again returning to its ancient channels, than to the want of ebony in the ancient Ethiopia. From the na' ture of the climate, and the existence of forests in which the elephant abounds, there can be no doubt of its being well suited to the group of plants which have been found to yield the ebony of Mauritius, Ceylon, and India, the genus Diospyrus of botanists. Of this several species j'ield varieties of ebony as tiieir heart- wood, as D. ebenum in the Mauritius, and also in Cey- lon, where it is called kahncara. It is described by Retz "foliis ovato-lanceolatis, acuminatis, gemmis hirtis;" and he quotes as identical D. glabei-rima (Fr. Rottb. Nov. Act. Havn. ii, 540, tab. 5). D. ehenaster yields the bastard ebony of Ceylon, and D. kirsuta the Calamander wood of the same island, described by Mr. Holtzappfel as of a chocolate-brown color, with black stripes and marks, and stated by him to be considered a variety' of ebony. B. melanorylon of Dr. Roxburgh is Mie ebony-tree of Coromandel, and is figured among Coromandel plants (i. No. 46) ; it grows to be a large tree in the mountainous parts of Cej'lon, and in the Peninsula of India — in Malabar, Coromandel, and Orissa. The black part of the wood of this tree alone forhis ebon}', and is found only in the centre of large trees, and varies in quantity according to tlie size and age of the tree. Tlie outside wood is white and soft> and is soon destroyed bj' time and insects, leaving the black untouched (Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii, 530). Besides these, there is in the Peninsula of India 'a wood called blaclcicood by the English, and sit-sal by the natives : it grows to. an immense size, is heav}', close-grained, of a greenish-black color, with lighter-colored veins running in various directions. It is yielded hy the Dalbergia latifolia. To the same genus belongs the Sissu, one of the most valued woods of India, and of which the tree has been called Dalbergia sissu. The wood is remarkabh' strong, of a light graj'ish hue, with darker-colored veins. It is called sissu and shishum by the natives of India. This is the name which we believe is referred to bj' Arab authors, and which also appears to have been the original of the sesaminn of Dioscorides and of the Periplus. The name may be ajiplied to other nearlj' allied woods, and therefore, perhaps, to that of the above D. latifo- lia. It is a curious confirmation of this that Forskiil mentions that in his time shishinn, with teak and eb- ony, was among the woods iin])orted from India and Arabia. It is satisfactory to have apparently such competent confirmation of the general accuracy of ancient authors, when we fully understand the sub- jects and the products of the countries to which they allude (Kitto, s. v.). According to Sir E. Tennent (Ceylon, i, 116) the following trees j'ield ebony : Dios- fvjros ebenum, D. reticulata, D. ehenaster, and D. hir- suta. The wood of the first-named tree, which is abundant throughout all the flat country to the west
Branch of Jjiusjiyrus Ebenimi.
EBRALDINES
24
ECBATANA
of Trincomali, "excels all others in the evenness and intensity of its color. The centre of the trunk is- the onh' portion which furnishes the extremely black part wliich is the ebony of commerce ; but the trees are of such magnitude that reduced loi^s of two feet in diameter, and varying from ten to twelve feet in length, can readily be procured from the forests at Trincomali" (Ccj/lon, 1. c.) It bears a berry that is eaten by the natives when ripe. The leaves are ellip- tical, having numerous veins. The corolla or colored part is shaped like an antique vase, and bears eight stamens (Kitto, Fict. Bible, in loc. Ezek.). There is every reason for believing that the ebony afforded by the hiospi/ros ehenum was imported from India or Cey- lon by rhcenician traders, though it is eqiially proba- ble that the Tyrian merchants were supplied with eb- ony from trees which grew in Ethiopia (Smith, s. v.). See Tyre. (See Smith's Diet, of Class. Antiq. s. v. Ebenus ; Penny Cyclop, s. v. Ebony ; Geiger, Phama- ceut. Botanik, i, 697). See Botany.
Ebraidines, Ordek of the. See Fontevrauld.
Ebrardus, an author and theologian of Bethune, in France, who lived during the latter part of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th. lie is known only by his writings. One of the principal of these, his Griicisinus, a collection of rules of rhetoric, proso- dj', grammar, and logic, was for many j'ears used as a text-book. His principal theological works are Liber antihrBvesis against the Cathari, which was first pub- lished under the title Contra Waldemes in Gretser's Trias scriptorum contra Waldenses (Ingolstadt, 1G14, 4to), and reprinted in Bibl. Patr. Max. (of Lyons, vol. xxiv), and lastly in Gretser's Opera Omnia (vol. xii, part iij. — Herzog, Real-Envykhipiidie, iii, C25.
Ebremar or Evermer, the third Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, was born at Cickes, near Terouanne, to- wards the close of the 11th century. Admitted by Lam- bert, bishop of Arras, to the priesthood, he joined the first Crusaders, and was of the number appointed by Godfrey de Bouillon canon at the lioly sepulchre. In 1103, on the deposition of Daimliert (q. v.), he was ele- vated to the patriarchate, in which, after much con- tention on the part of Dainil)ert, he was solemnl}' con- firmed by the decree of a council. He was a member of the Council of Nal)lous (1120), and in 1123 signed the treaty between the crusading princes and the Ve- netians. A letter of this prelate, with the response by Lambert of Arras, is contained in the 5th vol. of the Miscellanea of Baluze. — Hoefer, Nouv. Biofj. Generale, XV, 618.