YAM YARMOUTH. 



137 



onions, garlic, and berries. They are extremely 

 superstitious. They reckon a number of evil 

 spirits, with the dread of which they are perpetu- 

 ally haunted ; and the influence of their magicians 

 or priests over them is unbounded. 



YAM (dioscorea saliva) ; a slender herbaceous 

 vine, having large tuberous roots, which are much 

 used for food in Africa and the East and West In- 

 dies. They are mealy, and esteemed to be easy of 

 digestion, are palatable, and not inferior to any roots 

 now in use, either for delicacy of flavour or nutri- 

 ment. They are eaten either roasted or boiled, 

 and the flour is also made into bread and puddings. 

 The juice of the roots, when fresh, is acid, and ex- 

 cites an itching on the skin. There are many 

 varieties of the roots ; some spreading out like the 

 fingers : others twisted like a serpent ; others, 

 again, very small, scarcely weighing more than a 

 pound, with a whitish, ash-coloured bark, whereas 

 the bark is usually black. The flesh of the yam is 

 white or purplish, and viscid, but becomes farinace- 

 ous or mealy when cooked. 



D. aculeata, by some considered only an improved 

 variety of the preceding, is universally cultivated 

 in the East and West Indies, in Africa, and in all 

 the islands of the Pacific. The roots are frequent- 

 ly three feet long, and weigh thirty pounds. All 

 the varieties are propagated like the potato, but 

 they arrive much sooner at maturity. The buds 

 of the roots are not apparent; but still a small 

 piece of skin is left to each set ; for from this piece 

 of bark, alone, the shoots proceed. Holes are made 

 in rows two feet apart, and eighteen inches distant 

 in the row : into these holes two or three sets are 

 put, first covered with earth, and then with a little 

 hauin or rubbish, to retain moisture. The only 

 after-culture consists in hoeing up the weeds. They 

 are commonly planted in August, and are ripe about 

 the November or December following. When dug 

 up, the greatest care is taken not to wound them, 

 as that occasions them to sprout much earlier than 

 they would otherwise. An acre of ground has been 

 known to produce from twenty to thirty thousand 

 pounds weight. The species of dioscorea are all 

 vines, bearing, usually, heart-shaped and strongly- 

 nerved leaves, and inconspicuous flowers. 



YANG-TSE-KIAN, OR KIAN-KU; a river of 

 Asia, which rises in the mountains of Thibet, and, 

 after crossing the empire of China, from west to 

 east, with a course of about 2400 miles, passing by 

 the great city of Nanking, empties itself into the 

 sea, 120 east of Nanking. It is the largest river in 

 China, and reputed the largest in Asia. It changes 

 its name in almost every province through which 

 it passes. 



YANINA. See Joannina. 



YANKEE, as Heckewelder says, is probably a 

 corrupt Indian pronunciation of the word English, 

 whom the Indians called Yenyeese. They distin- 

 guished them from the Virginians, or Southern 

 people, whom they called Long Knives. 



Yankee-Doodle. In the early part of 1755, great 

 exertions were made by the British ministry for the 

 reduction of the French power in the Canadas. 

 General Amberst was appointed to the command of 

 the British army in the North Western America; 

 and the British colonies in America were called 

 upon for assistance, who contributed with alacrity 

 their several quotas of men. The British army lay 

 sncamped, in the summer of 1755, on the eastern 

 bank of the Hudson, a little south of the city of 

 Albany. In the early part of June, the eastern 



troops began to pour in. Their march, their ac- 

 coutrements, and the whole arrangement of their 

 troops, furnished matter of amusement to the wits 

 of the British army. The music played the airs of 

 two centuries old. A physician of the British 

 army, by the name of doctor Shackburg, to please 

 brother Jonathan, composed a tune, and recom- 

 mended it to the officers as a celebrated air. The 

 joke took, and in a few days nothing was heard in 

 the provincial camp but the air of Yankee Doodle. 

 The tune has since been adopted as the national air 

 of the United States a distinction to which its in- 

 trinsic merits certainly do not entitle it, being, as a 

 piece of music, the merest doggrel. When con- 

 trasted, as it often is at sea, with the national air 

 of " Rule, Britannia," the original meanness of 

 " Yankee Doodle" becomes strikingly apparent. 



YARD ; a long piece of timber suspended upon 

 the mast of a vessel to extend the sail of the wind. 

 See Ship. 



Yard-arm is that half of the yard that is on either 

 side of the mast when the yard lies athwart the 

 ship. 



Yard-arm and Yard-arm ; a phrase applied to 

 two ships when they are so near that their yard- 

 arms nearly touch each other. 



YARD MEASURE. See Measures. 



YARKAND, OR YARCUND. See Bucharia, 

 Little. 



YARMOUTH, OR GREAT YARMOUTH; a 

 borough town of England, in the county of Nor- 

 folk, 22 miles east by south of Norwich, and 124 

 north-east of London. It is in the form of an ob- 

 long quadrangle, having the sea on the east, and on 

 the west the Yare, over which there is a bridge. 

 It contains four principal streets, running parallel, 

 which are crossed, at right angles, by 156 narrower 

 ones, denominated rows, and is flanked by a wall on 

 the east, north and south sides. The quay of 

 Yarmouth is considered equal to that of Marseilles, 

 and has no superior in Europe, except that at Se- 

 ville, in Spain. Its lengjh is one mile and 270 

 yards : in many places it is 150 yards broad ; and 

 part of the line is decorated with handsome build- 

 ings. Yarmouth has long been much frequented as 

 a fashionable watering-place, and furnishes every 

 accommodation for the health, comfort and amuse- 

 ment of its visitors. It has a theatre, fisherman's 

 hospital, hospital school, town-house, &c. The 

 harbour was executed under the direction of Joas 

 Johnson, a Dutchman, who was brought from Hol- 

 land to conduct the work. The extent of the 

 haven, between the north and south piers, is 1111 

 yards. During the late wars, the importance of 

 Yarmouth was greatly increased, owing to its be- 

 ing a grand station for part of the British, navy ; 

 the roads opposite the town affording safe anchor- 

 age for a numerous fleet. The harbour is perfectly 

 secure against every danger, but the coast is the most 

 dangerous in Britain, and has been often the scene 

 of the most melancholy shipwrecks. This place is 

 advantageously situated for commerce, particularly 

 to the north of Europe. Yarmouth is actively en- 

 gaged in the herring fishery, and has a considerable 

 coal trade. It is defended by three forts, which 

 were erected on the verge of the beach, during the 

 American war, and mounted with thirty-two 

 pounders. An armoury has been erected under the 

 direction of Mr Wyatt. It returns two members 

 to parliament, chofen by the burgesses at large. 

 Population, in 1841, 27,550. 



YARMOUTH, OR SOUTH YARMOUTH, a 



