ries; less so, in the learned world, for its academy. Lon. 8° 44′ E.; lat. 41° 59′ N. AJALON; a town rendered memorable by Joshua's victory over the five Canaanitish kings, and still more so by the extraordinary circumstance of the miraculously lengthened day.

AJAN; a coast and country of Africa, which has the river Quilmanci on the south, the mountains from which that river springs on the west, Abyssinia and the straits of Babelmandel on the north, and the Indian ocean on the east. The coast abounds with all the necessaries of life, and has plenty of very good horses. AJASSALUCK; the Turkish name for a village on or near the site of the ancient Ephesus. The whole place seems to have been built from the ruins of Ephesian grandeur. Tamerlane encamped here, after having subdued Smyrna, in 1402.

AJAX (Greek, Atas). Among the Grecian chiefs who fought against Troy were Ajax Oïleus and Ajax Telamonius. The former, the son of Oileus and Etiopis, a Locrian, was called the less. He accompanied the expedition to Troy, because he had been one of the suitors of Helen. In the combat, his courage sometimes degenerated into inconsiderate fury. Examples of this are given by the poets who succeeded Homer. When the Greeks, they say, had entered Troy, Cassandra fled to the temple of Pallas, from whence she was forced, and dragged along, bound as a captive. Some accounts add, that she caught hold of the statue of the goddess, and that A. dragged her away by the hair; others, that he violated the prophetess in the temple of the goddess. Ulysses accused him of this crime, when he exculpated himself with an oath. But the anger of the goddess at last overtook him, and he perished in the waves of the sea. The other A. was the son of Telamon, from Salamis, and a grandson of Æacus. He, also, was a suitor of Helen, and sailed with 12 ships to Troy, where he is represented by Homer as the boldest and handsomest of the Greeks, after Achilles. He understood, not how to speak, but how to act. He was frank, and full of noble pride. After the death of Achilles, when his arms, which Ajax claimed on account of his courage and relationship, were awarded to Ulysses, he was filled with rage, and, driven by despair, threw himself on his sword.

AKBAH; a celebrated Saracen conqueror in the first century of the Hegira, who

overran Africa from Cairo to the Atlantic ocean. A general revolt among the Greeks and Africans recalled him from the west, and occasioned his destruction. He founded Cairoan, in the interior of Africa, to check the barbarians and secure a place of refuge to the families of the Saracens.

AKBAR, or AKBER, Mohammed, sovereign of India; the greatest Asiatic prince of modern times. He was born at Amerket, in the year of the Hegira 949 (1542 of the Christian æra), and, after the death of his father, ascended the throne, at the age of 13, and governed India under the guardianship of his minister, Beyram. His great talents were early developed. He fought with distinguished valor against his foreign foes and rebellious subjects, among whom was Beyram himself. His government was remarkable for its mildness and the greatest tolerance towards all sects. Though compelled, by continued commotions, to visit the different provinces of his empire at the head of his army, he loved the sciences, especially history, and was indefatigable in his attention to the internal administration of his empire. He instituted inquiries into the population, the nature and productions of each province. The results of his statistical labors were collected by his minister, Abul Fazl, in a work, entitled Ayeen Akberi, printed in English, at Calcutta, 1783-86, 3 vols., and reprinted in London. A. died, after a reign of 49 years, in 1017 (1604, A. D.) His splendid sepulchral monument still exists near Agra, with the simple inscription, Akbar the Admirable. He was succeeded by his son Selim, under the name Djihangir.

AKENSIDE, Mark, a poet and physician, was born in 1721, at Newcastle-uponTyne. His father, a butcher, of the Presbyterian sect, intended him for a clergyman, and placed him, at the age of 18, in the university of Edinburgh, to qualify him for that office. The taste of A. was not inclined to that profession, and he abandoned the study of theology for that of physic. Having received some assistance from the funds employed by the Dissenters in the education of young men intended for the ministry, he very honorably refunded the amount when he relinquished his theological studies. After 3 years residence at Edinburgh, he went to Leyden, and in 1744 became doctor of physic. In a thesis, which he published on receiving his degree, De Ortu et Incremento Fatus Humani, he proposed a new

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theory, which has been since confirmed and received. In the same year, he published the Pleasures of Imagination, which, however, he is said to have written during his residence at Edinburgh. In the following year, he published a collection of odes, and the epistle to Curio, a satire on Pulteney. After having unsuccessfully attempted the practice of his profession at Northampton and Hampstead, he was invited to London by his friend Mr. Dyson, from whom he received a pension of £300 a year. Here he became a fellow of the royal society, was admitted into the college of physicians, and read the Gulstonian lectures in anatomy, but never obtained a very extensive practice. While at London, he wrote little poetry, but published several medical essays and observations. His discourse on the dysentery (1764) has been much admired for the elegance of its Latinity. He died 1770, in the 49th year of his age, of a putrid fever. A. was a man of religion and strict morals; a philosopher, a scholar and a fine poet. His conversation is described to have been of the most delightful kind, learned and instructive, without any affectation of wit, cheerful and entertaining. Yet his pride, insolence and irascibility involved him in frequent disputes, and prevented his success in the practice of his profession. His favorite authors were Plato and Cicero among the ancients, and Shaftesbury and Hutchinson among the moderns. The odes of A. do not entitle him to a very high rank in lyric poetry; his epistle to Curio is written in a tone of vigorous and poignant satire. He is particularly distinguished as a didactic poet, and has left in his Pleasures of Imagination one of the most pleasing didactic poems in our language. The periods are harmonious, the cadence graceful, and the measure dignified. It is replete with elevated sentiments, with images of poetic beauty and high philosophy. The sentences are sometimes extended to too great length, splendid imagery too much accumulated, and the thought sometimes too thickly overlaid with words. These faults he endeavored to correct in the new edition, in which many other changes are introduced; but the original will always be more read and admired.

ÅKERBLAD, John David; by birth a Swede. When very young, he accompanied the Swedish embassy to Constantinople in the capacity of secretary. The leisure which his station afforded, he employed in travelling through the East.

He visited Jerusalem and the Troad in 1792 and 1797; and has offered some suggestions respecting the situation of the city of Troy, in the German translation of Le Chevalier's travels, which display both the classical scholar and the learned orientalist. For some time, about the year 1800, he lived in Göttingen, and then went to Paris, as Swedish chargé d'affaires. Discontent at the changes in his native country is said to have induced him to throw off all connexion with Sweden, and retire to Rome, where he received from the duchess of Devonshire, and other friends of literature, the means of living in literary leisure. He died at Rome, Feb. 8, 1819. His writings display a great knowledge of the oriental and western languages, which he could speak as well as interpret. Among them are his Lettre à M. Silvestre de Sacy, sur l'Écriture cursive Copte (Mag. Encyc., 1801, tom. v.), the Lettre à M. de Sacy, sur l'Inscription Egyptienne de Rosette (id. 1802, tom. iii.), his famous explanation of the inscriptions on the lions at Venice, Notice sur deux Inscriptions en Caractères Runiques, trouvées à Venise et sur les Varanges, avec les Remarques de M. d'Ausse de Villoison. Equally important, both for the knowledge of ancient writings and of inscriptions, is the Inscrizione Greca sopra una Lamina di piombo Trovato in un Sepolcro nelle Vicinanze d'Atene (Rome, 1813, 4to.), in improving which he was employed when surprised by death. The last of his works, that appeared in print, was a Lettre sur une Inscription Phénicienne trouvée à Athènes (Rome, 1814, 4to.), addressed to count Italinsky. The national institute at Paris chose him a corresponding member of their society. He lies buried near the pyramid of Cestius, at Rome.

AKERMAN, or ACKERMAN (the ancient Julia Alba and Hermonoclis); a town in Bessarabia, a province of Russia, on the coast of the Black sea, at the mouth of the Dniester, 65 miles S. E. of Bender, 68 S. W. of Otchakow; lon. 30° 44' E.; lat. 46° 12′ N.; pop. stated very differently; formerly at 20,000, more recently at 8000. It contains a number of mosques, one Catholic and one Armenian church, and has some trade. A. has recently acquired some celebrity by the treaty between Russia and Turkey, there concluded, Oct. 6, 1826, in which the latter power agreed to the 82 points of the Russian ultimatum. This treaty is a supplement to the peace of Bucharest. The porte ceded to the emperor Nicholas all

the fortresses in Asia of which it had previously demanded the restoration, and acknowledged the political organization (if we dare use this expression for so rude a state of politics) which Russia had determined on for Servia, Moldavia and Walachia. But the treaty was not executed till 1827, and then not to the satisfaction of Russia. This furnished the ostensible reason of the present war between the two great eastern powers. (See Russia, and Ottoman Empire.)

ALABAMA, one of the U. States; bounded N. by Tennessee, E. by Georgia, S. by Florida and the gulf of Mexico, and W. by Mississippi; lon. 85° to 88° 30′ W.; lat. 30° 10 to 35° N.; 330 miles long, from N. to S., and 174 from E. to W.; square miles, about 51,000; pop. in 1810, less than 10,000; in 1816, 29,683; in 1818, 70,544; in 1820, by the imperfect census as first returned, 127,901; by the census as subsequently completed, 144,317; in 1827, 244,041, of whom 152,178 were whites, 93,308 slaves, and 555 free persons of color. The last estimate of the number of Indians within the territory of the U. States, by the war department, in 1829, states that there are 19,200 Indians in the state of A.-The number of counties into which this state was divided in 1820, was 24; and in 1828, 36. Tuscaloosa is the present seat of government. Cahawba was formerly the capital. Mobile is the principal port. (q. v.-The principal rivers are the Alabama, Tombeckbee, Mobile, Black-Warrior, Coosa, Tallapoosa, Tennessee, Chatahoochee, Perdido, Cahawba and Conecuh.-The southern part of the state, which borders on the gulf of Mexico and Florida, throughout a space 50 or 60 miles wide, is low and level, covered with pine, cypress and loblolly; in the middle it is hilly, with some tracts of open land or prairies; in the northern part it is somewhat broken and mountainous. The Alleghany mountains terminate in the north-east part. The foresttrees in the middle and northern divisions are post, black and white oak, hickory, poplar, cedar, chestnut, pine, mulberry, &c.-The soil is various, but a large part of it is excellent. In the south it is generally sandy and barren; and a part of the high lands are unfit for cultivation. A large portion of the country which lies between the Alabama and Tombeckbee, of that part watered by the Coosa and Tallapoosa, and of that on the Tennessee, consists of very excellent land. On the margin of the rivers there is a quantity of cane bottom-land of great fer

tility, generally from to mile wide. On the outside of this is a space which is low, wet, and intersected by stagnant water. Next to this river swamp, and elevated 10 or 15 feet above it, succeeds an extensive body of level land, of a black, rich soil, with a growth of hickory, black oak, post oak, poplar, dogwood, &c. After this come the prairies, which are widespreading plains, or gently-waving land, without timber, clothed with grass, herbage and flowers, exhibiting, in the month of May, the most enchanting scenery.Cotton is the staple production, and is raised in great quantities. Other productions are maize, rice, wheat, rye, oats, &c. Iron ore is found in several places, and coal abounds on the Black-Warrior and Cahawba.-The climate in the southern part of the bottom-land bordering on the rivers, and of the country bordering on the Muscle shoals, is unhealthy. In the elevated country, the climate is very fine; the winters are mild, and the summers pleasant, being tempered by breezes from the gulf of Mexico.-The population of this state, from the time when the first settlement was commenced, has increased with remarkable rapidity. Occupying the valley of the Mobile and its tributary streams, the Alabama and Tombeckbee, its position, in an agricultural and commercial point of view, is highly advantageous; and from the fertility of its soil, and the value of its productions, it may be expected to become an important member of the Union.-The Cherokee Indians occupy the N. E. corner of the state, the Creeks the eastern part, and the Chickasaws and Choctaws some portions of the western.-Alabama originally belonged to the state of Georgia; in 1800, the country including the present states of Mississippi and Alabama was formed into a territory; the part of Florida between Pearl and Perdido rivers being taken possession of by the U. States in 1812, and annexed to this territory, emigration into it immediately commenced. During the years 1813 and 1814, it was harassed by the attacks of the savages, who were reduced to submission by general Jackson. In 1817, the western portion of the territory became the state of Mississippi, and the eastern the territory of Alabama, which, by an act of congress, March, 1819, was admitted into the Union as an independent state. By its constitution, adopted July, 1819, the legislative power is vested in two houses, chosen by universal suffrage.-Many of the settlers in this state are rich planters. Some of the lands were

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sold for $50 an acre in a state of nature. The fertility of the soil, the general salubrity and mildness of the climate, the great facilities for internal navigation and foreign commerce, sufficiently account for the rapid increase of its population.For an account of the Yazoo lands, and the proceedings of the legislature of Georgia respecting them, see Georgia. For the constitution of A. see Constitutions of the U. States.

ALABAMA; a river which gives its name to the state so called ; (see the preceeding article). It is formed by the junction of the Coosa and Tallapoosa, and, flowing S. S. W., unites with the Tombeckbee, 45 miles above Mobile bay, to form the river Mobile. From the junction to Clairborne, 60 miles, it is navigable at all seasons for vessels drawing 6 feet. From Clairborne to the mouth of the Cahawba, about 150 miles, the river has 4 or 5 feet of water. From the mouth of the Cahawba to the junction of the Coosa and Tallapoosa, the navigation generally continues good, the river affording 3 feet of water in the shallowest places. The river is subject to great variation by rising and falling. ALABAMA; a tribe of Indians so called, which formerly inhabited the eastern side of the Mobile river.

ALABASTER (in Greek, háßαorgos; in Latin, alabaster), in mineralogy; (see Gypsum.) In sculpture; the common name, among ancient and modern artists, for gypsum and the calc-sinter of modern mineralogy. A. has a greater or less degree of transparency, according to its goodness; has a granular texture, is softer than marble, does not take so fine a polish, and is usually of a pure white color. In Europe, it is found near Coblentz in Germany; in the neighborhood of Cluny, in France; in Italy, near Rome. Some of the A. near this city is particularly celebrated for its whiteness and the size of its blocks, which are large enough for a statue of the size of life. There are, also, many quarries of the granular gypsum, which is used for the manufacture of plaster of Paris, in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, England. To prepare the plaster, the gypsum is burned and ground. Moulds and casts from statues and other sculptures are formed from this valuable material, and also a very strong cement for the use of the sculptor and mason, to form the close joints of marble; plasterers use it also much, particularly for mouldings and foliage. The ancients obtained large blocks of A. from Thebes (where was a town from which it received this name),

and used it for statues and columns. The various museums contain many vases and similar articles of A., for which the Romans often employed this material. They imported much from Cyprus, Spain and even Africa. They liked particularly to put their lamps in vases of transparent A., which gave an agreeable softness to the light. In the museums, several figures of ancient sculpture are preserved, the bodies of which are of A. and the heads of some other substance. A box, vase, or other vessel, to hold perfumes, formed of A. was called by the ancients alabastrum; Horace calls them onychites. The alabastrum is always among the attributes of the Bathing Venus. Oriental A. was the most sought after for the purpose of making these vessels.

ALACRANES; a range of hidden rocks, shoals and banks in the gulf of Mexico, near the coast of Yucatan. Lon. 90° W.; lat. 22° 36′ N.

ALADAN, ALADA, or ALADINE ISLANDS a cluster of small islands in the bay of Bengal, belonging to what is sometimes called the Mergui Archipelago, near the coast of Siam. They run from 9° 5' to 9° 40', N. lat., and are in 97° 52′, E. lon.

ALAMANNI, Luigi; a famous Italian poet, born at Florence, in 1495, of one of the noblest and most distinguished families of the republic. His father was zealously devoted to the party of the Medici, and he himself stood in high favor with the cardinal Giulio, who governed in the name of pope Leo X; but, conceiving himself to have been injured, he joined a conspiracy formed against the life of the cardinal. The plan was discovered; A. fled to Venice, and, when the cardinal ascended the papal chair, under the name of Clement VII, he took refuge in France. But the misfortunes which befell this pope giving Florence an opportunity to become free, in 1527 A. returned thither. His country sent him on an embassy to Gen

oa.

Here he became the friend of Andrew Doria, with whose fleet he went to Spain. Charles V soon after sailed in the same fleet from Spain to Italy, to arrange the affairs of Florence, and subject it to the Medici. After this new revolution, A., proscribed by the duke Alessandro, went to France, where the favors of Francis I retained him. Here he composed the greater part of his works. The king esteemed him so highly, that, after the peace of Crespy, in 1544, he sent him as ambassador to the emperor Charles V. A. discharged his office with great skill. He was held in like estimation by

Henry II, who also employed him in several negotiations. He followed the court, and was with it at Amboise, when he was attacked with the dysentery, which terminated his life. His principal works are a collection of poems, eclogues, psalms, satires, elegies, fables, &c., part in blank verse, the invention of which is contested with him by Trissino; Opere Toscane, a didactic poem; La Coltivazione, to which he is mostly indebted for his fame; Girone il Cortese, a heroic poem, in 24 cantos, from an old French poem of the same name; La Avarchide, an epic, in which he describes, in a few happy imitations of Homer, the siege of the city of Bourges (Avaricum,) likewise in 24 cantos; Flora, a comedy in versi sdruccioli (see Rhyme); and a number of epigrams. The writings of A. are recommended by ease, perspicuity and purity of style, but often want strength and poetic elevation.

stances conspire to make the Aland isles the principal rendezvous of the Russian fleets, which ride there secure in fortified harbors. These circumstances are, the early breaking of the ice in spring; the lateness of the period till which the harbors and roadsteads remain open and free from ice, on account of the strong currents which cross there from the gulfs of Bothnia and Finland; the facility of observing the ships entering lake Maler, and of watching the Swedish coasting trade along the right coast of the gulf of Bothnia, as well as of protecting the Russian coasting trade on the left shore of the same gulf.

ALAN, OF ALLEN, William, was born in Lancashire, in 1532. Being warmly attached to the Roman Catholic religion, he left England on the accession of Elizabeth; and, though he soon after returned, he lived in the greatest privacy, and finally fled to Flanders. He was, both during this concealment in England and his residence abroad, actively engaged in writing and distributing polemical tracts, and was one of the ablest advocates of Rome. He asserted the necessity of deposing Elizabeth, maintained that heresy absolved subjects from their allegiance, and recommended the invasion of England by the Spaniards. For these services he was created a cardinal, and continued to reside at Rome till his death, in 1594.

ALAND; a cluster of islands in the gulf of Bothnia; 59° 47' to 60° 32′ N. lat., and 18° 47' to 21° 37' E. long. They contain 13,340 inhabitants, of whom more than 9000 belong to the principal island of the same name, which is 40 miles long and 30 broad. Above 80 of these islands and rocks are inhabited. They contain some good harbors. In 1809, this cluster of islands, together with Finland, was made over by Sweden to Russia. The government founded a city there, and fortified some spots. The ground is so stony, and the soil so thin, that the crops sometimes wither in hot summers. Several circum

ALARIC, king of the Visigoths; the least barbarous of all the conquerors who ravaged the Roman empire. History first mentions him about A. D. 395, when the Goths were united with the armies of Theodosius the Great, in order to repel the Huns, who menaced the western empire. This alliance disclosed to A. the weakness of the Roman empire, and inspired him with the resolution of attacking it himself. The dissensions between the two sons and successors of Theodosius, Arcadius and Honorius, and their ministers, Rufinus and Stilico, facilitated the execution of his purpose; and, though the brave Stilico was successful in averting his first attack, in the years 400-403, by routing him on the Adda and at Verona, yet A. found, in 404, an opportunity of returning to Italy with his army. By the mediation of Stilico, he concluded a compact with Honorius, conformably to which he was to advance to Epirus, and from thence to attack Arcadius, in conjunction with the troops of Stilico. This war did not take place; but A. demanded an indemnification for having undertaken the expedition, and Honorius, at the advice of Stilico, promised him 4000 pounds of gold (see Stilico); but, after the execution of the latter, he failed to fulfil his promise. A. advanced