673 



DAILLY. 



DALMATIA. 



671 



we are men. By fire we will change Abeahkeutah." This was under- 

 taken in 1851, and was unsuccessful ; the Dahoman army was defeated, 

 and a great number of the Amazons were killed. [ABEAHKEUTAH.] 

 Since that event the Dahoman power appears to be broken, and they 

 have remained quiet. 



The region in which the kingdom of Dahomy is situated is 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 Brass River, or 

 Niger. The soil IB a rich reddish clay, on which scarcely a stone is 

 to be found of the bigness of a walnut. All who have visited the 

 coast, especially before the devastations of the Dahomans, describe it 

 as a scene of matchless beauty and luxuriance. Its vegetable pro- 

 ductions comprise maize and other farinaceous crops ; yams, potatoes, 

 pine-apples, melons, oranges, limes, guavas, and other tropical fruits ; 

 a singular fruit said to possess the property of communicating a sweet 

 taste to the strongest acids and bitters ; indigo, cotton, sugar, tobacco, 

 Shea butter, palm-oil, spices, &c. Lieutenant Forbes says the Daho- 

 mans have considerable agricultural knowledge, but are very indolent. 

 The land though rich is highly manured, and in the portions they 

 cultivate they rival the Chinese, the men, unlike most Africans, 

 labouring in the fields, the women only bringing water. They grow 

 corn and beans intermixed, and in the palm-plantations are grown 

 corn, yams, and ground-nuts. Their chief food is yams and cassada, 

 with messes of meat and vegetables mixed with palm-oil and pepper, 

 and corn-cake. Their houses are of clay or palm-branches thatched 

 with grass. The country abounds with lions, tigers, leopards, hysenas, 

 elephants, the natakoo or African wolf, monkeys, buffaloes, deer, 

 sheep, goats, hogs, both wild and tame, and several varieties of 

 poultry. It is also infested by boa snakes of immense size, and 

 other kinds of serpents; and there are alligators and hippopotami. 

 White ants and mosquitoes are an abundant source of annoyance. 

 Granite, sandstone, chalk, and iron are found in the country. 

 The government of Dahomy is as absolute a despotism as has any- 

 where existed, and authority is maintained by the shedding of blood 

 at a rate which has been approached nowhere but in Africa. The 

 customs or festivities held at the court of the monarch on occasion of 

 the annual receipt of duties or tribute, arc of the same ferociously 

 sanguinary character with those that take place at Ashantee. The 

 most important are held in March and June. The regular season 

 appears to be in April or May, but instances are mentioned of their 

 lasting for three months, and in these cases they seem to begin earlier 

 in the year. The chief ornament of the royal residence is human 

 skulls, of which, when a number was wanted to pave a court or 

 decorate a ceiling, it was not an unusual process to have some scores 

 of persons massacred for the purpose. The principal trade formerly 

 carried on with Dahomy and the subject states on the coast was in 

 slaves ; and since the abandonment of that trade on the part of the 

 principal European powers which used to resort to this part of Africa, 

 the commercial intercourse which these kingdoms hold with other 

 parts of the world has become quite insignificant. The only money 

 of the Dahomans consists of cowry-shells, of which a thousand are 

 stated to represent half-a-crown English. Their language is the same 

 with that of the people of Why d ah and the other nations of the coast. 



(Lieutenant Forbes, K.N., Dahomy and the Dahomam ; and the 

 works named in the article.) 



DAILLY. [AYRSHIRE.] 



DAIMIEL. [CASTILLA-LA-NUEVA.] 



DALE. [PEMBROKESHIRE.] 



DALECARLIA, properly DALARNE (the valley country), a 

 former province of Sweden, which now constitutes the Falun Liin, 

 extends from 60 55' to 62 12' N. lat., 12 30' to 16 40' E. long. 

 Ita surface is 12,210 square miles, and its population in 1S45 was 

 145,333. It borders N. on Heriedalen, E. on Gestrikland, S. on 

 Westmanland, Nerike, and Vermland, and W. on Norway. It con- 

 lists chiefly of the river-basins of the Wiister-Dal and Oster-Dal, 

 which unite a few miles west of Falun to form the Dal. The Dal or 

 Dai-Elf runs first south-east and then north-east to the Gulf of 

 Bothnia. [SWEDEN.] About six or seven miles from its mouth it 

 forms the cataract of Elfcarleby, the rival of the famous cataract of 

 Schaffhausen in height and beauty. The Lake Siljan or Siljar, which 

 is traversed by the Oster-Dal above its junction with the Wiister-Dal, 

 is 28 miles long and 15 miles broad, where widest. It contains 

 several fine islands. The Lake Runn, further east on the left bank 

 of the Dal-Klf, is 10 miles long and 5 miles wide. 



The mountain ridge which divides the sources of the two rivers 

 Dai-Elf from Lake Famund in Norway, rises to between 3000 and 

 4000 feet above the sea. It is a southern onset of the Kolen range, 

 and from it there branch off three ridges of considerable elevation. 

 These ranges subside into hills before they reach the meridian of the 

 Lake of Siljar. The country about this lake presents a pleasant 

 intermixture of hills, valleys, and plains, and may be compared to 

 the lo*rer parts of Switzerland for scenery. But the whole country 

 still preserves a considerable elevation, the surface of Lake Siljar 

 being about 560 feet above the sea. The eastern districts are also 

 uneven, but the heights are rather round-backed hills than moun- 

 tains, and are usually covered with wood. Numerous lakes of 

 ;it iz lie between them. It is only on the borders of 

 Qestrikland that pl.iins of any extent occur. 

 l. DIV. VOL. II. 



The winter in this province is long and severe, the summer short 

 and hot. Wheat does not succeed, but rye and barley and potatoes 

 are raised. The produce however is insufficient for the demands of 

 the population, and the tender bark of pines is mixed with the bread, 

 and also used as fodder for cattle and hogs. The usual domestic 

 animals are reared, but hogs are rather scarce. Game is abundant. 

 Wolves and bears frequent the numerous and extensive forests. 

 Fish abounds in all the lakes, except those near Falun. The forests 

 consist of birch, ash, aspen, pines, and fir, but they seldom grow up 

 to timber-trees. 



Near Falun are found copper, silver, gold, and brimstone. The 

 copper-mines west of Falun have been worked for more than 600 

 years ; they formerly yielded 3000 tons of copper annually. The ore 

 is smelted at large works in Falun. The fumes from the metal 

 destroy all vegetation in the vicinity of the town, although these are 

 said not to be injurious to animal life, and are supposed to have 

 protected the town from the ravages of cholera. Porphyry, quarried 

 on the Oester Dai-Elf, is made into vases, candlesticks, &c. 



Except hr the neighbourhood of Falun, to which place they are 

 attracted by the mines, the population is dispersed over the country 

 in villages, some of which are of considerable size. The Dalecarlians 

 are distinguished by their stature, courage, spirit of independence, 

 and frankness of character. The part which they took under 

 Gustavus Vasa (who worked in the copper-mines of Falun) in liber- 

 ating their country from the tyranny of Christian II. is always fresh 

 in their memory, and makes them feel proud of their name. Many 

 of them emigrate to Stockholm during the summer, and manufacture 

 fancy basketwork, clocks, watches, &c. 



Falun is the chief town. [FALUN ; SWEDEN.] 



DALGETY. [FIFESHIKE.] 



DALKEITH, Edinburghshire, Scotland, a market-town and burgh 

 of barony in the parish of Dalkeith, 6 miles S.E. from Edinburgh by 

 road, and 8 miles by the Edinburgh and Hawick railway. The popu- 

 lation of the town was 5086 in 1851. The affairs of the burgh are 

 administered by 15 trustees. The town stands on an elevated piece 

 of ground, between the rivers North Esk and South Esk, and consists 

 of one principal thoroughfare, and several small streets. The town is 

 clean and generally well built ; it is lighted with gas, and well sup- 

 plied with water. Felt and beaver hats, straw hats, arid woollen 

 stuffs are manufactured, and there are corn-mills, a brewery, and a 

 tan-work. The corn market held here is one of the most important 

 in Scotland. The parish church is an old gothic building in the 

 principal street. Attached to it is an ancient chapel containing the 

 recumbent statues of an Earl of Morton and his lady. Adjoining this 

 choir is the mortuary chapel of the Buccleuch family. A splendid 

 new church, in the early English style of architecture, was built in 

 1840 by the Duke of Buccleuch. It is cruciform, and has a steeple 

 167 feet high. An elegant episcopal chapel is situated within the 

 grounds of Dalkeith palace. The Free Church, United Presbyterians, 

 and Independents, have places of worship. In the town are two 

 libraries and a savings bank. Dalkeith palace, the seat of the Duke 

 of Buccleuch, is an extensive structure, surrounded by a splendid 

 park and grounds. The mansion contains many fine paintings. The 

 North Esk and South Esk unite their waters in the park, a little way 

 beyond the palace, which is situated on an elevated peninsula fornied 

 by the two streams. The regality of Dalkeith belonged to the 

 Grahams in the reign of David II. It afterwards passed into the 

 hands of the Earls of Morton, and about two centuries ago was 

 purchased by an ancestor of the Buccleuch family. Charles Edward 

 spent two nights at Dalkeith after the battle of Preston Pans, and the 

 palace has been visited by George IV. and Queen Victoria. 



DALMATIA, the Kingdom of, the most southern possession of the 

 crown of Austria, consists of a narrow maritime tract and numerous 

 islands, forming part of the eastern boundary of the Adriatic, and 

 lying between 42 and 45" N. lat., 14 and 19 E. long. It is 

 bounded N. by Croatia, E. by the Turkish sandshak of Iskenderiu, 

 S. and W. by the Adriatic. The circle of Ragusa was disjoined from 

 the rest of Dalmatia by two tongues of land, the Klek on the west, 

 and the Suttorina on the east, which were held by Turkey ; but 

 these, after having long been a matter of dispute between Turkey 

 and Austria, were ceded to the latter power iu 1853, and the whole 

 territory now belongs to Austria. The area, inclusive of the islands, 

 is about COOO square miles. The population in 1850 was 393,715, 

 exclusive of course of the inhabitants of the two narrow tongues of 

 land then held by Turkey. 



Surface. Dalmatia is divided into four circles, Zara and Spalato, 

 which constitute Old Dalmatia, and Ragusa (the territory of the 

 former republic of that name) and Cattaro, which form New 

 Dalmatia. The whole surface of Dalmatia is a series of mountain 

 ranges, some of which extend even into the Adriatic, and form islands 

 with their loftier summits. With the exception of the Vellubich 

 (5439 feet high) on the Hungarian border, which belongs to the 

 Julian Alps, all these ranges are continuations of the Dinaric Alps. 

 The loftiest summits among them are tho Dinara, which is 5669 feet 

 high, and gives its name to the main chain, the Svilivya, east of Dernis, 

 4750 feet high, Mount Mosor, 4210 feet high, Mount Marian, on the 

 peninsula next Spalato, and the Biokovo, near Macarsca, which is 

 5520 feet high. To the south of these lio the ranges of Kagusa and 



2 X 



