"I cannot inform you why it is so called, if there was any reason for doing so; very likely it was given to it for no reason at all, as some of the ships in the British navy are supplied with classical names for the mere sound of the words, as Agamemnon, Achilles, though with some reference to the trade of the originals in war."
"Why is it placed here all alone in the middle of this sea?" asked Louis, who had looked about it for any signs of rocks.
"It is built on a dangerous reef which is never above water, though some small round black rocks are seen at low tide awash. They look like the kettles in which cooks get up a boiled dinner; and for this reason the Arabs call the reef Abu Kizan, which means the 'father of pots.' As you perceive, the ship is now out of sight of land; for the Red Sea is a hundred and twenty miles wide at this point. But there is the gong for breakfast, and we must attend to that."
The usual hour for the conference was nine o'clock when the ship was at sea. So far the weather was remarkably pleasant; the north-west wind was very gentle, and the ship hardly pitched at all. At the regular hour the passengers had assembled on the promenade. The map of Arabia had been placed on the frame as before, and it was understood that Mohammed was to be the subject of the conference.
"What has become of Koser, Captain Ringgold?" asked Mrs. Belgrave, as the commander joined the party.
"We passed it about two o'clock this morning," replied the captain.
"I felt some interest in that town; for when we were on the Nile we came to a place where the Arabs wanted us to take the journey of four days across the desert to Koser on camels," the lady explained.
"It is the first port in Egypt we come to, and was formerly an important place, though the Suez Canal has diverted the greater part of its trade. It was one of the chief outlets for the productions of Egypt, especially grain, while those of Arabia and other Eastern countries passed in by the same route. The poorer Mohammedans of Egypt make their pilgrimage to Mecca this way, journeying across the Arabian Desert on foot or by camel, and by steamers or dhows to Yembo.
"General Sir Ralph Abercromby, who commanded the British army at Abukir when the French had possession of Egypt, landed at this port, marched across the desert to the Nile, which he descended to Cairo, where he found that the French army had surrendered to the English. The population has fallen from seven thousand to twelve hundred. The more wealthy Egyptians and Arabs make their pilgrimage now by the way of Suez, and in the season there are plenty of steamers to take them to Yembo.
"We are now nearing the Tropic of Cancer, and when we have passed it we shall be in the Torrid Zone, in which are situated all those places on the globe where the sun is ever directly overhead. The tropics are generally said to be twenty-three and a half degrees from the equator, which is near enough for ordinary purposes, but it is not quite accurate. When the sun is at the summer solstice, June 21, it is overhead on this tropic, and enters the constellation of Cancer, after which it is named. Nicer calculations than I can follow show that the sun is not precisely overhead at this place every year. In January of this year the tropics were in latitude 23° 27' 11.84'', which places it nearly three miles farther south than the location usually named. I yield the floor to Professor Giroud."