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DUISBURG

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 650 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DUISBURG , a See also:

town of See also:Germany in the See also:kingdom of See also:Prussia, 15 M. by See also:rail N. from See also:Dusseldorf, between the See also:Rhine and the See also:Ruhr, with which See also:rivers it communicates by a See also:canal. It is an important railway centre. Pop. (1885) 47,519; (1900) 92,729; (1905), including many outlying townships then recently incorporated, 191,551. It has six See also:Roman See also:Catholic and six See also:Protestant churches, among the latter the See also:fine See also:Gothic Salvatorkirche, of the 15th See also:century. It is well furnished with See also:schools, which include a school of machinery. Of See also:modern erections, the See also:concert See also:hall, the See also:law courts and a memorial See also:fountain to the cartographer See also:Gerhard Kremer (See also:Mercator) are worthy of mention. There are important foundries, See also:rolling See also:mills for See also:copper, See also:steel and See also:brass plates, chemical See also:works, saw-milling, See also:shipbuilding, See also:tobacco, See also:cotton, See also:sugar, See also:soap and other manufactures. Duisburg was known to the See also:Romans as Castrum Deutonis, and mentioned under the Frankish See also:kings as Dispargum. In the 12th century it attained the See also:rank of an imperial See also:free town, but on being mortgaged in 1290 to See also:Cleves it lost its privileges. At the beginning of the 17th century it was transferred to See also:Brandenburg, and during the See also:Thirty Years' See also:War was alternately occupied by the Spaniards and the Dutch. In 1655 the elector See also:Frederick' See also:William of Brandenburg founded here a Protestant university, which flourished until 1802.

DUK-DUK, a See also:

secret society of New See also:Britain or New See also:Pomerania, See also:Bismarck See also:Archipelago, in the See also:South Pacific. The society has religious and See also:political as well as social See also:objects. It represents a rough sort of law and See also:order through its presiding spirit Duk-Duk, a mysterious figure dressed in leaves to its See also:waist, with a See also:helmet like a gigantic See also:candle-extinguisher made of network. Upon this figure See also:women and See also:children are forbidden to look. Women, who are entitled in New Britain to their own earnings and See also:work harder than men, are the See also:special victims of Duk-Duk, who levies See also:blackmail upon them if they are about during its visits. These are generally timed to coincide with the See also:hours at which the women are out in the See also:fields and therefore cannot help seeing the figure. See also:Justice is executed, fines extorted, taboos, feasts, taxes and all tribal matters are arranged by the Duk-Duk members, who See also:wear hideous masks or See also:chalk their faces. In carrying out punishments they are allowed to See also:burn houses and even kill See also:people. Only See also:males can belong to Duk-Duk, the entrance fees of which vary from 5o to 100 fathoms of dewarra (small cowrie shells strung on strips of See also:cane). The society has its secret signs and See also:ritual, and festivals at which the presence of a stranger would mean his See also:death. Duk-Duk only appears with the full See also:moon. The society is now much discredited and is fast dying out.

See " Duk-Duk and other Customs or Forms of Expression of the Melanesian's Intellectual See also:

Life," by See also:Graf von Pfeil (Journ. of Anthrop. Instit. vol. 27, p. 181).

End of Article: DUISBURG

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