MATABELELAND (q. v.); in Rhodesia
public roads have been made to the extent of 2230 miles, and telegraph
lines to the extent of 1856 miles of line and 2583 of wire; it is
favourable to the breeding of stock, though the rinderpest raged in it
disastrously for a time; the climate is suitable for the cultivation of
cereals of all kinds, and vegetables, tobacco, india-rubber, and indigo
are indigenous, and well repay cultivation; there are forests of timber,
and gold, silver, copper, coal, tin, &c., have been discovered; it is,
roughly speaking, as large as the German Empire, and in consequence of
the Jameson raid the control of the military forces, formerly under the
control of the Company, is now in the hands of the Imperial Government.

RHONE, one of the four great rivers of France, rises on Mount St.
Gothard, in the Swiss Alps; passes through the Lake of Geneva, and
flowing in a south-westerly course to Lyons, is there joined by its chief
affluent, the Saone, hence it flows due S.; at Arles it divides into two
streams, which form a rich delta before entering the Gulf of Lyons, in
the Mediterranean; length, 504 m.; navigable to Lyons, but the rapid
current and shifting sandbanks greatly impede traffic.

RHONE (807), a department of France lying wholly within the western
side of the Saone and Rhone basin, hilly and fruitful; wine is produced
in large quantities; has an active industrial population; capital, Lyons.

RHUMB LINE, a circle on the earth's surface making a given angle
with the meridian; applied to the course of a ship in navigation.

RHYL (6), a popular watering-place of Flintshire, North Wales,
situated on the coast at the mouth of the Clwyd, 16 m. E. of Conway; has
a fine promenade pier, esplanade, gardens, &c.

RHYMER, THOMAS THE, or TRUE THOMAS, Thomas of Ercildoune, or
Earlston, a Berwickshire notability of the 13th century, famous for his
rhyming prophecies, who was said, in return for his prophetic gift, to
have sold himself to the fairies.

RHYS, JOHN, Celtic scholar, born in Wales; professor of Celtic at
Oxford; has written on subjects related to that of the chair; _b_. 1840.

RIBBONISM, the principles of secret associations among the lower
Irish Catholics, organised in opposition to Orangeism, the name being
derived from a green ribbon worn as a badge in a button-hole by the
members; they were most active between 1835 and 1855.

RIBERA, JUSEPE, a Spanish painter, born near Valen