See Eugène Bossard, Gilles de Rais, dit Barbe Bleue (2nd ed., 1886), originally by De Maulde; E. A. Vizetelly, Bluebeard (1902); H. C. which includes the majority of the documents of the trial published Lea, Hist. of the Inquisition (iii. 468, seq.); A. Molinier, Les Sources de l'histoire de France (No. 4185). Huysmans in Là-bas describes his hero as engaged on a life of Gilles de Rais, and takes the oppor tunity for a striking picture of the trial.

RAISIN (Fr. raisin, grape; Lat. racemus), the name given to the dried fruits of certain varieties of the grape vine, Vitis vinifera, which grow principally in the warm climate of the Mediterranean coasts and are comparatively rich in sugar. The use of dried grapes or raisins as food is of great antiquity (Num. vi. 3; 1 Sam. xxv. 18, xxx. 12). In medieval times raisins imported from Spain were a prized luxury in England, and to the present day Great Britain continues to be the best customer of the raisin-producing regions. "Raisins of the sun are obtained by letting the fruit continue on the vines after it has come to maturity, where there is sufficient sunshine and heat in the autumn, till the clusters dry on the stocks. Another plan is partially to sever the stalk before the grapes are quite ripe, thus stopping the flow of the sap, and in that condition to leave them on the vines till they are sufficiently dry. The more usual process, however, is to cut off the fully ripe clusters and expose them, spread out, for several days to the rays of the sun, taking care that they are not injured by rain. In unfavourable weather they may be dried in a heated chamber, but are then inferior in quality. In some parts of Spain and France it is common to dip the gathered clusters in boiling water, or in a strong potash lye, a practice which softens the skin, favours drying and gives the raisins a clear glossy appearance. Again, in Asia Minor the fruit is dipped into hot water on the surface of which swims a layer of olive oil, which communicates a bright lustre and softness to the skin. Some superior varieties are treated with very great care, retained on their stalks, and sent into the market as clusters for table use; but the greater part are separated from the stalks in the process of drying and the stalks winnowed out of the fruit. Raisins come from numerous Mediterranean localities, and present at least three distinct varieties-(1) ordinary or large raisins, (2) sultana seediess raisins, and (3) currants or Corinthian raisins (see CURRANT). The greater proportion of the common large raisins of English commerce comes from the provinces of Malaga, Valencia and Alicante in Spain; these are known by the common name of Malaga raisins. Those of the finest quality, called Malaga clusters, are prepared from a variety of muscatel grape, and preserved on the stalks for table use. This

knights, squires, heralds and priests, more suited to royal than baronial rank. He kept open house, was a munificent patron of literature and of music, and his library contained many valuable works, he himself being a skilled illuminator and binder. He also indulged a passion for the stage. At the chief festivals he gave performances of mysteries and moralities, and it has been asserted that the Mystère de la Passion, acted at Angers in 1420, was staged by him in honour of his own marriage. The original draft of the Mystery of Orleans was probably written under his direction, and contains much detail which may be well accounted for by his intimate acquaintance with the Maid. In his financial difficulties he began to alienate his lands, selling his estates for small sums. These proceedings provided his heirs with material for lawsuits for many years. Among those who profited by his prodigality were the duke of Brittany, and his chancellor, Jean de Malestroit, bishop of Nantes, but in 1436 his kinsfolk appealed to Charles VII., who proclaimed further sales to be illegal. Jean V. refused to acknowledge the king's right to promulgate a decree of this kind in Brittany, and replied by making Gilles de Rais lieutenant of Brittany and by acknowledging him as a brother-in-arms. Gilles hoped to redeem his fortunes by alchemy; he also spent large sums on necromancers, who engaged to raise the devil for his assistance. On the other hand he sought to guarantee himself from evil consequences by extravagant charity and a splendid celebration of the rites of the church. The abominable practices of which he was really guilty seem not to have been suspected by his equals or superiors, though he had many accomplices and his criminality was suspected by the peasantry. His wife finally left him in 1434-35, and may possibly have become acquainted with his doings, and when his brother René de la Suze seized Champtocé, all traces of his crimes had not been removed, but family considerations no doubt imposed silence. His servants kidnapped children, generally boys, on his behalf, and these he tortured and murdered. The number of his victims was stated in the ecclesiastical trial to have been 140, and larger figures are quoted. The amazing impunity which he enjoyed was brought to an end in 1440, when he was imprudent enough to come into conflict with the church by an act of violence which involved sacrilege and infringement of clerical immunity. He had sold Saint Etienne de Malemort to the duke of Brittany's treasurer, Geffroi le Ferron. In the course of a quarrel over the delivery of the property to this man's brother, Jean le Ferron, Gilles seized Jean, who was in clerical orders, in church, and imprisoned him. He then proceeded to defy the duke, but was reconciled to him by Riche-variety, as well as Malaga layers, so called from the manner mont. In the autumn,, however, he was arrested and cited before the bishop of Nantes on various charges, the chief of which were heresy and murder. With the latter count the ecclesiastical court was incompetent to deal, and on the 8th of October Gilles refused to accept its jurisdiction. Terrified by excommunication, however, he acknowledged the evidence of the witnesses, and by confession he secured absolution. He had been pronounced guilty of apostasy and heresy by the inquisitor, and of vice and sacrilege by the bishop. A detailed confession was extracted by the threat of torture on the 21st of October. A separate and parallel inquiry was made by Pierre de l'Hôpital, president of the Breton parliament, by whose sentence he was hanged (not burned alive as is sometimes stated), on the 26th of October 1440, with two of his accomplices. In view of his own repeated confessions it seems impossible to doubt his guilt, but the numerous irregularities of the pro-yellow grape, cultivated exclusively in the neighbourhood ceedings, the fact that his necromancer Prelati and other of his chief accomplices went unpunished, taken together with the financial interest of Jean V. in his ruin, have left a certain mystery over a trial, which, with the exception of the process of Joan of Arc, was the most famous in 15th-century France. His name is connected with the tale of Bluebeard (q.v.) in local tradition at Machecoul, Tiffauges, Pornic and Chéméré, though the similarity between the two histories is at best vague. The records of the trial are preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, at Nantes and elsewhere.

of packing, are exclusively used as dessert fruit.. Raisins of a somewhat inferior quality, known as "lexias," from the same provinces, are used for cooking and baking purposes. Smyrna raisins also come to some extent into the English market. The best quality, known as Elemé, is a large fruit, having a reddish-yellow skin with a sweet pleasant flavour. Large-seeded dark-coloured raisins are produced in some of the islands of the Greek archipelago and in Crete, but they are little seen in the British markets. In Italy the finest raisins are produced in Calabria, inferior qualities in central Italy and in Sicily. From the Lipari Islands a certain quantity of cluster raisins of good quality is sent to England. In the south of France raisins of high excellence-Provence raisins in clusters-are obtained at Roquevaire, Lunel and Frontignan. Sultana seedless raisins are the produce of a small variety of

of Smyrna. The vines are grown on a soil of decomposed hippurite limestone, on sloping ground rising to a height of 400 ft. above the sea, and all attempts to cultivate sultanas in other raisin-growing localities have failed, the grapes quickly reverting to a seed-bearing character. The dried fruit has a fine golden-yellow colour, with a thin, delicate, translucent skin and a sweet aromatic flavour. A very fine seedless oblong raisin of the sultana type with a brownish skin is cultivated in the neighbourhood of Damascus,

Within the limits of Rajputana the Rajputs form a vast body of kindred, and any Rajput can marry any Rajput woman who does not belong to his own clan. The most numerous of the clans is the Rahtor, to which the chiefs of Marwar, Bikanir and Kishangarh belong. Its strength in 1901 was 122,160. Next comes the Kachwaha clan, which is strong in Jaipur and Alwar, both chiefs belonging to its members. It numbers 100,186. The Chauhan follows with an aggregate of 86,460, among whom are the chiefs of Bundi, Kotah and Sirohi. The Jadu or Jadon, which includes in its ranks the chiefs of Karauli and Jaisalmer, numbers 74,666. The Sisodhyias, who include the ancient and illustrious house of Udaipur, number 51,366. The Ponwar clan, to which Vikramaditya, the celebrated king of Ujjain, from whom the Hindu Era is named, is said to have belonged, numbers 43,435. The Solanki and Parihar clans, once powerful, are now only 18,949 and 9448 respectively.

RAJPUTANA, a collection of native states in India, under the political charge of an agent to the governor-general, who resides at Abu in the Aravalli Hills. It lies between 23° and 30° N. and between 69° 30' and 75° 15' E., and includes 18 states and 2 estates or chiefships. For political purposes these are subdivided into eight subordinate groups, consisting of three residencies and five agencies. These are as follow: (1) Mewar residency, with headquarters at Udaipur, comprising the states of Udaipur (Mewar), Dungarpur, Partabgarh and Banswara; (2) Jaipur residency, with headquarters at Jaipur, comprising the states of Jaipur and Kishangarh, with the estate of Lawa; (3) Western Rajputana states residency, with headquarters at Jodhpur, comprising the states of Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Sirohi; (4) Bikanir agency, with headquarters at Bikanir; (5) Alwar agency, with headquarters at Alwar; (6) Eastern Rajputana states agency, with headquarters at Bharatpur, comprising the states of Bharatpur, Dholpur, and Karauli; (7) Haraoti-Tonk agency, with headquarters at Deoli, comprising the states of Tonk and Bundi, with the estate of Shahpura; (8) Kotah-Jhalawar agency, with headquarters at Kotah, comprising the states of Kotah and Jhalawar. All of these states are under Rajput rulers, except Tonk, which is Mahonimedan, and Bharatpur and Dholpur, which are Jat. The small British province of Ajmere-Merwara is also included within the geographical area of Rajputana.

Kankroli in Udaipur. It collects nearly all the drainage of the
Udaipur plateau with that of the eastern slopes and hill-tracts of
the Aravallis, and joins the Chambal a little beyond the north-
eastern extremity of the Bundi state, after a course of about 300 m.
Other rivers are the W. Banas and the Sabarmati, which rise among
the south-west hills of Udaipur and take a south-westerly course.
The river Mahi, which passes through the states of Partabgarh and
Banswara, receiving the Som, drains the south-west corner of
Rajputana through Gujarat into the Gulf of Cambay. Rajputana
possesses no natural freshwater lakes, but there are several important
artificial lakes, all of which have been constructed with the object
salt lake, of about 50 m. in circuit.
of storing water. The only basin of any extent is the Sambhar

Geology.-Geologically considered, the country may be divided into three regions-a central, and the largest, comprising the whole width of the Aravalli system, formed of very old sub-metamorphic and gneissic rocks; an eastern region, with sharply defined boundary, along which the most ancient formations are abruptly replaced by the great basin of the Vindhyan strata, or are overlaid by the still more extensive spread of the Deccan trap, forming the plateau of Malwa; and a western region, of very ill-defined margin, in which, besides some rocks of undetermined age, it is more or less known Sind, beneath the sands of the desert, towards the flanks of the or suspected that Tertiary and Secondary strata stretch across from Aravallis. Rajputana produces a variety of metals. Ore of cobalt is obtained in no other locality in India, and although zinc blende has been found elsewhere it is known to have been extracted only the Aravalli range and of the minor ridges in Alwar and Shaikin this province. Copper and lead are found in several parts of hawati, and iron ores abound in several states. Alum and blue vitriol (sulphate of copper) are manufactured from decomposed schists at Khetri in Shaikhawati. Good building materials are obtained from many of the rocks of the country, among which the Raialo limestone (a fine-grained crystalline marble) and the Jaisalmer limestone stand pre-eminent.

Climate. The climate throughout Rajputana is very dry and hot during the summer; while in the winter it is much colder in the north than in the lower districts, with hard frost and ice on the Bikanir borders. The rainfall is very unequally distributed in the western part, which comes near to the limits of the rainless region of Asia, it is very scanty, and scarcely averages more than 5 in.; in the south-west the fall is more copious, sometimes exceeding 100 in. at Abu; but, except in the south-west highlands of the Aravallis, rain is most abundant in the south-east. Not withstanding all its drawbacks, Rajputana is reckoned one of the healthiest countries in India, at least for the native inhabitants.

Population. In 1901 the population was 9,723,301, showing a decrease of 20% in the decade owing to the great famines of 1897-1898 and 1900-1901. The greatest mortality was caused by virulent malarial fever, which raged during the autumn months of 1900 and the early months of 1901. Epidemics of cholera, which occurred during the years of scarcity and famine, also swept away large numbers.

It is commonly supposed that, because nearly the whole country is ruled by Rajputs, therefore the population consists mainly of Rajput, tribes; but these are merely the dominant race, and the territory is called Rajputana because it is politically possessed by Rajputs. The whole number of this race is 620,229, and nowhere do they form a majority of the whole population in a state; but they are strongest, numerically, in the northern states and in Udaipur. By rigid precedence the Brahmans occupy the first rank; they are numerous and influential, and with them may be classed the peculiar and important caste of Bhats, the keepers of secular tradition and of the genealogies. Next come the mercantile castes, mostly belonging to the Jain sect; these are followed by the powerful

Physical Features.-The total area of Rajputana is about 127,541 sq. m. It is bounded on the west by Sind, and on the north-west by the Punjab state of Bahawalpur. Thence its northern and northeastern frontier marches with the Punjab and the United Provinces until it touches the river Chambal, where it turns south-eastward for about 200 m., dividing the states of Dholpur, Karauli, Jaipur and Kotah from Gwalior. The southern boundary runs in a very irregular line across the central region of India, dividing the Rajputana states from a number of native states in Central India and Gujarat. The most striking physical feature is the Aravalli range of mountains, which intersects the country almost from end to end in a line running from south-west to north-east. Mount Abu is at the south-western extremity of the range, and the north-eastern end may be said to terminate near Khetri in the Shaikhawati district of Jaipur, although a series of broken ridges is continued in the direction of Delhi. About three-fifths of Rajputana lies north-west of the range, leaving twofifths on the cast and south. The tract lying to the north-west contains the states of Bikanir, Jaisalmer and Jodhpur. With the exception of the sub-montane districts of Jodhpur, which lie immediately below the Aravallis, this division is sandy, ill-watered and unproductive, improving gradually from a desert in the north-cultivating tribes, such as the Jats and Gujars, and then come west and west to comparatively fertile land on the cast. The country to the east and south-east of the Aravallis affords a striking contrast to the sandy plains on the north-west of the range, and is blessed with fertile lands, hill-ranges and long stretches of forest, where fuel and fodder are abundant.

The chief rivers of Rajputana are the Luni, the Chambal and the Banas. The first of these, the only river of any consequence in the north-western division, flows for 200 m. from the Pushkar valley, close to Ajmere, to the Runn of Cutch. In the southeastern division the river system is important. The Chambal is by far the largest river in Rajputana, through which it flows for about one-third of its course, while it forms its boundary for another third. The source of the river is in the highlands of the Vindhyas, upwards of 2000 ft. above the sea; it soon becomes a considerable stream, collecting in its course the waters of other rivers, and finally discharging itself into the Jumna after a course of 560 m. Next in importance ranks the Banas, which rises in the south-west near

the so-called aboriginal tribes, chief of whom are the Minas, Bhils and Meos. Rajasthani is the chief language of the country, one or other of its dialects being spoken by 7,035,093 persons or more than 72% of the total population. The gross revenue of all the states is estimated at 24 millions sterling.

The mass of the people are occupied in agriculture, In the large towns banking and commerce flourish to a degree beyond what might be expected. In the north the staple products for export are salt, grain, wool and cotton, in the south opium and cotton; while the imports consist of sugar, hardware and piece goods. Rajputana is very poor in industrial production. The principal manufactures are cotton and woollen goods, carvings in ivory and working in metals, &c., all of which handicrafts are chiefly carried on in the eastern states. The system of agriculture is

very simple; in the country west of the Aravallis only one crop | rivers are the Narad and Baral, important offshoots of the is raised in the year, while in other parts south and east of the Ganges; the Atrai, a channel of the Tista; and the Jamuna, Aravallis two crops are raised annually, and various kinds of a tributary of the Atrai. Both the Atrai and the Jamuna cereals, pulses and fibres are grown. In the desert tracts fine belong to the Brahmaputra system and are navigable throughout breeds of camels, cattle, horses and sheep are to be found the year for small cargo boats. The drainage of Rajshahi is wherever there is pasturage. Irrigation, mostly from wells, not carried off by means of its rivers, but through the chains of is almost confined to the N. portion. The country is traversed marshes and swamps, the most important of which is the Chalan throughout by the Rajputana railway, with its Malwa branch bhil or lake, which discharges itself into the Brahmaputra. in the south, and diverging to Agra and Delhi in the north. In 1901 the population was 1,462,407, showing an increase of Jodhpur, Udaipur and Bikanir have constructed branch 1-6% in the decade. Rice is the staple crop, with pulses, railways at their own cost, the first of which was extended in oilseeds and jute. Indigo has disappeared. Sericulture has 1901 to Hyderabad in Sind. In 1909 another line was opened received a stimulus from the efforts of the agricultural departrunning N. near the E. boundary from Kotah to Bharatpur. ment, supported by private enterprise, to improve the breed History. Only faint outlines can be traced of the condition of silkworms. The hemp grown on a small tract in the north of Rajputana previous to the invasion of Upper India by the of the district supplies all the ganja that is consumed in Bengal. Mahommedans, and these indicate that the country was subject The district is traversed from south to north by the main line for the most part to two or three powerful tribal dynasties. of the Eastern Bengal railway to Darjeeling, with a branch to Chief of these were the Rahtors, who ruled at Kanauj; the Bogra. Most of the permanent buildings in the district were Chauhans of Ajmere; the Solankis of Anhilwara, in Gujarat; severely damaged by the earthquake of the 12th of June 1897. the Gehlots with the Sisodhyias sept, still in Mewar or Udaipur; When the East India Company took over the administration of and the Kachwaha clan, still in Jaipur. These tribal dynasties Bengal in 1765, the zamindari of Rajshahi or Nattor was one of Rajputs were gradually supplanted by the Moslem invaders of the largest and most important in the province. It appears of the 11th century and weakened by internal feuds. At the to have extended from Bhagalpur on the west to Dacca on the beginning of the 16th century the Rajput power began to revive, east, and to have included an important subdivision called Nijonly to be overthrown by Baber at Fatehpur Sikri in 1527. | Chakla Rajshahi on the south of the Ganges. The total area The clans were finally either conquered, overawed or conciliated was estimated at 13,000 sq. m., or more than five times the size by Akbar-all except the distant Sisodhyia clan, which, how- of the present district. Having been found much too large ever, submitted to Jehangir in 1616. From Akbar's accession to be effectually administered by one central authority, Rajshahi to Aurangzeb's death, a period of 151 years, the Mogul was was stripped in 1793 of a considerable portion of its outlying India's master. Aurangzeb's death and the invasion of Nadir territory, and a natural boundary-line was drawn to the west, Shah led to a triple alliance among the three leading chiefs, south and east along the Ganges and Brahmaputra. Its which internal jealousy so weakened that the Mahrattas, having north-western limits were reduced in 1813, when the present been called in by the Rahtors to aid them, took possession of district of Malda was constituted. The erection of Bogra into Ajmere about 1756; thenceforward Rajputana became in- a separate jurisdiction in 1821 still further reduced its area; volved in the general disorganization of India. By the end of and in 1832 the limits of Rajshahi were fixed by the constitution the century nearly the whole of Rajputana had been virtually of Pabna into an independent jurisdiction. subdued by the Mahrattas. The victories of Generals Wellesley. and Lake, however, saved the Rajputs; but on Lord Wellesley's departure from India the floodgates of anarchy were reopened for ten years. On the outbreak of the Pindari War in 1817 the British government offered its protection. The Pindaris were put down, Amir Khan submitting and signing a treaty which constituted him the first ruler of the existing state of Tonk. By the end of 1818 similar treaties had been executed by the other Rajput states with the paramount power. Sindhia gave up the district of Ajmere to the British, and the pressure of the great Mahratta powers upon Rajputana was permanently withdrawn. Since then the political history of Rajputana has been comparatively uneventful. The great storm of the Mutiny of 1857, though dangerous while it lasted, was short. Most of the rajas remained loyal; and the capture of the town of Kotah, which had been held by the mutineers of that state, in March 1858, marked the extinction of armed rebellion.

Rajputana is of great archaeological interest, possessing some fine religious buildings in ruins and others in excellent preservation. Among the latter are the mosques at Ajmere and the temples on Abu. But the most characteristic features of architecture in the country are shown in the forts and palaces of the chiefs and in their cenotaphs.

See J. Tod, Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan (1829, 1832); W. W. Webb, Currencies of the Hindu States of Rajputana (1893); Chiefs and Leading Families of Rajputana (1903); and Rajputana Gazetteer (Calcutta, 1908).

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RAJSHAHI, a district and division of British India, in the province of Eastern Bengal and Assam. The administrative headquarters are at Rampur Boalia. The area of the district is 2593 sq. m., comprising an alluvial plain seamed with old river-beds and studded with marshes. The Ganges and the Mahananda are its principal rivers; the former constitutes a great natural boundary-line to the south and south-west, and the latter, which rises in the Himalayas, borders the district on the west for a few miles before joining the Ganges. Other I

The DIVISION OF RAJSHAHI is coextensive with northern Bengal, from the Ganges to the mountains. It comprises the seven districts of Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri, Malda, Rangpur, Bogra and Pabna. Total area, 18,091 sq. m. POD. (1901) 9,130,072.

RAKE (O.E. raca, cognate with Du. raak, Ger. Rechen, from a root meaning to scrape together, heap up), an agricultural and horticultural implement consisting of a toothed bar fixed transversely to a handle, and used for the collection of cut hay, grass, &c., and, in gardening, for loosening the soil, light weeding and levelling, and generally for purposes performed in agriculture by the harrow. The teeth of the hand-rake are of wood or iron. For the horse-drawn rake, a bar with long curved steel teeth is mounted on wheels (see HAY AND HAYMAKING). The word "rake" has been used since the 17th century in the sense of a man of a dissolute or dissipated character. This is a shortened form of the earlier "rake-hell," apparently in common use in the 16th century. In military and naval use "to rake" means to enfilade, to fire so that the shot may pass lengthwise along a ship, a line of soldiers, entrenchments, &c. In the nautical sense of the projection or slope of a ship's bows or stern or the inclination of a mast, the word is apparently an adaptation of the Scandinavian raka, to reach, in the sense of reach forward.

RÁKÓCZY, the name of a noble Hungarian family, which in the 10th century was settled in the county of Zemplén, and members of which played an important part in the history of Hungary during the 17th century.

GEORGE I., prince of Transylvania (1591-1648), who began his carcer as governor of Onod, was the youngest son of Sigismund Rákóczy (1544-1608), who shared in the insurrection of Stephen Bocskay against the Emperor Rudolph II., and was for a short time prince of Transylvania. In 1616 he married his second wife, the highly gifted zealous Calvinist, Susannah Lorántffy, who exercised a great influence over him. He then took a leading part in the rebellion of Gabriel Bethlen, who