Al Tur, they took some vessels belonging to the enemy.  At first the Turks opposed their landing; but some of them being slain, the rest abandoned the city, in which nothing was found of value.  De Gama did not burn this town, in reverence for the relics of St Catharine and the monastery and religious men there, which he visited at their request.  He was the first European commander who had taken that city, where he knighted several of his followers, an honour much prized by those who received it, and which was envied; afterwards even by the emperor Charles V. From thence De Gama proceeded to Suez; and after many brave but fruitless attempts to sound the harbour, De Gama determined to go himself in open day to view the gallies.  He accordingly landed and saw the enemies but endeavouring to force his way towards them, the enemies shot poured thick from the town, and 2000 Turkish horse broke out from an ambush, by which the Portuguese were reduced to great straits.  Though the Portuguese cannon slew a good many of the enemy, their numbers were so much superior that the Portuguese were obliged to retreat with some loss, and much grieved that the object of their expedition was frustrated.  Thus far we have deemed necessary to premise, relative to the design and success of the expedition, from De Faria and other authors; because the journal of Don Juan de Castro is almost entirely confined to observations respecting the places visited in the voyage, and gives little or no information respecting these particulars.

The rutter or journal must be allowed to be very curious.—­The author, like an exact and diligent navigator, has not only given the course and distance from one place to another, with the latitudes of the principal ports and head-lands; but has noticed the minute windings of the coast, and the situations of islands, with observations on the tides, currents, shoals, sand-banks, and other particulars respecting the Red Sea.  Yet, far from confining himself to mere nautical remarks, he has given an account of all the places at which he touched, together with accounts of the countries and the inhabitants, so far as he was able to collect from his own observations, or the accounts of such as he was able to converse with, particularly the natives.  Don John hath gone farther yet, and has even attempted to draw a parallel between the ancient and modern geography of this sea.  If in all points of this last he may not have succeeded, the great difficulty of the task, owing to the obscurity of the subject, is to be considered:  most of the ancient places having been destroyed; the ancient names of others long since out of use and forgotten; and that very little is known of these coasts by Europeans, even at this day.  For these reasons, as the conjectures of the author are often erroneous respecting the ancient geography, and as at best they are very uncertain, we shall for the most part insert them by way of notes, with our own remarks respecting them[256].  Whether