Rona

Rona, an Inverness-shire island, between Skye and the mainland, 4 sq. m. in area, and 404 feet high. Pop. 161.

Ronaldshay

Ronaldshay, North and South, the most northerly and the most southerly of the Orkney Islands, 2 3/4 and 20 1/2 sq. m. in area. South Ronaldshay attains 389 feet. Pop. 442 and 1560.

Roncesvalles

Roncesvalles (Ron'se-val'les; orig. Rencesvals, a Basque word), a hamlet on a small oval plain 25 miles NE. of Pampeluna, surrounded by Pyrenean ridges, where Roland and the rear of Charlemagne's army were cut off by the Basques.

Ronciglione

Ronciglione (Ron-cheel-yo'nay), a town of Italy, 30 miles NNW. of Rome. Pop. 5434.

Ronda

Ronda, a Moorish town of Spain, 43 miles W. of Malaga, on the gorge of the Guadiaro. One of two bridges is 255 feet from the water. Pop. 20,850.

Rondout

Rondout', till 1872 a post-village of New York, on the Hudson River, now a part of Kingston.

Roquefort

Roquefort (Rok-forr'), a French village, dep.

Aveyron, 44 miles N. by W. of Beziers, celebrated for its ewe-milk cheeses. Pop. 943.

Roraima

Roraima (Ro-ri'ma), an isolated, table-topped sandstone mountain, near the west border of British Guiana. First sloping gradually upwards 5000 feet above sea-level (2500 above the plain), it next shoots up:2000 feet more in a perpendicular cliff, furrowed with waterfalls. It was scaled by Mr im Thurn in 1884.

Rorkes Drift

Rorke's Drift, a station on the Tugela River, Zululand, South Africa, memorable for the heroic defence of Lieutenants Chard and Bromhead, with eighty men of the 24th Regiment against 4000 Zulu warriors the night after Isandula (q.v.).

Rosa

Rosa, Monte. See Monte Rosa.

Rosario

Rosario (Rozah'rio), the third city of the Argentine Republic, with an excellent harbour and large commerce, is on the west bank of the Parana, 190 miles by rail NW. of Buenos Ayres, 210 miles by river. Pop. 112,470.

Roscoff

Roscoff, a seaport and watering-place of the French dep. of Finistere, on the English Channel, 33 miles NE. of Brest, with a marine zoological station. Pop. 4900. Here Mary Queen of Scots landed in 1548, and Prince Charles Edward in 1746. It was long an emporium for smuggling into the south of England.

Roscrea

Roscrea (Ros-kray'), a market-town of Tipper-ary, Ireland, 77 miles SW. of Dublin, is a very ancient town; here St Cronan built a church, and it had a celebrated school in the 7th century. Remains of a castle, a round tower (80 feet high), and ruins of two abbeys exist. Pop. 2325.

Rosehearty

Rosehearty, an Aberdeenshire fishing-village, 4 1/2 miles W. of Fraserburgh. Pop. 1189.

Rosemarkie

Rosemarkie. See Fortrose.

Rosendale

Rosendale, a village of New York, by rail 8 miles SSW. of Kingston, or 53 S. of Albany, has a great manufacture of hydraulic cement. Pop. 1850.

Rosetta

Rosetta (Arab. Raschid, after Haroun el Ras-chid; anc. Bolbitine), a town of Egypt, on the old Bolbitic arm of the Nile delta, 9 miles from the sea and 44 by rail NE. of Alexandria. During the Crusades it was a place of great strength; St Louis in 1249 made it the basis of his operations. Sultan Beybers two years later founded the present city farther inland. Pop. 16,666. A few miles to the north of the town was discovered the Rosetta Stone, which gave the first clue to the interpretation of the Hieroglyphics. At Rosetta too is an irrigation barrage in the Nile, 508 yards long, originally constructed in 1843-61, and rebuilt by Scott Moncrieff in 1886-90.