730 



RIOBAMBA 



RIO GRANDE 



should tie permitted as little as possible except in 

 the open air. 



Treatment. Ringworm of the body is usually 

 not ililliriili to cure. The application of some 

 parasiticide, white precipitate ointment, solution 

 of sulphurous uriil. tincture of iodine, usually 

 quickly killa the parasite and so ends the disease. 

 Ringworm of the scalp, on the other hand, is often 

 an extremely intractable affection, because the 

 naraxite exte'nds deep into the hair- follicles, and it 

 is MTV ilillicult to bring the remedies employed 

 satisfactorily in contact with it in this situation. 

 In recent cases the remedies recommended almve 

 are often effectual; but those which have become 

 chronic sometimes tax the ingenuity of the physician 

 and the patience of the nurse to the utmost, and 

 niiiy even last till advancing years make the soil 

 unfavourable for the further growth of the parasite. 



Ringworm in the lower animals, as in the human 

 subject, consists of the growth of a vegetable fungus 

 on the surface of the skin, is common amongst 

 young animals, is decidedly contagious, and com- 

 municable from man to the lower animals, and 

 probably, also, from the lower animals to man. 

 Commencing with a small itchy spot, usually about 

 the head or neck, or root of the tail, it soon spreads, 

 producing numbers of scurfy circular bald patches. 

 It is unaccompanied by fever, and seldom inter- 

 feres seriously with health. After washing with 

 soap and water, run over the spots lightly every 

 day with a pencil of nitrate of silver, or rub in a 

 little of the red ointment of mercury, or some 

 iodide of sulphur liniment. See works by A. Smith 

 (3d ed. 1883) and G. Thin ( 1887). 



Riobamba. See CAJABAMBA. 



Rio Bravo. See Rio GRANDE. 



Rto CliartO. the second city in the Argentine 

 province of Cordolia, formerly called Concepcion, 

 occupies an important strategic situation on the 

 river of the same name, 500 miles N\V. of Buenos 

 Ayres and 170 by rail S. of Cordoba, Pop. 12,000. 



Rio de Janeiro, a maritime state of Brazil, 

 lying between Espirito Santo, Minas Geraes, and 

 Sao Paulo. Area, 26,627 so. m. ; pop. without 

 the city (1888) 1,164,468. The coast is low and 

 swampy, the interior mountainous and healthy ; 

 the chief ranges are the Serras dos Orgaoe (5750 

 feet) and da Mantiqueira in the extreme west 

 (8900). The principal river is the Parahyba. There 

 are still considerable forests, though they have 

 been greatly thinned. Coffee is the chief agri- 

 cultural product, and after that sugar and cotton. 

 Sugar-houses, distilleries, breweries, and manu- 

 factories of cottons, hats, and cigars are numerous. 

 Tiie state contains iron, kaolin, marble, &c. The 

 capital is Nictheroy, on the Bay of Praia Grande ; 

 with Sao Domingo and Praia < i'rande it has 20,000 

 inhabitants. The German colonies in the state 

 li.-ive a pop. of over 15,000. 



Rio de Janeiro, the capital of Brazil, stands 

 on the west side of one of the most magnificent 

 natural harlxnirx in the world. An inlet of the 

 Atlantic, the bay of Rio de Janeiro runs north- 

 wards for some 15 miles, varying i" width from 2 

 miles to i 7 ; it is girdled on all sides by picturesque 

 mountains, covered with tropical vegetation. The 

 entrance, which is less than a mile wide, passes 

 between two liold headlands, on one of which is a 

 steep conical mass called the Sugar-loaf ( 1270 

 feet). The city and its suburbs stretch nearly 10 

 mibw along the shore, climbing up the numerous 

 irregular eminences and dipping into the little green 

 valleys between them, whilst great mounlnin- 

 rangwt (1500 to 3000 feet) shut in the background. 

 About 3 mill-- S\V. of the city stands the pre- 

 i-ipiiou- cone of Corcovado (2336 feet), up which a 

 eog-railway carries 50,000 visitors every year to 



enjoy the magnificent view. The streets me mostly 

 narrow and often mean, ami the bouse- ami public 

 buildings, though generally quaint and gay with 

 colour, seldom uoast of any very striking archi- 

 tectural features. Although Rio bos few inagiiili- 

 cent public buildings, it possesses veiy useful public 

 institution!, as the vast hospital of La Mixericonlia 

 (1200 patients), the national library (1807), with 

 nearly 150,000 volumes, the national museum ( with 

 unique collections), the large lunatic asylum ( 1841 ) 

 at the suburb of Botafogo, the botanical gardens 

 with a celebrated avenue of palms ( licyoml Rota- 

 fogo), the oljservtttory, the Geographical and 

 Historical Institute (1838), the former royal palace 

 at Silo Cliristovoo, the arsenal, the naval dock- 

 yards, the academy of fine arts, a cadet -school, a 

 school of medicine, a 'Pasteur' institute, a con- 

 servatory of music, a polytechnic school. \c. In 

 spite of a good water-supply, chiefly by an aque- 

 duct (1750) 12 miles long, and a new system of 

 sewage-draining, the city i- not very healthy ; the 

 surrounding hills shut out the breezes, and the heat 

 grows intense in summer. Yellow fever prevails 

 during the hot season; and the Negro population 

 suffer from smallpox. Pop. ( 1872) 274,9/2 ; ( 1890) 

 522,651, including many foreigners Portuguese. 

 British, French, and Germans. 



Rio is also the commercial capital, sending out 

 51 per cent, of the total exports of the country, 

 and bringing in 45 per cent, of the imports. The 

 exports average 10,895,000 a year in value, all 

 except al>out half a million sterling being for 

 coffee; of the total, 6,500,000 go to the United 

 States, more than 1,000,000 to Germany ; Great 

 Britain buys 500,000 less than France and Austria. 

 The import*, chiefly cotton, gold and silver, metals, 

 wool, provisions, and machinery, average about 

 12,735,000 a year. Great Britain supplies ,~>| 

 millions sterling of this, Uruguay and Argentine 

 Republic aUiiit 3J millions, France close upon 2 

 millions, and Germany nearly U million. The 

 whole sea-frontage of the city Is lined with quays, 

 and in 1889 extensive new harbour-worl-s \MTI- 

 begun, embracing a dock of 75 acres, a break- 

 water 3200 yards long, an elevated railway, 

 hydraulic cranes, warehouses, &c. There enter 

 every year some 1500 vessels of 1,674,000 tons, 

 about one-third (614,000 tons) British. The city 

 possesses cotton, jute, and silk mills, tobacco and 

 hat factories, machine-shops, tanneries, &c. 



On 1st January 1531 a Portuguese captain, 

 Alphouso de Souza, entered the bay, and thinking 

 it was the mouth of a large river he called it I;in 

 de Janeiro i.e. January River. The French estab- 

 lished themselves on one of its islands (Ville- 

 gagnon) in 1555; but they were driven away by 

 the Portuguese in 1567. Rio was founded in the 

 preceding year ; was plundered by Duguay Tioniii 

 in 1711 ; supplanted Bahia as the capital of the 

 viceroy in ITti.'t; and in 1822 was made the capital 

 of the empire of Brazil. The revolution of l.~>th 

 November 1889, which transformed the empire into 

 a republic, centred in Rio; and its bay was the 

 scene of most of the naval fighting in the civil war 

 of 1803-94. The federal district in which tin- city 

 stands (area, 538 sq. in. ; |K>p. 800,000) is adminis- 

 tered directly by the federal authorities. 



Rio Grande, also Rio Grande del Korte, and 

 Rio Bravo M Norte, a large river of North 

 America, rises in the San Juan Mountains in 

 south western Colorado, and flows generally south- 

 eastward into the Gulf of Mexico, forming on its 

 way the entire lioundary between Texas and 

 Mexico. Its length is almnt 1800 miles; it is for 

 the most part a shallow stream, but small steam- 

 boats can ascend for nearly 500 miles. Its chief 

 affluent is the Rio Pecos. See also, for other Wo 

 G ramies, PARANA and SENBGAMBIA. 



