Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/210

Rh 192 R A B R A B belong to this Raban, though it has been ascribed to him for 600 years. Its writer was undoubtedly a Prove^al. (S. M. S.-S.) RABANUS MAURUS. See HRABANUS MAURUS. RABAT (RIBAT), RBAT, or ARBAT, also known as NEW SALLEE, a city of Morocco, on the coast of the Atlantic, 130 miles south of Cape Spartel at the mouth of the Bu Rakrak, which separates it from Sallee proper on the northern bank. It is a commercial town of about 26,000 to 30,000 inhabitants, occupying a rocky plateau and sur- rounded by massive but dilapidated walls, strengthened by three forts on the seaward side. The old citadel, over- hanging the mouth of the river, is still, though partially in ruins, an imposing building, with huge arched gateways, square towers, and masses of rich red-brown masonry ; and to the south of the town lies a modern palace defended by earthworks after the European fashion. The conspicuous feature in the view from the sea is the Hasan tower, a beautiful square-built minaret 180 feet high, which stands at an elevation of about 65 feet above the sea to the west of the walled town, and in the midst of gardens and or- chards whose vegetation partly hides the ruined columns of the ancient mosque to which it was attached. It is constructed of soft reddish-brown stone, and each side is adorned with a different design. At one time the Bu Rakrak afforded a much better harbour than it does now : the roadstead is quite unprotected, and there is a danger- ous bar at the mouth of the river. Rabat trades with Fez and the interior of Morocco, with the neighbouring coast- towns and Gibraltar, and with Marseilles, Manchester, and London. The principal articles of export are wool, hides, and wax, and the products of that local manu- facture of leather, carpets, mats, woollen and cotton stuffs, pottery, and circular brass trays which makes Rabdt the greatest industrial centre in Morocco. Cotton goods and loaf-sugar are first among the imports. The average value of the exports in the ten years 1872 to 1881 was 47,236, and of the imports 73,945. In 1883 the figures were 39,596 and 50,222 respectively. Sallee (Sala), on the north side of the river, is also enclosed with walls. Much of the interior, however, is vacant and the houses are mean ; and, unlike their neigh- bours of Rab&t, the inhabitants (about 30,000) down to quite recent times distinguished themselves by particular hostility to Christians, who were thus prevented from entering their gates. To the north a ruined aqueduct extends for miles. Rabat was founded by Yak'ub al-Mansur (ob. 1306) ; but Sallee was then an ancient city, and on the scarped hills to the west of Rabat stand the ruins of Sala, a Roman colony. Sheila, as the place is now called, was the seat of the mausoleum of the Bem- Merin dynasty. RABBA, a town of Nupi or Nufi, on the bank of the Kworra (Niger), opposite the island of Zagozhi, in 9 6' N. lat., and 200 miles above the confluence of the Kworra and the Binue. At the time of Lander's visit in 1830 it was a place of 40,000 inhabitants and one of the most important markets in the country. In 1851 Dr Earth reported it "in ruins," and in 1867 Rohlfs found it with only 500 inhabitants. A mission station, established there in 1857 by the Church Missionary Society, was afterwards withdrawn. The town has latterly somewhat recovered its position. RABBAH i.e., RAB ABBAH BAR NAHMANI was of the house of Eli, on whom the curse rested that none of them should reach a high age (1 Sam. ii. 33). Like Raba, he tried to remove this curse (T. B., Rosh Has- shanah, 18a; see RABA). He was twenty-two years head of the academy of Pumbaditha, from which he fled in the year 330, pursued by a troop of the Persian king (Shapiir II.), and perished miserably in a jungle (T. B., Bobo MetSio, leaf 86a). Rabbah, owing to his great dialectic powers, to which no diffi- culty seemed difficult, was called 'Oker Harim, "uprootur of mountains." 1 This title was applied to him when the selection as " head " lay between him and his friend, fellow-pupil, and suc- cessor, Rab Yoseph, "the Blind," to whom is commonly, but by mistake, ascribed the authorship of certain Targumini. This latter doctor was, owing to his vast but mere reproductive powers, called Sinai, the mountain from which the letter of the Law was given (T. B., Berakhoth, 64a). (S. M. S -S ) RABBI. See RAB. RABBIT. This animal, one of the best known and most frequently seen of all wild British mammals, is, with the hare, a member of the Rodent genus Lepus, which contains about twenty-five other species spread over the greater part at the world, and whose more important characters have already been referred to (see HARK, vol. xi. p. 476, and MAMMALIA, vol. xv. p. 421). The rabbit (Lepus cuniculus), speaking for the present of the wild race only, is distinguished from the hare externally by its smaller size, shorter ears and feet, by the absence or reduction of the black patch at the tip of the ears so characteristic of the hare, and by its greyer colour. The skull is very similar to that of the hare (see MAMMALIA, fig. 99), but is smaller and lighter, and has a slenderer muzzle and a longer and narrower palate. Besides these characters, however, the rabbit is sharply .;? llabbit. separated from the hare by the fact that it brings forth its young naked, blind, and helpless ; to compensate for this, it digs a deep burrow in the earth in which they are born and reared, while the young of the hare are born fully clothed with fur, and able to take care of themselves in the mere shallow depression or " form " in which they are born. The weight of the rabbit is from 2 to 3 fl>, although individuals perfectly wild have been recorded lip to more than 5. Its general habits are too well known to need a detailed description here. It breeds from four to eight times a year, bringing forth each time from three to eight young. Its period of gestation is about thirty days, and it is able to bear when six months old. It attains to an age of about seven or eight years. The geographical distribution of the rabbit presents many most interesting peculiarities. It is believed to be originally a native of the western half of the Mediter- ranean basin only, and still abounds in Spain, Sardinia, southern Italy and Sicily, Greece, Tunis, and Algeria ; and many of the islands adjoining these countries are quite overrun with it. Thence it has spread, partly by man's agency, northwards throughout temperate western Europe, increasing rapidly wherever it gains a footing ; and this extension is still going on, as is shown by the 1 See for a similar expressiou Matt. xvii. 20.