Rohilla

“ The north-west angle of the great strip of plain which follows the course of the Ganges was possessed by a clan which fifty years before had been a mere band of Afghan mercenaries, but which was now beginning to settle down as a dominant governing class, living among a vastly more numerous subject-population of Hindoos. This country was Rohilkhand, the warrior-horde the Rohillas. It must never be forgotten that the Rohillas were no more the inhabitants of Rohilkhand than were the Normans fifty years after the Conquest the inhabitants of England. ”

“ The Rohillas were distinguished from the other inhabitants of India by a peculiarly fair complexion. They were more honorably distinguished by courage in war, and by skill in the arts of peace. While anarchy raged from Lahore to Cape Comorin, their little territory enjoyed the blessings of repose under the guardianship of valour. Agriculture and commerce flourished among them; nor were they negligent of rhetoric and poetry. Many persons now living have heard aged men talk with regret of the golden days when the Afghan princes ruled in the vale of Rohilcund. ”

“ The Rohillas defended themselves most gallantly; but were overpowered,—-and their chief, and upwards of a hundred thousand people fled to the mountains. The whole country lay at the mercy of the allies, and the British officers themselves declared that perhaps never were the rights of conquest more savagely abused. ”

“ The province of Katahr had been conquered some fifty years before by a band of Afghan adventurers called Rohillas, from whom it had received the name of Rohilkand. Lying between the eastern frontier of the Oudh dominions and the special domain of the emperor, and constantly liable to Mahratta invasion from the southward, it was becoming a kind of chronic sore in the bosom of Hindustan. Though impotent against the Mahrattas, the Rohillas fought bitterly among themselves, while the original population was rack-rented and left without protection to life and property. ”

“ Sir John Strachey ... shows beyond a shadow of doubt that the whole story is a delusion. ... 'The English army was not hired out by Hastings for the destruction of the Rohillas; the Rohillas described by Burke as belonging to the bravest, the most honourable and generous nation on earth, were no nation at all, but a comparatively small body of cruel and rapacious Afghan adventurers, who had imposed their foreign rule on an unwilling Hindoo population ”

“ Quentin, Gravelines, and Prague, was destroyed.
Rodman Gun. See Ordnance, Construction of.
Roermond. An old town in the Netherlands, province of Limburg, at the junction of the Roer and Maas. It has often endured the horrors of being besieged and taken.
Rogue River Indians. See Indians and their Agencies (Oregon) .
Rogue’s March. Derisive music performed in driving away a person under popular indignation, or when a soldier is drummed out of a regiment.
Rohilcund. A region of Northeast India; was conquered by the Rohillas, an Afghan tribe, who settled here about 1747. ”

“ Drops of water shone like gems on the rocks. But there was no sweet face. There was no beckoning hand, no gleam of golden hair. The beautiful Lorelei was gone.
And never since, one rock or shore, has she been seen. Never more does she play with her hair in the light of the moon. But sometimes, even yet, just at midnight, when all the forest is still and solemn under the moon, it is said that belated travelers hear the low, murmuring music of Lorelei's song.
Maybe, some day when you go sailing on the Rhine, you will see the great rock which still bears the name of the lovely Lorelei. ”

“ About half way between Bingen and Coblenz, the bed of the Rhine grows suddenly narrow. The river is very deep and quiet. Great cliffs on either side shut out the glad sunlight. The spot is dim and full of mystery.
On the right bank rises a huge cliff, like a tall tower. This is the famous Lorelei rock. Listen! As you say the word “Lorelei,” the lonely Echo, who always lives here, repeats it after you — “Lorelei! Lorelei!” — once, twice, seven times. Fainter and further, it dies away at last into the deep silence of the forest. ”

“ Passing through a country where the soil is a reddish clay, clothed with groves of oak, manzanita, laurel, and pine, we come at last to the Rogue River, the most beautiful of mountain-born streams. Quite near the river, on the stage-road, the traveler finds a neat hotel, with garden attached, looking so home-like, in conjunction with its beautiful surroundings, that the temptation to stop over for a day, and enjoy the peace and pleasantness of the place, is almost irresistible—to us, quite so. ”

“ Such queer-looking carts and wheelbarrows, such odd dresses, such groups of children at play, such gates, such farmyards, such pumps and fountains by the roadside—every thing, indeed, was new and strange.
After the party had been riding about an hour and a half, they passed through a village which consisted, like those which Rollo had seen on the road from Lyons, of compact rows of old and quaint-looking stone houses, close to the roadside. ”

“ Very many are the stories of the women of the sea and of the rivers, but that one who must forever hold her own, because Heine has immortalised her in song, is the river maiden of the Rhine—the Lorelei.
Near St. Goar, there rises out of the waters of the Rhine a perpendicular rock, some four hundred feet high. Many a boatman in bygone days there met his death, and the echo which it possesses is still a mournful one. ”

“ This venta is but a short league from Loja, the ride to which place is very delightful, the rich valley of the Genil (here contracted to the width of a mile) being on the right, a fine range of mountains on the left, whilst the river frequently approaches close to the road, adding by its snakelike windings to the beauty of the scenery.
The town of Loja stands on the south side of a rocky gorge, by which the Genil escapes from the fertile Vega of Granada. ”

“ Down below was a ship; its sail flapped in rags, and the crew were laboring mightily at the oars to save themselves, looking with dread at the white breakers and the looming rocks. Now in the strength of their fear they held the vessel where she was; and by the broad light of the fire every man of them was visible to the Cragness-dwellers. To Rolf that was a dreadful sight. But the bit of a sail was set, and men ran to the steering-oar to hold the vessel stiff; and behold, she moved forward, staggered past the rocks, made clearer water, and wore slowly out into the firth. ”

“ The heavy products that grow on the borders of the rivers are to come down, while comparatively little in quantity goes up. So the benefit, on the whole, which is produced by the flow of the water, may be greater than the injury."
"What do they do with the rafts," said Rollo, "when they get them down the river?"
"They break them up," said Mr. George, "and sell the timber in the countries near the [Pg 180] mouth of the river, where but little timber grows." ”

“ George and Rollo had been sauntering slowly along the walk, with warehouses on one side of them, and a roadway for carts and drays on the other, between the walk and the dock; and now all at once Rollo's attention was attracted by the spectacle of a large ship, on the decks of which there appeared a great number of people—men, women, and children. ”

“ Then he showed Rolf his arrows, which were heavy, short, and thick, like the bow. He laid one on the string, and drew it to the head, and behold! it rushed forth with a great whir, and with such force that it might pierce a man behind his shield. And it flew far beyond the arrow of Rolf, full five rood further.
"What thou dost with skill," said Grettir, "I do with strength." But Rolf cried with great joy:
"Thou art the man I have been seeking!" Then he asked: "Wilt thou go with me and shoot an arrow before witnesses, to prove that my father was unlawfully slain?" ”

“ They admired and sketched the same scenery—the cliffs of Rohallion and the gaping caverns below, where the sea boomed like thunder when the tide was coming in; the ruins of Kilhenzie; the old kirk in the wooded glen, where the golden broom and blue harebells grew; the long and stately avenue of sycamores, and the Lollard's linn that poured in white foam under its ancient bridge. When Flora drew, he was always there to marvel at the cunning of the lovely little hand that transferred all to paper so freely and so rapidly. ”

“ From this flat summit with its fringe of nut-trees and little stunted oaks they could see, over the wooded slopes, the tops of the pines bathed in a purple mist, and the long ribbon of the Rhine in the blue valley. Not a bird called. Not a voice. Not a breath of air. A still, calm winter's day, its chilliness faintly warmed by the pale beams of a misty sun. Now and then in the distance there came the sharp whistle of a train in the valley. Christophe stood at the edge of the rock and looked down at the countryside. Myrrha watched Christophe. ”

“ The ground became more and more uneven, and at length nothing of the path was left but a narrow ridge or dike that had been formed artificially along the shore, with a crooked little footway on the top of it.
At last Rollo began to see through the bushes occasional glimpses of water on the other side.
"There, father!" said he, "there! We are coming to the Arve."
"Yes," said Mrs. Holiday; "and I don't suppose that we can go much farther."
Indeed, it would have been impossible to go much farther, if there had not been a small embankment made to serve for a pathway. ”

“ There were ladies and gentlemen walking about the grounds, along the margin of a large stream of water, or sitting in groups under the trees.
"What place is that?" said Rollo to the boy.
"It is a place of baths," said the boy.
Rollo wished to go in there and see the grounds; but the boy walked on, and so Rollo followed him. After a time the guide turned off into a field, and there took a path which led down toward a wood, where they could hear water running. When they came into the wood they saw the water. ”

“ There were pretty gardens by them, which extended down the slope of the dike. The slopes of the dikes are always very gradual, and very nice gardens can be made on them.
Mr. George and Rollo stood on the bridge, and looked up and down the canals on either side. They saw boats, with people in them, getting ready to set out on their voyages. [Pg 188]
"I wonder where that canal leads to?" said Rollo.
"O, it goes off into the interior of the country, some where," said Mr. George. "The country is as full of canals as Massachusetts is of roads." ”

“ Rollo understood very well that his father meant by this that he must be careful not to let the current, which was all the time drawing the water of the lake off under the bridge, and thus forming the Rhone below, carry the boat down. Rollo said that he would be very careful; and off he went to rejoin Gerald on the quay. ”

“ In the centre Obidos, with its ruined castle and splendid aqueduct, recalls the days of Moorish glory. The village of Rolica stands on a bold height, surrounded by vineyards and olive groves—and a sandy plain extends in front, thickly studded with shrubs and dwarf wood. The eminence on which the village is placed, and where the French general formed his line of battle, had one flank resting on a rugged height, and the other on a mountain impassable to any but a goat-herd. Behind, lay a number of passes through the ridges in his rear, affording Delaborde a means of retreat ”

“ By this time the sound of falling water had become very loud, and as I emerged from the gorge through which the path ran on to this plateau I saw, on the further side of this tableland, the yellow robe of the mendicant. He was walking straight for the face of the precipice, and straight for the spot at which, from a fissure in the rock, a little stream leapt out, to fall sheerly ten or fifteen feet into a winding channel, along which it bubbled away westward, doubtless to form a greater waterfall beyond. ”

“ Up to Rochelle Isla, named after the senior member of the Peruvian Hydrographical Commission, navigation is clear and unobstructed for any steamer that can ascend the Pachitea; that is, for any steamer not drawing more than nine feet of water. Beyond this island the navigation of the river becomes much more difficult, though not altogether impracticable. The River Trinidad, so named on account of its having been discovered on Trinity Sunday, empties itself into the Pichis ten miles above Rochelle Isla ”

“ Next they came to a place where the valley took a turn so as to expose the mountain side to the sun in such a manner as to make a good place there for grapes to grow and ripen. The people had accordingly terraced the whole declivity by building walls, one above another, to support the earth for the vineyards; and when Rollo was going by the place he looked up and saw a man standing on the wall of one of the terraces, with the tool which he had been working with in his hand. ”

“ The ascent to this stupendous rock, which is eight hundred feet in a perpendicular line above the level of the river, is by a very narrow, steep, and winding path: the noble fortification on its sides, and the castles, arsenals, barracks, and batteries upon its summit, from whence the eye can behold the mountains of Lorraine, the meanders of the Rhine, and the countries through which it flows to a vast distance, and from which the beholder might almost think he could step into the clouds, are all roofless and dismantled. ”

“ The rising river of Lorraine is caught and barred, and it spreads in a great sheet of water that must be very shallow, but that in its reflections and serenity resembles rather a profound and silent mere. ”