MX; 



RAIN !1O\V RALEIGH. 



From 43* tn'4 1 '.- the mean number i< Ui3 

 41;" ' SO" . . . l:>1 



SO" 60 1UI 



Hence it i< obvious tlmt the rain falls in very 

 heavy showers in warm climates, and that it be- 

 i-omrs more anil more gentle as we advance towards 

 the pole. Consequently, in hot climates, the air 

 must be much less loaded with moisture, and the 

 rate of evaporation much greater than in cold cli- 

 maies. For when rain falls very heavy, a great 

 portion of it runs off by the surface, and flows into 

 tin- sea. But this happens to a much less extent 

 when the fall of rain is more gentle. 



K. UN BOW. To what has been said on this 

 subject in the article Optics we will only add, that 

 in a stormy sea, in which the water is frequently 

 sent up into the air in large drops, the rays of the 

 sun form in them inverted rainbows, of which from 

 twenty to thirty are frequently visible at the same 

 time. They usually have but two colours ; yellow 

 upon the side towards the sun, and pale green upon 

 the other side. The appearance of two rainbows, 

 intersected by each other, which sometimes takes 

 place on the seacoast, when the rain-cloud is over 

 the water, is perhaps the effect of the image of the 

 sun reflected from the surface of the water. In the 

 morning, we often see the colours of the rainbow 

 in the dew-drops on the meadows, where the bow 

 is hyperbolical or elliptical. Rainbows likewise 

 have sometimes been observed in the night, which 

 arise from the refraction and dispersion of the col- 

 oured rays of the moon in the drops of rain ; they 

 are, however, very faint, and usually form only 

 white and yellow bows. The bishop of Spalatro, 

 Antony de Dominis, gave the first accurate explan- 

 ation of the principal rainbow, in a treatise which 

 appeared at Venice in the beginning of the seven- 

 teenth century ; but we are indebted to Newton for 

 tlie complete elucidation, on mathematical princi- 

 ples, of this bright appearance of the heavens (Qp- 

 tica, London, 1706, quarto). See Iris. 



RAINGUAGE, OR PLUVIOMETER; a ma- 

 chine for measuring the quantity of rain that falls. 

 There are various kinds of rainguages : one of the 

 best is a hollow cylinder, having within it a cork- 

 ball attached to a wooden stem, which passes 

 tnrough a small opening at the top, on which is 

 placed a large funnel. When this instrument is 

 placed in the open air, in a free place, the rain that 

 falls within the circumference of the funnel will run 

 down into the cylinder, and cause the cork to float; 

 and the quantity of water in the cylinder may be 

 seen by the height to which the stem of the float is 

 raised. The stem of the float is so graduated as to 

 show, by its divisions, the number of perpendicular 

 inches of water which fell on the surface of the 

 earth since the last observation. It is hardly ne- 

 cessary to observe that, after every observation, 

 the cylinder must be emptied. A very simple rain- 

 guage, and one which answers all practical pur- 

 poses, consists of a copper funnel, the area of whose 

 opening is exactly ten square inches. This funnel 

 is fixed in a bottle, and the quantity of rain caught 

 is ascertained by multiplying the weight in ounces 

 by 173, which gives the depth in inches and parts 

 of an inch. In fixing these guages, care must be 

 taken that the rain may have free access to them. 

 Hence the tops of buildings are usually the best 

 places When quantities of rain, collected in them 

 at different places, are compared, the instruments 

 ought to l>e fixed at the same heights above the 

 ground at both places, because, at different heights, 

 the quantities are always different, even at the same 

 place. See Rain. 



RAJAH ; the hereditary princes of the Hindoos, 



who, l>efore the subjugation of the country by the 

 Moguls, governed the various countries of Hindoo- 

 Stan, as they still continue to do in some instances, 

 though they are generally dependent on the Euro- 

 peans. They belong to the caste of Cashatriyas, 

 or Chehteree. (See Caste, and Hindoos.) In the 

 East Indian islands, especially in the interior ol 

 them, where the arms of foreign conquerors have 

 never penetrated, there are yet many independent 

 rajahs. The following cut represents an Indian 

 rajah, seated with his two attendants behind. 



Rajah is the prefix to many geographical names 

 in the East Indies. 



RAJASTH AN (or the central and westernRajpoot 

 states) extends from 22 to 30 north latitude, and 

 from 69 to 78 east longitude, comprising 350,000 

 square miles. It consists of seven states, belonging 

 to the British dominions. This country was, com- 

 paratively but little known to Europeans, until the 

 publication of a valuable work on it by colonel 

 Tod, who had been for a long time in authority 

 there. The work is of much interest to the ge' - 

 grapher, the historian, the lover of poetry, and the 

 linguist, and brings to light curious traces of insti- 

 tutions similar to those of Europe. Were other 

 remote countries of the East explored in the same 

 spirit, many more such analogies would probably 

 be found. See the Annals and Antiquities of Ra- 

 jasthan, by Lieut. Col. James Tod, late Political 

 Agent to the Western Rajpoot States (4 to, London, 

 1829). 



RAJPOOTANA. See Rajasthan. 



RAKE ; a term applied to the masts when they 

 are out of a perpendicular situation ; as, That ship's 

 mainmast rakes aft. 



RAKING; the act of cannonading a ship on the 

 stern, or head, so that the balls range the whole 

 length of the decks, which is one of the most dan- 

 gerous incidents that can happen in a naval action. 

 This is frequently called raking fore and aft, and is 

 similar to what is termed by engineers enfilading. 



RALEIGH, OR RALEGH, SIR WALTER, a dis- 

 tinguished warrior, statesman, and writer, in the 

 reigns of Elizabeth and James 1., was the second 

 son of a gentleman of ancient family in Devonshire. 

 He was born in 1552. in that county, and was sent 

 to Oriel college, Oxford, where his proficiency 

 gave a high opinion of his capacity. His active 

 disposition and martial ardour led him, at the age of 

 seventeen, to join a body of gentlemen volunteers 

 raised to assist the French Protestants. He subse- 

 quently accompanied the forces sent under general 

 Norris to assist the Dutch, and afterwards accom- 

 panied his half-brother Sir Humphrey Gilbert in a 



