Cape Cava Rumia is a small coastal cape whose meaning in the captive’s account is reversed by circumstance: a place regarded with unease by local tradition becomes a haven for the escaping captives. After their flight by boat is interrupted by roughening seas, its sheltered creek offers them temporary safety and a chance to decide what to do with their prisoners.

Setting and Name

The escape party reaches a creek on one side of a small promontory called Cape Cava Rumia. The narrator explains that its Moorish name means a wicked Christian woman and links it to the tradition that La Cava, through whom Spain was lost, is buried there. The account also says that the place is considered unlucky: people avoid anchoring there unless necessity compels them.

Refuge During the Escape

The party’s arrival is forced by a change in the wind. After Zoraida’s father, Hadji Morato, throws himself into the sea, the captives pull him back aboard; when the wind turns against them, they row toward land to avoid being driven ashore. They reach the creek at the cape, where they post a lookout, keep the oars ready, and eat provisions the renegade had gathered. Their prayers for protection reflect how uncertain the escape remains, even after they have got away from the city.

A Reversal of Fortune

At Zoraida’s request, the party agrees to put her father and the other bound Moors ashore when they depart. She cannot bear to see her father and countrymen held captive, and the empty coast makes their release seem safe. The wind later turns in the fugitives’ favor and the sea calms; they then unbind the prisoners and set them ashore before resuming their journey. Thus the cape’s reputation as an ill-omened anchorage contrasts with its role in the episode: it gives the fugitives shelter and becomes the place where Zoraida’s appeal changes the captives’ treatment of their former captors.