stirred the instrument when once set till the end of my observations, I am satisfied there must be some error; because the great heat cracked the plate of ivory in the middle, so that there remained a great cleft as thick as a gold portague.  On the 6th, an hour before day, we weighed from the port of Ras-al-Jidid, and advanced about three and a half leagues.  The 7th in the morning, the wind blew fresh at N.W. and we rowed to the shore, where at eight o’clock we fastened our barks to certain stones of a shoal or reef, lying before a long point which hereafter I shall name Starta.  We went in this space about three leagues.  About noon we made sail and proceeded in our voyage, but in no small doubts, as we saw on both sides of our course a prodigious number of shelves; we were therefore obliged to take in our sails and use our oars, by means of which we came about sunset to a good haven named Comol, in which we anchored.

[Footnote 295:  This paragraph is likewise obscurely worded, and is perhaps left imperfect by the abbreviator.—­Astl.]

[Footnote 296:  In some subsequent passages this harbour is called Igidid, probably to distinguish it from the point of Ras-al-Jidid.—­Astl.]

[Footnote 297:  It is therefore probable that in all the bearings set down in this voyage, when applied to practice, either for the uses of geography or navigation, this allowance of 1-1/4 too much to the east ought to be deducted.—­E.]

From a point two leagues beyond the harbour of Igidid, or Ras-al-Jidid, to another very long and flat point may be about four leagues, these two points bearing N.W. and S.E. between which there is a large bay; within which towards the long point at the N.W. is a deep haven so close on all sides that it is safe from every wind.  This point is an island; from which circumstance and its latitude it seems certainly the island named Starta by Ptolomy.  From thence to a great point of land over the harbour of Comol the distance may be five leagues; these two points bearing N.W. by W. and S.E. by E. and between them is a large fair bay.  From the port of Igidid till half a league short of the harbour of Comol, the land close to the shore is all raised in small hills very close together, behind which, about a league farther inland, are very high mountains rising into many high and sharp peaks; and as we come nearer to Comol these hills approach the sea, and in coming within half a league of Comol they are close to the shore.  Comol is eleven leagues beyond Igidid, and 68 from Swakem, and is in lat. 22 deg. 30’ N. This port is in the second bay, very near the face of the point which juts out from the coast on the north-west side of this second bay.  Though not large, the port of Comol is very secure, as towards the seaward it has certain reefs or shoals above water which effectually defend it from all winds.  The land around it is very plain and pleasant, and is inhabited by many Badwis[298].  The north-west point which ends the bay and covers this port is very long and fair, being all low and level, being what was named by Ptolomy the promontory of Prionoto in his third table of Africa, since the great mountains which range along the whole of this coast end here.