fertile part of the district. It consists entirely of rich alluvial soil, annually inundated to a depth varying from 2 to 14 ft. of water. The villages are built on artificial mounds of earth, so as to raise them above the flood-level.
The wild animals found in the district comprise a few tigers, leopards and wild elephants, deer, wild pig, porcupines, jackals, foxes, hares, otters, &c. The green monkey is very common; porpoises abound in the large rivers. The manufactures consist of weaving, embroidery, gold and silver work, shell-carving and pottery. The weaving industry and the manufacture of fine Dacca muslins have greatly fallen off, owing to the competition of European piece goods. Forty different kinds of cloth were formerly manufactured in this district, the bulk of which during many years was made from English twist, country thread being used only for the finest muslins. It is said that, in the time of the emperor Jahangir, a piece of muslin, 15 ft. by 3, could be manufactured, weighing only 900 grains, its value being £40. In 1840 the finest cloth that could be made of the above dimensions weighed about 1600 grains, and was worth £10. Since then the manufacture has still further decayed, and the finer kinds are not now made at all except to order. The district is traversed by a line of the Eastern Bengal railway, but most of the traffic is still conducted by water. It is a centre of the jute trade.
The division of Dacca occupies the delta of the Brahmaputra, where it joins the main stream of the Ganges. It consists of the four districts of Dacca, Mymensingh, Faridpur and Backergunge. Its area is 15,837 sq. m. Its population in 1901 was 10,793,988.
DACE, Dare, or Dart (Leuciscus vulgaris, or L. dobula), a fresh-water fish belonging to the family Cyprinidae. It is an inhabitant of the rivers and streams of Europe north of the Alps, but it is most abundant in those of France and Germany. It prefers clear streams flowing over a gravelly bottom, and deep, still water, keeping close to the bottom in winter but disporting itself near the surface in the sunshine of summer. It is preyed upon by the larger predaceous fishes of fresh waters, and owing to its silvery appearance is a favourite bait in pike-fishing. The dace is a lively, active fish, of gregarious habits, and exceedingly prolific, depositing its eggs in May and June at the roots of aquatic plants or in the gravelly beds of the streams it frequents. Its flesh is wholesome, but is not held in much estimation. In appearance it closely resembles the roach, usually attaining a length of 8 or 9 in., with the head and back of a dusky blue colour and the sides of a shining silvery aspect, with numerous dark lines running along the course of the scales. The ventral and anal fins are white, tinged with pale red; and the dorsal, pectoral and caudal tipped with black. The dace feeds on worms, insects, insect-larvae, and also on vegetable matter. It is abundant in many of the streams of the south of England, but is unknown in Scotland and Ireland. In America the name of dace is also applied to members of other genera of the family; the “horned dace” (Semnotilus atromaculatus) is a well-known variety.
DACH, SIMON (1605–1659), German lyrical poet, was born at Memel in East Prussia on the 29th of July 1605. Although brought up in humble circumstances, he received a careful education in the classical schools of Königsberg, Wittenberg and Magdeburg, and entered the university of Königsberg in 1626 as a student of theology and philosophy. After taking his degree, he was appointed in 1633 Kollaborator (teacher) and in 1636 co-rector of the Domschule (cathedral school) in that city. In 1639 he received the chair of poetry at the university of Königsberg, which he occupied until his death on the 15th of April 1659. In Königsberg he entered into close relations with Heinrich Albert (1604–1651), Robert Roberthin (1600–1648) and Sibylla Schwarz (1621–1638), and with them formed the so-called Königsberger Dictergruppe. He sang the praises of the house of the electors of Brandenburg in a collection of poems entitled Kurbrandenburgische Rose, Adler, Löwe und Scepter (1661), and also produced many occasional poems, several of which became popular; the most famous of them is Anke von Tharaw öss, de my geföllt (rendered by Herder into modern German as Ännchen von Tharau), composed in 1637 in honour of the marriage of a friend. Among his hymns, many of which are of great beauty, are the following: Ich bin ja, Herr, in deiner Macht, Ich bin bei Gott in Gnaden durch Christi Blut und Tod, and O, wie selig seid ihr boch, ihr Frommen.
Editions of Dach’s poems have been published by W. Müller (1823), by H. Österley (for the Stuttgart Literarischer Verein, 1876); also selections by the same editor (1876), and in Kürschner’s Deutsche Nationalliteratur (1883). See especially the introductions to Österley’s editions; also H. Stiehler, Simon Dach, sein Leben und seine ausgewählte Dichtungen (1896).
DACIA, in ancient geography, the land of the Daci, a large
district of central Europe, bounded on the N. by the Carpathians,
on the S. by the Danube, on the W. by the Pathissus (Theiss),
on the E. by the Tyras (Dniester), thus corresponding in the main
to the modern Rumania and Transylvania. Towards the west
it may originally have extended as far as the Danube where it
runs from north to south at Waitzen (Vacz), while on the other
hand Ptolemy puts its eastern boundary as far back as the
Hierasus (Sereth). The inhabitants of this district were a
Thracian stock, originally called Δᾶοι, a name which after
the 4th century B.C. gave place to Δακοί. Of the other
Thracian tribes the Getae (q.v.) were most akin to them in
language and manners; by the Greeks the Dacians were usually
called Getae, by the Romans Daci. Δᾶος and Γέτα (Davus,
Geta) were common as names of slaves in Attic comedy and in
the adaptations of Plautus and Terence.
The Dacians had attained a considerable degree of civilization when they first became known to the Romans. They believed in the immortality of the soul, and regarded death as merely a change of country (μετοικίζεσθαι). Their chief priest held a prominent position as the representative of the deity upon earth; he was the king’s chief adviser and his decisions were accepted as final. They were divided into two classes—an aristocracy and a proletariate. The first alone had the right to cover their heads and wore a felt hat (hence tarabostesei = πιλοφόροι, pileati); they formed a privileged class, and were the predecessors of the Rumanian boyars. The second class, who comprised the rank and file of the army, the peasants and artisans, wore their hair long (κομηταί, capillati). They dwelt in wooden huts surrounded by palisades, but in later times, aided by Roman architects, built walled strongholds and conical stone towers. Their chief occupations were agriculture and cattle breeding; horses were mainly used as draught animals. They also worked the gold and silver mines of Transylvania, and carried on a considerable outside trade, as is shown by the number of foreign coins found in the country.
A kingdom of Dacia was in existence at least as early as the beginning of the 2nd century B.C. under a king Oroles. Conflicts with the Bastarnae and the Romans (112–109, 74), against whom they had assisted the Scordisci and Dardani, had greatly weakened the resources of the Dacians. Under Burbista (Boerebista), a contemporary of Caesar, who thoroughly reorganized the army and raised the moral standard of the people, the limits of the kingdom were extended; the Bastarnae and Boii were conquered, and even Greek towns (Olbia, Apollonia) on the Euxine fell into his hands. Indeed the Dacians appeared so formidable that Caesar contemplated an expedition against them, which was prevented by his death. About the same time Burbista was murdered, and the kingdom was divided into four (or five) parts under separate rulers. One of these was Cotiso, whose daughter Augustus is said to have desired to marry and to whom he betrothed his own five-year-old daughter Julia. He is well known from the line in Horace (“Occidit Daci Cotisonis agmen,” Odes, iii. 8. 18), which, as the ode was written on the 1st of March 29, probably refers to the campaign of Marcus Crassus (30–28), not to that of Cornelius Lentulus, who was not consul till 18. The Dacians are often mentioned under Augustus, according to whom they were compelled to recognize the Roman supremacy. But they were by no means subdued, and in later times seized every opportunity of crossing the frozen Danube and ravaging the province of Moesia. From A.D. 85 to 89 the Dacians were engaged in two wars with the Romans, under Duras or Diurpaneus, and the great Decebalus, who ruled from 86–87
