R H O 



-343 



R H O 



Rhode it changes from an oblong to a round shape, a change 

 Wand, uhirh the fish accompanies with a grunting noise. 

 When plunged in the water it resumes iu proper 

 shape. 



A college was founded at Warren in 176*4, but was 

 removed to Providence in 1770 ; in 1804, it was called 

 Brown's University, from one of its benefactors. In 

 1811, the students were 130, and the graduates 47. 

 Academies have been established in the principal towns. 

 There are thirty-one banks in the state. The principal 

 towns are Providence, Newport, Bristol, Warren, South 

 Kingston, East Greenwich, and SmithficM. 



Providence is situated on both sides of Providence 

 river, thirty-five miles from the sea. It is a well-built 

 and flourishing town, with an elegant bridge ninety 

 feet broad across the river. The public buildings are 

 a court house, a gaol, a university, already mentioned, 

 a public library of 2000 volumes ; five public schools, 

 seven banks, and eight churches. There are four cot- 

 ton factories, a large woollen one, a paper mill, and a 

 company for bleaching and dyeing. Three newspapers 

 are published here. 



The population of Rhode Island is as follows : 



1730, 17,935, including 2,C33 blacks. 



1761, 40,636, 4,373 



1783, 51,899, 3,361 



1800, 69,122, 3,407 free blacks, and 948 slaves. 



1810, 76,931, 3,609 and 108 slaves. 



See Calender's History of Rhode Island, 1 738 ; and 

 Warden's Account of the United Stales, vol. i. chap. xi. 

 p. 45<5. 



RHODES is the name of an island in the Mediter- 

 ranean, near the coast of Asia Minor, and forming part 

 of the Turkish empire. This island, which was one of 

 the most celebrated of the Grecian states, and rendered 

 illustrious by its commercial wealth, as well as by its 

 naval greatness, forms now a very insignificant portion 

 of the globe. The island is about 12 leagues long from 

 north to south, about 6 broad, and about 44- in circuit. 

 Its form is nearly triangular, and was hence called 

 Trinacria. 



The land rises gradually from the sea ; and from the 

 excellence of the climate, and the fertility of the soil, 

 produces abundant crops. No agricultural skill, how- 

 ever, is employed to aid the natural fertility of the soil, 

 so that weeds and useless plants occupy the place of 

 corn and olives. A tract of low hills next appears, 

 which still produces some of the celebrated perfumed 

 wines of the island, and a range of mountains succeeds, 

 thinly covered with those fine forests which furnished 

 the wood for the ships of the ancient Rhodians. In the 

 centre of that range rises the steep and lofty summit of 

 Mount Artemira, which commands a prospect of all 

 the surrounding sea and coasts. 



As neither the corn nor the olives raised in the 

 island are sufficient for its consumption, both are im- 

 ported to a considerable extent. The quantity of cot- 

 ton cultivated is scarcely sufficient for the wants of the 

 people. Wine, figs, and other fruits, are exported in 

 considerable quantities. 



The climate of this island is every way delightful. 

 The air is salubrious " Every gale is scented," says 

 Dr. Clarke, " with powerful fragrance, wafted from 

 groves of orange and citron trees. Numberless aroma- 

 tic herbs exhale, at the same time, such profuse odour, 

 that the whole atmosphere seems impregnated with a 

 spicy perfume."* Hardly a day passes in which the 



un is not visible. The winds vary little. They blow Rhode*. 

 from the north or north-west during almost every * "<" * 

 month, and with some violence. The heats of summer 

 are by no means intense. Hot wind*, however, blow 

 from Caramania, in June and July. The winters are 

 wet and mild. According to Savary, the population it 

 distributed in the following manner : Rhodes, the ca- 

 pital, is inhabited chiefly by Turks. Five villages are 

 occupied by Mustelmen. Five towns, and 41 villages, 

 are inhabited by Greeks. The families he reckons at 

 4700 Turkish families, 2500 Greek families, 100 fami- 

 lies of Jews, making in all 7300, which will give a po- 

 pulation of 736,500. Mr. Turner estimates the Greeks 

 at 1 1,000, occupying 42 villages ; and he says that the 

 remaining 60(K), consisting of Turks and Jews, inhabit 

 the capital. The remittances to Constantinople are con- 

 sidered to be about 6'300. 



Lindus, now Lindo, the ancient capital of Rhodes, 

 and one of the three cities alluded to by Homer, (II. 

 B. 068.) has been little visited by travellers. Dr. Clarke 

 learned that there existed there the ruins of a temple, 

 which may have stood on the site of the fane, origi- 

 nally consecrated to the Lindian Minerva by the 

 daughters of Danaus. Many inscriptions were obser- 

 ved, one of which given by Dr. Clarke, contains some 

 evidence respecting the position of the ancient city. 

 Vases of great antiquity were dug up in the garden. By 

 travelling on mules, Lindus is not more than one long 

 day's journey from Rhodes. 



The island of Rhodes is reduced to the greatest 

 wretchedness by the oppressions of the Turks. The 

 capitation tax is 30 piastres per house. The natives are 

 compelled to labour for the government for little or no 

 pay during three months of the year. 



RHODES, the capital of the above island of the 

 same name, is agreeably situated at the extremity of a 

 promontory, and on the side of a hill. The streets and 

 houses are disposed in the form of an amphitheatre, 

 and when seen from the harbour (a view which Dr. 

 Clarke has given, ) it has a most imposing appearance, 

 from the apparent massiveness of its walls, and from 

 its lofty towers situated upon rocks. The traveller, 

 however, is disappointed on entering the town. The 

 streets are narrow and irregular, ana the edifices desti- 

 tute of elegance and symmetry. One half of the houses 

 are in ruins in the city, and as many in the suburbs 

 are uninhabited. Among the modern streets, the best 

 and the most spacious one is the Jews quarter. The 

 suburbs, inhabited by the Greeks, are very fine, and 

 consist of good stone houses, with gardens. The prin- 

 cipal public buildings are the church of St. John, the 

 palace of the Grand Master, and a convent, all Gothic. 

 The churches are of course turned into mosques, and a 

 large hospital into a granary. The old palace is a large 

 and handsome building. 



" The principal ruins at Rhodes," says Dr. Clarke, 

 " are not of earlier date than the residence of the 

 Knights of Malta. The remains of their fine old for- 

 tresses still exhibit a venerable moated castle, of great 

 size and strength, so fortified as to seem almost im- 

 pregnable. It appears a complete system of fortifica- 

 tion, combining dikes and drawbridges, battlements 

 and bastions. The cells of the Knights are yet entire, 

 forming a street within the works ; and near these cells 

 is the cathedral or chapel, whose wooden doors, curi- 

 ously carved, and said to have been wrought of an in- 

 corruptible kind of cedar, have been preserved in their 

 original state. The arms of England and France ap- 



