ESSENTIAL 



a form of sun worship. Strongly 

 opposed by orthodox Jews, though 

 favoured by the Herods, they were v 

 cruelly persecuted by the Romans. 

 They had a settlement near the 

 Dead Sea ; Josephus estimated the 

 stricter Essenes of his day at about 

 4,000. The sect died out before 

 the 3rd century. Pron. Es-seenz. 

 See Jews. 



Essential OR VOLATILE OILS. 

 Oils representing in the majority of 

 cases the characteristic properties 

 of the plant from which they have 

 been extracted. The term volatile 

 oil refers to the fact that this class 

 of oils can be entirely volatilised 

 without change, whereas the fixed 

 or fatty oils make a permanent 

 greasy mark if placed on a piece of 

 paper. The methods of preparation 

 vary according to the nature of the 

 plant from which the oils are ex- 

 tracted. Delicate perfume oils are 

 produced by an absorption process 

 known as enfleurage. 



Essequibo. Settlement and 

 river of British Guiana, S. America. 

 The settlement extends to the 

 Venezuelan frontier and borders on 

 the Atlantic Ocean for 120 m. It 

 contains locust trees, iron wood, 

 ebony, greenheart, and other hard- 

 wood trees. It was the subject of 

 rival claims, settled by the Arbitra- 

 tion Treaty of Feb. 2, 1897,between 

 Great Britain and Venezuela. 



The river rises near the equa- 

 tor, among the mountains on the 

 Brazilian border, and flows N., 

 entering the Atlantic near George- 

 town through a long estuary, from 

 15 m. to 20 m. wide, containing 

 several islands. Its length is 

 about 600 m., only 40 m. being 

 navigable to vessels of deep 

 draught, owing to cataracts ; its 

 mouth is impeded by sand bars. 

 The largest river of the colony, it 

 receives important tributaries, e.g. 

 the Rupununi, Masaruni, Cuyuni, 

 and the Polaro. 



Essex. Agricultural and mari- 

 time county of S.E. England. It 

 is bounded S. by the Thames, E. 

 and S.E. by the North Sea, N. by 

 Suffolk and Cam- 

 bridgeshire, and 

 W. by Hertford- 

 shire and Middle- 

 sex. Its area is 

 1,530 sq. m. Its 

 90 m. or more of 

 seaboard, indent- 

 ed by several 

 river estuaries, is 

 low-lying islands: 

 Canvey, Foulness, Wallasea, Mer- 

 sea, etc. The chief rivers are the 

 Thames, Lea, Stour, Colne, Chel- 

 mer, Blackwater, Crouch, and Rod- 

 ing. While the coastal region is 

 flat and marshy, there is com- 

 paratively high ground in the N. W. 



Essex arms 

 marked by 



2979 



and centre, the highest points being 

 reached at High Beech, in Epping 

 Forest ; Danbury, between Chelms- 

 ford and Maldon, and in the Lang- 

 don Hills. Harwich is the chief 

 port. Southend-on-Sea, Walton- 

 on-the Naze, Dovercourt, Clacton- 

 on-Sea, and Frinton-on-Sea are 

 popular holiday resorts. 



The county produces wheat, 

 barley, and fruit, but apart from 

 brewing (Romford) and engineer- 

 ing (Colchester), the manufactur- 

 ing industries are to a large extent 

 confined to the metropolitan area, 

 in which is the bulk of the popula- 

 tion, that of the agricultural cen- 

 tres having decreased of late years. 

 The Crouch, Blackwater, and Colne 

 have productive oyster beds, the 

 Colchester Oyster Feast, an annual 

 event of some importance, dating 

 from early times. There is a gun- 



ESSEX 



became the scene of many con- 

 flicts between Saxons and Danes. 

 William of Normandy laid a 

 heavy hand upon it. In the 12th 

 century it gave its name to an 

 earldom created by Stephen in 

 favour of Geoffrey de Mandeville. 

 From the 7th until the middle of 

 the 19th century it was ecclesiasti- 

 cally attached to the see of Lon- 

 don. It was next linked first to 

 Rochester and then to St. Albans. 

 In 1914 the see of Chelmsford was 

 founded. There are bishops suffra- 

 gan of Colchester and Barking. 



By the earthquake of April 23, 

 1884, affecting the area between 

 Colchester and the Blackwater, 

 1,200 houses were damaged. 



The county is rich in prehistoric, 

 Roman, Anglo-Saxon, medieval, 

 and monastic remains ; has many 

 notable churches and some fine old 



Essex. Map of the deeply indented county 

 powderf actory at Waltham Abbey, 

 and the Tilbury Docks and Vic- 

 toria Docks (Plaistow) are on the 

 Thames. Yachts and pleasure boats 

 are built at Burnham-on-Crouch, 

 which is also a yachting centre. 



The forest of Essex, known 

 after the early part of the 14th 

 century as the forest of Waltham, 

 has dwindled to what is known as 

 Epping Forest (q.v.), a public pos- 

 session since 1882. There are eight 

 municipal boroughs : Chelmsford, 

 Colchester, Harwich, Maldon, Saff- 

 ron Walden, Southend, West Ham, 

 and East Ham. The county is 

 served by the G.E., L.T. & S., Mid., 

 and Colne Valley Rlys. Eight mem- 

 bers are returned to Parliament. 



In the 1st century B.C. Essex 

 was the home of the British tribe 

 of the Trinobantes. Later the 

 kingdom of the East Saxons, it 



, showing its relation to the London area 

 houses, Audley End among them, 

 while the remains of Norman cas- 

 tles, e.g. Colchester and Heding- 

 ham, and the fragment at Had- 

 leigh, bear witness to the Norman 

 occupation. Pop. (1921) 1,468,341. 

 LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS. In 

 Chigwell is the gabled King's Head 

 Inn described as The Maypole in 

 Dickens's novel, Barnaby Rudge. 

 The Rose Inn at Peldon and the 

 marshes figure in Baring-Gould's 

 Mehalah. Miss Braddon laid the 

 scene of her Lady Audley's Secret 

 at Ingatestone. John Lockej 

 the philosopher, spent the last ten 

 years of his life, and was buried, at 

 High Laver. John Ray, the 

 botanist, was born and died at 

 Black. Notley; Thomas Tusser, 

 author of Five Hundred Points of 

 Good Husbandry, 1573, was born 

 at Rivenhall; Sydney Smith at 



