Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/267

LEFT TABLATURE 223 TABORITES music of Asiatic nations to this day, were different sorts of tablature. That which may be called the modern tablature was invented not earlier than the 16th cen- tury. In England tablature was em- ployed for all stringed instruments, the number of lines employed being regu- lated by the number of strings the in- strimient possessed. Tablature for wind instruments was expressed by dots on a stave of 6, 7, or 8 lines, according to the number of holes in the instrument, the number of dots signifying the num- ber of holes to be stopped by the fingers. Organ tablature was a system of writing the notes without the stave by means of letters. Thus, the several octaves were called great, little, 1 and 2-line octaves, according to the style of letter employed to indicate them. The name has also been applied to figured bass. TABLE-LAND, in physical geography, a plateau; a plain existing at some con- siderable elevation above the sea. Vol- canic rocks often make such table-lands, as in central India; so do limestones. Or a sea bed or a lake bed, or a great stretch of country, may be upheaved. The chief table-lands are in the Old World, extensive, low-lying plains rather than table-lands characterizing the New. One occupies about half the surface of Asia, being 5,500 miles from E. to W., and from 700 to 2,000 miles from N. to S. In Europe there are table-lands in parts of Switzerland, France, Spain, and Bavaria. African table-lands exist in Morocco, Abyssinia, the region of the Victoria Nyanza, etc. In North America there are plateaux along the Pacific, Labrador, etc., and in South America, in Brazil and the adjacent countries. TABLE MOUNTAIN, a mountain in Pickens co., S. C; height, 4,000 feet. Also a mountain of South Africa, S. of Table Bay, its highest point being right over Cape Town. It is about 3,500 feet high and level on the top. It joins the Devil's Mount on the E., and the Sugar Loaf or Lion's Head on the W. TABOO, or TABTT, from tapu, a Polynesian word, denoting an institution which was formerly in existence through- out Polynesia and New Zealand, but has now to a large extent disappeared before the spread of Christianity and civiliza- tion. The word signifies something set apart, either as consecrated or accursed, the idea of prohibition being conveyed in either case, whence the English word, tabooed, i. e., forbidden. For example, in New Zealand the person of a chief was strictly taboo, and hence might not be touched; while the volcano Tongariro was taboo as being the supposed resi- dence of demons, and even to look on it was at one time forbidden. The system seems to have had its origin in a super- stitious dread of the unseen powers of evil, and the chiefs, quick to perceive the power which it would place in their hands, appear to have adopted it from remote times as a political engine, the priests readily co-operating with them for the sake of the influence which it gave them likewise. The chiefs were themselves amenable to the regulations of the taboo, but in a much less degree than their subjects, and possessed a wide discretionary power, which was limited only by precedent, of declaring objects to be taboo. The taboo could be removed only by the person by whom it was im- posed, or by one greatly his superior in rank, but courtesy usually kept the latter power in abeyance. So potent was the superstition, that Scherzer states that among the Maories even hostile tribes were in the habit of leaving unharmed all persons and things protected by the taboo. The idols, temples, persons, and names of tiie king were taboo (or sacred), and almost everything offered in sacrifice was taboo to the use of the gods. The prohibitions and requisitions of the taboo were strictly enforced, and every breach of them punished with death, unless the delinquent had power- ful friends who were either priests or chiefs. TABOR, a small shallow drum used to accompany the pipe and beaten by the fingers. The old English tabor was hung round the neck, and beaten with a stick held in the right hand, while the left hand was occupied in fingering a pipe. The pipe and tabor were the ordinary accompaniment of the morris dance. TABOR, MOTTNT, a solitary elevation on the N. E. border of the plain of Esdraelon. It is remarkable for the symmetry of its form, which resembles a truncated cone, from certain points appearing almost hemispherical. The top measures about half a mile across, and is about 1,300 feet above the level of the plain. Now crowned by a confused mass of broken walls, towers, etc., it has a history extending from the invasion of Canaan by the Israelites (Josh, xix; 12, 22; Judg. iv.) down to tiie present time. It is not mentioned in the New Testament. TABORITES. a section of Calixtines, who received their name from a great encampment organized by them on a mountain near Prague in 1419, for the purpose of receiving the Communion in