ena cinnabari_. The dragon's blood of the Canary Islands is a
resin procured from the surface of the leaves and from cracks in the
trunk of _Dracaena draco_. The hardened juice of a euphorbiaceous tree,
_Croton draco_, a resin resembling kino, is the _sangre del drago_ or
dragon's blood of the Mexicans, used by them as a vulnerary and
astringent.

DRAGOON (Fr. _dragon_, Ger. _Dragoner_), originally a mounted soldier
trained to fight on foot only (see CAVALRY). This mounted infantryman of
the late 16th and 17th centuries, like his comrades of the infantry who
were styled "pike" and "shot," took his name from his weapon, a species
of carbine or short musket called the "dragon." Dragoons were organized
not in squadrons but in companies, like the foot, and their officers and
non-commissioned officers bore infantry titles. The invariable tendency
of the old-fashioned dragoon, who was always at a disadvantage when
engaged against true cavalry, was to improve his horsemanship and
armament to the cavalry standard. Thus "dragoon" came to mean medium
cavalry, and this significance the word has retained since the early
wars of Frederick the Great, save for a few local and temporary returns
to the original meaning. The phrases "to dragoon" and "dragonnade" bear
witness to the mounted infantry period, this arm being the most
efficient and economical form of cavalry for police work and guerrilla
warfare. The "Dragonnades," properly so called, were the operations of
the troops (chiefly mounted) engaged in enforcing Louis XIV.'s decrees
against Protestants after the revocation of the edict of Nantes. In the
British service the dragoons (1st Royals, 2nd Scots Greys, 6th
Inniskillings) are heavy cavalry, the Dragoon Guards (seven regiments)
are medium, as are the dragoons of other countries. The light cavalry of
the British army in the 18th and early 19th century was for the most
part called light dragoons.

DRAGUIGNAN, the chief town of the department of the Var in S.E. France;
51 m. N.E. of Toulon, and 28-1/2 m. N.W. of Frejus by rail; situated at
a height of 679 ft. above the level of the sea, at the southern foot of
the wooded heights of Malmont, and on the left bank of the Nartuby
river; pop. (1906) 7766. It possesses no notable buildings, save a
modern parish church, a prefecture, also modern, and a building wherein
are housed the town library and a picture gallery, with some fair works
of art. In modern times the ramp