The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1908-01-22
NE RED HOT RED SEA
,urRE THE AIR is so SALTY
LITTLE SEASONING is NEEDED.
.oresting Facts About the Body of
water Near Whose Banks Mother
Eve Is Supposed to Have
Been Buried.

Been Buried.
We are just opposite Jeddah,
u,bere, according to the Mohamma-
dams, Mother Eve was buried and
nbare the pilgrims start out over the
1 sasart to Mecca, writes F. G. Car
infer of his journey through the
bod sea. With the ships glass one
an almost see the place where the
rreatest grandmother of all mankind
5ios She rests outside the wall OF
tomb 400 feet long, and a mosque
..o, over her dust. You have heard
-, uohammedan story of how Adam
coll Eve gave him the apple and
10 ote it, and as punishment both
N ,ro east out of the Garden of Eden.
,s they dropped strong west wind
,ros blowing, and this waited the
8 soirv form of Eve to Arabia; while
Adam. with his heavier weight, fell
q aou,n in Ceylon. There is string
&c coral keys running from Ceylon
q 20 Hindustan, which is still known
&C. Adams bridge, and it was over
q 4bon, that he started out on his long
bunt for Eve. 1t took him 200 years
+o find her, and the meeting was
q somnwhere near Mecca. What be-
came of Adams bones we do not
know, but those of Eve are supposed
TO lie at Jeddah.
Jeddah is just about half way
down the Red sea. 1t took us SO
bonrs to come here, and we shall be
fuIIv that long in steaming to the
Strait of Babel-mandeb, where we
enter the Indian ocean. The Red sea
is mighty small on the map. 1t
I Looks like a scratch between Asia and
& Africa. but the scratch is actually
Z goo miles wide in many places, and
so deep that the most of the Blue
Ridge mountains could be dropped
down into it and only their higher
neaks would reach the surface. The
Red sea is so long that il it began
in Ireland and extended westward
d across the Atlantic it would go half
4 way TO Canada. If it could be lifted
ND and laid down upon the United
States with Suez at Philadelphia
Babel-Mandeb would be a hundred
miles or so beyond Omaha, and all
#tbe way between would be a sea
canal as wide as from New York to
! Washington, or wide enough to ac-
8commOdate all the navies OF the
world abreast, and leave a hundred
miles or more to spare.
The mighty waterway narroWs al
most to a point at each side. Where
4 it leaves the Indian ocean it is no
wider than the English Channel at
Dover. and it is lost at the north IN
q the Suez canal Starting at Babel
u Mandeb the coasts broaden out and
& then run almost straight to the upper
q end where they fork into two quits
and enclose the lower part OF the
4 Sinai peninsula. These two CULTS are
8 those of Suez and Akabah. The Gun
5 of Suez is ITO miles long and it has
4 been Joined to the Mediterranean by
q the Suez canal. The Gulf of Aka
& bah is 10 miles long, and capitalists
are now talking of making a canal
y from it to the Mediterranean.
AS to the Red sea itself, it has
3 deep water throughout. Along the
main channel there is full half
mile of salt sea under the ships, and
in some places it is more than a mile
5 and half deep. The average depth
of the Gulf of Suez is greater than
the heighth of a 20-story fiat, ana
i two Washington monuments, one on
top of the other, could be sunken into
the Strait of Babel-Mandeb and leave
plenty of water above for the deep
4 est ocean steamer to go over them.
The Red sea is red hot. | have
steamed many miles along the equa-
1 tor, but this is much hotter. The wa
i ter here is shut in on both sides by
deserts, which furnish no streams to
cool it, and the tropical sun beats
down from January to December.
i AS a result the surface of the water
4 Is often 100 degrees above zero, and
1t forms a great hOt-water plant
Steaming the air The suns rays are
bottled up also by the deserts, which
& act as a second heat-radiating plant.
4 The result is that the air is often
Suifocating and there seems to be on
y a waving sheet of blue steel be-
4 tween us and the lower regions. In
deed, were it not for the electric fan
IN my cabin l should be unable to
write, and outside upon deck we have
double roofs OF canvas to temper the
rays of the sun. Last night many OF
the passengers slept outside their cab
ms On account of the heat. We eat
our meals famed by electricity, and
Yesterday we had a sandstone which
covered our ship with red dust, and
q even entered the north nleS and got