QUETTA 



6443 



QUIA EMPTORES 



sealer in the White Sea. She was 

 111 ft. long, 23 ft. in beam, and 

 about 200 tons net burthen. Her 

 sides were 2 ft. thick of solid oak, 

 sheathed with steel. In 1921, after 

 being altered and refitted at 

 Thornycroft works, Southampton, 

 she was used to convey the Shackle- 

 ton-Rowett Antarctic expedition 

 party. Accommodation for the 

 scientific staff and laboratories was 

 built above and below decks, and 

 platforms were erected for sound- 

 ing machines. She returned to 

 England on the abandonment of 

 the expedition, 1922. See Ant- 

 arctic ; Shackleton, Ernest. 



Quetta. Capital of Baluchistan. 

 The town is situated 5,500 ft. above 

 sea level among the mts. in British 

 Baluchistan, and is a military out- 

 post N.W. of, and guarding, the 

 Bolan Pass, through which the 

 strategic rly. from Quetta goes to 

 the Indus valley. It is W. of the 

 Harnai Pass, which also carries a 

 strategic rly. From Quetta one rly. 

 goes to Chaman on the Afghan 

 frontier, overlooking the plains of 

 Kandahar, and a second line goes 

 to Nushki and then farther W. to 

 the Persian frontier at Mirjawa. 

 The town is a trade centre, but the 

 winter cold drives away about a 

 quarter of the population. Its 

 growth dates from 1876, when the 

 residency was established here. 

 Pop. 34,000 



Quetta Pishin. Dist. of British 

 Baluchistan. It extends E. from 

 the frontier of Afghanistan and is 

 very mountainous, culminating in 

 11,700 ft. The rainfall varies from 

 6 to 10 ins. annually. It is crossed 

 by the rly. from Quetta to Chaman 

 through Pishin. The people are 

 nearly all Pathans ; there are a few 

 Brahui in the S.W. Area, 5,220 

 sq. m. Pop. 128,000. 



Quetzal OR QUEZAL (Pharo- 

 macnis mocinno). Bird of the tro- 

 gon family, inhabiting the central 

 American uplands from Guate- 

 mala to Panama. Distinguished by 

 resplendent plumage, its name is 

 derived from an ancient Nahua 

 word meaning green-feather. The 

 cock bird, the size of a dove, is 

 adorned with carmine breast - 

 feathers and upper tail-coverts of 

 metallic green, projecting one to 

 three ft. beyond the tail. 



The ancient Mexican chiefs for 

 bade the killing of the birds, whose 

 plumes were plucked and sent to 

 them as tribute for their personal 

 wear on head-dress and mantle. 

 The plumes were preserved as heir- 

 looms, and representations of them 

 occur on Maya pottery, sculpture, 

 and picture-writings. The bird 

 forms part of the national arms of 

 modern Guatemala. See Birds, 

 colour plate. 



Quetzalcoatl. 



One of the chief 

 gods of ancient 

 Mexican mytho- 

 logy, god of the 

 air and of wisdom, 

 and teacher of the 

 arts. His name 

 signified serpent 

 clothed with green 

 feathers. He was 

 said to have ruled 

 in Mexico in a 

 time of peace and 



Quetta, Baluchistan. The fort which guards the Bolan 

 Pass ; top, right, the church of S. Mary of Bethany 



plenty, and when driven away by 

 the sorceries of a rival, he said 



___ _,.. ^ that he would 



return; a 

 legend which 

 provedhelpful 

 to Cortes, who 

 may well have 

 seemed to a 

 superstitious 

 people the re- 

 turning god. 

 See Mexico. 



Queue (Fr., 

 tail). Term 

 applied to a 

 line of persons 

 waiting their 

 turn for ad- 

 mission to a 

 theatre or 

 other place of entertainment ; also 

 to intending passengers at a rly. 

 booking office, or waiting for a 

 tram or omnibus. In this last con- 

 nexion the custom was more com- 

 mon on the continent of Europe 

 than in Great Britain until the 

 congestion of traffic caused by war 

 conditions made its adoption ad- 

 visable at certain points. The 

 Great War also, particularly before 

 rationing was introduced, was re- 

 sponsible for the formation of 

 queues before food shops. The term 

 queue was used in the meaning of 

 pigtail in the days when the hair 

 was still powdered. Pron. Kew. 



Quevedo y Villegas, FRAN- 

 CISCO GOMEZ DE (1580-1645). 

 Spanish scholar and courtier. Born 



Quetzalcoatl. Image 

 of the Mexican god 



at Madrid, he was 

 educated at Alcala 

 University, where 

 he distinguished 

 himself as a 

 scholar. For some 

 years he was at- 

 tached to the 

 court of the king 

 of Spain, and later 

 was secretary to 

 the viceroy of 

 Naples. In 1621 

 he returned t o 

 Spain, where he 

 resided at the 

 court, and amused 

 himself and others by a constant 

 succession of writings, many of 

 them satirical. 

 On a charge 

 of having 

 libelled the 

 king he was im- 

 prisoned in 

 1639. Released 

 in 1643, he died 

 Sept. 8, 1645. 

 Quevedo wrote 



poems, philo- Francisco Quevedo 

 sophical and y VHJegas 



political trea- A f ler 

 tises, satires, and stories. The 

 Visions, translated into English, is 

 perhaps his best known work. 



Quezaltenaugo. Dept. of S.W. 

 Guatemala, Central America. It is 

 bounded S. by the Pacific Ocean, 

 is mountainous, and contains the 

 active volcano Santa Maria, 

 12,355 ft. in height. The chief pro- 

 ducts are coffee, sugar, rubber 

 wheat, maize, and cattle. Pop. 

 120,000. Quezaltenango.the capital, 

 lies 75 m. W.N.W. of the ruined 

 capital, Guatemala la Nueva. It is 

 built on a plateau near the vol- 

 canoes Cerro Quemado and Santa 

 Maria, at an alt. of 7,700 ft. The 

 second largest town in the republic, 

 it manufactures cotton, linen, and 

 woollen goods, and trades in agri- 

 cultural produce. Pop. 28,900. 



Quia Emp tores (Lat., whereas 

 buyers). Opening words, used as 

 the name of an English law passed 

 in 1290. It was directed against the 

 alienation by the lords of parts of 



