RECORDER RED SEA. 



advantage. The commanding general always re- 

 ronnoiirrs himself, but he must of course rely much 

 on liis aiils-de camp, as he cannot go every where 

 hiniM'lt'; nor is he allowed to expose himself so 

 much as is necessary, on some occasions, to obtain 

 the requisite information. The choice of the aids- 

 de-camp is therefore of the utmost importance. 

 Reconnoitering not unfrequently brings on engage- 

 ments, and considerable bodies of troops often 

 march out to cover the reconnoitering party, and 

 to make prisoners if possible, in order to obtain 

 information from them. The bad success of Napo- 

 leon in his last campaigns has been partly ascribed, 

 with much probability, by French writers them- 

 selves, to the unceasing activity of the Cossacks, 

 which in many cases prevented the aids-de-camp 

 of the French emperor from obtaining the informa- 

 tion which they were commissioned to seek, and 

 induced them to supply from their own invention 

 Uie deficiences in tiieir observations. 



RECORDER ; a person whom the chief magis- 

 trates of any city or town corporate, having juris- 

 diction and a court of record within their precincts, 

 associate with them for their better direction in 

 legal proceedings. He is usually a person expe- 

 rienced in the law. 



RECTANGULAR FIGURES and SOLIDS are 

 those which have one or more right angles. With 

 regard to the solids, they are commonly said to be 

 rectangular when their axes are perpendicular to 

 the planes of their bases. 



RED BAY. See Laurel. 



RED BOOK OF THE EXCHEQUER is an 

 ancient record, in which are registered the names 

 of those that held lands, per baroniam, in the time 

 of Henry II. It has also some things (as the 

 number of hydes of land in many of the English 

 counties) relating to the times before the conquest. 



RED BUD. This name is often applied to the 

 cercis Canadensis. See Judas Tree. 



RED CEDAR. See Juniper. 



RED RIVER, one of the principal branches of 

 the Mississippi, rises at the base of a range of the 

 Rocky mountains, called the Caous mountains, 

 near Santa Fe, in Mexico. There are many 

 streams rising in the same mountains, and flowing 

 separately for three or four hundred miles, and at 

 length uniting to form the Red river. The Blue 

 river, and the False Washita, are the largest 

 branches which it receives within the first four or 

 five hundred miles of its course. Of the tract of 

 country watered by these upper branches, and even 

 of the waters themselves, our knowledge is very 

 limited. The Pawnees are the principal inhabitants 

 of that region. After the river enters Louisiana, 

 the south bank of it is the boundary, for a long dis- 

 tance, between the United States and the province 

 of Texas. From both sides it continues, as it pro- 

 ceeds, to receive large tributaries. A great part 

 of its course is through delightful prairies, of a 

 rich, red soil, and covered with grass, and vines 

 which bear delicious grapes. About a hundred miles 

 above Natchitoches, commences what is called the 

 Raft. This is a swampy expansion of the alluvion 

 to the width of twenty or thirty miles. The river 

 divides into a great number of channels, many of 

 them shallow ; and for ages these channels have 

 been becoming clogged with a mass of fallen 

 timber carried down from the upper parts of the 

 river. The river finds channels between these 

 extensive masses of timber, and sometimes under 

 them ; and there are places where the Raft covers 

 the whole river, so that it can be crossed on horse- 

 back. Boats descend by passing round these 

 places. They follow some stream above the Raft, 



which flows from the river into a distant lake, and 

 then take tiie outlet by which the lake flows into 

 the river below the Raft. About sixty or seventy 

 miles of the river is thus obstructed. In many 

 places a considerable soil has been formed on the 

 Raft, upon which flourish weeds, flowering shrubs, 

 and willows. This obstruction is of incalculable 

 injury to the navigation of the river, and greatly 

 retards the settlement of the rich and healthful 

 country above it. There is probably no part of 

 the United States, where the unoccupied lands have 

 higher claims, from soil, climate, intermixture of 

 prairies, and timbered lands, position, &c., than the 

 country for nearly a thousand miles above the Raft. 

 Steam boats would ascend to that distance, at 

 moderate stages of the water, if the Raft were 

 removed. The state of Louisiana, and also the 

 general government, contemplate adopting means 

 for its removal. Below the Raft, the river divides 

 into many channels, and fills an immense number of 

 bayous and lakes that lie parallel to it ; and the 

 breadth of its principal channel is much less below 

 the Raft than above it. The valley of Red river 

 is three or four miles wide, as far as the Kiamesia, 

 about a thousand miles, following its meanders, 

 from its mouth. It widens as it approaches the 

 Mississippi, and is from six to eighteen miles wide 

 for a great distance from its mouth. Of all the 

 alluvions in the Mississippi valley, none is superior 

 to this. Cotton is at present its staple production, 

 but sugar cane has been introduced, and is expected 

 to succeed better than in any other extensive tract 

 in this valley. The climate and soil, as far as 

 Natchitoches, 200 miles, seem admirably adapted 

 to it The alluvions of the lower branches of thi? 

 river are also of similar quality. This valley 

 spreads from west to east ; its waters, therefore, 

 never become cold, like those of the Mississippi ; 

 the winters are milder, and spring advances much 

 earlier than at New Orleans ; and the sugar cane 

 will probably grow better in lat. 31 on Red river 

 and its branches, than in lat. 30 on the Missis- 

 sippi. The cotton also of this region is the best in 

 the United States, excepting the sea-island. Its 

 indigo and tobacco are the best in Louisiana. The 

 whole length of this noble river is estimated at 

 2500 miles, following its meanders, and it enters 

 the Mississippi in about 31 15' north latitude. It 

 probably discharged its waters into the gulf of 

 Mexico, at some former period, without uniting 

 with the Mississippi ; and the Atchafalaya now 

 occupies its former channel. Much of the soil 

 through which the Red river passes in its uppei 

 course, is of a reddish colour, which is imparted to 

 the waters, and gives the river its name. 



Red river is also the name of a river in the 

 northern part of North America, flowing into lake 

 Winnipeg, and having a course of about 320 miles 

 from the source of its principal branch in Red 

 lake. 



RED SEA, or ARABIAN GULF (anciently 

 Arabicus Sinus) ; an extensive gulf of the Indian 

 ocean, dividing Arabia from the opposite coast of 

 Africa, extending in a north-west direction from 

 the straits of Babelmandel to the isthmus of Suez, 

 where it approaches to within sixty miles of the 

 Mediterranean ; lat. 12 to 30 N. Its length is 

 about 1400 railed ; breadth, where greatest, about 

 200. This sea was anciently a greater channel of 

 commerce than in modern times. Its navigation is 

 rendered difficult by frequent obstructions from 

 coral rocks either above or under water, by storms, 

 and by the paucity of safe harbours. The principal 

 harbours are Suez, at its head; Cosseir, Suakem, and 

 Massuah on the west side ; Jidda, Jumbo, Ghun- 



