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APPENDIX.

has recently found numerous advocates, and this fact is
worthy their attention.
The shores on either side of the Gulf of Aden, as
well as the islands contained within it, bear traces of
having been subjected at no very distant period to a
series of volcanic eruptions. These are more appa­
rent near the entrance of the Red Sea; several vol­
canoes, there is reason to believe, were here once in
active simultaneous operation; but one alone, Jebel
Teir, remains unextinguished. The craters of the
others may be seen at Kotumbal, at one of these
islands, and on the coast to the westward of Makullah,
and at Mi'dan, where it is now converted into a deep cir­
cular lake. In some parts of this (the Arabian) coast
blocks of lava are so thickly clustered, that they re­
semble mounds of ruins. In the north-east monsoon,
every day brings a clear atmosphere and cloudless
sky, and the appearance of such part of its shores as
is thus covered, contrasts by its blackness, in a most
remarkable manner, with the bright and glistening sand
in which these masses are embedded.
An inequality in the height of the surface of
the water at certain seasons in the Red Sea has long
been known in Europe, and some occasional notices
on the subject will be found in the course of this
volume.
With a view to their continuation I was induced
during my stay on these islands * to renew my
observations under an impression that I should, at the
entrance to the sea, trace a close connexion between
• I resided there three weeks, for the purpose of making astronomical
observations.