The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-01-05
THE RED SEA IN
THE YEAR 1907.
Great Changes Are Going On
Along the Coasts Of Arabia
and Africa.

Along the Coasts Of Arabia
and Africa.
Copyright, 1907 by Frank q. Car
X, on the German East African
Steamer Feldtnarshall.
= AM on a German steamer OF 5000
tons, sailing down the Red Sen.
We took ship three days ago at
Fort Said, and were eighteen hours
going through the Suez Canal
We tarried n while at Suez. and we are
now off Port Sudan. whore the new
railroad across the Nubian desert be-
where, according to the Mohammednns,
Mother Eve was buried, and1 whore
the Pilgrims start out over theSdesert
to Mecca. With the ships glass one
can almost see the place where the
greatest grandmother OF all mankind
lies She rests outside the wall IN
tomb 400 feet long. and mosque rises
over her dust. You have heard the
Mohammedan story of how Adam fell.
Eve gave him the apple. and he ate II,
and as punishment both he and she
2 were cast out OF the Garden OF Eden.
AS they dropped strong west wind
was blowing, and this waited the fairy
form of Eve to Arabia; while Adam,
with his heavier weight. fell down In
Ceylon. There Is d string OF coral Keys
running from Ceylon to Hindoostan.
which is still known as Adams bridge.
and 1t was over them that he started
out on his long hunt for Eve. II took
him 200 years to fnd her. and the
meeting was somewhere near mecca.
What became OF Adams bones we 40
not know. but those OF Eve are sup-
posed to lie at Jeddah.
Odd Fenturcs OF the Red Sea.
Jeddah is Just about half way down
the Red sea. 1t took US thirty-siS
hours to come here, and we snaiA DC
fully that long in steaming 10 ehe
Strait OF Babel Mandeb. where we en-
ter the Indian Ocean. me heu osa 20
mighty small on the map. IL,
It looks like scratch oel"een
.ra africa but the scratch 10 actual
10 about 200 miles wide in many places.
and 40 deep that the most of the Blue
pidra mountains could be dropped
down into IL. and only their hlgnsst
neaks would reach the surface. Inc
Red Sea is so long that II 1t began at
Ireland. and extended WESTWARD across
the Atlantic, 1t would go hall way 70
canada. II 1t could be lifted UP ana
Iaia down upon the United States with
suez at Philadelphia. Bab-el-Mandep
would be hundred miles or so pc
vond Omaha. Neb., and all the way pc
tween would be a sea canal as "lae
as from New York to washington, OF
wide enough to accommodate all the
navies OF the world abreast. and leave
hundred miles or more 10 spare
A Rival for the Suck Canal.
This mighty waterway narrows al
most to point at each end. Where
It leaves the Indian Ocean 1t lis no
wider than the English Channel at
Dover. and 1t is lost at the north IN
the suez Canal. Starting at Babel
Mandeb, the coasts esoroaden out ana
then run almost straight TO the upper
end, where they fork into two gulis
and inclose the lower part of the Suez
peninsula These two CULTS are those
OF Suez and Akabah. The Gulf Of
Suez is 10 miles long, and 1t has been
Joined to the Mediterranean by the
suez Canal The Gulf OF Akabah is
10 miles long. and capitalists are now
talking OF making canal from 1t TO
the Mediterranean. The Akabah Canal
would be n considerable distance east
OF the Suez Canal. but it would prac-
tically parallel 1T 1t would run
through Turkish territory. and for this
reason 1t can be built without infring-
fng on the Suez Canal concession.
which relates to Egypt alone.
Hot and Salty.
The Red Sea is red hot. / have
steamed many miles along the equator.
but this is much hotter. The water
Eere is shut In on both sides by deserts.
which furnish no streams to cool 1t,
and the tropical sun beats down from
January to December. AS result the
surface of the water is often 100 de-
grees above zero. and 1t forms great
hot-water plant. steaming the air. The
suns rays are bottled up also by the
deserts. which act as a second heat
validating plant. The result is that the
air is often suffocating. and there
seems to be only a waving sheet OF
blue steel between us and the lower
regions.
The air here Is SO salty that one can
almost eat eggs without seasoning.
The water contains SO much salt that If
100 pounds of 1t are boiled down, four
pounds OF salt will be found in the
bottom OF the Kettle. The evaporation
is so great that We're 1t not for the in
flow OF the Indian Ocean, the sea
would, within less than century, go
into the afr and leave in its place one
immense block OF salt. Indeed. these
waters are more salty than those Of
tho Mediterranean and most other salt
seas.
had expected to find the Red Sea
coasts more thickly populated. There
are no cities OF any size and very few
villages. Even Suez has only about
$4,000 people. and OF them not more
/ than 5000 are Europeans. The town
has large docks. but Its trade Is small,
and 1t has had nothing like the growth
which men thought would follow the
completion of the canal. There Is d.
rect railroad connection with Cairo,
and passengers on their gay home
from India stop off there and join their
ships at Alexandria or take other
steamers from that port.
Port Sudan.
The two chief ports on the west
coast Of the Red Sea are Port Sudan
and Suakim. They were nothing rev
years ago. but they promise to grow
I into cities since the completion Of the
Red Sea road There has always been
something of a town at Suakim. and
the original intention.was to use, that
place as thu terminus Of the railway.
rhe English surveyors, however, found
8. much better rarbor at Port Sudan,
and they have extended the railroad to
that pOint.&s u.