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VYRNWY (Fyrnwy)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 223 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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VYRNWY (Fyrnwy) , an artificial See also:lake or See also:reservoir in the See also:north-See also:west of See also:Montgomeryshire, N. See also:Wales, constructed for the See also:Liver-See also:pool See also:water-See also:supply. It was formed by damming the See also:river Vyrnwy, which runs through Montgomeryshire and joins the See also:Severn above See also:Shrewsbury (see WATER-SUPPLY). VYSHNIY-VOLOCHOK, a See also:town of See also:Russia, in the See also:government of See also:Tver, 74 M. by See also:rail N.W. of the See also:city of Tver. Pop. 16,722. The See also:place owes its importance to its situation in the centre of the Vyshne-Volotsk See also:navigation See also:system (540 M. See also:long, constructed by See also:Peter the See also:Great in 1703-9), which connects the upper See also:Volga with the See also:Neva. The See also:portage (volok) is less than 17 M. between the Tvertsa, a tributary of the Volga, and the Tsna, which flows into the Msta and the Volkhov (Lake See also:Ladoga); but boats now prefer the See also:Mariinsk system. the twenty-third See also:letter of the See also:English See also:alphabet, shows its origin in its name; it is but VV, and, as the name shows, V had the vowel value of u, while the " See also:double u" was employed for the consonant value. In See also:German the same See also:symbol w is called Vey, because in that See also:language it has the value of the English v, while the German v (Vau, fow in See also:pronunciation) is used with the same value as f. In the English of the 9th See also:century the uu of the old texts (and the u of the See also:Northern) was found not to represent the English w satisfactorily, and a symbol 4 was adopted from the Runic alphabet. This survived sporadically as See also:late as the end of the 13th century, but long before that had been generally again replaced by uu (vv only in See also:Early See also:Middle English) and by w.

For w the earliest English printers had a type, but See also:

French printers had not; hence a See also:book like the See also:Roman See also:Catholic version of the New Testament printed at Rheims in 1582 prints w with two v's set See also:side by side. Throughout the See also:history of English the See also:sound seems to have remained the same—the consonantal u. For this value as well as for u Latin always used only V; in See also:Greek, except in a few dialects, the consonant value was early lost (see under F). W is produced by leaving a very small opening between the slightly protruded lips while the back of the See also:tongue is raised towards the soft See also:palate and the nasal passage closed. The See also:ordinary w is voiced, but according to some authorities the w in the See also:combination wh (really hw) is not, in wizen, what, &c., even when the h is no longer audible. The combination WH (hw) represents the Indo-See also:European qv when changed according to See also:Grimm's See also:law from a stop to a spirant. Thus what corresponds philologically to the Latin quod and the first syllable of the Greek rob-an-6s. In See also:Southern English the h sound has now been generally dropped. In See also:Scotland, along the See also:line of former contact with Gaelic, it changes into f: fzte=See also:white, forl=whorl; but before i (ee) it remains in See also:wheel. In Early English w appeared not only before r as in write, but also before 1 in wlisp (lisp). In write, wring, &c., the w is now silent, though dialectically, e.g. in See also:Aberdeenshire, it has changed to v and is still pronounced, vreet, vring, &c. In English and in other See also:languages there is considerable difficulty in pronouncing w before long u sounds: hence it has disappeared in pronunciation in two (tu), but survives in Scotch twa, though otherwise the difficulty is more noticeable in Scottish dialects than in See also:literary English, as in " oo "=See also:wool and in the Scottish pronunciation of English words like See also:wood as 'ood.

(P. Gt.) WA, a See also:

wild tribe inhabiting the north-See also:east frontier of Upper See also:Burma. Their See also:country lies to the east of the Northern Shan States, between the See also:Salween river and the See also:state of Keng-Tung, extending for about too m. along the Salween and for consider-ably less than See also:half that distance inland to the See also:watershed between that river and the See also:Mekong. The boundaries may be roughly said to be the Salween on the W., the See also:ridge over the Namting valley on the N., the hills E. of the Nam Hka on the eastern and southern sides, while the country ends in a point formed by the junction of the Nam Hka with the Salween. The Was claim to have inhabited the country where they now are since the beginning of See also:time; but it appears more probable that they were the See also:aborigines of the greater See also:part of northern See also:Siam at least, if not of Indo-See also:China, since old records and travellers (e.g. See also:Captain McLeod in 1837) speak of their having been the See also:original inhabitants with small communities See also:left behind from Keng Tung down to Chiengmai; while the state of Keng Tang, just S.E. of the Wa country, has still scattered villages of Was and traditions that they were once spread all over the country. Their fortified See also:village sites too are still to be found covered over with See also:jungle. The See also:people are See also:short and dark-featured, with negritic features, and some believe that they are allied to the Andamanese and the Selungs inhabiting the islands of the See also:Mergui See also:archipelago, who have been driven back, or retreated, northwards to the wild country they now inhabit;but their language proves them to belong to the Mon-Khmer See also:family. They are popularly divided into Wild Was and Tame Was. The Wild Was are remarkable as the best authenticated instance of See also:head-hunters in the See also:British See also:Empire. They were formerly supposed to be also cannibals; but it is now known that they are not habitual cannibals, though it is possible that human flesh may be eaten as a religious See also:function at the See also:annual See also:harvest feast. Their head-See also:hunting habits have an animistic basis.

In the See also:

opinion of the Wa the See also:ghost of a dead See also:man goes with his See also:skull and hangs about its neighbourhood, and so many skulls posted up outside his village See also:gate mean so many See also:watch-See also:dog umbrae attached to the village, jealous of their own preserves and intolerant of interlopers from the invisible See also:world. Thus every addition to the collection of skulls is an additional safe-guard against See also:ill-affected demons, and a head-hunting expedition is not undertaken, as was once thought, from motives of cannibal-ism or revenge, but solely to secure the very latest thing in charms as a See also:protection against the See also:powers of darkness. Outside every village is an See also:avenue of human skulls, amid groves conspicuous from long distances. These consist of strips of the primeval jungle, huge See also:forest trees left See also:standing where all the remaining country is cleared for cultivation. The undergrowth is usually cut away, and these avenues are commonly but not always in deep shade. Along one side (which side apparently does not See also:matter) is a line of posts with skulls fitted into niches facing towards the path. The See also:niche is cut sometimes in front, sometimes in the back of the See also:post. In the latter See also:case there is a See also:round hole in front, through which sometimes only the See also:teeth and empty See also:eye-sockets, sometimes the whole skull, grins a ghastly smile. Most villages See also:count their heads by tens or twenties, but some of them have hundreds, especially when the See also:grove lies between several large villages, who combine or run their collections into one another. The largest known avenue is that between Htung Ramang and Haan Htung. Here there must be a couple of See also:hundred or more skulls; but it is not certain that even this is the largest. It is thought necessary to add some skulls to this pathway every See also:year if the crops are to be See also:good.

The heads of distinguished and pious men and of strangers are the most efficacious. The head-huntinseason lasts through See also:

March and See also:April, and it is when the Wa-See also:hill See also:fields are being got ready for planting that the roads in the vicinity become dangerous to the neighbouring See also:Shans. The little that is known of the practice seems to hint at the fact that the victim selected was primarily a harvest victim. A Wild Wa village is a very formidable place to attack, except for civilized weapons of offence. All the villages are perched high up on the slope of the hills, usually on a knoll or spine-like See also:spur, or on a narrow See also:ravine near the See also:crest of the ridge. The only entrance is through a long See also:tunnel. There is sometimes only one, though usually there are two, at opposite sides of the village. This tunnelled way is a few inches over 5 ft. high and not quite so wide, so that two persons cannot pass freely in it, and it sometimes winds slightly, so that a See also:gun cannot be fired up it; moreover, the path is frequently studded with pegs in a sort of See also:dice arrangement, to prevent a See also:rush. None of the tunnels is less than 30 yds. long, and some are as much as too yds. Round each village is carried an earthen rampart, 6 to 8 ft. high and as many thick, and this is overgrown with a dense covering of shrubs, thin bushes and cactuses, so as to be quite impenetrable. Outside this is a deep ditch which would effectually stop a rush. These preparations indicate the See also:character of the inhabitants, which is so See also:savage and suspicious that the Wa country is still unadministered and naturally does not appear in the r9or See also:census returns.

The See also:

total number of the Wa See also:race is estimated at more than 5o,oco. (J. G.

End of Article: VYRNWY (Fyrnwy)

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