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$th January, il 



Mr. Joseph J. Murphy, in the Chair. 



Mr. Thomas Workman, J.P., read a Paper on 



EASTERN REMINISCENCES— ADEN, INDIA, AND 

 BURMAH. 



Mr. Thomas Workman stated that his lecture was a con- 

 tinuation of a former one, descriptive of his voyage to and residence 

 in different parts of India and Burmah. He commenced by a 

 description of the shores of the Red Sea, referring to the gorgeous 

 colouring of the mountains which crown them. One of these 

 mountains is the famous three-peaked Jebel Katharina, better 

 known by its ancient name of Mount Sinai. The Red Sea, 

 though fog or snow are utterly unknown and storms are very 

 rare, is, nevertheless, one of the most dangerous seas known to 

 navigators, and in it the seaman is never free from anxiety on 

 account of the haze and mirage which prevail. At the island 

 of Perim, where the Red Sea narrows to the straits of Bab-el- 

 Mandeb, or the Gate of Tears, the hulls of many steamers may 

 be seen along the shore as warning beacons to the careless navi- 

 gator. Its name of Gate of Tears is said to have been given to 

 it because of the disasters sailors met in its vicinity. A short 

 distance round the projecting coastline from the straits of Bab- 

 el-Mandeb is the port and town of Aden, which in Arabic means 

 Paradise, though to the British traveller another name would 

 seem more suitable. The town is situated in a valley — ap- 

 parently the crater of an extinct volcano — and is surrounded by 



