Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/304

288 RHINE RHINOCEROS to the sea, and are generally from 25 to 80 ft. above the lowest level of the river. The basin of the Rhine is estimated at 80,000 sq. m., of which 13,000 belong to the upper, 40,000 to the middle, and 27,000 to the lower Rhine. The river is generally covered with ice for from six weeks to two months in winter; and when snow accumulates and a thaw suddenly sets in, the lowlands are liable to inundations that are sometimes attended with great loss of life and property. The different arms of the Rhine are united by numerous canals, and the river itself is connected by canals with the Sa6ne and Rh3ne, the Scheldt, Haas, and Danube; and an extensive trade is carried on upon all these as well as the chief navigable tributaries, the Moselle, Main, Ruhr, and Neckar. The annual traffic is of great importance, and is regulated by treaties between the different states through which it runs, all of* which lay toll duties on vessels and goods passing their boundaries. The Rhine is celebrated for the picturesque beauty of the scenery in the upper and middle part of its course, and is annually visited by a multitude of tourists. More than 1,000,000 passengers are conveyed up and down annual- ly. Steam vessels ply between the principal towns on its banks. It is crossed at several points by pontoon bridges, and many of the principal places on either side are connected by railways. There is great discrepancy among ancient writers with regard to the number of mouths by which the waters of the Rhine formerly flowed into the sea. Some speak only of two; others say there were three; and Offisar says there were several branches. RHINE, Province of the, or Rhenish Prussia (Ger. Rheinprovin*, Rheinpreusaen, or Rheinland), a W. province of the kingdom of Prussia, lying on both sides of the Rhine, bordering on the provinces of Westphalia and Hesse-Nas- sau, the grand duchy of Hesse, Bavaria, Alsace- Lorraine, Luxemburg, Belgium, and Holland ; area, 10,416 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, 3,579,347, of whom about 74 per cent, were Roman Catho- lics, 25 per cent. Protestants, and the remain- der Jews. The N. part of the province is level, the E. and S. parts mountainous. The principal mountain ranges are the Hohe Ven- ne, the Eifel (about 2,500 ft. high), and the Hunsruck, W. of the Rhine, and the Siebenge- birge, E. of it. The chief river next to the Rhine is its western affluent the Moselle. The province is rich in minerals, and is fertile and well cultivated. The manufactures are exten- sive, and comprise almost every species of industry. It is divided into the administra- tive districts of Cologne, Dusseldorf, Coblentz, Troves, and Aix-la-Ohapelle, and contains be- sides the cities of those names Bonn, Crefeld, Elberfeld, Jiilich, Wesel, Berg, and Cloves. Capital, Coblentz. RHINOCEROS (Gr. #v, nose, and ntpa^ horn), an ungulate mammal, surpassed in size among present terrestrial animals only by the elephant, and perhaps by the hippopotamus. The head is long and triangular, and from the upper sur- face of the end of the nose springs a single or double horn, composed of a solid mass of agglu- tinated hairs or horny fibres; this is support- ed on the nasal bones, though not connected with them, belonging entirely to the skin and removed with it; it is often more than 3 ft. long, and gently curved backward, and so sharp as to make it a very formidable weapon ; when there are two horns, the hinder is gener- ally much the shorter. There are no canine teeth, and the incisors sometimes fall out when the animal is full-grown; the molars are ]'], with lunate ridges; the nose is blunt and rounded, and the upper lip elongated and very movable ; the eyes are small, and the ears mod- erate, tipped with rigid hairs; the body is very bulky, the legs short and strong, and the feet three-toed with as many broad hoofs ; the tail is short, round at the base, compressed lateral- ly toward the end, and hairy at the tip ; on the hind feet are sebaceous glands opening on the posterior surface, in a sacculated inversion of the skin, as on the anterior surface of the feet of sheep ; the mamma' are two, and inguinal. The skin is naked, very rough and hard, divided into large folds which give to the animal a shielded appearance; it is impervious to the claws of the lion and tiger, will turn the edge of a sword, and is impenetrable to ordinary musket bullets. The stomach is large and sun- pie, the intestinal canal eight times as long as the body, the villi of the small intestine greatly developed, the large intestine very wide, and the caecum sacculated. The ribs are 19 pairs, the iliac bones very wide, and the femur with a prominent ridge on the outer border termi- nating in a hook-like process and with the great trochanter exceedingly prolonged; the incisor teeth seem to be developed in an inverse ratio to the horns ; the brain is large, but the relative size of the cerebrum, especially the upper and anterior portion, is less than in the elephant. The rhinoceros is found in the warm regions of Asia and Africa, living with the ele- phant in forests, and feeding on herbage and leafy twigs and shrubs. It is peaceable unless irritated ; it then charges upon its enemy with the head down and the horn forward ; though not very active, its great weight and strength make it a formidable assailant, and a match even for the elephant. The senses of smell and hearing are so acute that the hunter must approach against the wind and in perfect si- lence; it is hunted for sport by Europeans, and the natives eat the flesh, and sell the skin to traders for the manufacture of canes, whips, and defensive armor, and the horns for boxes and cups. In its native forests the rhinoceros has a tortoise-like appearance, with its stolid expression, slow movements, thick armor, short legs and tail, and curved upper lip. Several species have been described, of which the best known is the single-horned or Indian rhinoce- ros (R. unicornis, Linn. ; R. Indicus, Cuv.). This animal measures about 12 ft. in length,