686 DARESTE DE LA CHAVANNE White, governor of the colony sent by Sir Walter Raleigh to found an agricultural state, which sailed from Plymouth April 26, 1587, and reached Virginia in July of the same year. White's daughter was married to Mr. Dare, one of his assistants. DARESTE DE LA CHAVAME, Antoine Elisabeth fleophas, a French author, born in Paris, Oct. 25, 1820. He early taught history in various places, and since 1851 has been professor, and latterly dean of the faculty of Lyons. His principal works are : Histoire de V administra- tion en France depuis Philippe Auguste (2 vols., 1848) ; Histoire des classes agricoles en France depuis Saint Louis jusqu'd Louis XVI. (1853) ; and Histoire de France depuis ses originesjusqu'd nos jours (8 vols., 1865-'73). DARFOOR, a country of central Africa, form- ing a large oasis in the S. E. corner of the great desert, bounded W. by Waday, S. by Roonga and Fertit, and E. by a narrow strip of country inhabited by wandering Arabs, which separates it from Kordofan. It lies between lat. 10 and 16 K, and Ion. 22 and 28 E. ; area about 140,000 sq. m. ; pop. estimated by Browne at the close of the last century at 200,000, by Moham- med ibn Omar el-Tounsy at 3,000,000 or 4,000,- 000, and by Behm in 1872 at 5,000,000. The S. part is hilly, and embraces many well watered valleys ; the N". consists chiefly of arid plains. The products of the soil are millet, rice, maize, sesamum, legumes, tobacco, medicinal plants, dyestuffs, and fruit. Cattle form the principal wealth of the people ; camels, small elephants, and goats are numerous, and their flesh is used as food ; horses and sheep are few and poor. The wild animals embrace the lion, leopard, hya3na, wolf, jackal, rhinoceros, elephant, giraffe, hip- popotamus, crocodile, and buffalo. Vultures, Guinea fowl, turtle doves, and chameleons are abundant. Among the mineral products are iron, copper, alabaster, marble, and nitre. The climate is excessively hot, and during the dry season the country is almost stripped of vege- tation. The periodical rains last from the middle of June to the middle of September. The inhabitants are Arabs and negroes, pro- fessing the Mohammedan religion, but paying little regard to its stricter precepts ; in morals and manners they are very degraded. They practise polygamy, and every species of labor except bearing arms is exacted of the women. The sovereign is a despotic sultan, whose court is encumbered with an absurdity of ceremonial seldom paralleled. He never speaks but through the mouth of an interpreter ; when he spits, the spittle is gathered by the hands of his at- tendants ; if his horse stumbles while riding, or he loses his seat, every one of his retinue must do the same ; and when the sultan sneezes everybody present must sneeze likewise. The royal body guard is composed of old women. Darfoor carries on some trade with Upper Egypt in slaves, ivory, horn, ostrich feathers, gum, hides, drugs, copper, pimento, tamarinds, leathern sacks for water, parroquets, Guinea DARIEN hens, and monkeys ; in exchange for which it receives cotton cloths, glass ware, various trinkets and ornaments, coffee, spices, sugar, Indian merchandise, nails, metals, fruit, grain, firearms, other weapons, shoes, &c. The chief commercial town is Kobbeh, the former resi- dence of the sultan, from which a caravan goes to Cairo. The new residence is Tendelty. DARGAUD, Jean Marie, a French author, born Feb. 22, 1800. He studied law in Paris, but devoted himself to literature, and has published Histoire de Marie Stuart (2 vols., 1850), His- toire de la liberte religieuse en France et de ses fondateurs (4 vols., 1859), Histoire de Jane Grey (1862), Histoire tffilisabeth d'Angleterre (1865), and other works. DARIC (Gr. da/>ef/cdf), an ancient Persian coin of pure gold, specimens of which are still preserved in several European collections, bearing on one side the image of a kneeling archer, on the other that of a royal palla. It was known to the Greeks, Romans, and Jews ; and the last named used it after the Babylonish captivity, under the reign of the Persians, call- ing it adarkon or darkemon (mention- ed in Chronicles, Ez- ra, and Nehemiah). Its value was equal to 20 silver drachmae, or 16s. 3d.; 3,000 being equal (accord- Daric ing to Xenophon) to 10 talents. Its name is variously derived from that of King Darius Hystaspis, who regulated the Persian currency, and from several Persian words meaning king, palace, and bow. The so-called silver darics were not designated by this name in antiquity. DARIEN, Colony of, founded on the isthmus of Panama, near the close of the 17th century, by William Paterson, a Scotchman, and the founder of the bank of England. (See PATEK- SON, WILLIAM.) In June, 1695, a charter was granted by the Scottish parliament and ratified by the king. In a short time the subscrip- tion for stock amounted to 400,000 in Scot- land, while 300,000 was taken by the Eng- lish and 200,000 by the Dutch. The English and Dutch subscriptions were almost wholly withdrawn in consequence of the severe mea- sures against the enterprise which were passed by the English parliament at the instance of trading corporations. The Scotch, however, favored the enterprise with increased zeal, and on July 26, 1698, 1,200 men, in five ships, sailed from Leith for Panama, where they ar- rived after three months. They founded a colony at Acta, now Port Escoces, about 30 m. N. W. of the gulf of Darien, giving it the name of New St. Andrew, and calling the country New Caledonia. They purchased lands of the natives, sent messages of amity to the nearest Spanish governors, and published a declaration of freedom of trade and religion to all people. They had brought with them only a short sup-
