GEOGRAPHY, TRAVEL, ARCHITECTURE 



563 



Ratisbon (German, Regensburg), a city of 

 Bavaria, on the south bank of the Danube, about 

 sixty-five miles northeast of Munich. It was 

 formerly a place of great importance, having 

 been, in the Thirteenth Century, the most popu- 

 lous and flourishing city of Southern Germany, 

 the seat of the Germanic Diet from 1663 

 to 1806. Its most remarkable building is its 

 cathedral, which dates from the Thirteenth Cen- 

 tury, and which was restored in 1830-38. The 

 city lias some manufactures, and ship-building 

 i< carried on. The astronomer Kepler, to whom 

 a monument is erected in the city, died at Ratis- 

 bon, and is buried there. Population, 48,412. 

 K tvenna, a city of Italy, and the capital 

 rovince of the same name, situated near 

 the mouth of the river Montone, about four 

 milfs from the Adriatic Sea. It has a cathedral 

 which date* from the Fourth Century, but which 

 was rebuilt early in the Eighteenth Century, it 

 ontains many interesting remains of an- 

 tiquity, the city having been, in the time of the 

 Romans <me of the most important places in 

 Northern Italy, and at that time a seaport. 

 After the downfall of the Western Empire, 

 : i a became the capital of the kingdom of 

 Theodoric, whose mausoleum is still in existence, 

 about a mile outside the city. It also contains 

 the grave of the poet Dante, who died at Ra- 

 in 1321. The place is now of little im- 

 portance, except for its antiquities. It has some 

 manufactures in silk, and is connected with the 

 Adriatic by a canal. Population, 63,839. 



Red Sea, an extensive inland sea, which 

 lies between Arabia, on the east, and Egypt, 

 Nubia, and Abyssinia, on the west; and wnich 

 communicates with the Arabian Sea by the 

 Strait of Bal>-ol-Mandol> ami the Gulf of Aden, 

 anil with the Mediterranean at Port Said by the 

 mal. The Red Sea (also called the Arabi- 

 an Gulf), is about 1. UK) miles long, and 230 miles 

 broad at its broadest part. Towards its north- 

 tremity it is divided into two gulfs, the 

 Gulf of Suez (about 180 miles long), and the 

 Gulf of Akabah, or the Elanitic Gulf (about 100 



^ 



between \\hich is the Peninsula of 

 sea is remarkable for its coral ; 



which extend generally in long strips parallel 



with the shore. It is also remarkable for its 



mis islands, which cause the navigation 



to be difficult, and occasionally dangerous, but 



there are good harbors on either side, Originally 



the sea *as called the Sea of Edom. which the 



MS translated into "Mare Rubrum." Of 



Red Sea. The name "Edom" signifies "red," 



and t his is doubtless the or iuin of tin- nan 



the waters are said to be in some parts tinned 



nich is due to the pi 



The average depth of the sea is 

 about 100 fathoms; its greatest depth f> 

 Jeddah, in Arabia, and the opposite coast) is 



1,000 fathoms. 



IChHmx. 01 KHms i/?rm), a rify in the 

 h department o| V \, 1, 



.ist of PnrN. It i^ \\ll 

 built, and from tl >t the .,11 



ot don M a picturesque ap- 



I'nder the I rank rule it was n place 

 of much importance, and it :ici|iiir- 

 religious interest from its having been the scene 



in 496 of the baptism of Clovis and his chief 

 officers by the bishop, St. Remy (438-533). In 

 the Eighth Century it became an archbishopric, 

 and from 1179, when Philip August u 

 solemnly crowned here, it became the place for 

 the coronation of the kings of France. Joan of 

 Arc brought the dauphin hither, and the only 

 sovereigns in the long series, down to 1825, not 

 crowned at Rheims were Henry IV., Napoleon 

 I., and Louis XVIII. In 1830 the ceremony of 

 coronation at Rheims was abolished. The 

 cathedral, though the towers of the original de- 

 sign are still unfinished, is one of the finest ex- 

 tant specimens of Gothic architecture. It was 

 built between 1212 and 1430. The Roman- 

 esque Church of St. Remy (mainly 1160-1180), 

 with the saint's shrine, is nearly of equal size, 

 but of less architectural pretension. Rheims 

 is one of the principal entrepots for the wines of 

 Champagne, and tne hills which surround the 

 town are planted with vinevards. Population, 

 109,350. 



Rhine (German, Rhein), the finest river of 

 Germany, and one of the most important rivers 

 of Europe, its direct course being 460 miles, 

 and its indirect course 800 miles (about 250 miles 

 of its course being in Switzerland, 450 in Ger- 

 many, and 100 in Holland); while the area of 

 its basin is 75,000 square miles. It is formed in 

 the Swiss canton Grisons by two main streams 

 called the Vorder and Hinter Rhein. The 

 Vorder Rhein rises in the Lake of Toma, on the 

 southeast slope of the St. Got hard, at a height 

 of 7,690 feet above the sea, near the source of the 

 Rhone, and at Reichenau unites with the 11 inter 

 Rhein, which issues from the Rheinwald (llacier, 

 7.270 feet above sea-level. Beyond Reiehenau 

 the united streams take the common name of 

 Rhine. Generally speaking, it pursues a north- 

 ern course till it enters Holland, below Emmer- 

 ich, when it divides into a number of separate 

 branches, forming a great delta, and falling into 

 the sea by many mouths. That which retains 

 the name of Rhine, a small stream, pass, 

 den and enters the North Sea. In the German 

 part of its course the chief tributaries are the 111. 



Nahe, Moselle. Ahr. and Krft. 

 I.alm. Sit'g. Ruhr, and Lippe. 



Neckar. Main. 

 In Switseriand 



its tributaries are short and unimportant) and 

 this part of its course is marked by the Falls of 

 the Rhine at SchalTliausen. when* the river is 

 precipitated in three leaps over a ledi;e of rocks 

 furty-eiiiht to sixty feet in height, and by the 

 cataracts of Lauterbere ami the rapids of Khein- 

 felden. It is navigable without interruption 

 from I'.asrl to its mouth, a distance f -V.il miles. 



-mis are spent r in keeping the 



channel in order, and in the erection or repair 



r harbors, both in Germany and Holland. 

 The Rhine is distinguished by the Ix'auty of its 

 ich attracts many tourists. 



Rhodesia, tin 



linen to that part of 



South Africa \\liic-h has ! - recent 



years by the British South African Company, 

 toting mainly under Cecil John Rhodes. 

 750,000 square miles; population. 1.075,000. 

 is administered by the 



I'.ritMi South African Company, which was 



r in October, 1889. The 



Zambesi flows through it. cutting the 



