The 26th of April we set sail, and at eleven o'clock we lowered our sails, rowing along shore, where we cast anchor. Two hours before sunset we weighed again with the wind at north and rowed along shore; and before the sun set we anchored behind a point of land on the Arabian shore, which sheltered us effectually from the north wind, having advanced only a league and a half this day. This point is three small leagues short of Suez, and is directly east of the N.W. point of the Great Gulf, distance about a league. From this point, about half a league inland, is the fountain of Moses already mentioned. As soon as we had cast anchor we went on shore, whence we saw the end of this sea, which we had hitherto thought without end, and could plainly see the masts of the Turkish ships. All this gave us much satisfaction, yet mixed with much anxiety. As the wind blew hard all night from the north, we remained at anchor behind the point till day.

On the morning of the 27th, the wind blowing hard at N.N.W. we remained at anchor till ten, when we departed from the point and made for Suez with our oars. When about a league from the end of the sea, I went before with two catures to examine the situation of Suez and to look out for a proper landing-place. We got close up to Suez about three o'clock in the afternoon, where we saw many troops of horse in the field, and two great bands of foot-soldiers in the town, who made many shots at us from a blockhouse. The Turkish navy at this place consisted of forty-one large gallies, and nine great ships. Having completed the examination, and returned to our fleet, we all went to the point of land to the west of the bay, and came to anchor near the shore in five fathoms water, in an excellent harbour, the bottom a fine soft sand.

It is certain that in ancient times Suez was called the City of Heroes, for it differs in nothing as to latitude situation and bearings from what is said in Ptolomy, Table III. of Africa. More especially as Suez is seated on the uttermost coast of the nook or bay where the sea of Mecca ends, on which the City of Heroes was situated, as Strabo writes in his XVII book thus: "The city of Heroes, or of Cleopatra, by some called Arsinoe, is in the uttermost bounds of the Sinus Arabicus, which is towards Egypt.". Pliny, in the VI. book of his Natural History, seems to call the port of Suez Danao, on account of the trench or canal opened between the Nile and the Red Sea. The latitude of Suez is 29° 45' N. being the nearest town and port of the Red Sea to the great city of Cairo, called anciently Babylon of Egypt. From Suez to the Levant Sea or Mediterranean, at that mouth of one of the seven branches of the Nile which is called Pelusium, is about 40 leagues by land, which space is called the isthmus, or narrow neck of land between the two seas. On this subject Strabo writes in his XVII. book, "The isthmus between Pelusium and the extreme point of the Arabian Gulf where stands the City of Heroes, is 900 stadia." This is the port of the Red Sea to which Cleopatra Queen of Egypt, after the victory obtained by Augustus over Antony, commanded ships to be carried by land from the Nile, that they might flee to the Indians.

Sesostris King of Egypt and Darius King of Persia undertook at different periods to dig a canal between the Nile and the Red Sea, on purpose to open a navigable communication between the Mediterranean and the Indian ocean; but as neither of them completed the work, Ptolomy made a trench 100 feet broad and 30 feet deep, which being nearly finished, he discontinued lest the sea-water from the Arabian Gulf might render the water of the Nile salt and unfit for use. Others say that, on taking the level, the architects and masters of the work found that the Sea of Arabia was three cubits higher than the land of Egypt, whence it was feared that all the country would be inundated and destroyed. The ancient authors on this subject are Diodorus Siculus, Pliny, Pomponius Mela, Strabo, and many other cosmographers321.

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 seated322. 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.

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 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.