R A C 



tuins of whofe palace, it is faid, are flill vifible. Tlie poli- 

 tion of Racca, in the parallel of 36° N., was afcertaineJ 

 by the celebrated oriental allroiiomer Mahomed Ben .Tiber, 

 furnamed Al Batani, who paffed many years of his life at 

 this place. The town and adjoining country are inhabited 

 by different tribes of wandering Arabs. N. lat. 36^ i'. 

 E. long. 38'-' 50'. 



RACCAN, a river on the north coaft of Sumatra, 

 which rnns into the fea, N. lat. 2° 30'. E. long. 100'' 15'. 



RACCANATTO, a river of Naples, which runs into 

 the gulf of Tarento, N. lat. 39° 47'. E. long. 16° 42'. 

 RACCOON, in Zoology. See Rackoon. 

 Raccoon, in Geography, an ifland in the Atlantic, near 

 the coaft of South Carolina, nine miles long and one wide. 

 N. lat. 33'^ 3'. W. long. 79° 22'. 



Raccoon Creek, a river of Pennfylvania, which runs into 

 the Ohio, N. lat. 40'^ 38'. W. long. 80° 25'. 



Raccoon IJlnnd, a fmall ifland in Olfabaw found, be- 

 longing to the ftate of Georgia. N. lat. 31^47'. W. long. 

 81° 12'. 



Raccoon Key, a fmall ifland or rock in the gulf of 

 Mexico, near the fouth coaft of Welt Florida. N. lat. 29° 

 46'. W. long. 89 21'. 



Raccoon Keys, a clufter of fmall iflands near the coaft 

 of South Carolina. N. lat. 24° 8'. W. long. 79'^ 15'. . 



RACCOURCY, in Heraldry, fignifies the fame as coupe, 

 that is, cut off', or Jhortened; and denotes a crofs, or other 

 ordinary, when it does not extend to the edges of the 

 cfcutcheon, as they always do when abfolutely named, with- 

 ovit fuch diftinftion. 



RACE, in general, fignifies running with others, in order 

 to obtain 2 prize, either on foot, or by riding on horfe- 

 back, ill chariots, &c. 



Racing was one of the exercifes among the ancient Gre- 

 cian games, which was performed in a courfe, containing 

 one hundred and twenty-five paces ; and thofe who contended 

 in thefe foot-races were frequently clothed in armour. For 

 a particular account of thefe races, fee Stadium. 



There were properly but two kinds of horfe-races at 

 Olympia, namely, the char'wt-race, introduced into thofe 

 games in the 2Jth olympiad (for an account of which fee 

 Chariot), and the race of riding-horfcs, which was 

 not admitted till the 33d. Although chariots were in 

 ufe before riding-horfes, as we may conclude from the 

 teftimony of Homer, among all whofe heroes, Greek 

 and Trojan, no one makes his appearance on horfeback, 

 except Diomcdes and Ulyd'es mounted upon the horfes 

 of Rhefus (II. X.), it is neverthelefs plain, from this in- 

 ftance, that neither the heroes nor the horfes were utter 

 ftrangers to the art of riding ; and it is alfo evident, 

 •from another padage in the 15th Iliad, that horfemanfliip 

 was carried even to lome degree of perfeftion, at leait in 

 the time of that poet, who lived but in the next generation 

 after the fiege of Troy, according to fir Ifaac Newton. 

 This paffage, extradted from Pope's Homer \\\. xv. v. 822.) 

 is as follows : 



" So when a horfeman from the wat'ry mead 

 (Skill'd in the manage of the bounding rteed) 

 Drives four fair courfers, praftis'd to obey, 

 To fome great city, thro' the public way : 

 Safe in his art, as fide by fide they run. 

 He fhifts his feat, and vaults from one to one ; 

 And now to this, and now to that he flies : 

 Admiring numbers follow \vith their eyes." 



^omc authors (fee RoUin's Anc. Hift. torn. v. p. 72. 

 «d. Amft.) have introduced an exercife like this into the 



It A C 



Olympic games, though Mr. Weft profefles himfelf difTatis- 

 fied with the authority upon which they depend : and fays that 

 in the books which he has confultcd, he can find no mention 

 of any other race of riding-horfes, bcfides thofe of the 

 Celcs and the Calpe. As to that particular branch of horfe- 

 manfliip, above defcribcd, Euflathius, in his comment upon 

 Homer, tells us, that in the old fcholia it is written, that 

 Demetrius fays he had leen a man, vaulting in the manner 

 delcribed by the poet, from the back of one horfe to another, 

 holding the bridles at the fame time, and keeping the horfes 

 to their fpecd, without any interruption or incumbrance. 

 This affertion implies that fuch a fight was very uncommon, 

 Riid confequently that no fuch exercife could ever have been 

 admitted into any of the games of Greece. The word 

 Kf\-!^{i(^:n, uicd by the poet in the beginning of this fimile, fays 

 Mr. Weft, may poflibly have induced fome people to ima- 

 gine, tiiat the riders of the horfes called KiXr',-,:, celetcs, were 

 accuflomed to leap from one horfe to another, as if that 

 word was a term of the manege, of which the verfes that 

 follow were merely an explanation. It is certain, however, 

 from a paflage in the Odyffey (E. v. 371.) that by itt'--; 

 K/Au:', Homer meant to fignify no more than a riding-horfe, 

 and confequently that by the word KsXrriiJrc, which is derived 

 from KeAd;, no more is to be underftood in this place than 

 fimply to ride. This interpretation of Y,i.:r,-, celes; may be 

 farther confirmed by the authorities of Pindar and Paufa- 

 nias, and particularly by a ftory related by the laft mentioned 

 author (lib. vi. c. 13.) of a marc, named Aura, belonging 

 to one Pliidolas, a Corinthian. This mare, fays the hifto- 

 rian, having accidentally thrown her rider foon after file had 

 flarted from the barrier, continued the race of her own ac- 

 cord, and turned round the pillar as if the rider had been 

 ftill upon her back ; upon hearing the trumpet, flie mended 

 her pace, till coming in before her antagonifts, fhe flopped 

 fiiort over-againft the judges of the games, as confcious of 

 having gained the victory. The viftory was accordingly 

 adjudged to her mailer Phidolas, who, by erefting in returii 

 a ftatue to her honour, intimated to whom the merit of that 

 vittory was due. In this ftory, there is no mention of any 

 other horfe or mare, that fhared the viftory with Aura, and 

 confequently that, in the race called Celcs, each competitor 

 made ufe of but one fingle horfe. Moreover, the victorious 

 Aura was of the feminine gender, and hence we may infer, 

 that in all the races, as well of riding horfes as of chariots, 

 mares or horfes were indifferently ufed ; excepting in the 

 race named Calpe, in which mares only were employed. 

 And further it appears, that though the rider was thrown 

 off in the very beginning of the race, yet the crown was 

 awarded to Phidolas, the mafter of Aura ; to whom cer- 

 tainly no lefs was due, than if his mare had conquered under 

 the conduct and difcretion of her rider. It appears alfo, 

 by the circumflance of Aura's mending her pace upon hear- 

 ing the trumpet, that the trumpet either did not found 

 during the whole race, but at the lalt round only, or that it 

 founded differently in different periods of the courfe. There 

 was, however, a meaning in the found of the trumpet, which 

 Aura, probably an old Itagcr, underftood. 



The race of full-aged riding-horfes was inftituted in the 

 33d olympiad, and that of the riwAo; KiXr.:, or iinder-agcd 

 riding-horfes, in the 131ft. It is a well-known faft that 

 chariots were ufed in war above 1000 years before cavah-y 

 was introduced among the ancients. They feem to have had 

 a terrible notion of being mounted upon the back of a 

 horfe, and have accordingly made monfters of thofe whom 

 they firft beheld in that attitude, to which they were not 

 very fpcedily reconciled. Their amazement gradually dimi- 

 niflied : and their intercourfe with other nations not only 

 S f 2 rendered 



