DAMGAN-number, and it is eighteen miles S. S. W. of Stras-

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Uamgan. A town of Persia, in the province ofKhorassan. It is supposed by many persons to bethe Hecatompylos of the ancients. It was renderedcelebrated by Nadir Shah, who overcame the Afghansin this citv. He then made a garden of his enemies,for pits being dug at equal distances, as if for the pur-pose of planting trees in the form of an avenue, largebranches were cut, and a prisoner fastened to eachwith his head downwards, these being planted in thepits, the soil, as it was thrown in, produced gradualsuffocation. Lon. 53° 36' E., lat. 35° 50' N.

Damiano. A large town in Piedmont. It is builton the banks of the river Borbo. It is partly fortified,and contains nearly 6000 inhabitants, and is nine milesS. W. of Asti.

Damietta, or Damiat. A large city of LowerEgypt, first built at the east mouth of the Nile, andrailed Thamiatis, under the government of the LowerEmpire ; the population amounts, according to Binos,to 30,000 persons, and according to Savary, 80,000.Damietta daily increased as Pelusium declined. Thechief disadvantage of Damietta is the want of a har-bour ; yet it is the emporium of commerce betweenEgypt and Syria, being situated on the Phatmeticbranch of the Nile. The city is without walls, builtin the form of a crescent, on the winding bank of theriver, six miles from the sea. It is larger and notless agreeable than Rosetta, having several handsomesquares. Bazaars filled with merchandise, okals, orkhans, under the porticoes of which are Indian stuffs,silks from mount Lebanon, sal ammoniac, and quan-tities of rice, bespeak it a commercial place. Thehouses, especially near the river, are very high. Mostof them have pleasant saloons built on the terraces ;from which charming places, open to every wind,there is a view of the grand lake lying on the otherside, and of the Nile, which traverses a rich countrybetween them both. Various grand mosques, withhigh minarets, ornament the city. The public baths,faced with marble, are similar to those of Cairo.Multitudes of boats and small vessels incessantly fillthe port of Damietta. Some, named sherm , serve toload and unload the ships that anchor in the road ;others are coasting pilot-boats. There is a con-siderable trade carried on between this city andSyria, Cyprus, and Turkey. Lon. 31° 49'45" E.,lat. 31° 25' N. It is 85 miles N. N. E. of Cairo.

Damm Alt. The name of a fortified town inFarther Pomerania. It is situated on the banks ofthe beautiful river Plone, which falls into the lake ofDamm, a short distance from the town. It has apopulation of 1900 persons, and is seven miles E.S.E.of Stettin.

Dammartin. A town in France, in the depart-ment of the Seine and Marne. It is situated on aneminence, which commands an extensive view of thesurrounding country. It contains about 2000 inha-bitants, and is ten miles N.W. of Meaux, and twenty-five N. E. of Paris.

Damme. An island in the Eastern Sea. It isabout sixty miles in circumference. It has a consider-able bay on its eastern coast. Lon. 128° 36' E.,lat. 7° 20' S.

Damot. A province of Abyssinia. It is aboutforty miles in length and twenty in breadth. Thenorthern boundary is formed by a range of loftymountains; they are called Amin Amid.

DANCING. 549

Damoi; a. A large river in Syria. It is supposedto be the ancient Tanugras. This river falls into theMediterranean between Saide and Bairout.

Dampiekke. A considerable town in France, inthe department of the Upper Saone. It has a popula-tion of 1500 persons, and is six miles N. of Gray.

Damsche Sea. A large lake in the PrussianStates, in the circle of Randow. It is about ninemiles long and four broad. It receives the waters ofthe Oder, the Isna, and the Plone.

Damuum. A large town on the western coast ofIndia, in the province of Aurungabad. It possesses aconsiderable amount of commerce, and has an excel-lent harbour. This town was taken by the Portuguesein 1531, and has remained in their possession eversince. Lon. 73° 1' E., lat. 20° 22' N.

Danae. Daughter of Acrisius, king of Argos.She was shut up by her father in a brazen tower,because an oracle had declared that a son of hisdaughter should put him to death. But Jupitertransformed himself into a golden shower, and de-scended through the apertures of the roof. WhenAcrisius discovered that his daughter had become amother, he exposed her with her child in a frail boatto the violence of the waves. But the sea-goddesses,anxious for the preservation of the son of Jove, com-manded the billows to waft the skiff safely to Seriphos,one of the Cyclades. Polydectes, or rather Dictys,the governor of the island received her, and educatedthe child, which he named Perseus.

Dan a ides. The fifty daughters of Danaiis, whowas a son of Belus, and at first lived in Libya withhis brother Atgyptus, who had fifty sons. In con-sequence of a quarrel with his brother, Danaiis, withhis daughters, fled to Argos. The fifty sons of•lEgyptus followed him thither, expressed a desire fora reconciliation, and asked the daughters of Danaiisin marriage. He was obliged to consent to the pro-posal ; but, as he put no confidence in his nephews,and had, moreover, been informed by an oracle, thatone of his sons-in-law should slay him, he bound hisdaughters by a solemn oath, to murder their husbandson their' bridal night. They all kept their promiseexcept Hypermnestra, who saved the life of her hus-band Lynceus. As a punishment for their crime,the daughters of Danaiis, in the infernal world, werecondemned perpetually' to draw water in sieves. Ofthis tradition the ancients gave the following historicalexplanation :—The daughters of Danaiis were saidto have discovered fountains in the dry country ofArgolis, and constructed cisterns there.

Danby. A town in the North Riding of York-shire. There is a considerable colliery. It has 1392inhabitants, and the annual value of the real propertyamounts to 5949/. It is 240 miles from London.

Dancai.1. A considerable district in EasternAfrica. It is situated between Abyssinia and theRed Sea. The inhabitants are black, and they pro-fess the Mohammedan religion. On the western frontieris the great plain, from which Abyssinia is entirelysupplied with salt, and the preparation of it forms theoccupation of the inhabitants of Dancali.

Dancing. The disposition to rhythm and mea-sured motion is deeply implanted in human nature.As soon as man, in a rude state, wishes to expresselevated feelings, whatever be their cause, joy, de-votion, or patriotism, he makes use of rhythm, ormeasured language, and the dance, or measuredmovements. This is the origin of the symbolical