564 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



region into two portions Southern and North- 

 ern Rhodesia. 



Southern Rhodesia consists of the t\vo prov- 

 inces of Matabeleland and Mashonaland. The 

 capital and the seat of government of Rhodesia 

 is Salisbury, with a population of 1,800. The 

 other principal townships are New Umtali, Mel- 

 setter, and Enkeldoorn. A railway is being 

 built, running inland from Beira, and it will 

 place Salisbury in direct communication \\ith 

 the sea over a line 382 miles in length. Mata- 

 beleland lies between the Limpopo and middle 

 Zambesi rivers. The principal town, and the 

 chief commercial center in Khodesia, is Bula- 

 wayo, with a population of 5,000. The exten- 

 sion of the Cape government west railway sys- 

 tem through Kimberley and Vryburg to Bula- 

 wayo was completed in October, 1897. The 

 distance from Cape Town to Bulawayo is 1,360 

 miles. Northern Rhodesia consists of the whole 

 of the British sphere north of the Zambesi, lying 

 between Portuguese East Africa, German East 

 Africa, the Kongo Free State, and Angola, with 

 the exception of the strip of territory forming 

 the British Central Africa Protectorate, which is I 

 under direct imperial administration. North of | 

 the Zambesi the country has as yet been little 

 prospected. Coal has been found on the shore 

 of Lake Nyassa. There are 5,250 square miles 

 of gold fields in Rhodesia. 



Richmond, a city of the United States, 

 capital of Virginia, is finely situated on the 

 north side of James River, at the head of tide- 

 water, 100 miles southwest of Washington. The 

 streets are generally wide and well-built, and 

 mostly intersect each other at right angles. 

 There are many fine buildings, including the 

 capitol, governor's house, city hall, federal build- 

 ings, buildings of Richmond College, churches, 

 schools, asylums, etc. The State House or cap- 

 itoL contains Houdon's celebrated marble statue 

 of Washington, and in the capitol grounds are 

 Toley's bronze statue of General T. J. ("Stone- 

 wall") Jackson and Crawford's bronze statue of 

 Washington, twenty-five feet high, on a pedestal 

 forty-two feet high, surrounded by other bronze 

 statues. Water-power is almost unlimited, and j 

 the various mills and factories give employment I 

 to numerous workmen. The trade staples are 

 tobacco, iron, grain, and flour. The first occu- 

 pation of any part of its site was by English 

 settlers in 1609; the city was formally founded 

 in 1742, and became the seat of government in ! 

 1780. During the Civil War it was the seat of | 

 the Confederate Government. It was invested 

 by the federal armies, and surrendered on April 

 3, 1865. Population, 86,880. 



Riga, a city and capital of Livonia, and 

 after St. Petersburg and Odessa, the third sea- 

 port of Russia, on 'the Dwina River, seven miles 

 from the mouth of the river, and 350 miles south- 

 west of St. Petersburg, via Pskoff. The old 

 town has narrow streets and medieval houses 

 and stores; but the suburbs are laid out in 

 broad streets with handsome buildings. The 

 chief edifices are the cathedral built in 1204, 

 burned down in 1547, but rebuilt; St. Peter's 

 Church (1406), with a steeple 460 feet high; 

 the castle of the old Knights of the Sword, 

 built 1194-1515, the former residence of the 



grand master of the order; and several old 

 guild houses and Hanseatic halls. Riga was 

 founded in 1201 by Albert, Bishop of Livonia, 

 and soon became a first-rate commercial town, 

 and member of the Hanseatic League. In 

 1710 was annexed to Russia. Population, 

 282.230. 



Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, a city 

 and seaport, capital of Brazil and of the prov- 

 ince of the same name, the largest and most 

 important city of South America; on the west 

 side of one of the finest bays in the world, 

 eighty miles west of Cape Frio. The city stands 

 on a tongue of land close to the shore, on the 

 west side of th^ bay, at the foot of several high 

 mountains which rise behind it. The houses are 

 generally built of stone or brick. The streets 

 are straight, well paved, and have excellent 

 footpaths. The convents and churches are nu- 

 merous, but none of them can be called fine 

 buildings. Parallel with the beach runs the main 

 street, called Rua de Direita, from which the 

 minor streets branch off at right angles and are 

 intersected by others at regular distances. The 

 imperial palace skirts the beach, and is seen to 

 great advantage from the landing place, which 

 is within sixty yards of its entrance. The other 

 public buildings are the naval and military ar- 

 senal, a public hospital, a national library con- 

 taining about 100,000 volumes. The entrance 

 into it from the sea does not exceed a mile from 

 point to point; it afterward widens to about 

 three or four miles. This city is the chief mart 

 of Brazil. Population, 750,000. 



Rio de la Plata, a river, or rather an 

 estuary, on the South American coast, between 

 the Argentine Republic and Uruguay. The es- 

 tuary itself is about 185 miles long, and 130 

 miles broad, at its entrance. It is formed by 

 the confluence of the Paraguay, the Pilcomayo, 

 the Parana, the Uruguay, and several other 

 rivers; the total length of the stream, measured 

 from the source of the Paraguay, being esti- 

 mated at upwards of 2,500 miles. The estuary 

 of the La Plata is not deep ; and it has a number 

 of submarine banks all around its coasts, which, 

 along with its strong irregular currents, render 

 navigation difficult. The waters of the estuary 

 are so turbid that they tinge the sea visibly for 

 a distance of 200 miles from its mouth. About 

 150 miles from the mouth of the estuary, on its 

 southern side, is the city of Buenos Ayres; on 

 the opposite side of the estuary, but nearer the 

 Atlantic, is the city of Monte Video. The area 

 of the basin of the La Plata, from its source to 

 its mouth, is estimated at 1,250,000 square 

 miles. 



Rivers, Longest of the World 



NAME OF RIVER LENGTH 



Amazon 4,000 



Amur 1,500 



Arkansas, 1,514 



Brahmaputra 2,000 



Cambodia 2,417 



Colorado, 100 



Columbia 400 



Congo 2,700 



Danube 640 



Dnieper ,230 



Don 104 



Dwina 700 



Elbe 550 



Euphrates, . 1 .750 



