Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/689

 DARDANIA DARE 685 European shore. Here Xerxes is supposed to have built his bridge uniting the two con- tinents ; here Alexander the Great crossed into Asia ; and here the crescent was for the second time planted on European soil by Soly- man (1357). Here also Leander swam across the strait from Abydos to Sestos, to visit Hero, and Lord Byron and Lieut. Eckeiihead swam the same distance in 70 minutes (March 3, 1810). The Turkish government has always maintained that no foreign vessel of war should be allowed at any time to pass the Dardanelles, which principle England recognized in 1809 ; and hence in the Egyptian war of 1832-'3 the British and French fleets were not permitted to enter the strait, though a Russian fleet from the Black sea was anchored in the Bosporus. In 1841 the five great powers of Europe fully recognized this principle, and it was reaffirmed by the treaty of Paris in 1856. But in No- vember, 1858, the United States frigate Wa- bash passed the Dardanelles and anchored at Constantinople, the commanding officer main- taining that the United States, being no party to the treaty of Paris, were not bound by its stipulations. Without acknowledging explicit- ly the correctness of this position, the Turk- ish government received the Wabash in a friendly spirit. In 1870 this clause of the treaty of Paris was abrogated, and there is no The Dardanelles. longer any restriction on the navigation of the strait. The so-called LESSER DARDANELLES are two large castles situated on Capes Rhion and Antirrhion, at the entrance to the gulf of Le- panto or of Corinth. DARDANIA. I. A district in the S. W. part of ancient Mo3sia, now included in Servia and Prisrend. It was inhabited by a fierce and barbarous race, almost continually at war with Macedonia. It was made a Roman province by 0. Scribonius Curio, who was awarded a triumph in 71 B. C. for his conquest. In the reign of Constantino it became a part of the prefecture of eastern Illyricurn. Its chief city, Scupi, is the modern Uskup. II. A district of ancient Mysia, along the Hellespont, and, according to Strabo, N. of Troas; but its po- sition cannot be accurately defined. Dardanus, the city from which it derived its name, was situated on a promontory called Dardanium by Pliny and Dardanis by Strabo, about 70 stadia from Abydos. A more ancient town of Dar- danus, according to the Iliad, was situated at the foot of Mount Ida. DARDANUS, according to ancient legends, the ancestor of the Trojans. The Greek tradition was that he was a king in Arcadia, and that he went from that country to Samothrace, whence he passed over into Asia Minor, and founded the town called after him. The Italian legend said that Dardanus was a native of Etruria, and thence went to Samothrace. DARDEN, Miles, probably the largest man on record, born in North Carolina in 1798, died in Henderson co., Tenn., Jan. 23, 1857. He was 7 ft. in. high, and in 1845 weighed 871 Ibs. At his death his weight was a little over 1,000 Ibs. Until 1853 he was active and live- ly, and able to labor, but from that time was obliged to stay at home, or be hauled about in a two-horse wagon. In 1839 his coat was buttoned around three men, each weighing more than 200 Ibs., who walked together in it across the square at Lexington. His coffin was 8 ft. long, 35 in. deep, 32 in. across the breast, 18 across the head, and 14 across the feet. DARE, a N. E. county of North Carolina, recently formed from portions of Currituck, Hyde, and Tyrrell counties, bounded N. by Albermarle sound, W. by Alligator river, and including several low sandy islands along the Atlantic coast ; area, about 350 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 2,778, of whom 377 were colored. The main portion is swampy, and forests of cypress, red cedar, and pine abound. Capital, Manteo, on Roanoke island. DARE, Virginia, the first child of English pa- rents in the new world, born at Roanoke in August, 1587, and named after the district of Virginia. She was the granddaughter of John