Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 03.djvu/406

LEFT DIAZ 862 mCENTEA Council. Diaz commanded the operations that stopped the Austro-Germans at the Piave, after they had taken 300,000 pris- oners and occupied 4,000 square miles of Italian territory. General Diaz con- tinued as commander-in-chief to the end of the war, DIAZ, or DIAS, BARTOLOMETJ, a Portuguese navigator of noble birth who flourished during the latter half of the 15th century- In August, 1486, the king gave him the command of two vessels with a view to following up the discover- ies already made by Portuguese on the W. coast of Africa. Diaz soon reached the limit which had been attained in South Atlantic navigation, and first touched land in 26° S. lat. Driven by a violent storm, he sailed round the S. ex- tremity of Africa without immediately realizing the fact, and discovered Algoa Bay. The discontent of his crew com- pelled him to return; and arriving in Lisbon, December, 1487, he was at first greeted with enthusiasm, but soon saw Vasco da Gama preferred before him, and was compelled to act under the latter in the expedition of 1497. Three years after, he joined the expedition of Cabral, the discoverer of Brazil, but was lost in a storm May 29, 1500. DIAZ, POBFimO (de'ath), a Mexi- can statesman; born in Oaxaca, Sept. 15, PORFIRIO DIAZ 1830; received a classical education at the Oaxaca Institute, and had begun studying law when the war with the United States broke out; served through that struggle in the National Guard, and on the conclusion of peace made a study of military science. On Santa Ana's accession to the dictatorship, he left the army and practiced law, but returned and bore a conspicuous part in the revolution of 1854; took the field to oppose the French troops and was taken prisoner, but made his escape; harassed Maximil- ian's troops till forced to surrender a sec- ond time at Oaxaca in 1865; besieged and captured Puebla in 1867, and immediately marched on Mexico City, which surren- dered to him June 21. On the re-establish- ment of the republic he was an unsuccess- ful candidate for president. In 1872 and 1876 he led revolutions against the gov- ernment, and occupied the capital in the latter year. In 1877 he was elected pres- ident. According to the "plan of Tuxte- pec," which he had proclaimed, he was ineligible to succeed himself. His sec- retary, General Gonzales, was elected president, and General Diaz was ap- pointed Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court, and elected governor of Oaxaca. In 1884 he was re-elected president; in 1886 his partisans secured the abolition of the law prohibiting a second consec- utive presidential term, and he was there- after continuously re-elected for seven consecutive terms. He abdicated May 22, 1911, and died in July 1915. DIAZ DEL CASTILLO, BERNAL (de'ath del kas-te yo), a Spanish chron- icler of the conquest of Mexico; born about 1498; died in Mexico about 1593. His "True History of the Discovery and Conquest of New Spain" was published at Madrid in 1632. DIBRANCHIATA, an order of cephal- opods characterized by the possession of two gills only, and by the fact that the shell, if external, as is rarely the case, is never chambered. It includes the cut- tlefishes, squids, and paper nautilus. The order contains two sections, octopoda and decapoda. DICE (plural of die), small cubes of ivory marked on their sides with black dots, from one to six. The points on the opposite sides of the dice should always sum seven — i. e., ace should be opposite to six (pronounced size) ; deuce to cinque (pronounced sanke) ; and trey to quatre (pronounced kater). The invention of dice is attributed to Palamedes (circa 1244 B. C). DICENTRA, a genus of plants, order Funiarmceae, tribe Fumariex. Cucul- laria has been employed as a medicine to expel intestinal worms, and as an emmen- agogue. It is a tree growing in Brazil and Guiana. ,,.