Chapter V: H. S (3)

[2] Unless it be _Oreopsittacus arfaki_, of New Guinea, remarkable as
the only parrot known as yet to have fourteen instead of twelve
rectrices.

LOS ANDES, a former state of Venezuela under the redivision of 1881, which covered the extreme western part of the republic N. of Zamora and S. of Zulia. In the redivision of 1904 Los Andes was cut up into three states--Mérida Táchira and Trujillo.

LOS ANGELES, a city and the county-seat of Los Angeles county, in southern California, U.S.A., along the small Los Angeles river, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains; a narrow strip, 18 m. long, joins the main part of the city to its water front on the ocean, San Pedro Bay. Pop. (1880) 11,183, (1890) 50,395, (1900) 102,479, of whom 19,964 were foreign-born;[1] the growth in population since 1900 has been very rapid and in 1910 it was 319,198. The city had in 1910 an area of 85.1 sq. m., of which more than one-half has been added since 1890. Los Angeles is served by the Southern Pacific, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé, and the San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake railways; by steamers to San Francisco; and by five systems of urban and suburban electric railways, which have 300 m. of track within the city and 700 m. within a radius of 30 m. beyond its limits. Inclined railways ascend Third Street Hill and Court Street Hill, in the heart of the city; and a system of subways extends from the centre of the city to its western limits. The harbour, San Pedro Bay, originally open and naturally poor, has been greatly improved by the Federal government; a breakwater 9250 ft. long was begun in 1898 and the bar has been deepened, and further improvements of the inner harbour at Wilmington (which is nearly landlocked by a long narrow island lying nearly east and west across its mouth) were begun in 1907. Important municipal docks have been built by the city.

The situation of the city between the mountains and the sea is attractive. The site of the business district is level, and its plan regular; the suburbs are laid out on hills. Although not specifically a health resort, Los Angeles enjoys a high reputation for its climate. From July 1877 to 1908 (inclusive) the mean of the minima for January, the coldest month of the year, was 44.16° F.; the mean of the minima for August, the warmest month, was 60.1° F.; and the difference of the mean temperature of the coldest and the warmest month was about 18° F.; while on five days only in this period (and on no day in the years 1904-1908) did the official thermometer fall below 32° F. There are various pleasure resorts in the mountains, and among seaside resorts are Santa Monica, Ocean Park, Venice, Playa del Rey, Hermosa, Redondo, Terminal Island, Long Beach, Alamitos Bay, Huntington Beach, Newport, Balboa and Corona del Mar. There are excellent roads throughout the country. Los Angeles has beautiful shade trees and a wealth of semi-tropic vegetation. Its residential portions are characterized by detached homes set in ample and beautiful grounds. Towering eucalyptus, graceful pepper trees, tropic palms, rubber trees, giant bananas, yuccas and a wonderful growth of roses, heliotrope, calla lilies in hedges, orange trees, jasmine, giant geraniums and other flowers beautify the city throughout the year. There are 22 parks, with about 3800 acres within or on the borders of the city limits; among the parks are Griffith (3015 acres), Elysian (532 acres), Eastlake (57 acres), Westlake (35 acres) and Echo (38 acres). The old Spanish-Moorish mission architecture has considerably influenced building styles. Among the important buildings are the Federal Building, the County Court House, the City Hall, a County Hall of Records, the Public Library with about 110,000 volumes in 1908, the large Auditorium and office buildings and the Woman's Club. The exhibit in the Chamber of Commerce Building illustrates the resources of southern California. Here also are the Coronel Collection, given in 1901 by Dona Mariana, the widow of Don Antonio Coronel, and containing relics of the Spanish and Mexican régime in California; and the Palmer Collection of Indian antiquities. In Los Angeles also are the collections of the Southwest Society (1904; for southern California, Arizona and New Mexico) of the Archaeological Institute of America. On the outskirts of the city, near Eastlake Park, is the Indian Crafts Exhibition, which contains rare collections of aboriginal handiwork, and where Indians may be seen making baskets, pottery and blankets. Of interest to visitors is that part of the city called Sonora Town, with its adobe houses, Mexican quarters, old Plaza and the Church of Our Lady, Queen of the Angels (first erected in 1822; rebuilt in 1861), which contains interesting paintings by early Indian converts. Near Sonora Town is the district known as Chinatown. The principal educational institutions are the University of Southern California (Methodist Episcopal, 1880), the Maclay College of Theology and a preparatory school; Occidental College (Presbyterian, 1887), St Vincent's College (Roman Catholic, founded 1865; chartered 1869) and the Los Angeles State Normal School (1882).

The economic interests of Los Angeles centre in the culture of fruits.
The surrounding country is very fertile when irrigated, producing
oranges, lemons, figs and other semi-tropical fruits. Thousands of
artesian wells have been bored, the region between Los Angeles, Santa
Clara and San Bernardino being one of the most important artesian well
regions of the world. The city, which then got its water supply from
the Los Angeles river bed, in 1907 authorized the issue of $23,000,000
worth of 4% bonds for the construction of an aqueduct 209 m. long,
bringing water to the city from the Owens river, in the Sierra Nevada
Mountains. It was estimated that the project would furnish water for
one million people, beside supplying power for lighting, manufacturing
and transportation purposes. All the water in excess of the city's
actual needs may be employed for irrigation. Work on the aqueduct was
begun in 1908, and it was to be completed in five years. From 1900 to
1905 the value of the factory products increased from $15,133,696 to
$34,814,475 or 130%, and the capital employed in manufactures from
$10,045,095 to $28,181,418 or 180.5%. The leading manufacturing
industries in 1905, with the product-value of each in this year, were
slaughtering and meat-packing ($4,040,162), foundry and machine shop
work ($3,146,914), flour and grist milling ($2,798,740), lumber
manufacturing and planing ($2,519,081), printing and publishing
(newspapers and periodicals, $2,097,339; and book and job printing,
$1,278,841), car construction and repairing ($1,549,836)--in 1910
there were railway shops here of the Southern Pacific, Pacific
Electric, Los Angeles Street, Salt Lake and Santa Fé railways--and the
manufacture of confectionery ($953,915), furniture ($879,910) and
malt liquors ($789,393). The canning and preserving of fruits and
vegetables are important industries. There is a large wholesale trade
with southern California, with Arizona and with the gold-fields of
Nevada, with which Los Angeles is connected by railway. Los Angeles is
a port of entry, but its foreign commerce is relatively unimportant.
The value of its imports increased from $721,705 in 1905 to $1,654,549
in 1907; in 1908 the value was $1,193,552. The city's exports were
valued at $45,000 in 1907 and at $306,439 in 1908. The coastwise trade
is in lumber (about 700,000,000 ft. annually), shipped from northern
California, Oregon and Washington, and in crude oil and general
merchandise. There are rich oil-fields N. and W. of the city and wells
throughout the city; petroleum is largely employed as fuel in
factories. The central field, the Second Street Park field in the
city, was developed between 1892 and 1895 and wells were drilled
farther E. until in 1896 the eastern field was tapped with wells at
Adobe and College streets; the wells within the city are gradually
being abandoned. The western field and the western part of the central
field were first worked in 1899-1900. The Salt Lake field, controlled
by the Salt Lake Oil Company, near Rancho de Brea, W.S.W. of the city,
first became important in 1902 and in 1907 it was the most valuable
field in California, S. of Santa Barbara county, and the value of its
product was $1,749,980. In 1905 the value of petroleum refined in Los
Angeles was $461,281.

Land has not for many years been cheap (i.e. absolutely) in the
southern Californian fruit country, and immigration has been,
generally, of the comparatively well-to-do. This fact has greatly
affected the character and development of the city. The assessed
valuation of property increased more than threefold from 1900 to 1910,
being $276,801,517 in the latter year, when the bonded city debt was
$17,259,312.50. Since 1896 there has been a strong independent
movement in politics, marked by the organization of a League for
Better City Government (1896) and a Municipal League (1900), and by
the organization of postal primaries to secure the co-operation of
electors pledged to independent voting. Since 1904 the public school
system has been administered by a non-partisan Board of Education
chosen from the city at large, and not by wards as theretofore.

Los Angeles, like all other Californian cities, has the privilege of making and amending its own charter, subject to the approval of the state legislature. In 1902 thirteen amendments were adopted, including provisions for the initiative, the referendum and the recall. The last of these provides that 25% of the voters choosing a municipal officer may, by signing a petition for his recall, force a new election during his term of office and thereby remove him if another candidate receives a greater number of votes. This provision, introducing an entirely new principle into the American governmental system, came into effect in January 1903, and was employed in the following year when a previously elected councilman who was "recalled" by petition and was unsuccessful in the 1904 election brought suit to hold his office, and on a mere technicality the Supreme Court of the state declared the recall election invalid. In 1909 there was a recall election at which a mayor was removed and another chosen in his place.

The Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles was founded in 1781. The Franciscan mission of San Gabriel--still a famous landmark--had been established ten years earlier a few miles eastward. Beginning about 1827, Los Angeles, being the largest pueblo of the territory, became a rival of Monterey for the honour of being the capital of California, was the seat of conspiracies to overthrow the Mexican authority, and the stronghold of the South California party in the bickerings and struggles that lasted down to the American occupation. In 1835 it was made a city by the Mexican Congress, and declared the capital, but the last provision was not enforced and was soon recalled. In 1836-1838 it was the headquarters of C. A. Carrillo, a legally-named but never _de facto_ governor of California, whose jurisdiction was never recognized in the north; and in 1845-1847 it was the actual capital. The city was rent by factional quarrels when war broke out between Mexico and the United States, but the appearance of United States troops under Commodore Robert F. Stockton and General John C. Frémont before Los Angeles caused both factions to unite against a common foe. The defenders of Los Angeles fled at the approach of the troops, and on the 13th of August 1846 the American flag was raised over the city. A garrison of fifty men, left in control, was compelled in October to withdraw on account of a revolt of the inhabitants, and Los Angeles was not retaken until General Philip Kearny and Commodore Stockton entered the city on the 18th of January 1847. This was the only important overt resistance to the establishment of the new régime in California. The city was chartered in 1850. It continued to grow steadily thereafter until it attained railway connexion with the Central Pacific and San Francisco in 1876, and with the East by the Santa Fé system in 1885. The completion of the latter line precipitated one of the most extraordinary of American railway wars and land booms, which resulted in giving southern California a great stimulus. The growth of the city since 1890 has been even more remarkable. In 1909 the township of Wilmington (pop. in 1900, 2983), including the city of San Pedro (pop. in 1900, 1787), Colegrove, a suburb W.N.W. of the city, Cahuenga (pop. in 1900, 1586), a township N.W. of the former city limits, and a part of Los Feliz were annexed to the city.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] In addition to the large foreign-born population (4023 Germans,
3017 English, 2683 English Canadians, 1885 Chinese, 1720 Irish and
smaller numbers of French, Mexicans, Swedes, Italians, Scots, Swiss,
Austrians, Danes, French Canadians, Russians, Norwegians, Welsh and
Japanese) 26,105 of the native white inhabitants were of foreign
parentage (i.e. had one or both parents not native born), so that
only 54,121 white persons were of native parentage. German, French
and Italian weekly papers are published in Los Angeles.

LOS ISLANDS (ISLAS DE LOS IDOLOS), a group of islands off the coast of French Guinea, West Africa, lying south of Sangarea Bay, between 9° 25´ and 9° 31´ N. and 13° 46´ and 13° 51´ W., and about 80 m. N.N.W. of Freetown, Sierra Leone. There are five principal islands: Tamara, Factory, Crawford, White (or Ruma) and Coral. The two largest islands are Tamara and Factory, Tamara, some 8 m. long by 1 to 2 m. broad, being the largest. These two islands lie parallel to each other, Tamara to the west; they form a sort of basin, in the centre of which is the islet of Crawford. The two other islands are to the south. The archipelago is of volcanic formation, Tamara and Factory islands forming part of a ruined crater, with Crawford Island as the cone. The highest point is a knoll, some 450 ft. above sea-level, in Tamara. All the islands are richly clothed with palm trees and flowering underwood. Tamara has a good harbour, and contains the principal settlement. The inhabitants, about 1500, are immigrants of the Baga tribe of Senegambian negroes, whose home is the coast land between the Pongo and Nunez rivers. These are chiefly farmers. The Church of England has a flourishing mission, with a native pastorate. At one time the islands were a great seat of slave-traders and pirates. The latter are supposed to have buried large amounts of treasure in them. In an endeavour to stop the slave trade and piracy, the islands were garrisoned (1812-1813) by British troops, but the unhealthiness of the climate led to their withdrawal. In 1818 Sir Charles McCarthy, governor of Sierra Leone, obtained the cession of the islands to Great Britain from the chiefs of the Baga country, and in 1882 France recognized them to be a British possession. They were then the headquarters of several Sierra Leone traders. By article 6 of the Anglo-French convention of the 8th of April 1904, the islands were ceded to France. They were desired by France because of their geographical position, Konakry, the capital of French Guinea, being built on an islet but 3 m. from Factory Island, and at the mercy of long range artillery planted thereon. The islands derive their name from the sacred images found on them by the early European navigators.

See A. B. Ellis, _West African Islands_ (London, 1885), and the works
cited under FRENCH GUINEA.

LOSSIEMOUTH, a police burgh of Elginshire, Scotland. Pop. (1901) 3904. It embraces the villages of Lossiemouth, Branderburgh and Stotfield, at the mouth of the Lossie, 5½ m. N.N.E. of Elgin, of which it is the port, by a branch line of the Great North of Scotland railway. The industries are boat-building and fishing. Lossiemouth, or the Old Town, dates from 1700; Branderburgh, farther north, grew with the harbour and began about 1830; Stotfield is purely modern and contiguous to the splendid golf-course. The cliffs at Covesea, 2 m. W., contain caves of curious shape. Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonstown used one as a stable in the rebellion of 1745; weapons of prehistoric man were found in another, and the roof of a third is carved with ornaments and emblems of early Celtic art.

Kinneddar Castle in the parish of Drainie--in which Lossiemouth is
situated--was a seat of the bishops of Moray, and Old Duffus Castle,
2½ m. S.W., was built in the reign of David II. The estate of
Gordonstown, close by, was founded by Sir Robert Gordon (1580-1656),
historian of the Sutherland family, and grandfather of the baronet
who, because of his inventions and scientific attainments, was known
locally as "Sir Robert the Warlock" (1647-1704). Nearly midway between
Lossiemouth and Elgin stand the massive ruins of the palace of Spynie,
formerly a fortified residence of the bishops of Moray. "Davie's
Tower," 60 ft. high with walls 9 ft. thick, was built by Bishop David
Stewart about 1470. The adjacent loch is a favourite breeding-place
for the sea-birds, which resort to the coast of Elginshire in enormous
numbers. A mile S.E. of the lake lies Pitgaveny, one of the reputed
scenes of the murder of King Duncan by Macbeth.

LOSSING, BENSON JOHN (1813-1891), American historical writer, was born in Beekman, New York, on the 12th of February 1813. After editing newspapers in Poughkeepsie he became an engraver on wood, and removed to New York in 1839 for the practice of his profession, to which he added that of drawing illustrations for books and periodicals. He likewise wrote or edited the text of numerous publications. His _Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution_ (first issued in 30 parts, 1850-1852, and then in 2 volumes) was a pioneer work of value in American historical literature. In its preparation he travelled some 9000 m. during a period of nearly two years; made more than a thousand sketches of extant buildings, battlefields, &c.; and presented his material in a form serviceable to the topographer and interesting to the general reader. Similar but less characteristic and less valuable undertakings were a _Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812_ (1868), and a _Pictorial History of the Civil War in the United States of America_ (3 vols. 1866-1869). His other books were numerous: an _Outline History of the Fine Arts_; many illustrated histories, large and small, of the United States; popular descriptions of Mount Vernon and other localities associated with famous names; and biographical sketches of celebrated Americans, of which _The Life and Times of Major-General Philip Schuyler_ (2 vols. 1860-1873) was the most considerable. He died at Dover Plains, New York, on the 3rd of June 1891.

LÖSSNITZ, a district in the kingdom of Saxony, extending for about 5 m. along the right bank of the Elbe, immediately N.W. of Dresden. Pop. (1905) 6929. A line of vine-clad hills shelters it from the north winds, and so warm and healthy is the climate that it has gained for the district the appellation of the "Saxon Nice." Asparagus, peaches, apricots, strawberries, grapes and roses are largely cultivated and find a ready market in Dresden.

LOST PROPERTY. The man who loses an article does not lose his right thereto, and he may recover it from the holder whoever he be, unless his claim be barred by some Statute of Limitations or special custom, as sale in market overt. The rights and duties of the finder are more complex. If he know or can find out the true owner, and yet convert the article to his own use, he is guilty of theft. But if the true owner cannot be discovered, the finder keeps the property, his title being superior to that of every one except the true owner. But this is only if the find be in public or some public place. Thus if you pick up bank notes in a shop where they have been lost by a stranger, and hand them to the shopkeeper that he may discover and repossess the true owner, and he fail to do so, then you can recover them from him. The owner of private land, however, is entitled to what is found on it. Thus a man sets you to clear out his pond, and you discover a diamond in the mud at the bottom. The law will compel you to hand it over to the owner of the pond. This applies even against the tenant. A gas company were lessees of certain premises; whilst making excavations therein they came upon a prehistoric boat; and they were forced to surrender it to their lessor. An aerolite becomes the property of the owner of the land on which it falls, and not of the person finding or digging it out. The principle of these three last cases is that whatever becomes part of the soil belongs to the proprietor of that soil.

Property lost at sea is regulated by different rules. Those who recover abandoned vessels are entitled to salvage. Property absolutely lost upon the high seas would seem to belong to the finder. It has been claimed for the crown, and the American courts have held, that apart from a decree the finder is only entitled to salvage rights, the court retaining the rest, and thus practically taking it for the state on the original owner not being found. The modern English law on the subject of wreck (including everything found on the shore of the sea or tidal river) is contained in the Merchant Shipping Act 1894. The finder must forthwith make known his discovery to the receiver of wreck under a penalty. He is entitled to a salvage reward, but the property belongs to the crown or its grantee unless the true owner claims within a year. In the United States unclaimed wreck after a year generally becomes the property of the state. In Scotland the right to lost property is theoretically in the crown, but the finder would not in practice be interfered with except under the provisions of the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act 1892. Section 412 requires all persons finding goods to deliver them forthwith to the police under a penalty. If the true owner is not discovered within six months the magistrates may hand them over to the finder. If the owner appears he must pay a reasonable reward. Domestic animals, including swans, found straying without an owner may be seized by the crown or lord of the manor, and if not claimed within a year and a day they become the property of the crown or the lord, on the observance of certain formalities. In Scotland they were held to belong to the crown or its donatory, usually the sheriff of a county. By the Burgh Police Act above quoted provision is made for the sale of lost animals and the disposal of the free proceeds for the purposes of the act unless such be claimed. In the United States there is diversity of law and custom. Apart from special rule, lost animals become the property of the finder, but in many cases the proceeds of their sale are applied to public purposes. When property is lost by carriers, innkeepers or railway companies, special provisions as to their respective responsibilities apply. As to finds of money or the precious metals, see TREASURE TROVE.

LOSTWITHIEL, a market town and municipal borough in the Bodmin parliamentary division of Cornwall, England, 30½ m. W. of Plymouth by the Great Western railway. Pop. (1901) 1379. It is pleasantly situated on the banks of the river Fowey. The church of St Bartholomew is remarkable for a fine Early English tower surmounted by a Decorated spire; there are also beautiful Decorated windows and details in the body of the church, and a richly carved octagonal font. A bridge of the 14th century crosses the river. The shire hall includes remains of a building, called the Stannary prison, dating from the 13th century. The Great Western railway has workshops at Lostwithiel.

Lostwithiel owed its ancient liberties--probably its existence--to the neighbouring castle of Restormel. The Pipe Rolls (1194-1203) show that Robert de Cardinan, lord of Restormel, paid ten marks yearly for having a market at Lostwithiel. By an undated charter still preserved with the corporation's muniments he surrendered to the burgesses all the liberties given them by his predecessors (_antecessores_) when they founded the town. These included hereditary succession to tenements, exemption from sullage, the right to elect a reeve (_praepositus_) if the grantor thought one necessary and the right to marry without the lord's interference. By Isolda, granddaughter of Robert de Cardinan, the town was given to Richard, king of the Romans, who in the third year of his reign granted to the burgesses a gild merchant sac and soc, toll, team and infangenethef, freedom from pontage, lastage, &c., throughout Cornwall, and exemption from the jurisdiction of the hundred and county courts, also a yearly fair and a weekly market. Richard transferred the assizes from Launceston to Lostwithiel. His son Edmund, earl of Cornwall, built a great hall at Lostwithiel and decreed that the coinage of tin should be at Lostwithiel only. In 1325 Richard's charter was confirmed and the market ordered to be held on Thursdays. In 1386 the assizes were transferred back to Launceston. In 1609 a charter of incorporation provided for a mayor, recorder, six capital burgesses and seventeen assistants and courts of record and pie powder. The boundaries of the borough were extended in 1733. Under the reformed charter granted in 1885 the corporation consists of a mayor, four aldermen and twelve councillors. From 1305 to 1832 two members represented Lostwithiel in parliament. The electors after 1609 were the twenty-five members of the corporation. Under the Reform Act (1832) the borough became merged in the county. For the Thursday market granted in 1326 a Friday market was substituted in 1733, and this continues to be held. The fair granted in 1326 and the three fairs granted in 1733 have all given place to others. The archdeacon's court, the sessions and the county elections were long held at Lostwithiel, but all have now been removed. For the victory gained by Charles I. over the earl of Essex in 1644, see GREAT REBELLION.

LOT, in the Bible, the legendary ancestor of the two Palestinian peoples, Moab and Ammon (Gen. xix. 30-38; cp. Ps. lxxxiii. 8); he appears to have been represented as a Horite or Edomite (cp. the name Lotan, Gen. xxxvi. 20, 22). As the son of Haran and grandson of Terah, he was Abraham's nephew (Gen. xi. 31), and he accompanied his uncle in his migration from Haran to Canaan. Near Bethel[1] Lot separated from Abraham, owing to disputes between their shepherds, and being offered the first choice, chose the rich fields of the Jordan valley which were as fertile and well irrigated as the "garden of Yahweh" (i.e. Eden, Gen. xiii. 7 sqq.). It was in this district that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were situated. He was saved from their fate by two divine messengers who spent the night in his house, and next morning led Lot, his wife, and his two unmarried daughters out of the city. His wife looked back and was changed to a pillar of salt,[2] but Lot with his two daughters escaped first to Zoar and then to the mountains east of the Dead Sea, where the daughters planned and executed an incest by which they became the mothers of Moab and Ben-Ammi (i.e. Ammon; Gen. xix.). The account of Chedorlaomer's invasion and of Lot's rescue by Abraham belongs to an independent source (Gen. xiv.), the age and historical value of which has been much disputed. (See further ABRAHAM; MELCHIZEDEK.) Lot's character is made to stand in strong contrast with that of Abraham, notably in the representation of his selfishness (xiii. 5 sqq.), and reluctance to leave the sinful city (xix. 16 sqq.); relatively, however, he was superior to the rest (with the crude story of his insistence upon the inviolable rights of guests, xix. 5 sqq.; cf. Judges xix. 22 sqq.), and is regarded in 2 Pet. ii. 7 seq. as a type of righteousness.

Lot and his daughters passed into Arabic tradition from the Jews. The
daughters are named Zahy and Ra'wa by Mas'udi ii. 139; but other
Arabian writers give other forms. Paton (_Syria and Palestine_, pp.
43, 123) identifies Lot-Lotan with _Ruten_, one of the Egyptian names
for Palestine; its true meaning is obscure. For traces of mythical
elements in the story see Winckler, _Altorient. Forsch._ ii. 87 seq.
See further, J. Skinner, _Genesis_, pp. 310 sqq. (S. A. C.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The district is thus regarded as the place where the Hebrews, on
the one side, and the Moabites and Ammonites, on the other, commence
their independent history. Whilst the latter settle across the
Jordan, Abraham moves down south to Hebron.

[2] Tradition points to the _Jebel Usdum_ (cp. the name Sodom) at the
S.W. end of the Dead Sea. It consists almost entirely of pure
crystallized salt with pillars and pinnacles such as might have given
rise to the story (see Driver, Genesis, p. 201; and cf. also
_Palestine Explor. Fund, Quart. Statements_, 1871, p. 16, 1885, p.
20; Conder, _Syrian Stone-lore_, p. 279 seq.). Jesus cites the story
of Lot and his wife to illustrate the sudden coming of the Kingdom of
God (Luke xvii. 28-32). The history of the interpretation of the
legend by the early and medieval church down to the era of rational
and scientific investigation will be found in A. D. White, _Warfare
of Science with Theology_, ii. ch. xviii.

LOT (Lat. _Oltis_), a river of southern France flowing westward across the central plateau, through the departments of Lozère, Aveyron, Lot and Lot-et-Garonne. Its length is about 300 m., the area of its basin 4444 sq. m. The river rises in the Cévennes on the Mont du Goulet at a height of 4918 ft. about 15 m. E. of Mende, past which it flows. Its upper course lies through gorges between the Causse of Mende and Aubrac Mountains on the north and the tablelands (_causses_) of Sauveterre, Severac and Comtal on the south. Thence its sinuous course crosses the plateau of Quercy and entering a wider fertile plain flows into the Garonne at Aiguillon between Agen and Marmande. Its largest tributary, the Truyère, rises in the Margeride mountains and after a circuitous course joins it on the right at Entraygues (department of Aveyron), its affluence more than doubling the volume of the river. Lower down it receives the Dourdou de Bozouls (or du Nord) on the left and on the right the Célé above Cahors (department of Lot), which is situated on a peninsula skirted by one of the river's many windings. Villeneuve-sur-Lot (department of Lot-et-Garonne) is the only town of any importance between this point and its mouth. The Lot is canalized between Bouquiès, above which there is no navigation, and the Garonne (160 m.).

LOT, a department of south-western France, formed in 1790 from the district of Quercy, part of the old province of Guyenne. It is bounded N. by Corrèze, W. by Dordogne and Lot-et-Garonne, S. by Tarn-et-Garonne, and E. by Aveyron and Cantal. Area 2017 sq. m. Pop. (1906) 216,611. The department extends over the western portion of the Massif Central of France; it slopes towards the south-west, and has a maximum altitude of 2560 ft. on the borders of Cantal with a minimum of 213 ft. at the point where the river Lot quits the department. The Lot, which traverses it from east to west, is navigable for the whole distance (106 m.) with the help of locks; its principal tributary within the department is the Célé (on the right). In the north of the department the Dordogne has a course of 37 m.; among its tributaries are the Cère, which has its rise in Cantal, and the Ouysse, a river of no great length, but remarkable for the abundance of its waters. The streams in the south of Lot all flow into the Tarn. The eastern and western portions of the department are covered by ranges of hills; the north, the centre, and part of the south are occupied by a belt of limestone plateaus or _causses_, that to the north of the Dordogne is called the Causse de Martel; between the Dordogne and the Lot is the Causse de Gramat or de Rocamadour; south of the Lot is the Causse de Cahors. The _causses_ are for the most part bare and arid owing to the rapid disappearance of the rain in clefts and chasms in the limestone, which are known as _igues_. These are most numerous in the Causse de Gramat and are sometimes of great beauty; the best known is the Gouffre de Padirac, 7 m. N.E. of Rocamadour. The altitude of the _causses_ (from 700 to 1300 ft., much lower than that of the similar plateaus in Lozère, Hérault and Aveyron) permits the cultivation of the vine; they also yield a small quantity of cereals and potatoes and some wood. The deep intervening valleys are full of verdure, being well watered by abundant springs. The climate is on the whole that of the Girondine region; the valleys are warm, and the rainfall is somewhat above the average for France. The difference of temperature between the higher parts of the department belonging to the central plateau and the sheltered valleys of the south-west is considerable. Wheat, maize, oats and rye are the chief cereals. Wine is the principal product, the most valued being that of Cahors grown in the valley of the Lot, which is, in general, the most productive portion of the department. It is used partly for blending with other wines and partly for local consumption. The north-east cantons produce large quantities of chestnuts; walnuts, apples and plums are common, and the department also grows potatoes and tobacco and supplies truffles. Sheep are the most abundant kind of live stock; but pigs, horned cattle, horses, asses, mules and goats are also reared, as well as poultry and bees. Iron and coal are mined, and there are important zinc deposits (Planioles). Limestone is quarried. There are oil-works and numerous mills, and wool spinning and carding as well as cloth making, tanning, currying, brewing and the making of agricultural implements are carried on to some extent. The three arrondissements are those of Cahors, the capital, Figeac and Gourdon; there are 29 cantons and 329 communes.

Lot belongs to the 17th military district, and to the _académie_ of Toulouse, and falls within the circumscription of the court of appeal at Agen, and the province of the archbishop of Albi. It is served by the Orleans railway. Cahors, Figeac and Rocamadour are the principal places. Of the interesting churches and châteaux of the department, may be mentioned the fine feudal fortress at Castelnau occupying a commanding natural position, with an audience hall of the 12th century, and the Romanesque abbey-church at Souillac with fine sculpturing on the principal entrance. The plateau of Puy d'Issolu, near Vayrac, is believed by most authorities to be the site of the ancient Uxcellodunum, the scene of the last stand of the Gauls against Julius Caesar in 51 B.C. Lot has many dolmens, the finest being that of Pierre Martine, near Livernon (arr. of Figeac).

LOT-ET-GARONNE, a department of south-western France, formed in 1790 of Agenais and Bazadais, two districts of the old province of Guienne, and of Condomois, Lomagne, Brullois and pays d'Albret, formerly portions of Gascony. It is bounded W. by Gironde, N. by Dordogne, E. by Lot and Tarn-et-Garonne, S. by Gers and S.W. by Landes. Area 2079 sq. m. Pop. (1906) 274,610. The Garonne, which traverses the department from S.E. to N.W., divides it into two unequal parts. That to the north is a country of hills and deep ravines, and the slope is from east to west, while in the region to the south, which is a continuation of the plateau of Lannemezan and Armagnac, the slope is directly from south to north. A small portion in the south-west belongs to the sterile region of the Landes (q.v.); the broad valleys of the Garonne and of its affluent the Lot are proverbial for their fertility. The wildest part is towards the north-east on the borders of Dordogne, where a region of _causses_ (limestone plateaus) and forests begins; the highest point (896 ft.) is also found here. The Garonne, where it quits the department, is only some 20 ft. above the sea-level; it is navigable throughout, with the help of its lateral canal, as also are the Lot and Baise with the help of locks. The Drot, a right affluent of the Garonne in the north of the department, is also navigable in the lower part of its course. The climate is that of the Girondine region--mild and fine--the mean temperature of Agen being 56.6° Fahr., or 5° above that of Paris; the annual rainfall, which, in the plain of Agen, varies from 20 to 24 in., is nearly the least in France. Agriculturally the department is one of the richest. Of cereals wheat is the chief, maize and oats coming next. Potatoes, vines and tobacco are important sources of wealth. The best wines are those of Clairac and Buzet. Vegetable and fruit-growing are prosperous. Plum-trees (_pruniers d'ente_) are much cultivated in the valleys of the Garonne and Lot, and the apricots of Nicole and Tonneins are well known. The chief trees are the pine and the oak; the cork-oak flourishes in the Landes, and poplars and willows are abundant on the borders of the Garonne. Horned cattle, chiefly of the Garonne breed, are the principal live stock. Poultry and pigs are also reared profitably. There are deposits of iron in the department. The forges, blast furnaces and foundries of Fumel are important; and agricultural implements and other machines are manufactured. The making of lime and cement, of tiles, bricks and pottery, of confectionery and dried plums (pruneaux d'Agen) and other delicacies, and brewing and distilling, occupy many of the inhabitants. At Tonneins (pop. 4691 in 1906) there is a national tobacco manufactory. Cork cutting, of which the centre is Mézin, hat and candle making, wool spinning, weaving of woollen and cotton stuffs, tanning, paper-making, oil-making, dyeing and flour and saw-milling are other prominent industries. The peasants still speak the Gascon patois. The arrondissements are 4--Agen, Marmande, Nérac and Villeneuve-sur-Lot--and there are 35 cantons and 326 communes.

Agen, the capital, is the seat of a bishopric and of the court of appeal for the department of Lot-et-Garonne. The department belongs to the region of the XVII. army corps, the _académie_ of Bordeaux, and the province of the archbishop of Bordeaux. Lot-et-Garonne is served by the lines of the Southern and the Orleans railways, its rivers afford about 160 m. of navigable waterway, and the lateral canal of the Garonne traverses it for 54 m. Agen, Marmande, Nérac and Villeneuve-sur-Lot, the principal places, are treated under separate headings. The department possesses Roman remains at Mas d'Agenais and at Aiguillon. The churches of Layrac, Monsempron, Mas d'Agenais, Moirax, Mézin and Vianne are of interest, as also are the fortifications of Vianne of the 13th century, and the châteaux of Xaintrailles, Bonaguil, Gavaudun and of the industrial town of Casteljaloux.

LOTHAIR I. (795-855), Roman emperor, was the eldest son of the emperor Louis I., and his wife Irmengarde. Little is known of his early life, which was probably passed at the court of his grandfather Charlemagne, until 815 when he became ruler of Bavaria. When Louis in 817 divided the Empire between his sons, Lothair was crowned joint emperor at Aix-la-Chapelle and given a certain superiority over his brothers. In 821 he married Irmengarde (d. 851), daughter of Hugo, count of Tours; in 822 undertook the government of Italy; and, on the 5th of April 823, was crowned emperor by Pope Paschal I. at Rome. In November 824 he promulgated a statute concerning the relations of pope and emperor which reserved the supreme power to the secular potentate, and he afterwards issued various ordinances for the good government of Italy. On his return to his father's court his stepmother Judith won his consent to her plan for securing a kingdom for her son Charles, a scheme which was carried out in 829. Lothair, however, soon changed his attitude, and spent the succeeding decade in constant strife over the division of the Empire with his father. He was alternately master of the Empire, and banished and confined to Italy; at one time taking up arms in alliance with his brothers and at another fighting against them; whilst the bounds of his appointed kingdom were in turn extended and reduced. When Louis was dying in 840, he sent the imperial _insignia_ to Lothair, who, disregarding the various partitions, claimed the whole of the Empire. Negotiations with his brother Louis and his half-brother Charles, both of whom armed to resist this claim, were followed by an alliance of the younger brothers against Lothair. A decisive battle was fought at Fontenoy on the 25th of June 841, when, in spite of his personal gallantry, Lothair was defeated and fled to Aix. With fresh troops he entered upon a war of plunder, but the forces of his brothers were too strong for him, and taking with him such treasure as he could collect, he abandoned to them his capital. Efforts to make peace were begun, and in June 842 the brothers met on an island in the Sâone, and agreed to an arrangement which developed, after much difficulty and delay, into the treaty of Verdun signed in August 843. By this Lothair received Italy and the imperial title, together with a stretch of land between the North and Mediterranean Seas lying along the valleys of the Rhine and the Rhone. He soon abandoned Italy to his eldest son, Louis, and remained in his new kingdom, engaged in alternate quarrels and reconciliations with his brothers, and in futile efforts to defend his lands from the attacks of the Normans and the Saracens. In 855 he became seriously ill, and despairing of recovery renounced the throne, divided his lands between his three sons, and on the 23rd of September entered the monastery of Prüm, where he died six days later. He was buried at Prüm, where his remains were found in 1860. Lothair was entirely untrustworthy and quite unable to maintain either the unity or the dignity of the empire of Charlemagne.

See "Annales Fuldenses"; Nithard, "Historiarum Libri," both in the
_Monumenta Germaniae historica. Scriptores, Bände_ i. and ii. (Hanover
and Berlin, 1826 fol.); E. Mühlbacher, _Die Regesten des Kaiserreichs
unter den Karolingern_ (Innsbruck, 1881); E. Dümmler, _Geschichte des
ostfränkischen Reichs_ (Leipzig, 1887-1888); B. Simson, _Jahrbücher
des deutschen Reiches unter Ludwig dem Frommen_ (Leipzig, 1874-1876).

LOTHAIR II. or III. (c. 1070-1137), surnamed the "Saxon," Roman emperor, son of Gebhard, count of Supplinburg, belonged to a family possessing extensive lands around Helmstadt in Saxony, to which he succeeded on his father's death in 1075. Gebhard had been a leading opponent of the emperor Henry IV. in Saxony, and his son, taking the same attitude, assisted Egbert II., margrave of Meissen, in the rising of 1088. The position and influence of Lothair in Saxony, already considerable, was increased when in 1100 he married Richenza, daughter of Henry, count of Nordheim, who became an heiress on her father's death in 1101, and inherited other estates when her brother Otto died childless in 1116. Having assisted the German king, Henry V., against his father in 1104, Lothair was appointed duke of Saxony by Henry, when Duke Magnus, the last of the Billungs, died in 1106. His first care was to establish his authority over some districts east of the Elbe; and quickly making himself independent of the king, he stood forth as the representative of the Saxon race. This attitude brought him into collision with Henry V., to whom, however, he was forced to submit after an unsuccessful rising in 1112. A second rising was caused when, on the death of Ulrich II., count of Weimar and Orlamünde, without issue in 1112, Henry seized these counties as vacant fiefs of the empire, while Lothair supported the claim of Siegfried, count of Ballenstädt, whose mother was a relative of Ulrich. The rebels were defeated, and Siegfried was killed at Warnstädt in 1113, but his son secured possession of the disputed counties. After the defeat by Lothair of Henry's forces at Welfesholz on the 11th of February 1115, events called Henry to Italy; and Lothair appears to have been undisturbed in Saxony until 1123, when the death of Henry II., margrave of Meissen and Lusatia raised a dispute as to the right of appointment to the vacant margraviates. A struggle ensued, in which victory remained with the duke. The Saxony policy of Lothair during these years had been to make himself independent, and to extend his authority; to this end he allied himself with the papal party, and easily revived the traditional hostility of the Saxons to the Franconian emperors.

When Henry V. died in 1125, Lothair, after a protracted election, was chosen German king at Mainz on the 30th of August 1125. His election was largely owing to the efforts of Adalbert, archbishop of Mainz, and the papal party, who disliked the candidature of Henry's nephew and heir, Frederick II. of Hohenstaufen, duke of Swabia. The new king was crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle on the 13th of September 1125. Before suffering a severe reverse, brought about by his interference in the internal affairs of Bohemia, Lothair requested Frederick of Hohenstaufen to restore to the crown the estates bequeathed to him by the emperor Henry V. Frederick refused, and was placed under the ban. Lothair, unable to capture Nüremberg, gained the support of Henry the Proud, the new duke of Bavaria, by giving him his daughter, Gertrude, in marriage, and that of Conrad, count of Zähringen, by granting him the administration of the kingdom of Burgundy, or Arles. As a counterstroke, however, Conrad of Hohenstaufen, the brother of Frederick, was chosen German king in December 1127, and was quickly recognized in northern Italy. But Lothair gained the upper hand in Germany, and by the end of 1129 the Hohenstaufen strongholds, Nüremberg and Spires, were in his possession. This struggle was accompanied by disturbances in Lorraine, Saxony and Thuringia, but order was soon restored after the resistance of the Hohenstaufen had been beaten down. In 1131 the king led an expedition into Denmark, where one of his vassals had been murdered by Magnus, son of the Danish king, Niels, and where general confusion reigned; but no resistance was offered, and Niels promised to pay tribute to Lothair.

The king's attention at the time was called to Italy where two popes, Innocent II. and Anacletus II., were clamouring for his support. At first Lothair, fully occupied with the affairs of Germany, remained heedless and neutral; but in March 1131 he was visited at Liége by Innocent, to whom he promised his assistance. Crossing the Alps with a small army in September 1132, he reached Rome in March 1133, accompanied by Innocent. As St Peter's was held by Anacletus, Lothair's coronation as emperor took place on the 4th of June 1133 in the church of the Lateran. He then received as papal fiefs the vast estates of Matilda, marchioness of Tuscany, thus securing for his daughter and her Welf husband lands which might otherwise have passed to the Hohenstaufen. His efforts to continue the investiture controversy were not very serious. He returned to Germany, where he restored order in Bavaria, and made an expedition against some rebels in the regions of the lower Rhine. Resuming the struggle against the Hohenstaufen, Lothair soon obtained the submission of the brothers, who retained their lands, and a general peace was sworn at Bamberg. The emperor's authority was now generally recognized, and the annalists speak highly of the peace and order of his later years. In 1135, Eric II., king of Denmark, acknowledged himself a vassal of Lothair; Boleslaus III., prince of the Poles, promised tribute and received Pomerania and Rügen as German fiefs; while the eastern emperor, John Comnenus, implored Lothair's aid against Roger II. of Sicily.

The emperor seconded the efforts of his vassals, Albert the Bear, margrave of the Saxon north mark, and Conrad I., margrave of Meissen and Lusatia, to extend the authority of the Germans in the districts east of the Elbe, and assisted Norbert, archbishop of Magdeburg, and Albert I., archbishop of Bremen, to spread Christianity. In August 1136, attended by a large army, Lothair set out upon his second Italian journey. The Lombard cities were either terrified into submission or taken by storm; Roger II. was driven from Apulia; and the imperial power enforced over the whole of southern Italy. A mutiny among the German soldiers and a breach with Innocent concerning the overlordship of Apulia compelled the emperor to retrace his steps. An arrangement was made with regard to Apulia, after which Lothair, returning to Germany, died at Breitenwang, a village in the Tirol, on the 3rd or 4th of December 1137. His body was carried to Saxony and buried in the monastery which he had founded at Königslutter. Lothair was a strong and capable ruler, who has been described as the "imitator and heir of the first Otto." Contemporaries praise his justice and his virtue, and his reign was regarded, especially by Saxons and churchmen, as a golden age for Germany.

The main authorities for the life and reign of Lothair are: "Vita
Norberti archiepiscopi Magdeburgensis"; Otto von Freising, "Chronicon
Annalista Saxo" and "Narratio de electione Lotharii" all in the
_Monumenta Germaniae historica_. _Scriptores_, Bände vi., xii. and xx.
(Hanover and Berlin, 1826-1892). The best modern works are: L. von
Ranke, _Weltgeschichte_, pt. viii. (Leipzig, 1887-1888); W. von
Giesebrecht, _Geschichte der Deutschen Kaiserzeit_, Band iv.
(Brunswick, 1877), Band v. (Leipzig, 1888); Ph. Jaffe, _Geschichte des
Deutschen Reiches unter Lothar_ (Berlin, 1843); W. Bernhardi, _Lothar
von Supplinburg_ (Leipzig, 1879); O. von Heinemann, _Lothar der Sachse
und Konrad III._ (Halle, 1869); and Ch. Volkmar, "Das Vërhältniss
Lothars III. zur Investiturfrage," in the _Forschungen zur Deutschen
Geschichte_, Band xxvi. (Göttingen, 1862-1886).

LOTHAIR (941-986), king of France, son of Louis IV., succeeded his father in 954, and was at first under the guardianship of Hugh the Great, duke of the Franks, and then under that of his maternal uncle Bruno, archbishop of Cologne. The beginning of his reign was occupied with wars against the vassals, particularly against the duke of Normandy. Lothair then seems to have conceived the design of recovering Lorraine. He attempted to precipitate matters by a sudden attack, and in the spring of 978 nearly captured the emperor Otto II. at Aix-la-Chapelle. Otto took his revenge in the autumn by invading France. He penetrated as far as Paris, devastating the country through which he passed, but failed to take the town, and was forced to retreat with heavy loss. Peace was concluded in 980 at Margut-sur-Chiers, and in 983 Lothair was even chosen guardian to the young Otto III. Towards 980, however, Lothair quarrelled with Hugh the Great's son, Hugh Capet, who, at the instigation of Adalberon, archbishop of Reims, became reconciled with Otto III. Lothair died on the 2nd of March 986. By his wife Emma, daughter of Lothair, king of Italy, he left a son who succeeded him as Louis V.

See F. Lot, _Les Derniers Carolingiens_ (Paris, 1891); and the
_Recueil des actes de Lothaire et de Louis V._, edited by L. Halphen
and F. Lot (1908).