Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/199

* JEPHTHAH. 175 JERDAN. fugitive who betrayed his Ephraimitic origin by his inability to pronounce his sh sound, saying 'sibboleth' for 'shibboleth.' Jephthah's judgeship lasted for six years, and on his death he was buried in Gilead. The story of Jephthah, when critically studied, reveals a curious mixture of myth and uncertain tradition. By general agreement among critics, the inten'iew between Jephthah and the King of the Ammonites (Judges xi. 12-2S) is regarded as unhistorical, for the sufficient reason that the .section in question refers to the Moabites. In the above account of Jephthah, therefore, no mention lias been made of it. But there are other prob- lems more difficult to solve. The account of the quarrel of the Ephraimites with Jephthah is so similar to an incident in the career of Gideon (Judges viii. 1-3) that it is difficult to resist the conclusion that the incident has nothing to do with Jephthah. The authenticity of the Shib- boleth incident also has been questioned by the critics. The incident with Jephthah's daughter rests presumably upon some actual occurrence of child-sacrifice ; but in the form in which it is told is an attempt to account for a four days' festival celebrated annually in Gilead and elsewhere in Palestine, a feature of which was weeping by women. This festival is. without much question, that of Tammtiz (q.v. ) — the young god who is slain by a cruel goddess, and for whom the women (as the official mourners in the Orient, ancient and modern) sing dirges. This festival, we know from Ezekiel (viii. 14), was observed by Hebrews till a comparatively late date. There remains Jephthah's conflict with the Ammonites; and since this account contains an incident, as above pointed out, which confuses Moabites and Ammonites, it is clear that the later Hebrew writers did not have any very definite knowledge of Jephthah's career. His name remained in the memory of his people as a liberator from oppression by an enemy, but who the enemy was — whether jloab- ites or Ammonites — appears to have been for- gotten. Consult the commentaries on Judges by iioore and Budde. and the Hebrew histories of Stade. Guthe. Wellhausen, Kittel, etc. JEPHTHAH. The last oratorio of Handel ( ITol ). composed just before his blindness. JEQUITINHONHA, zha'ke-te-nyo'nya, or Rio Granoe do Belmoxte. A river on the east- ern coast of Brazil, rising in the Serra do Espinhaco. in the Province of Minas Geraes, south- west of the town of Diamantina. It flows north- cast, falling into the Atlantic at Belmonte, 200 miles south of Bahia (ilap: Brazil, J 7). Its length is estimated at over 500 miles. The upper course, flowing through a mountainous country, is very rapid and forms a number of cataracts, one of which, the Salto Grande, has been compared with Niagara. Its lower course is through a flat country, where it is navigable for light ves- sels for about 00 miles. JEAaBEK, yer-zhii'bek, Fr.xtisek ( IS3G- 93). A Bohemian dramatist born at Sobotka, and educated in theology and philology at Leit- meritz and at Prague. He lived in the latter city, where he taught school and was prominent in journalism as editor of Polcrok. and in politics as a member of the Bohemian Diet and the Aus- trian Beichsrat. His dramas, all of unusual technical merit, include: Uinin (1858): .?i-afo- phik (1859); Vesclohra (1861); Cesty vefej- neho mineni (1866); Sliiiebiiik sveho pdna (1870), a powerful social pla3' dealing with the conflict between intellect and capital ; Syn clovfha (1878), an historical play; and Zavist ( 1885), portraying Bohemia in the time of Podie- br'ad. He also wrote a valuable history of early romantic- poetry, Stard doba romaiiiickeko lusnictci (1884). JEBBA, jerTja, or GERBI. An island off the eastern coast of Tunis, Africa, in the Gulf of Cabes. It lies very close to the mainland and occupies an area of 400 square miles. The sur- face is mostly level, and the soil fertile. The natives are engaged in the cultivation of fruit and the manufacture of silk and woolen fabrics. Population, in 1896, 45,000. consisting largely of Berbers. There are on the island some Ro- man remains and an old Spanish castle. The chief town is' Humt Suk. with a population of 3000. Jerba is the ancient Meninx, the island of the lotus-eaters. It has been occupied by the French since 1881. JEBBO'A, or GERBOA (from Ar. yarbu', flesh of the back and loins, oblique descending muscle jerboa ; so called from the great muscular development of the hind legs). A small rodent of the genus Dipus and family Dipodid*. related to rats and mice, and remarkable for its kanga- roo-like characteristics. ( See Plate of iliCE axd Jebeo-^s. ) In true jerboas the fore legs, more used as hands than as feet, are very small and have five toes, while the hind limbs are exces- sively long and strong, and have only three toes, of which the middle (Illd) is prolonged. The tail is long, cylindrical, covered with short hair, and tufted at the end. The jerboas are inhabi- tants of sandy deserts and wide grassy plains in Asia and in Eastern Europe and Xorth Africa. They are burrowing animals, nocturnal, and feed upon roots, seeds, herbage, insects, birds' eggs, and the like, and where numerous gieatly damage the grain crops. Their great legs enable them to fiee from danger in enormous leaps, but when undisturbed they walk upright, one foot after the other, and do not hop like a kangaroo. They hibernate in the colder countries, but do not lay up stores as do many mice. The best known species is Dipus J^gypticiis. of the Xorth African plains. It is from six to eight inches long be- sides the tail, which is longer than the body. Another group of jerboas, principally Asiatic, is distinguished by having five toes on the hind feet, and includes the alacdaga {AJactac/a decti- mana) . an animal as large as a rat and one of the most characteristic animals of the Kirgheez steppes. Several lesser species of the same genus exist, and the sreat Siberian jumping rabbit of the genus Euchoreutes is another relative. Finally, the familiar jumping mouse (q.v.) of the United States is one of this family, as also are the rat-like rodents of Xorthern Europe and Asia of the genus Sminthiis. whose legs are all of nearly equal length, and whose habits are arboreal. These more regular forms are supposed to have least departed from the ancestral type. Consult Blanford's books upon the zoology of India. Persia, and Abyssinia. JERDAN, jer'dnn. WrLLiAM (1782-1869). A London journalist of Scottish birth. He left Kelso, his native place, for a writer's office in Edinburgh, but by 1806 had gone to the metrop- olis to engage in newspaper work, and made