Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/119

UMATILLA UMBRE 107 his followers entered the cave of Polyphemus, who devoured six of his companions. Ulysses made the giant drunk with wine, put out his one eye with a burning pole, and then tying himself and his companions under the bodies of the sheep, escaped when these were let out of the cave. Polyphemus implored his father Neptune to visit Ulysses with his vengeance, and the remainder of his voyage was constant- ly disturbed. Reaching the island of ^Eolus, Ulysses was presented by that deity on his de- parture with a bag containing the winds that were to bring him home ; but his followers opened the bag without his knowledge, the winds escaped, and the vessels were driven back to the island. After six days he reached the country of the cannibal Lsestrygones, from which he escaped with only one ship. Thence he sailed to ^Esea, inhabited by the sorceress Circe, who changed part of his followers into swine. Through the aid of Mercury he over- came her spells, and his companions resumed their human shape. Circe now treated them kindly, and by her advice Ulysses descended into Hades to consult the seer Tiresias. The prophet assured him that everything would turn out right if the herds of Helios in Trina- cria should be left unharmed. Returning to ^Esea, he was carried to the island of the sirens, but by filling the ears of his companions with wax and tying himself to the mast he passed them in safety. His ship then came between Scylla and Charybdis, and the monster Scylla carried off and devoured six of his companions. Coming to Trinacria, he was compelled by his companions to land. There they were detained by storms, and while he was sleeping some of the finest of the cattle of Helios, which they had sworn not to touch, were killed and eaten by his followers. As soon as they were again on the open sea, another storm arose, and the vessel was destroyed by lightning, all on board being drowned except Ulysses. He was car- ried to the island of Ogygia, inhabited by the nymph Calypso, who promised him immortali- ty and eternal youth if he would marry and remain with her. But after a stay of seven years he embarked on a raft, and reached Sche- ria, from which place he was sent to Ithaca in a ship, having been absent 20 years. He found his wife beset by suitors (see PENELOPE), all of whom he slew with the aid of Minerva and his son Telemachus. Of his later life and of his death there are different accounts. In one, his son Telegonus by Circe, being sent to look for his father, and being shipwrecked on Ithaca and beginning to plunder for the sake of obtaining food, was attacked by Ulysses and Telemachus, and in the contest that followed Telegonus slew his own father. CMATILLA, a N. E. county of Oregon, border- ing on Washington territory, bounded N. W. by the Columbia river and E. by the Blue mountains, and watered by the Umatilla river and other streams; area, 5,300 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 2,916, of whom 70 were ChineUe. The river valleys are fertile ; back of these are roll- ing prairies and high table lands covered with pasturage, and beyond these hills well wooded with pines. Gold is mined in the mountains and on the bars of the Columbia. Coal, cop- per, and iron are also found. The chief pro- ductions in 1870 were 28,209 bushels of wheat, 9,789 of Indian corn, 66,634 of oats, 11,782 of barley, 26,413 of potatoes, 97,564 Ibs. of wool, 72,730 of butter, and 3,394 tons of hay. There were 13,712 horses, 7,317 milch cows, 9,240 other cattle, 29,960 sheep, and 2,027 swine. Capital, Pendleton. UMBER* a pigment much used by artists for brown and grave colors. It is made from an argillaceous brown hematite having the for- mula 2FeaO3,3H 2 O, by roasting, pulverizing, and mixing it with variable proportions of clay or ochre, and sometimes with a little oxide of manganese, or it may be used alone. Ordinary roasting does not drive off all the water, and in this state it is called raw umber. When strongly heated it is completely dehydrated, and is called burnt umber. It is used both in oil and water colors, and is often mixed with other pigments. II9IBRE, a wading bird of the heron family, and genus scopua (Briss.). The bill is longer than the head, elevated at the base, compressed Tufted Timbre (Scopus umbretta). laterally, keeled above and below, and a little bent at the point ; the nostrils prolonged in a furrow ; third and fourth quills equal and long- est ; tail short and even ; tarsi longer than middle toe and scaled; front toes united by membrane to first phalanx, the hind one rest- ing wholly on the ground ; claws short and slightly curved. The only described species, the tufted umbre (S. umbretta, Gmel.), is 20 in. long, with a bill of 3 in. ; the color is a uniform umber brown, the wings and tail barred with darker ; the male has an occipital crest about 4 in. long, of loose feathers. It is a native of Africa.