711 



DIEST. 



niNAOEPORE. 



In the 9th century the Kite of Dieppe was occupied only by a few 

 fishermen's huts; in the llth century it had increased to a small 

 town under the name of Bertheville. Henry II. of England erected 

 in 1 1 SS a castle at Dieppe, which wai demolished by hit ion Richard I. 

 In the 16th century the fisheries, and especially the herring fishery, 

 furnished iU inhabitants with their chief occupation and wealth ; 

 their remit went as far north a* Schonen in Sweden to take the fish, 

 which after curing they exported to the Mediterranean in their own 

 ressels, called ' dniggera,' because they brought back from the Levant 

 pices and drugs. In the middle of tho 10th century the Dieppois 

 undertook the expedition in which Canada was discovered, and in 

 1637 they formed the first French settlements on the banks of the 

 Senegal In 1694 the town was bombarded by the English, and with 

 the exception of the ancient church nearly destroyed. After that 

 event the town was regularly built 



DIEST. [BRABANT, SOUTH.] 



DIEtT-LE-FIT. [DBOME.] 



DIEUZE. [MECRTHt] 



D1OXE, the ancient lHnia, capital of the department of Basses- 

 Alpes, in France, the seat of tribunals of first instance and of 

 commerce, of an agricultural society, communal college, and diocesan 

 seminary, is situated at the foot of the Alps and at the junction of 

 several brooks with the river or torrent BMonne, a feeder of the 

 Durance, about 60 miles N.E. from Marseille and the same distance 

 E. by N. from Avignon; and has 4119 inhabitants, including the 

 commune. The town stands on a little hill surmounted by a rock on 

 which stands the cathedral and the prison. The cathedral ban an iron 

 dome and is a very conspicuous object ; the prison is girt with strong 

 walls. The streets are narrow, crooked, and dirty ; and the houses 

 are generally ill-built. The principal structures are tho residence 

 of the prefect of the department, the bishop's palace, the court- 

 house, the college, the seminary, and the barracks. At the foot 

 of the hill there is a well-built suburb named Gassardi, which is 

 planted with fine plane-trees, and adorned with waterworks and a 

 handsome fountain. There ore remains of old buildings of the age 

 of Charlemsfrne near the town ; among others the ruins of on old 

 cathedral. The town has no manufactures of any importance ; but 

 there is some trade in dried fruits and preserves, clover and hemp 

 eeds, honey, wax, wool, hemp, goatskins, &c. Digne has been always 

 famous for its hot springs and baths, which are about a mile from the 

 town, and are frequented from May to September. 



Of Dinia, which was (according to Pliny, iii. 4,) the capital of two 

 Inalpine tribes, the Bodiontici and the Avantici, there are no remains. 

 It was entirely destroyed in the invasion of the barbarians. The city 

 early embraced Christianity, and has given title toabisliopsince A.D. 340. 

 On ita destruction by the barbarians the inhabitant* fled to a neighbour- 

 ing height where they laid the foundation of the present town. Digne 

 was frequently sacked during the religious wars of the 1 6th century. 

 It had a population of 10,000 in 1629, in which year a plague reduced 

 the number to 1 500. The diocese of Digne comprises the depart- 

 ment of Basses- Alpes ; the bishop is a suffragan of the archbishop 

 of Aix. 



DIQOIN. [SAosi-KT-LorBR.] 



DIJON, capital formerly of the duchy of Bourgogne, now of the 

 department of Cote-d'Or in France, is situated on the right bank of 

 the Ouche, a tributary of the Sadne, at the distance of 162 miles in a 

 direct line, 195 miles by railway S.E. from Paris, in 47 19' 19" N. lat, 

 5* 2' 16" E. long., and has 28,998 inhabitants including the commune. 



Dijon existed, during the Koman dominion, under the name of 

 Dibio or Divio. An ancient legend, attested by Gregory of Tours, 

 rvlates that the emperor Aurelian made of Dibio a considerable 

 fortress. From the dominion of the Romans Dijon passed, in tho 

 5th century, under that of the Burgundians, and subsequently of the 

 Franks. Under the Carlovingian princes, Dijon was a lordship of the 

 bishops of Langres, who often resided here. In tho 9th century it was 

 under count* of iU own, who held it of the bishops as suzerains. In 

 the llth century tho lordship of Diion was united to the duchy of 

 lioiirKogne. In the 12th century the dukes caused the city to be 

 rebuilt after it had been burned down, and subsequently bestowed 

 upon it a municipal constitution. In the 14th century new walls were 

 erected, inclosing the Koman town and the greater part of the suburbs. 

 Under the dukes of Bourgogne, of the first race. Dijon was erected 

 into a risconnty, but this came to an end A.D. 1276, and the rights of 

 the riscounU were subsequently bestowed on tho municipality and 

 cituens. The dukes of Bourgogne, both of the first and second races, 

 usually resided here, and when Louis XI. of France took possession 

 of Bourgogne, and established the provincial parliament, he fixed its 

 sittings in this town. 



Dijon U situated in a plain on the eastern side of tho Cote-d'Or 

 hills. It is surrounded by walls and by ramparts which are planted 

 with fine trees. The town is entered by five gates ; it is traversed 

 from north to south by the Suzon, which flows in a channel formed 

 under the street*, and joins the Ouche close to the ramparts. The 

 streets are well-built, clean, and cheerful The houses, which are of 

 freestone, are only of one or two stories. Of tli- public buildings 

 the most imposing U the cathedral, which is dedicated to St Bonignc, 

 and dates from 1291. The structure is a fine specimen of the gothic 

 lyle. The interior Is 238 feet long, 95 feet wide, and 92 feet high. 



The west front presents the usual triple portals with rich rose 

 window and niches over tho central door, flanked by two handsome 

 towers ; and at the intersection of the nave and transept springs up 

 a light and graceful spire 330 feet high. In this church the dukes of 

 Bourgogne were inaugurated ; it contains some handsome monuments. 

 The church of Notre Dame, which was erected in the interval 1232* 

 1334, is also a fine gothic edifice, remarkable for the elegant gallery 

 which runs round the nave, transepts, and choir. The apse end 

 behind the high altar is adorned wiih a finely sculptured group 

 representing the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin. The intersection of 

 the nave and transepts is surmounted by a lofty tower, which date* 

 from the beginning of the 16th century. The principal square, called 

 Place-d' Anncs, is in the form of a horse-shoe and fronts the palace of 

 the dukes of Bourgogne, in which also the parliament of Bourgogne 

 held its sessions. The palace is surmounted by a lofty tower, now 

 used as an observatory, and contains collections of paintings, sculptures, 

 antiquities, and natural history, and also a library of 40,000 volumes. 

 Among the other note-worthy public structures are the church of 

 St-Michel, which dates from the beginning of the 16th century, with 

 the exception of the two towers and the dome which were completed 

 in 1667 ; the church of the Chartreuse, in which some of the dukes 

 of Bourgogne are buried ; the court-house ; the theatre, which is 

 built after the model of that of Bordeaux ; the residence of the 

 prefect of the department ; the town-house ; the general hospital 

 and the orphan asylum of Sainte-Aune. 



The manufactures of Dijon are woollen cloth, hosiery, blanket*, 

 wolleu and cotton yarn, leather, vinegar, mustard, and starch ; there 

 ore also brandy distilleries, salt refineries, and breweries. A large trade 

 is carried on in corti, flour, the excellent wino of the Cote-d'Or, wool, 

 hemp, and wax candles. Dijon is well situated for trade at the 

 junction of several roads; the Canal de Bourgogne passes along the 

 valley of the Ouche, close to the town, which has communication also 

 by railway with Paris and Lyon. [CdlE-D'OB.] A chamber of 

 commerce was accorded to Dijon in 1853. 



Dijon is the seat of a bishop, whose see is co-extensive with the 

 department of Cote-d'Or. It is also the seat of a university academy 

 and of a high court of justice, which has jurisdiction over the depart- 

 ments of Cote-d'Or, Hautc-Marne, and Sadne-et-Loire. In connection 

 with the university there are in Dijon three faculties of law, science, 

 and letters, a secondary school of medicine, and a royal college. The 

 town also possesses an ecclesiastical college, a botanic garden, and an 

 excellent school of design, in which lectures ore delivered gratuitously. 

 It is the head-quarters of a subdivision of tho 7th Military Division. 



Few cities in France can vie with Dijon in beauty of site, or in the 

 number and variety of its promenades, the plantations of which form a 

 belt of foliage about the town. Among the latter are the ramparts, 

 which afford a fine view of the town and the surrounding country ; the 

 Chemins-CouverU; the All<5es-de-la-Retraite on the east side of the town, 

 formed by four rows of noble lime-trees ; the Creux d'Euferand the 

 Fontaine Suisse, two beautiful fountains surrounded by fine planta- 

 tions ; the Promenade de 1'Arquebuse ; and above all the Cours du 

 Pare, which is nearly a mile in length, divided midway by a spacious 

 circle, and leads to the great park laid out by Le Notre on the banks 

 of the Ouche. 



(JDictionnaire de la France; Annuairc pour TAn 1853.) 



DILMAN, a town in Persia, is situated on the caravan route from 

 Tabriz to Erz-rum, 70 miles W. from Tabriz, 10 miles W. from the 

 north-west angle of Lake Urumiyeh, and has about 15,000 inhabitant*. 

 It is situated in the wide and fertile plain of Selmas, which stretches 

 westward from tho lake to the base of tho Kurdistan Mountains. 

 The town is surrounded by gardens and orchards, and lias clean 

 streets. The plain about it is inhabited by Nestorians, Armenians, 

 Catholics, Kurdish Lcks, and Russian emigrants. About 4 miles to 

 the westward is the old town of Dilman, a great portion of which U 

 in ruins. From the number of mounds in tho neighbourhood it 

 seems to have been once of considerable extent, and it is described by 

 St. Martin as being a very ancient Armenian city. (Colonel Sheil, 

 in London Geographical Journal, vol. vi.) 



DINAGEPO'RE, a district of Bengal, lying between 25 and 

 27 N. lat, 88 and 89 E. long., bounded N. by Rungpoor and 

 Purncagh, E. by Rungpoor and Mymunsingh, S. by Mymunsingh 

 and Rajishahy, and \V. by Purneagli and Bogliporc. The form 

 of the district is triangular, the base being to the south ; its 

 greatest length from south to north is 105 miles, and Its extreme 

 breadth from east to west is 82 miles. The area is about 2374 

 square miles: tho population is estimated at about 2,500,000. 

 About seven-tenths of the inhabitants are Mohammedans, and tho 

 remainder Hindoos. 



The principal rivers by which the district U intersected are tho 

 Teesta, the Mahanandn, and the Korotoya. During the rainy season, 

 which usually sets in about the middle of June, and lasts for four 

 months, these and many smaller tributary streams admit the passage 

 of boats to almost every Tillage in the district 



The surface of the country is undulating, but tho greatest inequality 

 of surface does not exceed 100 feet Tho soil is generally light, and 

 tho principal cultivation being rice, the success of the harvest depends 

 mainly on tho quantity of rain. Hemp, sugar, indigo, and a small 

 quantity of cotton are also cultivated ; the hemp being grown in 



