Towards the end of the eighteenth century, Sparrman and Vaillant brought interesting accounts of the scenery of this tract, and its natural productions, both animal and vegetable. The settlement having been captured by Britain, Mr. Barrow, as secretary to Lord Macartney, made in 1797 an excursion into the interior, and gave striking pictures of the pastoral life of the Caffres, and of the miserable aspect and condition of the Bosjesmans or mountain Hottentots. In 1801 Messrs. Trutter and Somerville passed the Sneuwgebirge, discovered the large stream of the Orange River, with the pastoral tribe of the Koranas, and finally arrived at Lattakoo, capital of the Boshuanas, a more industrious and improved people than any yet known in southern Africa. On receiving this intelligence, Lord Caledon sent Dr. Cowan and Mr. Donovan, with a party of twenty, to attempt to penetrate as far as Mozambique; but after proceeding considerably beyond Lattakoo, they were surprised and killed by a party of natives.

The Rev. Mr. Campbell, in his zealous pursuit of missionary objects, considerably extended our knowledge of this part of Africa. Beyond Lattakoo, he passed through a succession of towns always rising in importance. Kurrechane, the last, was estimated to contain 16,000 inhabitants, who, besides agriculture, showed considerable skill in adorningtheir habitations, tanning skins, and smelting iron and copper. Dr. Lichtenstein and Mr. Burchell made important observations on the Boshuana people; but neither penetrated so far as Mr. Campbell. In 1823, while Mr. Thompson was at Lattakoo, these districts were invaded by a numerous and formidable Caffre people, from the vicinity of Cape Natal. These, it was discovered, had been driven from their country by a still more powerful tribe, the Zoolas, whose chief, Chaka, could muster 100,000 fighting men. Yet there was found to be in that quarter a large extent of fertile territory, to which a number of Dutch farmers were induced to emigrate; but having been involved in hostilities with this savage tribe, they have of late suffered dreadfully, and many of them have perished.

During the years 1822 to 1826, Captain Owen was employed by government in making a very careful survey both of the eastern and western coasts. He obtained much information respecting the former, which had hitherto been very imperfectly known. In 1837, Sir James Alexander, under the auspices of the Geographical Society, performed an expedition to the northwest from the Cape, into the country of the Damaras, where he penetrated farther than any former traveller.

After all that has recently been done to explore Africa, there still remain very important points involved in obscurity. The most important relates to the courses of the Tshadda and the Shary, flowing respectively into the Niger and lake Tchad. It is a favourite hypothesis with some, that both are one stream, pursuing an unbroken course from the lake to the river; but the fact observed by Denham, that the Shary flowed into the Tchad, renders this physically impossible. It has been recently conjectured that the Yeou may be identical with the T'shadda, and thus unite the two great receptacles; but the travellers, who crossed that river and went a great way along its banks, could not well be mistaken in their belief of its flowing into the Tchad. It seems more probable that these two great rivers have their sources in the mighty chain to the south of Mandara; that their sources, and

perhaps some of their branches, may be at no great distance from each other.

Another object should be to connect lake Tchad and the surrounding countries with Nubia and Abyssinia, exploring on the way the source and early course of the Bahr-el-Abiad, or principal branch of the Nile. This wide interval has as yet been only broken by Brown's journey into Darfour, and some notices procured by him respecting the adjacent countries. An expedition, we understand, is at present projected from Egypt to the head of the Nile.

There remains still farther to the southward a great mass of unknown territory, between the Portuguese settlements on the eastern and western coasts. The people in these have formed a few stations on the Zambeze, with a view to the traffic in gold and slaves; and they have others on the eastern coast, whence merchants, with similar objects, penetrate to some distance in the interior. Stil the great body of the country remains unexplored. The intimations received represent it as occupied by numerous tribes, who have made some progress in culture and the arts. To explore it with any degree of completeness, two expeditions would be necessary; one from the Cape northward as far as Bornou and Houssa; the other across the continent, between Congo and Mozambique. Both, however, would be accompanied with considerable difficulty and danger; and though they could hardly fail to add to our knowledge of the physical structure of the country, we incline to think that they would be of little or no importance in other respects.

AFRICA, or MAHADIAH, a sea-port town of Barbary, E. coast reg. Tunis, 110 m. S.S.E. Tunis, lat. 350 32 and is at present a wretched place, surrounded with N., long. 11° 16′ E. It may contain about 3,000 inhab., broken down walls, and without shops or bazars. Formerly, however, it was a sea-port and fortress of very considerable importance. In 1550 it was besieged by a powerful armament, under the orders of the viceroy who took it after an obstinate and desperate resistance. of Sicily and of Doria the famous admiral of Charles V., But being found to be untenable it was subsequently abandoned. (Temple's Algiers, &c., i. p. 137.) cap arrond., on the Sorgue, lat. 43°57′ N., long. 1° 47′ 15′′ AFRIQUE (ST.), a town of France, dep. Aveyron, E. Pop. 4.757. It is situated in a fine valley. Streets broad; but houses mostly old and ill built. It has tribunals of original jurisdiction and commerce, a communal college, and an agricultural society; with manufactures of coarse cloth, coverlets, cotton yarn and hosiery, tanneries, &c.; and a very considerable trade in wool, cheese, &c. It was formerly fortified.

AGABLY, a town of the desert of Sahara, cap. of an oasis, on the caravan road from Tripoli to Timbuctoo, lat. 27° 44′ N., long. 4° 25′ E.

AGADIR, or SANTA CRUZ, a sea-port town of Morocco, on the Atlantic Ocean, and the most S. in the empire, lat. 30°26′ 35 N., long. 9° 35′ 56′′ W. It is built on the declivity of a hill on the shore of a gulph or large affording good anchorage for shipping. Agadir belonged bay of the same name, well defended from the winds, and at one time to the Portuguese, by whom it was surrounded by walls. It was taken from them by the Moors in 15.6, when its fortifications were farther strengthened. It was for a considerable period the centre of an extensive commerce; but having rebelled against the government in 1773, the principal part of its population was transferred to Mogadore; and it had so much declined that it is said by Mr. Jackson, in 189, not to have had more Africa commence immediately to the S. of Agadir; and than 300 inhabitants. The vast sandy deserts of N. hence its bay is aptly termed by the Arabs Bab-Soudan, that is, Gate of the Blacks.—(Jackson's Morocco, p. 115. Ritter's Géographie. Trad. Franc. iii. p. 161.)

AGDE (an. Agatha), a town of France, dep. Herault, on the river of that name, near where it is traversed by the canal of Languedoc, about 3 m. above where the former falls into the Gulph of Lyons, and about the same distance from where the latter is united with the 7,965. Ships of 200 tons burden come up to the town by lake Thau, lat. 43° 18′ 40′′ N., long. 3° 28′ 16′′ E. Pop. the river, near the mouth of which is fort Briscou. It has a considerable coasting and some foreign trade, with

ship-building, manufactures of verdigrise and soap, and distilleries. Being entirely built of black basaltic lava, and surrounded by a wail and towers of the same material, it has a grim appearance, and is called by the country people the Fille Noire. It made a part of Gallia Narbonensis, and was in 506 the seat of a council summoned by Alaric. - (Hugo, France Pittoresque, dep. Herault.) AGEN (an. Aginum), a town of France, cap. dep. Lotet-Garonne, on the right bank of the Garonne, nearly half way between Bordeaux and Thoulouse, lat. 44° 12′ 22′′ N., long. 0° 36′ 35′′ E. Pop. 12,851. It is ill built; streets narrow, crooked, and dirty. The hotel of the prefect is worth notice, and there is a fine bridge over the Garonne of eleven arches: it is the seat of a cour royale for the depts. Lot-et-Garonne, Lot, and Gers; has a college and several literary institutions, a public library with above 12,000 vols., and a theatre. Its situation,though rather unhealthy, makes it the entrepôt of the commerce between Bordeaux and Thoulouse. There is here a sail-cloth manufactory, which recently employed above 600 work-people, and produced annually 130,000 metres of canvass for the navy: there are also manufactures of serges, printed cloths, cottons, braziers' ware, pottery, soap, spirits, &c. Environs beautiful; the promenade du Graviers is one of the finest in France. Agen is very ancient, and under the Roman emperors was a prætorian city.(Hugo, France Pittoresque, dep. Lot-et-Garonne; Briand, de Verzé Dictionnaire de la France, &c.) AGGERHUUS, a bishopric of Norway, and one of the most important divisions of that kingdom; which AGGERSOE, a small Danish island in the Great Belt, near the E. coast of the island of Zealand, lat. 55° 12′ N., long. 11° 12′ E. AGHRIM, or AUGHRIM, an inconsiderable town or village of Ireland, co. Galway, 82 m. W. Dublin. One of the greatest battles ever fought in Ireland took place in the vicinity of Aghrim in 1691, when the troops of William III., commanded by Ginkell, afterwards Earl of Athlone, gained a complete and decisive victory over those of James II., commanded by St. Ruth, who fell early in the action.

see.

AGINCOURT, or AZINCOURT, a village of France, dep.Pas de Calais, 13 m. N.W. St. Pol; famous in history for the great victory gained near it in 1415 by the English monarch, Henry V., over a vastly superíor French force.

AGLIE, or AGLIA, a town of the Sardinian states, Piedmont, 10 m. S. W. Ivrea. Pop. 3,240. It has a collegiate church, and a magnificent palace with a consider. able library.

AGNES (ST.), one of the Scilly Islands (which see), being the most S. of the group. It contains about 300 acres, and had in 1831 a pop. of 289. It is celebrated for its light-house with a revolving light, in lat. 49° 53′ 37′′ N., long. 6° 19′ 23" W. The lantern is elevated 138 feet above high-water mark.

AGNONE, a town of the Neapolitan dominions, prov. Sannio, 18 m. N.N.E. Isernia, in an elevated healthy situation. Pop. 7,000. It has an immense number of churches, an hospital, and five monts-de-piété, which make loans of seed corn to the peasants. It is the seat of the principal copper manufactures in the kingdom. Some writers have affirmed that it occupies the site of the ancient Aquilonia of the Samnites.

AGOA DE PAO, a sea-port town of St. Michael, one of the Azores, 12 m. E. Punta del Gada. Pop. 3,000. AGON, a small sea-port town of France, dep. La Manche, 7 m. W. Coutances. Pop. 1462.

AGOSTA, or AUGUSTA, a maritime town of Sicily, cap. cant., prov. Syracuse, on its E. coast, 12 m. N. Syracuse, lat. 37° 13′ 35′′ N., long. 15° 14' E. Pop. 8,667. It stands on a peninsula, and was built in the13th century by the emperor Frederick, who peopled it from Centurissa, which was razed for sedition. It was nearly destroyed by the earthquake of 1693, when numbers of people were crushed to death under the ruins of their houses, and a sulphurous vapour finding its way to the principal powder magazine, it blew up with a tremendous explosion. Streets regular and parallel, with some tolerable municipal edifices and magazines for articles of commerce; but the houses are low and mean, and the inhabitants have an air of dejection and poverty. Their whole existence depends on the export of salt, and a little oil, honey, and wine. It is strongly fortified both on the land and sea sides. The harbour, though rather difficult of entrance, is deep, spacious, and secure; but in E. and S. gales there is often a heavy swell. The holding ground is excellent. (Smyth's Sicily, p.159.; and App. p.14.)

AGOWS, a people of Abyssinia, inhabiting the territory to the E. of the sources of the Bahr-el-Azrek, or Abyssinian Nile. This district is uncommonly fertile, particularly in cattle and honey, with which it almost exclusively supplies Gondar. The country is also very populous; and though of limited extent, can bring a con

siderable force into the field. There is another tribe of the same people, called Tcheretz Agows, inhabiting a district along the N. bank of the Tacazze.

AGRA, one of the subahs, great divisions, or provinces into which Hindostan, or India N. of the Nerbuddah River, was divided by the emperor Acbar. It lies chiefly between 250 and 280 N., and may be computed to contain about 45,000 sq. m., and from 6 to 7 millions of inhabitants. These subahs or provinces of the Moghul empire were in fact equal in extent and population to kingdoms. The province of Agra lies in the alluvial plain of the Jumna and Ganges, with an elevation but a few hundred feet above the level of the sea; and the finest portion of it, well known under the name of the Doab, or country of the "two rivers," lies between these streams. By far the greater portion of its surface is a dead flat. Although watered by three great navigable rivers, the Chumbul, Jumna, and Ganges, the country is characterised in general for its drought, the greater part of its irrigation being effected by means of deep wells. It may also be described as eminently deficient of timber. From March to June the climate is dry, and extremely sultry; from June to October, sultry and rainy; and from November to February inclusive, serene, dry, and cold, the thermometer almost every morning falling below the freezing point. With the exception of a few woody portions of the province lying towards its W. extremity, and here only during the season of the periodical rains, the climate is healthy. No metallic mines exist in the province; and its only valuable minerals are the red sandstone, of which nearly all the monuments of the cities of Delhi and Agra are constructed; and a species of tufous limestone, called kanghar in the language of the country, and which is the only source from which lime is obtained for economical purposes. There are commonly two harvests; the greater crops being reaped before the setting in of the rains in May and June, and the lesser in December and January. The principal corn crops are those of wheat and barley. Rye is not known, and oats hardly so, and rice is not cultivated for want of a sufficiency of water. Of the smaller kinds of corn, those chiefly cultivated are two species of millet, viz. Holcus Sorghum, called in the language of the country Jewar ; and Holcus spicatus, called Bajera. These two constitute the chief bread corn of the labouring people, who seldom taste wheat. Great quantities of pulses are raised as a winter crop for the food of man and cattle, the most common of which is the Cicer arrietum, called grain by Europeans. Mustard seed is raised for oil, and the sugar cane is cultivated for the manufacture of sugar. Cotton is cultivated to a very considerable extent, and indigo is produced more extensively in this province than in any other part of Upper India. It was, indeed, from. hence that the drug, in the earlier periods of European commerce, was procured for the trade of Europe. The great mass of the inhabitants are Hindoos; among whom the two first classes in rank, the Braminical and Military, are more frequent than to the eastward, or to the south. To the W. of the Jumna, chiefly are found two nations or tribes well known in the history of Upper India, the Jauts and the Mematties, both distinguished by their warlike and predatory habits. It is remarkable of a country so long subject to Mohammedan rule, and the immediate seat of power, that the proportion of Mohammedans found in this, as indeed in the neighbouring provinces, is smaller than in the more remote one of Bengal. The inhabitants, of whatever denomination, are of more robust frames and a far bolder spirit than those of the last-named country. The language of the people throughout is the Hindi or Hindustany. The basis of this language is the Hindoo dialect, which was spoken in the kingdom of Kanoje, which is within the limits of this province, on the first Mohammedan invasions. The Persian, the most cultivated tongue, spoken by the conquerors, has been superad led to this local tongue, in the same way as Norman French has been added to the Anglo-Saxon; so that, in short, the history of the formation of the Hindi is exactly a parallel case to that of English. Another Indian dialect, now nearly extinct, was the ancient language of the country near the town of Agra.

AGRA, the name of a zillah, or district, constituting a judicial and fiscal division of the last-named province, lying on both banks of the Jumna. Its computed area is 4,500 Eng. sq. m.; and if it be equally populous with the neighbouring province of Delhi, of the population of which some estimate has been made, and it is probably somewhat more so, it contains 273 inhabitants to the square mile, or near one million of absolute population. In 1813, ten years after this district came into British possession, it was estimated to contain 2,456,214 begahs of land, each equal to near one third of an English acre, of which there were under actual culture 1,222,667; fit for culture 330,807; and waste or uncultivable 902,740. Half the area of the whole district, therefore, was under actual tillage. The land

tax as assessed to the land under culture was at the rate of two rupees and two anas a begah, or near 13s. an acre; a very high or rather oppressive land tax, for a poor country just recovering from long disorder and anarchy.

AGRA, a city of Hindostan, cap. of the above province and district, on the S.W. bank of the Jumna, which during the season of the floods is here about half a mile broad, and at no season fordable, in lat. 27° 11' N., long. 77° 53′ E. It is distant from Calcutta 950 m., Madras 1190, and Bombay 850. Agra, like other considerable towns of India, is built of bricks, the houses having terraced roofs; the streets being extremely narrow, and never paved or flagged. Much of it is at present in a state of ruin. No census of its population, that we are aware of, has been taken; but judging by the amount of the town duties, which have been about 60,000 rupees a year, or 6000Z., it would appear to be about equally populous with Dacca, Bareilly, and Mirzapore, and may contain about 65,000 inhabitants. It is very conveniently situated for the commerce of W. India and E. Persia, and is the mart of a very considerable inland and frontier trade. The trading communication is carried on by boats on the Jumna and Chumbul; and by horses, camels, bullocks, and bullock carts by land. The goods comprising the imports consist of shawls, horses, camels, rock-salt, and the dry and fresh fruits and drugs of Persia; cotton wool and coarse cotton fabrics from the S., with European commodities by the Jumna and Ganges. The chief exports consist of raw silks, indigo, and coarse sugar. In 1832, the custom duties levied on these, commonly at the rate of from 7 to 10 per cent. on the value, were, for the exports 202,980 rupees; and for the imports 1,100.495 rupees. In 1818 the amount of the joint export and import duties was 1,052,157 rupees; so that in 14 years' time the increase was 34 per cent. Agra, in remote times, appears to have been a fortified town of some consequence; but it was not until the year 1504 that it was made the seat of Mohammedan empire. This was effected by the Afghan emperor Sihundur Lodi. About half a century later the place was greatly embellished by Achar, by far the most illustrious of all the Indian emperors. It continued to be the seat of government during his reign and that of his son; and Delhi was not restored as the metropolis until the reign of his grandson, Shah Jehan, in the year 1647. When Acbar fixed the seat of his government at Agra, he changed its name to Acbarabad, which continues to be its Mohammedan designation. It contains many fine monuments, all of Mohammedan origin. The fortress is of great extent, the double rampart and bastions being built entirely of hewn red sandstone, and at least 60 feet above the level of the Juna, on the bank of which it stands. The most remarkable structure, however, is the Taj Mahal, literally the Crown of Empires." This stands about 2 m. below the fortress, and on the bank of the river. It is a mausoleum, built by the emperor Shah Jehan in honour of his empress the Begum Narr Mahal; a building of white marble raised on a terrace, and in the ordinary form of a Mohammedan mosque with minarets. The mosaic ornaments of the interior, including even the marble pavement, are extensive, rich, and elaborate, the flowers and arabesques being composed of no less than twelve different stones, such as agates, jaspers, lapis lazuli, and various coloured marbles, and the numerous quotations from the Koran being in black marble. A garden with fountains and highly ornamented gateways surrounds the mausoleum; and the toute ensemble is supposed, whether for extent, symmetry, matériel, or execution, to surpass any thing in the world of the same description. This is the uniform opinion, even of those who have seen the master-pieces of Italian art. "It is possible," says the celebrated and accurate Bernier, "I may have imbibed an Indian taste; but I decidedly think that this monument deserves much more to be numbered among the wonders of the world than the pyramids of Egypt, those unshapened masses, which, when I had seen them twice, yielded me no satisfaction, and which are nothing on the outside but heaps of large stones piled in form of steps, one upon another; while within there is very little that is creditable either to human skill or to human invention." The architect was a Mohammedan native of Sahar, and the whole building is said to have cost 750,000. It is kept in excellent repair by the British government, which assigns a handsome annual revenue for this object. The tomb of the emperor Acbar at Secundra, 6 m. from Agra, would be considered a splendid building in any place that had not the Taj Mahal to boast of. It was constructed by his son the emperor Jehangire. A marble palace of Shah Jehan exists within the fortress; and the neighbourhood of the town, for miles, contains the ruins of palaces and tombs of costly materials and workmanship. Agra, with the district to which it belongs, was conquered by the chief Madhajee Sindiah in 1784, and formed a portion of the jagheer assigned by this prince for the maintenance of

the army, organized on the European system, and officered by Europeans, by means of which he maintain. ed his supremacy in Upper Hindostan. In the course of the military operations which deprived the Mahrattas in 1803 of nearly the whole of their possessions in Hindostan, Agra was besieged by Lord Lake, and surrendered after a practical breach had been effected in one of the bastions. Since that time it has continued in our occupation, and constitutes our only depót or military magazine on the N. W. frontier. The fortress has always a considerable garrison, and about two m. beyond its walls is a cantonment where a much larger military force is stationed. Agra was the birth-place of Abul Fazel, the famous prime minister of the emperor Acbar.

AGRA, the name of a new government in British India, founded under the charter act of 1833. The unwieldy size of the Bengal presidency, which is far greater in extent, and contains more than double the population of both, the presidencies of Madras and Bombay, along with the additional duties assigned by the act in question to the governor-general of India, suggested the convenience of erecting a new presidency, and the historical reputation of Agra suggested the name. The new presidency was to have had a governor and council, but all the civil and military establishments were to have been borrowed from Bengal. The inconvenience of this ar rangement in this respect soon became obvious in practice, and accordingly an act of parliament was obtained doing away with the new presidency, and substituting for it a lieutenant-governor, named by and subject to the governor of Bengal. By this change the essential administration rests with the latter authority, but local details are conducted by the lieutenantgovernor. The authority of this officer extends over all the territories N. and W. of Allahabad inclusive, conquered or obtained by cession since 1801. The names of the districts subject to the lieutenant-governor of Agra are as follow:--Allahabad, Futtehpore, Bundlecund North, Bundlecund South, Benares, Ghazeepore, Gurruckpore, Juanpore, Azimghur, Mirzapore, Agra, Allyghur, Furruckabad, Bareilly, Shahjehanpore, Seharunpore, Meerut, Cawnpore, Etawah, Moradabad, and Bolundshuhur. These are computed to contain 66,510 sq. m. The authority of the lieutenant-governor, however, also extends to other districts possessing a less regular form of civil government, as the hill districts ceded by the Nepalese, which are computed to contain 18,000 sq. m. The population of all the territories now enumerated has been reckoned at 30,000,000. It has further, however, jurisdiction over the districts ceded by the Mahrattas on the Nerbudda in 1817, estimated to contain 29,860 sq. m.; and by the rajah of Berar in 1826, calculated at no less than 55,900. sq.m. No estimate of the population of these two last territories has been made, but they are known to be very thinly inhabited. The political correspondence with the chiefs on the W., N., and S. frontiers of his jurisdiction is also under control of the lieutenant-governor of Agra.

Authorities for these four articles, viz. Agra province, Agra district, Agra city, and Agra government:Hamilton's Description of Hindostan; Hamilton's East India Gazetteer; Bernier; Return of the Population of British India made in 1831 to the H. of Commons; Briggs' Ferishta; Trevelyan's Report on the Inland Customs of Bengal.

AGRAM, or ZAGRAB, a fortified city of the Austrian empire, cap. Croatia, and the residence of the governor. general, on a hill on the banks of the Save, lat. 45° 49 2 N., long. 15° 4. E. Pop. 17,000. Agram is the seat of a bishopric and of a tribunal of appeal for Croatia, the Bannat, and Slavonia. It has a superior academy, a gymnasium, a Franciscan convent, and a considerable commerce, particularly in the tobacco and corn of Hungary.

AGREDA, a walled town of Spain, prov. Soria, at the foot of Mount Cayo, celebrated by Martial. Pop. 3,200. It is ill built, has 6 churches and 4 convents, with tanneries and potteries.

AGREVE ST.), a town of France, dep. Ardeche, cap. cant. Pop. 2,500.

AGUAS CALIENTES, a town of Mexico, prov. Guadalaxara, 100 m. N.E. Guadalaxara, lat. 226 N., long. 101° 45′ W. It is situated in a fertile district, has a fine climate, and is one of the handsomest of the Mexican towns. Being intersected by several great roads, it has an active and considerable commerce. It is celebrated for its great cloth manufactory which employed, in 1825, 350 hands (Ward), and the hot springs in its vicinity, whence it derives its name. Its pop. may probably

amount to 18,000 or 20,000.

AGUILAR DE LA FRONTERA, a town of Spain, prov. Cordova, 22 m. S. S. E. Cordova.

AGUILAR DEL CAMPOS, a town of Spain, prov. Palencia, on the Pisuerga, 40 m. N. W. Burgos. Pop. 1,600.

AHANTA, a territory on the Gold Coast of Africa, between the rivers Ancobia and Suberin.

AHMEDABAD, a town of Hindostan, presid. Bombay, prov. Gujrat, cap. district of same name, on the navigable river the Sabermatty. Lat. 22° 58′ N., long. 72° 37′ E. Pop. 100,000? About the middle of the 15th century it was a flourishing city celebrated for the magnificence of its mosques, palaces, and streets; but it has since fallen greatly to decay. It is surrounded by a high wall flanked with towers; and is a great resort of itinerant players and poets. It suffered severely from the plague in 1812, and from an earthquake in 1819. The district of which Ahmedabad is the cap. produces a land revenue of about 120.000l. a year.

AHMEDPORE, a town of Hindostan, prov. Orissa, 11 m. S. Juggernaut.

AHMEDNUGGUR, a city and fortress of India, presid. Bombay, prov. Aurungabad, cap. district of same name, on the river Seena, 70 m. N. W. Poonah, lat. 199 5' N., long. 74° 55′ E. The town, founded in 1493, is enclosed by a stone wall, and has a handsome marketplace and some pretty good streets, At present it is the head station of a civil establishment, and has about 20.000 inhab., exclusive of the garrison. The fortress, a little way from the town, is oval shaped, and about 1 m. in circ. it is built entirely of stone and is surrounded by a broad and deep ditch. It surrendered to General Wellesley (now Duke of Wellington) in 1803.

The district or collectorate of which Ahmednuggur is the cap., contains an area of 9,910 sq. m. with a pop. of about 667,000. The land revenue amounted in 1827-28 to 181,5847., the average rate of assessment being 14 rup. per begah. The total revenue for the same year was 203,4001. (Parl. Papers on Indian affairs; Revenue, Appendir, p. 660.)

AHMOOD, a town of Gujrat, 20 m N. by W. Broach, lat. 22° 3′ N., long. 73° 6′ E.

AHRBERG, a town and castle of Bavaria, circ. Rezat, 10 m. S. Anspach. Pop. 3,300.

AHRWEILER, a town of the Prussian states, prov. Lower Rhine, cap. arc., on the Ahr, 23 m. W.N. W. Coblentz. Pop. 2,100.

AHUN, a very ancient town of France, dep. Creuse, cap. cant., 10 m. S.E. Gueret, on a mountain at the foot of which flows the Creuse. Pop. 2,183.

It is fortified, and, from its position, is an important post for the detence of the coast. Owing to the retrogression of the sea, the town is surrounded by marshes (whence its name Aqua Mortua), and is very unhealthy. The salt lake of Peccais, in the neighbourhood, is celebrated as well for the quality as for the quantity of the salt obtained from it. (Hugo, art. " Gard.")

AIGUILLE (L'), a celebrated mountain in France, dep. Isere, 4 m. N. W. Corps, height 2,000 m. (6,365 feet). Its under part has the appearance of a truncated cone, and its upper part is of a cubical form. It was long supposed to be inaccessible, and was hence called Mons Inaccessus; but in 1492 an officer of Charles VIII. reached its summit.

AIGUILLON, a town of France, dep. Lot et Garonne, at the confluence of the Lot and the Garonne, 17 m. N.W. Agen. Pop. 3,919. It was unsuccessfully besieged by John Duke of Normandy in 1345; when, it has been said, but incorrectly, that cannons were first made use of.

AIGURANDE, a town of France, dep. Indre, cap. cant., 12 m. S. W. Châtre. Pop. 1,945. It is the centre of an extensive cattle trade; and has, or had, an octagonal monument, believed to be very ancient, but of which the object is unknown.

AILAH, or ELANA, a decayed town of Arabia, on the gulf of Akabah; which see.

AILSA, an insulated rock in the Frith of Clyde, 10 m. W. Girvan. Its base is elliptical, and it rises abruptly from the sea to the height of 1,098 feet. It consists of columnar trap. The N.W. side is almost perpendicular, being formed of successive tiers of immense columns. It is frequented by innumerable flocks of sea fowl, and is a very striking object from every part of the Ayrshire coast. It gives the title of Marquis to the noble family of Kennedy.

AIN, a frontier department in the E. of France, having the Rhone, which separates it from Savoy on the E. and S., the Saone on the W., and the depts. of Saone et Loire, Jura, and part of Switzerland, on the N. and N. W. Area 592,674 hectares. Pop. 346,188. Exclusive of the Rhone and Saone, by which it is partly bounded, it is divided by the Ain, whence it derives its name, into two nearly equal parts; that to the E. being rugged, mountainous, and principally adapted to pasturage; whereas that to the W., though in parts marshy, is ge

AICHACH, or AICHA, a town of Bavaria, circ. Upper Danube, on the Paar, 12 m. E.N.E., Augsburg. Pop. 1,600. It is surrounded by walls and ditches.

AIGLE, a town of Switzerland, cant. Vaud, cap. dist. same name, on the torrent Grande-Eau, near the Rhone. Pop. 1,750.

AIGLE (L'), a town of France, dep. Orne, cap. cant., on the Rille, 18 m. N.N.E. Mortagne. Pop. 5,454. Though old and surrounded by the remains of old walls, it is well built, neat, and clean, and is distinguished by its industry. The needles and pins manufactured here are celebrated all over France, and it has also fabrics of iron and copper wire, wire gauze, nails, &c. It has withstood several sieges.

AIGNAN (ST.), a town of France, dep. Loire et Cher, cap. cant., 24 m. S. Blois. Pop. 2,856. There is in the vicinity the only quarry of gun-flints in France. The quantity annually manufactured is estimated at from 35,000,000 to 40,000,000. Those for the use of the army are kept in depot in the castle of Amboise. AIGRE FENILLE, a village of France, dep. Charente Inférieur, cap. cant., 13 m. N.N.E. Rochefort. Pop. 1,700.

AIGUE PËRSE, a town of France, den. Puy de Dome, cap. cant., 11 m. N. N. E. Riom. Pop. 3,115 Near it is the Château de la Roche, the birthplace of the chancellor de l'Hôpital.

AIGUES MORTES. A town of France, dep. Gard, cap. cant., 20 m. S. W. Nismes, lat. 43° 33′ 58′′ N., long. 4°11′22′′ E. Pop. 3,240. Though now about 4 m. inland, Aigues Mortes was formerly a sea-port, and was, in fact, the place where St.Louis embarked on his two expeditions to Africa. At present it is connected with the sea by a canal, which is prolonged to Beaucaire on the one hand, while it is united on the other with that of Languedoc.

S. W. portion of this dep. a great number of lakes or ponds, some of which are subjected to a very peculiar species of rotation. It is usual to drain and cultivate them for a season; and when the crop has been gathered they are again filled with water, and with different sorts of fish, according to the nature of the pond; and after being occupied in this way for two years, or thereby, are again dried and subjected to the plough. The extent of the ponds so employed is estimated at nearly 16.000 hectares. This is found to be a very profitable species of cultivation; though, from the humidity it occasions, it is said to render the climate unhealthy. Oxen, of which large numbers are bred, are generally used in tillage. Produce of corn crops sufficient for the consumption. Vintage considerable, three-fifths of the produce exported. Woods very extensive, amounting to about 120,000 hectares. Near Belley are produced the best lithographic stones in France. Manufactures inconsiderable. numbers of the inhabitants emigrate annually after harvest to seek for employment in the contiguous departments. Ain returns 5 members to the Ch.of Deputies, and has 1,203 electors. Public revenue of the dep. in 1831, 6.258,042 fr. Chief towns Bourg, Nantua, Trevoux, Belley, and Gex. But the most celebrated place in the dep. is Ferney, long the residence of Voltaire.- (Hugo, France Pittoresque, dep. Ain; French Official Tables.)

Great

AIN-TAB, a large town in the N. of Syria, on the S. slope of the Taurus, lat. 36° 58′ N., long, 37° 13′ 15′′′ E., 70 m. N. Aleppo, and 30 m. W. Bir, on the Euphrates. Pop. has been estimated at 20,000, which, if the town be two thirds the size of Aleppo, as stated by Maundrell (Journal, 210.), can scarcely be considered as exaggerated. The inhabitants consist of nearly equal numbers of Armenian and Greek Christians, Curds, and Mohaminedans, among whom a spirit of toleration and unity prevails unparalleled in most other Eastern societies. They use the Turkish language. Houses well built, of a fine stone resembling porphyry, flat-roofed, and generaily of only one story. There are 5 mosques, and several large and well supplied bazars. In the centre of the town is a castle on a mound, re

sembling, in every respect, that of Aleppo, but much smaller. Water abundant, many of the streets having streams flowing through them. On the S. is a large burial ground, which at a short distance resembles an important suburb, and is perhaps not much inferior in extent to the town itself. Manufactures of goat-skin leather, cotton and woollen cloths, are carried on to some extent; and there is some trade in raw and tanned hides, cloth, honey, and tobacco.

Ain-Tab may be regarded as the capital of a limited