At sunrise on the 23d of February, we set sail from the island and port of Marate, finding seven fathom water and a sandy bottom285. At eleven o'clock we came to two small islands far to seawards, one called Darata and the other Dolcofallar286, from whence to Swakem is a days sail. From noon we sailed N.W. by W. till even-song time, when we entered the channel of Swakem, in which, after sailing a league N.W. we had certain shoals a-head, on which account we altered our course to W. one quarter N.W. and sometimes W. to keep free of these shoals. We continued in this course about three leagues, till we saw a great island a-head of us, when we immediately tacked towards the land, and came to an anchor between certain great shoals of stone or sunken rocks, forming a good harbour named Xabaque287, which in the Arabic means a net. It might be an hour before sunset when we came to anchor. This day my pilot took the sun at noon, and found our latitude scarce 19° N288. The shoals of Swakem are so many and so intermingled, that no picture or information were sufficient to understand them, much less to sail through among them; the islands, shoals, banks, rocks, and channels are so numerous and intricate. At the entrance among these shoals, there is to seaward a shoal under water on which the sea breaks very much, and to landward a small island, these two ranging N.E. and S.W. a quarter more E. and W. the distance between being three quarters of a league. Immediately on entering, the channel seemed large and spacious, and the farther we advanced so much more to seaward there appeared to us an infinite number of very flat islands, shoals, sand-banks and rocks, that they could not be reckoned. Towards the land side these were not so numerous; but it is the foulest and most unnavigable channel that ever was seen, in comparison with any other sea. What ought chiefly to be attended to in this channel, is always to keep nearer to the shoals that are to seawards, and as far as possible from those to landward. The breadth of this channel in some places is about half a league, in others a quarter, and in others less than a gun-shot. In the entry to this channel we had six fathoms, and from thence to the port of Shabak never less, and never more than 12. From the beginning of the shoals to Shabak may be about five leagues, and their whole length eight or nine. We have then another channel, more secure for ships and great vessels; and we may likewise pass these shoals leaving them all to seaward, going very close to the main-land, which is the best and most pleasant way.

On the 24th, at sunrise, we set sail from the port of Shabak, and rowed by so narrow a channel that our fleet had to follow each other in single line a-head, being only about a cross-bow shot over in the widest parts. In this narrow channel we were never more than a cannon shot from the main-land, and sometimes little more than a cross-bow shot; having shoals, rocks and banks on every side of us, all under water, yet we had always sufficient indications to avoid them; as wherever they lay, the water over them appeared very red or very green, and where neither of these colours appeared we were sure of the clearest channel, the water, being there dark. Continuing by this channel among so many difficulties, we came to anchor at half an hour past eleven at a little low round island, in lat. 19° N. In this latitude Ptolomy places the mountain of the Satyrs289. Of this mountain the native pilots had no knowledge; but going about half a league into the land, I found the footsteps of so many kind of beasts, and such great flocks of pianets290 as was wonderful. All these tracks came till they set their feet in the sea, and they occupied, the greatest part of the field. I believe the fable of the Satyrs to have arisen from thence, and that they were said to inhabit these hills and mountains. It is to be noted that in the channel of four leagues from the harbour of Shabak to this island, the water is never less than two and a half fathoms nor deeper than eleven, and also that the tide at this island does not ebb and flow above half a yard. It begins to flow as soon as the moon begins to ascend towards the horizon, in the same order as already mentioned respecting Socotora.

The 26th at sunrise we departed from the island, rowing along a reef of rocks that ran between us and the land to which it was almost parallel, all the sea between it and the land being full of shoals and banks; but to seawards there were neither shoals nor banks nor any other impediment. At nine o'clock we came to anchor at a small island encompassed by many flats and shoals, where there was a good haven. This island was a league and a half from that we left in the morning, and 5 leagues short of Swakem. The 27th at sunrise, we set sail from this second island, and two hours within the night we came to anchor a league and a half farther on in 28 fathoms water. The 28th we bridled our oars and set sail. At nine o'clock we anchored about two leagues from the land in 23 fathoms, on soft sand, like ouze or mud. This morning we found some shoals under water, but the sea always shewed itself very green or red over them. Two hours after noon we set sail again, and anchored at night in 37 fathoms on a sandy bottom, hard by an island a league and a half short of Swakem. The coast runs N.N.W. and S.S.E. having all along a shoal which extends near half a league into the sea. This land differs in nothing from that formerly described. The 1st March 1541, departing from this anchorage, and having doubled a point of land made by the shoal, we approached the land inwards by a channel, and came to anchor in the haven of the city of Swakem.

Swakem was called by the ancients the port of Aspi, as may be seen in the third table of Africa by Ptolemy. At this day it is one of the richest cities in the East291. It is situated within the Arabian Gulf or Red Sea, on the coast of Ethiopia sub Egypto, now called the land and coast of the Abexii or Abyssinians. Among famous places, this may be reckoned equal or superior to them all in four things. The first is the goodness and safety of the haven. The second in the facility and good service for lading and unlading ships. The third in its traffic with very strange and remote people of various manners and customs. The fourth in the strength and situation of the city. As touching the goodness and security of the port I shall first speak. Nature hath so formed this port that no storm from the sea can enter it in any direction. Within the haven the sea is so quiet, and runs so insensibly, that scarcely can we perceive it to have any tide. The ground is mud. The road in all places has five or six fathoms, and seven in some places; and is so large that two hundred ships may ride commodiously at anchor, besides rowing-vessels without number. The water is so clear that you may plainly perceive the bottom; and where that is not seen the depth is at least ten or twelve fathoms. The ships can be laden or unladen all round the city, merely by laying a plank from them into the warehouses of the merchants; while gallies fasten themselves to stones at the doors of the houses, laying their prows over the quays as so many bridges. Now touching the trade and navigation of this port with many sorts of people, and with strange and remote countries, I know not what city can compare with it except Lisbon: as this city trades with all India, both on this side and beyond the Ganges; with Cambaya, Tanacerim, Pegu, Malacca; and within the Straits with Jiddah, Cairo, and Alexandria. From all Ethiopia and Abyssinia it procures great quantities of gold and ivory. As to the strength and situation of this city enough can hardly be said; since to come to it, the inconveniences, difficulties, and dangers are so great, that it seems almost impossible: as for fifteen leagues about, the shoals, flats, islands, channels, rocks, banks, and sands, and surges of the sea, are so many and intricate that they put the sailors in great fear and almost in despair. The situation of the city is this: In the middle of a great nook or bay, is a perfectly flat island almost level with the sea and exactly round, being about a quarter, of a league in circuit, upon which the city of Swakem is built; not one foot of ground on the whole island but is replenished with houses and inhabitants, so that the whole island, is a city. On two sides this insular city comes within a bow-shot of the main land, that is on the E.S.E. and S.W. sides, but all the rest is farther from the land. The road, haven, or bay surrounds the city on every side to the distance of a cross-bow shot, in all of which space, ships may anchor in six or seven fathoms on a mud bottom. All around this bay there is a great shoal; so that the deep water is from the edge of the city all round to the distance of a bow-shot, and all beyond is full of shoals. In this bay there are three other islands on the land side to the north-west. The two which lie farthest in are small, but that nearest to the channel is about as large as the city. Between this island and the main sea, there is a large and very long channel, having seven fathoms water, all along which a great navy might safely ride at anchor, without any danger of annoyance from the city, whence only their masts could be seen. When the moon appears in the horizon it is full sea, and as the moon advances it ebbs till the moon comes to the meridian, when it is dead low water; and thence it begins again to flow till the moon sets, when it is again full sea. The entire ebb and flow of the sea at this city does not exceed a quarter of a yard. The most that it rises along the coast is a yard and a half, and in some places less than three quarters of a yard. But when I made this observation it was neap tide.