Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/660

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656 DAMAUN DAMIETTA sists in cutting the metal deep with a graver, and filling the groove with thick wire of gold or silver. In this way the wire adheres very strongly. The more common process is super- ficial only. For this, the metal is heated to a blue color; it is then hatched with a knife, and the figure desired is drawn with a fine brass bodkin upon the hatching. This done, a gold wire is conducted according to the pat- tern designed, and sunk carefully into the metal with a copper tool. Of late a method is in practice of eating out a cavity for the precious metal by means of acid. The art was carried to great perfection in Damascus, whence its name. Its invention is attributed by Herodo- tus to Glaucus of Chios. DAMAUN, or Daman, a seaport of India, on the coast of N. Concan, belonging to the Por- tuguese, situated at the mouth of the Damaun river, on the gulf of Cambay, 82 m. N. of Bombay; pop. about 6,000. It has a fine ap- pearance from the sea, and has several church- es, convents, and Parsee temples, but the streets are narrow and dirty. The river has a bar at its mouth, with 18 feet of water at high tide. Ship building is carried on to some extent. The Portuguese sacked and burned the town in 1531, and in 1558 took formal possession of it. The territory which they hold has an area of 155 sq. in. ; pop. in 1866, 40,980. DAMBOOL, or Dambolo, a village in the island of Ceylon, 40 m. N. of Candy, with an im- mense rock about a mile distant, rising 550 ft. above the plain, and called Damboollagalla. On its S. side, 100 ft. from the summit, are five very remarkable caves, ornamented with im- ages of Buddha and other deities, in which the Ceylonese monarch Walogambahu concealed himself during an invasion of the Malabars, about 100 B. C. In gratitude for the protection afforded, he converted the caves into Buddhist temples. Images of the god were placed there, priests appointed to conduct the worship, and the revenues of certain lands set apart for their support ; and the service is still kept up. In one of the caves is a colossal statue of Buddha hewn out of the rock ; a long inscription in another is interesting for the information it conveys concerning the government of Ceylon during the 12th century. DA.MER, Anne Seymour, an English sculptor, only child of Field Marshal Conway, born in 1748, died May 28, 1828. She imbibed an early love for literature, and was celebrated for her accomplishments. In 176V she was married to John Darner, who killed himself in 1776. She then turned her attention to sculpture, took lessons from Ceracchi and Bacon, and went to Italy to prosecute the art. She was also an excellent amateur actress. The productions of her chisel are numerous and admired. Among them are a bust of Nelson in the Guildhall, two colossal heads on Henley bridge, and a statue of George III. DAMIANI, Pietro, an Italian prelate and saint of the Roman Catholic church, born in Raven- na about 1000, died at Faenza, Feb. 22, 1072. While young he entered the monastery of Font' Avellana, of which he became abbot in 1041, and in 1057, greatly against his own will, was raised by Pope Stephen IX. to the rank of cardinal-bishop of Ostia. He persuaded the simoniacal Benedict X. and the antipope Cada- lous to lay aside their pretensions ; he vigor- ously supported the reforms of which Hilde- brand (Gregory VII.) was the prime mover, and he was in consequence persecuted by the disorderly clergy of Milan, to whom he was sent as legate. In '1062 he withdrew to his solitude at Font' Avellana, but the next year was sent to France by Alexander II. to investi- gate the charges of simony against the French clergy. In 1069 he went on a mission to Ger- many to oppose the application of Henry IV. for a divorce, and succeeded in dissuading that sovereign from his intentions. In 1071 he left his monastery again to restore order in Raven- na, the archbishop of which city had been ex- communicated. There are many editions of his writings, comprising sermons, lives of saints, treatises on church affairs, and a work on the abuses of the clergy. DAMIENS, Robert Francois, a French regicide, born near Arras in 1714, executed in Paris, March 28, 1757. His character was of the worst description. While a child he was called Robert le Diable on account of his wickedness. He twice enlisted as a soldier, but deserted ; afterward robbed one of his employers, and -fled to Belgium in 1756, where he formed the design of assassinating Louis XV. for political reasons, as he himself alleged, though the pop- ular impression was that he was incited by the Jesuits. He stabbed the king at Trianon on Jan. 5, 1757, was seized and tortured, and final- ly drawn asunder by horses. He died without disclosing his accomplices, if he had any. DAMIETTA (Arab. Damiat ; anc. Tamiathis), a town of Lower Egypt, on the right bank of the E. branch of the Nile, 6 m. from its mouth, and 100 m. N. N. E. of Cairo ; pop. in 1871, 28,913, of whom 50 were foreigners. Its general appearance is that of a straggling collection of poorly built houses, relieved by magnificent mosques, bazaars, and marble baths, with a few brick dwellings of a better sort on terraces near the river. It has a mili- tary school for 400 military officers, founded by Mehemet Ali, a cotton-spinning factory, a large rice mill, and a good coasting and in- terior trade in dried and salted fish from Lake Menzaleh, rice, coffee, beans, dates, flax, linen, &c. It was once famous for the manufacture of leather and striped cloth, and the name of dimity is supposed to be derived from it. Its foreign commerce was formerly large, but is now merged in that of Alexandria. Its harbor is bad, and is inaccessible to large vessels, owing to a bar at the mouth of the Nile. The ancient town of Damietta stood about 5 m. nearer the sea than the present. Under the Saracens it rose to great importance, and UltJ the