, a part of the province of Farz. The thermometer stood at 93° in the cabin after dinner. On the morning of the 9th. it was reported that a fleet of five ships were seen from the mast-head. We conjectured that they might be Arab ships, bound from Muscat to Bussorah, which about this season proceed on their voyages. They carry thither annually eight thousand bales of coffee; and in return get cargoes of dates. The sea breeze of the day was extremely light, and set in at noon. In the evening the Barnhill, a remarkable piece of land, (which derived its name from its resemblance to an old and decayed thatched building, and which is situated over the town of Congoon,) bore N. and by W. of us. Here the whole coast is very high.
On the morning of the 10th. we were off the Barnhill. The five ships had thus far kept us in a state of suspense; as we imagined that they might be the fleet of the Imaum of Muscat, who possesses thirty sail of different descriptions. Some of his ships, indeed, are of a thousand tons burthen; and one of forty guns, built at Bombay, is rather a formidable vessel.10 The Imaum in person frequently parades about the Persian gulph with his armament. He is an independant prince, and his jurisdiction, though principally confined to Muscat, extends yet generally over the province of Oman. At present he is friendly to us, and we have a resident at his court, who seldom remains there long, for the badness of its air has rendered it the burial place of too many Englishmen.
At length we boarded the Arabs, and they proved to be, as we had originally expected, a fleet of the Imaum’s merchantmen, laden with coffee, rice, &c. bound to Bushire and Bussorah. They had been fifteen days from Muscat. One of the five was a fine vessel of six hundred tons burthen, which about four years before was purchased by the Imaum at the Isle of France, and was then called the Sterling Castle. There were also two grabs, which are ships in every respect like the others, except that they have lengthened prows instead of rounded bows. These grabs the Arabs can manage to build themselves in their own ports, as it is easy to extend the timbers of a ship, until they connect themselves into a prow; but they have not yet attained the art of forming timber fit to construct bows.
Before the sun-set of the preceding day, we had discovered through our glasses, the town of Congoon, under a peak, close in the eastern vicinity of the Barnhill. It then appeared in a wood of dates, above which rose the domes of mosques. The Sheik of Congoon is represented as a young and spirited Arab, who can raise a body of two thousand cavalry, and who is able to lead them. His town is resorted to for wood, but, as far as we could judge at a distance, the date is the only tree of the neighbourhood.
We suffered much from the heat in the night, but when the moon rose over the Barnhill, a little refreshing breeze sprang up, which gave us much relief. An Arab ship was not far from us, and I could just hear their singing on board. It brought to my recollection some of the moonlight scenes in the Archipelago; for the music of these Arabs struck me as being very similar to that which I have heard on board a Greek or Sclavonian ship, when the lyra accompanies the voice of some naval Apollo, and is followed by a chorus of his shipmates.
We were off Cape Verdistan this morning, and descried the Hummocks of Kenn. The shoal that runs out from Cape Verdistan, is rendered dangerous by a reef of rocks which extends itself about six or seven miles from the shore. There are good mud soundings on the shoal, and a ship may cross its extremity without danger, though it is as well to give it a good birth. We stood off in the night of the 12th. The soundings in the shoal as laid down by Mac Cluer are not all correspondent to those which we got. We were in seven fathoms for more than an hour, and he has not got such a sounding amongst his. From seven we got to half six, and then to four, when we thought it time to tack. The cause which has been assigned for our ignorance of the gulph, is the prudential reserve which has influenced our Indian governments in their transactions with the states of Persia and Arabia. To avoid suspicion and complaint, they have never professedly made surveys of the shores, though much might yet have been done indirectly, if the object had been considered of sufficient importance. Few, except merchant vessels visited the gulph; and as the charts, which they already possessed (and what is better, their own experience) served their purpose sufficiently in the line of their own navigation, there was seldom any particular demand for more correct surveys. The geographer and philosopher indeed require something more, and therefore it is still matter of regret, that we are comparatively ill-informed in countries, where we have had easy opportunities of acquiring knowledge.
13th Oct. We were becalmed all night under the Asses Ears. These are points of land, which stand a little more erect, and are more conspicuous than the other points which surround them. The whole displays a line of coast the most rugged, barren, and inhospitable that I ever saw; and constitutes, after we passed Verdistan shoal, a very bold shore. We sailed along it, keeping in eleven and twelve fathoms. In the evening we opened Hallilah peak, which is a high and remarkable point of land. As we crept along the coast, we marked some ruined walls embosomed among the date trees.11 At sun-set we just discovered the low land on which stands the town of Bushire. In the calms which followed during the night, we were unable to make much way, and on the morning of the 14th we were still at the same distance from Bushire, as on the preceding evening. We fired two shots at a small vessel, to bring her to, but without effect. These boats are employed mostly in carrying wood to Bushire. They find it on the coast, probably in recesses of the land, for we could scarcely see a shrub in the whole passage of the gulph.
At about half past three o’clock on the 14th October, we anchored in Bushire roads, where we found one of the Company’s cruizers, and a merchantman. Before we cast anchor, a boat came off from the shore, the captain of which, a little sharp Persian, answered Sir Harford Jones’s interrogations with much vivacity, and swore to the truth of every assertion ten times over by his head and eyes. Having learnt that the East India Company’s assistant resident, Mr. Bruce, was at Bushire, the Envoy sent a letter to desire his attendance on board immediately, and at the same time requesting that he would notify the arrival of the mission to the Sheik, Abdallah Resoul, who then governed Bushire. We could see with our glasses Mr. Bruce’s residence, which was at some distance without the town, and could observe that the letter had been safely delivered; for in a few minutes we discovered Mr. Bruce on horseback, riding full speed to the boat. In an hour he was on board.
He commenced by informing us of a report of the death of our King, which had reached Bushire from Bagdad; and which, originating from an article in a French paper, had been circulated in Persia by the French, for an obvious purpose. The Envoy delivered to Mr. Bruce, a paper containing all the communications which he wished to be made to the Sheik of Bushire. He then added, desiring that his object might be clearly explained, that He expected from the Sheik all the respect due to the station which he filled, and that if he did not receive those honours to which the King of England’s Mission was entitled, the Sheik should be held responsible till the wishes of the court of Persia were known. Mr. Bruce assured Sir Harford that the Sheik would make no difficulty in coming off the next day to pay his respects, and the hour of his visit was in consequence fixed at ten o’clock.
The colours of the New Factory in the country, and of the Old one in the town, were hoisted on the morning of the 15th. While we were expecting the arrival of the Sheik, we regaled ourselves with the grapes, citrons, and pomegranates, which had been sent to us from the shore. At length we espied a boat with a crimson awning, and apparently much filled with passengers. It was beating against the sea breeze, which, rather unfortunately for the party, had set in uncommonly fresh. When she came in a line with our ship, the sail was lowered, and the men took to their oars. In a short time however we observed from the frigate, that the boat got very slowly a-head, and that the strength of the crew was nearly exhausted. Captain Corbett then sent his barge to tow up the Sheik to the ship, which was done in a very masterly style; and we were delighting in the idea of the enjoyment which the Persians must have received in the close at least of such an excursion, when we were mortified at discovering the misery in every face, which the unusual voyage had too evidently produced. But the sea-sickness was forgotten as soon as they were on board the frigate. The Sheik was received with a salute of five guns; the number was esteemed a mark of particular distinction, as three are considered in Persia a sufficient allowance for a great man.
The marines were under arms; Captain Corbett with much courtesy handed him across the quarter-deck, and assisted him with some difficulty to descend from the deck to the cabin by a steep and narrow ladder, which, however, no attention could render convenient to a man encumbered with an immense large cloak and slip-shod slippers. At the bottom he was received by Sir Harford Jones. The ship was immediately filled by the suite of the Sheik, who, with all the curiosity and effrontery of Asiatics, spread themselves through every part. Our guest was attended on his visit by the principal men and merchants of Bushire, among whom the Envoy recognised the face of many an early friend. All the party seemed much pleased with their reception, and expressed their high admiration of the beauty, order, and cleanliness of the ship. The conversation was general, and consisted mostly in inquiries after former friends, and in reviving the recollection of the histories of old times. Sir Harford Jones had known the Sheik when he was a fine boy: there was now indeed little left to be admired; his face was inanimate, and his body bent double with excessive debauch. The whole party were generally but a rude sample of the elegance of Persians, nor indeed is the true Persian to be found at Bushire, where the blood is mostly mixed with that of Arabia.
The only man of the party, whose face interested me, and exhibited signs of intelligence, was a Turk, by name Abdulla Aga, an old friend of the Envoy’s, who had been Musselim of Bussorah, and had ruled that part of the country for many years, with great respectability and eclat. He had been driven by injustice to take refuge at Bushire; though from the known integrity of his character, and the attachment of the people of Bussorah and Bagdad to his person, many still expect that he will one day attain the Pachalick of Bagdad. After this good Mussulman, spreading his carpet near one of the twelve pounders, had said his prayers, (with a fervency, undisturbed by the busy, novel and noisy scene around him) the visit broke up.
The Sheik and Abdulla Aga, who both had suffered by their long excursion in the morning, preferred to return on shore in the Nereide’s boat with Sir Harford Jones. We had not long put off from the ship, when a salute of fifteen guns commenced for the envoy, to the great consternation of the remaining part of the Persians, who were just embarking in their own boat, and who unluckily found themselves under the muzzles of the guns, where they were involved in clouds of smoke, with the wads whistling close to their ears. We at length reached the landing place; an immense crowd was assembled to await our debarkation. The Sheik had collected all the soldiery of the town to escort us to his house; and in the moment of our touching the shore, the whole mob was put in motion, raising a dust so thick that I could scarce distinguish Englishman from Asiatic. To add to the denseness of the atmosphere, the boats, which were close to the beach, commenced a salute; which was immediately answered by a range of guns on the coast. The whole procession was obliged to pass in the immediate rear of these guns as they were firing, though they appeared so old and honey-combed, that I feared they must have burst before the honours were over. We proceeded in a cloud of dust, and through streets six feet wide to the Sheik’s house, and at length entered it by a door so mean and ill-looking, that it might more properly have formed the entrance to his stable. This door introduced us into a small court yard, on one side of which was an apartment where we seated ourselves on chairs placed on purpose for us. A Persian visit, when the guest is a distinguished personage, generally consists of three acts: first, the kaleoun, or water pipe, and coffee; second, a kaleoun, and sweet coffee (so called from its being a composition of rose-water and sugar); and third, a kaleoun by itself. Sweetmeats are frequently introduced as a finale. As I shall have many better opportunities of describing all the ceremonies of these occasions, it is sufficient to add at present, that we performed the three above acts, and then mounted our horses for Mr. Bruce’s house in the country.
Part of the same armed rabble, which had escorted us from the boat to the Sheik’s house, attended us to the Factory. These soldiers are the militia of the place, and serve without pay. They even find their own arms, which consist of a matchlock, a sword, and a shield that is slung behind their back. They consist of working men attached to different trades, for we discovered the dyer by the black hue of his hands, the tinker by the smut on his face, the tailor by the shreds that had adhered to him from his shopboard.
On our arrival at the Factory, we closed our dispatches for Europe, and then completed a day full of entertainment, by an excellent dinner.
The Nereide sailed with the dispatches on the morning; and before daylight was out of sight. The passage between Bombay and Bushire, which had been made in thirty-four days, was now retraced in twelve.
