Page:EB1911 - Volume 15.djvu/119

Rh  A letter of the alphabet which, as far as form is concerned, is only a modification of the Latin I and dates back with a separate value only to the 15th century. It was first used as a special form of initial I, the ordinary form being kept for use in other positions. As, however, in many cases initial i had the consonantal value of the English y in iugum (yoke), &c., the symbol came to be used for the value of y, a value which it still retains in German: ''Ja! jung'', &c. Initially it is pronounced in English as an affricate dzh. The great majority of English words beginning with j are (1) of foreign (mostly French) origin, as “jaundice,” “judge”; (2) imitative of sound, like “jar” (the verb); or (3) influenced by analogy, like “jaw” (influenced by chaw, according to Skeat). In early French g when palatalized by e or i sounds became confused with consonantal i (y), and both passed into the sound of j which is still preserved in English. A similar sound-change takes place in other languages, e.g. Lithuanian, where the resulting sound is spelt dž. Modern French and also Provençal and Portuguese have changed j = dzh into ž (zh). The sound initially is sometimes represented in English by g: gem, gaol as well as jail. At the end of modern English words the same sound is represented by -dge as in judge, French juge. In this position, however, the sound occurs also in genuine English words like bridge, sedge, singe, but this is true only for the southern dialects on which the literary language is founded. In the northern dialects the pronunciation as brig, seg, sing still survives.

JA’ALIN (from Jā’al, to settle, i.e. “the squatters”), an African tribe of Semitic stock. They formerly occupied the country on both banks of the Nile from Khartum to Abu Hamed. They claim to be of the Koreish tribe and even trace descent from Abbas, uncle of the prophet. They are of Arab origin, but now of very mixed blood. According to their own tradition they emigrated to Nubia in the 12th century. They were at one time subject to the Funj kings, but their position was in a measure independent. At the Egyptian invasion in 1820 they were the most powerful of Arab tribes in the Nile valley. They submitted at first, but in 1822 rebelled and massacred the Egyptian garrison at Shendi. The revolt was mercilessly suppressed, and the Jā’alin were thenceforward looked on with suspicion. They were almost the first of the northern tribes to join the mahdi in 1884, and it was their position to the north of Khartum which made communication with General Gordon so difficult. The Jā’alin are now a semi-nomad agricultural people. Many are employed in Khartum as servants, scribes and watchmen. They are a proud religious people, formerly notorious as cruel slave dealers. J. L. Burckhardt says the true Jā’alin from the eastern desert is exactly like the Bedouin of eastern Arabia.

See The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, edited by Count Gleichen (London, 1905).

JABIRU, according to Marcgrave the Brazilian name of a bird, subsequently called by Linnaeus Mycteria americana, one of the largest of the storks, Ciconiidae, which occurs from Mexico southwards to the territory of the Argentine Republic. It stands between 4 and 5 ft. in height, and is conspicuous for its massive bill, slightly upturned, and its entirely white plumage; but the head and neck are bare and black, except for about the lower third part of the latter, which is bright red in the living bird. Very nearly allied to Mycteria, and also commonly called jabirus, are the birds of the genera Xenorhynchus and Ephippiorhynchus—the former containing one or (in the opinion of some) two species, X. australis and X. indicus, and the latter one only, E. senegalensis. These belong to the countries indicated by their names, and differ chiefly by their feathered head and neck, while the last is sometimes termed the saddle-billed stork from the very singular shape of its beak. Somewhat more distantly related are the gigantic birds known to Europeans in India and elsewhere as adjutant birds, belonging to the genus Leptoptilus, distinguished by their sad-coloured plumage, their black scabrous head, and their enormous tawny pouch, which depends occasionally some 16 in. or more in length from the lower part of the neck, and seems to be connected with the respiratory and not, as commonly believed, with the digestive system. In many parts of India L. dubius, the largest of these birds, the hargila as Hindus call it, is a most efficient scavenger, sailing aloft at a vast height and descending on the discovery of offal, though frogs and fishes also form part of its diet. It familiarly enters the large towns, in many of which on account of its services it is strictly protected from injury, and, having satisfied its appetite, seeks the repose it has earned, sitting with its feet extended in front in a most grotesque attitude. A second and smaller species, L. javanicus, has a more southern and eastern range; while a third, L. crumenifer, of African origin, and often known as the marabou-stork, gives its name to the beautifully soft feathers so called, which are the under-tail-coverts; the “marabout” feathers of the plume-trade are mostly supplied by other birds, the term being apparently applied to any downy feathers.

JABLOCHKOV, PAUL (1847–1894), Russian electrical engineer and inventor, was born at Serdobsk, in the government of Saratov, on the 14th of September 1847, and educated at St Petersburg. In 1871 he was appointed director of the telegraph lines between Moscow and Kursk, but in 1875 he resigned his position in order to devote himself to his researches on electric lighting by arc lamps, which he had already taken up. In 1876 he settled in Paris, and towards the end of the year brought out his famous “candles,” known by his name, which consisted of two carbon parallel rods, separated by a non-conducting partition; alternating currents were employed, and the candle was operated by a high-resistance carbon match connecting the tips of the rods, a true arc forming between the parallel carbons when this burnt off, and the separators volatilizing as the carbons burnt away. For a few years his system of electric lighting was widely adopted, but it was gradually superseded