Rhine

(anc. Rhenus , Ger. Rhein ). An important river in Germany, and one of the most noted in Europe, takes its rise in the Swi canton of Grisons, and after a north-northwest course of about 800 miles, falls in the German Ocean. Cæsar was the first Roman general who cro ed the Rhine; he threw a bridge of boats acro it. It was fortified as the frontier of the Roman empire 298 and 369, and became the boundary of the French republic in 1776.