Wiesbaden by the main line from Frankfort-on-Main to Cologne. Pop. (1905) 4773. Its situation, at the lower end of the famous vineyard district of the Rheingau, opposite Bingen and just above the romantic gorge of the Rhine, renders it a popular tourist centre. Behind the town rises the majestic Niederwald (985 ft.), on the crest of which stands the national monument, “Germania,” commemorating the war of 1870–71. Rüdesheim has some interesting towers. The Brömserburg, or Niederburg, a massive structure built in the 13th century, formerly belonging to the archbishops of Mainz; the Boosenburg, or Oberburg, which was rebuilt in 1868, with the exception of the keep; the Adlerturm, a relic of the fortifications of the town; and the Vorderburg, the remains of an old castle. The Gothic church of St James has some interesting paintings and monuments, and there is also a Protestant church. The town has electrical works, but its industries are mainly concerned with the preparation of wine, the best kinds being Rudesheimer Berg, Hinterhaus and Rottland.
See J. P. Schmelzeis, Rüdesheim im Rheingau (Rüdesheim, 1881); and Heiderlinden, Rüdesheim und seine Umgebung (Rüdesheim, 1888).
RUDINÌ, ANTONIO STARABBA, Marquis di (1839–1908), Italian statesman, was born at Palermo on the 6th of April 1839. In 1859 he joined the revolutionary committee which paved the way for Garibaldi’s triumphs in the following year; then after spending a short time at Turin as attaché to the Italian foreign office he was elected mayor of Palermo. In 1866 he displayed considerable personal courage and energy in quelling an insurrection of separatist and reactionary tendencies. The prestige thus acquired led to his appointment as prefect of Palermo, and while occupying that position he put down brigandage throughout the province; in 1868 he was prefect of Naples. In October 1869 he became minister of the interior in the Menabrea cabinet, but he fell with that cabinet a few months later, and although elected member of parliament for Canicatti held no important position until, upon the death of Minghetti in 1886, he became leader of the Right. Early in 1891 he succeeded Crispi as premier and minister of foreign affairs by forming a coalition cabinet with a part of the Left under Nicotera; his administration proved vacillating, but it initiated the economies by which Italian finances were put on a sound basis and also renewed the Triple Alliance. He was overthrown in May 1892 by a vote of the Chamber and succeeded by Giolitti. Upon the return of his rival, Crispi, to power in December 1893, he resumed political activity, allying himself with the Radical leader, Cavallotti. The crisis consequent upon the disaster of Adowa (1st March 1896) enabled Rudini to return to power as premier and minister of the interior in a cabinet formed by the veteran Conservative, General Ricotti. He concluded peace with Abyssinia, but endangered relations with Great Britain by the unauthorized publication of confidential diplomatic correspondence in a Green-book on Abyssinian affairs. To satisfy the anti-colonial party he ceded Kassala to Great Britain, provoking thereby much indignation in Italy. His internal policy was marked by continual yielding to Radical pressure and by persecution of Crispi. By dissolving the Chamber early in 1897 and favouring Radical candidates in the general election, he paved the way for the outbreak of May 1898, the suppression of which entailed considerable bloodshed and necessitated a state of siege at Milan, Naples, Florence and Leghorn. Indignation at the results of his policy led to his overthrow in June 1898. During his second term of office he thrice modified his cabinet (July 1896, December 1897, and May 1898) without strengthening his political position. In many respects Rudini, though leader of the Right and nominally a Conservative politician, proved a dissolving element in the Italian Conservative ranks. By his alliance with the Liberals under Nicotera in 1891, and by his understanding with the Radicals under Cavallotti in 1894–98; by abandoning his Conservative colleague, General Ricotti, to whom he owed the premiership in 1896; and by his vacillating action after his fall from power, he divided and demoralized a constitutional party which, with greater sincerity and less reliance upon political cleverness, he might have welded into a solid parliamentary organization. At the same time he was a thorough gentleman and grand seigneur. One of the largest and wealthiest landowners in Sicily, he managed his estates on liberal lines, and was never troubled by agrarian disturbances. The marquis, who had not been in office since 1898, died on the 6th of August 1908, leaving a son, Carlo, who married a daughter of Mr Henry Labouchere.
RUDOK, a small town on the Ladakh frontier of Tibet, through
which all the trade of Tibet passes to Leh, and at which is
maintained the Chinese outpost that for many years persistently
interfered with European exploration. Rudok is picturesquely
situated on the side of a hill standing isolated in the plain near
the E. end of Lake Pangong, across which the official boundary
between Tibet and Kashmir runs. The houses are built in
tiers, whitewashed and walled in. At the top of the hill are
a large palace and several monasteries painted red. About
a mile away from the foot of the hill is another monastery.
Rudok is about 13,300 ft. above sea-level, and the greatest
altitude on the route connecting it with Lhasa at the pass of
Mariom la (the water-parting between the Brahmaputra and
the Sutlej) is 15,500 ft. The winter climate of Rudok and of all
the towns of the Tsangpo basin, owing to the intense dryness
of the air and the light fall of snow, seems to be bracing and
exhilarating rather than severe. The thermometer never approaches
the minimum record of Puetra (in the same latitude
and at half the absolute elevation), according to the observations
of native surveyors.
RUDOLF (otherwise known as Basso Norok and Gallop), a large lake of E. equatorial Africa, forming the centre of an inland drainage system, occupying the S. of the Abyssinian highlands and a portion of the great equatorial plateau. The lake itself lies towards the N. of the great East African rift valley, between the parallels of 2° 26′ and 5° N., while the meridian of 36° E. is slightly W. of the centre of the northern wider part, the narrower southern portion bending to 3612° E. The length along the curved axis is 185 m., the maximum width 37, and the area roughly 3500 sq. m. Its altitude is 1250 ft. Towards the S. it seems to be deep, but it is comparatively shallow in the N. Its water is brackish, but drinkable. The country bordering the lake on almost every side is sterile and forbidding. The S. end, for some 50 m. on the W. and for a longer distance on the E., is shut in by high cliffs—the escarpments of a rugged lava-strewn country, which shows abundant signs of volcanic activity, great changes having been reported since 1889. In particular, the great volcano of Lubburua (Teleki’s volcano) at the S. end of the lake is said to have been destroyed between 1889 and 1897 by a sudden explosion. The highest point of the S.E. side of the lake is Mount Kulal, 7812 ft., while the culminating height within the basin of the lake is Mount Sil, 9280 ft., which lies about 20 m. S. of Lubburua. Further N., on the W. side, sandy plains alternate with lines of low hills, the immediate shores (on which the water appears to have encroached in very modern times) being marked by spits of sand, which in places cut off lagoons from the main body of the lake. These are the haunt of great numbers of water-birds. In 3° 8′ N. the dry bed of the Turkwell—in its upper course a large river descending the slopes of Mount Elgon—approaches the lake. Near the N. end mountains again approach the shores, the most prominent being Mount Lubbur (5200 ft.), an extinct Volcano with a well-preserved crater. At the extreme N.W. corner a bay some 35 m, long (Sanderson Gulf) is almost separated from the rest of the lake by two long points of land. On the E. side, open arid plains, with few trees, occupy most of the N. country. One hill, in 3° 20′ N., has a height of 3470 ft., and at the N.E. end, separating the lake from Lake Stefanie, is a hilly country, the highest point between the lakes being 3524 ft. Immediately N. of these hills rises the Hummurr Range, with one peak exceeding 7000 ft. Near the S. end is the volcanic island of Elmolo, 10 m. long, and there are a few small islets. Just N. of 4° N. is a small volcanic
