ELEPHANTA-ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES.

ELEPHANTA, an island of six miles in circuit, stands in the harbour of Bombay (q. v.), about sev n miles to the east of that city, and about five miles to the west of the mainland. It takes this its European name from a huge figure of an elephant near its principal landing-place, which, however, appears to have gradually crumbled away. This colossal animal has been cut out of a detached rock, which is apparently of basaltic origin. Further towards the interior, three temples, dug out of the living mountain, present themselves the roofs being supported by curiously wrought pillars of various forms and magnitudes, and the walls being thickly sculptured into all the varieties of Hindu mythology. The largest of the three excavations is nearly square, measuring 133 feet by 130 feet; and immediately fronting its main entrance stands a bust or third-length of a three-headed deity, with a height of 18 feet, and a breadth of 23. These monuments of superstition, like the quadruped which guards, as it were, the approaches to them, are said to be rapidly decaying a state of things which, besides in some measure accounting for the execution of such works, seems to be inconsistent with any very high antiquity. The island is in lat. 18° 57' N., and long. 73° E.

ELEPHANTI'NÉ, a small island of the Nile, lying opposite to Assouan (q. v.), the ancient Syene, on the confines of Egypt and Nubia, in 24° 5' N. lat., and 32° 34' E. long. From this island, the Greek mercenaries were sent by Psammitichus I. to recall the Egyptian deserters, and it was garrisoned in the time of the Pharaohs, Persians, and Romans. The island was anciently called Abu, or the ivory island, from its having been the entrepôt of the trade in that precious material. The most important ruins are a gateway of the time of Alexander, and a small temple dedicated to Khnum, the god of the waters, and his contemplar deities, Anucis and Sate. This temple was founded by Amenophis III., and embellished by Rameses III. Another remarkable edifice is the ancient Nilometer, formerly mentioned by Strabo, and which appears to have been built in the time of the Cæsars; and several remaining inscriptions record the heights of inundation from the time of Augustus to Severus. This island had the honour of giving a dynasty (the 5th) to Egypt, and was evidently an important place, the inscriptions on the rocks attesting the adoration paid by Sethos I., Psammitichus II., and other monarchs, to the local deities. Other interesting monuments have been found on this island; amongst which may be cited part of a calendar recording the rise of the Dog-star in the reign of Thothmes III. (1445 B. C.), and numerous fragments of pottery-principally receipts in the Greek language-given by the farmers of the taxes in the reign of the Antonines. The island is at present inhabited by Nubians.-Wilkinson, Topography of p. 215; Champollion, Lettres Ecrites, pp. 111, 157, Thebes, p. 460; Champollion, Notice Descriptive,

171, 382.

ELEPHANT'S FOOT, or HOTTENTOT'S BREAD (Testudinaria elephantipes), a plant of the natural order Dioscoreacea, of which the root-stock forms a large fleshy mass, curiously truncate, or abruptly cut off at the end, so as somewhat to resemble an elephant's foot, and covered with a soft, corky, rough, and cracked bark. From this springs a climbing stem, which bears the leaves and flowers. The root-stock is used as food by the Hottentots. The plant is not unfrequently to be seen in hothouses in Britain.

The name ELEPHANT'S FOOT (Elephantopus) is also given, on account of the form of the root

leaves, to a genus of plants of the natural order
Composite, sub-order Corymbifera, one species of
which (E. scaber) is common in elevated dry situa-
tions in all parts of India, and is used in Indian
medicine in affections of the urinary organs.
ELETTA'RIA. See CARDAMOM.
ELETZ. See IELETZ.

ELEUSINE, a genus of Grasses, chiefly natives
of India and other warm climates, several of which
are cultivated as grains. This is especially the case
with E. corocana, an Indian species, called Natchnee
and Nagla Ragee, also Mand and Murwa, which
has aggregated digitate spikes finally incurved.
The Tibetans make a weak sort of beer, much in
E. stricta is
use amongst them, from this grain.
cultivated as a grain-crop in the same parts of the
world, and is, like the former, extremely productive.
The grain called Tocusso in Abyssinia is also a
species of this genus, E. Tocusso.-A decoction of
E. Egyptiaca is used in Egypt for cleansing ulcers;
and a drink made from the seeds is regarded as
useful in diseases of the kidneys and bladder. A
decoction of E. Indica is also administered to infants
in Demerara, to prevent or cure convulsions.

ELEUSI'NIAN MY'STERIES, the sacred rites with which the annual festival of Ceres was cele

brated at Eleusis. Many traditions were afloat in
ancient times as to the origin of this festival. Of
these, the most generally accepted was to the effect
that Ceres, wandering over the earth in quest of her
daughter Proserpine, arrived at Eleusis, where she
took rest on the sorrowful stone beside the well
Callichorus. In return for some small acts of kind-
ness, and to commemorate her visit, she taught
Triptolemus the use of corn on the Rharian plain
near the city, and instituted the mystic rites pecu-
liarly known as hers. The outward method of the
celebration of these mysteries is known with con-
siderable accuracy of detail. Their esoteric signi-
ficance is very variously interpreted. The ancients
revealed to the initiated gave them better hopes
themselves generally believed that the doctrines
than other men enjoyed, both as to the present life
and as to a future state of existence. Modern specu-
lation has run wild in the attempt satisfactorily to
explain these mysteries. As reasonable a solution as
any other seems to be that of Bishop Thirlwall, who
finds in them the remains of a worship which pre-
ceded the rise of the Hellenic mythology and its
attendant rites, grounded on a view of nature, less
fanciful, more earnest, and better fitted to awaken
both philosophical thought and religious feeling.'
The festival itself consisted of two parts, the greater
and the lesser mysteries. The less important feast,
serving as a sort of preparation for the greater, was
The celebration of
held at Agræ, on the Ilissus.
day of Boëdromion, the third month of the Attic
the great mysteries began at Eleusis on the 15th
already initiated at the preparatory festival, met,
year, and lasted over nine days. On the first day
(called agurmos, the assembling), the neophytes,

and were instructed in their sacred duties. On the
second day (called Haladé, mystæ, To the sea, ye
initiated!), they purified themselves by washing in
the sea. On the third day, sacrifices, comprising,
among other things, the mullet-tish, and cakes made
of barley from the Rharian plain, were offered with
special rites. The fourth day was devoted to the
procession of the sacred basket of Ceres (the Kala-
thion). This basket, containing pomegranates, salt,
poppy-seeds, &c., and followed by bands of women
carrying smaller baskets similarly filled, was drawn
in a consecrated cart through the streets, amid
shouts of Hail, Ceres!' from the onlookers. The
fifth day was known as the day of the torches,' and

ELEUSIS-ELF-ARROW-HEADS.

was thought to symbolise the wanderings of Ceres in quest of her daughter. On it the mystæ, led by the daduchus,' the torch-bearer, walked two by two to the temple of the goddess, and seem to have spent the night there. The sixth day, called Iacchus, in honour of the son of Ceres, was the great day of the feast. On that day the statue of lacchus was borne in pomp along the sacred way from the Ceramicus at Athens to Eleusis, where the votaries spent the night, and were initiated in the last mysteries. Till this stage of the proceedings, they had been only mysta; but on the night of the sixth day they were admitted into the innermost sanctuary of the temple, and, from being allowed to behold the sacred things, became entitled to be called 'epoptæ,' or 'ephori; i. e., spectators, or contemplators. They were once more purified, and repeated their original oath of secrecy with an imposing and awful ceremonial, somewhat resembling, it is believed, the forms of modern free-masonry. On the seventh day, the votaries returned to Athens with mirth and music, halting for a while on the bridge over the Cephisus, and exercising their wit and satire against the spectators. The eighth day was called Epidauria, and was believed to have been added to the original number of the days for the convenience of those who had been unable to attend the grand ceremonial of the sixth day. It was named in honour of Esculapius, who arrived on one occasion from his native city of Epidaurus too late for the solemn rites, and the Athenians, unwilling to disappoint so distinguished a benefactor of mankind, added a supplementary day. On the ninth day took place the ceremony of the 'Plemochoæ,' in which two earthen vessels filled with wine were turned one towards the east, and the other towards the west. The attendant priests, uttering some mystic words, then upset both vessels, and the wine so spilt was offered as a libation.

Initiation into the Eleusinian mysteries was compulsory on every freeborn Athenian; but slaves, prostitutes, and persons who had forfeited their citizenship were excluded from the rites. During the period of the festival, none of those taking part in it could be seized or arrested for any offence. Lycurgus, with a view to destroying distinctions of class, forbade any woman to ride to the Eleusinia in a chariot, under a penalty of 6000 drachmæ. The mysteries were celebrated with the most scrupulous secrecy. No initiated person might reveal what he had seen under pain of death, and no uninitiated person could take part in the ceremonies under the same penalty. The priests were chosen from the sacred family of the Eumolpida, whose ancestor, Eumolpus, had been the special favourite of Ceres. The chief priest was called the 'Hierophant,' or Mystagogue;' next in rank to him was the Daduchus, or Torch-bearer; after whom came the Hiero-Ceryx,' or Sacred Herald, and the priest at the altar. Besides these leading ministers, there was a multitude of inferior priests and servants. ELEU'SIS, a celebrated town in ancient Attica, stood near the northern shore of the Gulf of Salamis, and not far from the confines of Megaris. It was famous as the chief seat of the worship of Ceres, whose mystic rites were here performed with great pomp and solemnity from the earliest authentic times till the era of Alaric. See ELEUSINIAN MYSTERIES The temple of the goddess, designed by letinus, the architect of the Parthenon, was the largest sacred edifice in Greece. The site of the old Eleusis is now occupied by the little village of Lefsina or Lepsina.

in the whole chain. Including its dependent cayes or keys, E., in 1851, contained 4610 inhabitants. It is more fertile than most of its neighbours, mor especially surpassing all of them in the growth of fruit, such as the pine-apple, the orange, and the lemon.

ELEUTHE'RIA BARK, a name not unfre

quently given to the bark of the Croton Eleutheria also known as Cascarilla Bark. See CASCARILLA. It is called Eleutheria (or Eleuthera) Bark, because it is chiefly gathered on the island of Eleuthera. E'LEVATED. Wings turned upwards are described in heraldry as elevated.

ELEVATION, in Architectural Drawing, is a representation of the flat side of a building, drawn with mathematical accuracy, but without the slightest attention to effect. In Art, again, elevation is a raising of the subject beyond its ordinary character in real life. A very good instance of elevation in this sense is given by Fairholt in his Dictionary of Terms in Art, in Rembrandt's Adoration of the Shepherds.' The whole of the objects and surroundings of the infant Saviour are of the most homely description; and still the light which is represented as issuing from his person gives an elevation to the scene which takes off from it entirely the character of being commonplace or vulgar.

6

ELEVATION, in Astronomy and Geography, means generally the height above the horizon of an object on the sphere, measured by the arc of a vertical circle through it and the zenith. Thus, the elevation of the equator is the arc of a meridian intercepted between the equator and the horizon of the place. The elevation of the pole is the complement of that of the equator, and is always equal to the latitude of the place. The elevation of a star, or any other point, is similarly its height above the horizon, and is a maximum when the star is on the meridian.

ELEVENTH, in Music, is the interval of the octave above the fourth.

ELF, a fairy, pl. ELVES. See FAIRIES.

ELF-ARROW-HEADS, ELFIN-ARROWS, ELF-BOLTS, ELF-DARTS, ELF-SHOT, and ELF-STONES, names popularly given in the British Islands to the arrow-heads of flint which were in use at an early period among the barbarous tribes of this country and of Europe generally, as they are still in use among the American Indians, the Esquimaux of the Arctic regions, and the inhabitants of some of the islands in the Pacific Ocean. It was believed that elves or fairies, hovering in the air, shot these barbs of flint at cattle, and occasionally even at men. Thus, Robert Gordon of Straloch, an accomplished country gentleman of the north of Scotland, writing in 1654, tells how one of his friends, travelling on horseback, found an elf-arrow-head in the top of his boot, and how a gentlewoman of discovered one in the breast of her his acquaintance, when out riding, habit. He remarks that, although they are got by chance in the fields and on the highways, one who goes to look for them on purpose will search in vain. He adds that they are most com- Elf-Arrow-Head. circumstance which probably helped them in monly met with after showers-a Germany to their names of thunder-bolts' and ELEU THERA, one of the Bahamas (q. v.), is, thunder-stones,' and is easily enough explained. next to New Providence, the most populous island | The rain, by washing away the earth in which they

ELGIN ELGIN AND KINCARDINE.

have been imbedded, makes them more readily notorious Wolf of Badenoch (Alexander Stewart, perceptible to the eye, especially if the sunshine Earl of Buchan); in 1402, by Alexander, the son of happens to fall upon them. Cattle dying suddenly the Lord of the Isles; and in 1452, by the Earl of in the fields were believed to have been struck Huntly-this last calamity originating the proverb, by elf-arrows-a belief which yet lingers in Ireland, Half done, as Elgin was burned.' Its once magniand perhaps in some secluded parts of Scotland. ficent cathedral church, partly of Early English and Thus, when cattle are sick,' writes Mr W. R. partly of Middle-pointed architecture, dedicated to Wilde, in his Catalogue of the Antiquities in the the Holy Trinity, was begun by Bishop Andrew Museum of the Royal Irish Academy (Dub. 1857), Moray in 1224, on the transference of the see from and the cattle doctor, or fairy doctor, is sent for, Spynie; was injured by fire in 1270; was nearly he says the beast has been "elf-shot," or stricken burned down by the Wolf of Badenoch in 1390; by fairy or elfin darts; and he forthwith proceeds to was restored under Bishops Bur, Spyny, Innes, and feel the animal all over; and, by some legerdemain, Leighton (1390-1424); and from subsequent accicontrives to find in its skin one or more poisonous dent and dilapidation is now a mere ruin. The weapons, which, with some coins, are then placed in other religious buildings of the olden time were the the water which is given it to drink; and so a cure church of St Giles, a picturesque example of our old is said to be effected.' The elf-arrow-head was occa- parish churches, replaced 1826-1828 by the modern sionally set in silver, so as to be worn on the person less interesting structure; the monastery of the as a talisman, or had a hole drilled through it, so Black Friars, long since demolished; the convent of that it might be dipped in water, which, being thus the Gray Friars, the walls of whose church remain ; endowed with healing virtue, was used sometimes as the hospital of the Maison Dieu, on the site of which a wash, more commonly as a draught. As a talisman, is Anderson's Institution; the Leper House, still the elf-arrow-head was believed to be most efficacious commemorated by the grounds called the Leper as a preservative from poison and witchcraft. The Lands; and the chapel of St Mary of the Castle, ascription of the flint arrow-head to the elves or which gave name to the Lady Hill and Lady Well fairies, is but one of several instances of the disposi- on the west of the town. The castle itself, styled tion of a people to elevate or degrade the earlier of old the Manor of Elgin, whose ruins, surmounted races whom they vanquished or dispossessed into by an obelisk-erected to the memory of George, mythical beings, better or worse than mankind. fifth and last Duke of Gordon-crown the Lady Thus, in Greece and Italy, the remains of the rude Hill, was a residence of the Earls of Moray, for strongholds built by the Pelasgi came to be regarded some time superiors of the burgh under our as works of the fabled Cyclops, or one-eyed giants. Scottish kings. So also, in Scotland, the sepulchral mounds of the aboriginal inhabitants were called 'elf-hillocks;' and the vestiges of ancient ploughshares which may be traced on heaths and hill-tops were called 'elfinfurrows.' Examples of 'elf-arrow-heads' may be seen in most museums of antiquities. They fall to be more particularly described in a following page, under the head of FLINT IMPLEMENTS AND WEAPONS. E'LGIN, a royal burgh, the county town of Elgin or Morayshire, and a station on the Inverness and Aberdeen Junction Railway, situated on the right bank of the river Lossie, about five miles from the sea. Pop. (1861) 7543. E. joins with Banff, Peterhead, Inverury, Cullen, and Kintore, in returning a member to parliament. It was probably a royal burgh so early as the reign of King David I. (1124-1153), and had its privileges confirmed by several of his successors. Its trade is now almost wholly retail. E. has 12 yearly fairs, and a weekly grain market. It has a parish church, which is collegiate, 2 Free Churches, 2 United Presbyterian Churches, 1 Baptist Church, 1 Original Secession, 1 Independent, I Episcopal, and 1 Roman Catholic; with 10 schools. Gray's Hospital for the sick poor, built and endowed from a bequest of £20,000 by the late Dr Alexander Gray of Bengal, and opened in 1819, with a small pauper lunatic asylum since attached by public subscription; and the Elgin or Anderson's Institution for the support of old age and the education of youth, built and opened 1831-1833, on the foundation of £70,000 bequeathed by the late Major-general Anderson, H.E.I.C.S. are the principal of many public and private charities. E. is chiefly remarkable for the beauty of its situation, lying placidly in a gentle curve of the Lossie, for the salubrity of its climate, and for its history as the see of the Bishop of Moray. Its appearance, about fifty years ago, was that of a little cathedral city with an antique fashion of building, and with a certain solemn drowsy air about the town and its inhabitants.' That appearance is fast giving way to that of a gay modern county town, surrounded by elegant villas. The old town was partially burned in 1390 by the

ELGIN AND KINCA'RDINE, EARL OF, Governor-general of India. James Bruce, eighth Earl of E., was born in Park Lane, London, in 1811. He was educated at his father's seat in Fifeshire, and afterwards went to Christ Church, Oxford, where he was first-class in classics, 1832; became Fellow of Merton, and graduated M.A. 1835. He entered public life in 1841, when, as Lord Bruce, he was returned at the general election on the Conservative interest for Southampton. A petition was presented against the return, and the election was declared void. Before, however, a new writ could issue, Lord Bruce had succeeded his father (who enriched the British Museum by the invaluable collection of sculpture known as the 'Elgin Marbles,' q.v.) as Earl of Elgin. Those who remember his early parliamentary and precolonial career, state that he gave early promise of oratorical distinction, and assert that if he had thrown himself into the politics of the day, he would have taken a high position as a parlia mentary debater. By succeeding to a Scotch peerage, however, he was, in his own words, 'expelled from the House of Commons without being admitted into the House of Peers.' Being offered the gover norship of Jamaica, in March 1842, by the Earl of Derby-then Lord Stanley-he went to Jamaica, where he administered the affairs of the island with so much ability and success, that in August 1846, the Governor-generalship of Canada was tendered to him by Earl Grey, then Secretary of State for the Colonies in the administration of Lord J. Russell. Lord E., still finding himself in the same position as a Scottish peer, accepted the office, and went to Canada. His administration of the government of Canada will ever be a bright spot in our colonial history, and a model to future governors of English dependencies. He found Canada governed by cliques, and torn by intestine feuds. With admir able tact and entire success, he inaugurated system of self-government, which has rendered the provinces of British America a support to the British throne, in place of being a source of weakness. Under his government, Canada made such

ELGIN AND KINCARDINE-ELGIN MARBLES.

strides in importance and prosperity, that between of several of the statues that were placed in the 1847 (in the beginning of which year he entered east and west tympana or pediments, the most upon his government) and 1855, when he returned important of which are the Theseus or Hercules, to England, the revenue of that great British

possession quadrupled itself. During his adminis-
tration, he successfully negotiated a treaty for reci-
procity of trade between British America and the
United States, which admitted the whole produce of
British North America to be brought into competi-
tion with the products of the United States in their
own markets. This treaty likewise put an end to
the risk of collision on the subject of the fisheries
between this country and America, which Lord E.
has described as the most serious risk which had
presented itself during the whole time he had
been a public servant. His popularity was great,
not only in Canada but the adjacent states, the
eitizens of which offered him ovations.
He was
now a peer of the United Kingdom (having been
summoned to the House of Lords in 1849), and was
appointed lord-lieutenant of Fifeshire. In 1857,
the affair of the lorcha Arrow, and the bombard-
ment of Canton by Sir John Bowring, led Lord
Palmerston to invite Lord E. to go to China
as Plenipotentiary Extraordinary. An army was
equipped to carry out the policy prescribed by the
British government, and he started on his mission.
But before he could approach his destination, and
when he had barely left England a month, the
Indian mutiny broke out. Lord E. did not hesitate
a moment in preferring the safety of India to the
success of his Chinese negotiations. He despatched
the Chinese expedition to Lord Canning's assistance,
and the English in India were thus enabled to hold
their ground until further reinforcements arrived.
After thus consigning himself to an inaction of
several months, Lord E. proceeded to China, and in
1858, in conjunction with Baron Gros, the French
plenipotentiary, he negotiated the treaty of Tien-
tsin, which promised to give Great Britain a freer
access to China than she had ever enjoyed before.
He found time, before his return, to negotiate a
treaty with Japan, under which English manufac-
tures are admitted at low rates of duty, and a British
minister is permitted to reside at Jeddo. On his
return home, he was appointed Postmaster-general.
He had scarcely time to become acquainted with
his duties, before the treachery of the Chinese, in
firing upon the British squadron from the Taku
forts, led to the organisation of another Chinese
expedition, and to Lord E.'s second mission to
China. A combined English and French force
penetrated to the capital, and enabled Lord E. and
Baron Gros to dictate a peace under the walls of
Pekin. On the expiration of Viscount Canning's
term of service, the governor-generalship of India
was offered by Lord Palmerston to Lord E. (1861),
and accepted by him. Lord E. (who is the repre-
sentative in the male line of the great Scottish
House of Bruce) has been twice married: in 1841,
to the daughter of Mr Cumming Bruce, M.P. (she
died 1843); and in 1846, to the daughter of the
first Earl of Durham, by whom he has a son, Victor
Alexander Lord Bruce, born at Montreal 1849, and
other issue. Lord E. is K.T. (1847), privy councillor
(1857), G.C.B. (civil, extra) 1858.

ELGIN MARBLES, a celebrated collection of ancient sculptures, brought from Greece by Thomas, seventh Earl of Elgin, and acquired from him by the nation for the British Museum in 1816, at the sum of £35,000.

These sculptures adorned certain buildings on the Acropolis of Athens; the chief portions, which are from the Parthenon or Temple of Minerva, were designed by Phidias, and executed by him, or under his superintendence. They consist of-1. Portions

Theseus.

સેવાના

Of all

Ilissus or river-god, upper portions of the torsos of
Neptune and Minerva, Iris, torso of Cecrops, Ceres,
and Proserpine, the Fates, heads of the horses of
Hyperion, and one of the horses of Night.
these, the Theseus, and the head of the horse of
Night, are the most perfect, the former wanting only
the hands and feet and part of the nose, while even
the surface of the latter is very little injured. But
however mutilated, the greatness in style of these
magnificent works is clearly manifest, and from the
merest fragment valuable instruction in art may
be obtained. 2. Fifteen metopes, executed in high
relief, representing the battle of the Centaurs and
Lapitha. A metope is the interval between the
triglyphs on a Doric frieze-in the Parthenon, there
were ninety-two, fourteen on each front, and thirty.
two on each flank of the temple-and on every

metope, a Centaur engaged in conflict with one of the Lapitha is represented in a style of the highest excellence in point of spirit and truthfulness. 3. A large portion of the frieze of the outer walls of the cella. This remarkable work represents the solemn procession to the Temple of Minerva during the Panathenaic festival, and has never been equalled for elegance of composition and the variety and gracefulness of the figures. It is executed in low relief, in order to adapt it to the light, for placed within the colonnade, it received its light between the columns, and by reflection, from the pavement below. This exquisite fricze occupied,

ELGINSHIRE-ELIJAH.