Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/367

* TLAXCALA. 317 TOAD. tures. The magniflceiit sanctuary of Ocotlfln is one of tile landmarks of the surrounding countrj'. The principal exports are grain, hides, and cloth. Population, in 1895, 2847. TLAXIACO, t!a-sya'k6. A town of the State of Oaxaca, ilexieo, G3 miles northwest of the city of that name, on the headwaters of the Atoyac (Map: Mexico, K 9). It is an impor- tant commercial centre. Population, in 1895, 8535. TLEMCEN"^ tlem-sen'. The capital of an arrondissement in the Department of Oran, Al- geria, near the Moroccan frontier. It is 80 miles southwest of the city of Oran, with which it is connected by rail, and stands in an undulating country, everywhere irrigated and highly cul- tivated (Map: Africa, D 1). It is also connected by rail with its port, Rashgun, 37 miles distant. The town is accessible only from the southwest, the other sides presenting steeply escarped fronts. It is protected from the south' wind by a range of mountains, 4200 feet in height, and is surrounded by the ruins of its ancient battle- mented wall. It contains Catholic and Protestant churches, magnificent mosques, synagogues, and a museum of interesting antiquities. The town is well supplied with spring water, and a basin under the walls 720 feet long by 490 feet wide and 10 feet deep, used for naval exhibitions by the ancient Tlemcen rulers, is now a reservoir. The district is covered with fruit trees of all kinds, of which the olive is one of the most valu- able; cereals, tobacco, etc., are extensively pro- duced. Besides the special markets, a daily market is held, at which cattle, wool, grain, and oils are sold. Ostrich feathers and cork are ex- ported; and woolen goods, leather, saddles, slip- pers, and arras are manufactured. Population, in 1901, 35,408, of whom 24.234 were of native origin. Dating from 1002, Tlemcen has an in- teresting history under Berber, Arab, Spanish, and Turkish rule. It had about 100,000 inhabit- ants in the thirteenth century. It has been on the decline since the early part of the sixteenth century. The French ultimatelj' occupied it in 1842. ■ TLIN'KIT (people), or Kolosh (Russ,, from Aleut kalosli, kaluc/a. little trough, in allusion to the enormous and peculiarly shaped labrets worn among them, especially by the Sitka). A group of tribes, of which the Chilcat, Sitka, Stikine, and Yakutat are the most important. The}' constitute a distinct linguistic stock known as the Kolushan, occupying the coast and isl- ands of Southern Alaska from Mount Saint Elias southward to the entrance of the Nass River. The Tlinkit are a seafaring people with strongly marked characteristics. Before the de- moralization wrought by the advent of the white man they lived in permanent villages of solidly constructed houses biiilt of massive beaiiis and great planks of cedar, each with its tall totem pole in front, and with the corner posts also cr.rved in totemic designs. Their canoes were hewn from cedar trunks, and their mats and cordage were woven from the bark fibre of the same tree. They were expert stone-carvers and copper-workers. They were enterprising traders and controlled the trade from the coast to the interior tribes, using dentalium shells as a currency medium and setting great store upon the acquisition of property. They had three clans, the Raven, Wolf, and Whale, with descent in the female line, but the cliieftainship was elec- tive, being usually accorded to the most generous distributor at the great ceremony of the pot- latch (q.v.). Slavery was an established cus- tom, slaves from other tribes being a staple article of trade and treated by their masters with great cruelty. The dead were cremated, ex- cepting in the case of priests, whose bodies were wrapped in mats and deposited with their sacred belongings in grave houses perched upon com- manding cliffs. Their principal mj'thologic hero was the Raven, who brouglit fire to the peojjle and set the sun and moon in their courses. The flesh of the whale was tabooed, excepting among the Yakutat. They did not flatten the head, as did the more southern tribes, but were addicted to labrets, which were considered marks of dis- tinction and honor in proportion to their size, the insertion of each successive larger labret be- ing the occasion of a potlatch distribution. They were a warlike race, strong and well built, and regarded by the Russians as of superior intel- lect, but have greatly deteriorated bj' contact with civilization. They may number now alto- gether 5000, and derive a large part of their subsistence by labor in the salmon canneries. Consult Krause, Die Tlinkit Indianer (.Jena, 1885 ). See also Sitka ; Y^akutat. TOAD (AS. tadige, tudie, toad; of unknown etymologv). The common name applied to any one of the numerous species of tailless Amphibia belonging to the familj- Bufonidse and a few kin- dred families. More than 100 species belong to the typical genus Bufo, which is nearly cosmo- politan, but most numerously represented in tropical America, and absent from Madagascar, Papuasia, and the islands of the Pacific Ocean. Toads difler from typical frogs (Ranina;) in the absence of teeth, in having the sacral diapophyses dilated, and the sternum wholly cartilaginous. Most have a short-limbed, thickset figure and warty skin, and the majoritj' are quite terrestrial or burrowing, but some are aquatic and others arboreal or aberrantly modified. There are seven genera containing 15 species in the family, besides Bufo. Xoticeable among these are the common Australian toad { Myoh<itrach.iis (louldi), which has a smooth skin; the repiUsive egg-shaped, long-tongued, termite-eating Mexican species {Khinophrynus dorsalis) ; and the large, warty, swimming toads of the East Indian genus Nectophryne. The common toad of Eastern North America {Bufo lentiginosus) is a fair type of the group. It reaches a length of about 31-4 inches, and is brownish olive, with a yellowish vertebral line and some brownish spots : but it is exceedingly varial)le. The skin of young toads is nearly smooth, bvit that of adults is very warty. It contains many poison glands from which a milky somewhat acrid fluid exudes when the animal is roughly handled. This and the urine are harmless so far as man is concerned, but have a protective value in making the creature distaste- ful to many predatory animals. The food of the toad consists of worms, in- sects, and snails, which must be alive and mov- ing in order to attract its notice. These are seized by the darting out of the tongue (see Frog), which is done so rapidly as to baflle all but very attentive observation. This fare is