Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/477

 AMUCK AMURATH 445 eries, and distilleries; and ship-building is ex- tensively carried on. The entrances and clear- ances of vessels in 1868 were about 3,000, with 850,000 tonnage ; and the greater part of the foreign trade of Holland, which amounted in 1868 to an aggregate value of about $150,000,- 000, passes through the port of Amsterdam. The chief articles of export are butter and cheese ; other exports consist of products of the rich Dutch colonies, refined and raw sugar, coffee, spices, tin, oil, dyes, colors, fruit, vegetables, and flowers. The exports to Ger- many and England are the most prominent. By the Amstel, the Zuyder-Zee, and various canals, Amsterdam has water communication with all parts of Holland ; and its railroad con- nections are also very extensive. The Zuyder- Zee, formerly the entrance to the port, long since became too shallow for the navigation of ocean vessels, and a canal called the Nieuwe Diep was built, admitting large ships, and connecting Amsterdam with the North sea at the Helder. The navigation of this long ship canal, with its large locks shutting out the ocean tides, having been found inconvenient and expensive, a colossal plan has been formed and nearly executed of connecting the harbor and docks by a short cut through the isthmus of North Holland, digging a ship canal through the immense sand hills protecting Holland at its western shore against the North sea. This canal, with its breakwater extending far out into the sea, will be second only in magnitude to the Suez canal. A part of the machinery that was used there has been transported to Amsterdam, and is employed in its construc- tion. At the same time the Zuyder-Zee is to be made dry, and the inlet or arm, the Y, on which the city is situated, converted into dry land. Upon this a union railroad depot is to be constructed, where all the railroads will meet, and also the ocean vessels in the sur- rounding canals and docks. AMUCK (Javanese, amoak, to kill). The run- ning amuck is a Malay custom. The natives by a long-continued and excessive use of opium at length have their features sharpened, their skin drawn over their bones like parchment, and become entirely and ferociously mad. Armed with their formidable creese or dirk- knife, they rush in frenzy from their houses, sometimes naked, and leaping along the crowd- ed streets, stab, bite, and curse every one who chances to be in their path. As soon as a per- son is seen in this state everybody in terror proclaims the news, and the cry of " Amuck " rouses the population like the cry of "Fire" or "Mad dog" in western cities. Every man snatches the first weapon that comes to hand, and follows the path of the common enemy. Long spears are, however, the favorite and more common weapon, and with these they pen the wretched maniac into a corner, and lance him to death as they would a tiger. Scores of persons are sometimes killed by one of these madmen before he can be checked. AMULET (Ar. hamalat, a thing worn), a pre- servative against occult and mischievous influ- ences. Amulets are made of various substan- ces, and were first known, it is believed, among the Arabs. The early Christians made amulets of the supposed wood of the cross, or of ribbons with a text of Scripture written on them, and to this day the Roman Catholics call their lit- tle relics, &c., amulets. The idea that an amu- let carried about the person has the power both of repelling and healing diseases still prevails in the mind of many persons. Even the cele- brated Robert Boyle (who flourished in the latter half of the 17th century) does not hesi- itate to declare that he once experienced the efficacy of such an 'amulet in his own case. The anodyne necklace, made of beads from the roots of white bryony, which is sometimes hung around the neck of an infant for teething pur- poses, is an instance of the still surviving confi- dence in the medical virtue of amulets. Many other examples might be given. AMURATH, or Murad, the name of several Turkish sultans. I. Born in 1326, died June 15, 1389. He succeeded his father Orkhan in 1360 in the government of the Turkish domin- ions in Asia. The first act of his government was to put down an insurrection in Galatia, after which he turned his attention and his arms to Europe. Here he overran the coun- try as far as the Balkan, and took Adrianople (1361), where he fixed his residence for a time, beautifying the city by the construction of a mosque and other public buildings. In 1365 a treaty of peace was concluded between the Ottomans and the republic of Ragusa, on the Adriatic, which put itself under the protection of Amurath. Pope Urban V., alarmed by the progress of the Ottomans, preached a crusade against them, but the Turks surprised the Christian forces by night near Adrianople and cut them to pieces (1368). The peace which Amurath had concluded with the Greeks, and which had been observed by him, being thus broken, he continued the war for several cam- paigns without any decided results, and went to Asia In 1371. Soon returning to Europe, he vanquished the princes of Servia and Bul- garia, and settled at Adrianople. During a peace of six years he employed himself in organizing his army, and formed the corps of spahis, instituting a system of military fiefs as the reward of their services. In this there was considerable analogy with the feudal sys- tem, and possibly he was assisted by renegade Christians in his plans. The Greek emperor, John Palseologus, seeing himself unable to cope with the new power arrayed against him, en- tered into friendly alliance with Amurath, and sent his son Theodore to his court to learn the art of war. The sons of the two emperors entered into a conspiracy against their fathers, and levied an army. Amurath advanced alone to the ranks of his rebellious son and ordered the soldiers to return to their duty. Unable to resist the mandate of their terrible ruler,