_ 133 _ know the sea extremely well, as well as the location of all the ridges. They charge up to 30 cruzados for each voyage, and at low-tide one can walk from Mihum to this islet dry-shod: There is another channel between Mihum and the Prester's lands, which is about 25 to 30 "arms" deep, but few ships sail through it. The Arabs call this sea Bahar Quezum, which in the Arabic language means "closed sea" (it could also mean "dense", "compact"); however, our name for it, namely "Red Sea", is more appropriate, because one can see in it many patches of blood-red water. I could never find out about the reason for this colouring, except that it is the result of the movement of the waters during the tides, because it appears that there are certain parts at the bottom of the sea which consist of red sand; it is even said that there is red sand underneath the whole sea, because there are no currents there, apart from the flooding and ebbing tides, which flow into it and out of it. Since it is divided (I'm not quite sure what this means, but it probably refers to the fact that the Red Sea is so to speak separated from the Indian Ocean) and not very deep, when there is a strong westerly wind the water flows out of it with greater speed; conversely, when there is a strong easterly wind that water flows into it more quickly.
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