REUNION 



REUTER 



673 



1829 to 1860 followed a diplomatic career, chiefly in 

 Italy. His numberless works deal mainly with 

 Italian history, and one of the best known, his 

 Lorenzo de' Medici, appeared in English in 1876. 



Reunion, formerly called I I.K DE BOURBON, an 

 island belonging to France, and lying in the Indian 

 Ocean, 115 miles SW. from Mauritius and 350 E. 

 from Madagascar. An ellipse in shape, it has an 

 area of 764 sq. in., being 38 miles in length and 28 

 in breadth. Pop. (1894) 171,750, mostly Creoles, 

 but including 15,000 negroes and nearly 30,000 

 natives of India. The backbone of the island is a 

 volcanic range, culminating in two highest peaks, 

 the Piton de Neiges (10,069 feet) in the centre of 

 the island, and in the south-east Piton de Four- 

 naise (8612 feet), one of the most active volcanoes 

 in the world. The central parts of the island 

 between these volcanic peaks consist of plateaus 

 and terraces, separated by deep cauldron-shaped 

 valleys and narrow, but profound, gorges and 

 ravines. Piton de Fournaise is surrounded by a 

 vast dreary desert called the Pays Bn'tU ( ' Burnt 

 Land ' ). Except in the mountainous parts the soil 

 is in general very fruitful. The scenery is often 

 beautiful. Streams, although not large, are very 

 numerous, and fall in cascades to the sea. The 

 climate is hot, but on the whole not unhealthy. 

 Rainfall averages 45$ inches in the year. Cyclones 

 sometimes occur during the hotter and rainy part 

 of the year ( November to April ), and high spring- 

 tides occasionally do serious damage during the 

 remaining drier months. One-third of the island 

 is cultivated, one-third under timber, and one- 

 sixth is grass-land. Tropical fruits, sugar (the 

 staple crop), coffee, vanilla, cinchona, maize, vege- 

 tables (potatoes, &c.), spices, tobacco, and similar 

 products are grown. The total trade is estimated 

 at I A million sterling exports, 650,000 ; imports, 

 700,000 to 900,000. By far the most important 

 article of export is sugar (450,000); coffee, vanilla, 

 rum, potatoes, and tapioca are the other chief 

 exports. The imports consist principally of rice, 

 claret, and in a secondary degree lard, live cattle, 

 fish, grain, coal, oils, flour, and cloth. The capital 

 of the island is St Denis, on the north coast, with 

 33,000 inhabitants, a college, a botanic garden, &c. ; 

 it is a bishop's seat. The remaining towns are St 

 Paul, on the north-west, with 29,000 inhabitants, 

 and with marine workshops ; St Pierre, on the 

 south-west coast, pop. 25,009 ; Pointe des Galets, 

 the new port, Imtween St Denis and St Paul ; and 

 Salazie, with warm mineral springs, a health-resort 

 of 6000 inhabitants. The coast towns are connected 

 by a railway 78 miles long. The colony costs 

 Jrance some 170,000 every year, and is adminis- 

 tered by a governor and a council of thirty mem- 

 bers. Reunion and Mauritius were discovered by 

 the Portuguese navigator, Mascarenhas, and named 

 after him the Mascarene Isles. The French took 

 possession of this island in 1649, and called it 

 Bourbon, which was changed to Reunion at the 

 Revolution, and to Isle Bonaparte in 1809. Reunion 

 lias been the official name since 1848. The island 

 was in the possession of Britain from 1810 to 1815. 

 See Bory de St Vincent, Voyayei (1804); Maillard, 

 Note tur la Reunion (1862); Koussin, L'lle de la 

 Reunion (4 vola. 1882-90) ; and W. D. Oliver, Crat/i and 

 Crateri: RamUet in Reunion (1897). 



Re IIS, a town of Spain, 58 miles by rail SW. of 

 I'.iirci-lona and 4 N. of its seaport. Salon. The pros- 

 perity of the place dates from about 1750, when a 

 number of English merchants settled there. It is 

 a liuwy centre of the cotton, silk, and silk ribbon 

 industries, prepares wine, and manufactures soap, 

 brandy, and leather. Pop. 27,505. 



RCIISK, a tributary of the Aar in Switzerland, 

 rLtex on the northern face of the St Gotbard flows 

 407 



northwards past Andermatt and Amsteg, between 

 which places its bed lies at the bottom of a wild 

 and narrow gorge, spanned by the Devil's Bridge 

 and other wonders of Swiss roadmaking, and enters 

 the southern end of the Lake of Lucerne. This it 

 leaves again at its northern end, at the town of 

 Lucerne, and, still going nearly due north, reaches 

 the Aar near Windisch (Aargau). Its length is 

 90 miles ; its basin, 1317 sq. m. 



Reiiss. the name of two sovereign principalities 

 of Germany, lying between the kingdom of Saxony 

 on the E. , the Prussian duchy of that name on 

 the N., and Bavaria on the S. Since 1666 the 

 possessions of the House of Reuss have been 

 divided between the Elder and the Younger lines. 

 The principality of Reuss-Greiz ( the Elder Line ) 

 is 122 sq. m. in extent, and had (in 1890) 62,759 

 inhabitants. The chief town is Greiz (q.v.). The 

 principality of the Younger Line is Reuss-Sclileiz- 

 Gera. Area, 319 sq. m. ; pop. (1890) 119,555. 

 Capital, Schleiz (q.v.). Of both principalities the 

 surface is hilly, being traversed by the Franken- 

 wald ( Thuringer Wald ), whose summits reach 

 upwards of 2000 feet in height. The chief rivers 

 are the Saale and the White Elster, the valleys 

 of which are well cultivated. More than a third 

 of each state is covered with forests; cattle are 

 fattened on the extensive meadows ; and woollen, 

 cotton, and silk goods are woven. The reigning 

 prince of each state is a hereditary sovereign, ana 

 in each state always bears the name of Heinrich 

 (Henry). He is the executive. Reuss-Greiz has a 

 legislative assembly of twelve members, of whom 

 nine are chosen by the people for six years ; Reuss- 

 Schleiz-Gera has an assembly of fifteen members, 

 of whom twelve are chosen for three years by the 

 people. 



RCIISS. EDUARD, a learned Protestant theo- 

 logian, was born at Strasburg, July 18, 1804. He 

 first studied philology at Strasburg, then theology 

 there, at Gottingen, and at Halle, and oriental 

 languages at Pans under Silvestre de Sacy ; next 

 qualified as prirat-docent in the theological faculty 

 at Strasburg, and filled a chair as ordinary pro- 

 fessor from 1836 to 1838, and again after the re- 

 establishment of the university from 1872 to 1888. 

 He died April 15, 1891. 



His chief works are Oetchiehte der keiligen Sehriften 

 ffeuen Testaments (1842; 6th ed. 1887; Eng. trans. 

 Boston, 1884) ; Geschichte der heiligen Sehriften Allen 

 Testaments (1881); and Hittoire de la Theoliyie Chret- 

 ienne au Siec/e Apostuhque (1852; 3d ed. 1864; Eng. 

 trans. 1872); Bistoire dn Canon des Saintes Ecrituret 

 dans e'!/lise Chn'tienne ( 1862 ; Eng. trans. Edin. 1884); 

 and La Bible, Tradaction nouvelle avec Commentaire 

 ( 19 vols. 1877-79). With Baum and Cunitz he com- 

 menced in 1863 the publication of a monumental edition 

 of Calvin's works ( 44 vols. up to his death ). 



Router, FRITZ, German humorist, was born 

 at Stavenhagen (' Stemhagen ') in Mecklenburg- 

 Schwerin, on 7th November 1810. His father, the 

 burgomaster, sent him to Rostock and Jena to 

 study law. But in 1833 he was arrested and 

 condemned to death in common with other 

 memlers of the Jena llurschensc/utft (q.v.) Ger- 

 mania he had indulged in wild students' talk about 

 the fatherland and national unity ; that was his 

 only offence. The capital sentence was, however, 

 commuted to one of thirty years' imprisonment. 

 Young Renter was dragged"^ from one fortress 

 prison to another in Silesia, Prussia, and Mecklen- 

 burg, and often subjected to great hardships and 

 even wanton cruelty, and did not regain his free- 

 dom until Frederick-William IV. ascended the 

 throne of Prussia in 1840. Although a general 

 amnesty gave him back his liberty after seven 

 years of imprisonment, his career was spoiled and 

 his health incurably ruined ; an affection of the 



