TRIMURTI, the Hindu trinity, embracing BRAHMA THE CREATOR, VISHNU THE PRESERVER, and SIVA (q. v.) the Destroyer; represented sometimes as a body with three heads, that of Brahma in the centre, of Vishnu on the right, and of Siva on the left.

TRINCOMALEE (10), an important naval station and seaport on the NE. coast of Ceylon, 110 m.  NE. of Kandy; possesses barracks, official residences, and a splendid harbour, a haven of shelter to shipping during the monsoons, and is strongly fortified.

TRINIDAD (208), the largest of the Windward Islands, and most southerly of the ANTILLES (q. v.), lies off the mouth of the Orinoco, 7 m. from the coast of Venezuela; is of great fertility, with a hot, humid, but not unhealthy climate; sugar, coffee, tobacco, and cocoa are the chief exports; a source of great wealth is a wonderful pitch lake which, despite the immense quantities annually taken from it, shows no perceptible diminution; inhabitants are mainly French; taken by the British in 1797, and forms, with Tobago, a crown colony; capital, Port of Spain.

TRINITARIANS, name applied to those who believe in an ontological as well as those who believe in a theological trinity, that is to say, who recognise the like principle pervading the universe of being.

TRINITY, the doctrine, variously interpreted, that in the godhead or divine nature there are three persons, respectively denominated Father, Son, and Spirit—­Father, from whom; Son, to whom; and Spirit, through whom are all things; is essentially triunity in unity.

TRIPITAKA, (the three baskets), name given to the collection of the sacred books of Buddhism, as being formed of three minor collections, bearing the Sutras on discipline, the Vinaya on doctrine, and the Abidharma on metaphysics.

TRIPOD, seat with three legs on which the priestess of Apollo sat when delivering her oracles.

TRIPOLI (17), a seaport of Syria, 40 m.  NE. of Beyrout; a place of great antiquity, and successively in the hands of the Phoenicians, Crusaders, and Mamelukes; it has many interesting Saracenic and other remains; its trade is passing over to Beyrout.

TRIPOLI (1,000), a province (since 1835) of Turkey, in North Africa, most easterly of the Barbary States; stretches northwards from the Libyan Desert, lies between Tunis (W.) and Fezzan (E.), with which latter, as also with Barca, it is politically united; carries on a brisk caravan trade with Central Africa; capital, Tripoli (20), situated on a spit of rocky land jutting into the Mediterranean; surrounded by high walls, and Moorish in appearance.

TRIPTOLEMUS, in the Greek mythology the favourite of DEMETER (q. v.), the inventor of the plough, and of the civilisation therewith connected; played a prominent part in the Eleusinian Mysteries; was favoured by Demeter for the hospitality he showed her when she was in quest of her daughter.

TRISMEGISTUS (thrice greatest), the Egyptian Hermes, regarded as the fountain of mysticism and magic.