century. From it runs the Lange Gasse, the main street, to the Lange Markt. On this square stands the Artus- or Junker-hof (the merchant princes of the middle ages were in Germany styled Junker, squire), containing a hall richly decorated with wood carving and pictures, once used as a banqueting-room and now serving as the exchange. There are twelve Protestant and seven Roman Catholic churches and two synagogues. Of these the most important is St Mary’s, begun in 1343 and completed in 1503, one of the largest Protestant churches in existence. It possesses a famous painting of the Last Judgment, formerly attributed to Jan van Eyck, but probably by Memlinc. Among other ancient buildings of note are the beautiful Gothic town hall, surmounted by a graceful spire, the armoury (Zeughaus) and the Franciscan monastery, restored in 1871, and now housing the municipal picture gallery and a collection of antiquities. Of modern structures, the government offices, the house of the provincial diet, the post office and the palace of the commander of the 17th army corps, which has its headquarters in Danzig, are the most noteworthy.
The manufacture of arms and artillery is carried on to a great extent, and the imperial and private docks and shipbuilding establishments, notably the Schichau yard, turn out ships of the largest size. The town is famous for its amber, beer, brandy and liqueurs, and its transit trade makes it one of the most important commercial cities of northern Europe. Danzig originally owed its commercial importance to the fact that it was the shipping port for the corn grown in Poland and the adjacent regions of Russia and Prussia; but for some few years past this trade has been slipping away from her. On the other hand, her trade in timber and sugar has grown proportionally. Nevertheless energetic efforts are being made to check any loss of importance—first, in 1898, by a determined attempt to make Danzig an industrial centre, manufacturing on a large scale; and secondly, by the construction and opening in 1899 of a free harbour at Neufahrwasser at the mouth of the Vistula. The industries which it has been the principal aim to foster and further develop are shipbuilding (naval and marine), steel foundries and rolling mills, sugar refineries, flour and oil mills, and distilleries.
History.—The origin of Danzig is unknown, but it is mentioned in 997 as an important town. At different times it was held by Pomerania, Poland, Brandenburg and Denmark, and in 1308 it fell into the hands of the Teutonic knights, under whose rule it long prospered. It was one of the four chief towns of the Hanseatic League. In 1455, when the Teutonic Order had become thoroughly corrupt, Danzig shook off its yoke and submitted to the king of Poland, to whom it was formally ceded, along with the whole of West Prussia, at the peace of Thorn. Although nominally subject to Poland, and represented in the Polish diets and at the election of Polish kings, it enjoyed the rights of a free city, and governed a considerable territory with more than thirty villages. It suffered severely through various wars of the 17th and 18th centuries, and in 1734, having declared in favour of Stanislus Leszczynski, was besieged and taken by the Russians and Saxons. At the first partition of Poland, in 1772, Danzig was separated from that kingdom; and in 1793 it came into the possession of Prussia. In 1807, during the war between France and Prussia, it was bombarded and captured by Marshal Lefebvre, who was rewarded with the title of duke of Danzig; and at the peace of Tilsit Napoleon declared it a free town, under the protection of France, Prussia and Saxony, restoring to it its ancient territory. A French governor, however, remained in it, and by compelling it to submit to the continental system almost ruined its trade. It was given back to Prussia in 1814.
See J. C. Schultz, Danzig und seine Bauwerke (Berlin, 1873); Wistulanus, Geschichte der Stadt Danzig (Danzig, 1891); Défense de Dantzig en 1813; documents militaires du lieutenant-général Campredon, pub. by Auriel (Paris, 1888); Daniel, Deutschland (Leipzig, 1895).
DAPHLA (or Dafla) HILLS, a tract of hilly country on the border of Eastern Bengal and Assam, occupied by an independent tribe called Daphla. It lies to the north of the Tezpur and North Lakhimpur subdivisions, and is bounded on the west by the Aka Hills and on the east by the Abor range. Colonel Dalton in The Ethnology of Bengal considers the Daphlas to be closely allied to the hill Miris, and they are akin to and intermarry with the Abors. They have a reputation for cowardice, and as politically they are disunited, they are at the mercy of the Akas, their less numerous but more warlike neighbours on the west. Their clothing is scanty, and its most distinguishing feature is a cane cap with a fringe of bearskin or feathers, which gives them a very curious appearance. The men wear their hair in a plait, which is coiled into a ball on the forehead, to which they fasten their caps with a long skewer. In 1872 a party of independent Daphlas suddenly attacked a colony of their own tribesmen, who had settled at Amtola in British territory, and carried away forty-four captives to the hills. This led to the Daphla expedition of 1874, when a force of 1000 troops released the prisoners and reduced the tribe to submission. According to the census of 1901 the Daphlas in British territory numbered 954, the tribal country not being enumerated.
DAPHNAE (Tahpanhes, Taphne; mod. Defenneh), an ancient fortress near the Syrian frontier of Egypt, on the Pelusian arm of the Nile. Here King Psammetichus established a garrison of foreign mercenaries, mostly Carians and Ionian Greeks (Herodotus ii. 154). After the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadrezzar in 588 B.C., the Jewish fugitives, of whom Jeremiah was one, came to Tahpanhes. When Naucratis was given by Amasis II. the monopoly of Greek traffic, the Greeks were all removed from Daphnae, and the place never recovered its prosperity; in Herodotus’s time the deserted remains of the docks and buildings were visible. The site was discovered by Prof. W. M. Flinders Petrie in 1886; the name “Castle of the Jew’s Daughter” seems to preserve the tradition of the Jewish refugees. There is a massive fort and enclosure; the chief discovery was a large number of fragments of pottery, which are of great importance for the chronology of vase-painting, since they must belong to the time between Psammetichus and Amasis, i.e. the end of the 7th or the beginning of the 6th century B.C. They show the characteristics of Ionian art, but their shapes and other details testify to their local manufacture.
See W. M. F. Petrie, Tanis II., Nebesheh, and Defenneh (4th Memoir of the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1888). (E. Gr.)
DAPHNE (Gr. for a laurel tree), in Greek mythology, the
daughter of the Arcadian river-god Ladon or the Thessalian
Peneus, or of the Laconian Amyclas. She was beloved by Apollo,
and when pursued by him was changed by her mother Gaea into
a laurel tree sacred to the god (Ovid, Metam. i. 452-567). In
the Peloponnesian legends, another suitor of Daphne, Leucippus,
son of Oenomaüs of Pisa, disguised himself as a girl and joined her
companions. His sex was discovered while bathing, and he was
slain by the nymphs (Pausanias viii. 20; Parthenius, Erotica, 15).
DAPHNE, in botany, a genus of shrubs, belonging to the natural order Thymelaeaceae, and containing about forty species, natives of Europe and temperate Asia. D. Laureola, spurge laurel, a small evergreen shrub with green flowers in the leaf axils towards the ends of the branches and ovoid black very poisonous berries, is found in England in copses and on hedge-banks in stiff soils. D. Mezereum, mezereon, a rather larger shrub, 2 to 4 ft. high, has deciduous leaves, and bears fragrant pink flowers in clusters in the axils of last season’s leaves, in early spring before the foliage. The bright red ovoid berries are cathartic, the whole plant is acrid and poisonous, and the bark is used medicinally. It is a native of Europe and north Asia, and found apparently wild in copses and woods in Britain. It is a well-known garden plant, and several other species of the genus are cultivated in the open air and as greenhouse plants. D. Cneorum (Europe) is a hardy evergreen trailing shrub, with bright pink sweet-scented flowers. D. pontica (Eastern Europe) is a hardy spreading evergreen with greenish-yellow fragrant flowers. D. indica (China) and D. japonica (Japan) are greenhouse evergreens with respectively red or white and pinkish-purple flowers.
DAPHNEPHORIA, a festival held every ninth year at Thebes in Boeotia in honour of Apollo Ismenius or Galaxius. It consisted of a procession in which the chief figure was a boy of good family and noble appearance, whose father and mother must be alive.
