Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/667

 TENASSERIM rely under the name of the Mergui archipel- ago. They vary greatly in form and dimen- sions, and are mainly situated from 30 to 80 m. off the shore. The most important island on the coast, however, is Balugyun, opposite the town of Maulmain, IT m. long and 8 m. broad. The territory of Tenasserim is generally hilly or mountainous. It is intersected by numerous rivers, particularly toward the north, the prin- cipal being the Salwen, Attaran, Tavoy, and Tenasserim. The area of the basins of the riv- ers is estimated at about 14,000 sq. m. The E. boundary is formed by a range of wooded mountains varying in height from 3,000 to 4,000 ft. above the sea. In the north there is a separate range, about 2,000 ft. high, covered with bamboo jungles. There are extensive plains and fertile valleys lying upon the banks of the northern rivers. The staple productions are rice, cotton, sugar cane, indigo, and tobac- co ; and wheat, nutmegs, spices, and dye stuffs are raised. The country is exceedingly rich in valuable forest trees, prominent among which is the teak. Nearly 380 different varieties of timber have been enumerated. The timber forests are under strict and careful govern- mental control. Tin is mined, and iron, gold, and antimony are also found. Coal of good quality has been discovered in several places. The climate is considered remarkably health- ful, the rate of mortality among Europeans being little more than it is in Europe under like circumstances. The thermometer rarely rises above 90, the average being 77. The rainy season begins in the S. part of the terri- tory about the 1st of May, and at Maulmain a month later; the rainfall is much greater to- ward the north, where it is estimated at 200 in. a year. The average for the whole country is not less than 100 in. The population com- prises Burmese, Peguans, Siamese, Karens, Seelongs, Hindoos from the Coromandel coast, half-caste Portuguese, Chinese, a few Ameri- can missionaries, and the English officials and traders. The Burmese and Peguans are the most numerous ; the Siamese are principally settled in the neighborhood of the Tenasserim river. The chief manufactures are cotton and silk goods, coarse pottery, and iron cooking vessels. Ship building is largely carried on at Maulmain, and to a less extent at Mergui and Tavoy. These three places are the principal ports of Tenasserim, in regular steamship com- munication, with each other and the Indian peninsula. The chief exports consist of rice, tobacco, gambir, ivory, edible birds' nests, and teak timber. The Portuguese visited the ter- ritory which forms the Tenasserim division early in the 17th century; and in 1687 some English were massacred at Mergui, the country being then a dependency of Pegu. It after- ward became subject to Siam, from which power it was taken about the middle of the 18th century by the Burmese, who held it till it was annexed to British India at the termina- tion of the Burmese war in 1826. From the TENCIN 637 long unsettled state of the country, the entire population at that time amounted only to about 30,000; and its subsequent rapid increase is attributable to the security for life and prop- erty afforded by British rule. The town of Tenasserim, on the river of the same name, in lat. 12 2' N., Ion. 98 55' E., was formerly the capital, but is now largely in ruins. TENCH, a soft-rayed, fresh-water fish of the carp family, and genus tinea (Cuv.), peculiar to the old world. The best known species is the T. Bulgaria (Cuv.), rarely more than 14 in. long, of a deep yellowish brown, and some- times golden and greenish ; the dorsal and anal fins have no osseous rays, and the former is inserted behind the commencement of the ven- trals ; the teeth on the pharynx are compressed and club-shaped; scales very minute, covered with mucus ; a very small labial barbel at each side of mouth ; the body thick and broad, and the ventrals in the male much larger than in the female. It is spreajj over Europe and N. Asia, and is more or less" abundant in the orna- mental waters and ponds of Great Britain, but is not found much above lat. 60 N. ; it prefers stagnant waters with a muddy bottom, con- Common Tench (Tinea vulgaris). cealing itself in winter in the mud in a torpid state ; like the carp it is very tenacious of life ; the food consists of worms and aquatic insects, with sometimes seeds and plants. The eggs are deposited in May or June ; they are very minute, greenish, about 300,000 in a single female, and are placed among aquatic plants. In its natural state the flesh is not good, but is delicate when the fish are properly fed. TENCDf, Claudine Alexandrin Guerin de, a French woman of society, born in Grenoble in 1681, died in Paris, Dec. 4, 1749. She became a nun, and like her two sisters led a gay life at her convent, and after her transfer as canoness to a less strict monastery near Lyons she was accused of being enceinte. In 1714 she was absolved from her religious vows, and went to Paris to live in the home of her brother, the future cardinal and statesman, for whom she displayed a passionate devotion, which sub- jected her to odious insinuations. She worked steadily for his advancement, acquired a for- tune through the financier Law, and was for short periods mistress of Cardinal Dubois and of the regent duke of Orleans. By the poet Destouches she became (Nov. 16, 1717) mother