TACITUS, CORNELIUS, Roman historian, born presumably at Rome, of equestrian rank, early famous as an orator; married a daughter of Agricola, held office under the Emperors Vespasian, Domitian, and Nerva, and conducted along with the younger Pliny the prosecution of Marius Priscus; he is best known and most celebrated as a historian, and of writings extant the chief are his “Life of Agricola,” his “Germania,” his “Histories” and his “Annals”; his “Agricola” is admired as a model biography, while his “Histories” and “Annales” are distinguished for “their conciseness, their vigour, and the pregnancy of meaning; a single word sometimes gives effect to a whole sentence, and if the meaning of the word is missed, the sense of the writer is not reached”; his great power lies in his insight into character and the construing of motives, but the picture he draws of imperial Rome is revolting; b. about A.D. 54.

TACNA (14), capital of a province (32) in North Chile, 38 m.  N. of Arica, with which it is connected by rail; trades in wool and minerals; taken from Peru in 1883.

TACOMA (38), a flourishing manufacturing town and port of Washington State, on Puget Sound; has practically sprung into existence within the last 15 years, and is the outlet for the produce of a rich agricultural and mining district.

TADMOR.  See PALMYRA.

TAEL, a Chinese money of account of varying local value, and rising and falling with the price of silver, but may be approximately valued at between 6s. and 5s. 6d.  The customs tael, equivalent in value to about 4s 9d., has been superseded by the new dollar of 1890, which is equal to that of the United States.

TAGANROG (50), a Russian seaport on the N. shore of the Sea of Azov; is the outlet for the produce of a rich agricultural district, wheat, linseed, and hempseed being the chief exports.  Founded by Peter the Great in 1698.

TAGLIONI, MARIA, a famous ballet-dancer, born at Stockholm, the daughter of an Italian ballet-master; made her debut in Paris in 1827 and soon became the foremost danseuse of Europe; married Count de Voisins in 1832; retired from the stage in 1847 with a fortune, which she subsequently lost, a misfortune which compelled her to set up as a teacher of deportment in London (1804-1884).

TAGUS, the largest river of the Spanish peninsula, issues from the watershed between the provinces of Guadalajara and Teruel; follows a more or less westerly course across the centre of the peninsula, and, after dividing into two portions below Salvaterra, its united waters enter the Atlantic by a noble estuary 20 m. long; total length 566 m., of which 190 are in Portugal; navigable as far as Abrantes.

TAHITI (11), the principal island of a group in the South Pacific; sometimes called the Society Islands, situated 2000 m.  NE. of New Zealand; are mountainous, of volcanic origin, beautifully wooded, and girt by coral reefs; a fertile soil grows abundant fruit, cotton, sugar, &c., which, with mother-of-pearl, are the principal exports; capital and chief harbour is Papeete (3); the whole group since 1880 has become a French possession.