DEBORAH
DECIDUOUS HABIT
the air is almost perfectly dry, all moisture evaporates rapidly. There is little vegetation except a few scrubby species of cactus and greasewpod, and little animal life except crows, jack-rabbits, buzzards, horned-toads, rattlesnakes, mice and rats. The surrounding mountains are rich in ores and minerals, as silver, gold, copper and iron. Large quantities of borax are exported.
Deborah (deb'o-rd), the mother in Israel, a Hebrew prophetess, judged Israel under a palm-tree on Mount Ephraim. Through her patriotism the Hebrews were delivered from the yoke of the Canaanites, under which they had lain for 20 years. She joined several of the tribes of northern Israel under Barak (meaning lightning), who completely destroyed a great army of Canaanites at Taanach, in the plain of Esdraelon, on the brook Kishon. Sisera, the Canaanite leader, fled, and was murdered in his sleep by Jael. Then "the land had rest for 40 years." The song of Deborah (Judges v.) is one of joy over the deliverance of the nation. It is one of the finest gems of poetry in the Old Testament, and is held to be the oldest piece of writing in the Bible.
Decalogue (dek'd-log), meaning ten words, the ten commandments, which are placed before the collection of laws called the Book of the Covenant (Ex. xx. 22; xxiii. 33). They are also found in Dent, v. 1-21. These commandments were summed up in two by Christ.
Decapolis (de-kap'o-Us), meaning ten cities, a district of eastern Palestine, containing the cities Damascus, Philadelphia, Raphana, Scythopolis, Gadara, Hippos, Dion, Pella, Galasa and Canatha. The cities were probably rebuilt and given certain privileges after the conquest of Syria by the Romans in 64 B. C., and at some time bound together in a confederation. The word is not used for the district after the first century.
Decatur (de-ka'ter), 111., a flourishing city in central Illinois, the capital of Macon County, with seven railroads running into it. It lies close to Sangamon River and is about 40 miles east of Springfield. It is equipped with electric railways and other modern civic conveniences, and has a number of factories, with an excellent system of water-works. It has a number of flouring and planing-mills, breweries and manufactories of iron, carriages, engines and boilers. Besides its public and high schools, it has a Roman Catholic academy and a convent and the Decatur College and Industrial School of the James Millikin University. Population, 31,14°-
Decatur, Stephen, was born at Sinne-puxent, Maryland, Jan. 5, 1779. At 19 he went to sea as a midshipman, saw some service against the French, and the next yeser became a lieutenant. He gained great
distinction in the war with Tripoli (1801-05). His brilliant achievement of boarding and burning the captured Philadelphia in the harbor of Tripoli and then escaping under the fire of 141 guns was said by Nelson to be "the most daring act of the age." For this he was made captain in 1804. In the War of 1812 he captured the British frigate Macedonian, but afterward was surrounded by four British frigates and forced to surrender, after the loss of a fourth of his crew. In 1815 he punished the Algerians for their piracy and forced the dey to respect the American flag. The bey of Tunis and pasha of Tripoli were also made to pay damages for breaking their treaties with the United States. Decatur was killed in a duel with Commodore James Barron, March 22, 1820.
Dec'can, The, is the tableland which lies between the eastern and the western Ghats (Ghauts) in southern India. The name is at times applied to the whole of the peninsular portion of India; but more properly only to that part which lies between the Rivers Nerbudda and Krishna. The region is of historical interest. Here were fought many of the wars which secured the position of the British in India, especially those against Hyder AH and the Mahrattas. The Mahrattas were robber-hordes whom the British only with the greatest difficulty subdued.
December (from Latin decem, ten), and so applied to the month called December (the 12th in our year), which was the tenth month of the year in the Roman calendar (the year with the Romans beginning in March). The Anglo-Saxons called it Yule month and midwinter month. In December the sun enters the tropic of Capricorn and passes the winter solstice.
Decemvirs (de-sent'verz), the ten men appointed to codify—that is, to arrange and make into a system—the Roman law, both public and private. Commissioners were first sent to Greece to study the Greek laws, and on their return (302 B. C.) ten patricians, with Appius Claudius at their head, were appointed to write out the laws. By the end of the next year the code was finished and set up in the Forum on ten tables of wood. The next year two more tables were added, from which the code was known as the laws of the Twelve Tables.
Decid'uous Habit. The habit of shedding leaves at the approach of winter or of a regular period of drouth. In our region nearly all the trees and shrubs have the deciduous habit, and are bare during the winter. These plants do not attempt to protect their leaves throughout the winter, as do the evergreens, but drop them and put out a fresh and larger crop at the beginning of the next season. The leaves do not fall oil by ordinary decay or accident. They literally grow off, and little
