Dacca
a city of Bengal, in the division and district of the same name, 150 miles N. E. of Calcutta; on the N. bank of the Buriganga; occupies an area of 8 square miles, and consists of a dull esplanade and one long street meeting at right angles, with a complementary network of narrow, crooked lanes. Its posi- ✓tion commands the principal waterways of the delta, and it thus enjoys singular facilities in the way of inland navigation.
On this account it was chosen, about 1610, as the seat of the Mohammedan government of Bengal, which rank it retained, except during an interval of 20 years, until 1704. The suburbs extended 15 miles N., where mosques and brick buildings are still found buried in thick jungle. In the 18th century it became widely celebrated for the delicate texture of its muslins, and in connection with this manufacture the French and the Dutch, as well as the English, had extensive establishments in the place. After 1817, however, the annual value of the trade declined, and the aspect of the city changed with the disastrous decay of its staple industry. Since 1872 the fortunes of Dacca have somewhat brightened; the general development of trade throughout the presidency has brought back a share of its former prosperity, and the opening of the Dacca and Maimansingh State Railway in 1886 notably confine the Minotaur. Minos next imincreased the transit trade. Besides the Dacca College (1835), there are many good schools, and a fine hospital; in 1878 a system of water-works was opened, and the sanitary condition has since improved. Pop. about 125,000. DÆDALUS (dē'da-lus or ded'a-lus), a figure in Greek mythology who personi fied the beginning of the arts of sculpture and architecture. He was of the old Athenian royal race of the Erechtheidæ.
Having killed his nephew and pupil in envy at his growing skill, he had to fiee to Crete where he made the well-known cow for Queen Pasiphaë, and afterward for King Minos the famous labyrinth to prisoned Dædalus, but he escaped with the help of Pasiphaë, and formed wings for himself and his son Icarus, with which to fly across the sea. He himself flew safe across the Ægean, but unhappily Icarus flew too near the sun, the heat of which melted the wax that fastened his wings to him, so that he dropped into the sea, and left his name to be borne by that part of the Ægean into which he fell. Dædalus made his way to Sicily. Some accounts made him first alight at Cumæ in Italy, where he dedicated his wings to Apollo. Works of art were freely ascribed to Dædalus in Greece, Italy, Libya, and the Mediterranean islands. The name Dædala was applied to the earlier painted and gilded wooden statues of the gods.
DACHSHUND (däks'hönt), a name adopted from the German, signifying "badger-dog." The dachshund common in Germany for many years, but was unknown in England until introduced by the late Prince Consort toward the middle of the 19th century; it then became very fashionable and popular.
The dachshund is a small dog, weighing about 20 pounds, with short crooked forelegs, and an extremely long body, its head rather resembling that of a miniature bloodhound. Its strong, large paws en- DAFFODIL