(anc. Rhodanus), a river of Europe, belonging principally to France, rises in Switzerland at the Furka Pass, near Mount St Gotthard, whence also flows the Rhine in an opposite direction. It dashes down in a series of cascades, and flows south-west through the canton of Valais, receiving numerous affluents from the Bernese Alps on the right, and the Pennine on the left. At Martigny the river takes an abrupt turn to the north-west, and flows through a flat, swampy, and very unhealthy valley into the Lake of Geneva, which stretches in the form of a half-moon between the steep rocks and cliffs of Savoy on the south, and the sloping vineyards of the Pays de Vaud on the north. The pure, blue waters of the swiftly-flowing river issue from the lake at Geneva; but they do not long retain their clear colour, as they mingle with the muddy Arve descending from Mont Blanc. After traversing the canton of Geneva in a S.W. direction, the Rhone leaves Switzerland, and flows southwards along the frontier between France and Savoy, through a narrow pass between the Alps and Mount Jura. A road traverses the defile midway up the declivity, and this entrance to France is commanded by the Fort de l'Ecluse, a strong fortress, with batteries hewn out of the solid rock. A short distance below this fort is the Perte du Rhone, where the river plunges into a deep chasm, covered over with massive fragments of rock that have descended upon it. Many of these have been removed by the Sardinian government, so that the cascade is not so remarkable as it once was. At this place the Rhone receives from the right the Valserine, a picturesque stream flowing down from Mount Jura. The southerly course of the river continues as far as St Genis, near which it receives from the south the Guiers, a small stream which separates Italy from France. At this point the Rhone turns abruptly to the N.W., separating the French departments of Ain and Isère, which it continues to divide, flowing afterwards more towards the west, until it reaches Lyons; receiving during its course the Ain from the north, and emerging a short distance above Lyons from the hilly region it had been previously traversing. At Lyons the sluggish, gently-flowing Saône from the north joins the Rhone, its muddy water being distinguishable for some distance from the clearer river that it joins. The united stream has a considerable breadth, and flows nearly due south, through a beautiful country studded with villages, among rows of poplar and willow trees. It separates the departments of Rhone, Loire, Ardèche, and Gard on the right, from those of Isère, Drôme, Vaucluse, and Bouches-du-Rhone on the left, and falls into the Mediterranean by two mouths in the last of these departments. The chief affluents of the Rhone from the right, flowing from the Cévennes, are the Doux, Ardèche, Cèze, and Gardon, and they are generally of small size; while on the left the river receives from the Alps the larger tributaries Isère, Drôme, Vigne, and Durance. The chief towns along this part of the Rhone are the ancient Vienne, Valence, Montelimart, Orange (which gave a title to the illustrious house of Nassau), and Avignon, once the place of exile of the Popes. At Arles the river divides into the little Rhone, flowing S.W., and the main stream pursuing a S.E. course. Neither of these channels is of much use for navigation, as their mouths are obstructed by bars; but vessels may enter by two canals, that of Martigues from the E., and that of Beaucaire from the W. From Lyons to the sea the Rhone is regularly navigated by steamers, though the rapidity of the current and the shifting sands in the bed of the river render the progress upwards difficult. Above Lyons steamers ply, but not so regularly, on the Rhone as far as Seyssel, on the Swiss frontier, and on the Saône as far as Chalon. The whole length of the Rhone is about 530 miles, of which 350 are in France; the height of its source is 5904 feet above the sea, that of the Lake of Geneva 1142 feet. The area watered by the Rhone and its affluents is estimated at 11,300 square miles.

a department of France, next to that of Seine the smallest in the kingdom, bounded on the N. by the department of Saône-et-Loire, E. by those of Ain and Isère, S. and W. by that of Loire; length, from N. to S., 60 miles; greatest breadth, 28; area, 1042 square miles. The western part of the department is occupied by a prolongation northwards of the Cévennes, known by the names of the Lyonnais, Beaujolais, and Charolais heights. This range here forms the watershed between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic; for the rivers that descend its eastern slope flow southwards by the Saône and Rhone into the Mediterranean, and those that run down the opposite side swell the volume of water which the Loire pours into the Atlantic. One of the highest summits of this chain, near the middle of the west side of the department, is Tarare, which rises to the height of 4500 feet. The greater part of the chain has a bare, steep, and rugged character, though the mountains of Charolais to the north have more gentle slopes, and are generally well wooded. From the neighbourhood of Beaujeu, in the north of the department, two branches diverge from the principal range,—one towards the N.E., and the other to the S.E., between the valleys of the Azergue and Saône. From the southern part of the chain, another offset, the Mont d'Or, stretches N.E., and divides the Brevanne from the Saône and Rhone. The mountains are for the most part composed of granitic and other primitive rocks; the country further down belongs to the secondary, and that along the rivers to the tertiary formation. Coal and copper are the most valuable minerals of the country; both are worked to some extent. Porphyry, marble, sandstone, gypsum, and potters' clay are also found here. The department is almost entirely watered by the affluents of the Saône and Rhone, which was its eastern border, a very