The New International Encyclopædia/Assab

ASSAB, ȧs-säb', or, sä'bȧ. An inlet of the Red Sea, on the African coast, near Bab-el-Mandeb (Map: Africa, J 3). It is about 16 miles long by 5 miles wide, and about 50 feet deep at Busna, the main anchoring-place. Together with two small islands in front of it, Assab was ceded to the Italian Government, in 1881, by an Italian steamship company, which had acquired it in 1869. The town of Assab is situated at the entrance to the bay, and has a population of 500.