THOUSAND ISLANDS. 252 THRASHEK. between Ontario, Canada, and Jefferson and Saint Lawrence counties, New York (Map: Ontario, G 3). They are favorite resorts for summer tourists on account of their picturesque beauty. Jlany are private property and contain the summer liomes of wealthy Americans and Canadians. THB.ACE, thras (Lat. Thracia, from Gk. GpdKi], ThrakC, Thrace, from SpaJ, Thrax, Thra- cianl. The ancient name of an extensive region in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula, whose boundaries varied at different periods. At first the designation seems to have included part of JIacedonia, where early story knows of Thra- cians in Pieria, with whom was connected the worship of the JIuses, mythical liards, and Dionysus. In later times, however, the name was applied to the great district northeast of Mace- donia bounded on the north by the Danube, on the east by the Euxine, on the south by the Bos- porus, Propontis ( Sea of Marmora ) , Hellespont, the -Egean, and Macedonia, and on the west by Illyria and Macedonia. Under the Romans it designated the region south of the Ha^nuis Moun- tains (Balkans), the region to the north being the Province of Miesia. From the H*mus three lesser chains stretch toward the south. The three most important rivers of Thrace were the Stry- nion (mod. Struma), which during the Gieek pe- riod formed the boundary between Thrace and ^Macedonia ; the Nestus (mod. Kara-Su) ; and the Hebrus (mod. llaritza, q.v.), the largest — all of which flow southward into the ^^5gean Sea. The climate was considered by the Greeks very se- vere — even that of .Enos, on the shores of the rEgean, being described by Athenieus as "eight months of cold and four months of winter." The country was in great measure uncultivated, and covered with forests, but the river valleys were fertile. The chief products were corn, millet, wine, and hemp. Cattle, sheep, horses, and swine were raised in great numbers. The minerals were a great source of wealth, especially the rich gold mines of Mount Panga'us, which attracted the Thasians, and led the Athenians to the foun- dation of Amphipolis. While the exact relation between Thracians and Greeks is still uncertain, it is clear that the former belonged to the great Indo-European family, and were probably closely akin to the Phrygians of Asia Minor, whose language indi- cates a somewhat near connection in the past with the Hellenic race. In historic times the Thracians appear as a wild and barbarous race, fond of war and plunder, and ruled over by many petty kings. In the sixth century B.C. they were subdued by the Persians, but after the retreat of Xerxes resumed their independence, of which they had probably been only nominally deprived by their conquerors. In the fifth century a king, Teres, seems to have secured a decided supremacy and under his rule and that of his son Sitalces, with whom the Athenians contracted an alliance, it is possible to speak of a Thracian kingdom. After the death of Sitalces his territory was divided into three parts, and the old internecine strife was resumed. Thrace thus fell an easy prey to Philip of Macedon (after B.C. 359), who incorporated the western portion of the country, as far as the Nestus in Macedonia, while Mace- donian garrisons held the rest of the country in subjection. After the fall of Macedon before the power of Rome (B.C. 168) Thrace was for a short time independent, but in B.C. 133 came under the Roman rule. Jkesia was formed into a prov- ince in B.C. 2'Jj but Thrace continued under de- pendent kings until a.d. 40, when it was organ- ized as a province. After the division of the Roman Empire (395) it shared the history of the Eastern Empire. The natural resources of the country and the opportunities for profitable trade led to the establishment of Greek colonies along the coast at an early period. The earliest were naturally along the waters leading to the Black Sea, among them Byzantium, Selymbria, Perinthus, Sestus, and Ehvus, while before the end of the sixth century B.C. Miltiades had se- cured the Thracian Chersonese (the modern Peninsula of Gallipoli) for Athens. Along the -Egean coast were Amphipolis, Abdera, Mesem- bria, .Enus, and many others, while on the Black Sea were Istrus, Tomi, Odessus, and Apollonia. These colonies, however, never attempted to con- trol the interior, and though they submitted to the Persians, and later to the Macedonians and Romans, their history belongs to Greece rather than to Thrace. In a.u. 334 a cdlony of Sarma- tians was planted in Thrace by Constantine, and in 376 another of Goths by permission of Valens. In 395 it was overrun bj- Alaric, and in 447 by Attila. Soon after the middle of the fourteenth century Sultan Amurath I. obtained possession of all its fortresses, except Constantinople, and it has ever since remained subject to Turkey. Consult: Hiller von Gaertringen, De Grcecorum Fabulis ad Tlirnces Pert incut ibiis (Giittingen, 1886) ; Kalopathakes, De Thracia, Provincia Ro- mana (Berlin, 1894) ; Tomaschek, Die alien Thrakcr (Vienna, 1893-95). See Balkan Pe- NI>'SULA ; BlLGABIA. THRALE, Hester Lynch. An English au- thor. See Piozzi. THRASHER (variant of thrusher, from thrush). A name given in the United States to the various species of thrush-like wrens of the genus Harporhynchus. They have generally a rather long decurved bill, not notched near the tip ; short concave wings, much shorter than the tail. In color they are brown or ash above, usually spotted on the breast. Their names are brown thrasher (B urporhynchus rufus) ; Cape BEAD OF CKI8SAL, THKA8HEB. Saint Lucas thrasher {Harporhynchus cinereus) ; gray curvebill thrasher {.Harporhynchus curvi- rosfris) ; California thrasher (Harporhynchus redirivus) ; erissal thrasher (Harporhynchus crissalis) : and Arizona thrasher (Harporhynchus Bendirii) : besides which there are several sub- species. Only the brown thrasher is widely dis- tributed : all the others are confined to the South- western United States, especially Arizona and Mexico. The brown thrasher, often improperly called 'brown thrush.' is common in the Eastern United States, ranging north to Canada and west
