Although the town of Suez had a great name of old, it is small enough at this time, and I believe had been utterly ruined and abandoned if the Turkish navy had not been stationed here.  In the front of the land which faces the south where this sea ends there is the mouth of a small creek or arm of the sea entering a short way into the land, which extends towards the west till stopped by a hillock, the only one that rises in these parts:  Between which creek and the bay or ending of the sea is a very long and narrow tongue or spit of sand, on which the gallies and ships of the Turks lie aground; and on which the ancient and warlike City of the Heroes is seated[323].  There still remains a small castle, without which are two high ancient towers, the remains of the City of Heroes which stood here in old times.  But on the point of land where the creek enters there is a great and mighty bulwark of modern structure, which defends the entry of the creek, and scours the coast behind the sterns of the gallies if any one should attempt to land in that place.  Besides this, there runs between the gallies and the strand, an entrenchment like a ridge or long hill, making the place very strong and defensible.  Having considered this place attentively, it seemed to me impossible to land in any part except behind the little mountain on the west at the head of the creek, as we should be there free from the Turkish artillery, and likewise the possession of this hillock might contribute to our success against the enemy.  But it is necessary to consider that all along this strand the water is shoaly for the breadth of a bow-shot, and the ground a soft sticking clay or sinking sand, as I perceived by examining the ground from the foist or cature, which would be very prejudicial to the men in landing.

[Footnote 323:  This description does not agree with the map or relation of Dr Pocock; which makes the sea terminate in two bays, divided by the tongue of land on which Suez stands.  That to the N.W. is very wide at the mouth, and is properly the termination of the western gulf of the Red Sea.  The other on the N.E. is narrow at the entrance; and is divided by another tongue of land into two parts.—­Astl.]

In regard to the particulars which I learnt concerning Suez, as told me by some of the men I met with, especially the Moor formerly mentioned whom I conversed with at Toro, I was informed that at the fountain of Moses, formerly mentioned as three leagues from Suez towards Toro, there had been a great city in old times, of which they say dome buildings or ruins are still to be seen; but they could not say what had been its name.  They told me also that the remains of the canal attempted to be made in old times from the Nile at the city of Cairo to Suez were still to be seen, though much defaced and filled by length of time, and that those who travel from Suez to Cairo have necessarily to pass these remains.  Some alleged that this trench was not intended for navigation between the