384 EBN The Ebionites denied the divinity of Christ, re- tained the practice of circumcision while obser- ving the rites of baptism and the Lord's sup- per, kept the seventh day of the week, and con- formed in many things to the ascetic discipline of the Essenes. Their opinions were after- ward somewhat modified, and they were di- vided particularly in their dogma concerning the birth of Jesus and the method of his union with God. As Epiphanius represents them, they believed that Jesus was the incarnation of an exalted superangelic spirit, who came to republish the law which Moses had published before, and which was the law of right and truth given to the original Adam. They were opposed to the doctrine of priestly and mo- nastic celibacy. They interpreted literally the Hebrew prophecies in regard to the Messiah's kingdom, and expected that material reign of Christ which Isaiah describes. Ebionites were found in Palestine and Syria down to the end of the 4th century. They began about that time to come into frequent collision with the Catholics, and soon disappeared from history. EBN. See BEN. EBOLI, Anna de Mendoza, princess of, a Spanish lady of the 16th century, daughter of a viceroy of Peru. At an early age she was introduced at the court of Philip II. by her husband the prince of Eboli, a favorite of the king and preceptor of his son Don Carlos. Though one of her eyes was defective, her beauty attracted general attention, and she became noted for her amorous as well as political intrigues. Among her admirers were the king and his secretary of foreign affairs, Antonio Perez. She was implicated in the assassination of Es- covedo, the envoy of Don John of Austria. EBONY (diospyros ebenum, Willdenow), a tree with hard, heavy wood, native of the East In- dies. The black ebony, the most highly prized, grows spontaneously in Ceylon, Madagascar, and Mauritius. There are other colors, such as green, red, yellow, and white and black striped. There is another kind called iron- wood from its intense hardness. The heart wood of D. reticulata, a lofty tree in Mauri- tius, is also esteemed. The ebony of the Coro- mandel coast is derived from D. melanoxylon (Roxburgh). Ebony is likewise procured from D. tomentosa and D. Roylei of the East Indies. The fruit of many of the ebony trees is con- sidered edible by the natives, although it is generally astringent. The famous oblivion- producing fruit of the lotus is supposed to be that of D. lotus of Africa. The date plum and persimmon are representatives of this genus. EBRO, a river of Spain, the Iberus of the Romans, which gave the name of Iberia to the country it waters. It rises in the mountains on the N. border of Spain, in the province of San- tander, and flows S. E. at first between lofty and picturesque heights, separating Alava and Navarre from Old Castile, intersecting Aragon near its centre, and after a course of about 400 m. emptying into the Mediterranean through ECARTE a double embouchure at Cape Tortosa, near the S. extremity of Catalonia, in lat. 40 42' N. At Mequinenza it passes through a defile where once was probably a barrier restraining its waters as a lake in the country of Aragon. Its principal tributaries are the Aragon, Gallego, and Segre, on the left or N. side, and the Oca, Jalon, and Guadalupe, on the right or S. It abounds with shoals and rapids, but boats may pass with difficulty as high as Tudela in Na- varre. A canal has been cut parallel with its bank from Tudela to Sastago, about 40 m. be- low Saragossa. Improvements have also been made in the bed of the river lower down, and from a point near Amposta the San Carlos canal has been opened southerly across the delta to the harbor of Los Alfaques. The principal traffic is the transport of grain, and the floating of timber from the northern forests. The Ebro was the boundary between the pos- sessions of Rome and Carthage, and afterward between ^hose of Charlemagne and the Moors. ECARTE, a game of cards, played by two persons with a piquet pack, or pack from which the twos, threes, fours, fives, and sixes have been taken, leaving 32 cards. These rank as follows : the king is the highest card, and queen, knave, ace, ten, nine, eight, and seven follow in succession, the only peculiar feature being the position of the ace below the court cards and above the rest. The pack having been shuffled as usual (the deal belonging to the player cutting the highest card by whist rules), five cards are dealt to each person, two and three or three and two at a time, as in the American game of euchre. The eleventh card is turned as in that game, and determines the trump, the rest of the pack being called the talon. If the non-dealer is satisfied with the hand he holds, he now plays, first naming the suit he intends leading. If his adversary has a higher card of the suit led, he is obliged to take the trick; but he is not obliged to trump, though of course permitted to do so. The holder of the king of trumps must declare, before playing at all, that he has it, by saying "I have the king." If he leads the king, he may declare it just after putting it down, but before it is covered by his adversary's card, else he cannot score it in that hand, i. 0., he cannot count the one point to which his hold- ing or turning up the king would otherwise entitle him. The winning three tricks also counts one point ; the winning all (called hav- ing the vole) counts two ; five points make game. If the non-dealer, contrary to what has been thus far assumed, is not satisfied with the cards dealt to him, he says, before playing, " I propose ;" and the dealer, if he also wishes other cards, assents. The non-dealer then throws aside such cards as he wishes to reject (called the discard), and the dealer gives him, from the top of the talon, a corresponding number to take their place. The dealer also exchanges his own cards in the same manner ; but both must discard before the fresh cards
