ApRIL 16, 1914] 
NATURE 
163 
Ret ke SEA GOAST:* 
R. CROSSLAND, as marine biologist to 
the Sudan Government, has been resident 
for some years in the neighbourhood of Suakin, 
and has had ample opportunities to become inti- 
mately acquainted, not only with this portion of | 
the Red Sea coast, but also with the inhabitants of | 
this interesting part of Africa. Living in 
the course of his work in close acquaint- 
ance with some fifty or sixty employees, 
among whom were Arabs from Sinai and 
Yemen, Negroes from the. Upper Nile, 
and especially Hamites, the descendants of 
the original inhabitants of north-eastern 
Africa, he finds that they range in intelli- 
gence between much the same limits. as 
the uneducated class of European lands. 
The social and religious conditions of these 
three nationalities are well described and 
illustrated by numerous instances which 
came under the author’s notice, and his 
descriptions of them provide a valuable 
addition to our knowledge of these peo- 
ples. In the arid region which they in- 
habit, the life of the Hamitic nomad tribes 
is a hard one, and the extremely local 
character of the scanty rainfall and the 
consequent scarcity of forage for their 
camels and flocks impose on them the, 
necessity for constantly shifting their en- 
campment. While the Hamites are the 
camel-owners of the district, the Arabs 
and their Negro slaves hold almost a mon- 
opoly of the sea traffic in their coasting 
vessels, ‘‘Sambuks,” in which they cruise 
up and down the Red Sea, and it is on 
the coast-belt that they come into con- 
tact. 
A short chapter on corals introduces us 
to an account of the building of the reefs. 
Here a good account is given of the 
growth of the shore-reefs, with examples 
from the Red Sea and from other places, 
and of the erosion and deposition which is 
going on at various points by the tidal 
currents where these are sufficiently de- 
veloped. At Port Sudan the tidal range is 
extremely small, being rarely more than 30 
cm., but at other parts of the Red Sea 
this is greatly exceeded. The book con- 
cludes with a very instructive chapter on 
the tectonic structure of the Red Sea, 
which is a welcome addition to Suess’s 
general discussion of it, and to the more 
detailed work of Hume, Ball, and Blanc- 
kenhorn in the northern portion. 
Mr. Crossland considers that the sandstone hills 
of the coastal plain were deposited previous to the 
extensive faulting of the Red Sea area, which 
eventually resulted in three parallel fault-blocks. 
Of these the first and nearest to the Red Sea hill- 
1 ** Desert and Water Gardens of the Red Sea.” Being an Account of 
the Natives and the Shore Formations of the Coast. By Cyril Crossland. 
Pp. xv-+158-+x!I plates. (Cambridge University Press, 1913.) Price ros. 6d. 
net. 
SAE 
SSS 
NO. 2320, VOL. 93] 
ranges once formed a barrier reef near the foot of 
the mountain, and a coastal plain was formed 
behind it. Further movements produced an outer 
barrier reef on another fault block, and within this 
now a coastal plain has been built up. The present 
barrier itself is being formed on a third and out- 
lying fault-block, and the deep lagoons so typical 
of this coast le within it. These descriptions, 
Hi 
Hea, 28 
Gaye ast al 
LA 
An elderly Bishari. From ‘‘ Deserts and Water Gardens of the Red Sea.” 
which have largely appeared in the Journal of the 
Linnean Society, show what an interesting field 
awaits the physiographer and the geologist along 
these shores of the Red Sea. The descriptions both 
of the people and of the country are excellently 
true to life, and furnish an interesting and accurate 
account of a little-known region, though the dis- 
comforts of residence there during the hot season 
