Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/782

 752 TIGRIS several mountain ranges and lofty groups, and is drained in the north by the Mareb and in the south by the Tacazze. The plateau itself varies from 3,500 to 9,000 ft. in elevation, and is deeply indented by the ravines which form the beds of the principal rivers. The Tacazze is second only to the Bahr el-Azrek in size among the rivers of Abyssinia. Tigre" is di- vided into many petty chieftaincies or districts; the principal towns are Antalo, formerly the capital, Axum, and Adowa, the present capital. Adowa, the largest town, is the entrepot of trade on the great caravan route between Mas- sowah and Gondar, and has considerable man- ufactures. Tigre" was for many years an inde- pendent kingdom, but in 1855 was conquered by Theodore, king of Abyssinia, who made it a province of his empire. (See ABYSSINIA.) TIGRIS, the second river of western Asia, rises in N. W. Kurdistan, S. of Goljik lake, flows S. S. E. to Diarbekir, thence S. E. to Mosul, and thence S. by E. to its junction with the Euphrates at Korna, where the two form the Shat el-Arab. At its source it is less than 10 m. from the Murad or E. branch of the Euphrates; at Mosul it is about 160 m. distant from the sister stream ; near Bagdad it is within 20 m. of it, but near Serut the dis- tance has increased to 100 m. Its total course is estimated at 1,150 m., and its width from Mosul to Bagdad, a distance of about 220 m. in a straight line, averages 200 yards ; its current in March flows 4- m. an hour. The greatest height is attained in the latter part of May, and it resumes its usual level by the middle of June. It is navigable in the flood time between Diarbekir and Mosul for rafts; below Mosul it is navigable for steamers at all seasons. The Tigris is swifter and in the lat- ter part of its course deeper than the Euphra- tes, and its volume is generally greater. It has been calculated that the quantity of water dis- charged every second by the Tigris at Bagdad is 164,103 cubic feet. In its upper course it receives from the mountains W. of Lake Van the Bitlis-tchai or Eastern Tigris, which sur- passes it in volume of water. From the Za- gros mountains it receives streamlets which often swell into large rivers. The principal of these are the Upper Zab, the Lower Zab, the Adhem, and the Diyalah. The western affluents are insignificant. The course of the branch streams constantly varies, and some of the tributaries are left dry within a few a jars of the time that they have been naviga- e. While the low banks of the Euphrates of ten^ cause that river to leave its channel, the Tigris, which runs in a deep bed, seldom varies. (See EUPHRATES.) In antiquity the Tigris was the great river of Assyria, and the eastern boundary of Mesopotamia, and on its banks flourished the cities of Nineveh, Seleucia, and Ctesiphon. The name Tigris is supposed to be derived from the old Persian tigra, ar- row ; its Aramaic name was Digla or Diglath, and the Hebrew Iliddekel. TILE TILBFRG, a town of the Netherlands, in the province of North Brabant, on the Ley, 14 m. E. S. E. of Breda; pop. in 1873, 24,345. It has a -Protestant and several Catholic church- es, and a royal castle. The king owns most of the real estate. It is the principal seat of the Dutch manufactories of wool. TILDEN, Samuel Jones, an American lawyer, born in New Lebanon, Columbia co., N. Y., Feb. 9, 1814. He entered Yale college in 1833, but completed his course at the university of New York, and was admitted to the bar. He was a member of the state constitutional con- vention of 1846, and also of assembly, and did much to shape the canal policy of the state. In 1855 he was defeated as democratic candi- date for the office of attorney general of the state. In 1866 he was chosen chairman of the state democratic committee, and in 1867 was a member of the constitutional convention. In 1869-'70 he was active in the organization of the bar association. In 1870-'7l he was promi- nent in detecting important frauds in the gov- ernment of New York city, and in 1872 was a member of assembly. In November, 18.74, he was elected governor of New York by 50,317 majority. He has 'been counsel in many im- portant cases, prominent among which are the Flagg contested election for the comptroller- ship of New York city in 1855 ; the Burdell heirs against Mrs. Cunningham in 1857 ; the Cumberland coal case in 1858 ; and the Dela- ware and Hudson canal company against the Pennsylvania coal company in 1863. TILE, a plate of baked clay, flat, curved, or hollow, used for covering the floors, roofs, or walls of buildings, and for drains and other purposes. The Assyrians employed them as tablets, writing upon them with a style before baking them. (See CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS.) The Egyptians used tiles for the same pur- pose, but wrote upon them with ink. They also used tiles for roofing, usually in the form of part of a cylinder, one row being laid with the concave side and the next with the convex side upward, the edge being received in the concavity of its fellow. The Greeks used large flat roofing tiles, sometimes having flanges, with semi-cylindrical ones laid over their lines of junction. The flat tiles were sometimes stamped with brief inscriptions, and the others were ornamented with painted devices. They also used tiles in the construction of tombs and the flues of baths, and for drains. The Bo- mans used them still more generally, and their name tegulcz (from tegere, to cover) came to be applied to bricks, which were much more used than tiles. The real distinction between them is the greater fineness of the tile. The roofing tiles were, like those of the Greeks, largo and flat, having flanges rising a little more than two inches above the surface, the junction of the flanges being covered by the arched tile or imbrex. It was customary to stamp the tiles with inscriptions designating the pottery, the manufacturer, the name of