R H 0 
60 
the enormous weight of 1600 or 1800 pounds.' There are 
numerous dairies, and the butter and cheese is of an execelient 
quality. The number of sheep reared upon the island is, 
upon an average, about 30,000. Fruit thrives here extreme¬ 
ly, especially the apple, of which more cyder is made than 
is required for home consumption, particularly at Cranston, 
Johnson, and Smithfield. The farms and dairies of the 
Narraganset country were celebrated before the revolutionary 
war; but during this period they suffered greatly. The 
English troops in possession of Rhode island cut down the 
fruit trees for fuel, ravaged the plantations, and seized the 
cattle for their own use. Of several thousand head, 
there remained but 300 in 1786. The Narraganset track, 
which terminates on the bay of the same name, produces a 
breed of pacing horses remarkable for their speed and vigour. 
The wild animals, deprived of their cover, have disappear¬ 
ed. Of fishes there is a great abundance and variety. No 
less than 80 different kinds are seen in the market of New¬ 
port, of which the black fish, known by the name of tataag, 
is in high estimation. The shores abound with cod, halibut, 
mackerel, haddock, bass, and perch; the rivers and bays 
with sheepshead, shad, and herrings; sea-bass, some of the 
largest weighing 60 pounds; in Point Judith Pond, from 
2 to 40 pounds. A fish called the horse-mackerel disap¬ 
peared during the revolutionary war, which was ascribed by 
some to the noise of the guns of the French and English fleets: 
others suppose, with greater, probability, that they were 
destroyed by a storm, which drove them ashore on the coast 
of Maine or Massachusetts. 
The rivers are Pawtucket, Providence, Pawtuxet, Pawcatuck, 
and Wood river. Narraganset bay extends up from south to 
north, between the mainland on the east and west, and em¬ 
bosoms many pleasant and fertile islands, among .which are 
Rhode island, from which the state derives its name, Can- 
onicut, Prudence, Patience, Hope, Dyer's, and Hog islands. 
Providence bay lies 15 miles from Narraganset bay, and is 
from one to three miles wide. Block island, off the coast in 
the Atlantic, is the most southerly land belonging to the state. 
The most considerable towns are Providence, Newport, Bris¬ 
tol, Warren, South Kingston, East Greenwich, Smithfield and 
the villages of Pawtucket and Pawtuxet. The harbours are 
Newport, Providence, Wickford, Pawtuxet, Bristol, and 
Warren. There are 31 banks in this state, 7 at Providence, 
5 at Newport, 4at Bristol, 2 in North Providence, including 
one at the village of Pawtucket, 2 at Westerly, 1 at Warren, 1 
at East Greenwich, 1 at South Kingston, 1 at Smithfield, 
1 at Warwick, 1 at Wickford, 1 at Pawtuxet, 1 at Che- 
pachet, 1 at Burrillville, 1 at Scituate, and 1 at Co¬ 
ventry. There is a college at Providence, and a large 
Friends’ boarding-school recently established at the place. 
There are 7 academies in the state, at Bristol, Cumberland, 
East Greenwich, Newport, Smithfield, South Kingston, and 
Wickford. Public and private schools are supported, in a 
greater or less degree, in various places; but public schools 
are not supported by law in Rhode Island, as in the other 
New England states. The number of congregations of the 
several denominations of Christians in this state, is stated as 
follows:—Baptists 57, Friends 18, Congregationalists 11, 
Episcopalians 5, Moravians 1, Jews 1. 
The legislature meets at Newport twice a-year, at Provi¬ 
dence once, and once a year alternately at East Greenwich 
and South Kingston. This state sends two representatives 
to congress. 
The following is a progressive account of the population 
from the year 1730: 
Increase of Population. Including Blacks. 
1730, 
17,935 
2,633 
1748, 
32,773 
4,373 
1761, 
40,636 
4,697 
1774, 
59,678 
5,243 
1783, 
51,899 
3,361 
1790, 
68,825 
948 slaves; 
3,407 free blacks. 
1800, 
69,122 
380 
3,304 
1810, 
76,931 
108 
3,609 
R H O 
RHODE ISLAND, the island from which the above stat t 
takes its name, is. situated in Narraganset bay, near the coas 
of Massachusetts. It is about 15 miles from north to south’ 
and 3| wide, and is divided into three townships, Newport’ 
Portsmouth, and Middletown. It is a noted resort for inva¬ 
lids from southern climates. The island is exceedingly 
fertile and healthful. Travellers call it the Eden o f Ame¬ 
rica. It suffered much by the revolutionary war. Between 
30,000 and 40,000 sheep are fed on the island, besides neat 
cattle and horses. There is a valuble coal mine on the north¬ 
west part of the island. Lat- 41. 25. N. long. 71. 20. W. 
RHODE RIVER, a river of south Carolina, which runs 
into the north-west branch of Cape Fear river. 
RHODES, an extensive island of the Mediterranean, near 
the coast of Asia Minor. In ancient times, it was one of the 
most celebrated of the states of Greece, and distinguished 
above all others by its wealth, and naval power. Though 
this city early began to distinguish itself in trade, yet its 
greatness was not coeval with.that of Sparta and Athens. It 
was even subjected to the latter power, during the period of 
its most extended dominion. It was after the death of Alex¬ 
ander that Rhodes appeared in its full glory, and not only 
dazzled the -world by its magnificence, but raising almost 
alone the standard of independence, became illustrious by its 
warlike exploits. Demetrius, the greatest captain of that age, 
undertook the siege of Rhodes, hoping to make its reduction 
the most illustrious of his exploits, lie not only exhausted 
all the known resources of war, but invented new machines, 
of immense power and magnitude, to reduce it; yet, after 
a year’s perseverance, he was obliged to raise the siege, and 
found before Rhodes the wreck of his military fortunes, as 
well as of his fame. At this time Rhodes was ,as much dis¬ 
tinguished by art as by splendour. It was all built on,a 
regular plan, the houses corresponding to each other, and 
forming as it were only a single edifice. The walls, of 
enormous strength and thickness, were marked at intervals 
by lofty towers, serving also as light-houses to the numerous 
shipping which frequented its harbour. The port, naturally 
one of the most commodious in the world, had been im¬ 
proved by all the resources of art. In short, it is described 
as the only city which was at once strongly fortified and 
ornamented like a palace. It was particularly famous for 
the w orks of painting and sculpture, by which it was adorn¬ 
ed. Protogenes, the cotemporary and rival of Apelles, pro¬ 
duced here those masterpieces, which were the admiration of 
antiquity. In sculpture, Rhodes could boast of her celebrated 
colossus, reckoned one of the seven wonders of the world. 
It is described as seventy cubits high, and as much distinguish¬ 
ed for beauty as for grandeur; but the relations which de¬ 
scribe its feet as placed on the opposite sides of the harbour, 
and ships as sailing between its legs, appear to be altogether 
fabulous. It was overthrown by an earthquake; and after 
lying for many ages extended on the ground, was, in the reign 
of the emperor Constans, sold to a Jew, and its fragments 
transported to Ernesa on 900 camels. Rhodes too, though 
it did not produce the most celebrated Greek authors, assidu¬ 
ously cultivated learning; and in the time of Cicero and 
Caesar, its schools were much frequented. 
Rhodes was among the last states which yielded to the 
Roman arms; and she was allowed even to enjoy the forms 
of liberty, till the reign of Vespasian, who reduced her into 
the regular form of a Roman province. Rome, however, 
owned in one respect her pre-eminence, by adopting the 
greater part ofjher naval and commercial code. Rhodes thus 
lost her political existence, and is not heard of in history, 
till, on the downfall of the eastern empire, the island became 
one of the last retreats to the knights of St. John of Jerusa¬ 
lem. This little band of heroes rendered it illustrious, by 
their resistance to the Ottoman emperors, during the period 
of their greatest power. They baffled the efforts of Maho¬ 
met II. the conqueror of Constantinople, and were not re¬ 
duced by Solyinan the Great, till after one of the most 
memorable sieges recorded in history. 
Rhodes, which occupies so great a place in history, 
holds a very insignificant one on the present theatre of the 
world. 
