Chapter XIX: Part I: £402,216,795 (13)

_Early Christian and Early Byzantine Ivories._--The few examples we possess of Christian ivories previous to the time of Constantine are not of great importance from the point of view of the history of art. But after that date the ivories which we may ascribe to the centuries from the end of the 4th to at least the end of the 9th become of considerable interest, on account of their connexion with the development of Byzantine art in western Europe. With regard to exact origins and dates opinions are largely divergent. In great part they are due to the carrying on of traditions and styles by which the makers of the sarcophagi were inspired, and the difficulties of ascription are increased when in addition to the primitive elements the influence of Byzantine systems introduced many new ideas derived from many extraneous sources. The questions involved are of no small archaeological, iconographical and artistic importance, but it must be admitted that we are reduced to conjecture in many cases, and compelled to theorize. And it would seem to be impossible to be more precise as to dates than within a margin of sometimes three centuries. Then, again, we are met by the question how far these ivories are connected with Byzantine art; whether they were made in the West by immigrant Greeks, or indigenous works, or purely imported productions. Some German critics have endeavoured to construct a system of schools, and to form definite groups, assigning them to Rome, Ravenna, Milan and Monza. Not only so, but they claim to be precise in dating even to a certain decade of a century. But it is certainly more than doubtful whether there is sufficient evidence on which to found such assumptions. It is at least probable that a considerable number of the ivories whose dates are given by such a number of critics so wide a range as from the 4th to the 10th century are nothing more than the work of the monks of the numerous monasteries founded throughout the Carlovingian empire, copying and adapting from whatever came into their hands. Many of them were Greek immigrants exiled at the time of the iconoclastic persecutions. To these must be added the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon missionaries, who brought with them and disseminated their own national feeling and technique. We have to take into account also the relations which existed not only with Constantinople but also with the great governing provinces of Syria and Egypt. Where all our information is so vague, and in the face of so much conflicting opinion amongst authorities, it is not unreasonable to hold with regard to very many of these ivories that instead of assigning them to the age of Justinian or even the preceding century we ought rather to postpone their dating from one to perhaps three centuries later and to admit that we cannot be precise even within these limits. It would be impossible to follow here the whole of the arguments relating to this most important period of the development of ivory sculpture or to mention a tithe of the examples which illustrate it. Amongst the most striking the earliest is the very celebrated leaf of a diptych in the British Museum representing an archangel (fig. 6). It is generally admitted that we have no ivory of the 5th or 6th centuries or in fact of any early medieval period which can compare with it in excellence of design and workmanship. There is no record (it is believed) from whence the museum obtained the ivory. There are at least plausible grounds for surmising that it is identical with the "Angelus longus eburneus" of a book-cover among the books brought to England by St Augustine which is mentioned in a list of things belonging to Christchurch, Canterbury (see Dart, _App._ p. xviii.). The dating of the four Passion plaques, also in the British Museum, varies from the 5th to the 7th century. But although most recent authorities accept the earlier date, the present writer holds strongly that they are not anterior to, at earliest, the 7th century. Even then they will remain, with the exception of the Monza oil flask and perhaps the St Sabina doors, the earliest known representation of the crucifixion. The ivory vase, with cover, in the British Museum, appears to possess defined elements of the farther East, due perhaps to the relations between Syria and Christian India or Ceylon. Other important early Christian ivories are the series of pyxes, the diptych in the treasury of St Ambrogio at Milan, the chair of Maximian at Ravenna (most important as a type piece), the panel with the "Ascension" in the Bavarian National Museum, the Brescia casket, the "Lorsch" bookcovers of the Vatican and Victoria and Albert Museum, the Bodleian and other bookcovers, the St Paul diptych in the Bargello at Florence and the "Annunciation" plaque in the Trivulzio collection. So far as unquestionably oriental specimens of Byzantine art are concerned they are few in number, but we have in the famous Harbaville triptych in the Louvre a super-excellent example.

_Gothic Ivories._--The most generally charming period of ivory sculpture is unquestionably that which, coincident with the Gothic revival in art, marked the beginning of a great and lasting change. The formalism imposed by Byzantine traditions gave place to a brighter, more delicate and tenderer conception. This golden age of the ivory carver--at its best in the 13th century--was still in evidence during the 14th, and although there is the beginning of a transition in style in the 15th century, the period of neglect and decadence which set in about the beginning of the 16th hardly reached the acute stage until well on into the 17th. To review the various developments both of religious art which reigned almost alone until the 14th century, or of the secular side as exemplified in the delightful mirror cases and caskets carved with subjects from the romantic stories which were so popular, would be impossible here. Almost every great museum and famous private collection abounds in examples of the well-known diptychs and triptychs and little portable oratories of this period. Some, as in a famous panel in the British Museum, are marvels of minute workmanship, others of delicate openwork and tracery. Others, again, are remarkable for the wonderful way in which, in the compass of a few inches, whole histories and episodes of the scriptural narratives are expressed in the most vivid and telling manner. Charming above all are the statuettes of the Virgin and Child which French and Flemish art, especially, have handed down to us. Of these the Victoria and Albert Museum possesses a representative collection. Another series of interest is that of the croziers or pastoral staves, the development of which the student of ivories will be careful to study in connexion with the earlier ones and the tau-headed staves. In addition there are shrines, reliquaries, bookcovers, liturgical combs, portable altars, pyxes, holy water buckets and sprinklers, _flabella_ or liturgical fans, rosaries, _memento mori_, paxes, small figures and groups, and almost every conceivable adjunct of the sanctuary or for private devotion. It is to French or Flemish art that the greater number and the most beautiful must be referred. At the same time, to take one example only--the diptych and triptych of Bishop Grandison in the British Museum--we have evidence that English ivory carvers were capable of rare excellence of design and workmanship. Nor can crucifixes be forgotten, though they are of extreme rarity before the 17th century. A most beautiful 13th-century figure for one--though only a fragment--is in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Amongst secular objects of this period, besides the mirror cases (fig. 7) and caskets, there are hunting horns (the earlier ones probably oriental, or more or less faithfully copied from oriental models), chess and draughtsmen (especially the curious set from the isle of Lewis), combs, marriage coffers (at one period remarkable Italian ones of bone), memorandum tablets, seals, the pommels and cantles of saddles and a unique harp now in the Louvre. The above enumeration will alone suffice to show that the inquirer must be referred for details to the numerous works which treat of medieval ivory sculpture.

_Ivory Sculpture from the 16th to the 19th Century._--Compared with the wealth of ivory carving of the two preceding centuries, the 15th, and especially the 16th, centuries are singularly poor in really fine work. But before we arrive at the period of real decadence we shall come across such things as the knife of Diana of Poitiers in the Louvre, the sceptre of Louis XIII., the Rothschild hunting horn, many Italian powder horns, the German Psyche in the Louvre, or the "Young Girl and Death" in the Munich Museum, in which there is undoubtedly originality and talent of the first order. The practice of ivory carving became extremely popular throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, especially in the Netherlands and in Germany, and the amount of ivory consumed must have been very great. But, with rare exceptions, and these for the most part Flemish, it is art of an inferior kind, which seems to have been abandoned to second-rate sculptors and the artisans of the workshop. There is little originality, the rococo styles run riot, and we seem to be condemned to wade through an interminable series of gods and goddesses, bacchanalians and satyrs, pseudo-classical copies from the antique and imitations of the schools of Rubens. As a matter of fact few great museums, except the German ones, care to include in their collections examples of these periods. Some exceptions are made in the case of Flemish sculptors of such talent as François Duquesnoy (Fiammingo), Gerard van Obstal or Lucas Fayd'herbe. In a lesser degree, in Germany, Christoph Angermair, Leonhard Kern, Bernhard Strauss, Elhafen, Kruger and Rauchmiller; and, in France, Jean Guillermin, David le Marchand and Jean Cavalier. Crucifixes were turned out in enormous numbers, some of not inconsiderable merit, but, for the most part, they represent anatomical exercises varying but slightly from a pattern of which a celebrated one attributed to Faistenberger may be taken as a type. Tankards abound, and some, notably the one in the Jones collection, than which perhaps no finer example exists, are also of a high standard. Duquesnoy's work is well illustrated by the charming series of six plaques in the Victoria and Albert Museum known as the "Fiammingo boys." Amongst the crowd of objects in ivory of all descriptions of the early 18th century, the many examples of the curious implements known as _rappoirs_, or tobacco graters, should be noticed. It may perhaps be necessary to add that although the character of art in ivory in these periods is not of the highest, the subject is not one entirely unworthy of attention and study, and there are a certain number of remarkable and even admirable examples.

_Ivory Sculpture of Spain, Portugal, India, China and Japan._--Generally speaking, with regard to Spain and Portugal, there is little reason to do otherwise than confine our attention to a certain class of important Moorish or Hispano-Moresque ivories of the time of the Arab occupation of the Peninsula, from the 8th to the 15th centuries. Some fine examples are in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Of Portuguese work there is little except the hybrid productions of Goa and the Portuguese settlements in the East. Some mention must be made also of the remarkable examples of mixed Portuguese and savage art from Benin, now in the British Museum. Of Indian ivory carving the India Museum at Kensington supplies a very large and varied collection which has no equal elsewhere. But there is little older than the 17th century, nor can it be said that Indian art in ivory can occupy a very high place in the history of the art. What we know of Chinese carving in ivory is confined to those examples which are turned out for the European market, and can hardly be considered as appealing very strongly to cultivated tastes. A brief reference to the well-known delightful _netsukés_ and the characteristic inlaid work must suffice here for the ivories of Japan (see JAPAN: _Art_).

_Ivory Sculpture in the 19th Century and of the Present Day._--Few people are aware of the extent to which modern ivory sculpture is practised by distinguished artists. Year by year, however, a certain amount is exhibited in the Royal Academy and in most foreign salons, but in England the works--necessarily not very numerous--are soon absorbed in private collections. On the European continent, on the contrary, in such galleries as the Belgian state collections or the Luxembourg, examples are frequently acquired and exhibited. In Belgium the acquisition of the Congo and the considerable import of ivory therefrom gave encouragement to a definite revival of the art. Important exhibitions have been held in Belgium, and a notable one in Paris in 1904. Though ivory carving is as expensive as marble sculpture, all sculptors delight in following it, and the material entails no special knowledge or training. Of 19th-century artists there were in France amongst the best known, besides numerous minor workers of Dieppe and St Claude, Augustin Moreau, Vautier, Soitoux, Belleteste, Meugniot, Pradier, Triqueti and Gerôme; and in the first decade of the 20th century, besides such distinguished names in the first rank as Jean Dampt and Théodore Rivière, there were Vever, Gardet, Caron, Barrias, Allouard, Ferrary and many others. Nor must the decorative work of René Lalique be omitted. No less than forty Belgian sculptors exhibited work in ivory at the Brussels exhibition of 1887. The list included artists of such distinction as J. Dillens, Constantin Meunier, van der Stappen, Khnopff, P. Wolfers, Samuel and Paul de Vigne, and amongst contemporary Belgian sculptors are also van Beurden, G. Devreese, Vincotte, de Tombay and Lagae. In England the most notable work includes the "Lamia" of George Frampton, the "St Elizabeth" of Alfred Gilbert, the "Mors Janua Vitae" of Harry Bates, the "Launcelot" of W. Reynolds-Stephens and the use of ivory in the applied arts by Lynn Jenkins, A. G. Walker, Alexander Fisher and others.

AUTHORITIES.--See generally A. Maskell, _Ivories_ (1906), and the
bibliography there given.

On Early Christian and Early Byzantine ivories, the following works
may be mentioned: Abbé Cabrol, _Dictionnaire de l'archéologie
chrétienne_ (in progress); O. M. Dalton, _Catalogue of Early Christian
Antiquities in British Museum_ (1902); E. Dobbert, _Zur Geschichte der
Elfenbeinsculptur_ (1885); H. Graeven, _Antike Schnitzereien_ (1903);
R. Kanzler, _Gli avori ... Vaticana_ (1903); Kondakov, _L'Art
byzantin_; A. Maskell, _Cantor Lectures_, Soc. of Arts (1906) (lecture
II., "Early Christian and Early Byzantine Ivories"); Strzygowski,
_Byzantinische Denkmäler_ (1891); V. Schulze, _Archäologie der
altchristlichen Kunst_ (1895); G. Stuhlfauth, _Die altchristl.
Elfenbeinplastik_ (1896).

On the consular diptychs, see H. F. Clinton, _Fasti Romani_
(1845-1850); A. Gori, _Thesaurus veterum diptychorum_ (1759); C.
Lenormant, _Trésor de numismatique et de glyptique_ (1834-1846); F.
Pulszky, _Catalogue of the Féjérváry Ivories_ (1856).

On the artistic interest generally, see also C. Alabaster, _Catalogue
of Chinese Objects in the South Kensington Museum_; Sir R. Alcock,
_Art and Art Industries in Japan_ (1878); Barraud et Martin, _Le Bâton
pastoral_ (1856); Bouchot, _Les Reliures d'art à la Bibliothèque
Nationale_; Bretagne, _Sur les peignes liturgiques_; H. Cole, _Indian
Art at Delhi_ (1904); R. Garrucci, _Storia dell' arte Christiana_
(1881); A. Jacquemart, _Histoire du mobilier_ (1876); J. Labarte,
_Histoire des arts industriels_ (1864); C. Lind, _Über den Krummstab_
(1863); Sir F. Madden, "Lewis Chessmen" (in _Archaeologia_, vol. xxiv.
1832); W. Maskell, _Ivories, Ancient and Medieval in the South
Kensington Museum_ (1872); A. Michel, _Histoire de l'art_; E.
Molinier, _Histoire générale des arts_ (1896); E. Oldfield, _Catalogue
of Fictile Ivories sold by the Arundel Society_ (1855); A. H. Pitt
Rivers, _Antique Works of Art from Benin_ (1900); A. C. Quatremère de
Quincy, _Le Jupiter Olympien_ (1815); Charles Scherer,
_Elfenbeinplastik seit der Renaissance_ (1903); E. du Sommerard, _Les
Arts au moyen âge_ (1838-1846); G. Stephens, _Runic Caskets_
(1866-1868); A. Venturi, _Storia dell' arte Italiana_ (1901); Sir G.
Watt, _Indian Art at Delhi_ (1904); J. O. Westwood, _Fictile Ivories
in the South Kensington Museum_ (1876). Sir M. D. Wyatt, _Notices of
Sculpture in Ivory_ (1856). (A. Ml.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] Lecture before the Society of Arts (1856).

IVORY COAST (_Côte d'Ivoire_), a French West African colony, bounded S. by the Gulf of Guinea, W. by Liberia and French Guinea, N. by the colony of Upper Senegal and Niger, E. by the Gold Coast. Its area is approximately 120,000 sq. m., and its population possibly 2,000,000, of whom some 600 are Europeans. Official estimates (1908) placed the native population as low as 980,000.

_Physical Features._--The coast-line extends from 70° 30´ to 3° 7´ W.
and has a length of 380 m. It forms an arc of a circle of which the
convexity turns slightly to the north; neither bay nor promontory
breaks the regularity of its outline. The shore is low, bordered in
its eastern half with lagoons, and difficult of access on account of
the submarine bar of sand which stretches along nearly the whole of
the coast, and also because of the heavy surf caused by the great
Atlantic billows. The principal lagoons, going W. to E. are those of
Grand Lahou, Grand Bassam or Ebrié and Assini. The coast plains extend
inland about 40 m. Beyond the ground rises in steep slopes to a
general level of over 1000 ft., the plateau being traversed in several
directions by hills rising 2000 ft. and over, and cut by valleys with
a general south-eastern trend. In the north-east, in the district of
Kong (q.v.), the country becomes mountainous, Mt. Kommono attaining a
height of 4757 ft. In the north-west, by the Liberian frontier, the
mountains in the Gon region rise over 6000 ft. Starting from the
Liberian frontier, the chief rivers are the Cavalla (or Kavalli), the
San Pedro, the Sassandra (240 m. long), the Bandama (225 m.), formed
by the White and the Red Bandama, the Komoe (360 m.) and the Bia. All
these streams are interrupted by rapids as they descend from the
highlands to the plain and are unnavigable by steamers save for a few
miles from their mouths. The rivers named all drain to the Gulf of
Guinea; the rivers in the extreme north of the colony belong to the
Niger system, being affluents of the Bani or Mahel Balevel branch of
that river. The watershed runs roughly from 9° N. in the west to 10°
N. in the east, and is marked by a line of hills rising about 650 ft.
above the level of the plateau. The climate is in general very hot and
unhealthy, the rainfall being very heavy. In some parts of the plateau
healthier conditions prevail. The fauna and flora are similar to those
of the Gold Coast and Liberia. Primeval forest extends from the coast
plains to about 8° N., covering nearly 50,000 sq. m.

_Inhabitants._--The coast districts are inhabited by Negro tribes allied on the one hand to the Krumen (q.v.) and on the other to the people of Ashanti (q.v.). The Assinis are of Ashanti origin, and chiefly of the Ochin and Agni tribes. Farther west are found the "Jack-Jacks" and the "Kwa-Kwas," sobriquets given respectively to the Aradian and Avikom by the early European traders. The Kwa-Kwa are said to be so called because their salutation "resembles the cry of a duck." In the interior the Negro strain predominates but with an admixture of Hamitic or Berber blood. The tribes represented include Jamans, Wongaras and Mandingos (q.v.), some of whom are Moslems. The Mandingos have intermarried largely with the Bambara or Sienuf, an agricultural people of more than average intelligence widely spread over the country, of which they are considered to be the indigenous race. The Bambara themselves are perhaps only a distinct branch of the original Mandingo stock. The Baulé, who occupy the central part of the colony, are of Agni-Ashanti origin. The bulk of the inhabitants are fetish worshippers. On the northern confines of the great forest belt live races of cannibals, whose existence was first made known by Captain d'Ollone in 1899. In general the coast tribes are peaceful. They have the reputation of being neither industrious nor intelligent. The traders are chiefly Fanti, Sierra Leonians, Senegalese and Mandingos.

_Towns._--The chief towns on the coast are Grand and Little Bassam,
Jackville and Assini in the east and Grand Lahou, Sassandra and Tabu
in the west. Grand and Little Bassam are built on the strip of sand
which separates the Grand Bassam or Ebrié lagoon from the sea. This
lagoon forms a commodious harbour, once the bar has been crossed.
Grand Bassam is situated at the point where the lagoon and the river
Komoe enter the sea and there is a minimum depth of 12 ft. of water
over the bar. The town (pop. 5000, including about 100 Europeans) is
the seat of the customs administration and of the judicial department,
and is the largest centre for the trade of the colony. A wharf
equipped with cranes extends beyond the surf line and the town is
served by a light railway. It is notoriously unhealthy; yellow fever
is endemic. Little Bassam, renamed by the French Port Bouet, possesses
an advantage over the other ports on the coast, as at this point there
is no bar. The sea floor is here rent by a chasm, known as the
"Bottomless Pit," the waters having a depth of 65 ft. Abijean
(Abidjan), on the north side of the lagoon opposite Port Bouet is the
starting-point of a railway to the oil and rubber regions. The
half-mile of foreshore separating the port from the lagoon was in
1904-1907 pierced by a canal, but the canal silted up as soon as cut,
and in 1908 the French decided to make Grand Bassam the chief port of
the colony. Assini is an important centre for the rubber trade of
Ashanti. On the northern shore of the Bassam lagoon, and 19 m. from
Grand Bassam, is the capital of the colony, the native name Adjame
having been changed into Bingerville, in honour of Captain L. G.
Binger (see below). The town is built on a hill and is fairly healthy.

In the interior are several towns, though none of any size
numerically. The best known are Koroko, Kong and Bona, entrepôts for
the trade of the middle Niger, and Bontuku, on the caravan route to
Sokoto and the meeting-place of the merchants from Kong and Timbuktu
engaged in the kola-nut trade with Ashanti and the Gold Coast. Bontuku
is peopled largely by Wongara and Hausa, and most of the inhabitants,
who number some 3000, are Moslems. The town, which was founded in the
15th century or earlier, is walled, contains various mosques and
generally presents the appearance of an eastern city.

_Agriculture and Trade._--The natives cultivate maize, plantains,
bananas, pineapples, limes, pepper, cotton, &c., and live easily on
the products of their gardens, with occasional help from fishing and
hunting. They also weave cloth, make pottery and smelt iron. Europeans
introduced the cultivation of coffee, which gives good results. The
forests are rich in palm-tree products, rubber and mahogany, which
constitute the chief articles of export. The rubber goes almost
exclusively to England, as does also the mahogany. The palm-oil and
palm kernels are sent almost entirely to France. The value of the
external trade of the colony exceeded £1,000,000 for the first time in
1904. About 50% of the trade is with Great Britain. The export of
ivory, for which the country was formerly famous, has almost ceased,
the elephants being largely driven out of the colony. Cotton goods, by
far the most important of the imports, come almost entirely from Great
Britain. Gold exists and many native villages have small "placer"
mines. In 1901 the government of the colony began the granting of
mining concessions, in which British capital was largely invested.
There are many ancient mines in the country, disused since the close
of the 18th century, if not earlier.

_Communications._--The railway from Little Bassam serves the east
central part of the colony and runs to Katiola, in Kong, a total
distance of 250 m. The line is of metre gauge. The cutting of two
canals, whereby communication is effected by lagoon between Assini and
Grand Lahou via Bassam, followed the construction of the railway.
Grand and Little Bassam are in regular communication by steamer with
Bordeaux, Marseilles, Liverpool, Antwerp and Hamburg. Grand Bassam is
connected with Europe by submarine cable via Dakar. Telegraph lines
connect the coast with all the principal stations in the interior,
with the Gold Coast, and with the other French colonies in West
Africa.

_Administration, &c._--The colony is under the general superintendence
of the government general of French West Africa. At the head of the
local administration is a lieutenant-governor, who is assisted by a
council on which nominated unofficial members have seats. To a large
extent the native forms of government are maintained under European
administrators responsible for the preservation of order, the colony
for this purpose being divided into a number of "circles" each with
its local government. The colony has a separate budget and is
self-supporting. Revenue is derived chiefly from customs receipts and
a capitation tax of frs. 2.50 (2s.), instituted in 1901 and levied on
all persons over ten years old. The budget for 1906 balanced at
£120,400.

_History._--The Ivory Coast is stated to have been visited by Dieppe merchants in the 14th century, and was made known by the Portuguese discoveries towards the end of the 15th century. It was thereafter frequented by traders for ivory, slaves and other commodities. There was a French settlement at Assini, 1700-1704, and a French factory was maintained at Grand Bassam from 1700 to 1707. In the early part of the 19th century several French traders had established themselves along the coast. In 1830 Admiral (then Commandant) Bouët-Willaumez (1808-1871) began a series of surveys and expeditions which yielded valuable results. In 1842 he obtained from the native chiefs cessions of territory at Assini and Grand Bassam to France and the towns named were occupied in 1843. From that time French influence gradually extended along the coast, but no attempt was made to penetrate inland. As one result of the Franco-Prussian War, France in 1872 withdrew her garrisons, handing over the care of the establishments to a merchant named Verdier, to whom an annual subsidy of £800 was paid. This merchant sent an agent into the interior who made friendly treaties between France and some of the native chiefs. In 1883, in view of the claims of other European powers to territory in Africa, France again took over the actual administration of Assini and Bassam. Between 1887 and 1889 Captain Binger (an officer of marine infantry, and subsequently director of the African department at the colonial ministry) traversed the whole region between the coast and the Niger, visited Bontuku and the Kong country, and signed protectorate treaties with the chiefs. The kingdom of Jaman, it may be mentioned, was for a few months included in the Gold Coast hinterland. In January 1889 a British mission sent by the governor of the Gold Coast concluded a treaty with the king of Jaman at Bontuku, placing his dominions under British protection. The king had, however, previously concluded treaties of "commerce and friendship" with the French, and by the Anglo-French agreement of August 1889 Jaman, with Bontuku, was recognized as French territory. In 1892 Captain Binger made further explorations in the interior of the Ivory Coast, and in 1893 he was appointed the first governor of the colony on its erection into an administration distinct from that of Senegal. Among other famous explorers who helped to make known the hinterland was Colonel (then Captain) Marchand. It was to the zone between the Kong states and the hinterland of Liberia that Samory (see SENEGAL) fled for refuge before he was taken prisoner (1898), and for a short time he was master of Kong. The boundary of the colony on the west was settled by Franco-Liberian agreements of 1892 and subsequent dates; that on the east by the Anglo-French agreements of 1893 and 1898. The northern boundary was fixed in 1899 on the division of the middle Niger territories (up to that date officially called the French Sudan) among the other French West African colonies. The systematic development of the colony, the opening up of the hinterland and the exploitation of its economic resources date from the appointment of Captain Binger as governor, a post he held for over three years. The work he began has been carried on zealously and effectively by subsequent governors, who have succeeded in winning the co-operation of the natives.

In the older books of travel are often found the alternative names for this region, Tooth Coast (_Côte des Dents_) or Kwa-Kwa Coast, and, less frequently, the Coast of the Five and Six Stripes (alluding to a kind of cotton fabric in favour with the natives). The term Côte des Dents continued in general use in France until the closing years of the 19th century.

See _Dix ans à la Côte d'Ivoire_ (Paris, 1906) by F. J. Clozel,
governor of the colony, and _Notre colonie de la Côte d'Ivoire_
(Paris, 1903) by R. Villamur and Richaud. These two volumes deal with
the history, geography, zoology and economic condition of the Ivory
Coast. _La Côte d'Ivoire_ by Michellet and Clement describes the
administrative and land systems, &c. Another volume also called _La
Côte d'Ivoire_ (Paris, 1908) is an official monograph on the colony.
For ethnology consult _Coutumes indigènes de la Côte d'Ivoire_ (Paris,
1902) by F. J. Clozel and R. Villamur, and _Les Coutumes Agni_, by R.
Villamur and Delafosse. Of books of travel see _Du Niger au Golfe de
Guinée par Kong_ (Paris, 1892) by L. G. Binger, and _Mission
Hostains-d'Ollone 1890-1900_ (Paris, 1901) by Captain d'Ollone. A
_Carte de la Côte d'Ivoire_ by A. Meunier, on the scale of 1:500,000
(6 sheets), was published in Paris, 1905. Annual reports on the colony
are published by the French colonial and the British foreign offices.

IVREA (anc. _Eporedia_), a town and episcopal see of Piedmont, Italy, in the province of Turin, from which it is 38 m. N.N.E. by rail and 27 m. direct, situated 770 ft. above sea-level, on the Dora Baltea at the point where it leaves the mountains. Pop. (1901) 6047 (town), 11,696 (commune). The cathedral was built between 973 and 1005; the gallery round the back of the apse and the crypt have plain cubical capitals of this period. The two _campanili_ flanking the apse at each end of the side aisle are the oldest example of this architectural arrangement. The isolated tower, which is all that remains of the ancient abbey of S. Stefano, is slightly later. The hill above the town is crowned by the imposing Castello delle Quattro Torri, built in 1358, and now a prison. One of the four towers was destroyed by lightning in 1676. A tramway runs to Santhià.

The ancient Eporedia, standing at the junction of the roads from Augusta Taurinorum and Vercellae, at the point where the road to Augusta Praetoria enters the narrow valley of the Duria (Dora Baltea), was a military position of considerable importance belonging to the Salassi who inhabited the whole upper valley of the Duria. The importance of the gold-mines of the district led to its seizure by the Romans in 143 B.C. The centre of the mining industry seems to have been Victumulae (see TICINUM), until in 100 B.C. a colony of Roman citizens was founded at Eporedia itself; but the prosperity of this was only assured when the Salassi were finally defeated in 25 B.C. and Augusta Praetoria founded. There are remains of a theatre of the time of the Antonines and the Ponte Vecchio rests on Roman foundations.

In the middle ages Ivrea was the capital of a Lombard duchy, and later of a marquisate; both Berengar II. (950) and Arduin (1002) became kings of Italy for a short period. Later it submitted to the marquises of Monferrato, and in the middle of the 14th century passed to the house of Savoy. (T. As.)

IVRY-SUR-SEINE, a town of northern France, in the department of Seine, near the left bank of the Seine, less than 1 m. S.S.E. of the fortifications of Paris. Pop. (1906) 30,532. Ivry has a large hospital for incurables. It manufactures organs, earthenware, wall-paper and rubber, and has engineering works, breweries, and oil-works, its trade being facilitated by a port on the Seine. The town is dominated by a fort of the older line of defence of Paris.

IVY (A.S. _ifig_, Ger. _Epheu_, perhaps connected with _apium_, [Greek: apion]), the collective designation of certain species and varieties of _Hedera_, a member of the natural order Araliaceae. There are fifty species of ivy recorded in modern books, but they may be reduced to two, or at the most, three. The European ivy, _Hedera Helix_ (fig. 1), is a plant subject to infinite variety in the forms and colours of its leaves, but the tendency of which is always to a three- to five-lobed form when climbing and a regular ovate form of leaf when producing flower and fruit. The African ivy, _H. canariensis_, often regarded as a variety of _H. Helix_ and known as the Irish ivy, is a native of North Africa and the adjacent islands. It is the common large-leaved climbing ivy, and also varies, but in a less degree than _H. Helix_, from which its leaves differ in their larger size, rich deep green colour, and a prevailing tendency to a five-lobed outline. When in fruit the leaves are usually three-lobed, but they are sometimes entire and broadly ovate. The Asiatic ivy, _H. colchica_ (fig. 2), now considered to be a form of _H. Helix_, has ovate, obscurely three-lobed leaves of a coriaceous texture and a deep green colour; in the tree or fruiting form the leaves are narrower than in the climbing form, and without any trace of lobes. Distinctive characters are also to be found in the appendages of the pedicels and calyx, _H. Helix_ having six-rayed stellate hairs, _H. canariensis_ fifteen-rayed hairs and _H. colchica_ yellowish two-lobed scales.

The Australian ivy, _H. australiana_, is a small glabrous shrub with pinnate leaves. It is a native of Queensland, and is practically unknown in cultivation.

It is of the utmost importance to note the difference of characters of the same species of ivy in its two conditions of climbing and fruiting. The first stage of growth, which we will suppose to be from the seed, is essentially scandent, and the leaves are lobed more or less. This stage is accompanied with a plentiful production of the claspers or modified roots by means of which the plant becomes attached and obtains support. When it has reached the summit of the tree or tower, the stems, being no longer able to maintain a perpendicular attitude, fall over and become horizontal or pendent. Coincidently with this change they cease to produce claspers, and the leaves are strikingly modified in form, being now narrower and less lobed than on the ascending stems. In due time this tree-like growth produces terminal umbels of greenish flowers, which have the parts in fives, with the styles united into a very short one. These flowers are succeeded by smooth black or yellow berries, containing two to five seeds. The yellow-berried ivy is met with in northern India and in Italy, but in northern Europe it is known only as a curiosity of the garden, where, if sufficiently sheltered and nourished, it becomes an exceedingly beautiful and fruitful tree.

It is stated in books that some forms of sylvestral ivy never flower, but a negative declaration of this kind is valueless. Sylvestral ivies of great age may be found in woods on the western coasts of Britain that have apparently never flowered, but this is probably to be explained by their inability to surmount the trees supporting them, for until the plant can spread its branches horizontally in full daylight, the flowering or tree-like growth is never formed.

A question of great practical importance arises out of the relation of the plant to its means of support. A moderate growth of ivy is not injurious to trees; still the tendency is from the first inimical to the prosperity of the tree, and at a certain stage it becomes deadly. Therefore the growth of ivy on trees should be kept within reasonable bounds, more especially in the case of trees that are of special value for their beauty, history, or the quality of their timber. In regard to buildings clothed with ivy, there is nothing to be feared so long as the plant does not penetrate the substance of the wall by means of any fissure. Should it thrust its way in, the natural and continuous expansion of its several parts will necessarily hasten the decay of the edifice. But a fair growth of ivy on sound walls that afford no entrance beyond the superficial attachment of the claspers is, without any exception whatever, beneficial. It promotes dryness and warmth, reduces to a minimum the corrosive action of the atmosphere, and is altogether as conservative as it is beautiful.

The economical uses of the ivy are not of great importance. The leaves are eaten greedily by horses, deer, cattle and sheep, and in times of scarcity have proved useful. The flowers afford a good supply of honey to bees; and, as they appear in autumn, they occasionally make amends for the shortcomings of the season. The berries are eaten by wood pigeons, blackbirds and thrushes. From all parts of the plant a balsamic bitter may be obtained, and this in the form of _hederic acid_ is the only preparation of ivy known to chemists.

In the garden the uses of the ivy are innumerable, and the least known though not the least valuable of them is the cultivation of the plant as a bush or tree, the fruiting growth being selected for this purpose. The variegated tree forms of _H. Helix_, with leaves of creamy white, golden green or rich deep orange yellow, soon prove handsome miniature trees, that thrive almost as well in smoky town gardens as in the pure air of the country, and that no ordinary winter will injure in the least. The tree-form of the Asiatic ivy (_H. colchica_) is scarcely to be equalled in beauty of leafage by any evergreen shrub known to English gardens, and, although in the course of a few years it will attain to a stature of 5 or 6 ft., it is but rarely we meet with it, or indeed with tree ivies of any kind, but little attention having been given to this subject until recent years. The scandent forms are more generally appreciated, and are now much employed in the formation of marginal lines, screens and trained pyramids, as well as for clothing walls. A very striking example of the capabilities of the commonest ivies, when treated artistically as garden plants, may be seen in the Zoological Gardens of Amsterdam, where several paddocks are enclosed with wreaths, garlands and bands of ivy in a most picturesque manner.

About sixty varieties known in gardens are figured and described in _The Ivy, a Monograph_, by Shirley Hibberd (1872). To cultivate these is an extremely simple matter, as they will thrive in a poor soil and endure a considerable depth of shade, so that they may with advantage be planted under trees. The common Irish ivy is often to be seen clothing the ground beneath large yew trees where grass would not live, and it is occasionally planted in graveyards in London to form an imitation of grass turf, for which purpose it is admirably suited.

The ivy, like the holly, is a scarce plant on the American continent. In the northern United States and British America the winters are not more severe than the ivy can endure, but the summers are too hot and dry, and the requirements of the plant have not often obtained attention. In districts where native ferns abound the ivy will be found to thrive, and the varieties of _Hedera Helix_ should have the preference. But in the drier districts ivies might often be planted on the north side of buildings, and, if encouraged with water and careful training for three or four years, would then grow rapidly and train themselves. A strong light is detrimental to the growth of ivy, but this enhances its value, for we have no hardy plants that may be compared with it for variety and beauty that will endure shade with equal patience.

The North American poison ivy (poison oak), _Rhus Toxicodendron_ (nat. order Anacardiaceae), is a climber with pinnately compound leaves, which are very attractive in their autumn colour but poisonous to the touch to some persons, while others can handle the plant without injury. The effects are redness and violent itching followed by fever and a vesicular eruption.

The ground ivy, _Nepeta Glechoma_ (nat. order Labiatae), is a small creeping plant with rounded crenate leaves and small blue-purple flowers, occurring in hedges and thickets.

IWAKURA, TOMOMI, PRINCE (1835-1883), Japanese statesman, was born in Kioto. He was one of the court nobles (_kuge_) of Japan, and he traced his descent to the emperor Murakami (A.D. 947-967). A man of profound ability and singular force of character, he acted a leading part in the complications preceding the fall of the Tokugawa _shogunate_, and was obliged to fly from Kioto accompanied by his coadjutor, Prince Sanjo. They took refuge with the _Daimyo_ of Choshu, and, while there, established relations which contributed greatly to the ultimate union of the two great fiefs, Satsuma and Choshu, for the work of the Restoration. From 1867 until the day of his death Iwakura was one of the most prominent figures on the political stage. In 1871 he proceeded to America and Europe at the head of an imposing embassy of some fifty persons, the object being to explain to foreign governments the actual conditions existing in Japan, and to pave the way for negotiating new treaties consistent with her sovereign rights. Little success attended the mission. Returning to Japan in 1873, Iwakura found the cabinet divided as to the manner of dealing with Korea's insulting attitude. He advocated peace, and his influence carried the day, thus removing a difficulty which, though apparently of minor dimensions, might have changed the whole course of Japan's modern history.

IXION, in Greek legend, son of Phlegyas, king of the Lapithae in Thessaly (or of Ares), and husband of Dia. According to custom he promised his father-in-law, Deïoneus, a handsome bridal present, but treacherously murdered him when he claimed the fulfilment of the promise. As a punishment, Ixion was seized with madness, until Zeus purified him of his crime and admitted him as a guest to Olympus. Ixion abused his pardon by trying to seduce Hera; but the goddess substituted for herself a cloud, by which he became the father of the Centaurs. Zeus bound him on a fiery wheel, which rolls unceasingly through the air or (according to the later version) in the underworld (Pindar, _Pythia_, ii. 21; Ovid, _Metam._ iv. 461; Virgil, Aeneid, vi. 601). Ixion is generally taken to represent the eternally moving sun. Another explanation connects the story with the practice (among certain peoples of central Europe) of carrying a blazing, revolving wheel through fields which needed the heat of the sun, the legend being invented to explain the custom and subsequently adopted by the Greeks (see Mannhardt, _Wald- und Feldkulte_, ii. 1905, p. 83). In view of the fact that the oak was the sun-god's tree and that the mistletoe grew upon it, it is suggested by A. B. Cook (_Class. Rev._ xvii. 420) that [Greek: Ixiôn] is derived from [Greek: ixos] (mistletoe), the sun's fire being regarded as an emanation from the mistletoe. Ixion himself is probably a by-form of Zeus (Usener in _Rhein. Mus._ liii. 345).

"The Myth of Ixion" (by C. Smith, in _Classical Review_, June 1895)
deals with the subject of a red-figure cantharus in the British
Museum.

IXTACCIHUATL, or IZTACCIHUATL ("white woman"), a lofty mountain of volcanic origin, 10 m. N. of Popocatepetl and about 40 m. S.S.E of the city of Mexico, forming part of the short spur called the Sierra Nevada. According to Angelo Heilprin (1853-1907) its elevation is 16,960 ft.; other authorities make it much less. Its apparent height is dwarfed somewhat by its elongated summit and the large area covered. It has three summits of different heights standing on a north and south line, the central one being the largest and highest and all three rising above the permanent snow-line. As seen from the city of Mexico the three summits have the appearance of a shrouded human figure, hence the poetic Aztec appellation of "white woman" and the unsentimental Spanish designation "_La mujer gorda_." The ascent is difficult and perilous, and is rarely accomplished.

Heilprin says that the mountain is largely composed of trachytic rocks
and that it is older than Popocatepetl. It has no crater and no trace
of lingering volcanic heat. It is surmised that its crater, if it ever
had one, has been filled in and its cone worn away by erosion through
long periods of time.

IYRCAE, an ancient nation on the north-east trade route described by Herodotus (iv. 22) beyond the Thyssagetae, somewhere about the upper basins of the Tobol and the Irtysh. They were distinguished by their mode of hunting, climbing a tree to survey their game, and then pursuing it with trained horses and dogs. They were almost certainly the ancestors of the modern Magyars, also called Jugra.

The reading [Greek: Tyrkai] is an anachronism, and when Pliny (_N.H._
vi. 19) and Mela (i. 116) speak of Tyrcae it is also probably due to a
false correction. (E. H. M.)

IZBARTA, or SPARTA [anc. _Baris_], the chief town of the Hamid-abad sanjak of the Konia vilayet, in Asia Minor, well situated on the edge of a fertile plain at the foot of Aghlasun Dagh. It was once the capital of the Emirate of Hamid. It suffered severely from the earthquake of the 16th-17th of January 1889. It is a prosperous place with an enlightened Greek element in its population (hence the numerous families called "Spartali" in Levantine towns); and it is, in fact, the chief inland colony of Hellenism in Anatolia; Pop. 20,000 (Moslems 13,000, Christians 7000). The new Aidin railway extends from Dineir to Izbarta via Buldur.

IZHEVSK, a town of Russia, in the government of Vyatka, 140 m. S.W. of Perm and 22 m. W. from the Kama, on the Izh river. Pop. (1897) 21,500. It has one of the principal steel and rifle works of the Russian crown, started in 1807. The making of sporting guns is an active industry.

IZMAIL, or ISMAIL, a town of Russia, in the government of Bessarabia, on the left bank of the Kilia branch of the Danube, 35 m. below Reni railway station. Pop. (1866) 31,779, (1900) 33,607, comprising Great and Little Russians, Bulgarians, Jews and Gipsies. There are flour-mills and a trade in cereals, wool, tallow and hides. Originally a Turkish fortified post, Izmail had by the end of the 18th century grown into a place of 30,000 inhabitants. It was occupied by the Russians in 1770, and twenty years later its capture was one of the brilliant achievements of the Russian general, Count A. V. Suvarov. On that occasion the garrison was 40,000 strong, and the assault cost the assailants 10,000 and the defenders 30,000 men. The victory was the theme of one of the Russian poet G. R. Derzhavin's odes. In 1809 the town was again captured by the Russians; and, when in 1812 it was assigned to them by the Bucharest peace, they chose it as the central station for their Danube fleet. It was about this time that the town of Tuchkov, with which it was later (1830) incorporated, grew up outside of the fortifications. These were dismantled in accordance with the treaty of Paris (1856), by which Izmail was made over to Rumania. The town was again transferred to Russia by the peace of Berlin (1878).

IZU-NO-SHICHI-TO, the seven (_shichi_) islands (_to_) of Izu, included in the empire of Japan. They stretch in a southerly direction from a point near the mouth of Tokyo Bay, and lie between 33° and 34° 48´ N. and between 139° and 140° E. Their names, beginning from the north, are Izu-no-Oshima, To-shima, Nii-shima, Kozu-shima, Miyake-shima and Hachijo-shima. There are some islets in their immediate vicinity. Izu-no-Oshima, an island 10 m. long and 5½ m. wide, is 15 m. from the nearest point of the Izu promontory. It is known to western cartographers as Vries Island, a name derived from that of Captain Martin Gerritsz de Vries, a Dutch navigator, who is supposed to have discovered the island in 1643. But the group was known to the Japanese from a remote period, and used as convict settlements certainly from the 12th century and probably from a still earlier era. Hachijo, the most southerly, is often erroneously written "Fatsisio" on English charts. Izu-no-Oshima is remarkable for its smoking volcano, Mihara-yama (2461 ft.), a conspicuous object to all ships bound for Yokohama. Three others of the islands--Nii-shima, Kozu-shima and Miyake-shima--have active volcanoes. Those on Nii-shima and Kozu-shima are of inconsiderable size, but that on Miyake-shima, namely, Oyama, rises to a height of 2707 ft. The most southerly island, Hachijo-shima, has a still higher peak, Dsubotake (2838 ft.), but it does not emit any smoke.

J A letter of the alphabet which, as far as form is concerned, is only a modification of the Latin I and dates back with a separate value only to the 15th century. It was first used as a special form of initial I, the ordinary form being kept for use in other positions. As, however, in many cases initial _i_ had the consonantal value of the English _y_ in _iugum_ (yoke), &c., the symbol came to be used for the value of y, a value which it still retains in German: _Ja! jung_, &c. Initially it is pronounced in English as an affricate _dzh_. The great majority of English words beginning with _j_ are (1) of foreign (mostly French) origin, as "jaundice," "judge"; (2) imitative of sound, like "jar" (the verb); or (3) influenced by analogy, like "jaw" (influenced by _chaw_, according to Skeat). In early French _g_ when palatalized by _e_ or _i_ sounds became confused with consonantal _i_ (_y_), and both passed into the sound of _j_ which is still preserved in English. A similar sound-change takes place in other languages, e.g. Lithuanian, where the resulting sound is spelt _dz_. Modern French and also Provençal and Portuguese have changed _j = dzh_ into _z_ (_zh_). The sound initially is sometimes represented in English by _g_: _gem_, _gaol_ as well as _jail_. At the end of modern English words the same sound is represented by -_dge_ as in _judge_, French _juge_. In this position, however, the sound occurs also in genuine English words like _bridge_, _sedge_, _singe_, but this is true only for the southern dialects on which the literary language is founded. In the northern dialects the pronunciation as _brig_, _seg_, _sing_ still survives. (P. Gi.)

JA'ALIN (from _Ja'al_, to settle, i.e. "the squatters"), an African tribe of Semitic stock. They formerly occupied the country on both banks of the Nile from Khartum to Abu Hamed. They claim to be of the Koreish tribe and even trace descent from Abbas, uncle of the prophet. They are of Arab origin, but now of very mixed blood. According to their own tradition they emigrated to Nubia in the 12th century. They were at one time subject to the Funj kings, but their position was in a measure independent. At the Egyptian invasion in 1820 they were the most powerful of Arab tribes in the Nile valley. They submitted at first, but in 1822 rebelled and massacred the Egyptian garrison at Shendi. The revolt was mercilessly suppressed, and the Ja'alin were thenceforward looked on with suspicion. They were almost the first of the northern tribes to join the mahdi in 1884, and it was their position to the north of Khartum which made communication with General Gordon so difficult. The Ja'alin are now a semi-nomad agricultural people. Many are employed in Khartum as servants, scribes and watchmen. They are a proud religious people, formerly notorious as cruel slave dealers. J. L. Burckhardt says the true Ja'alin from the eastern desert is exactly like the Bedouin of eastern Arabia.

See _The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan_, edited by Count Gleichen (London,
1905).