Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/495

EL-ARAISH brownish gray, with a white space between the fore legs. The name of eland, or elk, is applied to this as well as to several other species of deer and antelope by the Dutch colonists of Africa and the Indian archipelago, and is apparently indiscriminately given to any large hollow-horned ruminant; the animal called eland by recent travellers and hunters in south Africa is in most cases the first described spe- cies, and probably sometimes the second, as both are found in the same districts, though the herds do not intermingle ; they may be the same animal at different ages. These animals are gentle and readily domesticated ; but though strong, the shoulders do not possess that solid- ity which renders common domesticated cattle so valuable. The first specimens brought alive to Europe were received in England in 1842 ; they all died except one, but others have been imported and the herd has increased rapidly. The first one was killed for the table in 1859 ; it was five years old, and weighed 1^176 Ibs., " huge as a short-horn, but with bone not half the size." The meat resembles beef, with a venison flavor, and has a fineness of fibre and a delicacy of fat which place it high on the list of choice and nutritious articles of food. They are to be seen now in many of the zoological gardens of Europe. EL-ARAISH, or Al-Arish, also called LAEAOHE, a fortified town of Morocco, capital of theprovince of Azgar, on the Atlantic coast, 45 m. S. S. W. of Tangier ; pop. about 5,000. It is built on two hills on the southern bank of the wady El-Khos or Luccos, is surrounded by walls, and contains an exchange, a bazaar, a fine mosque, and a di- lapidated castle occupied by the governor of the province. The fortified harbor is about J m. wide and 1 m. long, with an average depth of 24 ft. The exports consist mainly of grain, wool, hides, beans, and cork. The beautiful orchards and pleasure gardens from which it derives its name are suffering from neglect, though some olives and oranges are cultivated. The town stands probably on the site of the ancient Lixus, on the river of the same name, but only a few Koman ruins have been dis- covered here. Opposite, on the right bank of the wady El-Khos, are the ruins of the Phoeni- cian colony Lex or Lix (Arabic, Teshemis), and several tombstones with Phoenician in- scriptions have recently been found. The won- derful island and gardens of the Hesperides were located by the ancients at the mouth of this river, which accordingly sometimes re- ceived the name of Hesperides. The island now found here is about 600 ft. long and 120 ft. wide. The town was occupied by the Portu- guese during the 17th century, and became the centre of a large export trade in African pro- duce. In 1829 the Austrian fleet destroyed here the pirate fleet of Morocco. EL-ARISH, or Kalat el-Arish, a fortified town in Lower Egypt, on the Mediterranean near the mouth of the wady El-Arish ; pop. about 2,000. It is the frontier town between Egypt and ELASMOSAURIANS 487 Syria, and as such a great centre of inland traffic between the two countries. Since the construction of railways through the Delta it has lost much of its maritime importance. The fortifications are insignificant. At this place stood the ancient Rhinocorura or Rhinocolura, an Egyptian penal colony, which is said to have derived its name from the convicts having their noses cut off. Baldwin I., king of Jeru- salem, returning from his Egyptian expedition, fell sick and died here in 1118. The French defeated here the Turks, captured the town, and reduced the fort in February, 1799. The place was retaken by the grand vizier in De- cember. The convention for the evacuation of Egypt by the French was concluded here, Jan. 24, 1800, between Gen. Kleber, Sir Sid- ney Smith, and the grand vizier. KL4SMOSAURIA1YS, a genus of gigantic ma- rine saurians, of the cretaceous epoch, whose remains have been found especially in New Jersey. These, with the huge mosasaurus, the Eestoration of an Elasmosaurian. pythonomorphs of Prof. Cope, were the sea- serpents of the close of the mesozoic age. They seem to have combined the features of serpents, lizards, and plesiosaurians, and to have resem- bled the varanidcz of the tropics of the old world more than any other living type. The elasmosaurus, with the allied cimoliasaurus, both found in New Jersey but not elsewhere in America, and in England, were reptilian whales ; the latter genus resembled the plesio- saurus, while the former had an enormously long and flattened tail; in both, the zygapo- physes or processes connecting the vertebral arches, are very oblique, with their articular faces turned opposite to that which prevails among vertebrates generally. The E. platyu- rus had vertebra nearly as large as those of an elephant ; the bulk was whale-like, the neck long and flexible, the paddles short, and the tail serpent-like ; skull light, with long, narrow, and flat muzzle ; nostrils or spout holes near