Читать книгу The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism (Vol. 1-4). The History of Sea Voyages, Discovery, Piracy and Maritime Warfare онлайн
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“Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea.
“The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone.”
CATCHING PELICANS ON LAKE MENZALEH.
CHAPTER VIII.
Round the World on a Man-of-War (continued).
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THE INDIA AND CHINA STATIONS.
The Red Sea and its Name—Its Ports—On to the India Station—Bombay: Island, City, Presidency—Calcutta—Ceylon, a Paradise—The China Station—Hong Kong—Macao—Canton—Capture of Commissioner Yeh—The Sea of Soup—Shanghai—“Jack”Ashore there—Luxuries in Market—Drawbacks: Earthquakes, and Sand Showers—Chinese Explanations of Earthquakes—The Roving Life of the Sailor—Compensating Advantages—Japan and its People—The Englishmen of the Pacific—Yokohama—Peculiarities of the Japanese—Off to the North.
The Red Sea separates Arabia from Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinia. Its name is either derived from the animalculæ which sometimes cover parts of its surface, or, more probably, from the red and purple coral which abound in its waters. The Hebrew name signifies “the Weedy Sea,” because the corals have often plant-like forms. There are reefs of coral in the Red Sea which utterly prevent approach to certain parts of the coasts. Many of the islands which border it are of volcanic origin. On the Zeigar Islands there was an alarming eruption in 1846. England owns one of the most important of the islands, that of Perim, in the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. It is a barren, black rock, but possesses a fine harbour, and commands one entrance of the Red Sea. It was occupied by Great Britain in 1799, abandoned in 1801, and re-occupied on the 11th of February, 1857. Its fortifications possess guns of sufficient calibre and power to command the Straits.