Robert Rainy, 

 Scottish divine 



Elliott & Fry 



RAINY 



Rainy OB RENE. Lake on the 

 borders of Canada and U.S.A. It 

 lies 155 m. W. of Lake Superior, 

 and is about 50 m. long by from 

 3 m. to 8 m. broad. The outflow 

 from the lake is past Fort Frances 

 by the Rainy river into the Lake 

 of the Woods. The provision of a 

 lock at Fort Frances would 

 facilitate continuous steamer navi- 

 gation from the head of Rainy 

 Lake to Kenora. The U.S. 

 frontier is along the river and the 

 S. shore of the lake. 



Rainy, ROBERT (1826-1906). 

 Scottish divine. Born in Glasgow, 

 Jan. 1, 1826, the son of a professor 

 of medicine at 

 Glasgow Uni- 

 versity, he 

 was educated 

 there. After 

 training a t 

 New College, 

 Edinburgh, he 

 became a 

 minister of 

 the Free 

 Church at 

 H u n 1 1 y in 

 1851, and in 1854 removed to one 

 in Edinburgh. In 1862 he was 

 chosen professor of church history 

 at New College, and in 1874 he be- 

 came its principal. He resigned 

 in 1900, and died at Melbourne, 

 Dec. 22, 1906. Rainy was long 

 one of the leaders of his Church, 

 and in later life its most prominent 

 figure. He had a good deal to do 

 with the union of the U.P. and 

 Free Churches which became the 

 United Free Church, of which body 

 he was the first moderator. He 

 wrote a number of books. See 

 United Free Church ; consult also 

 Life, P. Carnegie Simpson, 1909. 



Raipur. Dist. and town of the 

 Central Provinces, India, in the 

 Chhattisgarh division. The dist. 

 forms part of the Chhattisgarh 

 plain in the upper Mahanadi valley. 

 Only the W. of it is served by rlys., 

 which radiate from the chief town. 

 The rainfall is 49 ins., and rice and 

 pulses are the chief crops. The 

 town has a valuable trade in cot- 

 ton, grain, and lac, largely due to 

 the rly. Bombay-Nagpur-Calcutta. 

 The walled fort was built in 1460. 

 Area, 9,776 sq. m. Pop., dist., 

 1,325,000; town, 35,000. 



Raisin (Fr. from Lat. racemtis, 

 a cluster of grapes). Dried grape. 

 They are used as a dessert fruit and 

 in the making of puddings, especi- 

 ally as a constituent of the Christ- 

 mas plum pudding, the hard pips 

 being extracted before use. Raisins 

 are imported from France, Spain, 

 Turkey (see Sultanas), and Asia 

 Minor. The ordinary raisin is made 

 by drying in an oven, but the bet- 

 ter sort, such as Muscatel raisins, 



Ahmed Raisnli, 

 Moroccan bandit 



6477 



are sun-dried, being left on the 

 vine, the stem of the branch being 

 half cut through and the leaves 

 removed. See Australia ; Grape. 



Raisuli, AHMED BEN MOHAMMED 

 (1875-1925). Moroccan bandit. 

 Of noble birth, he alleged certain 

 grievances 

 against the 

 sultan, and be- 

 came chief of 

 a robber gang 

 who, in 1904, 

 captured Ion 

 Perdicaris, a 

 U.S. citizen, 

 holding him 

 to ransom for 

 14,000, which 

 the U.S. gov- 

 ernment was compelled to pay. 

 In 1907 he kidnapped Kaid Mac- 

 lean (q.v.), who was ransomed for 

 20,000, and a quantity of military 

 stores, Raisuli being also made 

 governor of the province of Fassi. 

 His rule at this place was firm and 

 beneficent, but he was constantly 

 involved in trouble with his supe- 

 riors. In 1920-21 the disturbances 

 in the Spanish zone in Morocco 

 were ascribed to his influence His 

 death was announced hi April, 

 1925. See Morocco. 



Rait, ROBERT SANGSTEB (b. 

 1874). British historian. Born at 

 Aberdeen, Feb. 10, 1874, he was 

 educated at 

 Aberdeen Uni- 

 versity and 

 New College, 

 Oxford, being 

 fellow of the 

 latter from 

 1899-1913. In 

 1913 he was 

 made p r o- 

 fessor of Scot- 

 tish history 

 and literature in Glasgow Uni- 

 versity, and Historiographer Royal 

 for Scotland in 1918. During the 

 Great War he served in government 

 departments, and was made C.B.E. 

 in 1918. Among his works are Mary 

 Queen of Scots, 1899 ; The Scottish 

 Parliament, 1901 ; Scotland, 1911 ; 

 History of Scotland, 1914 ; A His- 

 tory of England and Scotland to 

 the Union of 1707, 1920; and 

 Thoughts on the Union between 

 England and Scotland (with A. V. 

 Dicey), 1920. 



Raj. Hindu word meaning rule. 

 The British raj in India means the 

 British sovereignty. See India. 



Raja. Indian title of honour 

 meaning king. It is given to rulers 

 and others and sometimes heredi- 

 tarily by the British government to 

 Hindus, as that of Nabob to Ma- 

 homedans. It is the usual title of 

 Malay and Javanese princes. The 

 feminine is ranee. 



Robert S. Rait, 

 British historian 



RAJPUR 



Rajahmundry. Town of India, 

 in Madras Presidency. It is situ- 

 ated at the head of the delta of the 

 Godavari, 30 m. from the sea and 

 365 m. N.E. of Madras on the rly. 

 between Madras and Calcutta. The 

 town was granted to the French in 

 1753 and evacuated by them in 

 1758, when it became British. It 

 is an important river-crossing for 

 road and rly. at the head of the 

 Godavari delta. Pilgrims from the 

 neighbourhood go to Benares, and 

 carry away a pot of Ganges water ; 

 on their return to the bathing ghat 

 here they empty half the water 

 into the Godavari and then fill up 

 the pot from the river. Pop. 48,400. 



Rajbansi (Hindustani, royal- 

 born). Caste-name used by the 

 hinduised Bengali-speaking section 

 of the Koch people in N.E. India. 

 Numbering (1911) 2,049,454, nine- 

 tenths are in Bengal, the remainder 

 in Assam and in Bihar and Orissa 

 provs. Descendant from a Dra- 

 vidian tribe in the Ganges basin at 

 the Aryan immigration, they now 

 claim Kshattriya ancestry, and 

 imitate the Brahmanical rite in the 

 marriage ceremony. See Koch. 



Rajendralala Mitra (1824-91). 

 Indian Orientalist. He was born in 

 the neighbourhood of Calcutta, 

 Feb. 15, 1824. In 1846 he was ap- 

 pointed librarian of the Asiatic So- 

 ciety of Bengal, of which he was 

 vice-president, 1861-84, and then 

 president till his death, July 26, 

 1891. He was made C.I.E. in 1878, 

 and given the title of raja in 1888. 

 One of the most profound Oriental 

 scholars of modern times, his many 

 works on historical, antiquarian, 

 architectural, and religious sub- 

 jects are of permanent importance. 

 They include The Antiquities of 

 Orissa, 2 vols., 1875 and 1880 ; Bodh 

 Gaya, 1878; and Indo-Aryans, 1881. 



Rajkot. Native state and town 

 of India, in Kathiawar, Bombay 

 Province. Native food grains, 

 sugar-cane, and cotton are grown. 

 The town is a rly. junction on the 

 line S.W. from Mehsana, Baroda. 

 There is a college for the education 

 of sons of Kathiawar chiefs. The 

 political agent for Kathiawar 

 resides here. Area, 282 sq. m. 

 Pop., state, 50,600; town, 7,800. 



Rajmahal. Town of Bihar and 

 Orissa, ia the Santal Parganas. It 

 is situated on the Ganges, 65 m. 

 N.W. of Murshedabad, and was 

 formerly of considerable import- 

 ance. The name means royal resi- 

 dence. The Rajmahal Hills form 

 the extreme N.E. edge of the Dec- 

 can plateau ; round them the Gan- 

 ges bends towards the S. Pop.5,400. 



Rajpur . Town of Bengal, India, 

 in the dist. of the 24 Parganas. It 

 is situated 12 m. S.E. of Calcutta. 

 Pop. 11,600. 



