[Yacu-mama], a fabulous marine monster, said to haunt the lagoons of the Amazon, and to suck into its mouth and swallow whatever comes within a hundred yards of it; before bathing in a lagoon, where he apprehends its presence, the Indian sounds a horn, the effect of which is to make it reveal itself if it is there.
[Yahoo], name of a race of brutes, subject to the [Houyhuhnms] (q. v.), in "Gulliver's Travels," with the form and all the vices of men.
[Yajur-Veda], one of the books of the [Vedas] (q. v.), containing the prescribed formulæ in connection with sacrifices.
[Yaksha], a species of gnome in the Hindoo mythology.
[Yakutsk] (5), a capital town in East Siberia, on a branch of the Lena; occupied chiefly by traders in furs, hides, &c.; is said to be the coldest town in the world.
[Yale University], a well-equipped university at New Haven, Connecticut, U.S., founded in 1701, which derives its name from Elihu Yale, a Boston man, and which was given to it in recognition of his benefactions; it occupies a square in the heart of the city, has a staff of 70 professors, besides tutors and lecturers, also 1200 students, and a library of 200,000 volumes; the faculties include arts, medicine, law, theology, fine arts, and music, while the course of study extends over four years.
[Yama], in the Hindu mythology "a solar hero who rules over the dead; might have lived as an immortal, but chose to die; was the first to traverse the road from which there is no return, tracing it for future generations; in the remotest extremity of the heavens, the abode of light and the eternal waters, he reigns in peace and in union with [Varuna] (q. v.); there by the sound of his flute, under the branches of the mythic tree, he assembles around him the dead who have lived nobly, they reach him in a crowd, convoyed by [Agni] (q. v.), grimly scanned as they pass by two monstrous dogs that are the guardians of the road."
[Yambo] or Yambu, the port of Medina, in Arabia, on the Red Sea.
[Yanaon] (5), a small patch of territory belonging to France, on the Godavery, enclosed in the British province of Madras, India.
[Yang-tsze-kiang], or the Blue, or Great, River, the largest river in China and in the East; rises in the plateau of Tibet, and after a course of 3200 m., draining and irrigating great part of China by the way, falls by a wide estuary into the Yellow Sea, terminating near Shanghai; it has numerous tributaries, some of great length, and is of great value to the country as a waterway; it is navigable 1000 m. from its mouth, and at Hankow, 700 m. up, is a mile in width.