EED SEA REDSTART 239 From October to May they blow from S. S. E., being strongest in February ; the rest of the year they are from N. N. W., and the strong- est in June and July. Sailing vessels find great difficulty in beating up against the wind from May to November, and the pilgrim ships from India are often obliged to put in at Hodeida and forward their passengers to Mecca and Medina by land. The tidal wave enters but a little way into the Red sea, and no ebb and flow of the tide is noticeable at the N. ex- tremity. The currents seem to be governed entirely by the winds. When the S. wind blows the water flows toward the gulf of Suez, and the surface is 2 ft. higher than when the N. wind prevails ; and after long continued N. winds the upper part of the gulf of Suez is sometimes fordable. In general the waters are at the same level with those of the Medi- terranean. The atmosphere of the Red sea is very oppressive during the hot months. In the latitude of Jiddah the average day temper- ature from December to March is 76 ; from March to the end of May, 87; during June, 93 ; in July, August, and September, 100 ; and in October and November, 85. When the S. wind blows in summer the temperature is frequently 107, and during the simoom, which blows from N. E. and E. N. E., but gen- erally for a few hours only, it sometimes rises to 132. The principal ports of the Red sea are : on the gulf of Suez, Suez and Tor ; on the African coast, Kosseir, Suakin, and Massowa ; and on the Arabian coast, Yambo, the port of Medina, Jiddah, the port of Mecca, Loheia, Hodeida, and Mocha. There are many other small harbors and inlets, frequented by the Arabs, who carry on most of the local com- merce, and who from long experience are ac- quainted with all the intricacies of the coast navigation. There are several lighthouses : one on Perim, one on the Dsedalus shoal, about 200 m. N. of Jiddah, one at Ras Sharib on the W. side of Jubal strait, and three in the gulf of Suez. There is a submarine telegraph ca- ble from Aden to Suez through the Red sea, which since the completion of the canal has become once more the highway of travel and commerce between the Mediterranean and In- dia. (See CANAL, and SUEZ.) The Red sea is often referred to in the Hebrew Scriptures under the name of Yam Suph, the sea of weeds, so called, it is supposed, from a small seaweed thrown up by its waters, probably the rytiphlosa pinastroides. The name Red is generally traced directly from the Latin Ru- ~brum and Greek 'EpvdpA, which were applied to this sea in common with the Persian gulf and Indian ocean by Herodotus and other ancient writers. (See ERYTHR^AN SEA.) Its origin has been variously deduced from the redness of the surrounding hills, of the coral reefs, of the seaweed, and of the water from the presence of animalcules, from early Phce- Inician (Gr. $oivi%, red) dwellers on the shores of the Erythrrean, and from Edom, "red," 700 TOL. xiv. 16 the Hebrew and Phoenician name of a country adjoining the gulf of Akabah. Himyar, the name of the founder of the Himyarite king- dom of S. W. Arabia, is supposed also to be derived from the Arabic ahmar, " red." The most interesting historical incident connected with the Red sea is the passage of the Israel- ites across it in their flight from Egypt. (See EXODUS.) By the Red sea in ancient times the trade between India and the countries on the Mediterranean was carried on ; and upon this sea and the other inland gulfs and seas of this part of the old world the earliest commer- cial operations were conducted, and the first ex- perience in navigation was gained. The Egyp- tians and Phoenicians established this trade with India, and so important was it to the former people, that the Pharaoh whom the Greeks call Sesostris is related to have had upon the Ara- bian gulf a fleet of 400 long vessels or ships of war, by means of which he protected it and subjugated the people on the borders of the sea who interfered with it. King Solomon built "a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom." (1 Kings ix. 26.) Ezion- geber was at the head of the gulf of Akabah, and these ships constituted the fleet which went to Ophir. For a long time the Heroopo- lite gulf or gulf of Suez was the chief avenue of the Egyptian traffic ; but the shoaling of the water at the head rendered navigation danger- ous, and in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus this route was nearly abandoned in favor of that by way of the new port of Berenice, near lat. 24, which was connected by a well con- structed road with Ooptos on the Nile, whence boats conveyed the merchandise to Alexandria. Myos-Hormos, about lat. 27 20', was also an important port under the Ptolemies and the Romans, and according to Strabo 120 ships left it annually for India. After the Mohammedan conquest of Egypt, a large commerce was car- ried on by the Arabs through the Red sea with India and China. In the middle ages the Gen- oese and Venetians were largely engaged in this trade, until the discovery by the Portu- guese of the route by the cape of Good Hope, when the Red sea lost its commercial impor- tance. This was in part revived when the English established the overland route to India, via the Cairo and Suez railway ; and since the opening of the Suez canal this ancient route has once more assumed its former importance. REDSHID PASHia See RESHID PASHA. REDSTART, the common name of an Ameri- can and a European genus of birds of the warbler family. In the American genus, se- tophaga (Swains.), the bill is as in the 'fly- catchers (in which family they are included by some authors), and abruptly curved and notched at the tip ; the wings rounded, with the second to fourth quills longest ; tail long, graduated, and broad ; tarsi and toes short. There are many species, mostly in South and Central America, brilliantly marked with red,
