Page:1902 Encyclopædia Britannica - Volume 27 - CHI-ELD.pdf/406

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370

DALNY — DA MASCU S

Germans, Czechs, Slovenes, &c. 83-3 per cent, are of the Roman Catholic and 16‘5 per cent, of the Greek Orthodox faith. There are 329 Jews. In 1896 the marriagerate was 7-34, the birth-rate 40-01, or excluding stillbirths, 39-65, and the death-rate 29 per thousand. Of the births, 3’84 per cent, were illegitimate, with the exception of Gorz and Gradisca the lowest proportion in Austria. Dalmatia sends 11 members to the Reichsrath. In the provincial Diet there are 28 Croatians, 9 Servians, and 6 Italians. The distinction drawn between Croatians and Servians in Dalmatia, as also in Croatia and Slavonia, is political and religious, and not one of race. The Croatians and Servians of those parts speak the same language, but the former are Roman Catholic and use the Latin characters in writing, and the latter are Orthodox and employ the Cyrillic characters. Notwithstanding the progress during the period 1860—1900, Dalmatia remained the most backward of the Austrian crownlands in the matter of education. In 1890, 82-8 percent, of the population were returned as illiterate, that proportion being an improvement of 4 per cent, on the census of 1880. It possessed, in 1893, 5 intermediate and 337 elementary schools, attended by 88'4 per cent, of the children, 6 theological seminaries, 6 gymnasia, and some 40 technical and continuation schools. Of the 28 periodicals, 21 are in the Serbo-Croatian language, 5 in Italian, 1 in Latin, and 1 in polyglot. But a small proportion of the population (4'58 per cent.) is engaged in industry and mining, and 4'8 per cent, in trade and transport. Viticulture, which has latterly made great progress, cattle-breeding, and the cultivation of the olive tree, vegetables, and fruit are among the principal resources, a large number of the inhabitants also finding employment as sailors and in sea-fishing.. A small quantity of sea salt is recovered by evaporation. Other industries are ship-building (which is of considerable importance), the manufacture of liqueurs (Maraschino), spirits, soap, oil, &c. Its commerce consists mainly of a lucrative transit trade with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Turkey, and the ports of the Adriatic and the Mediterranean. In 1890 the Dalmatian mercantile marine numbered 8 steamers and nearly 6000 sailing vessels of all sizes. Communications are in a backward state. In 1897 there were 125 kilometres of railway, 2857 kilometres of roads, and 55 kilometres of navigable waterway. There were 151 post and 98 telegraph offices. See T. G. Jackson, Dalmatia, the Quarnero, and Istria (Oxford, 1887); and works by Goracucchi, Schatzmayer, Ruthner, Cons, Nolhac, Schweiger-Lerchenfeld, Eitelberger, and Pisrni. (^. o’n.) Dalny, a new Russian free port, opened to foreign trade in 1901, situated on the Central Manchurian Railway, and thus one of the Pacific termini of the Trans-Siberian Railway. It stands at the head of Talien-wan Bay, on the • east side of Liao-tung peninsula, in Manchuria, about 20 miles north-east from Port Arthur and twenty-one days’ journey by rail from St Petersburg. The harbour is roomy, easy of entrance, and free from ice all the year round. Population (1901), 50,000, of whom about onehalf were workmen, mostly Chinese. Dairy, a mining and manufacturing town of Ayrshire, Scotland, on the river Garnock, 17| miles north by west of Ayr. There is a public hall, library, and a public park (1893). Ironstone is extensively worked, and the town contains woollen factories and a large worsted ^ spinning mill. The other industries embrace cabinet-making, cokemaking, brick-making, machine - knitting, box-making, currying, and the manufacture of aerated waters. The churche's are two Established, two United Free, Episcopal, and Roman Catholic, and there are two memorial mission halls. Three public schools had an average attendance of

698 in 1898-99, a female industrial school 184, and a church school 129. Population (1881), 5010; (1891), 4572; (1901), 5314. Dalton-in-FurneSS, a market-town and railway station in the North Lonsdale parliamentary division of Lancashire, England, 4 miles north-east by north of Barrowin-Furness. The ruins of Furness Abbey are near, and Dalton Castle stands on an eminence in the town. There are Established, Roman Catholic, and various Nonconformist churches. There are numerous iron-ore mines in the parish, and ironworks at Askam, in the northern part of the district. Area (an urban district), 7223 acres. Population (1881), 13,339 ; (1901), 13,020. Damanhur, a town and important railway station of Lower Egypt, 10 miles from Alexandria, capital of the richly cultivated province of Behera. The town stands on the site of the ancient Egyptian Pa-Tahoth, the Hermopolis Parva of the Romans. A much frequented fair is held here three times a year, and there are several cotton manufactories. Population (1900), 19,600. Damao or Damaun, a town of Portuguese India, capital of district Damao, is situated on the east side of the entrance of the Bay of Cambay. Area of district, 148 sq. miles. Population (1894), 64,248. Salt is produced by 500 to 600 men to the extent of nearly 3000 tons annually. The cajuri palm is cultivated. Damaraland. See South-West Africa,German. Damascus (Hebrew, Dammesek, or Darmesek; Egyptian, Timasku ; Assyrian, Dimaski ; Arabic, Dimishk esh-Shdm, or simply esh-Shdm), the largest town in Syria, and the capital of the esh-Sham (Syria) vilayet, situated near the northern edge of the Ghuta, a fertile plain at the foot of Anti-Lebanon, at an altitude of 2250 ft. above the sea. It is the seat of the governor-general, of the Mushir commanding the 5th Army Corps, and of British and other consuls, and is connected by rail with its port, Beirut, and with el-Mezeirib in the Hauran. The Ghuta is irrigated by the Barada (see Abanah) and the ‘Awaj, which flow eastward in several channels, and lose themselves, about 18 miles from the city, in small marshes at the edge of the Syrian desert. The plain is covered nearly everywhere with luxuriant vegetation, out of which, where the foliage is densest and most beautiful, rise the minarets and domes of the “ white smokeless city. The delicious verdure and the all-pervading presence of running water constitute an abiding charm, which is heightened by the barren hills that almost surround the great oasis. Damascus stands on both banks of the main stream of the Barada, about two miles from the mouth of the gorge through which the river runs to the plain. Most of the city, including the oldest portion, which was enclosed by a wall, lies on the right bank, and from it a long suburb, el-Meidan, stretches southwards for more than a mile along the Haj road to Mecca. On the left bank is a large suburb, el-'Amara, of later date, and north of this, at the foot of the hills, lies the beautiful suburb es-Sahhiyeh. The old wall, Arab and Turkish, on Roman or perhaps earlier foundations, was pierced by several gates, and the city was traversed from east to west by a colonnaded street, “ the street which was called Straight,” still named Derb el-Mustakfm. In the north-west corner, near the Barada, which filled its moat, is the castle built, a. d. 1219, by el-Mehk el-Ashraf. It stands on the site of an earlier building, possibly a palace, which was connected with a temple to the east, now represented by the Great Mosque of the Omeiyads. This mosque, destroyed by fire on the 14th ol October 1893, and now being rebuilt, was a reconstruction, by the Khalff el-Walid (705-715), of the Church of bt