Page:EB1911 - Volume 26.djvu/1075

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TOAD—TOBACCO
1035

luxuriance of the apple, pear and other fruit trees in the neighbourhood. The Roman town was ruined in the period following the Vandal invasion, and at the time of the Arab conquest appears to have been deserted. Many inscriptions of the Christian era have been found, some as late even as the 7th century. The site was purchased from the Zenata Berbers, in the 8th century, by Idris-bin-Abdallah, who began the building of a new city named Agadir (Berber, the fortress). Idris, founder of the Idrisite dynasty of Fez, left his brother Suleiman in possession of Agadir, and the city was ruled by the Beni-Suleiman until 931, when it fell into the hands of the Fatimites. From the Fatimites it passed into the possession of the Beni-Yala, of the Beni-Ifren branch of the Zenata Berbers, who held it as Vassals of the Omayyad rulers of Spain. In 1080 the Almoravide sovereign Yusef ibn Tashfin, after besieging and sacking Agadir, built a new town on the site of his camp. The new town, called Tagrart, became the commercial quarter, whilst Agadir remained the royal residence. The two towns when united received the name of Tlemçen. The Almoravides reigned sixty-five years, when, after holding Agadir four years against the enemy, they were overcome by the Almohades, who massacred the inhabitants, rebuilt, enlarged and repeopled the ruined town, and built a wall (1161) surrounding the double town. In 1248 Tlemçen was captured The Sultanate
of Tlemçen.
by Abu Yahia Yarmorasen (Ghamarasan) who was chief of the Zenata tribe of Berbers and claimed descent from the Caliph Ali. Yarmorasen, who died in 1282, founded the dynasty of the Abd-el-Wahid, who ruled the greater part of what now constitutes Algeria. Under their sway Tlemçen flourished exceedingly. The presence of Jews and Christians was encouraged and the Christians possessed a church. The bazaar of the Franks (kissaria) was a large walled enclosure, the gates of which were closed at sunset. As many as 5000 Christians lived peaceably in Tlemçen, and the Sultan included in his army a Christian bodyguard. In 1337 the power of the Abd-el-Wahid was temporarily extinguished by the Marinide Sultans of Morocco. They left some fine monuments of the period of their ascendancy, which lasted twenty two years. Once more, under the Abd-el-Wahid, now known as the Beni-Zeiyan, from 1359 to 1553, Tlemçen enjoyed prosperity. It had a population reputed to number 125,000, an extensive trade, a brilliant court and a powerful army. The Spanish occupation of Oran (1509) struck a fatal blow at the European commerce of the town. The Beni-Zeiyan, after the capture of Algiers in 1516 by the corsair Barbarossa (q.v.) gradually lost their territory to the Turks, while Tlemçen itself for forty years became tributary to the Spanish governor of Oran. In 1518 the town was held for a short time by Arouj Barbarossa, but Arouj was killed in a fight with the Spaniards. It is said that, while master of the town, Arouj caused twenty two of the Zeiyan princes to be drowned in the sahrij. In 1553 the Turks under Salah Rais, pasha of Algiers, captured Tlemçen and the Sultanate of Tagrart, as it was still frequently called, came to an end. Under the Turks the town ceased to be of any importance. When the French entered Algeria the sultans of Morocco were disputing the possession of Tlemçen with the Kuluglis, who fought first for themselves and afterwards for France. In 1835 Abd-el-Kader, on whose appearance the Moors retired, sought to re-establish the ancient empire of Tlemçen, but he retreated before General Clausel in 1836. The treaty ef the Tafna (1857) gave Tlemçen to Abd-el-Kader, but, war being renewed in 1842, Tlemçen was definitely occupied by the French, under whom it has prospered.

The commune of Tlemçen, which includes a number of villages near the city, had a population (1906) of 39,757, and the arrondissement, which includes nine communes, 149,467.

See Les Monuments arabes de Tlemçen, by William Marçais and Georges Marçais (Paris, 1903). This accurate and finely-illustrated work, one of the publications of the Service des monuments historiques de l’Algérie, cites the principal works dealing with Tlemçen, and gives a critical estimate of their value.  (F. R. C.) 


TOAD, a name commonly applied in contradistinction to "frog," to tailless batrachians of stout build, with more or less warty skin. Thus, of the two closely related discoglossid genera Bombinator and Discoglossus, the former is called a toad and the latter a frog. But the true toads are the Bufonidae. arciferous batrachians with dilated processes to the sacral vertebra and without any teeth in the jaws. The type of the family is our common toad, Bufo vulgaris, and round it cluster a large of number of species of the same genus, and the smaller genera; Eupemphix, Pseudophryne, Nectophryne, Nectes, Notaden, Myobatrachus, Rhynophrynus and Cophophryne. That the shape of the body is not a safe guide in judging of the batrachians is shown by certain species, such as Bufo jerboa, which in its slender form and extremely long limbs surpasses the typical frogs, while on the other hand, some true frogs (Rana), adapted to burrowing habits, are absolutely toad-like. The Bufonidae include terrestrial, burrowing, thoroughly aquatic and arboreal types; Rhinophrynus, of Mexico, might be described as an ant- eater.

The genus Bufo embraces about 100 species, and is repre- sented in nearly every part of the world except the Australian region and Madagascar. Two species are found in the British Isles: the common toad, Bufo vulgaris, and the natterjack, Bufo calamita. The former is found almost everywhere; the second, which differs in its shorter limbs with nearly free toes (which are so short that the toad never hops but proceeds in a running gait) and it usually possessing a pale yellow line along the middle of the back, is local in England, the south-west of Scotland, and the west of Ireland; it is further remarkable for the very loud croak of the males, produced by a large vocal bladder on the throat which, when inflated, is larger than the head. Toads lay their eggs in long strings, forming double files in straight jelly-like tubes.

A small toad, Pseudophryne vivipara, recently discovered in German East Africa, has proved to be viviparous, this being the only such instance known among tailless batrachians.


TOADSTOOL, the popular name for fungi which more or less resemble mushrooms but are either poisonous or worthless as food.


TOAST, a slice of bread scorched brown on the two surfaces by the heat of a fire. The word was borrowed from the O. Fr. toste, Lat. torrere, tostum, to scorch, burn. It was formerly the custom to have pieces of toast floating in many kinds of liquor, especially when drunk hot. It is said to be from this custom that the word is used of the calling upon a company to drink the health of some person, institution or cause (see Health).


TOBACCO, the name (see below) for the leaves of several species of Nicotiana (nat. ord. Solanaceae), variously prepared for use as a narcotic. While it is principally manufactured for smoking, a large amount is also prepared for chewing, and, to a more limited extent, it is taken in the form of snuff. Under one or other of these forms the use of tobacco is more widely spread than is that of any other narcotic or stimulant.

History.—Although the fact has been controverted, there cannot be a doubt that the knowledge of tobacco and its uses came to the rest of the world from America. In November 1492 a party sent out by Columbus from the vessels of his first expedition to explore the island of Cuba brought back information that they had seen people who carried a lighted firebrand to kindle fire, and perfumed themselves with certain herbs which they carried along with them. The habit of snuff-taking was observed and described by Ramon Pane, a Franciscan who accompanied Columbus on his second voyage (1494–1496), and the practice of tobacco-chewing was first seen by the Spaniards on the coast of South America in 1502. As the continent of America was opened up and explored, it became evident that the consumption of tobacco, especially by smoking, was a universal and immemorial usage, in many cases bound up with the most significant and solemn tribal ceremonies.

The term tobacco appears not to have been a commonly used original name for the plant, and it has come to us from a peculiar instrument used, for inhaling its smoke by the inhabitants of