226 AUSTRALIA AND HOMEWARD. 



the same evening passed the narrow straits of Babel- 

 mandeb, and entered the waters of the Red Sea, 

 around which so many historic memories cling. The 

 moon, nearly full, gives us a good view of the rocky 

 coast and islands, for she is shining her very best, and 

 is so directly above our heads that if the " man" were 

 to fall off, he would drop squarely on our deck. And 

 there, too, is our old friend the North Polar Star and 

 the Dipper, with pointers well above the horizon at 

 11 p.m., with the handle still below the waves. We 

 are reminded by the face of our old familiar friend 

 that we are back again into the Northern Hemisphere, 

 and begin already to have a home-like feeling. 



A lady asked yesterday why the sea is called 

 " Red"; the quartermaster, standing near, said that it 

 was " because here Jonah swallowed the whale," which 

 showed that he would be none the worse if he were a 

 little more re(a)d. Well, I did not know why. If I 

 ever heard, I certainly had forgotten. While I was 

 writing about the moon and her " man," a few lines 

 back, my wife came running down from the upper 

 deck and told me to look out of the window, "quick!" 

 (I often need a little poking up in that way.) 



Here was the answer to the lady's question. We 

 were passing through water which seemed to be mixed 

 with brick dust. The billows rolled up by our ship 



