of Guinea, and also of the Slave Coast, of which Dahomey forms the portion lying between the rivers Volta and Niger. This gives it an extent of about 180 m. in length, by 200 in width. At the commencement of the 18th century the coast was divided between the kingdoms of Dahomey and Whydah, the first warlike, the other effeminate. As a consequence, the rich and fertile country of Whydah was absorbed in 1727 by Dahomey, and now forms part of its limits. The country bordering on the coast consists of a plain of extraordinary fertility, whence the ground rises by a gentle ascent to a distance of 200 m. inland. The soil is a reddish loam, without rocks. No river of importance is found on the seaboard. Fertility depends on the periodical rains, which are copious and usually accompanied by tornadoes. By reason of the position of this country between lat. 6° and 10° N., every variety of vegetable product may be cultivated. Cotton, sugar, indigo, palms, spices, tobacco, grains, and fruits flourish. The banana, plantain, and cassada, pineapples, oranges, limes, guavas, and other tropical fruits, are abundant. Among the vegetable productions peculiar to the country are a variety of millet, or Guinea corn, a legume called calarances, or pea-beans, and a species of vegetable called ground beans, as also a berry said to possess the property of turning bitters and acids sweet. With all these advantages, little is produced for export. Yams and maize are grown by the natives for consumption, with a moderate quantity of palm oil for the coast traders. Formerly Dahomey carried on a large traffic in slaves, and the ferocious habits engendered by that trade are still a characteristic of the people. Elephants, tigers, leopards, buffalo, wild sheep, and goats are plentiful, as are boas and other serpents. Trees grow along the river courses to an enormous size, it being not uncommon to see a canoe formed from a single trunk capable of holding 70 to 100 persons. The horses are small but hardy. The climate on the whole is not unfavorable to health. A breeze called the harmattan blows for 3 months in the year, and tends much to purify the air. Abomey, the capital city of the country, is situated in lat. 7° 59' N., lon. 1° 20' E. Whydah, oftener called Griwhee, is the port of Dahomey. A route of about 100 m. passes through Favies and Toro to Abomey, the intermediate stations being Glegouch, where the French, English, and Portuguese have fortified trading ports; next Sabyeh, capital of the ancient kingdom of Whydah, and yet the residence of a Dahoman viceroy; and further on is Ardrah, or Aradah-Kassy, where the roads from Jakyn, Epeh, and Porto Novo on the coast, join the main road to Abomey. The villages are large and numerous, but many ruined sites testify to the ravages of war. Houses are built of adobe, covered with straw, and usually have attached a small slip of garden. Two field crops are grown annually, the time of sowing being the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. Agriculture has advanced but little

beyond its first elements. The Dahomans fabricate cotton cloth, pottery, mats, and trinkets, beside spears, swords, daggers, clubs, and rude agricultural tools. Their money consists of cowry shells, of which it takes over 2,000 to represent one dollar. The king's revenue consists of gifts, annually presented at a festival, a tax on various articles of commerce, and the sale of wives. In other respects the Dahomans are subjected to the most ferocious despotism of which we have any knowledge. The life of every man except that of the prime minister, and the persons of all females, belong to the king. Once a year the women are required to appear, that the monarch may make his selection. He retains a large number for himself, and distributes the rest as wives to his subjects, who are required to pay for them and be satisfied with his selection. The king is regarded as a fetich or deity. Doubtless this belief has much to do with the sanguinary customs which prevail at his court. Even the highest officers prostrate themselves in the dust when they approach him. As he claims to be sovereign over life and death, his residence is paved with human skulls. Every year he holds a festival in which human sacrifices are offered, and persons are slain on the graves of his ancestors in order that their spirits may bathe in the blood. The sacrifice is of the nature of a religious ceremony. Faith is placed in charms and amulets. A serpent is regarded as the sacred symbol of Whydah, and a tiger of Dahomey. The notion of a future state is that each person shall occupy precisely the same position he did on earth. The only visible objects of worship, at least on the coast, are a reptile which they call Dabooeh, which has its temples and priests, and certain idols of clay, to which the women offer worship. Snelgrave, who spent some time among this people, thinks they have a vague belief in a supreme, invisible deity, of whom idols are but the symbol. Next to the prime minister, called the tamegari, ranks the grand master of the ceremonies (mayboo), who joins the premier in selecting a new sovereign among the children of the deceased monarch. The other officers of state are the agaoo, commander-in-chief, having under him 3 generals called the possoo, zohinoo, and fasapah; next in rank is the viceroy of Whydah, entitled the ivogan, and next the superintendent of the king's household, styled the yaoo. Provinces, cities, and villages are governed by officers called kabashirs, who pay an annual tribute, collected from the heads of families. Polygamy is the custom of the country, the king having 3,000 to 5,000 wives; great men have from 200 or 300 downward, in proportion to their wealth; while most of the people can afford but one. The Dahoman language is an idiom of that spoken along the whole Guinea coast. It has no written character, although the Ardrah dialect has a symbol alphabet. A curious feature of Dahoman life is that the members of the king's harem form his body guard, and are regularly disciplined as soldiers,

They number 3,000 to 5,000, and form, in all respects, a portion of the army. In time of peace his total military force, male and female, is about 17,000, and in time of war 24,000. They fight with great ferocity. Apart from their disregard of shedding blood, the manners of the Dahomans are mild. They have a considerable degree of intelligence, but are indolent, and place much of their happiness in eating and sleeping. The dress of the men consists of trousers of native calico, and on high occasions a jacket without sleeves, the head being covered and the feet bare. The female costume is a robe or wrapper of cloth, with bracelets of beads and shells on the neck, wrists, and ankles, rings on the fingers, and pendants in the ears. Children are nursed 3 years, and circumcision is practised. Tattooing is occasionally performed as an embellishment. The Dahomans are of the same race as the Ardrahs, and are distinguishable from their neighbors by a darker complexion. They are, in general, of medium height, and well proportioned.-Dahomey first became of importance in the eyes of Europeans about the beginning of the 18th century, when the king was named Trudo. This Sovereign conquered the strip of country lying between him and the sea, and opened a trade with the Europeans. He had frequent quarrels with them, and finally destroyed the French, English, and Portuguese factories at Xavier in Ardrah, beside hanging Mr. Testefole, the English governor. Trudo was succeeded by his son, Bossa Ahadee, whose first act of sovereignty was to put to death every person of the name of Bossa within his dominions, as a punishment for their presumption in bearing the same name as the king. He died in 1774, and was followed by a succession of savage rulers, who engaged in shocking atrocities to supply the slave trade. Since the suppression of that traffic, Dahomey has sunk in importance. Wars with the adjoining states have been attended with varying success. Not long since the Eyeos or Ayohs obtained the mastery over the Dahomans, and compelled them to pay tribute. It is said the Dahomans have once more gained the ascendency; also that the present king has put a stop to human sacrifices.

DAIRY. See BUTTER, CATTLE, CHEESE. DAIS, a raised floor at the upper end of ancient dining halls, where the principal persons sat at table. The term also designated a seat with a canopy over it for those who sat at this table. The same name is applied in some monarchies to the canopy which hangs over the throne, and at Rome the pope is borne beneath a dais in solemnities which require him to traverse the streets and public places.

DAISY, or DAY'S EYE (bellis perennis, Linn.), a little perennial plant, native of Europe, and better known in its varieties than as a species. It was formerly employed for edgings to borders, and patches set in the turf of lawns frequently mown present a very pleasing appearance. In a wild state, the flower is borne upon a long slender

peduncle. The florets or petals are numerous, narrow, white-tipped with a slight stain of crimson, in a single row around the central florets of the disk. In this form it is called single, but by cultivation it has become very double or multiplex, and has run into many curious and beautiful varieties. Of these the hen and chickens is the most singular, where the main flower heads are surrounded by several smaller flower heads. Beside this, which is known as the prolifera, the older sorts were the large double and the double quilled, the latter a deep rich crimson, with globular heads, and mostly cultivated as a pot plant. Of late years considerable attention has been directed to raising new sorts, and the catalogues enumerate choice varieties of white, blush, rose color, striped, and other diversities of hues. Division of the plants, which make numerous offsets, is an easy and practicable mode of propagation.

DAKEL, EL, or EL DAKLEH, the western oasis of upper Egypt, 28 m. long by 15 m. wide. It has a very fertile soil, prolific in dates, olives, and other fruits. It contains several ruined towns, a remarkable temple, and a number of small villages, the principal of which are El Kasr and Kalamoon. Pop. estimated at between 6,000 and 7,000.

DALAYRAC, NICOLAS, composer of Les deux petits Savoyards, and of many other French operas, born June 13, 1753, died in Paris, Nov. 27, 1809. He first became known to fame by a composition performed at a freemason festival given in honor of Benjamin Franklin.

DALBERG, or DALBURG, a noble family of Germany, mentioned as early as 969, and so much respected that at each imperial coronation the herald was required to proclaim: "Is there no Dalberg present?" whereupon the member of the family who happened to be present stepped forward and was knighted by the emperor. Among its most distinguished members are: I. JOHANN, bishop of Worms, born in 1445, died in 1503, an active and able patron of literature and science. II. WOLFGANG HERIBERT, born in 1749, died Sept. 28, 1806, the friend of Schiller, and a zealous patron of the German drama. At the time of his death he was state minister in Baden. III. EMMERICH JOSEPH, duke and peer of France, son of the former, born at Mentz, May 30, 1773, died April 27, 1833. He officiated as ambassador of Baden in Paris, where he became a favorite of Talleyrand and one of the diplomatic agents of Napoleon. Naturalized in France in 1810, he exerted himself in 1814 in favor of the restoration of the Bourbons, and attended, as French plenipotentiary, the congress of Vienna; after the 2d restoration he was a minister of state. IV. JOHANN FRIEDRICH HUGO, born May 16, 1760, died in July, 1803, filled high functions in the Roman Catholic church, at Treves, Worms, and Spire, wrote on antiquities and music, and was himself a composer. V. KARL THEODOR ANTON MARIA, the last archbishop elector of Mentz, and archchancellor of the German empire, born at Herns

heim, Feb. 8, 1744, died in Ratisbon, Feb. 10, 1817. He studied at Göttingen and Heidelberg, and in 1772 became administrator of the territory of Erfurt, which then belonged to the elector of Mentz. He soon rose to a high position among the dignitaries of the church, and on July 25, 1802, became archbishop elector of Mentz. In the following year, when the territory of Mentz was secularized, the dioceses of Ratisbon, Aschaffenburg, and Wetzlar were assigned to Dalberg. In 1806, when the empire was dissolved, Napoleon made him prince primate of the Rhenish confederation and grand duke of Frankfort-on-the-Main. After 1813 he lost all his territories, only retaining the archiepiscopal dignity. His Grundsätze der Esthetik (Frankfort, 1791) was much esteemed in its time.

DALBY, ISAAC, an English mathematician, born in Gloucestershire in 1744, died Oct. 14, 1824. He was intended by his friends for a cloth worker, but, laboring by the aid of a few mathematical books to fit himself to be an usher, was employed in that capacity. Going to London in 1772, and being appointed to teach arithmetic in Archbishop Tenison's grammar school, he became known to many men of science, and was employed in making astronomical observations in a building erected for philosophical purposes by Topham Beauclerk. When this establishment was broken up, after being employed in various other situations of a similar nature, he became mathematical master of the naval school at Chelsea. In 1787 he acted as an assistant to Gen. Roy in taking the trigonometric observations for connecting the meridians of Greenwich and Paris, and for 2 years was occupied in extending the triangulations through Kent and Sussex to the coast opposite France. Gen. Roy died in 1790, and the next year Dalby was engaged together with Col. Williams and Capt. Mudge to continue the survey of England. They began their operations by remeasuring the original base line, on Hounslow Heath, and under their care the triangulation was extended to the Land's End. On the formation of the military college at Wycombe, Dalby was appointed professor of mathematics in the senior department. DALCHO, FREDERIC, an American physician and clergyman, born in London in 1770, died in Charleston, S. C., Nov. 24, 1836. His father, a Pole, retired to England on a pension after serving as an officer in the armies of Hanover. On his death, his son was invited by an uncle to Maryland, and received an excellent education in Baltimore. He studied medicine and natural science, and became a practitioner in Charleston, where he was active in establishing the botanic garden. Subsequently he devoted himself to theological studies, became lay reader in St. Paul's church, Colleton, in 1814, and having received priest's orders was elected assistant minister of St. Michael's church, Charleston, in 1819, in which position he remained till his death. He published a treatise on the "Evidence of the Divinity of our Saviour," and a

"Historical Account of the Protestant Episcopal Church in South Carolina."

DALE, a S. E. co. of Ala., bordering on Fla.; area, about 900 sq. m.; pop. in 1850, 6,346, of whom 721 were slaves. The surface is hilly and mostly occupied by pine forests. The soil is sandy and unproductive. In 1850 it yielded 2,158 bales of cotton, 182,396 bushels of corn, and 69,408 of sweet potatoes. Number of pupils in the public schools, 190. Capital, Newton.

DALE, DAVID, the originator of the Lanark mills, Scotland, born at Stewarton, Ayrshire, in 1739, died in 1806. He was at first a journeyman weaver, and afterward became a great cotton manufacturer, at first in conjunction with Sir Richard Arkwright, and then on his own account. He was remarkable for the care which he took to provide teachers and the means of mental instruction for the thousands of people, old and young, to whom he gave employment at his works. He is described as "one of the most benevolent men of the last century." daughter was married to Robert Owen.

His

DALE, RICHARD, a commodore in the U. S. navy, born near Norfolk, Va., Nov. 6, 1756, died in Philadelphia, Feb. 26, 1826. He commenced his career in the merchant service at the age of 12, and made several voyages between Virginia and Liverpool. When the revolutionary struggle commenced, Virginia, in common with several of the maritime colonies, organized a marine of its own, composed of small vessels, which were employed in the bays and rivers, and on board one of these Dale was appointed a lieutenant, in the early part of 1776. He had the misfortune to be captured soon after by a tender to an English frigate, and was thrown into a prison ship at Norfolk. Here he was surrounded by royalists, among whom were many of his old schoolfellows, who at once set about his conversion to the cause of the mother country, and he was finally induced to embark in a cruiser against the vessels of the state. Hostilities were now very active, and the vessel in which he was serving soon engaged an American flotilla, from which she was compelled to run after a heavy loss. Dale received a wound in this affair, with which he was confined several weeks at Norfolk, during which time he formed a resolution, as he said, never again to put himself in the way of the bullets of his own countrymen." In after life, he always spoke with perfect candor and sincerity of the great error which he had committed by his momentary abandonment of the cause of his country. Immediately after the declaration of independence, we find Dale a midshipman in the brig Lexington, under the command of Capt. John Barry, in which vessel he served actively, under different commanders, until the autumn of 1777, when she was captured upon the coast, of France by the English cutter Alert of 10 guns, after a very close and severe action. She was at this time commanded by Capt. Henry Johnston. The Alert took her prize into Plymouth, and the prisoners were placed in con

finement in Mill prison, upon a charge of high treason, where they remained until Feb. 1778, when most of the officers and several of the men escaped. Dale found his way to London, where he was recaptured, and immediately carried back to Mill prison. Here he was held a year longer, subjected to the most unfeeling and insulting treatment, when he escaped a second time, in the disguise of a British naval officer. The manner in which he obtained his disguise and other facilities, he always refused to disclose. He succeeded in reaching France, and hastening to L'Orient joined a force then equipping under the celebrated John Paul Jones. He was now about 23, and after serving for some months as master's mate, Jones, discovering that he was an accomplished seaman, made him first lieutenant of his own ship, the Bon Homme Richard. On Aug. 15, 1779, the squadron sailed from Groix, and on Sept. 19 the memorable battle between the Bon Homme Richard and Serapis, a new ship of 50 guns, took place off Flamborough head. Dale distinguished himself highly in the battle, and received a severe wound by a splinter, with which he was laid up for some time. The Bon Homme Richard was so completely cut to pieces, that she sank soon after the engagement. The rest of the squadron put into the Texel, Jones having shifted his flag to the Alliance, and afterward to the Ariel, in both of which ships Dale still served as first lieutenant. On Feb. 18, 1781, he arrived at Philadelphia, and was regularly put on the list of lieutenants in the navy. He now parted from Paul Jones, with whom he had served nearly 2 years, and in June following joined the Trumbull, 28, Capt. Nicholson, which about 2 months afterward was captured off the Delaware, after a very severe action, by the Iris, 32, and Monk, 18. Dale was wounded in this action, making his 3d wound and the 4th time he had been captured during the war. He was taken to New York, and exchanged in the following November, when he received a furlough, and was employed in letters of marque and the merchant service until the close of the war. Under the law of 1794, he was appointed a captain in the navy, and ordered to superintend the construction of one of 6 frigates, which were directed to be built to resist the aggressions of Algiers. An arrangement with that regency was made, however, in consequence of which the building of the ships was suspended, and Dale was again placed on furlough. With the exception of a short cruise in the sloop Ganges, during our difficulty with France, he was not again in the public service until 1801, when he was appointed to the command of a squadron of 3 frigates and a brig, ordered to the Mediterranean, in consequence of hostilities with Tripoli, although war did not actually exist. His flag ship during this command was the President, 44, Capt. James Barron. This was an exceedingly well appointed squadron, but our policy at that time with regard to the Barbary states was so uniformly timid, that there was but little for it

to do. The Tripolitan admiral, with two of his cruisers, was blockaded by one of our frigates in Gibraltar, while the rest of the squadron proceeded up the Mediterranean.A severe action occurred between the brig Enterprise, Lieut. Comdt. Sterrett, and a Tripolitan of equal force, in which the latter was compelled to surrender; but as there was no legal authority to detain her, she was liberated. Although the commodore was so fettered by his instructions that no serious enterprise could be attempted, his vigilance was so great that the Tripolitans made no capture during his command. In April, 1802, he returned to the United States, and in the autumn of that year resigned his commission, and was never again in service.

DALE, SIR THOMAS, a colonial magistrate sent from England to Virginia as high marshal in 1609, and again in 1611, with 300 colonists, supplies, and new laws. The town of Henrico, on James river, was founded by him, and that of the Appomattox Indians at the mouth of the river of that name taken. He remained in the colony, and took an active part in its affairs, after being superseded by Sir Thomas Gates in 1611, and when the latter returned to England in 1614, again assumed the chief command. He went himself to England in 1616, and afterward to the East Indies, and there died.

DALECARLIA, or DALARNE, an ancient province of Sweden, celebrated in Swedish history for its noble struggles in behalf of national independence, and for the bravery, probity, and hospitality of the inhabitants. It was among the mountains of Dalecarlia that Gustavus Vasa took refuge from the Danish king Christian II., and by the aid of the Dalecarlians he was first enabled to make head against Denmark. Dalecarlia is now comprised in the province of Falun. The 3d son of the present king of Sweden bears the title of duke of Dalecarlia.

DAL-ELF (Dal river), the principal river of Dalecarlia, Sweden, formed by the union of the Oster and Wester Dal. It flows successively S. E. and E., and after a course of 250 m. from the source of the Oster Dal, during which it passes through a number of lakes, and forms several cataracts, it empties into the gulf of Bothnia. Except near its mouth, it is only navigable for rafts.

DALGARNO, GEORGE, a British philologist, born at Aberdeen about 1627, died at Oxford, Aug. 28, 1687. He was educated in the university of Aberdeen, and taught for about 30 years a grammar school at Oxford. In 1661 he published a work entitled Ars Signorum, vulgo Character Universalis et Lingua Philosphica. This was the basis of Bishop Wilkins's "Essay toward a Real Character." The work, however, by which he is best known in modern times is his "Didascalocophus, or the Deaf and Dumb Man's Tutor," which appeared in 1680. This work contains so fully the principles of deaf mute instruction, though deduced from theory only, that it would not be seriously defective as a handbook for the teacher at the present day.