being brought before Astyages, who recognized his likeness to himself, and found that the time of the exposure of his grandson and the age of Cyrus agreed. The circumstances of his preservation were disclosed, and he was sent to his real parents. Harpagus, who had been cruelly treated by Astyages for his conduct in the exposure of Cyrus, induced him to rise against Astyages, who was dethroned, 560. After subduing the chief towns of Media, Cyrus next attacked and took Sardis, and made Croesus, the famous king of Lydia, prisoner, 546. [See CRŒESUS.] He besieged and took the city of Babylon, 538, and permitted the Jews who were held in captivity there by Belshazzar to return to Palestine. At last he carried his arms against the Massagetæ, and was defeated and slain by Tomyris, their queen, 529. He reigned twenty-nine years. This is the account given by Herodotus, which, with a few variations, is copied by Justin. Xenophon's work on the education of Cyrus is an historical romance. Both Xenophon and Ctesias make Cyrus die quietly a natural death. The fame of Cyrus lasted to the downfall of the Persian Empire; he was regarded by his countrymen as their national hero, and his fame is still preserved in the annals of modern Persia. The capture of Babylon by Cyrus is the point at which sacred history first touches on profane. Cyrus left two sons: Cambyses, who succeeded him on the throne; and Smerdis, who was murdered by the command of Cambyses (Herod. iii. 30).

CYRUS THE YOUNGER, was the son of Darius II. and Parysatis. Artaxerxes, the eldest son of Darius, succeeded him as king, but Cyrus disputed the right of succession. Cyrus was the favourite of his mother, Parysatis, and was indebted to her intercession with Artaxerxes for the preservation of his life after he had been convicted of conspiring against the king. He was sent back to his government in the western provinces of Asia Minor, but did not relinquish his designs on Artaxerxes. He raised a large force of barbarians and a body of Greek troops with the assistance of Clearchus and others. He set out from Sardis, the seat of the Persian authority in Western Asia, 401, and in the plain of Cunaxa, in Babylonia, met his brother, who had an immense army. Though the army of Artaxerxes was soon routed, Cyrus fell in a personal conflict with his brother. After the battle the Greeks who were in the army of Cyrus effected a successful march, known in history as the Retreat of the Ten Thousand, to Trapezus (Trebizond) on the Black Sea. [See ANABASIS.] The character of Cyrus is highly eulogized by Xenophon. He was fond of agricultural and horticultural labours, and worked with his own hands. (Xenophon, "Anabasis; Plutarch," Artaxerxes.")

CYST (Gr. kystis, a bladder), a word used in medicine to describe a bag, tunic, or closed cavity containing fluid or soft matter, formed in different parts of animal bodies. Cysts may arise from the dilation of naturally closed cavities of the body, from the obstruction of the natural outlet of a secreting organ, from the exudation of blood or inflammatory products, and from new growths or errors of development. There are also cysts which are the result of parasitic animals infesting the human body, the most common being the hydatid cyst, or the larval form of Tania echinococcus.

| cells. When very many of these "conidia" are thus formed, the epidermis is burst and the conidia drop of, and are capable, when wetted by dew or rain, of at length germinating. The threads produced from the spore push their way through the breathing pores of the cotyledons (seed-leaves) of a cruciferous plant and form a mycelium. The circular or long spots of this "white rust" are formed by the bursting of the epidermis and the appearance of the conidia.

CYTH'ERA, the modern CERIGO, was a famous place for the worship of Aphrodite (Venus), which the Phonicians introduced there. Hence the Greeks feigned that the goddess rose from the sea-foam at her birth close to this island, and made it her first home. She is therefore both by Greeks and Romans often called Cytherea, “goddess of Cythera."

CYTINA CEÆ, a small order of MONOCHLAMYDEÆ, the type of which is Cytinus hypocistis, a parasite found growing on the roots of certain kinds of Cistus in the Mediterranean region. Its stems are a few inches high, succulent, of a bright yellow or orange colour, and covered with overlapping scales, which represent the leaves. The flowers are in a head at the top of the stem, polygamous, with a four-lobed perianth, yellow and velvety on the outside. There are four two-celled anthers, sessile on a central column attached to the perianth. The fruit is baccate, inferior, with numerous seeds attached to several parietal placentas. The inspissated juice of the fruit is used in French pharmacy as a styptic, but it is not admitted with us. Along with this genus are associated the curious genus Hydnora, of Africa, which looks like a great star of the Lycoperdon; Apodanthes, a minute parasite upon the branches of trees; and Rafflesia, found in Sumatra, and consisting of a single immense flower, growing parasitically on a kind of wild vine.

In Bentham and Hooker's arrangement of the Monochlamydea, the Cytinaces are placed in the same series as Nepenthaceae and Aristolochiaceæ, the general marks of difference being briefly expressed thus:- Parasitic, fleshy herbs, leafless or with scales; the ovary inferior or half-inferior; perisperm wanting.

CYZ'ICUS, an ancient town of Asia Minor, built on an island in the Propontis, near the coast of Mysia, which was joined to the mainland by two bridges. An isthmus has gradually formed, and the island is now a peninsula. Cyzicus was one of the first cities of Asia for splendour and extent. It became early allied to Rome, and remained faithful in its alliance. Its brave resistance to Mithridates, B.C. 75, earned it its freedom from the grateful Romans. This it retained till the time of Tiberius. It was ruined by the Arabians in their conquest of 675. The town of Cyzicus was built partly on the sea-coast and partly on a hill; there are some remains, and among them an amphitheatre.

CZAR or TZAR, the Russian title of the monarch of Russia. Some have supposed it to be derived from Latin Cæsar, or German Kaiser; but the Russians distinguish between Czar and Kesar, which last they use for emperor. The title Czar, used as early as the twelfth century, was not formally adopted by Muscovite princes until 1547. The title of the Empress of Russia is Czarina, and the eldest son of the emperor is called the Czarewitch. The sovereign of Russia styles himself also Autocrat of all the Russias. Since the time of Peter the Great the title of Emperor has been given to the Czar by the senate, and recognized by the various courts of Europe.

CZECHS, the name given to the most western branch of the great Slavonic family. They not only form the predominant element in Bohemia and Moravia, but are found in considerable numbers in Hungary, Austrian and Prussian Silesia, and in Austria proper.

D occupies the fourth place in the Hebrew alphabet, as in the Chaldee, Samaritan, and Syriac; and also in Greek and Latin. The character is the Greek delta, ▲ (which is the Phoenician daleth), the sign being turned sideways, ▷, and thus found in the oldest Latin inscriptions. Afterwards the Romans rounded the angle and arrived at the D as we now have it. Dis the sonant mute consonant whereof T is the corresponding surd mute [see remarks under the article B]. It readily interchanges with other "dentals" (t, d, th), and occasionally with other "medials" (b, d, g). The German language and the English offer an abundance of examples.

1. D in German corresponds to th in English, as dein, thine; denk-en, think; du, thou; bruder, brother; erde, earth; leder, leather, &c. And, on the other hand, th in German, which, however, is not pronounced as among us, corresponds to d in English, as thau, dew; that, deed; theil, dole and deal; roth, red; noth, need.

2. T in German becomes d in English, as tag, day; taub, deaf; wort, word; bart, beard. Th() in Greek becomes fin Latin and d in English, as eng, fera, deer, tier (old German), now thier.

3. D in Greek and Latin corresponds to z or ss, or s final in German, and t in English, as deka, decem, zehen or zehn, ten; duio, duo, zwey, two; dens (dent), zahn, tooth; cor (cord-is), herz, heart; sud-or, schweiss, sweat; pes (ped-is), fuss, foot; ed-ere, ess-en, eat; quod, was, what; id, es, it.

4. Greek d is interchangeable with Latin 7. Compare the Greek forms Odusseus, Poludeukes, with the Latin Ulysses, Pollux.

5. Di before a vowel is changed into a g or j, as Dianus or Janus, the god of light (dies) in Roman mythology; Diana or Jana, the goddess of light. So Diespiter and Jupiter are the same name. The Latin hodie is in Italian oggi.

6. Du before a vowel is changed into b or r. [See B.] With this principle is connected the change of d into v, in the words suavis, suadeo, and hadus, claris and claudo, and the river Suerus or Oder.

7. Instances occur where d is interchanged with both the other medials; with b, as in Latin barba, verbum, English beard, word; with g, as in the Greek Demeter from ge-meter, pedos, the beech, as well as phegos, and in the two names of the African city, Karkedon and Carthago.

8. D, when flanked by vowels, often disappears in the transition of words from Latin into French. Compare Melodunum, Ludovicus, radum, fides, nudus, cauda, assidere, videre, with Melun, Louis, qué, foi, nu, queue, asseoir, voir. In the Latin numerical system D stood for 500, D for 5000. In this case M stood for mille (1000), and being roughly represented by CIO, the half of that sign, or D, was made to stand for 500.

=

D, in music, is the fourth letter of the musical alphabet, and the fourth note of the scale of the ancient Greeks in the Hypodorian mode [see GREEK MUSICAL SYSTEM]. In our typical major scale (that of C) it is the second note. Its name in France and Italy is re (not to be confused with the tonic sol-fa re, which merely means "second of the scale," and may therefore apply to any letter of the musical alphabet); D is re dièse, Dy is re bèmol (Ital. re diesis, re bemolle). In German D natural is D, D is

Dis, Dh is Des; the key of D minor is D-moll, that of D major is D-dur.

D was the key-note of the Dorian or principal mode of the ancient Greek musical system, and also of the Dorian mode of the medieval church system [see MODES, ECCLESIASTICAL]. In modern music D has two sharps in its signature (F2, C2); Dɔ has five flats (Bb, Eb, Ah, Dɔ, G',). D is not used as a key-note, Eb taking its place enharmonically. The relative minor of D major is B minor; and D minor is the relative minor of F major.

D is the second string of the viola and its octaveinstrument, the violoncello, as well as of both varieties of the contrabasso (the open D of the latter being an octave below that of the violoncello); it is the third string of the violin, the D string of the violin and of the viola giving the same note. So many open resonant notes make it therefore one of the most brilliant and favourite keys with composers for the string orchestra.

DA CAPO, or D.C. AL FINE (da capo, from the beginning), an Italian musical term, signifying that the first part or strain of a piece of music is to be returned to, and the piece is then to conclude at the sign of the pause, or at the word fine.

DAB (Pleuronectes limanda) is a common British fish belonging to the same genus as the PLAICE. It is common in all sandy bays on the British coasts. It extends throughout the northern temperate seas of Europe, but is not found further south than France. In some parts of Scotland it is known as the Salt-water Fluke. It is considered superior in flavour to the plaice. Its food consists of small shell-fish, worms, and crustaceans. It is about a foot in length. It differs from the plaice in the strong curvature of the lateral line, which forms a semicircular arch over the pectoral fin. The bony tubercles found on the head of the plaice are absent. A larger species, the Smear Dab or Lemon Dab (Pleuronectes microcephalus), has a more northern range, extending to Iceland, and frequenting the northern coasts of Scotland. The head is small. The lateral line is only slightly curved above the pectoral fin.

DAB'CHICK. See GREBE.

It

DABŒE'CIA, a genus of plants belonging to the order ERICACE.E. There is but one species, the Dabacia polifolia, which is a dwarf bushy evergreen shrub, a native of Connemara, Ireland, the Pyrenees, and the Azores. is a pretty shrub, and well fitted for decorating fronts of shrubberies or for rock-work. The flowers are large, purple, and hang by short stalks at the top of the stem. The filaments are flattened, and are shorter than the linear anthers. The leaves are white, and cottony on the under surface. This plant is the Connemara or St. Dabeoc's Heath.

DAC'CA. A division of Bengal, British India, lying between 21° 48′ and 25° 26′ N. lat., and between 89° 20' and 91° 18′ E. lon. The area is 18,126 square miles, and the population 9,000,000. The district of Dacca is situated in Eastern Bengal, at the junctions of the river systems of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra. It contains an area of 2796 square miles, and a population of 1,900,000. The soil is red with strata of clay and kankar or nodular limestone, and iron ore exists in considerable quantities. There are few rivers, and the surface is overgrown by a picturesque jungle, amid which cultivation is beginning to

spread. These features are intensified in the north-west of the district, beyond Dacca city. In the north-east, towards the Meghna, the land becomes less broken and jungly, and the soil more fertile. South of the Dhaleswari the Country presents the familiar aspect common to the greater part of Lower Bengal. The whole is one uniform level of rich alluvial soil, annually inundated by the overflow of the great rivers.

As elsewhere throughout Bengal, the staple food crop is rice, which is divided into four varieties. Sufficient is not grown to satisfy the local demand. Other crops include millets, pulses, oil-seeds, jute, cotton, indigo, safflower, panleaf; supari-nut, cocoa-nut, and sugar-cane.

The chief means of communication is by water. The rivers are covered with native craft and by steamers at all seasons of the year, and no corner of the district is remote from some navigable channel. The principal road, the only one under the public works department, leads from Dacca city through Tipperah to Chittagong.

The climate of Dacca, during the hot months, is sensibly cooled by the circumstance that the wind has passed over the wide surface of large rivers. The rainy season lasts from April to October. The most disagreeable weather in the year is experienced at the close of this season.

DACCA, the chief town of the above district, and the fifth largest city under the lieutenant-governor of Bengal, is situated on the north bank of the Buriganga river, 8 miles above its confluence with the Dhaleswari. The population is 70,000.

The town extends along the bank of the river for a distance of nearly 4 miles, and inland, towards the north, for about 1 mile. The two principal streets cross each other at right angles. One runs parallel to the river for upwards of 2 miles, from the Lat Bagh Palace to the Dolai Creek. The other leads north from the river to the military cantonments; it is about 1 mile in length, of considerable width, and bordered by regularly built houses. The Chaeek, or market-place, a square of fine dimensions, lies at the extreme west. The remainder of the town is composed of narrow crooked lanes, few of which admit wheeled conveyances. Dacca preserves few traces of its former magnificence as the Mohammedan capital of Bengal during the seventeenth century.

During the eighteenth century Dacca won a new reputation for its manufacture of fine muslins, which became famous in the markets of the West. The weavers, who were mostly Hindus, by means of hereditary devotion to their industry attained a wonderful degree of taste and a great dexterity of manipulation.

DACE (Leuciscus vulgaris) is a fish belonging to the CARP family (Cyprinidae) and to the same genus as the ROACH. The dace is a fresh-water fish, found all over Europe north of the Alps. It is found in many English rivers, but is unknown in Scotland and Ireland. It prefers clear sharp streams and gravelly shoals. It spawns in May and June. It is gregarious and swims in shoals, feeding on worms, &c. The best baits are the red-worm, gentles, caddis, paste, and flies. It affords excellent sport to the angler. The flesh, though considered superior to that of the roach, is not much valued. The dace is about 8 or 9 inches in length, and somewhat resembles the roach in appearance, but has a more elongated body, with a larger mouth. The body has a silvery aspect. The scales are small. DA'CIA, the ancient name of a country north of the Danube, bounded on the E. by the Euxine, and on the W. by the Theiss. The ancient Dacia comprehended the modern Transylvania and Roumania. The country was inhabited by the Daci and the Getæ. The first expedition of the Emperor Trajan was against the Daci, headed by their king, Decebalus; and the war, which lasted nearly five years, ended in their submission to the Roman power. In A.D. 250 Dacia was overrun and conquered by the

Goths, to whom it was afterwards resigned by the Enperor Aurelian.

DACIER, ANDRÉ, was born at Castres in 1071 and studied at Saumur, under Tanneguy Lefèvre, whe daughter Anne he married in 1683. Both husband and wife were eminent as classical scholars. Protestants bith they became Roman Catholics together. They were e ployed with others to comment upon and edit a series of the ancient authors for the Dauphin, which form the cdlection Ad usum Delphini." Madame Dacier edited Callimachus, Florus, Aurelius Vietor, Eutropins, and the history which goes by the name of "Dictys Cretensis," all of which have been repeatedly reprinted with her notes. She published French translations of Plautus. of Tereno, of Aristophanes, of Anacreon, and Sappho. She also translated the Iliad and the Odyssey, with a preface and tes Madame Dacier's pursuits did not make her neglect be duties as a wife and mother, and she was charitable to the poor. She died in 1720, and her husband in 1722.

DACOITS', the name given in India to bands of half savage robbers which infest some portions of the beadaries and unsettled districts of that empire. DACO'TA. See DAKOTA.

DACRYD'IUM is a genus of CONIFERE, nearly allied to the Yew. Dacrydium taxifolium (the Kakaterro of New Zealand) grows to a height of 200 feet. A bereg is manufactured from its branches resembling spruce beir in its antiscorbutic properties. Dacrydium larifolium, a native of the same islands, is quite a low-growing shak Dacrydium cupressinum is a lofty tree, of graceful appearance, with pendulous feathery branches. This genus difes from others of the tribe Taxes in that the female spikes are one to six flowered; the ovule-bearing scale is concave or cup-shaped, open at the inner side, and free from the seed; the anther-cells are two in number, globular, contiguous. There are ten species, natives of the Malay Archipelago and peninsula, Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Tasmania, and South Chili.

DACTYL is the name of a metrical foot consisting of a long and two short syllables, as the Latin word ōmail; or, in English poetry, of an accented syllable followed by two unaccented, as gallery.

DACTYLORHIZA is an affection of "roots," like turnips, which become divided, hence this state is commonly called "fingers and toes." It is not the result of the attacks of insects, as in the case of ANBURY, but is prob ably a mere reversion to the wild state, which can only be avoided by the choice of good seed.

The

DADDY-LONG-LEGS is the common name for some insects belonging to the genus Tipula, which falls under the NEMOCERA, a suborder of DIPTERA. The insect to which the name is usually applied is the Tipula oleracen. When seen in the house the daddy-long-legs seems the clumsiest of insects, its long legs proving a fertile scurce of misery to it. In its native meadows, however, the purpose of its structure is clearly seen, the long slenderjointed legs being especially appropriate for rapid and easy progress through the long blades of grass. female has a sharp-pointed ovipositor. She lays about 300 eggs. The larva-sometimes known as leatherjackets "-are tough grubs without feet, but provided with several conical fleshy appendages at the end of the body. They feed on the roots of grasses, corn, and other cro; s, causing great havoc. The species of the genus Tipula known as crane-flies are very numerous. They have a short fleshy proboscis, long thread-shaped antennæ, and spreading wings with numerous veins. The legs and abdomen are long.

DÆDA'LEA is a genus of FUNGI belonging to the order Polyporei, in which the spore-bearing surface (hymenium) lines the cavity of pores instead of the surfaces of gills, as in the mushroom. In this genus the fully

formed pores have a toothed or torn appearance; and the substance intermediate between the pores (trama) is not different from the substance which bears the spores. Dædalea unicolor is very common on stumps of trees, &c. Dædalea quercina is another common species on oakstumps, rails, &c.

DÆ'DALUS, the name of the mythical artificer to whom the Greeks attributed the origin of the mechanical and plastic arts. Many ancient works in Sicily, South Italy, and Greece were attributed to Dædalus, and the antique wooden statues, gilt and painted, beginnings of the great art of sculpture, bore the name of Dædala, after their supposed inventor. To Dædalus the saw, axe, gimlet, &c., were attributed. He was an Athenian, but being banished went to Crete. Here, while enjoying the friendship of Minos the king, he built the famous labyrinth in which the monster, the MINOTAUR, offspring of the king's daughter Pasiphaë by a bull, was concealed. Dedalus had also found means to gratify the fearful passion of Pasiphae alluded to. On discovery he fled before the wrath of Minos, but could not cross the sea from Crete. He therefore invented and constructed wings for himself and his son Icarus, which were fastened to the shoulders by wax, and flying thus he safely crossed to Greece, and ultimately to Sicily. Icarus flew too near the sun, and the wax inelting, the wings fell off, and he fell into the Icarian Sea (so called from his fate) and was drowned.

DÆMON (daipay, which Plato derives from danuy, knowing or intelligent) was the name given by the Greeks to spirits corresponding somewhat to the mediaval conception of an angel. Like angels, dæmons were both good and bad, and were the spirits to whom the government of mankind was intrusted by the gods. Many passages would lead to a further coincidence with the term angel, namely, that dæmons were probably translated human souls. The dæmon of Socrates, which that great man believed attended him always, and which, though it never advised him to do anything, was constant in its warnings to refrain from improper actions, was probably an unconscious bodying forth of his sensitive conscience. He carried his obedience to this dæmon-or to be accurate, since he never uses the noun, to this dæmonic being (daimonion ti)—to such a pitch as to refrain from preparing a defence to the capital charge of impiety which cost him his life, although he might very well have shown the absurdity of the charge. What he said therefore on that occasion was merely said on the spur of the moment.

DAFFODIL is the name given to species of NARCISSUS which have the cup formed by the corona longer than the tube of the corolla. The Common Daffodil (Narcissus pseudo-narcissus) is a native of Great Britain and Europe, growing in open woods and pastures. The bulbs are purgative and emetic, and the flowers are not only emetic, but are a dangerous poison. The large yellow flowers are great favourites in the early spring. Wordsworth's poem on the "golden daffodils"-beginning, "I wandered lonely as a cloud "-is well known.

DAGGER, a weapon resembling a sword, but considerably smaller, used for fighting at close quarters. A dagger is generally two-edged, and being specially intended for stabbing has a very sharp point. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries it formed the companion weapon to the sword among the knights of Europe, and was worn on the right side in a sheath attached by a cord or chain to the sword-belt. During the middle ages it was customary for all civilians to habitually wear a dagger, but for modern warfare it has been superseded by more deadly weapons, and is now rarely carried in times of peace in European countries. DAGHESTAN', one of the Caucasian governments of Russia, between the Caucasus and the west coast of the Caspian Sea. It has an area of about 11,500 square miles, with a population of about 480,000. As its name implies it

is a country of mountains. It is watered by the tributaries of the Sulak and other streams that find their way to the Caspian. Some of the valleys and upland plains are very fertile, and afford splendid pasturage. Silk, cotton, madder, tobacco, and flax are produced, and some lead, iron, and sulphur are worked, but the chief wealth of the people consists in their cattle. They are a fine warlike race, and were the last of all the tribes to yield to the power of Russia. The chief towns are, Derbend, by which name the province is also called, Tarki, and Rouba. Daghestan belonged to Persia until 1812.

DA'GON (Heb. dag, a fish), the fish-god of the Philistines, worshipped at Gaza, at Ashdod, &c.

"Dagon his name, sea-monster, upward man
And downward fish."

-"Paradise Lost."

See 1 Samuel v. 4, where the human part of the idol is destroyed, "and only the stump of Dagon was left to him." Jonathan Maccabæus destroyed the temple of Dagon at Azotus or Ashdod B.C. 148 (1 Maccabees x. 84). See also Judges xvi. 23, where Dagon is connected with the story of Samson.

DAHL IA, a small genus of composite flowers (ComPOSITE), of which four or five species are known, all natives of Mexico and Central America. Of these two, Dahlia coccinea and Dahlia Cervantesii, do not sport into varieties, and being much less beautiful than Dahlia variabilis, are not so much seen in gardens. Dahlia variabilis itself is, in its wild state, a bushy herbaceous plant, 7 or 8 feet high, with single purple or lilac flowers, and is by no means remarkable for its beauty. In cultivation, however, it is so readily improved in size and form, and sports into such endless varieties in stature, leaves, and flowers, that it has become extensively cultivated. Its innumerable sorts are the glory of our gardens in the autumn, and are quite unrivalled at that season of the year; they are, however, destroyed by the earliest frosts. The tubers are eaten in Mexico, but the taste is nauseous to Europeans. A beautiful carmine dye has been extracted from the corolla. The genus is distinguished by the double involucre, of which the inner is composed of a single leaf divided into eight segments; by the chaffy receptacle, and by the absence of pappus. The name is derived from a pupil of Linnæus, Dr. Dahl.

DAHO MEY, a kingdom of Western Africa, adjoining Ashantee, and formerly understood to include the country between the Volta, in lon. 0° 56" E. on the west, and Badagary, in lon. 2° 53" E. on the east, and to extend northwards to the Kong Mountains, in about 8° N. lat. At this. estimate, therefore, it has an area of about 15,000 square miles. The actual coast-line, however, extends only from Mount Pulloy, a few miles to the west of Whydah, to Godome, about 10 miles east of that port. The boundaries are, in fact, very vague, and the jurisdiction of the king is but nominal anywhere except in the district immediately surrounding the capital, so that the extent of country over which he possesses actual authority may be roughly estimated at 4000 square miles. Abomey, in 7° 59' N. lat. and about 3° 20' E. lon., is the capital, and Kana and Whydah are the next towns of importance, the latter being the seaport of the country. The population of Dahomey, according to the most recent estimates, is about 180,000, of whom nearly four-fifths are women and children.

The kingdom is situated in a vast plain, rising by a very gentle ascent from the sea. No river worth notice falls into the sea between the Volta and the Niger. The soil is a rich reddish clay, on which scarcely a stone is to be found of the size of a walnut. All who have visited the coast describe it as a scene of matchless beauty and luxuriance. Its products comprise maize and other farinaceous crops; yams, potatoes, pine-apples, melons, oranges, limes, guavas, and other tropical fruits; indigo, cotton, sugar, tobacco, palm-oil, spices, &c. Much of the surface is

covered with forests of palm trees, while of maize, with agriculture of the most barbarous kind, two crops are gathered every year, owing to the wonderful richness of the soil. Cotton is not cultivated at all, the supply being obtained from the wild growth. The climate is in general healthy, and near the coast not too hot, the average temperature being 80° Fahr.

The country abounds with leopards, hyænas, buffaloes, deer, sheep, goats, hogs, and several varieties of poultry. It is infested by boa-constrictors and other serpents, many of which are held to be sacred.

The people are sunk in the grossest superstition, and are more particularly known to Europeans in connection with the horrible "customs" of human slaughter which still prevail, although in the neighbouring kingdom of Ashantee these have been suppressed, to some extent, under the strong British influence which has grown up there since Sir Garnet Wolseley's expedition to Coomassie in 1874. Atrocious, however, as the "customs are, they have been much exaggerated in former years. They are in reality certain state ceremonies, occupying several months in each year, the performance of which is said to have become imperative through long usage. The "grand customs are only performed after the death of a sovereign, while the "annual customs" of course take place yearly. One of the chief features at the annual customs is the payment of taxes to the king by every person in the land. It is at these times that causes are heard and settled, punishments inflicted, and rewards conferred. The division of the prize-money, the produce of the sales of the captives and animals taken in the wars of the past year, is also effected, appointments made in the army, the Amazonian regiments recruited, new laws passed, old ones repealed, and all petitions heard.

The more sanguinary practices on the same occasions are founded upon a religious basis, which not only strengthens but perpetuates the custom. The people own no future state of rewards and punishments, but believe that in the next life the king will be a king and the slave a slave for ever. The Dahomian sovereign, on his death, must enter on his future kingdom with royal state, accompanied with a ghostly court of wives, eunuchs, singers, drummers, and soldiers. To supply him with these is the object of the "grand customs," when the victims may amount to about 600. In former times as many as 4000 have been sacrificed on such occasions, but of late years the numbers have been considerably reduced. The "annual customs are but a continuance of the same idea. To maintain the dignity of the ghostly monarch he must be regularly supplied with slaves, and he must be kept constantly informed by messengers of all important events transpiring in his late kingdom. To this end numbers of war prisoners and criminals are at the various customs first charged with messages and then despatched-in a double sense. The wholesale slaughter of human beings is regarded by the people as a mark of the reigning king's filial piety; and they believe, moreover, that in proportion as the king thus reverences his departed parent, so will the latter bestow upon his successor the counsel absolutely necessary for the proper government of the country. The mode of execution is by decapitation, and the scenes are sometimes cruel and revolting beyond description. The number of annual victims amounts to about 200. In addition to these numbers of fowls, ducks, sheep, and even alligators are killed, all of whom are supposed to perform some essential office for the departed; and at one stage of the customs the human and animal victims alike are slaughtered over a large trough sunk in the ground, which is presently filled with blood, and upon it a small silver canoe is floated. This is doubtless what has given rise to the story of the king embarking upon the gory sea. There are various other

personages in the shadowy world to whom " messengers are sent" during the customs, the whole being a singular mixture of superstition and diabolical cruelty. The bodies of the victims are for the most part thrown into the common ditch outside the town, or hung for a time trunk downwards from gallows erected in certain places, to act as charms. The vultures and hyænas in attendance complete the horrors of the scene.

In the face of such customs it seems mere irony to say that nowhere is human life more jealously guarded than in Dahomey. In some respects, however, such is the case. The king is the only judge who can pass sentence of death upon any subject, and a coroner's inquest is held on the occasion of every ordinary death, in order to ascertain that the king's sole prerogative of taking life has not been encroached upon by any act of violence.

The corps of women known as Amazons is also a peculiar institution of Dahomey. Female warriors were known in the country so far back as 1728, but it was under Gézu, the late king, that they were organized and attained their greatest prestige. All daughters of a certain age have to be presented at court on an appointed day, and the king selects from them the recruits for his Amazonian corps. Celibacy is enforced, except in certain defined cases, and any failure of virtue is punishable with death. From this regiment many of the king's wives and concubines are selected, the first person who made the present ruler a father having been one of his colonels.

The Amazons affect male attire, especially when in uniform. When young they are compelled to dance and to take violent exercise, which renders them somewhat lean, but as they advance in years they grow in weight. They are not divided into regiments, but into three distinct bodies, as in the male army. These three corps consist of five divisions, under their several officers, namely1. The Azburga, or blunderbuss women, who may be considered the grenadiers. They are the biggest and strongest of the force, and each is accompanied by an attendant carrying ammunition. 2. The elephant hunters, who are held to be the bravest of the women. 3. The Nyekplohento, or women armed with the huge razor. 4. The infantry, or ling women, forming the staple of the forces, and from whom the élite is drawn. Personally they are clean and smart, without much muscle; they are hard dancers and indefatigable singers. 5. The Gokerste, or archeresses, who are armed with a peculiar bow, a quiver full of light cane shafts, and a small knife lashed with a lanyard to the wrist. Their weapon has sunk in public esteem, and they are now never seen on parade, being only used in the field as scouts and porters, and to carry the wounded to the rear. The total number of fighting women is about 2000.

The ravages of disease, losses in wars, and enforced celibacy of the flower of Dahomian women are active causes at work in reducing the population of a power which under more civilizing influences might have been one of the most powerful in Africa. The slave trade formerly carried on has of late years been stopped by British influence.

The kingdom of Dahomey was founded in 1622 by Daho, son of the last king of Alladah. Aho reigned from 1650 to 1679, Akabah from 1680 to 1708, Agajah from 1708 to 1728, Tegbwesun from 1729 to 1775, Mpengula from 1775 to 1789, Agongolu from 1789 to 1817, Gézu from 1818 to 1858, when the present king, Gehele, ascended the throne. The country was visited by Captain Burton in 1863, and by several Europeans since. Missionaries have also resided in the country, but without much apparent result. In consequence of some illegal proceedings of one of the king's agents at Whydah in 1876, a fine was levied upon the king, and the coast was blockaded in default of payment.