Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Jacobites" to "Japan" (part) Volume 15, Slice 2
Part 5
JAISALMER, or JEYSULMERE, a town and native state of India in the Rajputana agency. The town stands on a ridge of yellowish sandstone, crowned by a fort, which contains the palace and several ornate Jain temples. Many of the houses and temples are finely sculptured. Pop. (1901), 7137. The area of the state is 16,062 sq. m. In 1901 the population was 73,370, showing a decrease of 37% in ten years, as a consequence of famine. The estimated revenue is about £6000; there is no tribute. Jaisalmer is almost entirely a sandy waste, forming a part of the great Indian desert. The general aspect of the country is that of an interminable sea of sandhills, of all shapes and sizes, some rising to a height of 150 ft. Those in the west are covered with _phog_ bushes, those in the east with tufts of long grass. Water is scarce, and generally brackish; the average depth of the wells is said to be about 250 ft. There are no perennial streams, and only one small river, the Kakni, which, after flowing a distance of 28 m., spreads over a large surface of flat ground, and forms a lake or _jhil_ called the Bhuj-Jhil. The climate is dry and healthy. Throughout Jaisalmer only rain-crops, such as _bajra_, _joar_, _moth_, _til_, &c., are grown; spring crops of wheat, barley, &c., are very rare. Owing to the scant rainfall, irrigation is almost unknown.
The main part of the population lead a wandering life, grazing their flocks and herds. Large herds of camels, horned cattle, sheep and goats are kept. The principal trade is in wool, _ghi_, camels, cattle and sheep. The chief imports are grain, sugar, foreign cloth, piece-goods, &c. Education is at a low ebb. Jain priests are the chief schoolmasters, and their teaching is elementary. The ruler of Jaisalmer is styled _maharawal_. The state suffered from famine in 1897, 1900 and other years, to such an extent that it has had to incur a heavy debt for extraordinary expenditure. There are no railways.
The majority of the inhabitants are Bhatti Rajputs, who take their name from an ancestor named Bhatti, renowned as a warrior when the tribe were located in the Punjab. Shortly after this the clan was driven southwards, and found a refuge in the Indian desert, which was thenceforth its home. Deoraj, a famous prince of the Bhatti family, is esteemed the real founder of the present Jaisalmer dynasty, and with him the title of _rawal_ commenced. In 1156 Jaisal, the sixth in succession from Deoraj, founded the fort and city of Jaisalmer, and made it his capital. In 1294 the Bhattis so enraged the emperor Ala-ud-din that his army captured and sacked the fort and city of Jaisalmer, so that for some time it was quite deserted. After this there is nothing to record till the time of Rawal Sabal Singh, whose reign marks an epoch in Bhatti history in that he acknowledged the supremacy of the Mogul emperor Shah Jahan. The Jaisalmer princes had now arrived at the height of their power, but from this time till the accession of Rawal Mulraj in 1762 the fortunes of the state rapidly declined, and most of its outlying provinces were lost. In 1818 Mulraj entered into political relations with the British. Maharawal Salivahan, born in 1887, succeeded to the chief ship in 1891.
JAJCE (pronounced _Yaïtse_), a town of Bosnia, situated on the Pliva and Vrbas rivers, and at the terminus of a branch railway from Serajevo, 62 m. S.E. Pop. (1895), about 4000. Jajce occupies a conical hill, overlooking one of the finest waterfalls in Europe, where the Pliva rushes down into the Vrbas, 100 ft. below. The 14th century citadel which crowns this hill is said to have been built for Hrvoje, duke of Spalato, on the model of the Castel del' Uovo at Naples; but the resemblance is very slight, and although both _jajce_ and _uovo_ signify "an egg," the town probably derives its name from the shape of the hill. The ruined church of St Luke, said by legend to be the Evangelist's burial place, has a fine Italian belfry, and dates from the 15th century. Jezero, 5 m. W. of Jajce, contains the Turkish fort of Djöl-Hissar, or "the Lake-Fort." In this neighbourhood a line of waterfalls and meres, formed by the Pliva, stretches for several miles, enclosed by steep rocks and forest-clad mountains. The power supplied by the main fall, at Jajce, is used for industrial purposes, but the beauty of the town remains unimpaired.
From 1463 to 1528 Jajce was the principal outwork of eastern Christendom against the Turks. Venice contributed money for its defence, and Hungary provided armies; while the pope entreated all Christian monarchs to avert its fall. In 1463 Mahomet II. had seized more than 75 Bosnian fortresses, including Jajce itself; and the last independent king of Bosnia, Stephen Tomasevic, had been beheaded, or, according to one tradition, flayed alive, before the walls of Jajce, on a spot still called _Kraljeva Polje_, the "King's Field." His coffin and skeleton are still displayed in St Luke's Church. The Hungarians, under King Matthias I., came to the rescue, and reconquered the greater part of Bosnia during the same year; and, although Mahomet returned in 1464, he was again defeated at Jajce, and compelled to flee before another Hungarian advance. In 1467 Hungarian bans, or military governors, were appointed to rule in north-west Bosnia, and in 1472 Matthias appointed Nicolaus Ujlaki king of the country, with Jajce for his capital. This kingdom lasted, in fact, for 59 years; but, after the death of Ujlaki, in 1492, its rulers only bore the title of _ban_, and of _vojvod_. In 1500 the Turks, under Bajazet II., were crushed at Jajce by the Hungarians under John Corvinus; and several other attacks were repelled between 1520 and 1526. But in 1526 the Hungarian power was destroyed at Mohács; and in 1528 Jajce was forced to surrender.
See Bräss, "Jajce, die alte Königstadt Bosniens," in _Deutsche geog. Blätter_, pp. 71-85 (Bremen, 1899).
JAJPUR, or JAJPORE, a town of British India, in Cuttack district, Bengal, situated on the right bank of the Baitarani river. Pop. (1901), 12,111. It was the capital of Orissa under the Kesari dynasty until the 11th century, when it was superseded by Cuttack. In Jajpur are numerous ruins of temples, sculptures, &c., and a large and beautiful sun pillar.
JAKOB, LUDWIG HEINRICH VON (1759-1827), German economist, was born at Wettin on the 26th of February 1759. In 1777 he entered the university of Halle. In 1780 he was appointed teacher at the gymnasium, and in 1791 professor of philosophy at the university. The suppression of the university of Halle having been decreed by Napoleon, Jakob betook himself to Russia, where in 1807 he was appointed professor of political economy at Kharkoff, and in 1809 a member of the government commission to inquire into the finances of the empire. In the following year he became president of the commission for the revision of criminal law, and he at the same time obtained an important office in the finance department, with the rank of counsellor of state; but in 1816 he returned to Halle to occupy the chair of political economy. He died at Lauchstädt on the 22nd of July 1827.
Shortly after his first appointment to a professorship in Halle Jakob had begun to turn his attention rather to the practical than the speculative side of philosophy, and in 1805 he published at Halle _Lehrbuch der Nationalökonomie_, in which he was the first to advocate in Germany the necessity of a distinct science dealing specially with the subject of national wealth. His principal other works are _Grundriss der allgemeinen Logik_ (Halle, 1788); _Grundsätze der Polizeigesetzgebung und Polizeianstalten_ (Leipzig, 1809); _Einleitung in das Studium der Staatswissenschaften_ (Halle, 1819); _Entwurf eines Criminalgesetzbuchs für das russische Reich_ (Halle, 1818) and _Staatsfinanzwissenschaft_ (2 vols., Halle, 1821).
JAKOVA (also written DIAKOVA, GYAKOVO and GJAKOVICA), a town of Albania, European Turkey, in the vilayet of Kossovo; on the river Erenik, a right-hand tributary of the White Drin. Pop. (1905) about 12,000. Jakova is the chief town of the Alpine region which extends from the Montenegrin frontier to the Drin and White Drin. This region has never been thoroughly explored, or brought under effective Turkish rule, on account of the inaccessible character of its mountains and forests, and the lawlessness of its inhabitants--a group of two Roman Catholic and three Moslem tribes, known collectively as the Malsia Jakovs, whose official representative resides in Jakova.
JAKUNS, an aboriginal race of the Malay Peninsula. They have become much mixed with other tribes, and are found throughout the south of the peninsula and along the coasts. The purest types are straight-haired, exhibit marked Mongolian characteristics and are closely related to the Malays. They are probably a branch of the Pre-Malays, the "savage Malays" of A. R. Wallace. They are divided into two groups: (1) Jakuns of the jungle, (2) Jakuns of the sea or Orang Laut. The latter set of tribes now comprise the remnants of the pirates or "sea-gipsies" of the Malaccan straits. The Jakuns, who must be studied in conjunction with the other aboriginal peoples of the Malay Peninsula, the Semangs and the Sakais, are not so dwarfish as those. The head is round; the skin varies from olive-brown to dark copper; the face is flat and the lower jaw square. The nose is thick and short, with wide, open nostrils. The cheekbones are high and well marked. The hair has a blue-black tint, eyes are black and the beard is scanty. The Jakuns live a wild forest life, and in general habits much resemble the Sakai, being but little in advance of the latter in social conditions except where they come into close contact with the Malay peoples.
JALALABAD, or JELLALABAD, a town and province of Afghanistan. The town lies at a height of 1950 ft. in a plain on the south side of the Kabul river, 96 m. from Kabul and 76 from Peshawar. Estimated pop., 4000. Between it and Peshawar intervenes the Khyber Pass, and between it and Kabul the passes of Jagdalak, Khurd Kabul, &c. The site was chosen by the emperor Baber, and he laid out some gardens here; but the town itself was built by his grandson Akbar in A.D. 1560. It resembles the city of Kabul on a smaller scale, and has one central bazaar, the streets generally being very narrow. The most notable episode in the history of the place is the famous defence by Sir Robert Sale during the first Afghan war, when he held the town from November 1841 to April 1842. On its evacuation in 1842 General Pollock destroyed the defences, but they were rebuilt in 1878. The town is now fortified, surrounded by a high wall with bastions and loopholes. The province of Jalalabad is about 80 m. in length by 35 in width, and includes the large district of Laghman north of the Kabul river, as well as that on the south called Ningrahar. The climate of Jalalabad is similar to that of Peshawar. As a strategical centre Jalalabad is one of the most important positions in Afghanistan, for it dominates the entrances to the Laghman and the Kunar valleys; commanding routes to Chitral or India north of the Khyber, as well as the Kabul-Peshawar road.
JALAP, a cathartic drug consisting of the tuberous roots of _Ipomaea Purga_, a convolvulaceous plant growing on the eastern declivities of the Mexican Andes at an elevation of 5000 to 8000 ft. above the level of the sea, more especially about the neighbourhood of Chiconquiaco, and near San Salvador on the eastern slope of the Cofre de Perote. Jalap has been known in Europe since the beginning of the 17th century, and derives its name from the city of Jalapa in Mexico, near which it grows, but its botanical source was not accurately determined until 1829, when Dr. J. R. Coxe of Philadelphia published a description and coloured figure taken from living plants sent him two years previously from Mexico. The jalap plant has slender herbaceous twining stems, with alternately placed heart-shaped pointed leaves and salver-shaped deep purplish-pink flowers. The underground stems are slender and creeping; their vertical roots enlarge and form turnip-shaped tubers. The roots are dug up in Mexico throughout the year, and are suspended to dry in a net over the hearth of the Indians' huts, and hence acquire a smoky odour. The large tubers are often gashed to cause them to dry more quickly. In their form they vary from spindle-shaped to ovoid or globular, and in size from a pigeon's egg to a man's fist. Externally they are brown and marked with small transverse paler scars, and internally they present a dirty white resinous or starchy fracture. The ordinary drug is distinguished in commerce as Vera Cruz jalap, from the name of the port whence it is shipped.
Jalap has been cultivated for many years in India, chiefly at Ootacamund, and grows there as easily as a yam, often producing clusters of tubers weighing over 9 lb.; but these, as they differ in appearance from the commercial article, have not as yet obtained a place in the English market. They are found, however, to be rich in resin, containing 18%. In Jamaica also the plant has been grown, at first amongst the cinchona trees, but more recently in new ground, as it was found to exhaust the soil.
Besides Mexican or Vera Cruz jalap, a drug called Tampico jalap has been imported for some years in considerable quantity. It has a much more shrivelled appearance and paler colour than ordinary jalap, and lacks the small transverse scars present in the true drug. This kind of jalap, the Purga de Sierra Gorda of the Mexicans, was traced by Hanbury to _Ipomaea simulans_. It grows in Mexico along the mountain range of the Sierra Gorda in the neighbourhood of San Luis de la Paz, from which district it is carried down to Tampico, whence it is exported. A third variety of jalap known as woody jalap, male jalap, or Orizaba root, or by the Mexicans as Purgo macho, is derived from _Ipomaea orizabensis_, a plant of Orizaba. The root occurs in fibrous pieces, which are usually rectangular blocks of irregular shape, 2 in. or more in diameter, and are evidently portions of a large root. It is only occasionally met with in commerce.
The dose of jalap is from five to twenty grains, the British Pharmacopeia directing that it must contain from 9 to 11% of the resin, which is given in doses of two to five grains. One preparation of this drug is in common use, the _Pulvis Jalapae Compositus_, which consists of 5 parts of jalap, 9 of cream of tartar, and 1 of ginger. The dose is from 20 grains to a drachm. It is best given in the maximum dose which causes the minimum of irritation.
The chief constituents of jalap resin are two glucosides--_convolvulin_ and _jalapin_--sugar, starch and gum. Convolvulin constitutes nearly 20% of the resin. It is insoluble in ether, and is more active than jalapin. It is not used separately in medicine. Jalapin is present in about the same proportions. It dissolves readily in ether, and has a soft resinous consistence. It may be given in half-grain doses. It is the active principle of the allied drug _scammony_. According to Mayer, the formula of convolvulin is C34H50O16, and that of jalapin C31H50O16.
Jalap is a typical hydragogue purgative, causing the excretion of more fluid than scammony, but producing less stimulation of the muscular wall of the bowel. For both reasons it is preferable to scammony. It was shown by Professor Rutherford at Edinburgh to be a powerful secretory cholagogue, an action possessed by few hydragogue purgatives. The stimulation of the liver is said to depend upon the solution of the resin by the intestinal secretion. The drug is largely employed in cases of Bright's disease and dropsy from any cause, being especially useful when the liver shares in the general venous congestion. It is not much used in ordinary constipation.
JALAPA, XALAPA, or HALAPA, a city of the state of Vera Cruz, Mexico, 70 m. by rail N.W. of the port of Vera Cruz. Pop. (1900), 20,388. It is picturesquely situated on the slopes of the sierra which separates the central plateau from the _tierra caliente_ of the Gulf Coast, at an elevation of 4300 ft., and with the Cofre de Perote behind it rising to a height of 13,419 ft. Its climate is cool and healthy and the town is frequented in the hot season by the wealthier residents of Vera Cruz. The city is well built, in the old Spanish style. Among its public buildings are a fine old church, a Franciscan convent founded by Cortez in 1556, and three hospitals, one of which, that of San Juan de Dios, dates from colonial times. The neighbouring valleys and slopes are fertile, and in the forests of this region is found the plant (jalap), which takes its name from the place. Jalapa was for a time the capital of the state, but its political and commercial importance has declined since the opening of the railway between Vera Cruz and the city of Mexico. It manufactures pottery and leather.
JALAUN, a town and district of British India, in the Allahabad division of the United Provinces. Pop. of town (1901), 8573. Formerly it was the residence of a Mahratta governor, but never the headquarters of the district, which are at Orai.
The DISTRICT OF JALAUN has an area of 1477 sq. m. It lies entirely within the level plain of Bundelkhand, north of the hill country, and is almost surrounded by the Jumna and its tributaries the Betwa and Pahuj. The central region thus enclosed is a dead level of cultivated land, almost destitute of trees, and sparsely dotted with villages. The southern portion presents almost one unbroken sheet of cultivation. The boundary rivers form the only interesting feature in Jalaun. The river Non flows through the centre of the district, which it drains by innumerable small ravines instead of watering. Jalaun has suffered much from the noxious _kans_ grass, owing to the spread of which many villages have been abandoned and their lands thrown out of cultivation. Pop. (1901), 399,726, showing an increase of 1%. The two largest towns are Kunch (15,888), and Kalpi (10,139). The district is traversed by the line of the Indian Midland railway from Jhansi to Cawnpore. A small part of it is watered by the Betwa canal. Grain, oil-seeds, cotton and _ghi_ are exported.
In early times Jalaun seems to have been the home of two Rajput clans, the Chandels in the east and the Kachwahas in the west. The town of Kalpi on the Jumna was conquered for the princes of Ghor as early as 1196. Early in the 14th century the Bundelas occupied the greater part of Jalaun, and even succeeded in holding the fortified post of Kalpi. That important possession was soon recovered by the Mussulmans, and passed under the sway of the Mogul emperors. Akbar's governors at Kalpi maintained a nominal authority over the surrounding district; and the Bundela chiefs were in a state of chronic revolt, which culminated in the war of independence under Chhatar Sal. On the outbreak of his rebellion in 1671 he occupied a large province to the south of the Jumna. Setting out from this basis, and assisted by the Mahrattas, he reduced the whole of Bundelkhand. On his death he bequeathed one-third of his dominions to his Mahratta allies, who before long succeeded in annexing the whole of Bundelkhand. Under Mahratta rule the country was a prey to constant anarchy and intestine strife. To this period must be traced the origin of the poverty and desolation which are still conspicuous throughout the district. In 1806 Kalpi was made over to the British, and in 1840, on the death of Nana Gobind Ras, his possessions lapsed to them also. Various interchanges of territory took place, and in 1856 the present boundaries were substantially settled. Jalaun had a bad reputation during the Mutiny. When the news of the rising at Cawnpore reached Kalpi, the men of the 53rd native infantry deserted their officers, and in June the Jhansi mutineers reached the district, and began their murder of Europeans. The inhabitants everywhere revelled in the licence of plunder and murder which the Mutiny had spread through all Bundelkhand, and it was not till September 1858 that the rebels were finally defeated.
JALISCO, XALISCO, or GUADALAJARA, a Pacific coast state of Mexico, of very irregular shape, bounded, beginning on the N., by the territory of Tepic and the states of Durango, Zacatecas, Aguas Calientes, Guanajuato, Michoacán, and Colima. Pop. (1900), 1,153,891. Area, 31,846 sq. m. Jalisco is traversed from N.N.W. to S.S.E. by the Sierra Madre, locally known as the Sierra de Nayarit and Sierra de Jalisco, which divides the state into a low heavily forested coastal plain and a high plateau region, part of the great Anáhuac table-land, with an average elevation of about 5000 ft., broken by spurs and flanking ranges of moderate height. The sierra region is largely volcanic and earthquakes are frequent; in the S. are the active volcanoes of Colima (12,750 ft.) and the Nevado de Colima (14,363 ft.). The _tierra caliente_ zone of the coast is tropical, humid, and unfavourable to Europeans, while the inland plateaus vary from subtropical to temperate and are generally drier and healthful. The greater part of the state is drained by the Rio Grande de Lerma (called the Santiago on its lower course) and its tributaries, chief of which is the Rio Verde. Lakes are numerous; the largest are the Chapala, about 80 m. long by 10 to 35 m. wide, which is considered one of the most beautiful inland sheets of water in Mexico, the Sayula and the Magdalena, noted for their abundance of fish. The agricultural products of Jalisco include Indian corn, wheat and beans on the uplands, and sugar-cane, cotton, rice, indigo and tobacco in the warmer districts. Rubber and palm oil are natural forest products of the coastal zone. Stock-raising is an important occupation in some of the more elevated districts. The mineral resources include silver, gold, cinnabar, copper, bismuth, and various precious stones. There are reduction works of the old-fashioned type and some manufactures, including cotton and woollen goods, pottery, refined sugar and leather. The commercial activities of the state contribute much to its prosperity. There is a large percentage of Indians and mestizos in the population. The capital is Guadalajara, and other important towns with their populations in 1900 (unless otherwise stated) are: Zapotlanejo (20,275), 21 m. E. by N. of Guadalajara; Ciudad Guzmán (17,374 in 1895), 60 m. N.E. of Colima; Lagos (14,716 in 1895), a mining town 100 m. E.N.E. of Guadalajara on the Mexican Central railway; Tamazula (8783 in 1895); Sayula (7883); Autlán (7715); Teocaltiche (8881); Ameca (7212 in 1895), in a fertile agricultural region on the western slopes of the sierras; Cocula (7090 in 1895); and Zacoalco (6516). Jalisco was first invaded by the Spaniards about 1526 and was soon afterwards conquered by Nuño de Guzman. It once formed part of the reyno of Nueva Galicia, which also included Aguas Calientes and Zacatecas. In 1889 its area was much reduced by a subdivision of its coastal zone, which was set apart as the territory of Tepic.
JALNA, or JAULNA, a town in Hyderabad state, India, on the Godavari branch of the Nizam's railway, and 210 m. N.E. of Bombay. Pop. (1901), 20,270. Until 1903 it was a cantonment of the Hyderabad contingent, originally established in 1827. Its gardens produce fruit, which is largely exported. On the opposite bank of the river Kundlika is the trading town of Kadirabad; pop. (1901), 11,159.