Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/611

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
*
547
*

XUB. 545 LUSHINGTON. tiquity have been unearthed in Sweden and Den- mark. These specimens vary in lengtli from 5 to 7 1/2 feet, and the long, slender tube bends around in a double curve. LURAY, la-ra'. A town and the county-seat of Page County, Va., 100 miles west by south of Washington, D. C. ; on the Norfolk and West- ern Railroad (Map: Virginia, F 3). It has the Liiray College for Young Ladies; and there are some manufacturing plants, including a large tanner_v, a wood-working estal)lishnient. flour- mills, carriage and wagon shops, and a distillerj'. The water-power atl'orded by a creek that Hows through the town is utilized in some of the indus- trial plants. Luray is picturesquely situated in the Page Valley, with fine views of the adjacent mountains, and is a popular resort, widely known because of the Luray Cave (q.v.). Mineral springs abound in the vicinitv. Population, in 1890. 1386; in 1900, 1U7. LURAY CAVE. A cave in Page County. Va.. ill the limestone formation of tjie Shenandoah 'allcy. a short distance west of the village of Luray, on the Xorfolk and Western Railroad. Tlic cavern was discovered in August, 1878, by Andrew J. Campbell and others. It underlies an aiea of about one hundred acres, and consists of innumerable chambers, only a few of which have been explored. There are several tiers of galleries, the vertical depth of which, fi-om the highest to the lowest, is about 260 feet. Al- though small in comparison with the ]Iammoth Cave of Kentucky, it is remarkable for the great number and beauty of the stalactites. The cave is lighted with electric lights, and attracts thou- sands of visitors annually. LURCHER (from lurch, assibilated form of lurk, from Swed. Jurka, lirka. to lie hid. from hirn, to lurk, Icel. ICira, to slumber, Ger. lauern, to lurk). A kind of dog. somewhat resembling a greyliound, and derived from a greyhound crossed with the shepherd's dog. It is lower, stouter, and less elegant than the greyhound, almost rivals it in fleetness and eyesight, and much ex- cels it in scent. It is covered with rough, wiry hair, is usually of a sandy red color, although sometimes black or gray, and has half-erect ears and a pendent tail. It is the poacher's favorite <lng. as it possesses all the qualities requisite for his purposes; in sagacity it rivals the most ad- mired dogs, and it learns to act on the least hint or sign from its master. When this dog is crossed with any other breed the product is technically a 'cur.' English literature, from Milton onward, abounds in references to the lurcher. LURGAN, lur'gan. A town in County Ar- magli. Ireland, 20 miles southwest of Belfast (Jlap: Ireland, E 2). It has flourishing linen manufactures of cambrics, damasks, lawns, etc.. and an important weekly market of agricultural produce. The LTnited States is represented by a consular agent. Population, in 1881, 10,13o: in 1901. 11,777. LURIS, loo'rez. The people after whom Lu- ristan. a mountainous region in Western Persia, bordering on Turkey, has been named. They be- long to the same Iranian stock as the rest of the Persians, biit are looked upon by some authori- ties as presenting a very pvire racial type. The Luris have a better reputation than the Kurds, and are more independent, courageous, and hon- est than many of the other sections of the Persian populatiou. They are divided into the 'Great Luris' (or Bakhtyari) in the east, and the 'Little Luris' (or Feili) in the west. Consult: De Mor- gan, Mission scicntifique en Perse (Paris, 1894- 97) ; Dieulafoy, La I'crse, la Chaldie et la Susiane (Paris, 1887); Layard, Early Adventures in Persia, Susiana, and Babylonia (London, 1887) ; Houssaye, Les races humaines de la Perse (Lvon, 1888). LURISTAN", loo'rls-tan'. A region of Persia. See LuEis. LURLEI, loor'li. A clilT on the Rhine. See Lorelei. LURSSEN, lijr'sen, Chbistiax (1843—). A German botanist, born in Bremen. He studied at Jena and Leipzig; was made curator of the lierba- rium in the latter university (1881), professor in the School of Forestry atEberswalde (1884), and at Kiinigsberg (1888). He specialized in the study of higher forms of cryptogams, and wrote: Filices Groeffeanw, zur Kcnntniss der Farnflora der Viti, Samoa, Tonya und Ellice Inseln (1871); Beitriiye zur Enlwicklunysge- schichte der Farnsporangien (1872) ; a valuable Medizinisch-pharmazcutische Botanik (1877-82) ; and Grundziige der Botanik (1877, 5th ed. 1893). LUSA'TIA, Ger. LAUSITZ, lou'zits. A dis- trict in Germany between the Elbe and the Oder, consisting of Upper and Lower Lusatia (Map: Germany, F 3 ) . The former is now divided be- tween the Kingdom of Saxony and the Prussian Province of Silesia, while the latter forms a part of the Prussian Province of Brandenburg. Lu- satia has its name from a Slavic tribe who were settled here, and who were conquered by the Germans in the tenth century. After belonging for a time to Brandenburg, the whole of Lusatia liecame in the fourteenth century a possession of the Crown of Bohemia. By the Peace of Prague, in 1035. the territory passed to Saxony, which had to cede a large part of it to Prussia in 1815. LUSHAIS, loo-shiz'. The natives of the Lu- shai Hills in the Cachar District of Assam, part of the Chittagong hill region in Bengal, and the adjacent Burmese territory. By language they are related to the Thai (Siamese, Burmese, etc.) stock. The Lushais proper are described as rather slenderly built and brown-skinned, with prominent cheek bones and flat nose. They had the reputation of being very warlike, and had conquered the smaller tribes of their habitat. Previous to their pacification in 1888 by the British they were looked upon as headhunting savages, but in 1900 it became evident that this view was entirely erroneous. The language of the Lushais was reduced to writing in a modified Roman alphabet by the missionaries in 1894-97. In 1898 a grammar and dictionary were pub- lished, and since then some readers, containing extracts from the Bible, folk-lore items, and the like. The Lushais south of Manipur are consid- ered by some scholars to be Xagas mixed with Kyens and Burmese of Arakan. C"ns"lt: Dalton, Dcscriptire Ethnology of Bengal (Calcutta. 1872) ; Soppit. Short Account of the KukiLu.ihni Trihex on the Sortheast Frontier (Shilling, 1887) : Reid. Chin-Lushai Land (Calcutta. 1893). LUSHINGTON, Insh'ing-ton. Stephen (1782- 1873). An English jurist. He was born in Lon-