(i.e. the gate of tears), so called from the dangers attending its navigation, or, according to an Arabic legend, from the numbers who were drowned by the earthquake which separated the coasts of Asia and Africa) is the strait lying between the coasts of Arabia and Abyssinia, and connecting the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean. The distance across, from a projecting cape on the Arabian shore to the opposite coast of Africa, is about 20 miles. The intermediate space contains several small islands, Perim, the largest, being in Lat. 12° 35' 30" N., Long. 43° 28' E. Perim divides the strait into two channels, of which the eastern, though the smaller, is the most frequented. It is from 1½ to 4 miles in breadth, with a depth of from 7 to 14 fathoms; the western channel has a depth of about 180 fathoms.