171 



RKD SEA. 



171 



aad a county court are held in th* town. Of the abbey 

 s there are eom* ruin*, especially the gateway and part of the 

 great kill; there are aJ*o some interesting remain* of the abbey mill. 

 Of the building* of a convent of Orayfriars, the weet window and 

 part of the church remain. Races take place at Reading iu August. 



READING. [PtHMYlYAKlA.] 



BEALEJO. [NiCiRAQCA.] 



RECAXATI. . 



RKCKLISUHAUSEN. 

 VER. IKKT.) 



RED RIVER. [Muaresirn, River.] 



RED SEA, aa inlet of the Indian Ocean, which extends from the 

 strait of Bab-el-Uandeb, in 12* 40' V. lat., in a north by went direction, 

 to 80* X. lat. It lie* between 32" SO' and 43* SO' E. long., and is 

 little abort of 1400 mile* long. From the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, 

 which i* only 16 mile* wide, the Red Sea gradually increase* in 

 breadth ; at th* distance of ICO mile* from the strait it is 180 miles 

 aero** : thi* breadth may be considered as the average width from 

 KM Eiieh or the island of Camarau to Jiddah, a distance of nearly 

 500 miles. Off Jiddah it is not much more than 120 miles wide; 

 and this width continue* to Raa Mohammed, south of 28 N. lat, 

 where the eea divide* into two arms; this interval considerably 

 noexh 500 mile* in length. Of the two arms, into which the Red 

 Sea branches off at Ra* Hohammed, the eastern is called Bahr-el- 

 Akaba. and the western Bahr-el-Suez, or Kolsum. Between these 

 two golfs i* the mountain region of Mount Sinai, or Jibbel Mua 

 (Mount of Xoeea). The Bhrel Akaba branches off in a north-eastern 

 direction, and extend* more than 100 miles, with an average width of 

 lee* than 15 mile*. Near it* entrance is the island of Tiran, which 

 i* 600 feet above the level of the sea, and between it and the con- 

 tinent are two strait*, of which only the western, called the strait of 

 Tiran, i* navigable for large vessels. The entrance of the Bahr-el- 

 Sues i* called the strait of .Tubs], or Jublah, and is about 15 miles 

 across. The gulf itself runs in a north by west direction to its 

 extremity at the town of Suez, a distance exceeding 180 miles; its 

 average width ia 20 miles. The surface of the Red Sea is about 

 180,000 square mile*. 



The Red Sea i* of great depth. The shallowest part is the Gulf 

 of Suez, which in the middle, towards the Strait of Jublah, is from 

 40 to 50 fathoms deep ; farther north iU depth decreases to 30 fathoms ; 

 and approaching the harbour of Suez, it shoals to 20 fathoms, and by 

 degree* to 3 fathoms, which is the depth of the harbour itself. The 

 Gulf of Akaba varies in its middle part between 100 and 200 fathoms. 

 The main body of the sea is still deeper, and in most parts a bottom 

 cannot be found at the depth of 100 fathoms; in some places it is 

 230 fathom* deep. Towards the southern extremity, south of 16 

 N. lat, it grows much shallower, the depth in general not exceeding 

 40 or 50 fathoms. 



The sea generally shoal* near the shores; but the navigation is 

 rendered difficult by islands, banks, and the prevailing winds. Small 

 rooky island* are tolerably numerous, especially along the eastern 

 shores, but a* they usually contain small harbours they would be 

 rather advantageous were it not for the adjacent reefs. The islands 

 are generally isolated, except between 15 and 17 N. lat, where the 

 group of the Faraan Islands occurs along the eastern shore, and on the 

 western that of the Dbalak Islands, each of which consists of a larger 

 island and a great number of smaller islands, between which there 

 are numerous reefs. South of these groups there are some islands 

 dispersed in the middle of the sea, as Jibbel Teer.the Zebayer Islands 

 (Jezayer es Seba, or the Seven Islands), and others. Two of these 

 islands are volcanic, and on Jibbel Teer there is an active volcano, 900 

 feet above the sea. 



The Red Sea i* the most northern portion of the ocean in which 

 coral reefs occur, and they are more numerous than in any other part 

 of the eea of equal extent They almost always extend in a tolerably 

 straight line, parallel to the coast; the interior is filled up, so that 

 they never contain a lagoon, a* ia almost invariably the case with 

 tboae in the Pacific. Theee coral reefs are frequently united with the 

 adjacent continent*, and render the shores almost inaccessible, as the 

 water near thrai i* very deep, and the reef* themselves have only 

 from 3 to feet water, which gradually shoals on approaching the 

 beach, so that even boats are stopped at the distance of a quarter of 

 a mile from the dry land. The reefs which are unconnected with the 

 bores are (till more numerous, and frequently several miles from 

 them. Their edges towards the open *ea are very steep, and the sea 

 lUelf is of great depth. But the edge which is opposite the mom- 

 land ha* usually a gradual and gentle slope, and affords good anchorage 

 to TeewU. The tea between thi* inner edge and the mainland is 

 generally not v*ry deep, aad the small veesel* of the country navigate 

 UMM straits in preference to the open sea, a* the water is less agitated 

 by the winds, and they are always in the neighbourhood of some place 

 which oflers anchorage iu case a gale should ri*e. Tho winds, which 

 commonly are very trong in the open sea, can hardly be said to extend 

 to UMM strait*, *o that small vcawl* can take advantage of the sea 

 and land breeze*, which set in at certain hours of the day during the 

 greatest part of the year. These advantage* however are lost by the 

 neoeseitT of putting into tome harbour during the night 



Th* Red Sea occupie* the lowest portion of a deep valley which 



lie* between the elevated table-land of Arabia on the east, and the 

 high lands of Abyssinia, Nubia, and Kgypt on the west. The outer 

 edge of these table-land* i* generally from 10 to 80 miles from tin- 

 shore*, and ha* the appearance of a continuous mountain range, vary- 

 ing in height between 3000 and 6000 feet These mountains approach 

 much nearer to the shores north of 24 N. lat than south of that 

 parallel. The space between them and the shores is partly oceiij.i.- 1 

 by hills, which skirt the edges of the table-land, and partly by a low 

 and level tract along the sea, which is generally sandy, but sometimes 

 swampy. This tract, as well as the hills between it and the mountain?, 

 is far from being sterile, and it has also the advantage of rains iu 

 November, December, and January ; but it is nearly uncultivated, as 

 the inhabitants, who consist of several tribes of Beduin Arabs, are 

 averse to industry, and make no other use of these tracts than as 

 posture-grounds when the grass on the table-land is dried up. 



During the warm season, from May to October, northern breezes 

 prevail, and for the rest of the year southerly winds blow with great 

 constancy. During the continuance of the northerly winds there U s 

 current out of this sea into the Qulf of Aden, and the depth of water 

 on the reefs is diminished two feet During the seasou of southerly 

 winds the current sets into the Red Sea from the Indian Ocean, and 

 then the depth of water in the northern part of the Red Sea is con- 

 siderably increased. Lieutenant Maury, in his 'Directions to accompany 

 the Wind and Current Charts,' argues (without taking the action of 

 the winds into account) that the waters of the Red Sea ought to be 

 lower at the isthmus of Suez than at the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb ; 

 and infers, with great probability, an under or outer current from the 

 Red Sea as there is from the Mediterranean through the Strait of 

 Gibraltar. The Red Sea lies in a rainless nnd riverless tract or nearly 

 so ; the loss by evaporation in the course of its great length is very 

 considerable, making the surface of the sea an inclined plane ; the loss 

 by evaporation, together with the diminution of the temperature 

 (between Bab-el-Mandeb and Suez), renders the water colder ami 

 and therefore heavier at the isthmus ; the lighter water at the strait of 

 Bab-el-Mandeb cannot balance the heavier water at the isthmus, and 

 therefore this must run out as an under current. According to a 

 French survey made across the Isthmus of Suez iu 1853, the surface 

 of the Red Sea was one metre (3 feet 3 inches) higher thau the surface 

 of the Mediterranean. 



The principal harbours on the Arabian shores are Mokha, Hodeidah, 

 and Jiddah; and on the African, Suez, Cosseir or C'osire, Suakin, ana 

 Massowah. There is a pretty active communication kept up between 

 these places, especially by the numerous pilgrims who visit Mecca and 

 Medina from the eastern countries of Africa. Groin and slaves con- 

 stitute the chief exports from Africa to Arabia. As Arabia does not 

 produce sufficient supplies for the pilgrims who visit Mecca, and 

 annually amount to above 120,000, the transport of grain from Cosire 

 to Jiddah employs a considerable number of vessels of 50 to 200 

 tons burden. The groin is brought from Upper Kgypt by camels to 

 Cosire. 



As the countries along the shores of the Red Sea do not produce 

 many articles of export, they are not much visited by foreign vessels. 

 The few which navigate this sea go to Mokha and Jiddah. They 

 come from the Persian Gulf, Hindustan, and the Indian Archipelago, 

 with wheat, tobacco, dates, carpets, rice, sugar, and Dacca muslins : 

 also coarse and fine blue cloths, cambric, and indigo; with teak-limb r, 

 palm-oil, cocoa-nuts, spices, and young females, who are sold to the 

 Turks. The returns for the foreign goods imported into Jiddah are 

 generally cosh, which is brought by the pilgrims, to whom nearly all 

 the goods are sold ; but coffee, gum, myrrh, nnd frankincense are 

 exported from Mokha. The Red Sea is now regularly navigated by 

 British steamers, which convey passengers and the Indian mail over 

 this sea and across the Indian Ocean between Suez and Bombay. 



The first mention of the Red Sea occurs in the Bible, on the occa- 

 sion of the Israelites passing through it. In the time of Solomon the 

 advantages of its navigation were well understood ; for after the 

 conquest of Idumaca by David, and the acquisition of the country 

 near the Bahr-el-Akaba, Solomon established at Elath and Eziou 

 Geber, on the shores of that gulf, a colony of Phoenician navigators. 

 It is probable that before the time of Alexander the Great some con- 

 nection existed between the Red Sea and India. Subsequently to the 

 death of Alexander the policy of the kings of Egypt favoured the 

 navigation and commerce of the Red Sea, and it became soon the 

 principal channel of commerce between Europe and India. In tho 

 1st century of the Christian era this trade was so considerable, that, 

 according to Strabo, 120 vessels annually departed from Myos HoruiOH 

 to India, In the 9th century the Arabs extended their navigation 

 from the Red Sea through the Indian Ocean to Canton in China. .Soon 

 after that time the Venetians established factories in Alexandria ; ami 

 the goods of India passed by the Red Sea to that town, and then. o 

 to Europe, during the period between the 12th and 15th centuries, 

 until tho discovery of the route round the Cape of Good Hope directed 

 the whole commerce of India into a different channel. 



The name Red Sea is a translation of the Latin Rubrum Mare, and 

 the Greek term ('Epvtyxk Bd^atraa) used by Strabo. Herodotus c;ilU 

 the Red Sea the Arabian Gulf, and also includes it in the general 

 term of Erythraean Sea, which comprises the Indian Ocean and the 

 Persian Gulf. In the Hebrew Scriptures it is always called Yam 



