RHINE (German, Rhein; Dutch, Rijn), the finest river of Germany, and one of the most important rivers of Eu rope, its direct course being 460 miles and its indirect course 800 miles (about 250 miles of its course being in Switzer land, 450 in Germany, and 100 in Hol land) ; while the area of its basin is 75,000 square miles. It is formed in the Swiss canton Grisons by two main streams called the Vorder and Hinter Rhein. The Vorder Rhein rises in the Lake of Toma, on the S. E. slope of the St. Gothard, at a height of 7,690 feet above the sea, near the source of the Rhone, and at Reichenau unites with the Hinter Rhein, which issues from the Rheinwald Glacier, 7,270 feet above sea level. Beyond Reichenau, which is 7 miles W. of Coire, the united streams take the common name of Rhine. From Coire the Rhine flows N. through the Lake of Constance to the town of that name, between which and Basel it flows W., forming the boundary between Swit zerland and Germany. At Basel it turns once more to the N. and enters Ger many; and, generally speaking, it pur sues a N. course till it enters Holland, below Emmerich, when it divides into a number of separate branches, forming a great delta, and falling into the sea by many mouths. The chief of these branches are the Waal and Lek, which unite with the Maas; the Yssel and Vecht, which diverge to the Zuyder Zee; and that which retains the name of Rhine, a small stream that passes Ley den and enters the North Sea. In the German part of its course the chief trib utaries it receives on the left are the Ill, Nahe, Moselle (with the Saar), Ahr, and Erft; and on the right the Neckar, Main, Lahn, Sieg, Ruhr, and Lippe. In Switzerland its tributaries are short and unimportant, and this part of its course is marked by the Falls of the Rhine at Schaffhausen, where the river is pre cipitated in three leaps over a ledge of rocks 48 to 60 feet in height, and by the cataracts of Lauterberg and the rapids of Rheinfelden. The chief towns on its banks are Constance and Basel in Switzerland; Spires, Mannheim, Mainz, Coblentz, Bonn, Cologne, and Dils seldorf, with Worms and Strasburg not far distant, in Germany; Arnheim, Utrecht, and Leyden, in Holland. Its
breadth at Basel is 750 feet; between Strasburg and Spires from 1,000 to 1, 200 feet; at Mainz, 1,500 to 1,700 feet; and at Emmerich, where it enters the Netherlands, 2,150 feet. Its depth va ries from 5 to 28 feet, and at Diissel dorf amounts even to 50 feet. It abounds with fish, especially pike, carp, and other white fish, but the produce of its salmon fisheries has been seriously interfered with since the introduction of steam ves sels. It is navigable without interrup tion from Basel to its mouth, a distance of 550 miles.
The Rhine anciently formed the boun dary between the Roman empire and the Teutonic hordes. After the partition of the domains of Charlemagne in 843 it lay within the German empire for nearly 800 years. France long cast covetous eyes on the Rhine, and the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 gave her a footing on the left bank. In 1801 the whole of the left bank of the Rhine was for mally ceded to France. The Congress of Vienna in 1815 restored part of the Rhenish valley to Germany, and the ces sion by France of Alsace and Lorraine after the war of 1870-1871 made the Rhine once more German, until the Peace Treaty of Versailles (1919) gave these provinces once more to France. (See WORLD WAR.) The Rhine is dis tinguished by the beauty of its scenery, which attracts many tourists. For a large part of its course it has hills on both sides at less or greater distances. Pleasant towns and villages lie nestled at the foot; above them rise rocky steeps and slopes clothed at one time with vines, at others with natural wood, and every now and then the castles and fastnesses of feudal times are seen frowning from precipices apparently inaccessible. The finest part for scenery is between Bin gen and Bonn; after entering Holland the views are generally tame and unin teresting.