them at Saltcatchers, defeated them, and drove | them beyond the Savannah, when they retired to Florida. Three years later they made a raid into South Carolina, and were again defeated. After this they are scarcely mentioned in English accounts, but the Spanish notices indicate that they retired to the Creeks. They are thus identified with the Shawnee band which afterward moved north to the Ohio, and from which Tecumseh sprung.

YEMEN, a province of the Turkish empire, in Arabia, bounded, N. by Hedjaz and the desert, E. by the desert and Hadramaut, S. by the gulf of Aden, and W. by the Red sea; pop., according to Turkish authorities, about 2,250,000. The coast line, which is about 750 m. long, is bordered with coral reefs, within which is good anchorage. These sometimes form islands, of which the largest is Farsan. A range of mountains, the continuation of the Hedjaz chain, extends through Yemen from N. to S., 20 to 50 m. from the coast, dividing it into the Tehama, or lowland between the mountains and the sea, and the Jebel, a mountainous plateau E. of the chain. The Tehama is a flat sandy desert, with scarcely any vegetation except where watered by mountain torrents. Rain falls there only at intervals of several years, and the climate is intensely hot. The mountains, which rise abruptly from the lowlands, enclose valleys of great fertility and beauty, and their slopes are covered with luxuriant forests. The table land has an estimated general elevation of 4,000 ft., but some of the peaks are from 5,000 to 6,000 ft. high. Jebel Sabir, near Taiz, one of the highest, is an immense mass of volcanic rocks, covered with groves and verdure nearly to its summit; the Arabs assert that all the herbs of the earth grow on its slopes. Numerous villages are perched among its cliffs, and within its precints are said to be more than 100 independent sheikhs. Water is abundant in the highlands in the rainy season, which lasts from June to September, but in the hot season most of the streams are dry. Few of the rivers reach the sea; among them are the Laa, Heidan, and Kebir on the W. coast, and the Aden, Bonna, and Meran on the S. coast. Several large streams flow toward the interior, and are probably lost in the desert. The Kharid, supposed to be identical with a river mentioned by Strabo, which the Roman army crossed before entering the Sabæan territory, is more than 120 m. long, and flows N. E. from the mountains N. of Sana. The Shibwan or Dana, further S., pursues a similar course, and waters the plain in which is Mareb or Marib, the ancient Mariaba, the capital of the Himyaritic kingdom of Saba, the supposed Sheba of the Bible. Near it are the remains of the great dike, built, as is supposed, about 1750 B. C. This immense work was constructed at a place where two mountains approach each other, was two miles long and 120 ft. high, and was of cut stones secured by metal clasps and cemented with

bitumen. The surrounding country, irrigated with the waters from this reservoir, was very fertile and sustained a vast population; and the catastrophe of the bursting of the dike, which is generally placed some time after the Christian era, marks an epoch in Arab history. The plain, from which the flood swept the ancient city, now contains but a few small villages inhabited by shepherd Bedouins. In the highlands the art of irrigation is still carried to a perfection unknown in other parts of Arabia. Artificial canals are built to convey the waters of the mountain torrents to the plains, and cisterns are constructed on all the cultivated slopes. When these are exhausted water is drawn from wells in the valleys and carried up the hills in skin bags on donkeys. Trees, grass, and cultivated fields exist wherever water can be procured. In the valleys the villages are embellished with gardens and palm groves, and most of the fertile slopes and even steep mountain sides are covered with coffee plantations, rising in terraces sometimes to a height of 3,000 ft. above the sea; higher up the cultivation of the tree is unprofitable. From these plantations comes the celebrated Mocha coffee. Khat (celastrus edulis), a small shrub the leaves of which resemble the willow, and when dried taste something like tea, is also cultivated extensively; the Arabs chew it as a stimulant. Wheat, barley, rice, and durra yield in abundance. Among the fruits are the date, fig, tamarind, grape, peach, apricot, and pomegranate. The banana, mangosteen, and other Indian fruits have been introduced and naturalized. Melons grow in great variety and abundance, and constitute in their season a large part of the food of the people. Many leguminous plants, carrots, radishes, lettuce, and other vegetables are cultivated, and aromatic herbs and flowers grow in profusion. The trees yielding gums and balsamic resins are more numerous here than in any other part of the globe. Wild animals are few; but the panther, hyæna, wolf, jackal, fox, wild boar, wild dog, and monkey are sometimes found in the mountains. Singing birds frequent the groves. There are many kinds of lizards, and the land tortoise is common. The principal domestic animals are the camel, ass, sheep, and goat. Horses are imported from Nedjed, and cattle from Nubia and India.-Yemen is divided into the livas or districts of Sana, Asir, Taiz, and Hodeida. Sana has succeeded Hodeida as the capital of Yemen. The chief coast towns are Hodeida, Jezan, Loheia, and Mocha. Aden, on the S. coast, and the island of Perim belong to Great Britain. The principal inland towns, besides Sana, are Żebid and Beit el-Fakih in the Tehama, Dhamar, Taiz, Mahail, El-Hauta in Lahej, Khamir, Khaiwan, Saadeh, and Abu Arish. There are many small walled towns, and several strong fortresses, the principal of which are El-Atarah in the Harraz mountains, and Kokaban, 18 m. W. of Sana. At Zebid is a school for the Sunnis,

present include these in conifera, as a very distinct subfamily or tribe, the taxinea. This subfamily includes, besides the yew, Torreya, Salisburia or gingko, and cephalotaxus, with a few other rarer genera. The yews are trees of medium size, with evergreen leaves, which are linear, flat, rigid, pointed at the apex, and

Yew (Taxus baccata).

mostly arranged in two rows. The flowers, usually dioecious, but sometimes monoecious, are axillary from scaly buds; the sterile aments are small, globular, and consist of a few stamens, each with three to eight anther cells beneath a shield-like scale (connective); the fertile flowers are solitary, and consist of merely a naked ovule, erect and sessile upon a ringlike disk, beneath which are several scaly bracts; after the ovule is fertilized and begins to develop into a seed, the disk upon which it is placed begins to grow, becoming cup-shaped, and gradually covering the ovule, and by the time the nut-like seed is ripe the disk has enclosed it, except a small opening at the top, and at the same time become fleshy, appearing like a pulpy (usually) red berry, which gives the specific name T. baccata. The common yew is a most variable tree, and in its typical form is known in this country as the English yew, though it is found all over central and in the mountains of southern Europe, and in Siberia, on the Himalaya, and in other parts of Asia; it presents numerous varieties, one of which is North American. The tree, though living to a great age, is seldom more than 30 ft. high, with a wide spread of branches and a very thick trunk; in England are many specimens remarkable for their age and great size, some now living being estimated at from 700 to 1,000 years or more old; biographies of a number of these are given by Loudon in his Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum; one of the finest is the Darley yew, in the churchyard of Darley in Derbyshire; this has the unusual height of 55 ft. with a spread of branches of 70 ft.; the

trunk is 19 ft. 3 in. in diameter, and its age, as estimated from the diameter, over 1,300 years. The wood of the yew is very heavy, fine-grained, elastic, and durable; the heart wood is of a fine orange red or a deep brown, and the sap wood, which is very hard, is pure white, with different shades where the two join, and both are susceptible of a fine polish. Specimens containing the two are used for ornamental cabinet work, a purpose for which the wood is much employed; tables and other work made from it are considered more beautiful than those of mahogany; it is employed in the form of veneers, and used solid for various articles of turnery; its great strength adapts it for axle trees and other work where this quality is required; when set in the ground for fence and gate posts, it is practically indestructible, and it is never attacked by insects. Before firearms were introduced yow was in great request for bows, and various laws were enacted to preserve a supply of the material for military puposes; it has been suggested that the general planting of the tree in churchyards was for this reason, but it is more probable that, on account of the longevity of the tree, it was used by the Celtic priests as an emblem of immortality. In the ancient style of gardening, when trees were clipped into unnatural forms, the yew was a favorite subject for topiary work; at present it is used in England for screens and in groups, but its association with graveyards is still regarded by some as an objection

Yew Tree at Darley, Derbyshire, England.

to planting it as an ornamental tree. In this country it is not hardy in the northern states. The leaves are poisonous to man, and cattle have been killed by eating them; but the berries are generally regarded as harmless, though ill effects have been ascribed to them. The tree has produced many sports, and the lists

of the European nurserymen give numerous varieties, differing in habit and color.-Our native yew, formerly regarded as a distinct species, taxus Canadensis, is now placed as var. Canadensis of T. baccata, and is known as the American yew, but more generally as the ground hemlock; its stem is prostrate and trails upon the ground or runs just below the surface, the branches straggling, ascending, and rarely more than 3 or 4 ft. high; in some localities it forms the principal undergrowth, and presents a pleasing mass of vivid green. Sometimes the branches grow in a circle, with an open space in the centre, as regularly as if they had been trained; in cultivation the fertile plant, with its abundant scarlet fruit in contrast with the dark green of the foliage, is a most beautiful object. Another variety (var. fastigiata), known as the Irish yew, has erect branches, and has proved in this country more hardy than the type. The yellow-berried yew differs only in the color of its fruit. The upright yew (var. erecta) is more hardy than the species. There are several dwarf, weeping, and variegated forms, among which there is none so beautiful as the golden yew (var. variegata aurea), in which the young growth in spring has its leaves edged with a bright golden yellow; there is also a silver-leaved variety, more hardy than the species, and producing a brilliant effect when planted in contrast with other evergreens. The Florida yew is a tree 10 to 20 ft. high, growing in middle and western Florida; it has very narrow, distinctly petioled, pointed leaves, which are revolute on the margins; it is not known to be hardy in more northern | localities. The western yew of the Pacific coast (T. brevifolia) is found from Vancouver island to nearly the southern boundary of California, especially on the Sierra Nevada; it grows from 50 to 75 ft. high; some have regarded it as a form of the European yew, from which it mainly differs in its narrower, shorter, and thinner leaves, which are abruptly pointed, and have distinct petioles; it differs from the yew of the east in always assuming a tree-like form; its wood resembles that of the European yew; this is called T. Lindleyana in some English works. The Mexican yew, T. globosa, is a small tree with somewhat curved leaves, ending in a stiff, sharp point. This with two from Japan completes the list of species. The yews are propagated both by sowing the seed and by cuttings.

YEZDEGERD, or Isdigerd, the name of three Persian kings of the Sassanian dynasty.-Yezdegerd I. reigned from A. D. 399 to about 420. He maintained peace abroad, although the condition of the empire was favorable to the renewal of hostilities with Rome. He alternately persecuted the Magians and the Christians, according to changes in his own views, and few sovereigns have been more generally execrated.-Yezdegerd II. reigned from about 440 to 457. He declared war against the Romans

and invaded their territory, but accepted proposals for peace from Theodosius II. After a nine years war with the Ephthalites, a Tartar tribe on his N. frontier, he expelled their monarch. He compelled the Armenians by force of arms to accept Zoroastrianism; their patriarch Joseph and other bishops were martyred. In an expedition against the insurgent Ephthalites Yezdegerd was drawn into an ambush and defeated, and soon after died.-Yezdegerd III., born about 617, reigned from 632 to 651. He at once had to contend with the Moslem invaders. In 636 was fought the battle of Cadesia (Kadisiyeh), lasting four days, in which the Persians were defeated and their renowned general Rustam was slain. In 637 Ctesiphon, the Persian capital, fell into the hands of the Arabs, and at Jalula soon after the Mohammedans were again victorious. In 641 Yezdegerd collected at Nehavend an army of 150,000 men, but, outwitted by Noman, a general of the caliph Omar, was defeated by a much inferior force. This battle overthrew the Sassanian power. Yezdegerd lived ten years a fugitive, and was at last slain by one of his own former subjects. (See SASSANIDE, and PERSIA.)

YEZO, or Yesso, formerly the name of the uncivilized part of Japan above lat. 38° N., now of one of the four large islands of Japan, between lat. 41° 24′ and 45° 31' N., and lon. 139° 40′ and 146° 7' E., separated from Saghalien or Karafto on the north by La Pérouse strait, and on the south from the main island of Japan by the narrow strait of Tsugaru; extreme length, 290 m.; breadth, 245 m.; estimated area, about 30,000 sq. m.; pop. about 125,000. The coast is bold and rocky, but indented with several good harbors. The surface generally is mountainous, with many volcanoes, solfataras, and hot springs. There are some small lakes and numerous mountain torrents. The principal river is the Ishikari, rising near the middle of the N. part of the island and flowing S. W. about 165 m. to Strogonoff bay. Bears, wolves, deer, and all kinds of sea fowl abound. The principal producions are coal, petroleum, salt, sulphur, timber (of which 33 valuable kinds are found), deer skins, dried fish, and fish oil. The population, including some Chinese, Europeans, and Americans, is settled chiefly in the south. The north is thinly inhabited by Ainos, who number about 20,000, living in a few fishing villages. The interior was entirely unsettled and unexplored till the present government took steps for colonizing the island, employing Americans, who have explored a great part of the country, built roads, laid out farms, and introduced stock and seeds from the United States. The chief towns are Hakodate (Hakodadi), Matsumaë, Esashi, and Sapporo. (See JAPAN.)

YOKOHAMA (Jap., Cross Strand), a seaport city on the E. side of the main island of Japan, on the W. shore of the bay of Yedo, 15 m. S. by W. of Tokio (Yedo); lat. 35° 26' N., lon. 139°