RAPHIA PALM 



6492 



RAPPOLTSWEILER 



Raphia Palm (Raphia). Small 

 genus of trees of the natural order 

 Palmae. They are natives of tropical 

 Africa, Madagascar, and S. America. 

 They have short trunks, but the 

 leaves are frequently of enormous 

 length, and the fact that they are 

 erect causes them to appear much 

 larger in proportion to palms with 

 arching leaves. Those of R. ruffia, 

 from the Mascarene Islands,, are 

 50 or 60 ft. Jong, and of feather- 

 form. The flower spikes also are 

 large six ft. long. Its fruits are 

 as large as eggs of the domestic 

 fowl, covered with smooth, hard, 

 overlapping scales, and containing 

 a single seed.. The fruit-clusters 

 weigh two or three hundred Ib. 

 R. taedigera, native of the Amazons, 

 has leaves of similar length and 

 seven or eight feet wide, whose 

 leaf-stalks, 12 to 15 ft. long, serve 

 many of the uses of bamboos, and 

 cut into thin strips are plaited 

 into baskets. R. vinifera (Wine 

 palm), native of W. Africa and 

 the Amazons, from the similar use 

 made of its leaf-stalks, is known 

 as the bamboo-palm. See Africa. 



Raphoe. Market town of co. 

 Donegal, Ireland. It is 15 m. from 

 Londonderry. The chief building is 

 the church, formerly a cathedral, 

 dating in part from the llth cen- 

 tury, and there are remains of the 

 bishop's palace. Woollens are 

 manufactured, and in the neigh- 

 bourhood are raths, mounds, and 

 other antiquities. Raphoe grew up 

 around a monastery, and was made 

 the seat of a bishop in the 8th cen- 

 tury. Until the 17th century 

 there was a castle here, and in the 

 time of Charles II a grammar 

 school was founded. In 1835 the 

 see was united with Londonderry. 

 Market day, Sat. Pop. 2,600. 



Rapids. Part of a stream's 

 course where the current flows 

 much more quickly than the 

 average, making navigation almost 

 impossible. Rapids are frequently 

 caused by differences in the hard- 

 ness of the rocks over which a 

 stream flows. Soft layers are cut 

 more rapidly than hard, so that 

 rapids occur where the stream 

 flows from hard to soft layers. See 

 Portage. 



Rapier (Fr. rapiere). Light, 

 slender sword of highly tempered 

 steel used solely for thrusting. It 

 is about three feet in length, and 

 was a favourite weapon with duel- 

 lists in the 16th and 17th centuries. 

 The rapier was simplified and 

 developed to its best in Italy, 

 France, and Spain, and in the 

 hands of a well-trained fencer be- 

 came a most deadly weapon of 

 offence. Its very lightness, backed 

 by strong and supple wrist-play, 

 proved effective against inferior 



Rapin de Tboyras, 

 French historian 



Raphia Palm. R. taedigera, the 



short-timbered variety found in 



the Amazons 



opponents, while the guard re- 

 mained impenetrable to the most 

 determined attack. The successor 

 to the rapier as a duelling weapon 

 was the shorter small-sword of the 

 18th century. See Hilt, 



Rapin de Thoyras, PAUL DE 

 (1661-1725). French historian. 

 Born at Castres, Tarn, March 25, 

 1661, he was 

 driven from 

 France by the 

 revocation o f 

 the edict of 

 Nantes. He fol- 

 lowed William 

 III to Eng- 

 land ; distin- 

 guished him- 

 s e 1 f as a 

 soldier ; and 

 was afterwards tutor to the earl of 

 Portland's son. In 1707 he settled 

 at Wesel, and wrote his Histoire 

 d'Angleterre, 1724, Eng. trans. 

 1757-63. He died May 16, 1725. 



Rapisardi, MARIO (b. 1844). 

 Italian poet. He was born at 

 Catania, and published the first of 

 his philosophical epics, Palion- 



fenesi, at the age of twenty-four, 

 n 1875 he published a volume of 

 studies, Catullo e Lesbia, and in 

 the same year became professor 

 of Italian literature in the Catania 

 university. His later works are 

 Lucifero, 1877 ; a translation of 

 Lucretius, 1880; Giobbe, 1884; 

 Atlantide, 1889 ; and a translation 

 of Shelley's Prometheus Unbound. 

 His collected works appeared in 

 1894-97. 



Rapp, JOHN GEORGE (1770- 

 1847). Founder of the Harmonist 

 sect. Born at Wurttemberg, Ger- 

 many, from youthful days he was 

 afflicted with visions in which he 

 thought himself called to purify 

 religion. With a few followers he 

 went to America in 1803, and 

 founded his Harmonist sect at 

 Pittsburg. He taught community 

 of goods and wives, and gathered 

 considerable wealth. After re- 

 moving the concern to Indiana, he 



Comte de Rapp, 

 French soldier 



sold it in 1823 to Robert Owen, 

 and founded the colony of Econ- 

 omy near Pittsburg, where he 

 died. See Harmonists. 



Rapp, JEAN, COMTE DE (1771- 

 1821). French soldier. Bom at 

 Colmar, Alsace, April 26, 1771, he 

 distinguished , 

 himself in 

 Egypt, in 

 Italy, and at 

 Aust erlitz, 

 and in recog- 

 nition of the 

 part he played 

 at Aspern in 

 1809 was made 

 a count. He 

 also shared in 

 the Russian campaign, and subse- 

 quently defended Danzig for nearly 

 a year against the Russians. In 

 1814 he made his peace with the 

 Bourbons, but he deserted to 

 Napoleon in the Hundred Days' 

 Campaign and was proscribed. In 

 1818 his status was restored to 

 him by Louis XVIII. He died 

 Nov. 8, 1821. He left some Me- 

 moirs, new ed. 1913. 



Rappahanuock. River of Vir- 

 ginia, U.S.A. Rising in the Blue 

 Ridge, it follows a S.E. course to 

 Chesapeake Bay, which it enters by 

 a wide estuary. It receives the 

 Rapidan, and is navigable to 

 Fredericksburg, about 90 m. from 

 the sea. Its length is 250 m. 



Rapparee. Term derived from 

 an Irish word for a pike. It was 

 used for those irregular Irish 

 troops who assisted James IT in 

 his struggle against William III. 

 Afterwards it became a usual term 

 for a robber. 



Rappoltsweiler OR RIBEAU- 

 VII.LE. Town of Alsace-Lorraine. 

 It is picturesquely situated at the 

 foot of the Vosges Mts., 33 m. 



Rappoltsweiler, Alsace-Lorraine., 

 Market place and gate tower 



