Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/82

Rh 68 L U R L U K huge mushrooms, with a velvety coat of red, purple, or olive-tinted crystals. In some of the smaller basins it sometimes happens that when the excess of carbonic acid escapes rapidly there is formed, besides the crystal bed below, a film above, shot like a sheet of ice across the sur face. One pool 12 feet wide is thus covered so as to show but a third of its surface. The quantity of water in the cavern varies greatly at different seasons. Hence some stalactites have their tips under water long enough to allow tassels of crystais to grow on them, which, in a drier season, are again coated over with stalactitic matter ; and thus singular distortions are occasioned. Contiguous stalactites are often iuwrapped thus till they assume an almost globular form, through which, by making a section, the primary tubes appear. Twig-like projections, lateral out growths, to which the term helictits has been applied, are met with in certain portions of the cave, and are interesting by their strange and uncouth contortions. Their presence is partly due to the existence of a diminutive fungus peculiar to the locality, and designated from its habitat Mucor stalactitis. The Toy-Shop is an amusing collection of these freaks of nature. The dimensions of the various chambers included in Luray Cavern cannot easily be stated, on account of the great irregularity of their outlines. Their size may be seen from the diagram on p. 67. But it should be under stood that there are several tiers of galleries, and the vertical depth from the highest to the lowest is 2GO feet. The tract of 100 acres owned by the Luray Cave Company covers all possible modes of entrance ; and the explored area is much less than that. The waters of this cavern appear to be entirely destitute of life ; and the existing fauna is quite meagre, comprising only a few bats, rats, mice, spiders, flies, and small centi pedes. When the cave was first entered, the floor was covered with thousands of tracks of raccoons, wolves, and bears, most of them probably made long ago, as impres sions made in the tenacious clay that composes most of the cavern floor would remain unchanged for centuries. Layers of excrementitious matter appear, and also many small bones, along with a few large ones, all of existing species. The traces of human occupation as yet discovered are pieces of charcoal, flints, moccasin tracks, and a single skeleton imbedded in stalagmite in one of the chasms, esti mated to have lain where found fornot morethanfivehundred years, judging from the present rate of stalagmitic growth. The temperature is uniformly 54 Fahr., coinciding with that of the Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. The air is very pure, and the avenues are not uncomfortably damp. The portions open to the public are now lighted by electric lamps. The registered number of visiters in 1881 was 12,000. (H. c. H.) LUilGAN, a market-town in the county of Armagh and province of Ulster, Ireland, is situated a few miles south of Lough Neagh, and 20 miles south-west of Belfast by rail. It consists principally of one spacious and well-built street. The parish church of Shankill has a finely proportioned tower. The other principal public buildings are the town-hall, the mechanics institute, the model school, and the linen-hall. Contiguous to the town is Brownlow House, a fine Elizabethan structure, the seat of Lord Lurgan. Of late years the linen trade of the town has much increased, and there are also tobacco factories and coach factories. From 7774 in 1861 the population increased in 1871 to 10,632, but in 1881 it was only 10,184. Lurgan was built by William Brownlow, to whom a grant of the town was made by James I. In 1619 it consisted of forty-two houses, all inhabited by English settlers. It was burned by the insurgents in 1641, and again by the troops of James II. After its restoration in 1690 a patent for a market and fair was obtained. LURISTAN, or LURISTAN, a province of western Persia, with ill-defined limits, but lying mainly between 31 and 33 N. lat. and between 47 and 52 E. long., and bounded N. and E. by Irak-Adjemi, S. by Farsistan, W. by Khuzis- tan and the Turkish vilayet of Baghdad. It thus stretches north-west and south-east some 260 miles, with a mean breadth of 70 miles and an area of rather less than 20,000 square miles. The surface is mostly mountainous, being occupied in the west by the Fusht-i-koh range, which forms the frontier line towards Turkey, in the east by the Bakhtiari (Zagros) range, which runs north west and south-east, thus connecting the Kurdistan with the Kuh- Dinar or Farsistan highland systems. Between the parallel Pusht-i-koh and Bakhtiari chains there stretch some naturally fertile plains and low hilly- districts, which, however, are little cultivated, although well-watered by the Karun, Dizful, and Kerkliah, the three chief rivers of the province. There are two main divisions Luri Buzurg, or &amp;lt;l Great Luristan,&quot; comprising the Bakhtiari highlands westwards to river Dizful, and Luri Kuchak, or &quot; Little Luristan,&quot; stretching thence to Khuzistan and Turkey. The latter is again divided into the Pesh-koh and Pusht-i-koh districts (&quot;before&quot; and &quot;behind&quot; the mountains), and notwithstanding its name is by far the most populous and productive of the two-. From the 12th to the 17th century it formed an independent principality under hereditary rulers with the title of &quot;atabeg,&quot; the last of whom was deposed by Shah. Abbas, and the government transferred to Husen Khan, chief of the Faili tribe, with the title of &quot;vali.&quot; His descendants are still at the head of the administration ; but the power of the valis has been much reduced since the transfer of the Pesh-koh district to Kirmanshah. Luristan takes its name from the Luri, 1 a semi-nomad people of Iranian stock and speech, who still form the vast majority of the population. Great uncertainty has hitherto prevailed regarding the. nomenclature, the main divisions and the true affinity of the Luri to the other branches of the Iranian family. Thus, from the name of the present ruling clan all the tribes of Luri Kuchak are com monly spoken of as &quot;Faili,&quot; a term which is now rejected by the Pesh-koh tribes, and which, if used at all as a general ethnical expression, ought to be restricted to those of Fusht-i-koh, still under the rule of the vali. The classifications of Layard, Rawlin- son, and A. H. Schindler differ materially, while contradictory statements are made by well-informed writers regarding the physi cal and linguistic relations of the Luri to the neighbouring Kurds- and Persians. From a careful consideration of the available evidence it would appear that the Luri are the true aborigines of their present domain, where they occupy an intermediate position between the Kurds and Persians, but resembling the former much more than the latter in speech, temperament, social habits, and; physical appearance. Although they themselves reject the name of Kurd, the two languages are essentially one, so that the natives of Kirmanshah and Dizful have little difficulty in conversing together. Like the Kurds, they are also of a restless and unruly disposition, averse from a settled life, still dwellers in tents, mostly owners of flocks and herds, holding agriculture in contempt, and of predatory habits. &quot; In appearance the Bakhtiari look rather fierce,, owing probably to the mode of life they lead ; the features of their face are cast in a rough mould, but although coarse they are in general regular. Their black eyes look wild and expressive, and the two black tufts of hair behind their ears give them, if possible, a still darker appearance. They are muscular built, and are chiefly of a middle stature &quot; (E. Balfour). In a word, the Luri must be classed anthropologically in the same group as the Kurds. They are excellent stockbreeders, and their horses and mules are regarded as the very best in Persia. Of the mules, about a thousand are annually exported to the surrounding provinces. Most of the hard work is left to the women, who tend the flocks, till the little land under cultivation, tread out the corn, and weave the carpets, black goat-hair tents, and horse cloths for which Luristan is famous. The men put their hands to no useful work, go about armed, and are always ready for a foray. Their constant intertribal feuds render the country unsafe for trade and travel, while their revolts against the central government often cause a total interruption of communi- 1 Not to be confounded with the Luri or Lori of Baluchistan and Sind, tinkers, bards, strolling minstrels, &c. , betraying a &quot;marked affinity to the Gipsies of Europe &quot; (Pottinger).