Rhone

Rhone, The, rises in Switzerland, a few miles from the source of the Rhine, having its origin in the Rhone Glacier (5,581 ft.). At first it flows rapidly from fall to fall, west through Valais, and enters the Lake of Geneva at the east end, flowing out in a deep blue stream at Geneva in the southwest. Receiving the Arve, it flows south-west to the French frontier, then south between Ain and Savoy, north-west to Lyons (where it receives the Saone), south to Avignon, south through the Bouches-du-Rhone department and into the Gulf of Lyons. At Aries it divides into two branches, the old Rhone, south-west, the delta of which is known as the Ile de Camargue, and the Grand Rhone to the south, which falls by two mouths into the Gulf. The chief towns passed are Geneva, Lyons, and the Provencal towns - celebrated by Daudet - Avignon, Tarascon, Beaucaire, Arles. Of its course of 580 miles, 200 are in Switzerland, and 360 are navigable. Its basin is 38,000 square miles in area. The chief tributaries on the right bank are the Ain, Saone, and Ardeche, and on the left the Arve, Isere, Drome, and Durance. Canals connect the Rhone with the Rhine, Seine, Loire, and Garonne.