RHONE, one of the principal rivers of France, takes its rise in Switzerland, in a glacier near the Fiarka Pass, not far from the St-Gothard and the source of the Rhine. It runs with • rapid course in a south-west direction through the canton of Valais, in which it receives many small tributaries'. After its junction with one of these, named the Dense, at Martigny, it turns sharply to the north-west, and throws Its turbid waters into the Lake of Geneva. Emerging from the south-western extremity of the lake is a clear blue stream, which however is Boon defiled by the muddy current of the Arve, it flows south-west through a savage rocky gorge of the Jura, marking out the boundary between France and Savoy. In tho contracted portion of its course the RhOne, below Fort-del-Ecluse, disappears totally for above 100 yards under a ledge of the rocks, and forms the cascade called Perte-clu-R128ne. [Atte.] At the south-eastern angle of the department of Ain the Rhone, leaving the frontier, enters the territory of France, and flows with a winding course, but in a general western direction, to the city of Lyon, where it is joined by the Saone. From Lyon to the Mediterranean it runs nearly due south, its course still rapid, and its bed obstructed with numerous shifting sand-banks and gravelly islands. In France, besides the &One, it receives the Ain, the Ardache, and the Gard on the right bank ; and the Isere, the Drome, and the Durance on the left bauk. Below Lyon it passes several considerable towns—Vienne, Valence, Avignon, Beaucaire, Tarascon, and Arles. After its junction with the Saone the Rhone is a noble stream : the scenery along its banks is generally beautiful, in parts striking, and grand. The river, which is
of great importance in a commercial point of view, is navigated by numerous *steamers from Lyon downwards; owing to the rapidity of the stream the up-navigation is rather tedious, and vessels plying on it must keep a constant look-out, on account of the frequent changes in the bed of the river from the shifting of the sands. Steamers ply on the river above Lyon as far as Soyssel, but not regularly. By means of the Saone, which is navigated by steamers to Chalon, and by canals, the navigation of the Rhone is connected with the Garonne, the Seine, the Loire, and the Rhine. At Arles the Rhone divides into branches, which inclose the deltoid island of CaMargue. The eastern arm, called the Grand-Rhone, enters the Gulf of Lyon below the Tour-St.-Lonis, where it has commenced the formation of a new delta. The western arm, called the Petit-RhOne, has its mouth a little west of the village of Saintea-Maries (Boucues-nu-Ruaxe.] These arms are of little nse to navigation; vessels making for the Rhone from the Mediter ranean reach the main river by the shore-lake of Berre and the 3Iartigues Canal from the east, and by the Beauoaire Canal from the west. The whole length of the RhOne is about 530 miles, 350 of which are in France. It falls 1000 feet between the Lake of Geneva and the sea. On its banks below Lyon are grown some of the finest wines of France. The Paris-Marseille railway runs along its left bank from Lyon to Arles.