The Red Sea occupies tho lowest portion of a deep valley which lies between the elevated table-land of Arabia -on the east, and the high lands of Abyssinia, Nubia, and Egypt on the west. The outer edge of these table-lands is generally from 10 to 30 miles from the shores, and hes the appearance of a continuous mountain range, vary ing in height between 3000 and 6000 feet These mountains approach much nearer to the shores north of 24° N. lat. than south of that parallel. The apace between them and the shores is partly occupied by hills, which skirt the edges of the table-land, and partly by a low and level tract along the sea, which is generally sandy, but sometimes swampy. This tract, as well as the hills between it and the mountains, is far from being sterile, and it has also the advantage of rains in November, December, and January ; but it is nearly uncultivated, as the inhabitants, who consist of several tribes of Beduin Arabs, are averse to industry, and make no other use of these tracts than us pasture-grounds when the grass on the table-land is dried up.
During the warm season, from May to October, northern breezes prevail, and for the rest of the year southerly winds blow with great constancy. During the continuance of the northerly winds there is a current out of this sea into the Gulf of Aden, and the depth of water on the reefs is diminished two feet. During the season of southerly winds the current sets into the Red Sea from the Indian Oeeau, and then the depth of water in the northern part of the Red Sea is con siderably increased. Lieutenant Maury, in his 'Directions to accompany the Wind and Current Charts,' argues (without taking the action of the winds iuto account) that the waters of the Red Sea ought to be lower at the isthmus of Suez than at the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb ; and infers, with great probability, an under or outer current from the Red Sea as there is from the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar. The Red Sea lies in a rainless and rivcrless tract or nearly eo ; the loss by evaporation in the course of its great leugth is very considerable, making the surface of the sea an inclined plane ; the loss by evaporation, together with the diminution of the temperature (between Bab-el-Mandeb and Suez), renders the water colder and salter and therefore heavier at the isthmus; the lighter water at the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb cannot balance the heavier water at the isthmus, and therefore this must run out as an under current. According to a French survey made across the Isthmus of Suez in 1S53, the surface of the Red Sea was one metre (3 feet 3 inches) higher than the surface of the Mediterrauean.
The principal harbours on the Arabian shores are Mokha, Hodcidah, and Jiddsh; and on the African, Suez, Cosseir or Cosire, Suakin, and Massowah. There is a pretty active communication kept up betweeu these places, especially by the numerous pilgrims who visit Mecca and Medina from the eastern countries of Africa. Grain and slaves con stitute the chief exports from Africa to Arabia. As Arabia does not produce sufficient supplies for the pilgrims who visit Mecca, and annually amount to above 120,000, the transport of grain from Cosire to Jiddah employs a considerable number of vessels of 50 to 200 tons burden. The grain is brought from Upper Egypt by camels to
Cosire.
As the countries along the shores of the Red Sea do not produce many articles of export, they are not much visited by foreign vessels. The few which navigate this sea go to Mokha and Jiddsh. They come from the Persian Gulf, Hindustan, and the Indian Archipelago, with wheat, tobacco, dates, carpets, rice, sugar, and Dacca muslins : also coarse and fine blue cloths, cambric, and indigo; with teak-timber, palm-oil, cocoanuts, spices, add young females, who are sold to the Turks. The returns for the foreign goods imported into Jiddah are generally cash, which is brought by the pilgrims, to whom nearly all the goods are sold; but coffee, gem, myrrh, and frankiucense are exported from Mokha. The Red Sea is now regularly navigated by British steamers, which convey passengers and the Indian mail over this sea and across the Indian Ocean between Suez and Bombay.
The first mention of the Red Sea occurs in the Bible, on tho occa sion of the Israelites passing through it In the time of Solomon the advantages of its navigation were well understood ; for after the conquest of Idumwa by David, and the acquisition of the country near the Bahr-el-Akaba, Solomon established at Math and Ezion Geber, on the shores of that gulf, a colony of Phoenician navigators. It is probable that before the time of Alexander the Great some con nection existed between the Red Sea and India. Subsequently to the death of Alexander the policy of the kings of Egypt favoured the navigation and commerce of the Red Sea, and it became soon the principal channel of commerce between Europe and India. In the 1st century of the Christian era this trade was so considerable, that, according to Strabo, 120 vessels annually departed from 3iyos Hermon to India. In the 9th century the Arabs extended their navigation from the Red Sea through the Indian Ocean to Canton in China. Soon after that time the Venetians established factories in Alexandria; and the goods of India passed by the Red Sea to that town, and thence to Europe, during the period between the 12th and 15th centuries, until the discovery of the route round the Cape of Good Hope directed the whole commerce of India into a different channel.
The name Red Sea is a translation of the Latin Rubrum Mare, and the Greek term ('Epuopd BcfAacraa) used by Strabo. Herodotue calls the Red Sea the Arabian Gulf, and also includes it in the general term of Erythrtean Sea, which comprises the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf. In the Hebrew Scriptures it is always called Yam Suph, or 'Weedy Sea,' from the vast quantities of marine weeds that grow in it. The Arabs still give it the name of Bahr Souf, which has the same meaning. The name Red given to this sea has not been explained ; it is probably a translation of Edom, the land of Edom having extended to the Gulf of Akaba, where were its two ports Elath and Ezion Geber.