“From the beginning of October to the end of April, during what we may call the winter months, between the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb and Gebel Tor, in about latitude 15° 30´ north, the wind may be said to blow continually from the south, with the exception of a day or two at the time of the new or full moon, when it sometimes blows from the north. But frequently, for two months at a time, there is no change. “From Gebel Tor to latitude 19° or 20° the winds are variable at the same period, and blow as much from the north as from the south. One or other of these winds respectively prevails as you approach one or the other of these limits. “From 21° to 27° the north wind prevails during the same season, but half a lunation seldom passes without there being one or two days of south wind, especially from the end of November to the beginning of March. “From 27° to Suez, the wind is, almost constantly, north, and seldom interrupted by any wind from the south, unless it be in the months of December, January, and February. “In June, July, August, and September the north wind prevails without interruption, throughout the whole extent of the Red Sea, from Suez to Bab-el-Mandeb. Occasionally a change takes place, from the land side, principally in August and September, and during these months a fast sailer can make thirty-five miles a-day, beating from Mocha to Suez. In December, January, and February, a vessel will sometimes meet with a good wind from Mocha to Cosseir, and accomplish the run in six or seven days, whereas it is impossible to do the same from Cosseir to Mocha except in summer.” It appears from these extracts that the Red Sea is easily navigable, at all seasons, by sailing vessels, and that it is always possible so to arrange the periods of departure as to traverse it in both directions. We ought also to take into account the inconveniences experienced in the voyage round the Cape, resulting from the settled calms succeeding the continued tempests, the diseases which decimate the crews, and the disasters which are so frequent on passing the equator. We should also take into consideration that, if the difficulties are greater during a good part of the year for vessels going up the Red Sea, vessels coming down are, for that very reason, sure to meet with favourable winds. To leave no doubt on so important a question, and on which depends, in part, the success of the enterprise in contemplation, we will give a passage from a paper communicated to the _Société de Géographie_, by Count d’Escayrac de Lauture, the motto of which is, “Aperire terram gentibus.”