KiS RAGUSA sylvania, and for 18 months studied law. Af- terward entering the counting house of a mer- chant, at the age of 20 he was sent to Santo Domingo as supercargo of a vessel. There he spent four months, and on his return published " A Short Account of the Present State of Affairs in St. Domingo." After a second voy- age to the same island in 1805, when he re- mained eight months, he published "A Cir- cumstantial Account of the Massacre in St. Domingo." In 1806 he went into business in Philadelphia, and was highly successful. Du- ring the war of 1812 he took an active part in providing for the defence of the city. From 1822 to 1827 he resided in Rio de Janeiro, at first as United States consul, and from 1825 as charg6 d'affairs to Brazil. After his return to the United States he edited several journals devoted to free-trade doctrines. He published " An Inquiry into the Causes of the Present State of the Circulating Medium of the United States " (8vo, Philadelphia, 1815) ; " Principles of Free Trade " (1835) ; and a treatise " On Cur- rency and Banking" (1839), which was repub- lished in England, and translated into French. RAGISA (Slav. Dubrovnik), a town of Dal- | matia, on a small peninsula of the Adriatic, at the foot of Mt. Sergius, 40 m. N. W. of Cattaro; pop. in 1870, 8,678. It has several towers and old walls, and the streets are con- nected by steps, the principal being the Corso. It is the seat of a Roman Catholic bishop, and has several Catholic and Greek churches. The cathedral, built by Richard Coeur de Lion, contains Titian's " Assumption of the Virgin." The town is strongly fortified and of strate- gical importance. The number of vessels en- tering in 1872 was 519, tonnage 12,208. The harbor is small and exposed to the sirocco. The port for larger vessels is at Gravosa, or Santa Croce, 2 m. from Ragusa, where are many fine villas and a new and large ship yard. Ragusa was founded in the 7th century, after the destruction of Ragusa Vecchia (the ancient Greek colony Epidaurus, now a small village 7 in. S. E. of the present town). In the middle ages it was a republic, and was suc- cessively under Greek, Venetian, Hungarian, and Turkish protection. In the 15th century it had a population of 40,000, which declined in consequence of the plague, earthquakes, and the diversion of trade to other places. In 1807 it was occupied by the French under Gen. Lauriston, who soon after stood here a famous siege by the Russians and Montenegrins. Na- poleon made Marraont duke of Ragusa, and in- corporated it with the new kingdom of Illyria, with which in 1814 it passed to Austria. RAGUSA, a town of Sicily, in the province of Noto, 30 m. S. W. of Syracuse ; pop. in 1872, 21,546. It is built on a steep ridge, and con- sists of Ragusa Superiore and Ragusa Inferi- ore, with separate municipalities. In the Ca- puchin convent are pictures by Novelli. The town has large cotton factories. There are an- cient remains, probably of Hybla Minor. RAIL Kill WAY, a city of Union co., New Jersey, on Rah way river, here navigable by small craft, at the head of tide, 5 m. above its mouth in Staten Island sound, 16 m. in a direct line S. W. of New York ; pop. in 1870, 6,258. It is a station on the Pennsylvania railroad, and another railroad is in course of construction by the Rahway railroad company to connect with New York and Long Branch. The streets are well laid out, and are lighted with gas. There are numerous tine residences, surround- ed by handsome gardens. Water works sup- ply the city on the direct pressure plan, ob- viating the necessity of fire engines. It is chiefly noted for its extensive carriage facto- ries, of which there are 15 or 20. There are also a printing-press manufactory, two wool- scouring establishments, a manufactory of pa- per hangings, and some minor establishments. The city contains two national banks, several hotels, five public schools, a male and female institute, numerous private schools, a public library of about 5,000 volumes, two weekly newspapers, and 16 churches. Rahway was first settled about 1720, and was incorporated as a city in 1858. RA1K.ES, Robert, an English philanthropist, born in Gloucester in 1735, died April 5, 1811. He was publisher and editor of the "Glouces- ter Journal^" and in 1781 hired rooms for Sunday schools, employed poor women at a shilling a day to teach, and induced large num- bers of the poor children whom he found in the streets of the town to attend. In a short time Sunday schools were established in all the larger towns of England. RAIL, the proper name of the rallina, a sub- family of wading birds of the family rallidas. The genus rallw (Linn.) is characterized by a bill longer than the head, nearly straight and slender, with the culmen a little curved, and tip obtuse and slightly notched ; nostrils in a membranous groove which extends for two thirds of the bill ; wings short, with the sec- ond and third quills equal and longest ; tail short and rounded ; tarsi shorter than the middle toe, covered with transverse scales ; toes long and slender, free at the base, the hind one short ; claws short and sharp ; fore- head, as in all the subfamily, feathered to base of bill, the culraen parting the frontal feathers for a short distance and in an angle. There are about 20 species, found in all the temper- ate parts of the globe, resembling each other in habits and much alike in plumage; they in- habit marshes and borders of rivers, among reeds and aquatic plants, which their long toes, sharp claws, and compressed bodies en- able them to climb and run over or between with great facility ; the flight is awkward and slow, with the legs hanging down, and for short distances only except during migration ; they are good swimmers and divers, and very rapid runners. Their food consists of worms, slugs, crustaceans, tadpoles, insects, and leaves and seeds of water plants ; the nest is made of
