Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/735

 ERZGEBIRGE [829 was taken by the Russians under Paske- itch. Its position, which commands the road >m Persia to Constantinople, renders it still in important military post, as it was in the ime of its Byzantine masters, and also a point great commercial interest. It is the seat of le Turkish governor general, of English and other foreign consuls, and of a United Arme- nian bishop ; and it is the focus of the transit trade between Europe and Trebizond and cen- tral Asia and Persia. Several American mis- sionaries reside here. ERZGEBIRGE (Ger., Ore mountains), a range of mountains on the boundary between Bohe- mia and Saxony, and in its southern portion lying chiefly in Bohemia. It extends E. N. E. and W. 8. W. about 100m., and covers an aver- age breadth of about 25 m. At its western ex- tremity it connects with the range called the Fichtelgebirge, where the White Elster has its source. The river Elbe defines its E. extrem- ity, flowing toward the north through the val- ley that separates the Erzgebirge from the Lusa- tian mountains. On the north the range slopes gently toward the plains of Germany, but on the south the descent is more precipitous, with deep and narrow valleys running down to the valley of the river Eger, which flows E. to the Elbe. The highest elevations are W. of the central part of the range. Here are the sum- mits of the Keilberg, Fichtelberg, and Schwarz- wald, all rising to a height of about 4,000 ft. above the sea. These are granitic peaks, but toward the Elbe, where the granitic rocks give place to sandstone, the elevation declines to a maximum of 1,800 ft. The range is traversed by six great roads, the most important of them connecting Prague with Dresden and Chemnitz. The valley of the Elbe admits the passage of the range by the railroad from Dresden to Vienna. The Erzgebirge has long been fa- mous for its mineral productions, the most im- portant of which are silver, tin, iroo, cobalt, lead, and copper. Other mineral products are gold, found in small quantity, mercury, arsenic, bismuth, antimony, zinc, manganese, and sul- 'mr. Coal is found in the lower country near jsden and Zwickau, and porcelain clay at Lue, 12 m. S. E. of Zwickau, used in the royal inufactory at Meissen. ESARHADDON, son and successor of Senna- lerib, king of Assyria, reigned 680-667 B. C. is the Sarchedon of Tobit, the Asaradinus the Canon of Ptolemy, and the Asshur-akh- in of the Assyrian inscriptions. (See As- iA, vol. ii., p. 36.) ESCAMBIA. I. A N". W. county of Florida, separated from Alabama on the W. by the Per- dido river, bounded E. by the Escambia, and S. by the gulf of Mexico ; area, 850 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 7,817, of whom 2,880 were colored. It consists mostly of a level and not very pro- ductive country, covered with extensive pine forests. The chief productions in 1870 were 7,020 bushels of Indian corn, 13,970 of sweet potatoes, and 35,050 Ibs. of rice. The value of ESCHEAT 723 live stock was $71,520. Capital, Pensacola. II. A S. W. county of Alabama, bordering on Florida, intersected by the Escambia and Cone- cuh rivers ; area, about 600 sq. m. : pop. in 1870, 4,041, of whom 951 were colored. The Mobile and Great Northern and the Alabama and Florida railroads pass through it. The soil is sandy ; pine abounds. The chief productions in 1870 were 30,390 bushels of Indian corn, 31,665 of sweet potatoes, and 605 bales of cot- ton. There were 8,785 cattle, 3,583 sheep, and 4,878 swine. Capital, Pollard. f ESCHEAT (law Fr. eschet, from eschoir or echoir, to fall out, or lapse), a failure in the regular descent of lands whereby the fee re- verts to the original grantor or his heirs if they can be found, and if not, then to the sovereign, who, according to the feudal tenure, was the original source of title. Such a failure may oc- cur for the want of heirs, or of such heirs as can inherit the particular estate. This could rarely happen as respects an absolute estate in fee, inasmuch as heirs may be sought to the remotest degree of collateral consanguinity on failure of lineal descendants ; but it is not un- frequent where the estate is limited, as in the case of a marriage settlement by which the estate is to descend to the issue of the mar- riage, or of an estate tail by which a limitation is made to the heirs of a man's body or other specified heirs. In these and analogous in- stances, upon the failure of the heirs designated, although there may be others capable of in- heriting generally, the title to the land reverts to the grantor if no other provision has been made in the deed creating the estate. The escheat in such a case is said to be propter de- fectum sanguinis. It may also occur by an obstruction of the descent propter delictum tenentis, that is, when there has .been a con- viction of felony ; in which case, according to the old phraseology, there was a corruption of blood, so that the man thus convicted was deemed in law to have no heirs. A distinction was made between treason and other felonies. In the former case forfeiture to the crown intervened and prevented the escheat of the lands to the original proprietor ; in the latter, the lands of the felon were intercepted by the crown for a year and a day, and then escheated to the lord of the fee. By statute 54 George III., c. 145, no attainder for felony except treason and murder is now permitted to defeat the right of the heir or other person who would by law be entitled to the estate, except during the life of the offender. By the com- mon law bastards were not deemed to have any heirs except of their own bodies, for being without lawful parentage, they can have no collateral kindred; therefore upon the death of a person of illegitimate birth, leaving no issue and without will, his lands escheated. So in the case of a man dying intestate leaving only alien relatives ; as they could not inherit, his lands would escheat. Formerly it was held that there could be no descent even to