685 



DABABOHERD. 



DARLINGTON. 



8Sfi 



and finished in 1503 ; the roof, which is 98 feet above the pavement, 

 rests on 28 brick columns, and its exterior is ornamented with 10 

 email towers ; it has a lofty steeple, and round the interior are 19 

 altars and 50 chapels, chiefly founded by citizens of Danzig as burial 

 places for their families. A Dutch painting of the Last Judgment, 

 by John Van Eyck, is suspended against one of the columns. Among 

 the other remarkable buildings are the exchange, called Arthushof, a 

 large gothic structure erected in 1379 ; the senate house built about 

 1311; the Griine Thor, now converted into a museum; and the 

 theatre. There are also two Hennonite places of worship, two 

 synagogues, and several convents in the town. Danzig has a royal 

 school of navigation ; a gymnasium with seven professors and a 

 library of 30,000 volumes ; and a great number of endowed schools. 

 It has a board of trade and navigation, a tribunal of commerce, a 

 public library, an orphan asylum, a foundling hospital, four hospitals, 

 and an observatory. There are yards and slips for shipbuilding ; 

 sugar refineries, spirit distilleries, breweries, copper-works, and manu- 

 factories of silks, woollens, linen, leather, hats and gloves, soap 

 and starch, earthenware, arms, steelware, tobacco, &o. Independently 

 of these branches of industry, the town has a very considerable 

 trade with the adjacent provinces and foreign parts, and exports 

 large quantities of corn, timber, pot and pearl ashes, quills, Danzig 

 brandy, black or spruce beer, zinc, wool, flax-seed, oil-cake, bones, 

 flax and hemp, &c. 



The imports are composed of wine, brandy, rum, raw cotton, 

 coffee, herrings, iron and steel-wares, indigo, lime and plaster of Paris, 

 sugar, salt, tobacco, piece goods, coal. In 1849 the arrivals in the 

 port numbered 781, the departures 809. Of the former more than 

 half were in ballast or limestone ; of the departures 397 were 

 freighted with corn, and 303 with timber. In 1850 Danzig exported 

 400,000 quarters of wheat, 62,400 quarters of rye, above 40,000 

 quarters of barley, 2000 quarters of oats, and 27,700 quarters 

 of peaa. 



Danzig is 260 miles iu a straight line N.E. from Berlin ; but the 

 distance by railway through Stettin is 844 miles. 



DARABGH ERD (Darab), a town in Persia, in the province of Farsis- 

 tan, about 26 N. lat,, 54 50' E. long. It was formerly a town of great 

 extent, but like many other towns in Persia it has fallen from its 

 former splendour. Although a great part of it is in ruins it still 

 contains between 15,000 and 20,000 inhabitants. It stands on the 

 banks of a small river in an extensive plain, which is intersected with 

 villages and cultivated lands. The town is surrounded with groves 

 of dates, oranges, and lemona. The tobacco cultivated in its neigh- 

 bourhood is esteemed for its mildness, and is largely exported. There 

 are some antiquities in its neighbourhood, including the ruins of an 

 aqueduct, some sculptured rocks, and a caravanserai, hollowed in the 

 very heart of n mountain. 



DARDANELLES are fortifications erected on both sides of the 

 Hellespont, which from them takes also the name of the Strait of the 

 Dardanelles. This strait, which divides Europe from Asia and unites 

 the Sea of Marmara to the Archipelago, extends in a south-west direc- 

 tion between 40 and 40 W N. lat., 28 and 27 E. long. Its length 

 is upwards of 50 miles, but its width varies. Near the Sea of Marmara 

 it is about 10 miles across, but it narrows by degrees, until opposite 

 the town of Gallipoli it is only about 2 miles wide. Towards the 

 southern extremity it narrows still more, at some places even to one 

 mile and less. A strong current runs always through it from the Sea 

 of Marmara to the Archipelago, and the Turks have erected fortifica- 

 tions at these narrow places for the purpose of rendering it impossible 

 to attack their capital from the side of the Mediterranean Sea. 



The fortifications originally consisted of four castles, two in Europe 

 and two in Asia. Two called the New Castles are situated near the 

 entrance of the strait from the Archipelago, where it is more than 

 two miles across. The castle in Europe is called Kilid Bahr, and that 

 in Asia, Knm Kalesi. About 18 miles farther to the north-east are 

 the Old Castles; that in Europe, the ancient Sestos, is called Sed 

 Bahr ; that in Asia, the ancient Abydos, Khanuk Kalesi. The name 

 of- Dardanelles is now especially applied to some fortifications erected 

 in modern times between the castles, but considerably nearer to the 

 old than to the new castles. The number of guns mounted in all 

 these fortifications and some others of less importance is 689, besides 

 8 mortars. Among them are several immense guns, from which they 

 discharge stone-shot. The quantity of powder which these large 

 guns require is enormous : the largest is charged with 8301bs. 



DAR-FUR, a country In Africa, between Bornou and Abyssinia, 

 lying between 11* and 16 N. lat., 26 and 30 E. long. Its extent 

 and boundaries are very imperfectly known. 



It may be considered as a large oasis placed in the south-eastern 

 corner of the Sahara, and divided by deserts of considerable breadth 

 from Dar-Zuleh or Wftdai on the west, and from Kordofan on the 

 east The southern part of the country is hilly, and contains valleys 

 with btooks and rivulets which have water all the year round. But 

 the northern part is a level country, partly covered with sand, and in 

 other places by rock's : water is obtained only from wells. During 

 the rainy season It exhibits a fine vegetation, but during seven or 

 eight months in the year the whole district is dried up, all the plants 

 fade away, and even the trees lose their foliage. 



The periodical rains commence in the middle of June and continue to 



the middle of September ; they are generally very heavy, and mostly 

 accompanied by lightning. The changes of the wind are not 

 periodical but instantaneous. The greatest heat prevails with a 

 southerly wind, and the greatest quantity of rain falls with a south- 

 east wind. When the breeze is from the north or north-west it is 

 most refreshing, but it does not generally continue long in that 

 quarter. When southerly winds blow the hot air is filled with 

 thick dust. 



As soon as the rains begin the agricultural operations commence. 

 The grains raised are wheat, doku, kassob, and sesamum. They plant 

 also beans, kidney-beans, lentils, and some leguminous vegetables 

 peculiar to that part of Africa. Water-melons, together with some 

 other kinds, abound during the wet season, and also before if they are 

 irrigated. Among the fruit-trees are tamarinds and dates. Browne 

 saya that tobacco is indigenous in Dar-Fur. 



Neither horses nor sheep are numerous. The flesh of the sheep Is 

 indifferent, and the wool resembles hair : they have not a large tail, 

 like other sheep in this part of Africa. Goats are more numerous. 

 Asses are of small size. Cattle form ona of the chief branches 

 of wealth, and they are paid as tribute to the sovereign. Camels are 

 very numerous, and of all colours and sizes ; their flesh is used for 

 food. 



The ferocious and wild animals) are principally the lion, the leopard, 

 the hyaena, the wolf, the jackal, the elephant, the rhinoceros, the 

 giraffe, the hippopotamus, crocodile, and buffalo. Antelopes, ostriches, 

 and civet-cats are also common. Iron and copper are found in the 

 southern districts ; besides alabaster, various kinds of marble and 

 common salt occur here. Nitre abounds, but is not used. 



The population of Dar-Fur, which is estimated at from 150,000 

 to 200,000, consists mostly of the descendants of emigrants from 

 Ddngola, Sennaar, and Kordofan. Among them are also some 

 families from Egypt, Tunis, and Tripoli. They use the language of 

 Barabra, though they also speak Arabic. Arabs are also numefous in 

 some parts. 



Collie, Kobbe, or Qurbi, the capital, from whence the caravans or 

 ' kafilas ' depart for Egypt, is two miles in length, extending from 

 south to north, but very narrow, and the houses, each of which 

 occupies in its inclosure a large portion of ground, are separated from 

 one another by a considerable space. The town is full of trees of 

 every kind, and contains about 6000 inhabitants, all of them mer- 

 chants. Other places are Cubcabla, or Jfubcabta, in the western 

 district, the depot of all the merchandise destined for Soodan and 

 the general resort of the merchants trading to Egypt. 



Dar-Fur carries on some trade with Syout, in Upper Egypt. The 

 kafilas travel only once in fifteen months, and pass by way of the 

 great wady El-Khargeh ; they consist of about 1100 camels carrying 

 slaves, ivory, horns of the rhinoceros, teeth of the hippopotamus, 

 ostrich feathers, gum, hides, drugs, copper, pimento, tamarinds, and 

 leather sacks for water ; also parroquets, monkeys, and guinea-hens. 

 The caravans of Dar-Fur carry from Egypt silk manufactures, cotton 

 cloths (striped, blue, and white), glass, glass wares, imitation 

 corals, coral beads for bracelets, gold lace, Indian merchandise, 

 spices, coffee, a little sugar, gum, benzoin, alum, tartar, oil of vitriol, 

 verdigris, sulphur, nails, metals, corn, carobs, and fruit. The 

 inhabitants are Mohammedans, and are governed by a despotic 

 sovereign. 



(Browne, Travels in Africa.) 



DARIEN. [PANAMA.] 



DARLING RIVER. [NEW SOOTH WALES.] 



DARLINGTON, Durham, a municipal borough, market-town, and 

 the seat of a Poor-Law Union, in the parish and ward of Darlington, 

 is situated in a rich fertile country on the eastern slope of a hill on 

 the right bank of the river Skerne, in 54 31' N. lat., 1 32' W. long.; 

 distant 18 miles S. by E. from Durham, 241 miles N.N.W. from 

 London by road, and 235 miles by the Great Northern railway. The 

 population in 1851 was 11,228. For sanitary purposes the township 

 is under the management of a Local Board of Health. There are 

 three livings, which are perpetual curacies in the archdeaconry and 

 diocese of Durham. Darlington Poor-Law Union contains 41 parishes 

 and townships, with an area of 60,759 acres, and a population in 1851 

 of 21,660. 



The town consists of a square market-place, of which the church 

 forms the eastern side, and of several streets, or as they are designated 

 gates, which branch from it. There is a bridge of three arches over 

 the Skerne. The parish church, dedicated to St. Cuthbert, is a cruci- 

 form building, and has a central tower surmounted by a light spire. 

 The general character of the architecture is early English. In the 

 chancel are three stone stalls of a date considerably later than the 

 walls of the chancel. The Independents, Baptists, Wesleyan, Primi- 

 tive, and Association Methodists, Quakers, and Roman Catholics have 

 places of worship. The Grammar school, founded by Queen Elizabeth 

 in 1567, has an income from endowment of 2200. a year, and had 78 

 scholars in 1852. There are also National, British, and Infant schools, 

 and a Blue-Coat school ; a mechanics institution, a savings bank, and 

 several almshouses. A county court is held in the town. 



The trade of Darlington is considerable : for a long period the 

 principal manufactures were of camlets and other woollens: about 

 the close of last century moreens and similar stuffs were made. 



