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On the day after our return from El-Haura the venerable old man paid us a visit aboard Sinnar. He declares that he was a boy when the Wahhabi occupied Meccah and El-Medinah that is, in 1803-4. Yet he has wives and young children. His principal want is a pair of new eyes; and the train of thought is, "I can't see when older men than myself can."
Moreover, we caught amidships a fine lumpy sea, that threatened to roll the masts out of the stout old corvette. As the Sinnar, which always reminded me of her Majesty's steamship Zebra, is notably the steadiest ship in the Egyptian navy, the captain was asked about his ballast.
A little relief was felt while sheltered by the short tract of channel between the mainland and the shoals. And we were quiet once more when the Sinnar, having covered the thirty miles in four hours and thirty minutes, cast anchor in the usual place, south-east of the northern jaw. The main objection to our berth is that the prevailing north wind drives in a rolling sea from the open west.
Dreadfully rolled the Sinnar, as she ran close in-shore before the long heavy swell from the north-west, and the old saying, Bon rouleur, bon marcheur, is cold consolation to an active man made to idle malgre lui. This section of the coast, unlike that to the north, is remarkably free from reefs.
The cure is evidently effected by the cold salt-and-water. The evening ended happily with the receipt of a mail, and with the good news that the Sinnar corvette had been sent to take the place of El-Mukhbir, the unfortunate.
The cause is simply that which breaks the stick in water, and which elevates the Sha'rr every morning Refraction. The boats did not long keep us waiting; and we were delighted to tread once more the quarter-deck of the corvette Sinnar. Captain Ali Bey Shukri's place had been taken by Captain Hasan-Bey, an Osmanli of Cavala who, having been forty-eight years in the service, sighed for his pension.
Finally, we would return to El-Wijh, via the Wady Hamz, inspecting both it and the ruins first sighted by MM. Marie and Philipin. On Friday, March 29th, I gave a breakfast, in the wooden barracks, to the officers of the Sinnar and the officials of the port. After which, some took their opium and went to sleep; while others, it being church-day, went to Mosque.
First they steamed to El Wijh, in the "Sinnar," which had taken the place of the Mukhbir, and then marched inland to the ancient mines of Abul Maru. But Burton now saw the futility of attempting to proceed further. On April 10th they were back again at El Wijh, on the 18th at Moilah and on the 20th at Suez. In the meantime, Mrs. Burton had left Trieste, in order to join her husband.
She stayed a week at Cairo, where she met General Gordon, who listened smilingly to her anticipations respecting the result of the expedition, and then she went on to Suez. I have written and telegraphed till I am black in the face, and telegrams cost 2s. 6d. a word." At last on 20th April, while Mrs. Burton was in church, a slip of paper was put into her hand: "The 'Sinnar' is in sight."
MM. Marie and Philipin, with Lieutenant Yusuf, Cook Giorji, and Body-servant Ali Marie, were directed to march along the shore southwards. Meanwhile, the rest of us would proceed in the Sinnar to El-Haura, a roundabout cruise of a hundred miles to the south.
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