. Cassell's history of the war in the Soudan. 20,000 Sepoys,to hold the wells along the line ofmarch. On the other hand. General Sartoriuswas of opinion that one brigade of well- to act efficiently from Suakim, and whenthe first day of his inspection ended theAdmiral came to the conclusion thatany forward movement would end onlyin massacre and disaster. Osman Digna, the Mahdis second incommand, despatched a missive to theofficer commanding in Tokar, summon- TEE RED SEA. 93 ing him instantly to capitulate, addingthat the garrisons in the Soudan werefast falling into the hands of his holymaster,
. Cassell's history of the war in the Soudan. 20,000 Sepoys,to hold the wells along the line ofmarch. On the other hand. General Sartoriuswas of opinion that one brigade of well- to act efficiently from Suakim, and whenthe first day of his inspection ended theAdmiral came to the conclusion thatany forward movement would end onlyin massacre and disaster. Osman Digna, the Mahdis second incommand, despatched a missive to theofficer commanding in Tokar, summon- TEE RED SEA. 93 ing him instantly to capitulate, addingthat the garrisons in the Soudan werefast falling into the hands of his holymaster, who was now about to invadeEgypt, a rumour which made excite-ment spread far and fast along theshores of the Red Sea. The origin of the name of this sea Mount Sinai, the whole bay, of whichthat village is the port, red as blood,the open sea keeping its ordinarycolour. The wavelets caiTied to theshore, during the heat of the day, apurple mucilaginous matter, and leftit upon the sand, so that in about halfan hour the whole bay was surrounded. OSUAN DIONA MARCHING ON SUAKIM. perplexed every new-comer, as at Suakim,Massowah, and elsewhere, its waters areof the deepest blue, unlike those of theSuez Canal, which are of the clearestgreen. Moquin-Tandon states, says awriter in the Gentlemans Magazine, that the Red Sea was so called fromthe prevalence of a minute bright redplant, so small, that 25,000,000 findroom to live in one square inch. Hequotes a passage from Ehrenberg, whotells us that he saw from Tor, near by a red fringe, which—on examination—proved to consist of myriads of tinyfibres about the twelfth of an inch long—namely, the red trichodesmium : thewater in which they floated was quitepure. To the Hebrews it was knownas the Yam Sujj/i, or sea of sedge. Bythe Greeks in the earliest times thename of Red Sea was applied to thewhole Indian Ocean, including both theRed Sea and the Persian Gulf, then andafterwards styled the Arabian Gulf, 94 CHAPTEE X. OSMAN DIGNA. Sketch
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