RAABE 



century bishop's palace, and the 

 cathedral, rebuilt 1639-45. Pop., 

 co., 92,000 ; town, 43,000. 



Raabe, WILHELM (1831-1910). 

 German novelist. Born at Eschers- 

 hausen, Sept. 8, 1831, he made a 

 success in 1857 with Die Chronik 

 der Sperlingsgassc, which, as did 

 all his works, appeared under the 

 nom de plume of Jakob Corvinus. 

 His characters were largely drawn 

 from the country folk of Bruns- 

 wick, and were delineated with 

 pathos and humour. His principal 

 novels were Der Hungerpastor, 

 1864 ; Abu Telfan, 1868 ; Prin- 

 zessen Fisch, 1883 ; Hastenbeck, 

 1899 ; and Altershausen, 1911. A 

 collection of his stories appeared in 

 1901 and 1912. He died at Bruns- 

 wick, Nov. 15, 1910. See Works, 

 4 vols., 1896-1900; Lives, P. 

 Gerber, 1897 ; W. Brandes, 1901. 



Raasay. Island of the Inner 

 Hebrides, Inverness-shire, Scot- 

 land. It is separated from the Isle 

 of Skye by the Sound of Raasay. 

 The surface is generally hilly in the 

 S. and barren towards the N. On 

 the E. coast are the ruins of 

 Brochel Castle, an ancient fort- 

 alice. Its length is 12 m. ; breadth 

 from 1 to 3 m. Pop. 300. 



Rabah Zobeir (c. 1846-1900). 

 African chieftain. Of mixed Arab 

 and negro blood, he was born a 

 slave, but in the service of Zobeir 

 pasha he rose to the command 

 of the latter's slave-raiding forces 

 in Bahr-el-Ghazal. Defeated by 

 the khedive, 1879, he fled to Cen- 

 tral Africa, where, for some years, 

 his slave raids and depredations 

 troubled both British and French. 

 Seizing 300 rifles from the baggage 

 of a murdered French explorer, 

 Paul Crampel, in 1893 he deposed 

 the sultan of Bornu (Lake Chad), 

 and in 1897 attacked the sultan of 

 Bagirmi, driving him and the 

 French resident from the country. 

 A French punitive expedition was 

 dispatched in 1899, and, after 

 three severe battles, routed his 

 forces and slew Rabah, April 22, 

 1900. See La Chute de 1'Empire 

 de Rabah, E. Gentil, 1902. 



Rab and His Friends. Short 

 story by Dr. John Brown (q.v.). 

 Published in 1859, it was later in- 

 cluded in his Horae Subsecivae : 

 Second Series. Rab is an old 

 mastiff belonging to a Scottish 

 carrier, and the tender moving 

 story in which he is a chief figure 

 is of the death of Ailie, the carrier's 

 wife, after an operation. It is a 

 little masterpiece of simple pathos. 



Rabat. Port in Morocco. It 

 stands on the Atlantic coast at the 

 mouth of the river Ragreb, op- 

 posite Bailee or Sail, and was once 

 the chief port for European com- 

 merce. It is connected by a light 



rly. with Fez (q.v. ) and Casablanca 

 (q.v.). Olive oil, wool, skins, bones, 

 and wheat are exported ; carpets 

 and textiles are manufactured. 

 Pop. 30,000. 



Rabba. Town of Northern 

 Nigeria. On the left bank of the 

 Niger, it is about 200 m. above the 

 confluence of the Niger and Benue 

 rivers, and a few m. below Jebba. 

 When visited by Richard Lander in 

 1830, it was a place of importance 

 as a commercial and slave market 

 with 40,000 inhabitants, but it has 

 now only a small population. 



Rabbah OR RABBATH. Chief 

 city of the Ammonites (q.v.}. 

 Situated in the mts. of Gilead and 

 identified with the modem Amman, 

 it was here that Uriah the Hittite, 

 set in the forefront of battle during 

 the siege of the place, lost his life. 

 At Rabbah Conder found a huge 

 stone throne which he thought to 

 be the " bedstead " of Og, king of 

 Bashan. The city is the subject of 

 denunciation in several O.T. pro- 

 phecies (Deut. iii, 11 ; 2 Sam. xi, 

 17 ; Jer. xlix, 1-3 ; Ezek. xxi, 20, 

 xxv, 5). 



Rabbet OR REBATE. In car- 

 pentry, a right-angled groove 

 made at the edge of, or in, a plank 

 to receive a corresponding piece 

 of wood, thus forming a joint. See 

 Joinery ; Plane. v 



Rabbeth, SAMTJEL (1857-84). 

 British medical man. The son of 

 J. E. Rabbeth, a banker, he was 

 educated at King's College, Lon- 

 don, and took his medical degrees 

 at London University. In 1884, 

 when serving at the Royal Free 

 Hospital, London, to save the life 

 of a child suffering from diph- 

 theria he sucked the throat, and, 

 taking the infection, died Oct. 20, 

 1884. This heroism is commemo- 

 rated by cots at the hospitals, by 

 a scholarship at King's College, 

 and in other ways. 



Rabbi (Hebrew, my master). 

 Jewish title for a ' teacher (Matt, 

 xxiii, 7). The term is now com- 



monly applied 



to the Jewish 

 clergy. Christ 

 was addressed 

 as Rabbi (John 

 1, 3, and 6). 

 Among Jewish 

 scholarsJudab, 

 the editor of 

 the Mishnah, is 

 known as the 

 rabbi. See 

 Jews. 



Rabbit (Or- 

 yctolagua cuni- 

 culus). Animal 

 belonging to 

 the order 



Rabbi in ecclesias- Rodentia, or 

 tical robes gnawing mam- 



mals. With the hare it is dis- 

 tinguished from the rest of the 

 rodents by the presence of an 

 additional pair of incisor teeth in 

 the upper jaw. 



The rabbit is distinguished from 

 the hare (Lepus) by its smaller 

 size, shorter ears, legs, and feet, 

 and grey colour. There are also 

 differences in the relative length of 

 the bones of the legs and in the 

 habits of the two animals. Whereas 

 hares are solitary, and crouch in 

 furrows or in hollows under herb- 

 age, rabbits are gregarious and 

 live in burrows. They are also 

 much less fleet of foot. 



The origin of the rabbit has been 

 the subject of much debate, and 

 is still very obscure. Its remains 

 do not occur in prehistoric en- 

 campments, and the fact that its 

 bones have been found in cave 

 deposits with those of extinct 

 animals proves nothing, as the 

 burrowing habits of the animal 

 may account for it. There is no 

 record of its introduction to the 

 British Isles. It has been assumed, 

 but without any proof, that it was 

 brought by the Romans. At any 

 rate, it was common in England in 

 the 12th century, but in the High- 

 lands of Scotland it was almost 

 unknown a hundred years ago. 



The rabbit is a nocturnal animal, 

 feeding in the late evening and 

 early morning ; but in quiet spots 

 it may be seen about at all hours 

 of the day. Owing to its large 

 numbers, it is a most destructive 

 creature in plantations and gar- 

 dens. Its fur is made into cheap 

 imitations of better kinds, and is 

 felted for the production of hats. 



As the rabbit often has four or 

 five litters in the year, and the 

 young ones are ready to breed at 

 six months old, it multiplies at a 

 prodigious rate if not kept down. 

 It has been calculated that a single 

 pair under favourable circum- 

 stances could have a progeny of 

 over thirteen millions in three years. 

 In Australia the introduction of 

 this rodent has resulted in a most 

 serious menace to agriculture. 



The rabbit is largely kept in cap- 

 tivity, as a pet and for commercial 

 purposes, and its domestication 

 has brought about many changes 

 in size, colour, and form. One of 

 the most curious is a modification 

 of the skull, which causes the ears 

 to droop instead of standing 

 erect. The large " double-lop " 

 is a favourite breed with the 

 fancier. . 



The so-called Belgian hare, 

 which is really a modified rabbit, 

 at tains a large size, and is imported 

 in large numbers to this country 

 for consumption as food. The 

 Angora is known by its long 



