Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/20

Rh 8 L T L T own name. It lies 483 miles by rail south-south-east of San Francisco on the Southern Pacific Railroad, and is connected by branch lines with Wilmington, Santa Monica (both on the coast), and Santa Ana. As the centre of a fine orange and grape growing country, and a resort for invalids, Los Angeles is a place of some importance ; and since the opening of the railways it has been in full prosperity, the old adobe buildings rapidly giving place to more substantial structures. Founded in 1781 by the Spaniards, it received the name &quot; Town of the Queen of the Angels &quot; (Pueblo de la Reina de los Angeles) as a tribute to the beauty and pleasantness of the spot. It was the capital of the Mexican state of California from 1836 to 1846, in which latter year it was captured by United States forces. The population has increased from 5728 in 1870 to 11,311 in 1880. LOT, the ancestor of Moab and Ammon, was the son of Haran and grandson of Terah, and accompanied his uncle Abraham in his migration from Haran to Canaan. At Bethel 1 Lot separated from Abraham, and, while the uncle went on to Hebron, the nephew settled in the district of Sodom. When Jehovah was about to destroy Sodom and the other cities of the plain two divine messengers appeared, spent the night in Lot s house, and next morning led Lot, his wife, and his two unmarried daughters out of the city. His wife looked back and was changed to a pillar of salt, 2 but Lot with his two daughters escaped first to Zoar and then to the mountains east of the Dead Sea, where the daughters, supposing themselves the only survivors of the catastrophe that had destroyed their home, planned and executed an incest by which they became mothers. The sons were the ancestors of Ammon and Moab. Such is the outline of the Jahvistic history of Lot, which the priestly narrator epitomizes in a few words, the only statement peculiar to his narrative being that in Gen. xi. 27-32. The account of Chedorlaomer s invasion and of Lot s rescue by Abraham belongs to an independent source, the age and historical value of which has been much disputed. See on the one hand Ewald, Geschichte, vol. i., and Tuch in his Genesis, and in an essay originally published in Z.D.M.G., vol. i., and reprinted in the second edition of his Genesis, and on the other hand the essay in Noldeke, Untersuchungen, and Wellhausen, ut supra, p. 414. The name Lot (Oi?) signifies &quot;a veil,&quot; which has led Goldzieher, Mythologie, p. 216 sq., to the arbitrary hypothesis that the story of Lot and his daughters is a myth about the night. Lot and his daughters passed into Arabic tradition from the Jews. The daughters are named Zahy and Ra wa by Mas udy, ii. 139 ; but other Arabian writers give other forms. LOT, a south-westerly department of central France, corresponding to what was formerly known as Quercy (the country of the Cadurci), a district of the old province of Guyenne, is situated between 44 12 and 45 5 N&quot;. lat., and between 1 and 2 12 E. long., and is bounded on the N. by Correze, on the W. by Dordogne and Lot-et-Garonne, on the S. by Tarn-et-Garonne, and on the E. by Aveyron and Cantal. Its extreme length, from north-east to south-west, is about 52 miles, and its breadth from north-west to south-east 31 miles, with an area of 2013 square miles. It slopes towards the south-west, from a maximum altitude of 2560 feet on the borders of Cantal to a minimum of 213 feet at the point where the river Lot quits the department, through a wide geological range beginning with primary rocks (granite, gneiss, mica-schists), 1 In Gen. xii. 10 sq., where Abraham s visit to Egypt is recorded, there is no mention of Lot, and Wellhausen (Jahrb. f. D. Theol., 1876, p. 413) has made it probable that this episode is no part of the Jahvistic narrative, to which the history of Lot mainly belongs. 2 Such a pillar in the neighbourhood of Usdum is described by Lynch, Narrative, p. 307. See also Robinson, Bib. Res., 2d ed., ii. 108. which are succeeded by lias, oolitic limestone (occupying the greater portion of the area), chalks, .and finally by Tertiary formations. The Lot, which traverses it from east to west, is navigable for the whole distance (78 miles) with the help of locks; its principal tributary within the department is the C616 (on the right). In the north of the department the Dordogne has a course of 37 miles ; among its tributaries are the Cere, which has its rise in Cantal, and the Ouysse, a river of no great length, but remarkable for the abundance of its waters. The streams in the south of Lot all flow into the Tarn. By the Dordogne and Lot the surface is divided into a number of limestone plateaus known by the name of &quot; causses &quot; ; that to the north of the Dordogne is called the Causse de Martel ; between the Dordogne and the Lot is the Causse de Gramat or de Rocamadour ; south of the Lot is the Causse de Cahors. These &quot; causses,&quot; owing to the rapid disappearance of the rain through the faults in the limestone, have for the most part an arid appearance, and their rivulets are generally mere dry beds; but their altitude (from 700 to 1300 feet, much lower therefore than that of the similar plateaus in Lozere, Hdrault, and Aveyron) admits of the cultivation of the vine; they also yield a small quantity of maize, wheat, oats, rye, and potatoes, and some wood. The deep interven ing valleys are full of verdure, being well watered by abund ant springs supplied by drainage from the plateaux above. The climate is on the whole that of the Girondine region ; the valleys are warm, and the rainfall is somewhat above the average for France. The difference of temperature between the higher parts of the department belonging to the central plateau and the sheltered valleys of the south-west is con siderable. Of the entire area of the department 691,920 acres are arable, 222,402 are forest land, 168,038 are occupied by vineyards, 64,250 are heath, and 61,778 are meadow. Sheep are the most abundant kind of live stock ; but pigs, horned cattle, horses, asses, and mules, and goats are also reared, as well as poultry in large quantities, and bees. Wine is the principal product of the department, the most valued being that of Cahors or Cote du Lot. It is used partly for blending with other wines and partly for local consumption. The north-east cantons supply large quantities of chestnuts ; apples, cherries, and peaches are common, and the department also grows tobacco and supplies truffles. The iron, lead, and zinc deposits are unimportant. Marble, millstones, limestone, and clay are obtained to some extent, but phosphate of lime is the most valuable mineral product of Lot. The manufactures are inconsiderable ; but there are numerous mills, and wool spinning and carding as well as cloth making, tanning, currying, brewing, and agricultural implement making are carried on to some extent. The exports consist of grain, flour, wine, brandy, livestock, nuts, truffles, prunes, tobacco, wood, phosphate of lime, leather, and wool. The popu lation in 1876 was 276,512. The three arrondissements are Cahors, Figeac, and Gourdon ; there are twenty-nine cantons and three hundred and twenty-three communes. LOT-ET-GARONNE, a department of south-western France, made up of Agenais and Bazadais, two districts of the former province of Guyenne, and Condomois and Lomagne, formerly portions of Gascony, lies between 43 50 and 44 45 N. lat., and 1 7 E. and 8 W. long., and is bounded on the W. by Gironde, on the N. by Dordogne, on the E. by Lot and Tarn-et-Garonne, on the S. by Gers, and on the S.W. by Landes ; its extreme length from south-west to north-east is 62 miles, and it has an area of 2067 square miles. The Garonne, which traverses the department from south-east to north-west, divides it into two unequal parts ; in that to the north the slope is from east to west, while in that to the south it is directly from south to no^h. A small portion in the south-west belongs