'Travels in Assyria, Media, and Persia, including a journey from Bagdad by Mount Zagros, to Hamadan, the ancient Ecbatana, researches in Ispahan and the ruins of Persepolis, and journey from thence by Shiraz and Shapoor to the sea-shore. Description of Bussorah, Bushire, Bahrein, Ormuz, and Muscat, narrative of an expedition against the pirates of the Persian Gulf, with illustrations of the voyage of Nearchus, and passage by the Arabian Sea to Bombay.' [‎451] (482/582)

MAUDE'S ISLANDS. 45^
south-west in a low point, which nearly joins the main land, leav
ing a narrow channel, navigable by small boats only. The Arabian
coast, to the westward of this, is very low, and the pilot stated that
there were several small islands off it, but he considered them
dangerous to be approached, except by boats. The channel be
tween Arzeneeah and Geziret Beni Aass is perfectly safe.
All the islands here described have the same arid and barren
appearance as Polior and Nobfieur, the Tombs, and other islands
on the opposite shore of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . The water found on
them is said to be brackish; but Captain Maude, from the ap
pearance of the soil, and from what he witnessed on the island of
Arzeneeah, was inclined to suppose that good water might be
procured. Safe anchorage may be obtained under any of them
during the prevailing north-west winds of this sea, as a shelter
from which they are conveniently situated. The currents, or
tides, set through these islands from east-south-east to west-north-
west ; but neither their rate, nor the time of high-water, were ascer
tained. The magnetic variation, from a mean of several sights,
was about 4° SO' west.
These islands are placed in the centre of an extensive pearl
bank, which extends nearly two hundred miles in a longitudinal
direction, and about seventy miles from north to south, and from
this bank a great quantity of pearls are annually collected. The
positions of these islands, as here laid down, were not considered by
Captain Maude to be exactly accurate; the heat of the climate hav
ing considerably affected the rate of his chronometers, and the haze
over the land being often so great as to prevent his estimating cor
rectly the distance from the shore when the bearings were taken :
but it is nevertheless believed that their assigned positions are
sufficiently accurate to render this account of them of some use to
those navigators to whom the southern side of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
is unknown.
From the bottom of the bay in which Maude's Islands are
situated, the Arabian coast extends for nearly two degrees in a
3 M 2