11 I V 



It I V 



wen in different fituations and circumftances where thefe be thrown into the ford. Yet even in this cafe, obferv 



forts of guards are wanting. writer, the object could not be accomplished if the river 



River Guide, a flrong work of the pier kind, carried were broad, unlefs the perlons employed in the undertaking 



out on them for the purpofe of difpofing their ilreams to be under the cover of io heavy a difcharge of ordnance and 



take more fuitable directions or courles for preventing mufquetry, that the enemy would not be able to interrupt 



their mifchievous effects on the banks or lands on their fides. 

 See RlVEH-Bunis, Securing. 



RlVEH Weeds, in Farming, are fuch forts of plants as 

 grow on the fides, and other parts, of rivers. When col- 

 lected in large quantities, they are highly valuable for the 

 purpofe of manure. And in compoft with other fub- 

 ltances they have been found of much utility in the practice 

 of fevcral writers in the Tranfadtions of the Bath fociety. 

 And Mr. Crowe, of Lakenham, in Norfolk, according to 

 Mr. Young's agricultural furvey of that diltrict, manures 

 four acres annually for turnips, with the weeds of a river 

 that runs by his farm ; the plants are chiefly the philandrium 

 aquaticum, and fium noditiorum, the water hemlock and 

 water parlnip. It is Hated that he lays twenty loads of thirty 

 bufhels per acre, and ploughs in directly ; which are as good 

 on fand and mixed loam as the belt dung ; but not equal on 

 ltiff foils ; and it is added, that Mr. Bloomheld, of Billing- 

 fold, has been in the habit of manuring his turnip lands with 

 weeds freih from the river, and ploughed in quickly ; they 

 have anlwered as well as yard muck, 



them, even from an intrenched pofition on the oppotit- 

 bank. 



With refpeft to caltrops, the removal of them, wh» 

 properly distributed at the bottom of a ford, mull be at- 

 tended with great difliciilty ; for they mud render the paf- 

 fage abfolutely impracticable, unlefs they were to fink very- 

 deep into the mud and fand, and thus become ufelels. The 

 men that iirlt enter are in this cafe the only perfons incom- 

 moded, but the reft may follow without much hazard. 



It Sometimes happens, that the bottom of a dream or 

 rivulet is firm and gravelly ; when this occurs, the grcateit 

 precautions mult be taken to efcape the effects ot caltrops, 

 which would be extremely hurtful to any perfons that might 

 attempt to crofs. In order to obviate their mifchievous 

 confequencs, and to render them in a manner ufeiefs, a good 

 ftock of hurdles mult be provided. The foldiers will hand 

 thefe to one another, force them into the water, and then 

 cover them with itones. 



When one or two fords in a river are fo Situated, that 

 feveral battalions cannot crofs them upon one front, it 



But where thefe forts of materials are made ufe of for the then highly prudent to throw a bridge over, either above or 



purpofe of manure, the plants ihould be removed while in below the ford ; for a fwell may intervene and render it 



their moil fucculent green flate, and be turned into the foil otherwife impall'able ; add to which, you have the advantage 



as quickly as poffible afterwards. In the making of them up of getting a greater number of troops over at once, 

 into compofls, a great lofs is probably fuitained in the ex- In order to effect a paifage for his army over the river 



trication and dilTipation of the more fluid parts. And it is Segre, Ccefar gave directions that ditches, thirty feet broad, 



obvious, that as manure they mult be the moil ufeful when mould be dug in fuch parts of the banks as might, witheafe, 



applied to the light friable defcriptions of foils, as in thefe receive the water out of the ftream, and render it fordable. 



they run more rapidly into a ftate of putrefaction. It is Having accomplifhed this object, he found no difficulty :n 



probable they cannot be ufed with advantage on the iliff reaching Petreius, who, being in the daily fear of wanting 



heavy foils in their green ftate. See Manure and Weeds. proviiions and forage for his men, was on the eve of quitting 



River, Fordable, in Military Language, a river which 

 may be palled without the affillance of any floating 

 machine?. In order to found the ford, and to afcer- 

 tain the ftate of it, men on horfeback are firfl ordered to 

 crofs. By that means you will be able to know whether 

 any obilacles have been thrown in the way by the enemy ; 

 for nothing is more eafily effected. The paflage of a 

 ford may be rendered impracticable by throwing whole 

 trees in, by tables or platforms covered with nails, and 

 by flakes. The two latter impediments are the molt 

 dangerous. But ltakes are not eafily fixed, and are confe- 

 quently feldom ufed. When fords are embarraffed by them, 

 it requires fome time and trouble to clear the river ; and it 

 is equally difficult to get rid of the inconvenience that arifes 

 when wells have been funk. Whenever there is reafon to 

 apprehend fuch obilacles, it is always bell to reach the ford 

 at dufk. 



When the prince of Conde, in 1567, relolved to crofs the 

 river Seine, the Royalills, who were on the opposite fide, en- 

 deavoured to prevent his patTage by throwing quantities of 

 madriers or thick planks that were nailed together, iron 



hoops and water-cats into the ford. The Huguenots or 

 Proteltants, however, were not diverted from their pur- 

 pofe. Aubigne, a French writer, fays, that on that oc- 

 cafion they placed 400 arquebufiers upon the bank to protect 

 the men that raked the ford. 



This was certainly a fingular method which was ufed to 

 clear a ford, nor could it be done without much difficulty, 

 and no inconfiderable fliare of danger. The chevalier Fo- 

 lard has propofed a much fafer, and a much eafier way, by 

 Means of grappling hooks, tied to long ropes, which might 



his pofition and marching forwards. 



The paflage of the Granicus by Alexander the Great, is 

 likewife mentioned in liillory, as an inftance of bold enter- 

 prife. But however celebrated that aCl may be in ancient 

 records, we fliall not be thought partial to the moderns when 

 we Hate, that the paflage of the river Holowitz by Ch. XII. 

 of Sweden, was equally bold and well managed. 



The paflage of the Teglimcnti by Bonaparte during his 

 campaign in Italy, is the molt celebrated of the prefent day. 

 River Bay, in Geography, a bay on the N.E. coaft of 

 Barbadoes ; two miles N.W. of Cuckold's Point. 



River's Canal, an inlet on the N.W. coalt of North 

 America, difcovered by Capt. Vancouver in the year 1 792. 

 This canal extends from S. to N. about 16 miles, and termi- 

 nates in N. lat. 51 42'. E. long. 232° 22 r . 



RlVER of the IV eft, a river of North America, which 

 runs into the Pacific ocean, N. lat. 43 18'. W. long. 122 

 30'. 



River Horfe, in Zoology. See Hippopotamus. 

 River Navigations, in Hydrology, denote thofe which 

 are wholly or in a great part reftriCted to the ancient channel 

 or bed of a river. See Canal. 



River, Neva. See Canal and Company. 

 RIVERHE AD, in Geography, a townfliip of New York, 

 in Suffolk county, Long ifland ; it was taken from the 

 tbwnfhip of Southold, incorporated in 1792, and contains 

 icoi inhabitants. 



RIVERIUS, Lazarus, in Biography, a dillinguiuVd 

 phylician of the 17th century, was born at Montpcllicr in 

 the year 1589. He lludied in his native univerlity, but was 

 very flow in his attainments, iufomuch that he failed in his 



firfl 



