552 DANUBE, CIRCLE OF THE
the middle ages, down to the time of Napoleon, theshores of the Danube have been the scene of mo-mentous conflicts. At Ulm the navigation of thisriver begins, and is continued to its mouth in fivedivisions, occasioned by political separations—fromUlm to Ratisbon, thence to Vienna, thence to Pest,thence to Belgrade, thence to Galacz, and Kilianova,where the river empties itself. The navigation isalmost entirely downwards, without the aid of sails oroars. Such vessels as move against the stream aredrawn by horses, five tons being allowed for eachhorse, if the river is not swollen. As the greaterpart of the vessels are only calculated to float down,and then to be sold as wood, they are of course littlebetter than rafts. The congress of Vienna, in 1815,declared the navigation of all the German rivers free ;but this freedom does not as yet exist, and the cus-tom lines of Wiirtemberg, Bavaria, and Austria,prevent the navigation of the Danube from attainingthe extent which it would easily reach if left free.From France, many goods are sent to Ulm, and fromthence to Turkey. At Pest, about 8000 vessels andrafts arrive annually. Austria subjects the navigationof the river to very oppressive restrictions. Thusthe boatmen from Ratisbon are only allow’ed to goto Vienna; and they are only allowed to take fromthence wine. In Vienna, these boatmen are incor-porated. Charlemagne entertained the grand ideaof uniting the Rhine and Danube, by a canal betweenthe Altmiihl and the Main, near Nuremberg. If thenavigation were free, the introduction of steam-boatswould be of the greatest advantage. See Devil’sWall.
Danube, Ciecle of the Upfer. One of thelargest divisions of Bavaria. It contains 4350 squaremiles, hnd has 470,000 inhabitants. The general ap-pearance of its surface is mountainous, and many largelakes and forests are found in various parts of it. Theprincipal rivers are the Danube, the lller, and theLech, but there are many other small ones besides.In the lower parts of the country are raised corn,hemp, and flax, but the principal employment of thepeasantry is the rearing of cattle. In the townsvarious manufactures are carried on, such as paper-making, weaving, &c.
Danube, Circle of the Lower. Another circleor division in Bavaria. It comprises an area of 4335square miles, and has a population of 397,000 persons.It possesses a great variety of beautiful scenery, andhas many large rivers passing through it, which renderit very fertile. The climate is mild, and the tracts ofcountry lying to the south of the Danube are so pro-ductive that they are called the granary of Bavaria.The inhabitants nave excellent breeds of horses, andare principally employed in agricultural pursuits.
Danube, Circle of the, in the Grand Duchy ofBaden. This circle is bordered on one side by Wiir-temberg, and on the other by Switzerland. It con-tains about 75,000 inhabitants, and the capital city isVillingen.
Daoudnagur. A town in India, in the provinceof Behar. It is built on the eastern banks of the riverSoane. This town was erected by Daoud Khan, thelast king of Bengal, in the beginning of the sixteenthcentury, and was formerly a place of considerableimportance. Lon. 84° 27' E., lat. 25° 6' N.
Daphne. A daughter of the river god Peneus,beloved by Apollo, by whose contrivance her lover,Leucippus, was slain. The nymph, deaf to the suit
UPPER — DARDANELLES.
of the god, and flying from him, besought the earthto swallow her up. According to some, she besoughther father or Jupiter to protect her. Her prayerwas heard ; for, at the moment when Apollo wasabout to encircle her in his arms, her flight wassuddenly arrested, her feet took root in the earthher arms became branches, and, instead of the nymph'Apollo embraced a laurel, which was thenceforthconsecrated to him.
Daphne was also the name of a daughter of Tiresias.She was priestess in the temple of Delphi.
Daphnis. The son of Mercury by a nymph. Hewas celebrated in the Sicilian traditions as the authorof Bucolic poetry, and also as a performer on theshepherd’s pipe. He pastured his kine upon MountlEtna. The nympth Echenais, who loved the youth,threatened him with blindness if he should loveanother; but, being intoxicated with wine by thedaughter of a Sicilian prince, he forgot her warnings,and thus brought upon himself the threatened punish-ment. Some say that he died of grief; others, thitthe nymph transformed him into a stone. All thenymphs bewailed his death, and Mercury raised himto the heavens. On the spot where he died flowed afountain, at which the Sicilians afterwards performedyearly sacrifices.
Darab Guierd. A town of Persia, in the pio-’vince of Kerman. It is remarkable for the beauty ofits situation, being seated on the banks of a broadriver, and surrounded by groves of lemon and orangetrees, and orchards producing the finest fruits, whichthe inhabitants export in large quantities to variousparts of Persia. The inhabitants amount to about15,000 persons, and it is 150 miles N. E. of Schiraz.Lon. 54° 15' E., lat. 29° 15' N.
Dardanelles are the four strong castles built onthe European and Asiatic coasts of the Hellespont,opposite to each other, and commanding that strait,which is about twelve leagues long, and called, fromthem, the Strait of the Dardanelles, so that they aregenerally considered as the key of Constantinople.Their name is probably derived from the old city ofDardanum. The entrance to the Hellespont is de-fended by two castles, which are called the newcastles, because they were built (subsequently to thetwo others, called the old castles,) in the middle ofthe seventeenth century, under Mohammed IV., toafford protection to the Turkish fleets against theVenetians. The distance of one from the other isabout two miles and a quarter. Four hours’ sailfarther to the north lie the old castles, built byMohammed II., immediately after the conquest ofConstantinople, which are not more than 1500 yardsapart. Farther on still the channel becomes narrower,and, at an hour and a half’s sail from the old castles,two promontories appear suddenly, about 750 yardsdistant one from the other, and form that strait ren-dered famous by Leander’s nightly visit to Hero, byXerxes’ bridge, and by Solyman’s passage upon abare raft. This is not provided with fortifications.It leads into the Sea of Marmora, at the north-eastern end of which lies the city of Constantinople,the capital of the Ottoman empire, upon anotherchannel, which connects the Black -Sea with the Seaof Marmora.
Lord Byron, in the month of March, 1810, swamfrom the castle of Sestos, in Europe, to the fort ofAbydos, in Asia, in company with lieutenant Eken-head, an English naval officer, and mentions the feat