Romansch. Natives of the Grisons in Switzerland, speaking a Romance dialect, and probably of Italic race.
Roumanians, or Vlachs. Natives of the modern Roumanian kingdom, the leading Balkan State, composed of the older principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, which were long subject to the Turks. The Vlachs (Wallachs, a name akin to our Welsh) are probably descended from the Latin-speaking inhabitants of the ancient Roman province of Dacia, a tribe of Thracian descent, which was subjugated by Trajan in the second century. They have preserved their language, but their blood has been mingled with that of numerous conquerors—Goths, Huns, Slovenians, Albanians, Turks, etc. The Roumanian peasantry are a hardy and thrifty race, retaining their old warlike traditions.
Rucuyennes. See [CARIBS].
Russians. The chief of the Slavonic races inhabiting European Russia, and divided into Great, White, and Little Russians. The physical distinction between these races is attributed to the mixture of the primitive Russian stock respectively with Finnish, Lithuanian, and Turkish blood. The original Russians belonged to the Slavonic stock of the Aryan family, and seem to have been settled in prehistoric times between the Danube, the Elbe, and the south coast of the Baltic. Thus they must have entered Russia from the west in the early centuries of our era. There they conquered and drove out or assimilated the aborigines of Northern Mongolic (Finno-Turkish) stock, and established a number of small states, agricultural in character, which long suffered from Tartar invasion, notably that of the Golden Horde [see [KIPCHAKS]], and were gradually moulded into a single kingdom, with Moscow for its capital. Modern Russia, with its vast Asiatic dependencies, is one of the greatest Empires in the world, but it is in a state of transition, and its civilisation is consequently backward. The Russian peasants are very patient, industrious, and thrifty. When well led, they are admirable soldiers. Their chief occupation is agriculture.
Ruthenians. A branch of the Little Russian race, who inhabit the district of the Carpathians in Galicia and Hungary; poor, but hardy cultivators of the soil.
Sabæans. See [HIMYARITES].
Sabines. An ancient Italic race, who inhabited the district between the Central Apennines—their ancestral home—and Rome. The Samnites were their descendants or near kinsmen, and the Umbrians were less closely related to them. When Rome was founded there was a strong Sabine element in its population, as indicated by the story of the Rape of the Sabine Women, and the statement that several of the early kings of Rome were of Sabine blood. The Sabines and Samnites warred against Rome for many years, but both were ultimately subdued and incorporated in the Roman State.
Sac Indians. See [ALGONQUIAN].
Sakais, or Samangs. An aboriginal Negrito race of the Malay Peninsula; a wild and uncivilised people, with black skins and woolly hair, often approaching the ape-like in physical development and intelligence.
Sakalavas. One of the principal groups of the Malagasy tribes, inhabiting the west coast of Madagascar; of mixed Malay and negro blood, and akin to the [Hovas] (q.v.).