or Babelmandel, "the gate of mourning," a famous strait in the Indian Ocean, between the coast of Arabia Felix in Asia, and that of Adel and Zeila in Africa, at the entrance into the Red Sea. By some it is also called the Strait of Moka. It is narrow, being only seven miles wide, and difficult to navigate on account of the sand-banks. At the mouth of the strait is a small island called also Babelmandel, which is five miles in circumference, but barren and scarcely inhabited. Long. 44. 30. E. Lat. 12. 40. N.