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DUCAT

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 629 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DUCAT , the name of a See also:

coin, generally of See also:gold, and of varying value, formerly in use in many See also:European countries. It was first struck by See also:Roger II. of See also:Sicily as See also:duke of See also:Apulia, and See also:bore an inscription " Sit tibi, Christe, datus, See also:quern to regis, iste ducatus" (See also:Lord, See also:thou rulest this duchy, to thee be it dedicated); hence, it is said, the'name. Between 128o and 1284 See also:Venice also struck a gold coin, known first as the ducat, afterwards as the zecchino or See also:sequin, the ducat becoming merely a See also:money of See also:account. The ducat was also current in See also:Holland, See also:Austria, the See also:Netherlands, See also:Spain and See also:Denmark (see See also:NUMISMATICS). A gold coin termed a ducat was current in See also:Hanover during the reigns of See also:George I. and George III. A See also:pattern gold coin was also struck by the See also:English See also:mint in 1887 for a proposed decimal coinage. On the See also:reverse was the inscription " one ducat " within an See also:oak See also:wreath; above " one See also:hundred pence," and below the date between two small See also:roses. There is a gold coin termed a ducat in the Austria-See also:Hungary currency, of the value of nine shillings and fourpence. DU CHAILLU, See also:PAUL BELLONI (1835-1903), traveller and anthropologist, was See also:born either at See also:Paris or at New See also:Orleans (accounts conflict) on the 31st of See also:July 1835. In his youth he accompanied his See also:father, an See also:African trader in the employment of a Parisian See also:firm, to the See also:west See also:coast of See also:Africa. Here, at a station on the See also:Gabun, the boy received some See also:education from missionaries, and acquired an See also:interest in and knowledge of the See also:country, its natural See also:history, and its natives, which guided him to his subsequent career. In 1852 he exhibited this knowledge in the New See also:York See also:press, and was sent in 1855 by the See also:Academy of Natural Sciences at See also:Philadelphia on an African expedition.

From 1855 to 1859 he regularly explored the regions of West Africa in the neighbourhood of the See also:

equator, gaining considerable knowledge of the See also:delta of the Ogowe See also:river and the See also:estuary of the Gabun. During his travels he saw See also:numbers of the See also:great anthropoid apes called the See also:gorilla (possibly the great See also:ape described by Carthaginian navigators), then known to scientists only by a few skeletons. A subsequent expedition, from 1863 to 1865, enabled him to confirm the accounts given by the ancients of a See also:pygmy See also:people inhabiting the African forests. Narratives of both expeditions were published, in 1861 and 1867 respectively, under the titles Explorations and Adventures in See also:Equatorial Africa, with Accounts of the See also:Manners and Customs of the People, and of the Chace of the Gorilla, See also:Crocodile, and other Animals; and A See also:Journey to Ashango-See also:land, and further penetration into Equatorial Africa. The first See also:work excited much controversy on the See also:score of its veracity, but subsequent investigation proved the correctness of du Chaillu's statements as to the facts of natural history; though possibly some of the adventures he described as happening to himself were reproductions of the See also:hunting stories of natives (see Proc. Zool. See also:Soc. vol. i., 1905, p. 66). The See also:map accompanying Ashango-land was of unique value, but the explorer's photographs and collections were lost when he was forced to flee from the hostility of the natives. After some years' See also:residence in See also:America, during which he wrote several books for the See also:young founded upon his African adventures, du Chaillu turned his See also:attention to See also:northern See also:Europe, and published in 1881 The Land of the Midnight See also:Sun, in 1889 The See also:Viking See also:Age, and in 1900 The Land of the See also:Long See also:Night. He died at St See also:Petersburg on the 29th of See also:April 1903.

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