Nile and the Red sea, but merely to bring water from the Nile for the supply of Suez.  They told me that the whole country from Suez to Cairo was a sandy plain, quite barren and without water, being three days journey going at leisure, or about 15 leagues.  That in Suez and the country round it seldom rained, but when it did at any time it was very heavy; and that the north-wind blew at Suez the whole year with great force.

From Toro to Suez it is 28 leagues, without any island bank or shoal in the whole way that can impede the navigation.  Departing from Toro by the middle of the channel, the ran for the first 16 leagues is N.W. by N. from S.E. by S. in all of which space the two coasts are about an equal distance from each other, or about three leagues asunder.  At the end of these 16 or 17 leagues, the coasts begin to close very much, so that the opposite shores are only one league distant, which narrowness continues for two leagues; after which the Egyptian coast withdraws very much towards the west, making the large fine bay formerly mentioned.  The mid channel from the end of the before mentioned 16 or 17 leagues, till we come to the N.W. point of this bay trends N.N.W. and S.S.E. the distance being 8 leagues.  In this place the lands again approach very much, as the Arabian shore thrusts out a very long low point, and the Egyptian coast sends out a very large and high point at the end of the bay on the N.W. side, these points being only a little more than one league asunder.  From these points to Suez and the end of this sea, the coasts wind inwards on each side, making another bay somewhat more than two leagues and a half long and one league and a half broad, where this sea, so celebrated in holy scripture and by profane authors, has its end.  The middle of this bay extends N. and S. with some deflection to W. and E. respectively, distance two leagues and a half.  On the coast between Toro and Suez, on the Arabian side, a hill rises about a gun-shot above Toro very near the sea, which is all bespotted with red streaks from side to side, giving it a curious appearance.  This hill continues along the coast for 15 or 16 leagues, but the red streaks do not continue more than six leagues beyond Toro.  At the end of the 15 or 16 leagues this ridge rises into a great and high knoll, after which the ridge gradually recedes from the sea, and ends about a league short of Suez.  Between the high knoll and Suez along the sea there is a very low plain, in some places a league in breadth, and in others nearer Suez a league and half.  Beside this hill towards Toro I saw great heaps of sand, reaching in some places to the top of the hill, yet were there no sands between the hill and the sea:  “Likewise by the clefts and breaches many broken sands were driven,” whence may be understood how violent the cross winds blow here, as they snatch up and drive the sand from out of the sea and lift it to the tops of the hills.  These cross winds, as I noticed by the lying of the sands, were from the W. and the W.N.W.