TABAGO. 795 TABERNACLE. TABAGO, tii-bii'gd. An island of the Wost Iiulics. Si'O ToiiAGO. TABANID^ (Neo-Lat. nom. pi., from Lat. labiiiaix, gad-lly). A numerous family of dipter- ous insects which live by sucUiiij,' the blood of horses, cattle, and other animals, and are popu- larly known as gad-flies, horse-flies, or deer-flies. See Gad-Flv. TABARD, The. A famous inn of old London. It was situated on Higli Street, iSouthuark, near Kent Road, and must have been in existence as early as the fourteenth century, for Chaucer starts his pilgrims from it on their journey to the shrine of Thomas u Becket. Its sign was a tabard or sleeveless jacket. At the end of the sixteentli century it was in high repute. In the seventeenth century it was damaged by the Great Kire, and in the process of restoration the sign was clumged to a 'Talbot,' It was con- denuied in IStlti and its site is at present occu- pied by the freight depot of the Jlidland Railway, TABARI, ta-bii'rf (Ar. Ahn .la 'far Muham- mad ibn Jatlr al-Tabari) (83S-923). Author of the first universal history in Arabic. A Persian, born in Tabaristan, he studied at Bagdad and visited the other scliools in Syria and Egj'pt. He settled at last in Bagdad, and gave himself to teaching and incessant literary labors. His great historical work is the Annals, a history of the world from the creation to a.h. 302. This has been published at Leyden by de Goeje ( 1879 sqq.). Ntildeke's (leschicltte der Perser ■iinri Arabrr ziir Zeit der l^assaniden (Leyden, 1879) is a translation of portions of the Annals. His conunentary on the Koran stands superior to all other commentaries. Consult Brockelmann, Geschichte der arabiselien Littcratur (Weimar, 1898). TABASCO, ta-Bas'ko. A maritime State of Jlexico. bounded by the Gulf of Jlexico on the north, the State of Campeche and the Republic of Guatemala on the east. Chiapas on the south, and Vera Cruz on the west (Map: Jlexico, MS). Area, 10.072 square miles. Tabasco is well watered and some of its rivers, as the L'suma- einta. are navigable to some extent. The climate is hot and unhealthful and the rainfall very abundant. The fertile soil yields good crops of cacao, sugar, coffee, tobacco, rice, and fruit. Stock-raising is of secondarv importance. Popu- lation, in 1900. 158,107. " Capital, San Juan Bautisla. TABASHEER (Hind, fabashir, Skt. tavak- slra, traksirn, bamboo-manna). A substance sometimes found in the cavities or tubular parts of the stems of bamboos and other large grasses. It consists chielly of silica, with a little lime and vegetable matter, or sometimes of silica and potash. It appears to be formed by extravasation of the juices of the plant, in consequence of .some diseased condition of the nodes or joints. It is in high repute among the Hindus as a tonic, and is prepared by imperfect calcination and trituration. Tabasheer has a beautiful veined structure and is remarkable as having the lowest refracting power of any known substance. TABB, .ToHN Banister (1845—). An Ameri- can poet, born in Virginia. He was a Roman Catholic priest and professor of Encflish litera- ture at Saint Charles College. Ellicott City. Md. The verse of Father Tabb is scant, comprising Vol. XVIII— 51. Poems (1883), An Octave to Mari/ (1893), Lipics (1897), Poems Crave and (lay (1899), and Tirv I.i/rics ( 1900) , but it is distinguislicd for its .sympathy with whatever subjei-ts it treats from nature, literature, or religion, for the deli- cacy and refinement of its sentiment, and for the precision of its verse. Z7ie fiisters. To HheUey, Vlorer, Indian Summer, The Child, and The Druid are examples of his exquisite lyric quality, and of his choice of subject. His thought is gen- erally compressed into a few stanzas, often a quatrain. TABERNACLE (Lat. tabernacuhim, dimin- utive of tabirna, hut, booth; connected with tabnia, plank, board, table, tablet, Umbrian tafte, on a table). A portable sanctuary which, ac- cording to the traditional view, was carrieil about by tile Israelites in the wilderness. The com- mand to build this structure is found in Exodus XXV. 10-xxvii. 19, and the account of its con- struction in almost identical terms in E.xodus xxxvi. 8-xxxviii. 31. While it is called a tent, it was in reality a house, having upright walls made of thick boards on three sides, and a cur- tain on the fourth. The wooden framework had four coverings, one of linen, one of black goats' hair, one of rams' skins dyed red, and one of the skins of wethers. In front the curtain was fas- tened to pillars made of acacia wood, with cop- per bases and capitals covered with gold. This structure was divided into two parts, separated by an inner curtain, supported by four pillars with bases of silver and wholly overlaid with gold. The outer and larger apartment was 'the Holy Place.' accessible to priests only; the inner, 'the Holy of Holies,' was entered only once a year by the high priest. Around the sanctiiary was a court inclosed by curtains supported by sixty pillars of wood with bases of liroiize and capitals overlaid with silver. In the Holy of Holies stood the Ark of the Covenant ; in the Holy Place the table of shewbread, the golden candlestick, and the altar of incense: in the court stood the brazen altar pf burnt-otTeriiig and around it were ash-pans, shovels, bowls, "forks, and fire-pans of brass, while in the middle was the great brazen laver. The tabernacle is de- scribed as being of extraordinary splendor and of the costhest materials. It stood in the centre of the camp, and was carried by a large retinue of men when the camp moved. Modern scholars generally regard the description as wholly iin.ag- inary and devoid of historical value. It is con- sidered as having been drawn on the basis of Solomon's temple and projected into the Jlosaic period. This is indicated not only by the im- possibility of such a house being constructed and carried about in the wilderness, but also by the fact that the earlier records know nothing of a tabernacle of this kind, while an Ephraemitish narrative has preserved the picture of a niiicli simpler tent where Yahweh revealed Himself to Moses (Ex. xxxiii. 7 et seq.; Num. xi. 25; xii. 5; xiv. 10). This 'tent of meeting' ('ohel mSed) stood outside the camp and was only a small tent with a single custodian, and Yahweh re- vealed Himself there in a cloud at the door. It is not impossible that the memory of such a portable shrine, common to many nations, car- ried about while they were still nomads, sur- vived among some of the tri'ies that afterwards formed the people of Israel. Apparently the ark
