ROC or more correctly Rukh, a fabulous bird of enormous size which carries off elephants to feed its young. The legend of the roc, familiar to every one from the Arabian Nights, was widely spread in the East; and in later times the home of the monster was sought in the direction of Madagascar, whence gigantic fronds of the Raphia palm very like a quill in form appear to have been brought under the name of roc’s feathers (see Yule’s Marco Polo, bk. iii. ch. 33, and Academy, 1884, No. 620). Such a feather was brought to the Great Khan, and we read also of a gigantic stump of a roc’s quill being brought to Spain by a merchant from the China seas (Abu Hâmid of Spain, in Damiri, s.v.). The roc is hardly different from the Arabian l anka, already mentioned under Phcenix; it is also identified with the Persian simurgh, the bird which figures in Firdausi’s epic as the foster-father of the hero Zal, father of Rustam. When we go farther back into Persian antiquity we find an immortal bird, amru, or (in the Miηoi-khiradh) siηamru, which shakes the ripe fruit from the mythical tree that bears the seed of all useful things. Sinamrü and simurgh seem to be the same word. In Indian legend the garuda on which Vishnu rides is the king of birds (Benfey, Pαntschatantra, ii. 98). In the Pahlavi translation of the Indian story as represented by the Syrian Kalilag and Damnag (ed. Bickell, 1876), the simurgh takes the place of the garuda, while Ibn al-Mokaffa' (Calila et Dimna, ed. De Sacy, p. 126) speaks instead of the 'anka. The later Syriac, curiously enough, has behmoth,— apparently the behemoth of Job transformed into a bird....

ROCHDALE a municipal and parliamentary borough of south-east Lancashire, is situated on the river Roch and on the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway, 11 miles north-north-east of Manchester and 12 east of Bolton. By means of the Rochdale Canal, extending from the duke of Bridgewater’s canal, Manchester, to the Calder and Hebble navigation at Sowerby Bridge, it has water communication with the most important towns in the north of England. Within recent years the town has largely increased. Though inhabited chiefly by the working classes, the streets generally are spacious and regular. The sanitary arrangements are very satisfactory, the main drainage having been executed on a very large scale. The gasworks and waterworks are in the hands of the corporation, which also erected public baths in 1868. There is a public cemetery belonging to the corporation, and also a public park 12 acres in extent. The parish church of St Chad, occupying the high grounds overlooking the town, is built on the site of a church which was erected in the 12th century. The town-hall is a very extensive and elaborate structure in the Decorated Gothic style, and had originally a tower surmounted by a gilded spire 140 feet in height, which was destroyed by fire in 1883. The building, completed in 1871 at a cost of £150,000, includes a large lιall for public meetings and various municipal rooms. For the free public library, with about 40,000 volumes, a new building was opened in. 1884. Of the educational charities the principal are the Archbishop Parker free grammar-school, founded in 1565, and the free English school. Among the other public institutions are the infirmary (lately much enlarged), the literary and scientific society, and the art society. The staple manufactures are those of woollens ...

ROCHE-SUR-YON La, a town of France, the chief town of the department of La Vendée, lies 278 miles southwest of Paris by the railway to Sables d’Olonne, on an eminence 164 feet above the sea on the right bank of the Yon, a little tributary of the Lay, itself an affluent of the Pertuis Breton. In 1881 the population of the town was 9965, of the commune 10,634. The castle of La Roche-sur-Yon, which probably existed before the time of the crusades, and which was frequently attacked or taken in the Hundred Years’ War and in the wars of religion, was finally dismantled under Louis XIII.; and when Napoleon in 1805 made this place the chief town of a department the stones from its ruins were employed in the erection of the administrative buildings, which, being all produced at once after a regular plan, have a monotonous effect. The equestrian statue of Napoleon I. in an immense square overlooking the rest of the town; the statue of General Travot, who was engaged in the “pacification” of La Vendée; the museum, with several paintings by P. Baudry, a living native artist of note, are the only objects of interest. The dog fairs of Roche-sur-Yon are important. Napoleon-Vendée and Bourbon-Vendée, the names borne by the town according to the dominance of either dynasty, gave place to the original unpolitical name after the revolution of 1870.

ROCHEFORT a town of France, the chef-lieu of an arrondissement of the department of Charente Inférieure and of the fourth maritime prefecture, lies on the right bank of the Charente, 9 miles from the Atlantic, and is built partly on the side of a rocky hill and partly on old marshland, which renders the position unhealthy. The town is laid out with great regularity in chess-board fashion. The fortifications are sufficient merely to prevent it being taken by surprise. By rail it is connected with La Rochelle (18 miles north-north-west), Niort, and Saintes. There are both a naval and a commercial harbour. The former has the advantage of deep anchorage well protected by batteries at the mouth of the river, and the roadstead is perfectly safe. The windings of the channel, however, between Rochefort and the sea, and the bar at the entrance render navigation dangerous. This harbour and arsenal, which are separated from the town by a line of fortifications with three gates, contain large covered building yards (where eighteen vessels of the first class may be upon the stocks at once), eleven slips, three repairing docks, and on the right bank of the Charente in the Gardette meadows a large timber basin capable of floating 1,766,000 cubic feet of timber. Besides the various establishments implied in the name, the arsenal is the seat of a ropewalk dating from 1666, a school of navigation and pilotage, a signal-tower 98 feet high (once attached to a church), the offices of the maritime prefecture, the navy commissariat, a park of artillery, and various boards of direction connected with the navy. About 5000 or 6000 men are usually employed in the arsenal. Other Government establishments at Rochefort are barracks for infantry, artillery, and marines, a provision factory, and the ...

ROCHEFOUCAULD. See La Rochefoucauld.

ROCHELLE La, a town and seaport of France, the chef-lieu of the department of Charente-Inférieure, is situated on the Atlantic coast in 46° 9' N. lat., 296 miles by rail south-west of Paris. Its fortifications, which were constructed by Vauban, have a circuit of 3j miles with seven gates. In population (20,028 in 1881; 22,464 in the commune) it ranks after Rochefort. The harbour, one of the safest and most accessible on the coast, comprises an outer harbour, a tidal basin, a wet dock, and a graving dock. The outer harbour is still protected by the dry stone mole, about a mile long, constructed by Richelieu. The wet dock (7 acres) is capable of receiving ships of 1000 tons. Behind these is the Maubec basin, the water of which along with that of the Niort Canal helps to scour the port and navigable channel. On the fortifications towards the sea are three towers, of which the oldest (1384) is that of St Nicholas. The apartment in the first story was formerly used as a chapel. The chain tower (1476) was at one time connected with that of St Nicholas by a great pointed arch. The lantern tower (1475-76), seven stories high, affords a fine view of the town, the roadstead, and the surrounding islands, and at present is used as a military prison. Of the ancient gateways only one has been preserved in its entirety, that of the “grosse hor loge,” a huge square tower of the 14th or 15th century,...

ROCHELLE SALT. See Tartaric Acid.

ROCHESTER an episcopal city and municipal and parliamentary borough of Mid-Kent, is situated on the Medway, on the Medway Canal, and on the London, Chatham, and Dover and the South-Eastern railway lines, 33 miles east of London, contiguous to Chatham and Strood. Here the river is crossed by a railway bridge and by an iron swing bridge for carriage traffic, erected to take the place of a stone bridge destroyed in 1856. The present bridge occupies the site of that which spanned the Medway before the Conquest. On the eminence overlooking the right bank of the river and commanding a wide view of the surrounding country are the extensive remains of the Norman castle which is generally supposed to have been built by Gun-dulph, bishop of Rochester, towards the close of the llth century, and which was besieged by King John, by Simon de Montfort in the reign of Henry III., and in the reign of Richard II. by a party of rebels during the insurrection of Wat Tyler. It was repaired by Edward IV., but soon afterwards fell into decay, although the massive keep is still in good preservation. The cathedral was originally founded by Augustine in 604, but was partially destroyed by the Danes, and was rebuilt by Bishop Gundulph in the beginning of the 12th century. Though a comparatively small building, being only 310 feet in length and 68 in breadth at the nave, it is of considerable architectural interest, the most remarkable feature being the Norman west front with a richly sculptured door. There is a large number of monuments of great antiquity. In the garden of the deanery there are portions of the wall of St Andrew’s priory, founded about the same time as the cathedral. Among the principal public buildings of a secular character are the town-hall (1687), the corn exchange (1871), ...

Palestine, being a mountainous country, had also many rocks, which formed a part of the country’s defence; for in time of danger the people retired to them, and found a refuge against any sudden irruption of the enemy. The Benjamites took shelter in the rock Rimmon, Judges xx, 47. Samson kept garrison in the rock of Etham, Judges xv, 8. David found shelter in the rocks of Maon, Engedi, &c, 1 Sam. xxii, 1; xxiii, 25, 28; xxiv, 2–5. Jerom says that the southern parts of Judea were full of caves under ground, and of caverns in the mountains, to which the people retired in time of danger. The Kenites dwelt in the hollow places of the rocks, Num. xxiv, 21. Even at this day the villages of this country are subterraneous, or in the rocks. Josephus in several places speaks of hollow rocks, where thieves and robbers had their haunts; and travellers still find a great number of them in Palestine, and in the adjoining provinces. Toward Lebanon, the mountains are high, but covered in many places with as much earth as fits them for cultivation. Among the crags of the rocks, the beautiful and far-famed cedar waves its lofty top, and extends its powerful arms, surrounded by the fir and the oak, the fig and the vine. On the road to Jerusalem, the mountains are not so lofty nor so rugged, but become fitter for tillage. They rise again to the south-east of Mount Carmel; are covered with woods, and afford very picturesque views; but advancing toward Judea, they lose their verdure, the valleys become narrow, dry, and stony, and terminate at the Dead Sea in a pile of desolate rocks, precipices, and caverns. These vast excavations, some of which will contain fifteen hundred men, are the grottoes of Engedi, which have been a refuge to the oppressed or the discontented in all ages. ...

ROCK ISLAND a city of the United States, the capital of Rock Island county, Illinois, is situated opposite Davenport on the left bank of the Mississippi, about 3 miles above the mouth of the Rock river and at the foot of the Upper Rapids, which extend for about 16 miles. Distant by rail 181 miles west of Chicago and 247 miles north of St Louis, Rock Island is one of the great centres of railroad and river traffic. With Davenport (in Iowa) it is connected by a two-story road and railway bridge constructed by the Government in 1870. Among the public buildings are a large public library and St Augustana College, founded by the Swedish Lutherans. Glassworks, a plough factory, a distillery, flour-mills, and a stove factory are the principal industrial establishments. The city, however, is best known from the great national arsenal situated on the island from which it derives its name. This island is a ridge of limestone rock about 3 miles long and with an area of 960 acres. As the site of Fort Armstrong it became known in the Black Hawk War; the prison was used for the detention of Confederate prisoners during the Civil War; and since that date the Government has constructed the present extensive works, intended to be the central United States armoury. There are ten vast stone workshops, each with a stone house in the rear, as well as officers’ quarters, offices, &c. The population of Rock Island city was 5130 in 1860, 7890 in 1870, and 11,659 in 1880. Its charter dates from 1849.