Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/896

Peconic; and along a large part of the southern coast stretches a remarkable series of lagoons, formed by a line of dunes varying in breadth from 1/4 to 1 mile, and connected at various points with the ocean. These last—of which the most important is Great South Bay, 40 miles long by about 5 or 6 miles wide—are of great service to the island, and an Act has been passed to increase their utility by connecting them by canals. Coney Island and Rockaway Beach, the most frequented of the many seaside resorts in the Island, lie near the south-western extremity. As regards both birds and fishes, Long Island seems a kind of meeting place between the arctic and the equatorial species. In winter, for instance, it is visited by the eider-duck, the little white goose, the great cormorant, and the auk, in summer by the turkey buzzard, the swallow-tailed kite, and the fork-tailed flycatcher. A few deer are still to be found; and various tracts of country and islands in the great bays are stocked with game and fish by sportsmen’s clubs. The east portion of the island is one of the chief seats of the menhaden fisheries, and the oyster beds of both the north and the south coast are of great value. Those of the Great South Bay (furnishing, amongst others, the famous “blue points”) alone give employment in the season to 1500 fishermen. (See E. Ingersoll, “The Oyster Industry,” in the Tenth Census publications of the United States, 1881.)

Administratively Long Island consists of King’s County (72 square miles), Queen’s County (410), and Suffolk (1200), which in 1880 had the following population:—

	Total.	Male.	Female.	Native.	Foreign.	White.	Coloured.
King’s	599,549	289,289	310,260	411,295	188,254	590,278	9,271
Queen’s	90,547	45,760	44,787	68,556	21,991	86,707	3,840
Suffolk	53,926	26,759	27,107	48,319	5,607	51,473	2,453

Of the thirteen or fourteen Indian tribes living in the island at the time of its discovery, the only remnants are about fifty Shinecocks and Montauks.

Besides Brooklyn, which had 566,689 inhabitants, King’s County contained Flatbush town, 7634; Flatlands town, 3127; Gravesend town (including Coney Island village), 3676; New Lots town, 18,681; and New Utrecht town, 4742. In Queen’s county are Flushing town, 15,919; Hempstead town (including East Rockaway, Garden City, and sixteen other villages), 18,160; Jamaica town, 10,089; Long Island City, 17,129; Newtown town, 9798; North Hempstead town, 7562; and Oyster Bay town, 11,923. In Suffolk there are no cities, and none of the villages have 500 inhabitants. The “towns” are Babylon, Brookhaven, East Hampton, Huntington, Islip, Riverhead, Shelter Island, Smithtown, Southampton, and Southhold. Garden City was built by A. T. Stewart as a model suburban settlement, and contains a fine cathedral. Hicksville is associated with the memory of Elias Hicks the Quaker missionary. Sag Harbour was formerly a great whaling station, and still maintains a good coasting trade. Five miles from Flushing is Creedmore rifle range, the finest in the United States. On Gardiner’s Island the pirate Kidd concealed the treasures partly recovered by the governor of Massachusetts in 1699.

Long Island was so called by its Dutch discoverers in 1609, and the name Nassau, bestowed in 1693 by the colonial legislature, never found popular acceptance. Breucklen (Brooklyn), Amersfoort (Flatlands), Vlissingen (Flushing), Rusdorf (Jamaica), and New Utrecht were founded by the Dutch between 1630 and 1654; and between 1640 and 1665 the English from the New England colonies established Southold, Southampton, Easthampton, Hempstead, Huntington, Oyster Bay, Smithtown, Islip, &c. Though the charter granted by James I. in 1620 expressly excluded territory actually possessed or inhabited by any other Christian prince or state, the grantees in 1635 conveyed to the earl of Stirling among other lands the island of Matowacks or Long Island. A treaty concluded between Dutch and English at Hartford (Connecticut) in 1650 surrendered to England all the land south of Oyster Bay; but, though, it was ratified by the states-general of Holland in 1656, no action was taken by the English Government. Long Island was included in the territory assigned to the duke of York in 1663–64, and in 1634 an English squadron conquered the Dutch in time of peace, and set up a government in the duke’s name. When the Dutch governor, who had recovered New York in 1673, issued a proclamation requiring the submission of the Long Island towns, they all obeyed except the three most eastern; but the treaty of Westminster in 1674 left Long Island to the English, and it became a regular colony of the crown. In the beginning of the war of American independence, Long Island naturally played a prominent part. The efforts made by Washington to defend it were frustrated by the British under Cornwallis in 1776, and it remained in their hands till the close of the contest.

LONG ISLAND CITY, a city of the United States, the capital of Queen’s County, New York, situated on the west coast of Long Island, and separated from New York by the East River and from Brooklyn by the Newtown Creek. The area, which includes what were the post villages of Astoria, Newtown, and Ravenswood, measures 3 miles from east to west and 5 miles from north to south, and the general plan of the place is constructed on a spacious scale. The river frontage extends to about 10 miles. Hunter’s Point, as the south-west portion is called, contains the terminal depots of several railway lines, extensive warehouses for the storage of petroleum, and a variety of industrial establishments such as granite-works, chemical works, engine-works. In the Astoria district there are factories for pianos, carriages, and carpets. Long Island City dates from 1870; in 1874 its population was about 16,000, and in 1880 17,117.

LONGITUDE. See Geography (Mathematical) and Time.

LONGOMONTANUS, or Longberg, Christian (1562–1647), a Danish astronomer, was born at Longberg, a village of Jutland, in Denmark, on the 4th of October 1562. Having, when only eight years old, the misfortune to lose his father, who was only a poor labourer, he was taken charge of by a maternal uncle, through whose influence he received lessons from the clergyman of the place. Although, owing to the poverty of his parents, the instruction which he had received up to this time had been of the most elementary kind, his aptitude for learning was so great that, under the tuition which he now received, he made rapid progress in his studies, especially in the mathematical sciences, for which he acquired an intense liking. His mother, however, was unable to pay any longer for his education, and he was reluctantly compelled to return home to work in the fields. By improving every opportunity which his laborious life now permitted, he was still enabled to pursue, to some extent, his favourite studies. This state of matters continued for some time; but his intense thirst for knowledge, and the uncalled-for jealousy of his friends, led him in 1577 to steal away from home, to try his fortune in the world. Accordingly, at the age of fifteen, he went to Wiborg, a town about 12 miles distant from his native village. There he spent eleven years, dividing his time between attending the lectures of the professors in the college of that town, and working in the fields. By this means he was able not only to earn a sufficient livelihood, but also to defray the expenses of his education; and his close application to study soon enabled him to acquire considerable knowledge of literature and of the sciences. In 1588, at the age of twenty-six, he removed to Copenhagen, where his great abilities speedily secured for him the esteem and admiration of the professors in the university of that town. By this means he was brought under the notice of the eminent astronomer Tycho Brahe, who received him very kindly, and ultimately appointed him his assistant. He remained with Tycho Brahe for eight years in the island of Hoene, and during that time rendered him such valuable services in his astronomical observations and calculations, that, when Tycho Brahe settled in Germany, he invited Longomontanus to accompany him. This offer he accepted; but having shortly afterwards expressed to Tycho Brahe his desire to return to his native country, the latter at once furnished him, not only with excellent testimonials, but also with money for his journey. On his return to Denmark he made a long detour in order to visit the places whence Copernicus