Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/566

 j A G J A H the place. As early as 1544 the missionaries under Francis Xavier had made converts in this part of Ceyion, and after the conquest the Portuguese maintained their proselytizing zeal. They had a Jesuit college and a Franciscan and a Dominican monastery. The Dutch drove out the Portuguese in 1658, The Church of England Missionary Society began its work in Jaffna in 1818, and the Ameri can Missionary Society in 1822. JAGADHRI, a municipal town in Ambald district, Punjab, India, is situated in 30 10 N. lat. and 77 20 45&quot; E. long., a little west of the river Jumna, 37 miles south-east of Ambala city, and 3 miles north of the Sind, Punjab, and Delhi Railway. Before the Sikh invasions, Jagadhri was a mere village ; but Rai Sinh of Biiria, the Sikh conqueror, encouraged the commercial and manufacturing classes to settle on the spot, so that a con siderable trade rapidly sprang up. Destroyed by Nadir Shah during one of his incursions, but rebuilt in 1783 by Rai Sinh, it passed to the British in 1829 together with the territory of which it was the capital. Jagadhri has imports of copper and iron, considerable manufacture of metal work, and exports of vessels and tools. It contains a tahsili, police-office, and rest-house. The population in 1868 was 11,676, comprising 9220 Hindus, 2319 Maho metans, and 137 Sikhs. JAGUAR (Felis oncct). This powerful and ferocious animal is the largest of the species of Felida& found upon the American continent. It ranges from Texas through Central and South America into Patagonia. In the countries which bound its northern limit it is not fre quently met with, but in South America it is still quite common, and Azara states that when the Spaniards first settled the district between Monte Video and Santa F6 Jaguar. as many as two thousand were killed yearly. The jaguar is usually found singly, or sometimes in pairs, and preys upon such quadrupeds as the horse, tapir, capybara, dogs, or cattle, and its strength is so great that it has been known to swim with a horse it had killed across a wide river, and then to carry its prey into the woods. It rarely slays at a time more than is requisite to satisfy its hunger, and leaves the unconsumed portions for the benefit of any stray prowler who may find them. Its manner of killing its victim is, after springing upon it, to strike it to the earth by a blow of its powerful paw. The jaguar often feeds upon turtles, sometimes following the reptiles into the water to effect a capture ; having secured one and turned it over on its back, it inserts a paw between the shells and drags out the body of the turtle by means of its sharp claws. Occasionally, after having tasted human flesh, the jaguar becomes a confirmed man- eater. The cry of this great cat, which is heard at night, and most frequently during the pairing season, is deep and hoarse in tone, and consists of the sound pu, pu, often repeated. The female brings forth from two to four cubs towards the close of the year ; they are able to follow their mother in about fifteen days after birth. The colour of the jaguar varies greatly among individuals, ranging from white to black, the rosette markings in the extremes being but faintly visible. The general or typical coloration is a rich tan upon the head, neck, body, outside of legs, and tail near the root. The upper part of the head and sides of the face are thickly marked with small black spots, and the rest of body is covered with rosettes, formed of black spots, with a black spot in the centre, and ranged lengthwise along the body in five to seven rows on each side. These black rings are heaviest along the back. The lips, throat, breast, and belly, the inside of the legs, and the lower sides of tail are pure white, marked with irregular spots of black, those on the breast being long bars, and on the belly and inside of legs large blotches. The tail has large black spots near the root, some with light centres, and from about midway of its length to the tip it is ringed with black. The ears are black behind, with a large buff spot near the tip. The nose and upper lip are light rufous brown. The size varies, the total length of a very large specimen measuring 6 feet 9 inches ; the average length, however, is about 4 feet from the nose to root of tail. In form the jaguar is thick-set ; it does not stand high upon its legs ; and in com parison with the leopard it is heavily built. But its move ments are very rapid, and it is fully as agile as its more graceful relative. The skull resembles that of the lion and tiger, but is much broader in proportion to its length. The forehead is concave, and the nasal region broad. The frontal processes of the maxillary are rounded, in contra distinction to the truncated form of the tiger and the pointed one of the lion, and do not extend as far back as the fronto-nasal articulation. On the inner edge of the orbit is a well-developed tubercule. The canines are long and stout, the molar series well developed. The second sillon on the outer side of the crown of the canines is rudimentary, sometimes absent. JAHANABAD, a town in Gayd district, Bengal, situated on the Patna road, 25 13 10&quot; N. lat., 85 2 10&quot; E. long. Population (1872) 21,022 namely, 12,413 Hindus and 8609 Mahometans. It was at one period a flourishing trading town, and in 1760 it formed one of the eight branches of the company s central factory at Patna. Since the introduction of Manchester goods, the trade of the town in cotton cloth has almost entirely ceased ; but large numbers of the Julaha or weaver caste live in the neighbourhood. JAHN, JOHANN (1750-1816), a distinguished Orientalist and Biblical critic of the Roman Catholic Church, was born at Tasswitz, Moravia, on June 18, 1750. After completing his school education at Znaim he studied philo sophy at Olmiitz, and in 1772 began his theological studies at the Pnemonstratensian convent of Bruck in the neigh bourhood of Znaim. Having been ordained to the priest hood in 1775, he for a short time held a cure of souls at Mislitz, but was soon recalled to Bruck to become professor of Oriental languages and Biblical hermeneutics there. On the suppression of the convent by Joseph II. in 1784, Jahn was removed to a chair at Olmiitz corresponding to that which he had previously held, and in 1789 he was transferred to Vienna as professor of Oriental languages, Biblical archaeology, and dogmatics. In 1792 he published his Einhitung ins Alte Testament (2 vols.), which almost