TRAPPING. 429 TRASIMENO. itli it on to land. Baskets are set for some lisli, such as eels, into •which they can crawl, but out of which they cannot return. .Snares, too, or snigs, as they are sometimes called, are used to capture fish in shallow water, notably pike. They are simply wire nooses at the end of a rod which the snarer quietly slips over the head of the fish and tightens with a snatch. The Chinese have an ingenious way of trap- ping fish. They attach a board along the side of a boat so that it descends into the water at a very slight angle. They paint this white and cover it with a shining iridescent varnish. Then, on a moonlight night, they propel the boat toward the shoal of fish, and the fish, mistaking the radiance of the board for that of the ele- ments, swim up the shallow board, which is flush at the top with the gunwale, and over into the boat. TRAPPISTINE. A liqueur made at the Trappist abbey of GrSce-Dieu, France. See Liqueur. TRAPPISTS. A branch of the Cistercian Order, following the reforms introduced in 1064 by Jean le Bouthillier de RancS (qv.). They take their common name from the Jlonastery of La Trappe in Normandy, of which Ranee was abbot when he began his reforms. They are classed among the most austere of Roman Catho- lic religious Orders, and their very strictness and separation from the world has brought and still brings them many members who have held distinguished positions in secular life, but wash to leave it. The day in a Trappist monastery begins with matins in the church at 2 A. m., fol- lowed by a half hour's meditation, and mass or study occupies the time until ten minutes to si.x. Then follows prime, and from 7.30 to 9 manual labor or instruction. At 9.45, terce, high mass, sext, and examination of conscience. Dinner is at 11, except on fast-days, when it is an hour later. The hour after it is occupied by studj' in winter, but a nap is conceded in summer. Work or teaching come again from 2 to 4 ; vespers and meditation at 5, at 6 compline, at 7 supper, and bed at 8. The dinner consists of a small quantity of sotip and vegetables with a poimd of bread and a little fruit and one glass of beer. The supper is of a similar nature, and those who need it are allowed a little milk, coffee, or broth on rising. The fasting season lasts from Holy Cross Day (September 14th) until Easter. The Trappist sleeps in his habit, removing only his shoes. Only the superiors have separate rooms; each of the others has simply a curtained alcove in a large dormitory. Perpetual silence is the most characteristic restriction imposed on the Trappist monk. It is absolute, unless he has the care of guests, or needs to speak to his superiors; any other necessary communications are made by signs. When sick, he is nursed in the infirmary; dying, he is carried into the church that he may receive the last rites in the presence of his brethren. The dead are buried in their habits, without coffins. Novices are re- ceived after two years' probation, and three years later may be professed. Besides the choir- brothers, who are or mean to be priests, and the lay brothers, oblates are also received — persons who for some reason do not wish to take the vows, but conform strictly to the rule during their residence in the monastery. The earlier houses of tlic Order were nearly all in France; their expulsion from that coun- try at the time of the Revolution and under the Third Republic has caused them to phmt nu- merous monasteries in other countries. Accord- ing to oflicial statistics, in 1897 they had 3472 members, in 54 monasteries. They have one house in England, two in Ireland, two in Canada, and two in the United States — at Gethsemane, Ky., and near Dubuque, Iowa. They do not as a rule undertake the cure of souls, but conduct a few mission stations in South Africa, the Congo State, Japan, China, etc. Consult: Gaillardin, Les Trappistes (Paris, 1844) ; La Trappe par un Trappiste de Sept-Fons (ib., 1870) ; Pfannen- schmidt, Geschichte der Trappisten (Paderborn, 1873). For the ordinary reader, the most vivid and accurate account of life in a Trappist mon- astery is to be found in Huysmans's En Route (Eng. trans, by C. Kegan Paul, London, 1896). TRAP-ROCKS (Ger. Trapp, from Swed. frapp, trap-rock, from trappa, Ger. Treppe, stair; so called because often developed in step- like masses). A very general term, little em- ployed in scientific language, but commonly used to designate dense and generally fine-grained igneous rocks of black or dark-green color. The term is almost synonymous with basalt (q.v.) or diabase (q.v.), but might include, as well, gabbro, norite, peridotite, pyroxenite, etc. When altered such rocks assume a green color from the hornblende, chlorite, epidote, or other secondary minerals developed in them, and they are then known as greenstone. Both greenstone and trap include a wide range of rock families, which by reason of their fine texture and altered condition are difficult to determine without careful and generally microscopic study. TRAQUAIR, trak'war, Rajusat Heatlet (1840 — ). A British naturalist, born at Rhynd, Perthshire. He graduated at Edinburgh Uni- versity, and in 1873 was made keeper of natural history collections in the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art. From 1883 till 1887, and again from 1896 till 1900, he was Swiney lec- turer on geology in the British Museum. His publications include: Structure and Affinities of the Palceoniscidw (Pal. Soc, 1877); Structure and Affinities of the Platysomidce ( Trans. Roy. Soc. Ed. 1879) ; and Report on Fossil Fishes Collected iy the Geological Survey of Scotland in the Silurian Rocks of the South of Scotland {Trans. Roy. Soc. Ed. 1900). TRASIMENO, tra'ss-ma'ni, Lago (Lat. Trasimenus Lacus), or Lago di Perugia. A lake in Italy, lying between Cortona and Perugia. It is about 10 miles in length by 8 in breadth ; the greatest depth is not above 30 feet. The lake has no apparent outlet, and the mar- gins are flat and overgrown with reeds. It is surrounded on all sides by hills, those on the north side, extending from Cortona to the lake, being known as the Gualandro Hills — the monies Cortonenses of T-ivy. They are covered at the present day with oaks, vineyards, and olive plan- tations. The lake is memorable chiefly for the great victory obtained by Hannibal in B.C. 217 during the Second Punic War, over the Romans, under Flaminius.
