Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/625

J A S J A U 597 line to Unghani with that of Russia. The town is governed by a mayor and council. Its income is to a considerable extent derived from a tax on the wines. The inscription by which the existence of a Jassiorum munieiphim in the time of the Roman empire is sought to be proved lies open to grave suspicion ; but the town is mentioned as early as the 14th century, and probably does derive its name from the Jassians, or Jazygians, who accompanied the Cumanian invaders. About 1504 it was made the capital of Moldavia, instead of Suczava, by Alex ander Lapusnenu. It was reduced to ashes by Sultan Sohman in 1538, and by Sobicski in 1686. By the peace of Jassy the second Russo-Turkish war was brought to a close in 1792. A Greek insurrection under Ypsilanti in 1821 led to the storming of the town by the Turks in 1822. In 1844 there was a severe conflagra tion. For the loss caused to the town in 1861 by the removal of the seat of government to Bucharest the constituent assembly voted 148,150, to be paid in ten annual instalments, but no payment has been made. JASZ--BERKNT, a corporate town of Hungary, and formerly capital of the Jaszsag (Jazygia) district (since 1876 incorporated with the Cis-Tisian county of Jasz- Nagy-Kun-Szolnok), is pleasantly situated on both banks of the Zagyva, crossed there by a stone bridge, and on the, Hatvan-Szolnok line of railway, 39 miles east of Budapest, 47 29 N. lat., 19 57 E. long. It is the seat of a royal court of law and a circuit court, and has several churches, one of which is large and handsome, a Franciscan monas tery, a Roman Catholic gymnasium, a high school, a guard house, and an elegant to.vn-h-ill, in which are preserved archives of considerable importance. In the centre of the town the channels of the Zagyva form two islands, which are planted with trees and laid out as promenades. On one of these stands a marble bust erected (1797) in honour of the Palatine Archduke Joseph. Not far from the same place are the ruins of a fortress, where it is popularly believed that Attila, king of the Huns, was buried (453). The inhabitants of the town and neigh bourhood are much engaged in agricultural pursuits and in pasturing horses, cattle, and sheep on the vast communal lands. Fairs are periodically held in the town, and the trade in field produce, fruit, grain, and cattle is generally brisk. The population at the end of 1880 amounted to 21,781, chiefly Magyars by nationality, and Roman Catholics by creed. JATIVA, or SAN FELIPE DE JATIVA, according to the old orthography XATIVA, a city of Spain in the province of Valencia, is picturesquely situated on the margin of a beautiful and fertile huerta or plain, at the foot of an overhanging eminence, on the right bank of the Albaida, a tributary of the Jiicar. The principal public building is the collegiate church, begun in 1414 ; it has a fine dome. There are three parish churches besides, and twelve religious houses, also a hospital. The manufactures of the place are unimportant, and its trade purely local. The popula tion in 1877 was 14,534. _ Jativn, the Ssetabis of Pliny and Martial, was celebrated in the time of the Romans for its linen manufactures. It was then known also as Valeria Augusta. It is believed to have been of Phoenician origin. During the time of the Moors, who knew how to utilize its fine situation and fertile neighbourhood, it enjoyed great prosperity. It was taken in 1224 by Jaime I. of Valencia; and in 1347 it received the rank of a city. In the succession war it sustained a long siege with great firmness and bravery, and, when taken at last, recsived from its captors the name of San Felipe. Jativa was the birthplace of the painter Kibera (1588), and to it also the historical family of the Borgias or Borjas originally belonged. JATS, an Indian people estimated to form two-fifths of the entire population of the Punjab and half that of the Rajput states. They are also widely spread through Sind, Baluchistan, and the North-Western Provinces. Their traditions indicate an immigration from Ghazni or Kandahar, but writers of authority have identified them with the ancient Getae, 1 and there is strong reason to ] See article INDIA, vol. xii. p. 789. believe them a degraded tribe of Rajputs, whose Scythic origin has also been maintained. Dr Trumpp, 2 however, regards them as the first Aryan settlers in the valley of the Indus, and their language strongly favours this view. The Jataki, or Jat vernacular, retained by them with singular tenacity, is a variety of Sindhi, and a pure Sanskrit tongue, exhibiting unusually early grammatical forms. Hindu legends point to a prehistoric occupation of the Indus valley by this people, and at the time of the Mahometan conquest of Sind (712 A.D.) they, with a cognate tribe called Meds, constituted the bulk of the population. They enlisted under the banners of Mohammed Kasim, but at a later date offered a vigorous resistance to the Arab invaders. In 836 they were overthrown by Amran, who imposed on them a tribute of dogs, and used their arms to vanquish the Meds. In 1025, however, they had gathered audacity, not only to invade Mansura, and compel the abjuration of the Mussulman emir, but to attack the victorious army of Mahmud, laden with the spoil of Somnath. Chastisement duly ensued : a formidable flotilla, collected at Mill tan, shattered in thousands the comparatively defenceless Jat boats on the Indu=, and annihilated their national preten sions. In recent times the valour of the race showed itself in the two sieges of Bhartpur, the seat of a Jat dynasty, in 1805 and 1826, and has long been conspicuous in the military qualities of the Sikhs. They are a migratory stock. We hear of early Jat settlements on the shores of the Persian Gulf; there was in the 9th century a Jat quarter in Aritioch ; and a colony established in the Chaldaean marshes defied during twenty-four years the power of the caliphs, and was finally vanquished and deported to the Cilician frontier in 834. The Jilts are now mainly agriculturists and cattle breeders, rearing with extraordinary skill and care large flocks of camels, in the Mekran and the desert tracts of Sind. In their settlements on the Gauges and Jumna, extending as far east as Bareilly, they are divided into two great clans, the Dhe and the Hele ; while in the Punjab there are said to be one hundred different tribes. Their religion varies with locality. East of the Ravi they profess a modified Brahmanism, discard ing the restrictions of caste ; in the Punjab they have largely embraced Sikh tenets ; while in Sind and Balu chistan they are Mahometans. They are in general a harmless, industrious people, preserving in songs and legends the memory of better times. Under favourable conditions, however, old predatory habits revive, and their wandering instinct leads them, in the guise of itinerant traders, far into Central Asia. Indeed, there is plausible though not conclusive evidence that the Gipsies owned them as progenitors. 3 In appearance they are not ill-favoured, though extremely dark ; they have good teeth, and large beards, sometimes stained with indigo. Their inferiority of social position, however, to some extent betrays itself in their aspect, and tends to be perpetuated by their intel lectual apathy. JAUBERT, PIERRE AMEDEE EMILIEN PROBE (1779- 1847), French Orientalist, was born at Aix in Provence, June 3, 1779. He was one of the most distinguished pupils of the Orientalist Silvestre de Sacy, whose funeral Discours he pronounced in 1838. Jaubert acted as inter preter to Napoleon in Egypt in 1798-99, and on his return to Paris held various posts under Government. In 1802 he accompanied Sebastiani on his Eastern mission ; and in 1804 he was with General Brune at Constantinople. Next year he was despatched to Persia to arrange an - Zeitschrift d. Deutsch. Morg. GeseUschaft, xv. p. 690, and " Die heutige Bevolkerung des Panjab," in Miitheilungen d. anthrojioL Gesellsch. in Wien, 1872. 3 See GIPSIES, vol. x. p. 617; also Edhiburrjh Review, No. 303. p. 131.