LANCEWOOD is a straight-grained, tough, light, elastic wood obtained from the West Indies and Guiana. It is brought into commerce in the form of taper poles of about 20 feet in length and from 6 to 8 inches in diameter at the thickest end. Lancewood is principally used by carriage-builders for shafts; but since, the practice of employing curved shafts has come largely into use it is not in so great demand as formerly. The smaller wood is used for whip-handles, for the tops of fishing rods, and for various minor purposes where even grained elastic wood is a desideratum. The wood is obtained from two species of Guatteria, a genus belonging to the natural order Anonaceæ. The black lancewood or carisiri of Guiana (Guatteria virgata) is a tree which grows to a height of 50 feet, of remarkably slender form, and seldom yields wood of more than 3 inches diameter. The yellow lancewood tree (yari-yari of Guiana) is of similar dimensions, found in tolerable abundance throughout Guiana, and used by the Indians for arrow-points, as well as for spars, beams, &c.
LAN-CHOW-FOO, the chief town of the Chinese province of Kan-suh, and one of the most important cities of the interior part of the empire, stands on the right bank of the Yellow River. The population is estimated by Gustav Kreitner (Bela Szechenyi expedition) at half a million in 1878. The houses, with very few exceptions, are built of wood, but the streets are paved with blocks of granite and marble. Silks, wood carvings, silver and jade ornaments, tin and copper wares, fruits, and tobacco are the chief articles of the local trade. Tobacco is very extensively cultivated in the vicinity. Since the occupation of Kashgar by the Chinese, the provincial governor resides three years at Su-chow and three years at Lan-chow-foo.
LANCIANO, the chief town of a circle in the province of Chieti, Italy, is situated on three hills, about 5 miles from the Adriatic coast. It is one of the most beautiful cities in the Abruzzi Citeriore, and has broad regular streets, and several fine buildings. The cathedral, an imposing structure with a fine clock-tower, is built upon bridges that span the gorge of the Feltrino, and is dedicated to our Lady of the Bridge. The churches of Santa Lucia and Santa Maria Maggiore, built on the sites of heathen temples, and the theatre, also deserve notice. Although the industry and trade of the town have declined, a considerable miscellany of manufactures is still carried on. The textile industry, dealing with flax, hemp, silk, wool, and cotton, is the leading one; iron-working, rope-making, and the manufacture of wax, soap, cream of tartar, &c., follow. There are four yearly fairs. In 1872 the population was 8758; including the suburbs it was 15,342, or, embracing the commune, 17,340.
Lanciano claims a respectable antiquity, for, although Pliny’s Anxia or Anxa Frentanorum is to be placed about a mile from the present town, there is no doubt that under the early empire the present site was occupied by a town, as the oldest of the bridges on which the cathedral stands was erected by the senate and people of Anxanum, under Diocletian. During the Middle Ages Lanciano was of considerable importance, and enjoyed various privileges, chiefly of a commercial nature.
LANCRET, Nicolas (1660–1743), was born in Paris on 22d January 1660, and became a brilliant painter of light comedy, but of light comedy which reflected the tastes and manners of French society under the regent Orleans. His first master was Pierre d’Ulin, but his acquaintance with and admiration for Watteau induced him to leave D’Ulin for Gillot, whose pupil Watteau had been. Two pictures painted by Lancret and exhibited on the Place Dauphine had a great success, which laid the foundation of his fortune, and, it is said, estranged Watteau, who had been complimented as their author. Lancret’s work cannot now, however, be taken for that of Watteau, for both in drawing and in painting his touch, although intelligent, is dry, hard, and wanting in that quality which distinguished his great model; these characteristics are due possibly in part to the fact that he had been for some time in training under an engraver. In 1719 he was received as Academician, and became councillor in 1735; in 1741 he married a grandchild of Boursault, author of Æsop at Court, but he survived his marriage only two years, dying, in his eighty-fourth year, on 14th September 1743.
The number of his paintings (of which over eighty have been engraved) is immense; he executed a few portraits and attempted historical composition, but his favourite subjects were balls, fairs, village weddings, &c. The British Museum possesses an admirable series of studies by Lancret in red chalk, and the London National Gallery shows four paintings—the Four Ages of Man (engraved by Desplaces and L’Armessin), which have been cited by D’Argenville amongst the principal works of Lancret. See D’Argenville, Vies des Peintres; and Ballot, Éloge de M. Lancret.
LAND, in the sense in which it will be used in this article, which treats especially of its possession and tenure, includes that portion of the earth of which industry has rendered either the surface or the mineral riches underneath available for human requirements. It forms thus the storehouse from which nearly all human wealth is drawn, since it nourishes the animals and plants which supply mankind with food and clothing, and yields the stone, the coal, and the metals which make existence possible and progressive. The history of its use is therefore a main element in the history of our race, and the manner of its tenure and employment lies at the root of political and economic science. In the present article it is proposed to sketch in outline the historical development of the ideas relating to land, and briefly to point out the leading principles which influence its tenure and beneficial employment under present circumstances.
Development of land tenure. Tribal occupation.
