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 Patos. The city was occupied by the national forces in the ten years' war which began in 1835, and in 1894 it was unsuccessfully besieged by a small insurgent force that had attempted to overthrow the governrnent at Rio de Janeiro.

RIOJA, LA, an Andine province of Argentina, bounded N. by Catamarca, E. by. Catamarca and Cordoba, S. by San Luis and San Juan and. W. by San Juan and Chile. Area, 34,546 sq. m. Pop. (1895) 69,502; (1902, estimate) 82,099. The province is traversed from N. to S. by eastern ranges of the Andes and is separated from Chile by the Cordillera itself. The western part of the province is drained by the Bermejo, which fiowssouthward into the closed lacustrine basinof Mendoza. The eastern side of the province is arid, but in the extreme N. some small streams flow northward into Catamarca. The scanty waters of these streams are used for irrigation purposes. The principal industry of the province is that of mining, its mineral resources including gold, silver, copper, nickel, tin, cobalt, coal, alum and salt. Its best known mines are those of the Sierra de Famatina, 16,400 ft. above sea-level, where an aerial wire line is used for transportation to Chilecito in the valley below. The development of mining industries is seriously hindered by lack of water. For the same reason, agriculture is in a very backward condition. The climate is hot and dry, and there is no cultivation of the soil except in the valleys of the Cordillera and a few other places where irrigation is possible. Under these conditions; there are grown wheat (a limited extent), grapes, oranges, olives and tobacco. Alfalfa is grown to a considerable extent and is used for feeding the herds of cattle driven across country to Chile. The capital of the province is La Rioja (pop., 1904, about 6000), on the eastern flank of the Sierra de Velasco, about 1770 ft. above sea-level and near the gorge of Sanagasta, through which a small stream, also called Rioja, flows northward and affords water for the gardens, vineyards and orchards that surround it. The wines of Rioja are highly esteemed and are an important source of income for the district. The town is connected by rail with Cordoba and Catamarca. It was founded in 1591 by Velasco and in 1894 was destroyed by an earthquake from which it has only partially recovered. The most important town in the province is the mining centre of Chilecito, or Villa Argentina (pop., 1904, about 4000), about 2950 ft. above sea-level near the Famatina mines.

 RIOM, a town of central France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Puy-de-Dôme, 8 m. N. by E. of Clermont-Ferrand by rail. Poo., town, 7839; commune, 10,627. Riom is situated on the left bank of the Ambène, on an eminence rising above the fertile plain of Limagne. It is surrounded with boulevards and has wide streets, but the houses, being built of black lava, have a sombre appearance. Some belong to the 15th and 16th centuries, and have turrets and carved stonework. The church of St Amable, of Romanesque and early Gothic architecture, datm from the 12th century, but has been restored in modern times. It has time carved woodwork of the 17th century. The church of Notre-Dame du Marthuret (15th century) has a well-known statue of the Virgin at its western entrance. The Sainte-Chapelle of the 14th and 15th centuries is a relic of the palace of Jean de Berry, duke of Auvergne, and contains fine stained glass. Near it stands a statue of the chancellor Michel de l'Hôpita1, who was born near Riom. The rest of the site of the palace is occupied by the law courts. Other interesting buildings are the belfry of the 16th century and a mansion of the same period known as the Maison des Consuls. The town possesses numerous fountains, some of which are of the Renaissance period.

Riom is the seat of a court of appeal, a court of assizes and a sub-prefect, and has tribunals of first instance and commerce and a communal college. It has a state manufactory of tobacco, and carries on the preparation of fruit preserves. Trade is in grain, wine, vegetables, fruit, nut-oil and Volvic stone.

Riom (Ricomagus or Ricomum of the Romans) was long the rival of Clermont. Along with Auvergne it was seized for the crown by Philip Augustus, and it was the capital of this province under the dukes of Berry and Bourbon.

 RIO NEGRO, a territory of Argentina lying between(the Colorado river and the 42nd parallel S. lat., within the geographical area formerly known as Patagonia, bounded N. by the territories of Neuquen and La Pampa, E. by the province of Buenos Aires and the Atlantic, S by the territory of Chubut and W. by Chile and Neuquen. Area, about 75,924 sq. m.; pop. (1895) 9241; (1904, estimate) 18,648. That part of it lying between the Colorado and Negro rivers has much of the formation and characteristics of the “ sterile pampas," but with irrigation the greater part of it can be utilized for agriculture and grazing. South of the Negro the country is arid, barren and lies in great shingle-covered terraces sloping eastward to the Atlantic; its larger part is practically uninhabitable, only the river valleys and the foot-hills of the Andes having a regular water supply. The rivers of the territory are the Colorado, which forms a part of its northern boundary, and the Negro, formed by the confluence of the Limay (which forms part of the western boundary) and Neuquen on the boundary between Rio Negro territory and the territory of Neuquen. These rivers have no tributaries of importance within the territory, but the Limay receives some small streams from the Andean slopes. Lake Nahuel-Huapi lies partly in this territory (see, and there are several small lakes scattered over the shingly steppes. The Atlantic coast-line of the territory has one deep indentation—the Gulf of San Matias—but, owing to the arid surroundings, there are no ports or towns upon it. The only industry of importance is grazing, cattle being raised for export to Chile, and a few sheep for their wool. The capital is Viedma (pop. in 1895, estimate, 1500), on the right bank of the Rio Negro, 22 m. from its mouth and opposite Carmen de Patagones, a town and port of Buenos Aires. There are other small settlements on the Rio Negro, which is navigable up to the Neuquen frontier (about 450 m.), but the only place of importance is General Roca (about 2300), a military and supply station situated a few miles below the confluence of the Limay and Neuquen rivers and connected with Bahia Blanca and Buenos Aires by a branch of the Great Southern railway.

 RIO PARDO (formerly Villa do (Rio Pardo), at town of Brazil in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, on the left bank of the Iacuhy atits confluence with the Pardo. Area (of the municipality) 1737 sq. m. Pop. (1890) of the municipality, 19,346; (1908, estimated) of the town, 3500. The town is about 80 m. due west of Porto Alegre, with which it is connected by rail and steamer. The Jacuhy is navigable by small steamers to this place, which was once an important military station and commercial centre. Its military importance has considerably declined through railway extension. The surrounding districts are fertile but only slightly cultivated, and stock-raising is its chief industry. The town had its origin in a frontier fort built at this point by the Portuguese in 1751, but did not reach the dignity of a “ villa ” until 1809.

 RIOT (O. Fr. riote, of uncertain etymology), the gravest kind of breach of the peace, short of treason, known to the English law., It consists in a tumultuous disturbance of the peace by an assemblage of three or more persons who, with intent to helpone another against any one who opposes them in the execution of some enterprise, actually execute that enterprise in a violent and turbulent manner, to the terror of the people. It is not necessary that violence should be used to any person or damage done to any property. Whether the enterprise itself is lawful or unlawful is not material, the gist of the offense lying in the mode in which the enterprise is carried out (The Trafalgar Square Riots, 1888, 16 Cox. Cr. Cas. 420, 427; Stephen, Dig. Crim. Law, 6th ed., art. 77). Nor is it material whether the enterprise is of a private or a public nature, though in the flatter case the rioters may also be guilty of sedition or treason. An assembly in its inception perfectly lawful may become a riot if the persons assembled proceed to form and execute a common purpose in the manner above stated, although they had no such purpose when they first assembled. Riot differs from “ Affray ” in the number of persons necessary to constitute the offence, from an “ Unlawful Assembly” in that actual tumult or violence is an