arating between Texas and the Indian territory, till it enters the state of Arkansas. At the village of Fulton, in this state, it bends to the south, passes into Louisiana, and traverses that state in a S.E. direction, joining the Mississippi about 200 miles above New Orleans. Its whole length is estimated at 1200 miles, about 500 of which are regularly navigated by steamers. The name is characteristic; for the water is tinged with red, from the soil of the prairies through which it flows. About 530 miles above its confluence with the Mississippi the river is obstructed by what is called "the Great Raft." This is a vast accumulation of trees and drift-wood, conveyed down the stream and lodged here; so that the river, obstructed in its course, flows over the adjacent country, and forms many side channels and lakes. The impediment was cleared away by the government at great expense in 1834–5, but since that time it has again been formed.a market-town of England, county of Cornwall, on the brow of a hill, 8 miles W.S.W. of Truro, and 9 N.W. of Falmouth. The surrounding country, barren and covered with heaps of rubbish, presents no very delightful appearance to the eye, but is full of mineral riches, especially copper and tin. In the town, consisting mainly of one long street, are a town-hall, court-house, market-house, and fine granite clock-tower. The church, about half a mile off, was, with the exception of its Gothic tower, rebuilt in 1768. A chapel of ease in the pointed style, and places of worship for Baptists and Methodists, are among the ecclesiastical edifices of the place. National schools, a grammar school, a literary institution, reading-room, and small theatre, provide for the instruction and amusement of the inhabitants, who are chiefly employed in mining operations and iron-foundries. There is some trade in minerals; and railways connect the town with several seaports. Redruth is said by some antiquaries to be one of the oldest places in the kingdom; but this opinion has been called in question. Pop. (1851) 7095.

RED SEA, an extensive inland sea separating Arabia in Asia, from Abyssinia, Nubia, and Egypt, in Africa. It extends in a north north-westerly direction from the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, which connect it with the Indian Ocean, till it terminates in the two gulfs of Suez and Akaba, which inclose between them the mountain region of Sinai.

The name Red by which this sea is known in the present day is simply a translation of Rubrum, Erythraeum, or Ἠρυζός, terms by which it is designated in the works of the ancient classics. This last term, however, as used by Herodotus and some other writers, includes likewise the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean; and when the Red Sea only is meant, the term Arabicus Sinus (Ἀραβίκος Σίνος or Ἀραβίκος κόλπος) is used. How the name Red came to be applied to it is a question which neither ancients nor moderns have been able satisfactorily to solve. By some it is held to arise from the red and purple hues of the coral with which this sea abounds, or from the red colour which is occasionally imparted to it by numerous animalcule floating near the surface; by others from the adjacent country of Edom, which, in the Phoenician and Hebrew tongues, means red; while Strabo, Pliny, Curtius, &c., consider it to be derived from a great king named Erythrus, who reigned over that country. It is not improbable that the name, as originally bestowed, was derived from that of the king or the country, and that, when afterwards adopted by the Greeks and Romans, they, mistaking a proper for a descriptive name, translated instead of adopting it. The Hebrew name, Yam Suph ("Weedy Sea"), which is also its Egyptian name, is supposed to be derived from the plant-like corals with which it abounds.

This sea lies between Lat. 12° 30' and 30° 2' N., and Long. 32° 38' and 43° 40' E., and has a length of above 1280 miles from the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb to the town of Suez. Its greatest breadth is 192 miles, under the parallel of 17° N.—that is, one-third up the sea, whence it narrows pretty uniformly towards both extremities, being 72 miles across at Ras-Mahommed, where it divides to form the gulfs of Suez and Akaba, and nearly of similar breadth at Gibbel Zugar, under the 14th parallel. Its entire circuit, measured round both gulfs, is about 4020 miles, its area 108,154 square miles, and its contents probably about 800,000 cubic miles. The Gulf of Suez, the longer and more western arm of this sea, has a length of 167 miles, and an average breadth of about 20. Its extreme breadth is under 30, and at its mouth it has a breadth of about 17 miles. Its depth, where greatest, is about 50 fathoms, and averages about 22. The port of Suez, from which it takes its name, is situated at the head of the gulf. (See SUEZ.) The area is estimated at 2000 square miles. The Gulf of Akaba, extending in a N.N.E. direction, has an area only about 800 square miles. It is 100 miles in length, 16 miles in breadth where widest, and 7 at the mouth. Its depth for two-thirds of its length is about 120 fathoms, and at one place a depth of 200 fathoms was reached without bottom. The mean depth is probably not less than 70 fathoms.

The Red Sea itself may be said to have generally a depth of more than 100 fathoms, and in one place 100 fathoms were sounded without finding bottom. A reef, shallow, running across from Mocha, in Lat. 13° 30', has been carefully sounded, and has an average depth of from 25 to 30 fathoms, its greatest depth being 40, near mid-channel. From this it again deepens to upwards of 125 fathoms as it approaches the straits. The entrance to the sea is divided by the small island of Perim into two channels, called the Great and Little Straits: the former, between the island and the coast of Africa, being 13 miles broad; the latter, between the island and Cape Bab-el-Mandeb, 1½ miles. The Great Strait has an average depth of about 80 fathoms, and for a breadth of 6 miles in mid-channel it exceeds 100 The Little Strait has a depth of from 12 to 17 fathoms, and is the one that is almost always preferred by vessels entering the sea, having a fine sandy bottom and a depth of 30 feet of water up to both shores. The island of Perim has recently been taken possession of by the English. (See PERIM.)

The islands of the Red Sea are numerous, but they are mostly all of small size, and occur chiefly along the shores. Off the western coast, not far from Massah, is a numerous group called the Dhalak Archipelago, and not far from the opposite coast is a group called the Farsan Islands. South of these groups are several other islands, one of which, Gibel-Teer, in Lat. 15° 30', has an active volcano rising about 900 feet above the sea. A violent eruption took place in one of the Zugar islands, in Lat. 15°, in 1846. Indeed, all the islands in the middle of the sea between 12° and 16° N. Lat. are volcanic. Coral reefs and islands are also numerous in this sea, and are very detrimental to navigation. The reefs most commonly extend in long strips parallel to, and generally about a quarter of a mile from, the shore. Their outer side rises from deep water; and their summits are seldom more than 4 or 5 feet from the surface. They are frequently united with the adjacent continent, so as to render the shores almost inaccessible; but in other cases the side towards the mainland has a gentle slope downwards, forming a channel of sufficient depth to admit of being navigated by small vessels. The Red Sea is the most northern portion of the ocean where coral reefs occur, and they are more numerous here than in any other part of equal extent.

From the position of the Red Sea, in a deep valley between the elevated table-land of Arabia on the E., and the high lands of Abyssinia, Nubia, and Egypt, on the W., the prevailing winds are in the direction of its length, either S.S.E. or N.N.W. The former commences in October and continues till May or June, blowing with considerable strength in February, but diminishing gradually as summer sets in, and occasionally ceasing almost altogether. In the lower part of the sea, being confined within comparatively narrow limits, it blows with considerable violence, and is stronger towards the Arabian than the Abyssinian shore; but it slackens as it passes the Harnish and Zugar islands, under the 14th parallel, where the sea begins to expand, and by the time that it gets as high as Jiddah, Lat. 21° 30', it is for the most part light and variable. From December to April southerly winds are occasionally experienced in the Gulf of Suez, sometimes freshening into a gale, and blowing for several days. The winds, however, from Suez to Jiddah are mostly northerly throughout the year, and occasionally blow with considerable violence. The N.N.W. winds prevail in the lower half of the Red Sea from June to October, blowing with considerable violence in June and July, and becoming light and variable in August and September. As the time of their extinction approaches, there are sometimes calms of several days, when the sea breezes become excessive. In those parts where, or at the times when, the regular winds are little felt, land and sea breezes prevail, particularly on the coast of Arabia. The fine season is usually from August to October; and showers, such as they are, are chiefly experienced from November to March.

The direction of the wind has a considerable effect in raising or lowering the surface of the sea, especially in the northern parts. Near Suez the direction of the wind makes a difference of about 4 feet in the depth of water. Little is yet known of the tides of the Red Sea; at Suez they are said to rise 5 feet at neap and 7 at spring tides; but of course this must depend very much upon the wind. It was long supposed that the Red Sea must be much saltier than the general ocean, being situated in an almost rainless and riverless district, while the evaporation was very considerable. This, however, is found not to be the case; and hence it is supposed that there is a constant under-current of the denser and saltier water through the straits to the Indian Ocean. The evaporation is estimated at about 8 feet annually over the entire surface; whereas the quantity of rain falling in the course of a year cannot exceed an inch. According to the measurements of the French engineers in 1799, the Red Sea at Suez was said to be 30 feet higher than the Mediterranean; but recent measurements have shown this to be a mistake, and that the height is only about 3 feet. Indeed, there is every reason to believe that the Red Sea at one time communicated with the Mediterranean. The distance between the two is only about 90 miles, and all the intervening space is of recent deposit, a considerable portion of it being still below the level of the two seas. It is proposed to construct a canal connecting the two seas, and thus materially to shorten our communication with the East. (See SUEZ.)

Round its entire circuit the Red Sea is walled in by immense masses of mountain, which, down to Jiddah, in Lat. 21° 30', approach close to the shore. On the African side, down to the 16th parallel, isolated hills alone skirt its borders, the higher ranges being 40 or 50 miles off; while on the opposite shore, between the same parallels, the land rises gently towards the interior of Arabia. Between the 16th and 12th parallels a range of volcanic hills runs nearly parallel to, and at the distance of above 14 miles from, the shore on the African side, and there is a similar range of greater magnitude and of the same character on the Arabian coast. The other rocks consist chiefly of nummulite limestone, forming part of that vast band which stretches from the Alps to the Himalayas. The immediate shore consists of a belt of sand and gravel sloping upwards from high-water mark to a distance varying from some hundred yards to many miles. It abounds with shells and corals identical with those in the sea itself, and is obviously an upheaved beach of comparatively modern date.

Within the last few years the commerce and navigation of the Red Sea have very much increased, and it is now regularly navigated by British steamers, as forming part of the overland route to India. During the year 1857 no fewer than 111 English steamers entered and left the port of Suez, having an aggregate burden of 144,500 tons, and 36,600 horse-power. They carried 10,156 passengers, 23,520 cases of letters, and 137,770 packages of merchandise or gold and silver, to the value of L28,248,670. A considerable communication is kept up between the two shores by pilgrims from the eastern countries of Africa visiting Mecca and Medina. Grain and slaves are also largely transported from Africa to Arabia. The principal harbours on the Arabian side are Mocha, Hodeida, Locheia, and Jiddah; and on the African, besides Suez, Cosseir, Susakin, and Massah. Mocha, Hodeida, and Locheia are the three ports of Yemen, and export coffee, wax, myrrh, gums, ivory, leather, and grain; receiving in return cotton goods, silks, draperies, iron, copper, lead, tools, tobacco, rice, and sugar. The aggregate value of the exports and imports is estimated at about L730,000 annually. The first of these, Mocha, is now in a ruinous condition, having probably not more than 2000 inhabitants. The value of its exports does not exceed L80,000, of which coffee constitutes about a fourth. Hodeida is now the principal place for the export of coffee, amounting in value to about L200,000 annually, while its other exports amount only to about L40,000. Locheia exports chiefly grain, the value of which may be about L40,000 annually. Jiddah carries on a very considerable trade, and being the port of Mecca, it is the resort of numerous pilgrims from all parts. It is built along the shore in the form of a parallelogram, and contains about 4000 houses, with a resident population of about 20,000. Merchants assemble here; and goods are brought from Muscat, India, Singapore, Persia, Syria, Egypt, and Eastern Africa. The exports and imports together exceed a million sterling. The trade of Jiddah is almost entirely in the hands of Indian merchants, who are English subjects. There are very few European houses of commerce; but France and England have each a consul here. In June last (1858) the Mussulman population rose against the Christians, and massacred no less than forty-five of them, including the two consuls. Massuah, the principal entrepot of the trade of Abyssinia, stands on a low, sandy, and barren island, separated from the mainland by a channel about a quarter of a mile wide, which serves as its port. Its exports, which are estimated to exceed L500,000 annually, consists chiefly of coffee, myrrh, incense, hides, gum, ivory, senna, slaves, and gold-dust; and its imports, of cotton and silk stuffs, red and blue cloths, matchlocks, rice, sugar, tea, lead, iron, copper, timber, &c. Cosser derives its importance from being the granary of the barren Hedjaz. The export of cereals amounts to about L25,500; and that of hides, tusks, &c., to about L3000; while the imports are about L17,500. The exports of Suakin amount to about L51,000. The principal article is butter, which is consumed in incredible quantities on the Arabian coast. Among the other exports are slaves, salt, coffee, dates, gums, hides, cereals, ivory, gold, cattle, musk, and ostrich feathers. At present (May 1869) an electric telegraph is being laid down in the Red Sea.

The Red Sea is celebrated in sacred history as having been miraculously divided, and a passage opened up through it for the children of Israel in their journey from Egypt. The exact place of this miracle has been the subject of much controversy; but it is now generally agreed that it must have been at one or other of two places,—either in the neighbourhood of Suez, or 18 miles farther south, at the mouth of the Wady Tuârik. Which of these it was, would depend upon the route that they took on leaving Egypt; and if we can fix upon that with any degree of certainty, with the like certainty can we declare that the one or the other was the scene of the miracle. Egypt is connected with the Red Sea by two valleys, along one or other of which the Israelites must have travelled; the one terminating at Suez, the other at Wady Tuârik. The former and more northern of these has its entrance in the province of Esh-Shurkiyeh, near the ruins of the ancient Heroopolis; the latter in the neighbourhood of Cairo. According to Josephus, they must have taken the latter of these routes, for he says that they set out from Latopolis, near Cairo; but against him there is the authority of the Septuagint, which makes the departure to have been from the neighbourhood of Heroopolis. Goshen, too, is now generally agreed to have been in the present province of Esh-Shurkiyeh, which at this day is what Goshen was in ancient times, "the best of the land" of Egypt, and that portion of the country lying nearest to Canaan. The distance by the more southern of these routes is no less than 70 miles; and this of itself is a strong objection to any argument that may be advanced in its favour, as they accomplished the journey in three days, though encumbered with women and children and cattle; whereas the usual day's march of the best appointed armies, either in ancient or modern times, is not estimated higher than 14 English miles. Dr Robinson, after examining this route, says, "We were quite satisfied, from our own observation, that they could not have passed to the Red Sea from any point near Heliopolis or Cairo in three days, the longest interval which the language of the narrative allows. Both the distance and the want of water on all the routes are fatal to such an hypothesis." The distance by the northern route is only about 30 or 35 miles; and this they could have easily accomplished in three days. Some indeed hold that they set out by the northern passage, and afterwards took a road between two ranges of mountains, and thus entered the more southern valley; but in this way the journey would be at least as long as by the longer of the two routes.

We think, however, that a careful study of the recorded narrative itself is sufficient to settle the question as to the route. On the evening of the second day they were "encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness," when God commanded them to "turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea over against Baal-zephon." Now, in Numbers (xxxiii. 8) we are told that "they departed from before Pi-hahiroth, and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and went three days' journey into the wilderness of Etham." This wilderness of Etham must therefore have been on the eastern side of the Red Sea, and Etham itself in all probability was somewhere about the head of the sea. What more natural, then, than to suppose that the children of Israel, on setting out, had received no special directions as to their course, and had thus taken the usual and proper route to Sinai, intending to pass round the head of the sea and along its eastern side. On reaching Etham, however, they were commanded to "turn," and instead of continuing along the eastern side, to come down the western, and to encamp "between Migdol and the sea." God having thus intended to bring about their deliverance from the host of Pharaoh. The object of the miracle was thus not to open up a passage for the Israelites, but to deliver them from the Egyptians.

If we examine the sea itself, its evidence is almost equally strong in favour of the northern passage. At Wady Tuârik it is about 12 miles across, and it is difficult to suppose how a large body, of upwards of two millions, as the Israelites must have been, including women and children, with numerous flocks of cattle, could have passed here in a single night. The depth also is about 180 or 200 feet; and we cannot suppose that even Pharaoh would have attempted to pass through twelve miles of a defile, with water piled up to that height on each side, especially with the terrible ten plagues still fresh in his memory. At Suez, where a tongue of land projects into the sea, it is only about 1150 yards across, but is of some depth. Above and below this, where it is wider, there are fords. Niebuhr crossed at one of these, above the town, at low tide, when the water only came up to about the knee. There is here, however, undoubted evidence of a gradual filling up going on. "The passage," says Niebuhr, "would have been naturally more difficult for the Israelites some thousands of years back, when the gulf was probably larger, deeper, and more extended towards the north; for, in all appearance, the water has retired, and the ground near this end has been raised by the sands of the neighbouring desert." Dr Robinson's testimony is to the same effect. He says,—"The sand from the northern part of the desert, driven by the strong north-east wind which often prevails, is continually carried towards and into the water; and the process of filling up is still going on." Though it is not improbable that the passage took place here, above Suez, we are rather inclined to think that it was effected at a point below that town. At a short distance below Suez there is at the present day a ford, which is sometimes crossed by the Arabs at low tides, the water being then about five feet deep. Shoals extend to some distance from either shore; but if we suppose, with Dr Robinson, that they crossed in an oblique direction, the distance from bank to bank would be from three to four miles. The depth of water may then have been greater here than it is at present; but even now, at high water, it is from ten to twelve feet. Naturally, if we may so speak, this place was peculiarly well adapted for the miracle. It is exactly the part of the sea most likely to be affected by the wind in the manner described. A strong north-east wind (as Dr Robinson supposes that it was, for in the indefinite phraseology of the Hebrew an east wind means any wind from the eastern quarter), supernaturally directed, might readily be supposed to dry up this ford, by coming down obliquely upon it, and driving away the waters to the south, at the same time that it was keeping back, within the tongue of land at Suez, the waters to the north of it. This, in fact, answers exactly to the account of the miracle as given by Moses; for he says that the "Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind." The wind being thus the immediate agent in the miracle, we are naturally led to look for a place where it could have had some effect in bringing it about; and at no place, as we have seen, could it have acted so efficiently as at the ford below Suez. At Wady Tuârik, on the other hand, the depth is so great that it is impossible to suppose that the wind could have had any effect in dividing the waters; and had the miracle been wrought here, it is likely that Moses would have taken some other mode of describing it than by attributing to the wind what it manifestly could have had no power to bring about; besides, as one writer shrewdly remarks, the waters would not then have been said to form a wall, but a mountain. It is to be remembered too, that the Israelites were crossing from west to east; and how in the course of a single night, encumbered as they were, could they pass over 12 miles in the bottom of the sea with a strong east wind blowing directly against them. Indeed, those who maintain that the passage was effected at Wady Tuârik require the aid of some half-dozen miracles; whereas from Moses' account, we have no reason to infer that there were more than one.

There are some, however, who object to this view, that it reduces the miracle to the smallest possible dimensions; and as they cannot bring forward any arguments to support their opinions, they attempt to strengthen their cause by branding as rationalists and unbelievers all who differ from them. It is to be regretted that this mode of argument has been adopted by even those from whom it was little to be expected, and serves only to indicate the extreme weakness of their cause. A miracle is not the less a miracle because the means by which it is effected may seem small in our eyes. In this case the miracle consisted in the delivering of the children of Israel from the host of the Egyptians. The apparent insignificance of the means only manifests the more strikingly the power of God. If the simplicity and plainness of the sacred Scriptures be an argument for their inspiration, not less do we think is the simplicity of the miracles an argument that they were wrought by God. There were many more striking and signal ways in which He could have destroyed the Egyptians, and delivered the Israelites; but His workings are always simple and unostentatious. He ever chooses the smallest and most easy means for the accomplishment of even the greatest ends. Indeed so much is this the case, that if the claims of the two were otherwise equal, we should unhesitatingly declare in favour of the narrower, shallower, and easier passage. Those who attempt to magnify God's miracles, and fancy that in this way they are doing Him a service, would do well to remember that they are doing what neither He nor the inspired penmen have done before, and may well doubt whether they be not assuming an office which has not His sanction. The days of miracles are now past. God speaks not to us in the great and strong wind, rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire, but in the still small voice of reason and conscience. It is wrong, then, to attempt to build upon the former that faith which can only have a sure foundation upon the latter.

RE-DUPLICATION of sounds in musical harmony. See the article Music, under section Harmony.