Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/228

* LIBYAN. 208 LICENSE. They include in Morocco Atiiazirg (Berbers), Bilians, and Hhclhas (Shlulis) ; in Senegal, Senagas; in the Desert, Tuarcgs and Tibbiis; in Algeria, Kabyks, Sliauia, and licni-Mzub (ilza- bites) ; in Tripolitana, Zoimves and Jebel, and Ghadames, soutlnvard. The Libyan people are of medium .stature (5 feet 7 inches) ami in build arc sjiarc, but stiung. They are fair-skinnod, and much lighter than the average fellah of the Nile or than the Arabs. Dark hair and hazel eyes are more frequent than light hair and blue eyes, though in all villages persons resembling the North (lernian type are to be seen, it is interesting to note how this mark has persisted. On the -walls of the tomb of Seti I. and Jlerenptali (B.C. l.'iOO), at Thebes, are shown four types, representing the Egyptian, the Asiatic, t!ie Negro, and the Libyan. The Egyp- tians are painted red, but the Libyans are wliite. with blue eyes and fair beards, preserved until this day in the blond Berber, from Tripoli to Tangier and far into the desert. The home of the Eibvans is for the most part a mountainous region, here and there lifted above the snow-line and flanked by a Piedmont on north and south, the former sloping into the ilediter- ranean, the latter toward the Sahara. As distinguished from the nomadic and pre- datory Arabs, the Libyans are and have been partly agricultural, partly industrial, and partly commercial. The diiricult trallic across the Sa- liara into the Negro Sudan has been theirs from time immemorial. For the prosecution of this commerce horses, camels, and asses were needed, and the rearing of these gave variety to their ac- tivities. .gricullure has always been their eon- genial pursuit. In the narrow valleys terraced gardens arc common, but in the wider, more open spaces the plow takes the place of the hoe and the implements seem not to have changed their form in many hundreds of years. The Libyans possess little mechanical skill, as is evidenced by their mills, looms, and metallurgy. Pottery is made by han<l, without the wheel, by modeling or building up by coils, and burnt in little kilns in the open air. In some tribes, the Kabyles (f|.v.). for example, the forms and decorations remind the student of the most ancient ceramics of Egypt. The dress of the Libyans of to-day is for the men a cotton or woolen undergarment and over Ibis a hurnoose, consisting of blankets sewed to- gether and having a capuchin hood attached. Sandals with soles of plaited grass complete the costume. To this a ciiida i Knlrl) will add a scarf, loose tunic, sleeved waistcoats, endiroidered waistcoats, a girdle, and a turban, besides a .ro- sary, boots or stockings of red leather, and large black shoes. The women wear a single tunic of coarse ma- terial, with holes for the arms, tied up at the waist with a girdle. A profusion of silver orna- ments is common, and finer garments with gay bcaddrcs are worn on festive occasions. The unit of Libyan social life is the monog- amous family, in which the women do not go veiled, but custom lays on them many restric- tions. The unit of political life is the village community, with purefy democratic government, unless outside influences ha^e prevented, as among the Touaregs. The presiding officer of the aeneral assembly bas no power of initiative, but is the servant of the village. Villages are united into tribes, for geographic and economic reason.?, and these in great emergencies unite in confed- eracies. Beneath this democratic system and modifying its action exist secret societies or or- ganizations which are sworn to protect their members in every dilliculty. Excepting on the rarest occasions the Libyans have never de- veloped a national spirit. The Libyans or ISerbers have been Moham- medans since the seventh century. Herodotus says that the Libyan nomads sacrificed to the sun. Egj-ptian, Greek, and Konian polytheisms, singularly enough, made little impression on them. Beyond nature-worship and the wearing of charms they were almost without a cult. Con- sult Kandall-Maeiver an<l Wilkin, Libi/iiii Xotr.i (London, 1901). See Bebukr, and the various Libyan tribes under their special designations. LIBTAN DESERT (Lat. Lihya' dcserta). That iiart of the .frican continent lying be- tween Egypt and Fezzan, and extending from the Mediterranean to Darfur. It contains a number of oases, or fertile tracts, islands of verdure in the vast sands, which support a sparse popula- tion; but the surface generally consists of irre- claimable sandy or gravelly plains, sejiarat'ed by low rocky ridges, or shelving down in a series of terraces toward the Jlediterranean. See Libya. LIBYAN SEA (Lat. Marc Lihuriim). The name given in ancient geography to (bat part of the Mediterranean which lies between the island of Crete and the coast of Africa. LICATA, le-ka'ta, or ALICATA. The most important city commercially on the south coast of Sicily, at the nioutb of Salso, in the Province of Girgenti, 137 miles by rail southeast of Palermo (Map: Italy, H 10). It is beautifully situated on the lower slopes of the hill of Sant' Angclo. The harbor of Licata promises before long to be one of the best in Sicily. The prinMpal export is sulphur. The count ly produces grain, wine, olives, fruit, cheese, wool, hides, and cotton, and the .sea yields anchovies and sardines. Here in B.C. 256 Reg:ulus (q.v. ) vanquished the Car- thaginians in the naval battle of Ecnomus, and in 249 Carthalo, favored by a storm, destroyed a fleet of Roman transports. Population, in 1881 (commune), 17,478; in 1901. 22.031. LI'CEITSE (OF., Fr. licoice, It. licenza. from Lat. licrttiia, license, from Hcere. to be permit- ted). In music, the liberty which a composer takes in deviating from the rules of his art, and which is often marked with the words con lirrnza in order to indicate that it bas been introduced intentionally to produce some unusual effect. Many licenses occur, however, in the works of great composers like Mendelssohn, Bach, and Haydn, where the notice con Urmza is omitted, but it will generally be found that they are in- troduced for the purpose of characterization. Especially in dramatic music much license is per- mitted in order to obtain characteristic expres- sion, such as leading voices in open fifths, or doubling intervals, that ought not to be doubled according to the rules of strict writing. LICENSE. In general, an authority given by one person to another to do certain acts which but for such authority would be unlawful. Spe- cifically, the term includes licenses by a land- owner to come upon or otherwise use his land and licenses by municipal or other authority to ply certain trades or callings.