Desert and Water Gardens of the Red Sea
Being an Account of the Natives and the Shore Formations of the Coast

A 1913 scientific survey of coral reefs on the Red Sea coast, containing vivid descriptions of Sudanese landscapes and people.

Cyril Crossland (Author)

9781108016018, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 31 October 2010

250 pages, 91 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 1.4 cm, 0.32 kg

Cyril Crossland (1878–1943) was Director of the Sudan Pearl Fishery between 1905 and 1922. At this time, the British colonial government had taken charge of running the fishery, with local fishermen as employees. A marine biologist and zoologist, Crossland was praised in his obituary in the journal Nature as 'one of the last explorer-naturalists of the Darwin type'. This book is both an account of his life in the Sudan and a scientific survey of the coral reefs on the Red Sea coast. It offers a lively description of the region, its people and customs, and a clear, accessible explanation of the development of coral reefs. In Crossland's time this region had not been fully mapped by Western explorers and this study was an important contribution to knowledge. The book is illustrated with many of Crossland's own photographs of landscapes and people and his diagrams of the coral reefs.

Preface
Part 1. The Desert and its People: 1. The Sudan coast
2. The people, social and religious conditions
3. Religious observances and superstitions
4. The daily life of the people
5. Sailors, fishermen and pearl divers
6. Women's life
Part 2. Corals and Coral Reefs: 7. Corals and coral animals
8. The building of reefs
9. The making of the Red Sea
Index.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC]