[Rigi], an isolated mountain, 5900 ft. high, in the Swiss canton of Schwyz, with a superb view from the summit, on which hotels have been built for the convenience of the many who visit it; is reached by two toothed railways with a gradient of 1 ft. in 4.
[Rigveda], the first of the four sections into which the [Vedas] (q. v.) are divided, and which includes the body of the hymns or verses of invocation and praises; believed to have issued from a narrow circle of priests, and subsequently recast many of them.
[Rimini] (11, with suburbs 20), a walled city of N. Italy, of much historic interest both in ancient and mediæval times, on the small river Marecchia, spanned by a fine Roman bridge close to its entrance into the Adriatic, 69 m. SE. of Bologna; has a 15th-century Renaissance cathedral, an ancient castle, and other mediæval buildings, a Roman triumphal arch, &c.; manufactures silks and sail-cloth.
[Rimmon], name of a Syrian god who had a temple at Damascus called the house of Rimmon, a symbol of the sun, or of the fertilising power of nature.
[Rinaldo], one of Charlemagne's paladins, of a violent, headstrong, and unscrupulous character, who fell into disgrace, but after adventures in the Holy Land was reconciled to the Emperor; Angelica, an infidel princess, fell violently in love with him, but he turned a deaf ear to her addresses, while others would have given kingdoms for her hand.
[Rinderpest] or Cattle Plague, a fever of a malignant and contagious type; the occurrence of it in Britain is due to the importation of infected cattle from the Asiatic steppes.
[Ring and the Book], a poem by Browning of 20,000 lines, giving different versions of a story agreeably to and as an exhibition of the personalities of the different narrators.
[Rio de Janeiro] (423), capital and chief seaport of Brazil, charmingly situated on the E. coast of Brazil, on the W. shore of a spacious and beautiful bay, 15 m. long, which forms one of the finest natural harbours in the world; stretches some 10 m. along the seaside, and is hemmed in by richly clad hills; streets are narrow and ill kept; possesses a large hospital, public library (180,000 vols.), botanical gardens, arsenal, school of medicine, electric tramways, &c.; has extensive docks, and transacts half the commerce of Brazil; coffee is the chief export; manufactures cotton, jute, silk, tobacco, &c. Great heat prevails in the summer, and yellow fever is common.
[Rio Grande] (known also as Rio Bravo del Norte), an important river of North America, rises in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado; flows SE., dividing Texas from Mexico, and enters the Gulf of Mexico after a course of 1800 m.; is navigable for steamboats some 500 m.; chief tributary, Rio Pecos; also the name given to the head-stream of the river Paraná in Brazil and Argentina.
[Rio Grande do Norte] (310), a maritime State in the NE. corner of Brazil, called after the Rio Grande, which flows NE. and enters the Atlantic at Natal, the capital of the State.