fever, which having, at intervals, deprived him of his reason, terminated his existence in the space of 14 days, on the 12th of the 1st month, Rebizah, in the 11th Hejira (6th June, 632), in his 63d, or, according to some authorities, 65th year. He was buried at Medina; and the Mohammedan doctors differ as to which is the most sacred, Mecca, which gave birth to their Apostle, or Medina, which received him in his flight, and contains his mortal remains. (El-Macin, lib. i. p. 10.; Abul-Feda, caps. Ixi.-lxiv. pp. 133-142.; Ockley's Hist. Sar., i. 1.) During Khadija's life, Mohammed abstained entirely from the right of polygamy; after her death he took 9 wives, alleging, of course, that a special revelation authorised him in exceeding the number 4, to which his law restricted his followers! By Khadija, he had 4 sons, and as many daughters; and by an Egyptian concubine, he had a fifth son; all his other wives being barren. His 5 sons died in infancy; and of his daughters, Fatima only, who was married to her cousin Ali, survived her father. From Ali and Fatima a numerous and illustrious progeny descended, the ancestors of the numerous existing Sheriffs, or Sons of the Prophet. (Abul-Feda, caps. Ixvii. Ixviii., pp. 146-151.) The Ommlyade khalifs were, in the 133d Hejira (A.D. 750), superseded by the descendants of Abbas, one of the uncles of Mohammed. The Ommiyade dynasty had never received the cheerful submission of the Prophet's family; and, after a lengthened struggle, the last Ommiyade khalif was completely defeated in Mesopotamia, and again in Egypt, where he was slain. Abul-Abus-Saffa, and the princes, his descendants, are known in history as the Abbasside khalifs. (El-Macin, lib. i. cap. xxi.; lib. ii. cap. i. pp. 95-100.; Abul-Pharagius, pp. 137, 138.) Mohammed died in the midst of preparations to carry his spiritual faith and temporal power into other countries. His death scarcely, however, suspended the completion of his great designs: a momentary state of confusion was followed by the election of Abu-Becre, fatherin-law of Mohammed, to the office of supreme head of the Mussulman religion and power, under the title of "Khalif," or "Successor of the Prophet." Under his reign, and that of his two successors, the Arab arms were carried triumphantly into all the neighbouring countries; and, by the 20th year of the Hejira, or within less than 10 years from the death of Mohammed, the conquest of Syria, Persia, and Egypt, was completed. In the 13th year of the Hejira, Damascus was taken; in the 16th, Jerusalem; in the 17th, Antioch; in the 19th, Ispahan; and in the 20th, Alexandria. (El-Macin, lib. i. cap. ii. pp. 16-38.; Abul-Pharagius, pp. 108-117.; Ock-attests its origin), which placed in the hands of the ley, i. pp. 1-391.) The khalifate continued elective for 4 successive elections; the last, who held the power by public suffrage, being Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of Mohammed. This FIRST BELIEVER had been thus long passed by, in consequence of his refusing to hold as sacred any thing not contained in the Koran, or the immediate traditions of the Prophet. (Abul-Pharagius, p. 115.) From this circumstance arose the division of the Mohammedans into two great sects, the SONNITES and the SCHITES. The latter, the disciples of Ali, whom they denominate the vicar of God, receiving only those doctrines which he admitted to be sacred; while their adversaries (the orthodox Mussulmans) hold, at least in equal reverence, the 7,275 Sonna, or oral laws, which, within the first 200 years of Mohammedanism, had grown into respect and veneration. (D'Herbelot, arts. Bokhari, Hadith, and Sonnah, pp. 208. 416. and 807.) Ali fell by the hand of an assassin, after a troubled reign of 5 years; and Moawijah, son of Abu-Sophian, the greatest enemy of Mohammed, usurped the throne; and, what is more remarkable, had the power or art to make the khalifate hereditary in his own family. His descendants are called the Ommiyade race of khalifs, from Ommiyah, the grandfather of Abu Sophian; and they possessed the regal and sacerdotal power through 14 generations, and for nearly 100 years. (El-Macin, lib. i. caps. v. and vi. pp. 39-49.; Abul-Phuragius, pp. 117– 123.; Ockley, ii. pp. 1-106.) Under the sway of this family, the whole of Africa was subdued; and so far colonised by tribes of Bedouins, that it has ever since remained, in language, manners, and religion, essentially an Arab country. The Oxus (Jihon) was very early crossed; the shepherd tribes of Turks and Tartars brought under the triumphant faith of the Arabian prophet; and, within 80 years from Mohammed's death, the sceptre of his representative extended over all the countries between the Indus and the Atlantic, and (eastward of the Mediterranean) from the Indian Ocean to the Steppes of Central Asia. (El-Macin, lib. i. caps. vii.-xiii. pp. 49–77.; Abul-Pharagius, pp. 123–126. Spain was the last and most remote of the conquests of the khalifs. It was subdued in the beginning of the 8th century; Roderic, the Gothic king, being defeated and slain in the battle of Xeres, July 19. A.D. 711. Subsequently to this, though the Arabs were for a short time masters of the S. of France, they made no further impression on Europe; and, in the year 732, they were completely defeated by Charles Martel, and driven beyond the Pyrenees, which barrier they never recrossed. (Abul-Casim, vol. i. chaps. iv.-ix. pp. 38-111.; Roderic Ximenes, Hist. Ar., caps. xi.-xiv. pp. 10-13.) The epilepsy, or falling sickness, to which he is said to have been subject, is nowhere so much as hinted at by the native writers. It is strongly insisted on by Prideaux (Life of Mah., p. 20.), and by Hottinger (Hist. Or., lib. i. cap. 2.): but their authorities are wholly Latin; namely Ximenes, Theophanus, Zonaras, &c. The seat of government had, in the meanwhile, been removed from Medina to Damascus, and from the latter to Bagdad. It was in this new seat of empire that the Arab claim to literary and scientific eminence was first raised. It was here that the splendid courts of Haroun-alRaschid, and his sons, Al-Mansour and Motassem, were held. It was here that, under their patronage, the Greek sages and philosophers were translated, that the native Arab genius raised its head, and carried the sciences, physical and metaphysical, together with the useful arts, to a point of grandeur unknown in former times. The names alone of the Saracen philosophers, mathematicians, astronomers, physicians, botanists, chemists, and architects, who illustrated this period of Arab history, would fill a volume. Of chemistry, they may be called the inventors; and although, in astronomy, they did not presume to depart from the Ptolomean hypothesis, they carried out the views of the Alexandrían philosopher, and attained results marvellous for their accuracy, when the erroneous nature of the data on which they were founded is considered. To the astronomical tables of Bagdad, Cordova, and Samarcand, subsequent observers owe a large debt of gratitude; and many of the common terms in modern astronomy, and most of the names applied to the fixed stars, attest the source whence Europe drew the elements of astronomical science. The Arabs, if they did not invent, at least were the great improvers of algebra † (the name sufficiently analyst an instrument of vast and apparently unlimited power. Perhaps, however, the most important invention we owe to the Arabs, is that of the arithmetical characters, now in common use, which banished at once and for ever the cumbrous and unwieldy notation of the Romans. In medicine, the Arabs were pre-eminently great and the magnificent remains of their public and private buildings, in Syria, Egypt, and Spain, evince their skill in architecture. The Arab court of Bagdad was, in fact, the centre of the knowledge and refinement of the period in which it existed; and, by a singular contrast, that period corresponded with the darkest and most degraded portion of European history. (AbulPharagius, pp. 150. et seq.; D'Herbelot, pp. 430. 545, &c.) The khalifate shared the fate of all gigantic empires, especially of such as rise suddenly to immense power. It fell by its own unwieldiness. Spain first, and then Egypt and Africa, effected their independence. The wild Turk and Tartar tribes, among whom the Mohammedan faith had been imperfectly introduced, became dangerous neighbours to their nominal sovereigns; and, in their decreasing power, the khalifs had recourse to the desperate expedient of forming from these wild warriors a body of mercenary troops to guard their frontiers, and protect their persons. The result was identical with that which attended a similar experiment among the Romans. In a few generations the servants became the masters; and though, as in the parallel case of Rome, the destruction of this overgrown empire occupied some centuries, yet piece by piece it crumbled away, till, in the 656th Hejira (A. D. 1258), a Tartar army, having captured Bagdad, put an end to the nominal existence of the khalifate; all real power having, long before, passed into the hands of the Turkish sultans of Asia-Minor. (Abul-Feda, Annales Muslemici, ii. pp. 173-259 309. 405. iii. 295-583. 633.; iv. 27. 315. 555.; v. 181-343; Abul-Pharagius, 138-174. 198-200. 318.; El-Macin, lib. ii. xxii. xxxi. 97-163. lib. iii. xli. 214. et seq.) The foreign conquests of the Arabs made no change in the political state of the peninsula. The heads of tribes still governed their subjects, as they had governed them from time immemorial; acknowledging, in the distant khalif, no more than a general head of the Arab people, and the sacred chief of the Prophet's faith. As the downfall of the khalifate was unattended by any shock to Mohammedanism, merely transferring the office of "Commander of the Faithful" from the khalif of Bagdad to the Turkish sultan, it may be easily imagined that the Arabs had little difficulty in changing the objects of their veneration. Their holy cities were visited This science was, certainly, originally discovered by Diophantus of Alexandria, but its power, as an instrument of analysis, lay dormant and unknown, till developed by the ingenuity of the Arab mathematicians. The first systematic work on this subject came from the court of the Khalif Al-Mamoon, and from the pen of the Arab, Mohammed-Ben-Musa. (Abul-Pharagius, pp. 183-186.) as before, and by larger caravans, as their faith was more diffused. Though they sent forth a host of conquerors, who subdued more countries in a shorter time than almost any by whom they had been preceded, their country escaped the fate of most victorious nations that of being conquered in turn. Two revolutions only are recorded as having shaken Arabia, since the æra of Mohammed; and both of them, like his, were of native growth, and of a religious character. A tribe of fanatics, under the influence of a leader named Earmath, attempted, in the 297th Hejira (A.D. 890), to effect a change in the ceremonial part of Mohammed's institutions, by rescinding the prohibition of wine, and preventing the pilgrimages to the holy cities: slaughter and desolation marked the progress of the sect for more than 60 years; but, finally, it vanished, leaving no record of its existence, but the memory of its cruelties and enormities. (Abul-Feda, An. Mus. ii. 267. et seq.; D'Herbelot, p. 256.) their learned men are expected to understand clearly; not only the Koran in its original tongue, but also all the ancient commentators, of whom the number is very considerable. Candidates for oflices, civil or ecclesiastical, are said to undergo a very rigorous public examination as to their literary and scientific attainments; but this is mere pretence, the most illiterate persons being frequently appointed to the highest posts, while the best instructed get a precarious living as scribes, teachers, and public reciters or poets. Hence the wish to acquire a high degree of scholastic knowledge is very weak in the majority of Arabs; and the profession of teacher is far from respectable or lucrative. In many of the towns, the public schools are falling to decay; and those qualified to conduct them, prefer wandering over the country like the bards and troubadours of the middle ages, as poets and orators; in which characters, as the reciters or singers of the glories of the nation, they are welcomed and rewarded alike by the sheriffs and sheikhs. There The other revolution had its rise in the beginning of is no public provision whatever for female education; the last century. Addul-Waheb, a native of Nedsjed, and, among the Bedouins, whole tribes can neither read proclaimed himself a prophet sent from God, to reform nor write. A very great obstacle to the advancement of the abuses which, in the lapse of years, had crept into education in Arabia is, the prejudice of the natives the pure doctrines of Mohammed. The Koran, in the against printing. From the nature of the Arabic chacreed of Waheb, is the only rule of life, and the Mussul-racters, interlacing each other, and frequently placed man traditions are entirely rejected. God is to be wor- vertically, they appear handsomer, when well written, shipped in the strictest unity, and every species of than when printed. There was not a few years ago, and adoration paid to Mohamined, or any other created being, perhaps there is not at present, a single printing-press in is denounced as idolatrous. Simplicity, or rather asceti- the country. (Niebuhr, par. i. pp. 91--96.; par. ii. cism, seems to be the distinguishing characteristic of the p. 188.; Ali Bey, ii. 100.'; "Burckhardt's Notes on Bed., new sect; they acknowledge no saints— they bury their 42, et seq.) dead without pomp or ceremony - their clothes and houses are as plain as possible - their mosques have no ornaments whatever and they interdict the use of coffee, tobacco, and opium. The Wahabee doctrine, so called from its founder, found a protector in Ebn Saoud, a Bedouin sheikh of Nedsjed. The preacher was proclaimed supreme spiritual head, the soldier, prince, and general of the new worship; extermination was threatened to all opposers, and, for awhile, the progress of the Wahabees was a continued triumph. Mecca was subdued in 1802, Medina in 1804; and it seemed as though a repetition of Mohammed's victorious career were about to be enacted by the sons of the first establisher and supporter of the new sect. But in 1813, Mehemet Ali drove them from the Western coast, and restored the holy cities to the nominal protection of the Porte. Since that time, the progress of the Wahabees appears to be at a stand; and though they are still strong in Nedsjed, there is reason to believe that their power is on the decline, and that their numbers are decreasing. (Niebuhr, par. ii. pp. 298–302.; Histoire des Wahabis, par M. A. L., Paris, 1810, passim; Burckhardt's Notes on Bedouins and Wah., passim.) Schools and Education. The learning which gave celebrity to the court of Bagdad in the middle ages, does not appear ever to have been naturalised in Arabia. Before the era of Mohammed, ignorance (that is ignorance of written learning) was so far from being accounted disgraceful, that we learn from the Koran (chap. xxix.) that Mohammed, though of the royal house of Hedjaz, could neither read nor write; and in the present day, judges are frequently illiterate. (Burckhardt's Notes on Bed., 68.) It cannot, therefore, be supposed that education in Arabia is either very good or widely diffused. According to Niebuhr (Des de l'Ar., par. i. p. 91.) "the Arab princes by no means encourage science; and throughout the East, you meet few who merit the title of learned." Public provision is however made for the education of youth; and a teacher for the children and young slaves is no uncommon part of the domestic establishment of distinguished families; so that, in the cities, the greater part of the population can read and write, attainments which are also found commonly enough among the sheikhs of tribes in the neighbourhood of the settled districts. To almost every mosque there is (or was) attached a school, where the poorer children may be taught gratuitously; besides which; there are in every great town more or fewer private establishments where the children of the middle classes are received. The education is of a limited kind, comprising little more than reading, writing, the simple rules of arithmetic, and the doctrines of the Mohammedan religion. School-houses, like the shops, are open to the street, so that the whole process of education is conducted in public; and to prevent the distraction incident to such a situation, the readers and repeaters speak in the highest possible key, and accompany their delivery with violent gesticulations. Besides these, there are in many of the greater towns schools of a higher character; colleges, in fact, in which the higher sciences- mathematics, astronomy, astrology, and medicine are taught. In the Imanat of Yemen (which is but a small part of the district so called) there are two of these colleges. One of the chief studies in them is the ancient Arabic, now a dead language; for The Political Divisions. Sources of Revenue. Without reckoning the Bedouin tribes, the number of which can hardly be ascertained, the settled parts of Arabia are divided into a great many independent governments: hence states, also, not unfrequently spring up. political divisions of this country are therefore very uncertain, but at present they may be regarded as consisting of; 1st. 14 or 15 states, upon the S.S. W. coasts; 2d. A much greater number upon the shores of the Persian Gulph; 3d. The half-settled Bedouin tribes on the N. part of that Gulph; 4th. The dominions of the Wahabee chief, Abdallah, in Nedsjed; 5th. The Hedjaz and Bahrel-tour-Sinai, on the W. and N. W. of all these. The last are the only parts that own a foreign master. The descendants of Mohammed continued to reign in the Hedjaz from his time down to a late epoch; acknowledg ing, however, the supremacy, first of the court of Bagdad, and afterwards of the Turkish Sultan, as head of the Mohammedan faith; ministers of the paramount power residing at the sanctuary in the holy cities. While the Turkish government retained its strength, this connection was acknowledged and respected in the Hedjaz; but in the latter part of last century, the sheriffs renounced their nominal allegiance, attacked the Turkish pachas, and finally expelled them. Scarcely, however, was this effected, when the Wahabees subdued the whole of the Holy Land, and held it till 1813-14; when Mehemet Ali, pacha of Egypt, nominally restored the Holy Cities to the protection of the Porte, but virtually made himself master of the Hedjaz; which he has since retained, and governed at discretion. The Desert of Sinai has always belonged, more or less, to Egypt. (Burckhardt's Travels, passim; Notes on Wahabees, 321-420.; Lord Valentia, iii. 325-327.) Taxes in the settled portions of Arabia are pretty uniform. A tenth of the productions of the land is paid to the sovereign, and this not unfrequently in kind. (Fraser, p. 15.) In Yemen, however, this tax appears to be compounded for by the payment of a fixed sum annually (Niebuhr, par. ii. p. 183.); and with regard to the town population, this method must necessarily be general. The tithe upon land is the only legal fixed impost which the subjects of the native Arab princes are called upon to pay. But a far more productive source of revenue is found in the customs and duties upon merchandise. The iman of Muscat lays per cent. upon all goods passing up the Persian Gulph, in Arab bottoms; and this small duty is so productive, that it yields from 110,000 to 160,000 dollars annually. (Fraser, p. 16.) In Yemen, the iman levies 3 per cent. upon the coffee carried from his dominions beyond the Straits of Bab-elMandeb, and 7 per cent. upon all that is sent up the Red Sea; and the sultan sheriff of Mecca- or rather his present master, Mehemet Ali,-takes 6 per cent. more in the port of Djidda. (Lord Valentia, ii. 368, 369.). The large quantities of goods that are constantly passing from India, Abyssinia, Egypt, Syria, &c., to all the trading towns of Arabia, have also their stated rates of duties; and the income derived from them is so great, that Mehemet Ali cheaply purchased his popularity in his new dominions by foregoing the settled tithe which had formerly been paid in them. One of his first acts was a declaration, that the inhabitants of the Hedjaz should be wholly free from taxes. (Burckhardt's Notes on Bed., p. 306.) The city of Medina was said to be impost free, even before this period. (Ali Bey, ii, 127.) Certain articles of commerce are monopolies in the hands of the governments; as salt in the Hedjaz, and the same article and sulphur, in Oman. (Burckhardt's Travels, i. p. 65.; Fraser, 16.) Besides which, the sovereign is frequently possessed of large landed property in private right, which he lets out precisely like any other landlord; and in certain cases, as in those of the imans of Muscat and Yemen, he is also the most considerable merchant in his own dominions. (Niebuhr, par. ii. pp. 182-184.; Fraser, 16.) These are all legitimate sources of revenue; but the evil in this and all other Mohammedan countries is, that the governments, being despotic, practise and tolerate all sorts of extortion. Before the conquest of the Hedjaz by the Egyptians, it was customary for the sultan sheriff of Mecca to fill the prisons with persons upon charges of disaffection to his person, that they might purchase their lives and liberties by large fines. (Burckhardt's Travels, i. p. 416.) In Yemen the dolas receive the taxes and customs of the towns, pay the troops, the judges, and other public functionaries, and transmit the balance to Sanaa, the seat of government. In this arrangement, the iman squeezes all he can from the dola; and the latter, whose nominal income is very trifling, resorts to any means, however infamous, of realising a large income for himself. The chief sufferers in these transactions are the Indian, and other foreign merchants. When Lord Valentia was at Mocha, the dola used to confine the Banians and Jews in a close room, and fumigate them with sulphur till they purchased their release at the price he chose to stipulate! (Niebuhr, par. ii. p. 183.; Lord Valentia, ii. p. 353.) The collection of the customs, too, is attended with considerable fraud; and it is in the power of the officer to favour his friends, and oppress strangers, without incurring any responsibility. These abuses have, however, been considerably modified in the Hedjaz since the establishment of the Egyptian power. (Lord Valentia, iii. p.325.; Burckhardt's Travels, i. pp. 89. 417.) The Bedouins pay no taxes, except the tribute exacted by the Wahabee chief. The sheikhs derive no income from their tribes: their only source of revenue, beyond their private property, consists of the tribute collected from the villages in their neighbourhood, and from the caravans that cross the desert. Formerly, the Bedouins in the neighbourhood of Mecca paid a nominal impost to the sultan sheriff, but this was given up by Mehemet Ali. The Bedouin sheikhs have, however, few or none of those expenses to sustain which fall upon the sovereigns of the settled districts. The tribes are the sheikh's soldiers, and receive no pay; and the emoluments of the kadis depend upon the cases brought before them; being paid, according to the value of the property in dispute, by the party in whose favour they decide. (Niebuhr, par. ii. pp. 327-333.; Burckhardt's Notes on Bedouins and Wahabecs, pp. 67-69. 306. The tribute exacted by the Wahabee chief, wherever his power extends, consists of the alms; the giving of which is a fundamental law of the Mohammedan religion, but the payment of which had been always left to every man's conscience, till the Wahabee chiefs compelled their subjects and tributaries to deliver them for distribution into their hands. The Mohammedan law had minutely fixed the proportion of these alms to the property of the donor, and to that law the Wahabees have rigorously adhered. For 5 camels they exact 1 sheep for tribute; 200 camels pay 4 camels of 4 years old; and between these extremes the rates vary in every possible variety. For herds no tribute is exacted under 30 heads, for which a calf of 2 years is paid; 129 heads pay 4 oxen and 3 cows. For sheep, 1 is claimed for all numbers between 40 and 120; 3 for all between 120 and 400; for 400, 4 are taken, and after this, 1 sheep for every hundred in the flock. For all horses, above 5, a sequin per head is paid, or 2 per cent. on the value of the beasts. For money, all sums above 200 dirhems (about 1307.) in silver, or 20 misscals (about 1607.) in gold, pay 2 per cent. (Burckhardt's Notes on Bed., p. 305.; D'Ohsson, Tableau Général de l'Empire Othoman, ii. 412-418.) The Wahabee chiefs divided this tribute into two parts; appropriating that derived from the Bedouins to their own use, and that from the towns to the public service. They have also introduced some changes in the collection of the tithe of produce, which have materially relieved the cultivator. Where water was abundant, they continued to draw the tenth; but where it is deficient, they have reduced the tax to a twentieth part. Merchants in the Wahabee country pay 24 per cent. upon their property yearly, stating its amount upon oath. (Burckhardt's Notes on Bed., p. 306.) Arabia has been supposed to contain from 12,000,000 to 14,000,000 inhab., though this is probably beyond the mark. The nomadic habits of the greater part of its population, and the number of petty states into which the settled pop. is divided, and the little that is known with respect to most of them, renders it impossible to assign either their limits or their population. According to Balbi, the imanat of Yemen, or Yemen Proper, and the imanat of Muscat, on the coast of Omar, have respectively IMANAT OF YEMEN. Revenue, 495,000l. sterl. Density of pop., 47 per sq. m. 1 MANAT OF MUSCAT. Superficial extent, 52,000 sq. m. Pop., 1,600,000. Revenue, 165,000. sterl. Density of pop., 31 per sq. m The Hedjaz has been very well surveyed, especially by Ali Bey and Burckhardt, but its varying population, owing to the influx and efflux of pilgrims, together with the crowd of traders who are constantly passing between its shores and distant countries, renders it difficult, if not impossible, to assign its real numbers with any tolerable accuracy. Probably, however, it is more densely peopled than either Yenien or Muscat. The states of Yemen, as enumerated by Niebuhr, are the following:— There are, also, a great many little states upon the Persian Gulph; and Hadramaut consists of insignificant so. vereignties, mostly of not greater extent than a mile or two round the town where the chief resides. (Niebuhr, par. ii. pp. 160-245. 267-292, &c.) ARABKIR, a town of Asiatic Turkey, pachalik of Sivar, cap. sanjiack, 7 m. N. Euphrates, and 60 m. N.N.E. Malattia, lat. 390 5′ N.. long. 39 E. It is said to be well built. ARACAN, a country of Asia, called by the natives Rakhaing, extending along the W. coast of the great E. peninsula of S. Asia, acquired from the Birmese, by the British, in 1824. It lies between 150 53′ (Cape Negrais) and 21° 30 N. lat., and 92° 20′ and 94° 14' E. long; having N. the r. Nauf, which separates it from Chittagong, E. the Yeomandong mountains, dividing it from the Birmese dominions, and W. the Indian Ocean; the two latter boundaries meeting at an acute angle at Cape Negrais, its S. extremity: length, N. to S., about 500 m.; breadth, at its N. end, 90 m.; but thence southwards continually decreasing; area, 16,250 sq. geog. m. (Pemberton); pop. said to be about 230,000 only, whereas, in 1795, it was estimated, but probably much beyond the mark, at 2,600,000. (Pemberton's Report on the E. Frontier of British India, 8vo. Calcutta, 1835, pp. 83, 84.; Captain Laws, in the Geographical Journal L175.) The Yeomandong, or Anoo-pectoo-moo, mountains are a branch from those that bound S. the vale of Assam ; and form the E. boundary of both Aracan and Chittagong. Their heights vary from 2,000 to 8,000 feet; Table Mountain, in 21 N. lat., and 930 E. long., is 8,340 feet above the level of the sea. Near lat. 20 they take a sudden turn E. for about a degree; but in general their direction is N. to S.; they are covered with forests, and have numerous passes, the chief being those of Khyounzah and Goa in the Birmese, and Tongo, Talak, and Aeng, in the British dominions. They are, in almost every case, mere narrow footpaths. (Ritter, Erdk., vol. i. P. 368.; Pemberton, p. 59.) The country, generally, is diversified with hill and dale; but on the N. border and the sea-shore there are low and marshy tracts. The rivers run mostly in a S. W. direction, and are frequently navigable for trading vessels of some magnitude; the largest is the Aracan (properly Kuladyne), which rises in the Birmese dominions, near 23 N. lat., and discharges itself in 20° 15′ by several mouths; on one of its minor branches is situated then. The other principal streams are the Nauf, Aeng, the town of Aracan, accessible to vessels of 250 tons burMiou, and Sandoway rivers, all in some degree navigable. (Hamilton's Descr. of Hindostan, vol. iv. p. 801.; Pemberton, pp.7, 8. The coast, in the central part of Aracan especially, contains many good harbours, is much indented by creeks, and studded with islands and rocks, which render the mouth of the Aracan river somewhat dangerous to approach in the S. W. monsoon: during the rest of the year, however, the water is smooth, and there are good anchorages all along the coast, in from 6 to 20 fathoms, with a muddy bottom. (Geogr. Journal, i. 175.; Hamilton, pp. 800, 801.) The principal islands are Cheduba, Ramree, and Akyab, They are between the rivers Kuladyne and Mion. usually separated from the main land by narrow channels, and partake of the same natural aspect. (Riter, Erdk., vol. iv. p. 308.) The climate is decidedly unhealthy, except in a few spots, as Kyouk-Phyoo, on the N. side of Ramree, and especially hostile to Europeans, who are attacked by Intermittent fevers, and other effects of malaria. During the Birmese war the troops died in great numbers from these causes. The country is inundated by heavy rains during the S. W. monsoon, which begins in May and ends in October. In 1832, from June to October, 196 inches of rain had fallen; during the other portion of the year it is often enveloped in heavy fogs; and violent showers sometimes occur in December, February, and April. In 1832, the maximum height of the thermometer in July was 890 Fahr.. in August 94°; the minimum in both months 77°. (Ritter, Erdk., p.317.; Geogr. Journal, i. 175.) The abundance of forests which cover the mountains have hitherto been insurmountable obstacles towards any knowledge of their geology. The primitive rocks that have been seen are mostly slate. The lower hills consist chiefly of sandstone, with a stiff clay occasionally intermixed; on every part of the coast coral and shelllime are abundant. A low alluvial soil extends over the whole of the country from the foot of the mountains to the sea. Little systematic information has been collected as to the products of the country. Salt is largely produced in the creeks, &c. ; its export has latterly increased very rapidly, and is now (1837) estimated at about 250,000 maunds. Gold and silver are said to be met with; jungles of mangrove crowd the banks of the rivers; firs are common N. of the Aracan river; teak, bamboo, red jarul, toon, &c. are found in the forests, and since the British occupation have been used for ship-building; the sugar-cane, cocoa, palm, indigo, cotton, rice, red pepper, cucumber, melon, plantain, mango, jacko, orange and other fruits, are indigenous: elephants, cattle, birds of many kinds, fish, silkworms, and bees are found in great plenty. (Hamilton's Descr., vol. ii. p. 800.; Ritter, Erdk., p. 319.; Pemberton, p. 14.) About 11,677 doons, each doon 6:35 acres, or 115 sq. m., are cultivated with rice; miscellaneous culture occupies about 8 sq. m. more; there being thus not 1-133d part of the whole country brought into tillage: the lands round Aracan are the best. Next to rice, indigo and cotton are the chief objects of culture; the chief farmers are Mussulmans, the Mugh tribes subsisting generally by hunting and fishing. The houses are bamboo huts, raised on posts 4 feet from the ground, to preserve them during the inundations, built often in thick jungles, or along the sides of rivers, and surrounded by small patches of indigo, cotton, tobacco, and fruit; even in the principal towns the houses are not of a more substantial material. Since the British occupation, articles of civilised life have been largely introduced into the markets; the imports consist of Indian and European goods, and betel nut; the exports, of rice, paddy, wood, salt, oil, buffalo hides and horns, elephants' teeth, sugar, cotton, tobacco, silk, wax, &c. The exports from Akyab, the chief port, during 7 months of the year 1833, were of the value of 93,300 rupees: the chief trade is with Bengal and Chittagong. The public revenue, which has been progressively improving since the British occupation, amounted in 1836-37 to 525,000 rupees; but is as yet hardly sufficient to pay the government expenses. British Aracan extends as far S. as 17° 52′ N. lat., and is governed by three civil functionaries, one placed over each of the three provinces of Akyab, Ramree, and Sandoway; and all under the superintendence of the British governor at Chittagong. The troops employed by the government are only 8 companies of sepoys; viz., 2 at Akyab, 2 at Sandoway, and the other 4 at Kyouk Phyoo, the chief military station, and where also a part of the flotilla used in the late war is laid up. The inhab. are 1-10th Binese, 3-10ths Mohammedans and Indians, and the remainder Yekein or Yikein, as they call themselves, the Mughs of the Europeans. The latter are of middle height, with a broad face, high and prominent cheekbones, the nose flat, and the eyes like those of the Chinese: they are cunning, and addicted to stealing, but not to falsehood. Their language and religion resemble those of the Birmese; the latter, however (that of Boodh), they do not adhere to very strictly, since they do not abstain from animal food; Guadma is a celebrated idol amongst them, and they take as their vulgar æra the period at which he introduced Buddhism into Aracan; the present year, 1838, is with them 1200. There are 2 or 3 priests in every village, who occupy themselves chiefly in the tuition of the children in schools, which are voluntarily supported, and open to all. The Aracanese are by no means uneducated; almost all of them can read and write; the latter they practise with a chalk pencil on a paper made from the bark of a tree: their records are kept on palm-leaf, lacquered in japan or red upon a gilt ground. The people are fond of finery; the dress of the women is a red binder wrapt closely round them, over this a robe reaching to the knee, and the petticoat fastened loosely on one side all down, so that, in walking, the whole of one limb is exposed. Women are not kept secluded, but enjoy as much liberty as the other sex. Slavery in all its forms is folerated. Marriages are arranged by the parents of the parties; solemn. ised by feasts, and ratified by the married couple eating out of one dish. If they separate at a future time at the wish of the husband, he must take upon himself all his wife's debts; if such a determination originate with the latter, she takes them upon herself, but can demand 25 rupees from her husband. If a man be in want of money, he may pawn his wife; but if she become pregnant in consequence, he can claim her again, and the contract to pay becomes null and void. The dead are either buried or burned. This country has been very greatly improved since it came into the possesssion of the British, previously to which it was in the worst possible state. The bands of robbers by which it was infested have been extirpated; and the habits of the bulk of the people materially improved. With one exception, there was no instance of dacoity (robbery) in the principal district of the prov. of Akyab during the two years ending with 1837. (Moulmein Chronicle.) The introduction of tranquillity and commerce has awakened a spirit of industry, and rendered the people cultivators, salt-manufacturers, and traders. Akyab is daily becoming of more and more importance. (Paton's Hist. and Statis. Sketch, Asiatic Researches, vol. xvi.; Pemberton; Ritter, vol. iv. p. 325.; Laws, in the Royal Geogr. Journal, i. 177.) Before 1783, Aracan was independent, though often ravaged by the Moghuls and Peguans in that year it was conquered by the Birmese, and governed by their viceroys; whose oppressions depopulated the country, causing many of the inhabitants to fly to Chittagong and Tipperah, where they settled; and others to become jungle-robbers. A revolt broke out in 1811, and the violation of the British frontier by the Birmese, both then and subsequently, was the cause of the Birmese war of 1824; which ended in the cession of Aracan to the British. ARACAN, a town and cap. of the above prov., on an inferior branch of the Kuladyne river, which is here crossed by several lofty wooden bridges, 50 m. N. E. Akyab, lat. 25° 44′ N., long. 93° 26' E. Pop. (1835) from 8,000 to 10,000. It forms an irregular square, walled on all sides except the N.E., where it touches a shallow lake. As a fortress, however, it is worthless, being commanded by various hills in the neighbourhood. S. of the principal street which runs E. and W. are the ruins of an ancient palace and fort, the latter surrounded by a triple enclosure of stone patched up with brick. There are many pagodas, both in the town and on the heights around it. Next to Akyab it has the best market in the prov. for British manufactures and the silks of Pegu, and its river is navigable for boats at high tide; but its consequence has been gradually diminishing since Akyab began to rise into importance. Aracan was taken in 1783 by the Birmese, who captured much booty, including a large brazen image of Guadma, held in the highest veneration, and other idols. (Pemberton's Report, &c., p. 89.; Hamilton's Hindost., vol. ii. p. 804.) ARAD, a town of the Austrian empire, on both sides of the Maros; that part which is on the N. bank, or Old Arad, being in Hungary, and the other, or New Arad, in the Bannat, 27 m. N. Temeswar, lat. 46° 9′ 56′′ N., long. 21° 18' 3" E. Pop. of both parts near 18,000. New Arad is strongly fortified; and Old Arad is the residence of a Greek bishop. The most opulent inhabitants are the Jews, who are also very numerous. "They are greatly favoured, being allowed exclusive monopolies of tobacco, corn, and other commodities." (Walsh.) The town is the entrepôt of the products of a large tract of country, which are here embarked on the Maros, and sent by the river to the Danube, and thence to Germany, Hungary, the Black Sea, &c. On a weekly market day, Dr. Walsh found the streets choked up with cars and carts, of which he was assured there were no fewer than 7,000 in the town! filled with produce, príncipally for shipment. On enquiry, he found the prices of different articles to be, wheat 9s. a quarter; wine 24d. a bottle; delicious Hungarian wine at the tavern, 10. per do.; beef, 1d per lb.; mutton, 1d. do., &c. (Walsh's Journey from Constantinople to England, p. 316.) ARAFAT (MOUNT), a hill of Arabia, 15 m. S.E. of Mecca, consisting of a granite rock about 150 feet high, a principal object of the Mohammedan pilgrimages to that city. ARAGON, one of the ancient divisions of Spain, formerly a separate kingdom, comprising the provs. of Zaragoza, Huesca, and Teruel, lying between 40 and 42 55 N. lat., and 460 E. and 20 7 W. long., having N. the Pyrenees, which divide it from France; E., Catalonia: S., Valencia; and W., Navarre and Castile: length, N. to S., 215 m.; breadth, 65 to 135 m.; area, 14,692 sq. m.; pop. (1833) 734,685. It is a basin every where surrounded, except on the E., by mountain ranges; on the N. offsets from the Pyrenees extend into the prov. as far S. as lat. 42° 10′, inclosing many picturesque and fertile valleys; the Sierras Moncayo Cuença, Molina and Albarracin separate it from Castile, and those of Mo-, rella from Valencia. Another distinct chain runs parallel to the latter through the S. part of Aragon, from N. W. to S.E.: between the Sierra and this chain is the valley of the Xiloca; and between this latter chain and the Pyrenees is the extensive plain intersected by the Ebro. This, which is not only the largest of the Aragonese rivers, but the largest river which has its embouchure on the east coast of Spain, runs through the prov. in a S. easterly direction, dividing it into two nearly equal parts. Exclusive of the Ebro, there are a great number of other rivers, mostly its affluents, having their sources in the mountain-ranges that bound on either side the central plain; as the Gallego, Cinca, and Segre, from the N., the Xiloca, Guerva, Aguas, S. Martin, Guadaloupe, and Alguas, from the S.: the Tagus and the Guadalaviar have, also, their origin in this region. Salt is every where abundant, and gold, silver, copper, iron, lead, nitre, alum, &c. are met with, but the mines are mostly neglected. The mine of rock salt at Remolinos, near Alagon, is, however, extensively wrought, furnishing supplies not only for the prov., but also for Catalonia and other parts of the kingdom. Climate temperate and warm in the valleys and plains, but on the Pyrenees the snow is often found 5 or 6 feet deep in June, and violent storms occur in winter. The country is, however, universally healthy. The soil of the plains is, in general, fertile, and well adapted to the growth of most products of temperate climates. Though agriculture be very defective, more corn and wine are produced than are required for home-gonese were so solicitous that their monarchs should know consumption; and there are also large supplies of fine fruits, with legumes, flax, hemp, oil, saffron, liquorice, madder, esparto, barilla, &c. Previously to the late war with France, the stock of sheep in the prov. was supposed to exceed 2,000,000; and though it must have been much reduced during that contest, there was, according to Miñano, previously to the present civil war, an annual export of 250,000 arrobas of wool. Horned cattle are scarce. Wolves and bears are met with in the mountainous districts; game is plentiful, and the rivers abound with excellent fish, especially eels and trout. The manufactures are confined to common woollen and other cloths, cordage, and hempen articles, gunpowder, with soap, vinegar, brandy, paper, hats, earthen-ware, and leather. The manufacture of silk in the capital and other towns has greatly diminished. Aragon is divided into 13 districts or gobiernos: its chief cities are Zaragoza, Huesca, Calatayud, and Teruel. The first is an archbishopric: there are 6 bishoprics and 2 universities. Several roads cross the prov., passing to all the great towns; and the Imperial canal, from Tudela to Zaragoza, 10 ft. in depth and 70 ft. wide, commenced in 1529 by Charles V., and completed to its present extent in 1772, serves the double purpose of promoting trade and navigation. The Aragonese are strong, and well built; not so active as the Catalonians, but industrious, brave, and honest. They are intelligent, and desirous of knowledge, but proud, sullen, and extremely opposed to foreign interference with their government. The original harsh Aragonese dialect has now become intermixed with the Castilian. The male peasantry wear a waistcoat and a round jacket over it, drawn together by a thong, and a large round hat, or sometimes two, to work in during the heats of summer. The dress of the women is odd and grotesque; it consists partly of two woollen corsets, and three or four thick petticoats one over another, the whole weighing a quarter of a cwt. Under the Romans Aragon was included in Celtiberia; in A. D. 470 it was overrun by the Goths, and in 714 by the Moors. After the expulsion of the latter, it was governed by its own kings till the marriage of Ferdinand with Isabella of Castile in riers against the encroachments of the royal prerogative the Aragonese, by an institution peculiar to themselves, elected a justiza, or supreme judge, as the protector of the people and the controller of the prince. The person of the justiza was sacred, and his power and jurisdiction almost unbounded; he was the supreme interpreter of the laws, and not only inferior judges, but the kings themselves were bound to consult him in every difficult case, and to receive his responses with implicit deference. An appeal lay to him from the royal as well as the ba ronial judges, and even when no appeal was made, he could interpose by his own authority, prohibit the ordinary judge from proceeding, take immediate cognizance of the cause himself, and remove the party accused to the prison of the manifestacion, to which no person had access but by his permission. His power was exerted with no less vigour and effect in superintending the administration of government, than in regulating the course of justice. It was the prerogative of the justiza to inspect the conduct of the king. He reviewed all the royal proclamations and patents, and declared whether they were agreeable to law, and ought to be carried into execution. He, by his sole authority, could exclude any of the king's ministers from the conduct of affairs, and call them to answer for their mal-administration. He himself was accountable to the cortes only for the manner in which he discharged the duties of his high office, and performed functions of the greatest importance that could be committed to a subject. The Araand feel their dependence on their subjects, that even in swearing allegiance to their sovereign, the justiza thus addressed him in their name, "We, who are each of us "as good, and who are altogether more powerful than you, promise obedience to your government, if you "maintain our rights and liberties, but not otherwise." Conformably to this oath it was expressly declared in their constitution, that if the king should violate his compact with them, it was lawful for the Aragonese to disclaim him, and elect another sovereign, even though a heathen, in his room. the 14th cent. The gov. of Aragon, previously to the junction of its crown with that of Castile, and for some time afterwards, though monarchical in form, was in principle essentially republican. The kings, who were long elective, retained little more than the shadow of power; it being really vested in the cortes or parliament. This supreme assembly was composed of fojur different arms or members; the nobility of the first rank, the equestrian order or second rank, the representatives of cities and towns, and the ecclesiastics. No law could pass without the assent of every arin; and without permission of the cortes, no tax could be imposed, no war declared, no peace concluded, nor money coined or altered. The power of reviewing the proceedings of the inferior courts, the privilege of inspecting every department of administration, and the right of redressing all grievances, belonged to the cortes; to which, however, those aggrieved did not address themselves in the humble tone of supplicants, but demanded its interference as due to them as freemen. This sovereign court was held during several centuries every year; but from the beginning of the 14th cent. was convoked only once in two years: the session continued 40 days, and the king could neither prorogue nor dissolve the assembly, after it had met, without its own consent. Not satisfied with having erected such formidable bar Aragon, while a separate kingdom, was the most powerful of the peninsular states. It comprised, exclusive of Aragon Proper, Navarre, Catalonia, Valencia, the Balearic isles, and Sardinia. The marriage of Ferdinand with the heiress of Castile, the conquest of Granada by their united forces, with the possessions they inherited or acquired in other parts of Europe and in the New World, by giving the sovereigns extrinsic, and as it were foreign resources, rendered them in a great measure independent of the supplies voted by the cortes, at the same time that it enabled them gradually to subvert their authority. The establishment of the Inquisition was also a great blow to the liberal institutions of Aragon and other parts of the Peninsula, which were finally suppressed during the reign of the bloody and tyrannical bigot Philip II. (Miñano, Antillon, Schutz. Allg. Erdk., xviii. 314-317.; Robertson, Hist. Charles V. Introd., Sect. iii.) ARAGONA, a town of Sicily, Val di Girgenti, 7 m. N. Girgenti, on a hill. Pop. 5,850. It is ill-built and dirty; but is worthy of notice for its castle (containing a fine gallery of pictures), its antiquities, and for having in its vicinity the mud volcano of Maccaluba. This consists of numerous little hillocks, with craters on a kind of truncated cone of argillaceous barren soil, m. in circuit, elevated about 200 feet above the surrounding arid plain. These craters are continually in action, making a hollow rumbling noise, and throwing up a fine cold mud, mixed with water, a little petroleum and salt, and occasionally bubbles of air with a sulphurous taint. Sometimes reports like the discharge of artillery are heard, and slight local earthquakes, till an eruption takes place by the ejection of mud and stones to the height of from 30 to 60 feet, the ordinary height of the spouts being only from a few inches to 2 or 3 feet. (For a further account of this singular phenomenon, see Smyth's Sicily, p. 213.) ARAICHE (EL), see LARACHE. ARAL (SEA OF), an inland sea or lake of Asia, in independent Tartary, between 420 and 46° 12′ N. lat., and 560 and 61° 15′ E. long., being about 300 m. in length from S. W. to N.E., and from about 100 to nearly 250 m. in breadth; so that, with the exception of the Caspian, it is by far the most extensive inland sea of the Old World. It has a great number of islands, particularly towards the S., and is generally so shallow, that it can be safely navigated only by flat-bottomed boats. Its waters are salt, and its coasts generally low and sandy, the country round consisting mostly of vast arid steppes. It is well supplied with fish, of which sturgeon are the most valuable; seals are also met with. The Sea of Aral receives, besides smaller streams, the waters of two great rivers, the Sir or Sihoun (the Jarartes of the ancients), and the Amoo or Jihoun (the Orus of the ancients). But, notwithstanding it has no outlet, the prevalent opinion is, that the supply of water brought to it, and also to the Caspian Sea, is unequal to what is carried off by evaporation, and that L |