(Washington, 1889); W. E. Martin's Internal Improvements
in Alabama (Baltimore, 1902; Johns Hopkins University
Studies, (Series 20, No. 4); and W. L. Martin's Code of
Alabama (2 vols., Atlanta, Ga., 1897) may be consulted.
Information concerning the aboriginal remains in the state may
be found in two papers by Clarence B. Moore, ``Certain Aboriginal
Remains of the Tombigbee River'' and ``Certain Aboriginal Remains
of the Alabama River,'' published in the Journal of the Academy
of Natural Sciences, series 2, vol. ii. (Philadelphia, 1900).
1 The special census of manufactures taken in 1905 was
confined to manufacturing establishments conducted under
the ``factory system.'' According to this census the capital
invested was $105,382,859, and the value of products was
$109,169,922. The corresponding figures for 1900, if the
same standard be taken for purposes of comparison, would be
$60,165,904 and $72,109,929. During the five years, therefore,
the capital invested in establishments under the factory
system increased 75.2%, and the value of products 51.4%.
2 The railway mileage of the state on
the 31st of December 1906 was 4805.58 m.
3 In Giles v. Harris, 189 U.S. 474, a negro asked that the
defendant board of registry be required to enrol his name and
the names of other negroes on the registration lists, and that
certain sections of the constitution of Alabama be declared void
as being contrary to the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments
to the federal constitution. The Supreme Court dismissed
the bill on the grounds that equity has no jurisdiction over
political matters; that, assuming the fraudulent character
of the objectionable constitutional provisions, the court
was in effect asked to assist in administering a fraud;
and that relief ``must be given by them [the people of the
state] or By the legislative and political departments of the
government of the United States.'' The case attracted much
attention; and it is often erroneously said that the court
upheld the disfranchising clauses of the Alabama constitution.
4 The enrolment was 104,318 blacks and 61,295 whites.
5 William Wyatt Bibb died in 1820, and Thomas Bibb, then president
of the state senate, filled the unexpired term of one year (1820).
6 In 1837 Governor Clay was elected United States Senator, and Hugh
M`Vay, the president of the state senate, filled the unexpired term.
7 Until 1845 the term of state officials was one year; from then
until 1901 it was two years; since 1901 it has been four years.
``ALABAMA'' ARBITRATION.---This is one of those arbitrations
on pecuniary claims, made by one state, on behalf of its
subjects, against another state, which are referred to in the
article ARBITRATION, INTERNATIONAL. The case is important,
both from a.historical and a juridical point of view, and
affords a conspicuous example of the value of arbitration
as a means of averting war. The facts are as follows:--
In 1861 the Southern States of North America seceded from the
rest on the slavery question and set up a separate government
under President Jefferson Davis. Hostilities began with the
capture of Fort Sumter by the Confederates on the 13th of April
1861. On the 19th of April President Abraham Lincoln declared
a blockade of the southern ports. On the 14th of May the
British government issued a proclamation of neutrality, by
which the Confederates were recognized as belligerents. This
example was followed shortly afterwards by France and other
nations. The blockade of the southern ports was not at
first effective, and blockade-running soon became an active
industry. The Confederates established agencies in England
for the purchase of arms, which they despatched in ordinary
merchant vessels to the Bahamas, whence they were transhipped
into fast steamers especially constructed for the purpose.
In June 1862 the vessel, the ``Alabama,'' originally known as
``No. 290,'' was being built by Messrs. Laird at Birkenhead.
She was then nearly completed and was obviously intended for a
man-of-war. On the 23rd of June Mr C. F. Adams forwarded
to Earl Russell a letter from the United States consul at
Liverpool giving certain particulars as to her character.
This letter was laid before the law officers, who advised
that, if these particulars were correct, the vessel ought to be
detained. On the 21st of July sworn evidence, which was
supplemented on the 23rd of July, was obtained and laid before
the commissioners of customs (who were the proper authorities
to enforce the provisions of the Foreign Enlistment Act of
1819), but they declined to move. On the 23rd of July the same
evidence was laid before the law officers, who advised that
there was sufficient ground fordetention. By some accident,
which has never been satisfactorily explained, but was probably
connected with the severe illness of Sir John Harding, the
queen's advocate, the papers were not returned till the 29th of
July. Instructions were then issued to seize the vessel, but
she had already sailed on the evening of the 28th. Although
she remained for two days off the coast of Anglesey, there was
no serious attempt at pursuit. She afterwards made her way to
the Azores, where she received her armament, which was brought
from Liverpool in two British ships. Captain Sommes there
took command of her under a commission from the Confederate
government. After a most destructive career she was sunk
off Cherbourg by the ``Kearsarge'' on the 19th of June 1864.
On these facts the United States government alleged against
Great Britain two grievances, or sets of grievances. The first
was the recognition of the Southern States as belligerents
and a general manifestation of unfriendliness in other
ways. The second was in respect of breaches of neutrality
in allowing the ``Alabama,'' the ``Florida'' (originally the
``Oreto'', the ``Shenandoah'' and other Confederate vessels
to be built and equipped on British territory. Correspondence
ensued extending over several years. At length in February
1871 a commission was appointed to sit at Washington in
order, if possible, to arrive at some common understanding
as to the mode in which the questions at issue might be
settled. With resoect to the ``Alabama'' claims the British
commissioners suggested that they should be submitted to
arbitration. The American commissioners refused ``unless
the principles which should govern the arbitrators in the
consideration of the facts could be first agreed upon.'' After
some discussion the British commissioners consented that the
three following rules should apply. A neutral government is
bound---(1) to use due diligence to prevent the fitting out,
arming or equipping within its jurisdiction of any vessel,
which it has reasonable ground to believe is intended to
cruise or to carry on war against a power with which it is at
peace, and also to use like diligence to prevent the departure
from its jurisdiction of any vessel intended to cruise or
carry on war as above, such vessel having been specially
adapted, in whole or in part, within such jurisdiction, to
warlike use; (2) not to permit or suffer either belligerent
to make use of its ports or waters as the base of naval
operations against the other, or for the purpose of the
renewal or augmentation of military supplies or arms or the
recruitment of men; (3) to exercise due diligence in its own
ports and waters, and as to all persons within its jurisdiction
to prevent any violation of the foregoing obligation and
duties. The arrangements made by the commission were embodied
in the treaty of Washington, which was signed on the 8th
of May 1871, and approved by the Senate on the 24th of May.
Article 1, after expressing the regret felt by Her Majesty's
government for the escape, in whatever circumstances, of the
``Alabama', and other vessels from British ports, and for
the depredations committed by these vessels, provided that
``the claims growing out of the acts of the said vessels, and
generically known as the `Alabama' claims'' should be referred
to a tribunal composed of five arbitrators, one to be named
by each of the contracting parties and the remaining three by
the king of Italy, the president of the Swiss Confederation
and the emperor of Brazil respectively. By Article 2 all
questions submitted were to be decided by a majority of the
arbitrators, and each of the contracting parties was to name
one person to attend as agent. Article 6 provided that the
arbitrators should be governed by the three rules quoted
above, and by such principles of international law not
inconsistent therewith as the arbitrators should determine to
be applicable to the case. By the same article the parties
agreed to observe these rules as between themselves in
future, and to bring them to the knowledge of other maritime
powers. Article 7 provided that the decision should be
made within three months from the close of the argument, and
gave power to the arbitrators to award a sum in gross in the
event of Great Britain being adjudged to be in the wrong.
The treaty was, on the whole, welcomed in England. The United
States appointed Mr C. F. Adams as arbitrator and Mr J. C.
Bancroft Davis as agent. The British government appointed
Sir Alexander Cockburn as arbitrator and Lord Tenterden as
agent. The arbitrators appointed by the three neutral powers
were Count Sclopis (Italy), M. Staempfli (Switzerland), Baron
d'Itajuba (Brazil). The first meetinhof the tribunal took
place on the 15th of December 1871 in the Hotel de Ville,
Geneva. As soon as the cases had been formally presented, the
tribunal adjourned till the following June. There followed
immediately a controversy which threatened the collapse of the
arbitration. It was found that in the American case damages
were claimed not only for the property destroyed by the
Confederate cruisers, but in respect of certain other matters
known as ``indirect losses,'' viz. the transference of the
American marine to the British flag, the enhanced payments of
insurance, the expenses of pursuit and the prolongation of the
war. But this was not all. The American case revived the
charges of ``insincere neutrality'' and ``veiled hostility''
which had figured in the diplomatic correspondence, and had
been repudiated by Great Britain. It dwelt at length upon
such topics as the premature recognition of belligerency,
the unfriendly utterances of British politicians and the
material assistance afforded to the Confederates by British
traders. The inclusion of the indirect losses and the other
matters just referred to caused great excitement in England.
That they were within the treaty was disputed, and it was
argued that, if they were, the treaty should be amended or
denounced. In October 1872 Lord Granville notified to General
Schenck, the United States minister, that the British government
did not consider that the indirect losses were within the
submission, and in April the British counter-case was filed
without prejudice to this contention. On the 15th of June
the tribunal reassembled and the A11erican argument was
filed. The British agent then applied for an adjournment of
eight months, ostensibly in order that the two governments
might conclude a supplemental convention, it having been
meanwhile privately arranged between the arbitrators that
an extra-judicial declaration should be obtained from the
arbitrators on the subject of the direct claims. On the
10th of June Count Sclopis intimated on behalf of all his
colleagues that, without intending to express any opinion
upon the interpretation of the treaty, they had arrived at
the conclusion that ``the indirect claims did not constitute
upon the principles of international law applicable to such
cases a good foundation for . an award or computation of
damages between nations.'' In consequence of this intimation Mr
Bancroft Davis informed the tribunal on the 25th of June that
he was instructed not to press those claims; and accordingly
on the 27th of June Lord Tenterden withdrew his application
for an adjournment, and the arbitration was allowed to
proceed. The discussion turned mainly on the question of
the measure of ``due diligence.'' The United States contended
that it must be a diligence commensurate with the emergency or
with the magnitude of the results of negligence. The British
government maintained that while the measure of care which
a government is bound to use in such cases must be dependent
more or less upon circumstances, it would be unreasonable
to require that it should exceed that which the governments
of civilized states were accustomed to employ in matters
concerning their own security or that of their citizens.
The tribunal adopted the view suggested by the United
States. It found that Great Britain was legally responsible
for all the depredations of the ``Alabama'' and ``Florida''
and for those committed by the ``Shenandoah'' after she left
Melbourne. In . the case of the ``Alabama'' the court was
unanimous; in the case of the ``Florida'' Sir A. Cockburn
alone, in that of the ``Shenandoah'' he and Baron d'Itajuba,
dissented from the majority, In the cases of the other
vessels the judgment was in favour of Great Britain.
The tribunal decided to award a sum in gross, and (Sir A.
Cockburn again dissenting) fixed the damages at $15,500,000 in
gold. On the 14th of September the award was formally
published, and signed by all the arbitrators except Sir A.
Cockburn, who filed a lengthy statement of his reasons.
The stipulation that the three rules should be jointly submitted
by the two powers to foreign nations has never been carried
out. For this the British government has been blamed by some. But
the general view of continental publicists is, that the language
of the rules was not sufficiently precise to admit of their being
generally accepted as a canon of neutral obligations. (M. H. C.)
ALABAMA RIVER, a river of Alabama, U.S.A., formed by the
Tallapoosa and Coosa rivers, which unite about 6 m. above
Montgomery. It flows W. as far as Selma, then S.W. until,
about 45 m. from Mobile, it unites with the Tombigbee to form
the Mobile and Tensas rivers, which discharge into Mobile Bay.
The course of the Alabama is tortuous; its width varies from
200 to 300 yds., its depth from 3 to 7 ft.; its length by the
United States Survey is 312 m., by steamboat measurement, 420
m. The river crosses the richest agricultural and timber
districts of the state, and railways connect it with the
mineral regions of north central Alabama. The principal
tributary of the Alabama is the Canaba (about 200 m. long),
which enters it about 10 m. below Selma. Of the rivers which
form the Alabama, the Coosa crosses the mineral region of
Alabama, and is navigable for light-draft boats from Rome,
Georgia (where it is formed by the junction of the Oostenaula
and Etowah rivers), to about 117 m. above Wetumpka (about
102 m. below Rome and 26 m. below Greensport), and from
Wetumpka to its junction with the Tallapoosa; the channel
of the river has been considerably improved by the Federal
government. The navigation of the Lallapoosa river (which has
its source in Paulding county, Georgia, and is about 250 m.
long) is prevented by shoals and a 60-ft. fall at Tallassee,
a few miles N. of its junction with the Coosa. The Alabama is
navigable throughout the year. In 1878 the Federal government
undertook to make a channel tho length of the Alabama 200
ft. wide and 4 ft. deep; an amendment in 1891 provided for
a 6-ft. channel at low water, and in June 1907 this work was
reported as ``10% completed'' at an expenditure of $303,650.
The Mobile river is navigable for vessels of about 14 ft.
draft. The Alabama is an important carrier of cotton, cotton
seed, fertilizer, cereals, lumber, naval stores, &c.; and in
the fiscal year 1906-1907 the freight tonnage was 417,041 tons.
ALABASTER, or ARBLASTIER, WILLIAM (1567--1640), English
Latin poet and scholar, was born at Hadleigh, Suffolk, in
1567. He was, so Fuller states, a nephew by marriage of Dr John
Still, bishop of Bath and Wells. His surname, sometimes written
Arblastier, is one of the many variants of arbalester, a
cross-bowman. Alabaster was educated at Westminster school,
and entered Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1583. He became a
fellow, and in 1592 was incorporated of the university of
Oxford. About 1502 he produced at Trinity College his Latin
tragedy of Roxana.1 It is modelled on the tragedies of
Seneca, and is a stiff and spiritless work. Fuller and Anthony
a Wood bestowed exaggerated praise on it, while Samuel Johnson
regarded it as the only Latin verse worthy of notice produced
in England before Milton's elegies. Roxana is founded
on the La Dalida (Venice, 1567) of Luigi Groto, known as
Cieco di Hadria, and Hallam asserts that it is a plagiarism
(Literature of Europe, iii. 54). A surreptitious edition
in 1632 was followed by an authorized version a plagiarii
unguibus vindicata, aucta et agnita ab Aithore, Gulielmo,
Alabastro. One book of an epic poem in Latin hexameters, in
honour of Queen Elizabeth, is preserved in MS. in the library of
Emmanuel College, Cambridge. This poem, Elisaeis, Apotheosis
poetica, Spenser highly esteemed. ``Who lives that can match
that heroick song?'' he says in Colin Clout's come home
again, and begs ``Cynthia'' to withdraw the poet from his
obscurity. In June 1596 Alabaster sailed with Robert Devereux,
earl of Essex, on the expedition to Cadiz in the capacity
of chaplain, and, while he was in Spain, he became a Roman
Catholic. An account of his change of laith is given in an
obscurely worded sonnet contained in a MS. copy of Divine
Meditations, by Mr Alabaster (see J. P. Collier, Hist. of Eng.
Dram. Poetry, ii. 341). He defended his conversion in a
pamphlet, Seven Motives, of which no copy is extant. The
proof of its publication only remains in two tracts, A Booke
of the Seuen Planets, or Seuen wandring motives of William
Alablaster's (sic) wit . . ., by John Racster (1598), and
An Answer to William Alabaster. his Motives, by Roger Fenton
(1599). From these it appears that Alabaster was imprisoned
for his change of faith in the Tower of London during 1598 and
1599. In 1607 he published at Antwerp Apparatus in Revelationem
Jesu Christi, in which his study of the Kabbalah was turned
to account in a mystical interpretation of scripture which drew
down the censure alike of Protestants and Catholics. The book
was placed on the Index librorum prohibitorum at Rome early in
1610. Alabaster says in the preface to his Ecce sponsus
veni (1633), a treatise on the time of the second advent of
Christ, that he went to Rome and was there imprisoned by the
Inquisition but succeeded in escaping to England and again
embraced the Protestant faith. He received a prebend in
St Paul's cathedral, London, and the living of Therlield,
Hertfordshire. He died in 1640. Alabaster's other cabalistic
writings are Commenitarius de Beslia Apocalyptica (1621) and
Spiraculum tubarum . . . . (1633), a mystical interpretation
of the Pentateuch. It was by these theological writings
that he won the praise of Robert Herrick, who calls him ``the
triumph of the day'' and the ``one only glory of a million''
(``To Doctor Alabaster'' in Hesperides, 1648). He also published
(1637) Lexicon Pentaglottoni, Hebraicum, Chaldaicum,
Syriacum. Talmudico-Rabbinicci et Arabicum.
See T. Fuller, Worthies of England (ii. 343); J. P. Collior,
Bibl. and Crit. Account of the Rarest Books in the English
Language (vol. i. 1865); Pierre Bayle, Dictionary, Historical
and Critical (ed. London, 1834); also the Athenaeum (December
26, 1903), there Sir Bertram Dobell describes a MS. in his
possession containing forty-three sonnets by Alabaster.
1 For an analysis of the play see an article on
the Latin university plays in the Jahrbuch der
Deutschen Shakespeare Gesellschaft (Weimar, 1898)
ALABASTER, a name applied to two distinct mineral substances,
the one a hydrous sulphate of lime and the other a carbonate of
lime. The former is the alabaster of the present day, the
latter is generally the alabaster of the ancients. The two
kinds are readily distinguished from each other by their relative
hardness. The modern alabaster is so soft as to be readily
scratched even by the finger-nail (hardness= 1.5 to 2), whilst
the stone called alabaster by the ancients is too hard to be
scratched in this way (hardness=3), though it yields readily to a
knife. Moreover, the ancient alabaster, being a carbonate,
effervesces on being touched with hydrochloric acid, whereas the
modern alabaster when so treated remains practically unaffected.
Ancient Alabaster.---This substance, the ``alabaster'' of
scripture, is often termed Oriental alabaster, since the early
examples came from the East. The Greek name alabastrites is
said to be derived from the town of Alabastron, in Egypt,
where the stone was quarried, but the locality probably owed
its name to the mineral; the origin of the mineral-name is
obscure, and it has been suggested that it may have had an Arabic
origin. The Oriental alabaster was highly esteemed for making
small perfume-bottles or ointment vases called alabastra;
and this has been conjectured to be a possible source of the
name. Alabaster was also employed in Egypt for Canopic jars
and various other sacred and sepulchral objects. A splendid
sarcophagus, sculptured in a single block of translucent
Oriental alabaster from Alabastron, is in the Soane Museum,
London. This was discovered by Giovanni Beizoni, in 1817, in
the tomb of Seti I., near Thebes, and was purchased by Sir John
Soane, having previously been offered to the British Museum for
Oriental alabaster is either a stalagmitic deposit, from the
floor and walls of limestone-caverns, or a kind of travertine,
deposited from springs of calcareous water. Its deposition
in successive layers gives rise to the banded appearance which
the marble often shows on cross-section, whence it is known as
onyx-marble or alabaster-onyx, or sometimes simply as onyx--a
term which should, however, be restricted to a siliceous
mineral. The Egyptian alabaster has been extensively worked
near Suez and near Assiut; there are many ancient quarries
in the hills overlooking the plain of Tell el Amarna. The
Algerian ony.xmarble has been largely quarried in the province of
Oran. In Mexico there are famous deposits of a delicate green
variety at La Pedrara, in the district of Tecali, near Puebla.
Onyx-marble occurs also in the district of Tehuacan and at several
localities in California, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and Virginia.
Modern Alabaster.--- When the term ``alabaster'' is used
without any qualification it invariably means, at the present
day, a finely granular variety of gypsum (q.v..) This
mineral, or alabaster proper, occurs in England in the
Keuper marls of the Midlands, especially at Chellaston in
Derbyshire, at Fauld in Staffordshire and near Newark in
Nottinghamshire. At all these localities it has been extensively
worked. It is also found, though in subordinate quantity, at
Watchet in Somersetshire, near Penarth in Giamorganshire, and
elsewhere. Iii Cumberland and Westmorland it occurs largely
in the New Red rocks, but at a lower geological horizon.
The alabaster of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire is found in
thick nodular beds or ``floors,'' in spheroidal masses known
as ``balls'' or ``bowls.'' and in smaller lenticular masses
termed ``cakes.'' At Chellaston. where the alabaster is known
as ``Patrick,'' it has been worked into ornaments under the name
of ``Derbyshire spar''---a term applied also to fluor-spar. The
finer kinds of alabaster are largely employed as an ornamental
stone, especially for ecclesiastical decoration, and for the
srails of staircases and halls Its softness enables it to be
readily carved into elaborate forms, but its solubility in
water renders it inapplicable to outdoor work. The purest
alabaster is a snow-white material of fine tiniforni grain,
but it is often associated with oxide of iron, which produces
brown clouding and veining in the stone. The coarser varieties
of alabaster are converted by calcination into plaster of
Paris, whence they are sometimes known as ``plaster stone.''
On the continent of Europe the centre of the alabaster trade is
Florence. The Tuscan alabaster occurs in nodular masses,
embedded in limestone, interstratified with marls of Miocene
and Pliocene age. The mineral is largely worked, by means
of underground galleries, in the district of Volterra.
Several varieties are recognized---veined, spotted, clouded,
agatiform, &c. The finest kind, obtained principally from
Castellina, is sent to Florence for figure-sculpture, whilst
the common kinds are carved locally, at a very cheap rate, into
vases, clock-cases and various ornamental objects, in which
a large trade is carried on, especially in Florence, Pisa and
Leghorn. In order to diminish the translucency of the alabaster
and to produce an opacity suggestive of true marble, the
statues are immersed in a bath of water and gradually heated
nearly to the boiling-point--an operation requiring great
care, for if the temperature be not carefully regulated, the
stone acquires a dead-white chalky appearance. The effect of
heating appears to be a partial dehydration ofthegypsum. If
properly treated, it Very closely resembles true marble, and
is known as mormo di Castellina. It should be noted that
sulphate of lime (gypsum) was used also by the ancients, and was
employed, for instance, in Assyrian sculpture, so that some
of the ancient alabaster is identical with the modern stone.
Alabaster may be stained by digesting it, after heing
heated, in various pigmentary solutions; and in this way a
good imitation of coral has been produced (alabaster coral).
See M. Carmichael, Report on the Volterra Alabaster Industry,
Foreign Office, Miscellaneous Series, No. 352 (London, 1895): A. T.
Metcalfe, ``The Gypsum Deposits of Nottingham and Derbyshire,''
Transactions of the Federated Institution, vol. xii. (1896),
p. i107; J . G. Goodchild, ``The Natural Uistory of Gypsum'''
Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, vol. x. (1888),
p. 425; George P. Merrill, ``The Onyx Marbles,'' Report
of the U. S. National Museum for 1893, p. 539. (F. W. R.*)
ALACOQUE, or AL COQ, MARGUERITE MARIE (1647--1690),
French nun and mystic, was born at Lauthecourt, a village in
the diocese of Autun, on the 22nd of July 1647. She would
seem to have been from the first of a morbid and unhealthy
temperament, and before the age of thirteen was the subject
of a paralytic seizure. Having been cured of this, as she
believed, by the intercession of the Holy Virgin, she
changed her name to Marie and vowed to devote her life to her
service. In May 1671 she entered the Visitation convent at
Paray-le-Monial, in the diocese of Autun, and took the final
vows in November 1672. Though her reading was confined to
the lives of the saints, she taught in the school kept by the
nuns for the girls of the neighbourhood, to whom she endeared
herself by her kindly disposition. The appalling austerities,
however, to which she was allowed to subject herself quickly
affected her mental and bodily health. Hallucinations,
to which she had been always subject, became more and more
frequent. She conceived herself to be specially favoured by
Christ, who appeared to her in the most extravagant forms. At
last, by dint of fasting and lacerating her flesh, she succeeded
in reducing herself to such a state of ecstatic suffering
that she belies'ed herself to be undergoing in her own person
the Passion of the Lord. Her reward was the supreme vision
in which Christ revealed to her His heart burning with divine
love, and even, so she afflrmed, exchanged it with hers, at
the same time bidding her establish, on the Friday following,
the feast of Corpus Christi, a festival in honour of His Sacred
Heart. It was not till ten years later, in 1685, that the
festival was first celebrated at Paray, and not till after
the death of Marguerite, on the 17th of October 1690, that
the cult of the Sacredheart, fostered by the Jesuits and the
subject of violent controversies within the church, spread
throughout France and Christendom. (See SACRED HEART.) .
Marguerite Alacoque was beatified by Pius IX. in
1864. Her short devotional writing, La Devotion au
Sacre-Coeur de Jesus, was published by J. Croiset in
1698, and is now very popular among Roman Catholics.
See Bishop Languet, Vie de la venerable Marguerite-Marie
(Paris, 1724), translated and edited by F. W. Faber (1847):
Mgr. Bougaud, Histoire de la bienheureuse Marguerite-Marie
(Paris, 1874); G. Tckell, S.J., The Life ofblessed
Margaret Mary Alacoque, with some account of the
devotion to the Sacred Heart (London, 18O9); b. B. H.
R. . Capefigue, Marie Marguerite Al-Coq (Paris, 1866).
ALAGOAS, a maritime state of Brazil, bounded N. and W. by the
state of Pernambuco, S. and W. by the state of Sergipe, and E. by
the Atlantic. It hasan area of 22,584 sq. m. A dry, semibarren
plateau, fit for grazing only, extends across the W. part of
the state, breaking down into long fertile valleys and wooded
ridges towards the coast, giving the country a mountainous
character. The coastal plain is filled with lakes (logoas),
in some cases formed by the blocking up of river outlets by beach
sands. The valleys and slopes are highly fertile and produce
sugar, cotton, tobacco, Indian corn, rice, mandioca and
Iruits. Hides and skins, mangabeira rubber, cabinet woods,
castor beans and rum are also exported. Cattle-raising was
formerly a prominent industry, but it has greatly declined.
Manufactures have been developed to a limited extent only,
though protective tariff laws have been adopted for their
encouragement. The climate is hot and humid, and fevers are
prevalent in the hot season. The capital, Maceio, is the
chief commercial city of the state, and its port (Jaragua)
has a large foreign and coastwise trade. The principal towns
are Alagoas, formerly the capital, picturesquely situated
on Lake Manguaba, 15 m. S.W. of Maceio, and Penedo, a small
port on the lower Sao Francisco, 26 m. above the river's
mouth. Before 1817 Alagoas formed part of the capitania of
Pernambuco, but in that year the district was rewarded with
a separate government for refusing to join a revolution,
and in 1823 became a province of the empire. The advent
of the republic in 1889 changed the province into a state.
ALAIN DE LILLE [Alanus de Insulis] (c. 1128-1202),
French theologian and poet, was born, probably at
Lille, some years before 1128. Little is known of his
life. He seems to have taught in the schools of Paris,
and he attended the Lateran Council in 1179. He afterwards
inhabited Montpellier (he is sometimes called Alanus de
Montepessulano), lived for a time outside the walls of any
cloister, and finally retired to Citeaux, where he died in
1202. He had a very widespread reputation during his lifetime
and his knowledge, more varied than profound, caused him to
be called Doctor universalis. Among his very numerous works
two poems entitle him to a distinguished place in the Latin
literature of the middle ages; one of these, the De planctu
naturae, is an ingenious satire on the vices of humanity; the
other, the Anticlaudianus, a treatise on morals, the form
of which recalls the pamphlet of Claudian against Rufinus,
is agreeably versified and relatively pure in its latinity.
As a theologian Alain de Lille shared in the mystic reaction
of the second half of the 12th century against the scholastic
philosophy. His mysticism, however, is far from being as
absolute as that of the Victorines. In the Anticlaudianus
he sums up as follows: Reason, guided by prudence, can
unaided discover most of the truths of the physical order;
for the apprehension of religious truths it must trust to
faith. This rule is completed in his treatise, Ars catholicae
fidei, as follows: Theology itself may be demonstrated by
reason. Alain even ventures an immediate application of this
principle, and tries to prove geometrically the dogmas defined
in the Creed. This bold attempt is entirely factitious and
verbal, and it is only his employment of various terms
not generally used in such a connexion (axiom, theorem,
corollary, etc.) that gives his treatise its apparent
originality. Alain de Lille has often been confounded with
other persons named Alain, in particular with Alain, archbishop
of Auxerre, Alan, abbot of Tewkesbury, Alain de Podio,
etc. Certain facts of their lives have been attributed to
him, as well as some of their works: thus the Life of St
Bernard should be ascribed to Alain of Auxerre and the
Commentary upon Merlin to Alan of Tewkesbury. Neither
is the philosopher of Lille the author of a Memoriale rerum
difficilium, published under his name; and it is exceedingly
doubtful whether the Dicta Alani de lapide philocophico
really issued from his pen. On the other hand, it now seems
practically demonstrated that Alain de Lille was the author of
the Ars catholicae fidei and the treatise Contra haereticos.
The works of Alain de Lille have been published by Migne,
Patrologia latina, vol. ccx. A critical edition of the
Anticlaudianus and of the De planctu naturae is given
by Th. Wright in vol. ii. of the Anglo-Latin Satirical
Poets and Epigrammatists of the Twelfth Century (London,
1872). See Haureau, Memoire sur la vie et quelques
oeuvres d'Alain de Lille (Paris, 1885); M. Baumgartner, Die
Philosophie des Alanus de Insulis (Munster, 1896). (P. A.)
ALAIS, a town of southern France, capital of an
arrondissement in the department of Gard, 25 m. N.N.W. of
Nimes on the Paris-Lyon railway, on which it is an important
junction. Pop. (1906) 18,987. The town is situated at
the foot of the Cevenues, on the left bank of the Gardon,
which half surrounds it. The streets are wide and its
promenades and fine plane-trees make the town attractive;
but the public buildings, the chief of which are the church
of St Jean, a heavy building of the 18th century, and the
citadel, which serves as barracks and prison, are of small
interest. Pasteur prosecuted his investigations into the
silkworm disease at Alais, and the town has dedicated a bust
to his memory. There is also a statue of the chemist J. B.
Dumas. Alais has tribunals of first instance and of commerce,
a board of trade-arbitrators, a lycee and a school of
mines. The town is one of the most important markets for
raw silk and cocoons in the south of France, and the Gardon
supplies power to numerous silkmills. It is also the centre
of a mineral field. which yields large quantities of coal,
iron, zinc and lead; its blast-furnaces, foundries, glass-works
and engineering works afford employment to many workmen.
In the 16th century Alais was an important Huguenot centre.
In 1629 the town was taken by Louis XIII., and by the peace
of Alais the Huguenots gave up their right to places de
surete (garrison towns) and other privileges. A bishopric
was established there in 1694 but suppressed in 1790.
ALAJUELA, the capital of the province of Alajuela, in Costa
Rica, Central America, on the`transcontinental railway, 15
m. W. of San Jose. Pop. (1904) 4860. Alajuela is built
at the southern base of the volcano of Poas (8895 ft.) and
Overlooks the fertile plateau of San Jose. Its central
square, adorned with a handsome bronze fountain, contains the
municipal buildings, and a large but unattractive cathedral.
The town covers a considerable area; the detached white
houses of its suburbs are surrounded by trees and flowering
shrubs. Alajuela is the centre of the Costa Rican sugar trade,
and an important market for coffee. Its products are exported
from Puntarenas, on the Pacific Ocean, 32 m. W. The province
of Alajuela includes the territory of the Guatusos Indians,
along the northern frontier; the towns of Atenas, Grecia,
Naranjo and San Ramon (all with less than 5000 inhabitants),
and the gold-mines of Aguacate, a little north of Atenas.
ALAMANNI, or ALLEMANNI, a German tribe, first mentioned
by Dio Cassius, under the year 213. They apparently dwelt in
the basin of the Maine, to the south of the Chatti. According
to Asinius Quadratus their name indicates that they were a
conglomeration of various tribes. There can be little doubt,
however, that the ancient Hermunduri formed the preponderating
element in the nation. Among the other elements may be
mentioned the Juthungi, Bucinobantes, Lentienses, and perhaps the
Armalausi. From the 4th century onwards we hear also of the
Suebi or Suabi. The Hermunduri had apparendy belonged to the
Suebi, but it is likely enough that reinforcements from new
Suebic tribes had now moved westward. In later times the
names Alamanni and Suebi seem to be synonymous. The tribe
was continually engaged in conflicts with the Romans, the
most famous encounter being that at Strassburg, in which
they were defeated by Julian, afterwards emperor, in the year
357, when their king Chonodomarius was taken prisoner. Early
in the 5th century the Alamanni appear to have crossed the
Rhine and conquered and settled Alsace and a large part of
Switzerlafid. Their kingdom lasted until the year 405, when
they were conquered by Clovis, from which time they formed part
of the Frankish dominions. The Alamannic and Swabian dialects
are now spoken in German Switzerland, the southern parts of
Baden and Alsace, Wurttemberg and a small portion of Bavaria.
See Dio Cassius lxvii. ff.; Ammianus Marcellinus, passim;
Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum, book ii.; C. Zeuss, Die
Deutschen und die Nachbarstamme (Munich, 1837), pp. Ro5 ff.;
O. Bremer in H. Paul, Grundriss der Permanischen Philologie
(2nd ed., Strassburg, 1900), vol. iii. pp. 930 h. (F. G. M. B.)
ALAMANNI, or ALEMANNI, LUIGI (1405-1556), Italian
statesman and poet, was born at Florence. His father was a
devoted adherent of the Medici party, but Luigi, smarting under
a supposed injustice, joined with Others in an unsuccessful
conspiracy against Giulio de' Medici, afterwards POpe Clement
VII. He was obliged in consequence to take refuge in Venice,
and, on the accession of Clement, to flee to France. When
Florence shook off the papal yoke in 1527, Alamanni returned,
and took a prominent part in the management of the affairs of the
republic. On the restoration of the Medici in 1530 he had again
to take refuge in France, where he composed the greater part
of his works. He was a favourite with Francis I., who sent
him as ambassador to Charles V. after the peace of Crepy in
1544. As an instance of his tact in this capacity, it is
related that, when Charles interrupted a complimentary address
by quoting from a satirical poem of Alamanni's the words---
``l' aquila grifagna, Che per piu devorar, duoi rostri porta''
(Two crooked bills the ravenous eagle bears, The better to devour),
the latter at once replied that he spoke them as a poet, who
was permitted to use fictions, but that he spoke now as an
ambassador, who was obliged to tell the truth. The ready
reply pleased Charles, who added some complimentary words.
After the death of Francis, Alamanni enjoyed the confidence
of his successor Henry II., and in 1551 was sent by him as his
ambassador to Genoa. He died at Amboise on the 18th of April
1556. He wrote a large number of poems, distinguished by
the purity and excellence of their style. The best is a
didactic poem, La Coltivazione (Paris, 1546), written
in imitation of Virgil's Georgics. His Opere Toscane
(Lyons, 1532) consists of satirical pieces written in blank
verse. An unfinished poem, Avarchide, in imitation of
the Iliad, was the work of his old age and has little
merit. It has been said by some that Alamanni was the first
to use blank verse in Italian poetry, but the distinction
belongs rather to his contemporary Giangiorgio Trissino. He
also wrote a poetical romance, Girone il Cortese (Paris,
1548); a tragedy, Antigone; a comedy, Flora; and other
poems. His works were published, with a biography by P.
Raffaelli, as Versi e prose di Luigi Alamanni (Florence, 1859).
See G. Naro, Luigi Alamanni e la coltivazione (Syracuse, 1897), and C .
Corso, Un decennio di patriottismo di Luigi Alamanni (Palermo, 1898).
ALAMEAGH, or ALUMBAGH, the name of a large park 01 walled
enclosure, containing a palace, a mosque and other buildings,
as well as a beautiful garden, situated about 4 m. from
Lucknow, near the Cawnpore road, in the United Provinces of
India. It was converted into a fort by the mutineers
in 1857, and after its capture by the British was of
importance in connexion with the military operations around
Lucknow. (See INDIAN MUTINY and OUTRAM, SIR JAMES.)
ALAMEDA, a residential city of Alameda county, California,
U.S.A., on an artificial island about 5 m. long and 1 m.
wide, on the E. side of San Francisco bay, opposite to and
about 6 m. from San Francisco, and directly S. of Oakland,
from which it is separated by a drainage canal, spanned by
bridges. Included within the limits of the city is Bay Farm
island, with an area of about 3 sq. m. Pop. (1870) 15571
(1880) 5708; (1890) 11,165; (1900) 16,464, of whom 4175 were
foreign-born; (1910, census) 23,383. Alameda is served by
the Southern Pacific railway, and is connected by an electric
line with Oakland and Berkeley. Its site is low and level
and its plan fairly regular. Among the city's manufactures
are terra-cotta tiles, pottery, rugs, refrigerators and
salt. The city owns and operates the electriclighting
plant; the water-works system is privately owned, and the
water supply is obtained from deep wells at San Leandro.
A settlement existed here before the end of the Mexican
period. In 1854 it was incorporated as a town and in 1885
was chartered as a city. In 1906 the city adopted a freehold
charter, centralizing power in the mayor and providing
for a referendum. The county was organized in 1853.
ALAMOS DE BARRIENTOS, BALTASAR (1555-1640), Spanish
scholar, was born at Medina del Campo in 1555. His friendship
with Antonio Perez caused him to be arrested in 1590 and
imprisoned for nearly thirteen years. His 7Acito espanol
ilustrado con aforismos (Madrid, 1614) is the only work
which bears his name, but he is probably the author of the
Discurso del gobierno ascribed to Perez. Through the
influence of Lerma (to whom the Tacito is dedicated) and of
Olivares, he subsequently attained high official position.
See L'Art de gouverner, ed. J. M. Guardia (Paris, 1867);
P. J. Pidal, Historia de las alteraciones de Aragon en
el reinado de Felipe II. (Madrid, 1862), vol. iii. pp.
29-30; A. Perez, Relaciones (Geneva, 1654), pp. 86-88.
ALAND ISLANDS, an archipelago at the entrance to the Gulf
of Bothnia, about 25 m. from the coast of Sweden, and 15 from
that of Finland. The group, which forms part of the Finnish
province of Abo-Bjorneborg, consists of nearly three hundred
islands, of which about eighty are inhabited, the remainder
being desolate rocks. These islands form a continuation of
a dangerous granite reef extending along the south coast of
Finland. They formerly belonged to Sweden, and in the
neighbourhood the first victory of the Russian fleet Over
the Swedes was gained by Peter the Great in 1714. They were
ceded to Russia in 1809. They occupy a total area of 1426
sq. km., and their present population is estimated at about
19,000. The majority of these occupy the island of Aland, upon
which is situated the town of Mariehamn with a population of
1171. The inhabitants are mostly of Swedish descent, and
are hardy seamen and fishermen. The surface of the islands
is generally sandy, the soil thin and the climate keen; yet
Scotch fir, spruce and birch are grown; and rye, barley, flax
and vegetables are produced in sufficient quantity for the
wants of the people. Great numbers of cattle are reared;
and cheese, butter and hides, as well as salted meat and
fish, are exported. There are several excellent harbours
(notably that of Ytternas), which were at one time of great
importance to Russia from the fact that they are frozen up
for a much briefer period than those on the coast of Finland.
The Aland Islands occupy a position of the greatest strategic
importance, commanding as they do both the entrance to the
port of Stockholm and the approaches to the Gulf of Bothnia,
through which the greater part of the trade of Sweden is carried
on. When, by the 4th article of the treaty of Fredrikshavn
(Friedrichshamn), 5/17 September 1809, the islands were
ceded to Russia, together with the territories forming the
grand-duchy of Finland on the mainland, the Swedes were
unable to secure a provision that the islands should not be
fortified. The question was, however, a vital one not only
for Sweden but for Great Britain, whose trade in the Baltic was
threatened. In 1854, accordingly, during the Crimean War,
an Anglo-French force attacked and destroyed the fortress
of Bomersund, against the erection of which Palmerston had
protested without effect some twenty years previously. By
the ``Aland Convention,'' concluded between Great Britain,
France and Russia on the 30th of March 1856, it was stipulated
that ``the Aland Islands shall not be fortified, and that
no military or naval establishments shall be maintained or
created on them.'' By the 33rd article of the treaty of Paris
(1856) this convention, annexed to the final act, was given
``the same force and validity as if it formed part thereof,''
Palmerston declaring in the House of Commons (May 6) that
it had ``placed a barrier between Russia and the north of
Europe.,' Some attention was attracted to this arrangement
when in 1906 it was asserted that Russia, under pretext of
stopping the smuggling of arms into Finland, was massing
considerable naval and military forces at the islands. The
question of the Aland Islands created some discussion in 1907
and 1908 in connexion with the new North Sea agreements, and
undoubtedly Russia considered the convention of 1856 as rather
humiliating. But it was plainly shown by other powers that
they did not propose to regard it as modified or open to
question, and the point was not definitely and officially raised.
See the article by Dr Verner Soderberg in the
National Review, No. 392, for April 1908.
ALANI (Gr. 'Alanoi,'Alaunoi; Chinese 'O-lan-na; since
the 9th century A.D. they have been called As, Russ.
Jasy, Georgian Ossi), the easternmost division of the
Sarmatians (see SCYTHIA), Iranian nomads with some Altaic
admixture. First met with north of the Caspian, and later
(c. 1st century A.D.) spreading into the steppes of
Russia, the Alans made incursions into both the Danubian and
the Caucasian provinces of the Roman empire. By the Huns they
were cut into two portions, of which the western joined the
Germanic nations in their invasion of southern Europe, and,
following the fortunes of the Vandals, disappeared in North
Africa. Those of the eastern division, though dispersed about
the steppes until late medieval times, were by fresh invading
hordes forced into the Caucasus, where they remain as the
Ossetes. At one time partially Christianized by Byzantine
missionaries, they had almost relapsed into heathenism, but are
now under Russian influence returning to Christianity. (E. II. M.)
ALANCON, HERNANDO DE, Spanish navigator of the 16th century,
is known only in connexion with the expedition to the coast of
California, of which he was leader. He set sail on the 9th
of May 1540 with orders from the Spanish court to await at
a certain point on the coast the arrival of an expedition by
land under the command of Vasquez de Coronado. The junction
was not effected, though Alarcon reached the appointed place
and left letters, which were afterwards found by Diaz, another
explorer. Alarcon was the first to determine with certainty
that California was a peninsula and not an island, as had
been supposed. He made a careful survey of the coast,
ascended the Rio del Tizon Or Rio de Buena Guia (Colorado)
for 85 Spanish m., and was thus able on his return to New
Spain in 1541 to construct an excellent map of California.
See Herrera, Decade VI. book ix. ch. 15;
vol. vi. fol. 212 of Madrid edition of 1730.
ALARCON, JUAN RUIZ DE (1518?-1639), Spanish dramatist,
was born about 1581 at Tlacho (Mexico), where his father was
superintendent of mines. He came to Europe in 1600, studied
law at Salamanca, and in 1608 went back to Mexico to compete
for a professorial chair. Returning to Spain in 1611, he
entered the household of the marquis de Salinas, became a
successful dramatist, and was nominated a member of the council
of the Indies in 1623. He died at Madrid on the 4th of August
1639. His plays were published in 1628 and 1634; the most
famous of these is La Verdad sospechosa, which was adapted
by Corneille as the Menteur. Alarcon had the misfortune to
be a hunchback, to be embittered by his deformity, and to be
constantly engaged in personal quarrels with his rivals; but
his attitude in these polemics is always dignified, and his
crushing retort to Lope de Vega in Los pechos privilegiados
is an unsurpassable example of cold, scornful invective.
More than any other Spanish dramatist, Alarcon is preoccupied
with ethical aims, and his gift of dramatic presentation is
as brilliant as his dialogue is natural and vivacious. It
has been alleged that his foreign origin is noticeable in his
plays, and there is some foundation for the criticism; but
his workmanship is exceptionally conscientious, and in El
Tejedor de Segovia he had produced a masterpiece of national
art, national sentiment and national expression. (J. F.-K.)
ALARCON, PEDRO ANTONIO DE (1833-1891), Spanish writer, was
born on the 10th of March 1833 at Guadix. He graduated at
the university of Granada, studied law and theology privately,
and made his first appearance as a dramatist before he was of
age. Deciding to follow literature as a profession, he joined
with Torcuato Tarrago y Mateos in editing a Cailiz newspaper
entitled El Eco de Occidente. In 1853 he travelled to Madrid
in the hope of finding a publisher for his continuation of
Espronceda's celebrated poem, El Diablo Mundo. Disappointed
in his object, and finding no opening at the capital, he
settled at Granada, became a radical journalist in that city,
and showed so much ability that in 1854 he was appointed
editor of a republican journal, El Latigo, published at
Madrid. The extreme violence of his polemics led to a duel
between him and the Byronic poet, Jose Heriberto Garcia
Quevedo. The earliest of his novels, El Final de Norma,
was published in 1855, and though its construction is feeble
it brought the writer into notice as a master of elegant
prose. A small anthology, called Mananias de Abril y Mayo
(1856), proves that Alarcon was recognized as a leader
by young men of promise, for among the contributors were
Castelar, Manuel del Palacio and Lopez de Ayala. A dramatic
piece, El Hijo prodigo, was hissed off the stage in
1857, and the failure so stung Alarcon that he enlisted
under O'Donnell's command as a volunteer for the war in
Morocco. His Diario de un testigo de la guerra de Africa
(1859) is a brilliant account of the expedition. The first
edition, amounting to fifty thousand copies, was sold within a
fortnight, and Alarcon's name became famous throughout the
peninsula. The book is not in any sense a formal history; it
is a series of picturesque impressions rendered with remarkable
force. On his return from Africa Alarcon did the Liberal
party much good service as editor of La Politica, but after
his marriage in 1866 to a devout lady, Paulina Contrera y
Reyes, he modified his political views considerably. On
the overthrow of the monarchy in 1868, Alarcon advocated
the claims of the duc de Montpensier, was neutral during the
period of the republic, and declared himself a Conservative
upon the restoration of the dynasty in December 1874. These
political variations alienated Alarcon's old allies and
failed to conciliate the royalists. But though his political
influence was ruined, his success as a writer was greater than
ever. The publication in the Revista Europea (1874) of a short
story, El Sombrero de tres picos, a most ingenious resetting
of an old popular tale, made him almost as well known out of
Spain as in it. This remarkable triumph in the picturesque
vein encouraged him to produce other works of the same kind;
yet though his Cuentos amatorios (1881), his Historietas
nacionales (1881) and his Narracionies inverosimiles (1882)
are pleasing, they have not the delightful gaiety and charm
of their predecessor. In a longer novel, El Escandalo
(1875), Alarcon had appeared as a partisan of the neo-Catholic
reaction, and this change of opinion brought upon him many
attacks, mostly unjust. His usual bad fortune followed
him, for while the Padicals denounced him as an apostate, the
neo-Catholics alleged that El Escandalo was tainted with
Jansenism. Of his later volumes, written in failing health
and spirits, it is only necessary to mention El Capitan
Veneno and the Historia de mis libros, both issued in
1881. Alarcon was elected a member of the Spanish
Academy in 1875. He died at Madrid on the 20th of July
1891. His later novels and tales are disfigured by their
didactic tendency, by feeble drawing of character, and
even by certain gallicisms of style. But, at his best,
Alarcon may be read with great pleasure. The Diario de
un testigo is still unsurpassed as a picture of campaigning
life, while El Sombrero de tres picos is a very perfect
example of malicious wit and minute observation. (J. F.-K.)
ALARD, JEAN DELPHIN (1815-1888), French violinist and teacher,
was born at Bayonne on the 8th of May 1815. From 1827 he was
a pupil of F. A. Habeneck at the Paris Conservatoire, where he
succeeded P. de Sales Baillot as professor in 1843, retaining
the post till 1875. His playing was full of fire and point,
and his compositions had a great success in France, while
his violin school had a wider vogue and considerably greater
value. Mention should also be made of his edition in 40 parts
of a selection of violin compositions by the most eminent
masters of the 18th century, Les Maitres classiques du violon
(Schott). Alard died in Paris on the 22nd of February 1888.
ALARIC (Ala-reiks, ``All-ruler''), (c. 370-410), Gothic
conqueror, the first Teutonic leader who stood as a conqueror
in the city of Rome, was probably born about 370 in an island
named Peuce (the Fir) at the mouth of the Danube. He was of
noble descent, his father being a scion of the family of the
Balthi or Bold-men, next in dignity among Gothic warriors
to the Amals. He was a Goth and belonged to the western
branch of that nation --sometimes called the Visigoths--who
at the time of his birth were quartered in the region now
known as Bulgaria, having taken refuge on the southern shore
of the Danube from the pursuit of their enemies the Huns.
In the year 394 he served as a general of foederati (Gothic
irregulars) under the emperor Theodosius in the campaign in
which he crushed the usurper Eugenius. As the battle which
terminated this campaign, the battle of the Frigidus, was fought
near the passes of the Julian Alps, Alaric probably learnt
at this time the weakness of the natural defences of Italy on
her northeastern frontier. The employment of barbarians as
foederali, which became a common practice with the emperors
in the 4th century, was both a symptom of disease in the
body politic of the empire and a hastener of its impending
ruin. The provincial population, crushed under a load of
unjust taxation, could no longer furnish soldiers in the
numbers required for the defence of the empire; and on the
other hand, the emperors, ever fearful that a brilliantly
successful general of Roman extraction might be proclaimed
Augustus by his followers, preferred that high military command
should be in the hands of a man to whom such an accession
of dignity was as yet impossible. But there was obviously
a danger that one day a barbarian leader of barbarian troops
in the service of the empire might turn his armed force and
the skill in war, which he had acquired in that service,
against his trembling masters, and without caring to assume
the title of Augustus might ravage and ruin the countries
which he had undertaken to defend. This danger became a
reality when in the year 395 the able and valiant Theodosius
died, leaving the empire to be divided between his imbecile
sons Arcadius and Honorius, the former taking the eastern and
the latter the western portion, and each under the control
of a minister who bitterly hated the minister of the other.
In the shifting of offices which took place at the beginning
of the new reigns, Alaric apparently hoped that he would
receive one of the great war ministries of the empire, and
thus instead of being a mere commander of irregulars would
have under his orders a large part of the imperial legions.
This, however, was denied him, and he found that he was doomed
to remain an oflicer of foederati. His disappointed ambition
prompted him to take the step for which his countrymen were
longing, for they too were grumbling at the withdrawal of the
``presents,'' in other words the veiled ransom-money, which
for many years they had been accustomed to receive. They
raised him on a shield and acclaimed him as a king; leader and
followers both resolving (says Jordanes the Gothic historian)
``rather to seek new kingdoms by their own labour, than
to slumber in peaceful subjection to the rule of others.''
Alaric struck first at the eastern empire. He marched to
the neighbourhood of Constantinople, but finding himself
unable to undertake the siege of that superbly strong city,
he retraced his steps westward and then marched southward
through Thessaly and the unguarded pass of Thermopylae into
Greece. The details of his campaign are not very clearly
stated, and the story is further complicated by the plots and
counterplots of Rufinus, chief minister of the eastern, and
Stilicho, the virtual regent of the western empire, and the
murder of the former by his rebellious soldiers. With these
we have no present concern; it is sufficient to say that
Alaric's invasion of Greece lasted two years (395-396), that
he ravaged Attica but spared Athens, which at once capitulated
to the conqueror, that he penetrated into Peloponnesus and
captured its most famous cities, Corinth, Argos and Sparta,
selling many of their inhabitants into slavery. Here,
however, his victorious career ended. Stilicho, who had
come a second time to the assistance of Arcadius and who was
undoubtedly a skilful general, succeeded in shutting up the
Goths in the mountains of Pholoe on the borders of Elis and
Arcadia. From thence Alaric escaped with difficulty, and
not without some suspicion of connivance on the part of
Stilicho. He crossed the Corinthian Gulf and marched with
the plunder of Greece northwards to Epirus. Next came an
astounding transformation. For some mysterious reason,
probably connected with the increasing estrangement between
the two sections of the empire, the ministers of Arcadius
conferred upon Alaric the government of some part--it can
hardly have been the whole--of the important prefecture of
Illyricum. Here, ruling the Danubian provinces, he was on
the confines of the two empires, and, in the words of the poet
Claudian, he ``sold his alternate oaths to either throne,''
and made the imperial arsenals prepare the weapons with which
to aim his Gothic followers for the next campaign. It was
probably in the year 400 (but the dates of these events are
rather uncertain) that Alaric made his first invasion of
Italy, co-operating with another Gothic chieftain named
Radagaisus. Supernatural influences were not wanting to
urge him to this great enterprise. Some lines of the Roman
poet inform us that he heard a voice proceeding from a sacred
grove, ``Break off all delays, Alaric. This very year
thou shalt force the Alpine barrier of Italy; thou shalt
penetrate to the city.'' The prophecy was not at this time
fulfilled. After spreading desolation through North Italy
and striking terror into the citizens of Pome, Alaric was met
by Stilicho at Pollentia (a Roman municipality in what is now
Piedmont), and the battle which then followed on the 6th of
April 402 (Easter-day) was a victory, though a costly one for
Rome, and effectually barred the further progress of the
barbarians. Alaric was an Arian Christian who trusted to
the sanctity of Easter for immunity from attack, and the
enemies of Stilicho reproached him for having gained his
victory by taking an unfair advantage of the great Christian
festival. The wife of Alaric is said to have been taken
prisoner after this battle; and there is some reason to suppose
that he was hampered in his movements by the presence with
his forces of large numbers of women and children, having
given to his invasion of Italy the character of a national
migration. After another defeat before Verona, Alaric quitted
Italy, probably in 403. He had not indeed ``penetrated to
the city,'' but his invasion of Italy had produced important
results; it had caused the imperial residence to be transferred
from Milan to Ravenna, it had necessitated the withdrawal
of the Twentieth Legion from Britain, and it had lirobably
facilitated the great invasion of Vandals, Suevi and Alani
into Gaul, by which that province and Spain were lost to the
empire. We next hear of Alaric as the friend and ally of his
late opponent Stilicho. The estrangement between the eastern
and western courts had in 407 become so bitter as to threaten
civil war, and Stilicho was actually proposing to use the arms
of Alaric in order to enforce the claims of Honorius to the
prefecture of Illyricum. The death of Arcadius in May 408
caused milder counsels to prevail in the western cabinet, but
Alaric, who had actually entered Epirus, demanded in a somewhat
threatening manner that if he were thus suddenly bidden to
desist from war, he should be paid handsomely for what in
modern language would be called the expenses of mobilization.
The sum which he named was a large one, 4000 pounds of gold
(about L. 160,000 sterling), but under strong pressure from
Stilicho the Roman senate consented to promise its payment.
Three months later Stilicho himself and the chief ministers
of his party were treacherously slain in pursuance of an
order extracted from the timid and jealous Honorius; and in
the disturbances which followed the wives and children of the
barbarian foederati throughout Italy were slain. The natural
consequence was that these men to the number of 30,000 flocked to
the camp of Alaric. clamouring to be led against their cowardly
enemies. IIe accordingly crossed the Julian Alps, and in
September 408 stood before the walls of Rome (now with no capable
general like Stihcho to defend her) and began a strict blockade.
No blood was shed this time; hunger was the weapon on which Alaric
relied. When the ambassadors of the senate in treating for peace
tried to terrify him with their hints of what the despairing
citizens might accomplish, he gave with a laugh his celebrated
answer, ``The thicker the hay, the easier mowed!'' After much
bargaining, the famine-stricken citizens agreed to pay a ransom
of more than a quarter of a million sterling, besides precious
garments of silk and leather and three thousand pounds of
pepper. Thus ended Alaric's first siege of Rome.
At this time, and indeed throughout his career, the one
dominant idea of Alaric was not to pull down the fabric of
the empire but to Secure for himself, by negotiation with
its rulers, a regular and recognized position within its
borders. His demands were certainly large---the concession
of a block of territory 200 m. long by 150 wide between the
Danube and the Gulf of Venice (to be held probably on some
terms of nominal dependence on the empire), and the title
of commander-in-chief of the imperial army. Yet large as
the terms were, the emperor would probably have been well
advised to grant them; but Honorius was one of those timid
and feeble folk who are equally unable to make war or peace,
and refused to look beyond the question of his own personal
safety, guaranteed as it was by the dikes and marshes of
Ravenna. As all attempts to conduct a satisfactory negotiation
with this emperor failed before his impenetrable stupidity,
Alaric, after instituting a second siege and blockade of
Rome in 409, came to terms with the senate, and with their
consent set up a rival emperor and invested the prefect of the
city, a Creek named Attalus, with the diadem and the purple
robe. He, however, proved quite unfit for his high position;
he rejected the advice of Alaric and lost in consequence the
province of Africa, the granary of Rome, which was defended by
the partisans of Honorius. The weapon of famine, formerly in
the hand of Alaric, was thus turned against him, and loud in
consequence were the murmurs of the Roman populace. Honorius
was also greatly strengthened by the arrival of six legions sent
from Constantinople to his assistance by his nephew Theodosius
II. Alaric therefore cashiered his puppet emperor Attalus
after eleven months of ineffectual rule, and once more tried
to reopen negotiations with Honorius. These negotiatio1(s
would probably have succeeded but for the malign influence of
another Goth, Sarus, the hereditary enemy of Alaric and his
house. When Alaric found himself once more outwitted by the
machinations of such a foe, he marched southward and began in
deadly earnest his third, his ever-memorable siege of Rome.
No defence apparently was possible; there are hints, not well
substantiated, of treachery; there is greater probability of
surprise. However this may be--for our information at this
point of the story is miserably meagre----on the 24th of
August 410 Alaric and his . Goths burst in by the Salarian
gate on the north-east of the city, and she who was of
late the mistress of the world lay at the feet of the
barbarians. The Goths showed themselves not absolutely ruthless
conquerors. The contemporary ecclesiastics recorded with
wonder many instances of their clemency: the Christian churches
saved from ravage; protection granted to vast multitudes both
of pagans and Christians who took refuge therein; vessels
of gold and silver which were found in a private dwelling,
spared because they ``belonged to St. Peter''; at least one
case in which a beautiful Roman matron appealed, not in vain,
to the better feelings of the Cothic soldier who attempted
her dishonour; but even these exceptional instances show that
Rome was not enlirely spared those scenes of horror which
usually accompany the storming of a besieged city. We do
not, however, hear of any damage wrought by fire, save in
the case of Sallust's palace, which was situated close to
the gate by which the Goths had made their entrance; nor
is there any reason to attribute any extensive destruction
of the buildings of the city to Alaric and his followers.
His work being done, his fated task, and Alaric having
penetrated to the city, nothing remained for him but to
die. He marched southwards into Calabria. He desired to
invade Africa, which on account of its corn crops was now
the key of the position; but his ships were dashed to pieces
by a storm in which many of his soldiers perished. He died
soon after, probably of fever, and his body was bulied under
the river-bed of the Busento, the stream being temporarily
turned aside from its course while the grave was dug wherein
the Gothic chief and some of his most precious spoils were
interred. When the work was finished the river was turned
back into its usual channel, and the captives by whose hands
the labour had been accomplished were put to death that
none might learn their secret. He was succeeded in the
command of the Gothic army by his brotherin-law, Ataulphus.,
Our chief authorities for the career of Alaric are the historian
Orosius and the poet Claudian, both strictly contemporary;
Zosimus, a somewhat prejudiced heathen historian, who lived
probably about half a century after the death of Alaric;
and Jordanes, a Goth who wrote the history of his nation
in the year 551, basing his work on the earlier history of
Cassiodorus (now lost), which was written about 520. (T. II.)
ALARIC II. (d. 507), eighth king of the Goths in Spain,
succeeded his father Euric or Evaric in 485. His dominions
not only included the whole of Spain except its north-western
corner, but also Aquitaine and the greater part of Provence.
In religion Alaric was an Arian, but he greatly mitigated
the persecuting policy of his father Euric towards the
Catholics and authorized them to hold in 506 the council of
Agde. He displayed similar wisdom and liberality in
political affairs by appointing a commission to prepare
an abstract of the Roman laws and imperial decrees, which
should form the authoritative code for his Roman subjects.
This is generally known as the Breviarium Alaricianuni,
or Breviary of Alaric (q.v..) Alaric . was of a peaceful
disposition, and endeavoured strictly to main- tain the treaty
which his father had concluded with the Franks, whose king
Clovis, however, desiring to obtain the Gothic province in
Gaul, found a pretext for war in the Arianism of Alaric.
The intervention of Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths and
father-in-law of Alaric, proved unavailing. The two armies
met in 507 at the Campus Vogladensis, near Poitiers, where
the Goths were defeated, and their king, who took to flight,
was overtaken and slain, it is said, by Clovis himself.
ALA-SHEHR (anc. Philadelphia), a town of Asia Minor, in
the Aidin vilayet, situated in the valley of the Kuzu Chai
(Cogamus), at the foot of the Boz Dagh (Mt. Tmolus) 83
m. E. of Smyrna (105 by railway). Pop. 22,000 (Moslems,
17,000; Christians, 5000). Philadelphia was founded by Attalus
II. of Pergamum about 150 B.C., became one of the ``Seven
Churches'' of Asia, and was called ``Little Athens'' on account
of its festivals and temples. It was subject to frequent
earthquakes. Philadelphia was an independent neutral city,
under the influence of the Latin Knights of Rhodes, when taken
in . 1390 by Sultan Bayezid I. and an auxiliary Christian force
under the emperor Manuel II. after a prolonged resistance,
when all the other cities of Asia Minor had surrendered.
Twelve years later it was captured by Timur, who built a
wall with the corpses of his prisoners. A fragment of the
ghastly structure is in the library of Lincoln cathedral.
The town is connected by railway with Afium-Kara-Hissar and
Smyrna. It is dirty and ill-built; but, standing on elevated
ground and commanding the extensive and fertile plain of the
Hermus, presents at a distance an imposing appearance. It is
the seat of an archbishop and has several mosques and Christian
churches. There are small industries and a fair trade. From
one of the mineral springs comes a heavily charged water known
in commerce as ``Eau de Vals,'' and in great request in Smyrna.
See W. M. Ramsay, Letters to the Seven Ghurches (Ioo4).
ALASKA, formerly called RUSSIAN AMERICA, a district
of the United States of America, occupying the extreme
northwestern part of North America and the adjacent
islands. The name is a corruption of a native word possibly
meaning ``mainland'' or ``peninsula.'' The district of Alaska
comprises, first, all that part of the continent W. of the
141st meridian of W longitude from Greenwich;secondly,the
eastern Diomede island in Bering Strait, and all islands in
Bering Sea and the Aleutian chain lying E. of a line drawn
from the Diomedes to pass midway between Copper Island, off
Kamchatka, and Attu Island of the Aleutians; thirdly, a
narrow strip of coast and adjacent islands N. of a line drawn
from Cape Muzon, in lat. 54 deg. 40, N., E. and N. up Portland
Canal to its head, and thence, as defined in the treaty of
cession to the United States, quoting a boundary treaty of
1825 between Great Britain and Russia, following ``the summit
of the mountains situated parallel to the coast', to the
141st meridian, provided that when such line runs more than
ten marine leagues from the ocean the limit ``shall
be formed by a line parallel to the windings of the
coast and which shall never exceed the distance of ten
marine leagues therefrom.'' The international disputes
connected with this description are referred to below.
Physical Features.---Alaska is bounded on the N. by the
Arctic Ocean, on the W. by the Arctic Ocean and Bering
Strait, on the S. and S.W. by the Gulf of Alaska and the
Pacific Ocean, and on the E. by Yukon Territory and British
Columbia. It consists of a compact central mass and two
straggling appendages running from its S.W. and S.E. corners,
and sweeping in a vast arc over 16 degrees of latitude and
58 degrees of longitude. These three parts will be referred
to hereafter respectively, as Continental Alaska, Aleutian
Alaska and the ``Panhandle.'' The range of latitude from
Point Barrow in the Arctic Ocean to Cape Muzon is almost 17
degrees---as great as from New Orleans to Duluth; the range
of longitude from Attu Island to the head of Portland Canal
is 58 degrees---considerably greater than from New York to San
Francisco. The total area is about 586,400 sq. m. The
general ocean-coast line is about 4750 m., and, including the
islands, bays, inlets and rivers to the head of tide water,
is about 26,000 m. in length (U.S. Coast Survey 1889). The
entire southern coast is very irregular in outline; it is
precipitous, with only very slight stretches of beach or
plain. Its elevation gradually decreases as one travels W.
toward the Aleutians. A great submarine platform extends
throughout a large part of Bering Sea. The western and northern
coasts are regular in outline with long straight beaches; and
shallows are common in the seas that wash them. On the Arctic
there is a broad coastal plain. Of the islands of Alaska
the more important are: at the S.E. extremity and lying close
inland, the Alexander Archipelago, whose principal islands
from N.W. to S.E. are Chicagof, Baranof, Admiralty, Kupreanof,
Kuiu. Prince of Wales (the largest of the archipelago and
of all the islands about Alaska, measuring about 140 m.
in length and 40m.inwidth), Etolin and Revillagigedo; S.W.
of the mainland, two groups--.-(1) Kodiak, whose largest
island, of the same name, is 40 m. by 100 m., and may be
considered a continuation of the Kenai Peninsula, and whose
W. continuation, S. of Alaska Peninsula, consists of the
Semidi, Shumagin and Sannak clusters; (2) the Aleutian Islands
(q.v.) sweeping 1200 m. W.S.W. from the end of Alaska
Peninsula, W. of the mainland, in Bering Sea, the Pribilof
Islands, about 500 m. S. of Cape Prince of Wales, the small
Hall and St Matthew Islands, about 170 m. S.W. of the same
cape, St Lawrence Island (100 m. and 10 to 30 m. wide),
which is about half way between the last mentioned pair of
islets and Cape Prince of Wales and Nunivak Island, near the
mainland and due E. of St Matthew; and in the middle of Bering
Strait the Diomede Islands, which belong in part to Russia.
Very little was known about Alaska previous to 1896, when the
gold discoveries in the Klondike stimulated public interest
regarding it. Since 1895, however, the explorations of the
United States Geological Survey and the Department of War, and
other departments of the government, have fully established the
main features of its physiography. It has mountains, plateaus
and lowlands on a grand scale. ``In a broad way, the larger
features of topography correspond with those of the western
states. There is a Pacific Mountain system, a Central
Plateau region, a Rocky Mountain system, and a Great Plains
region. These four divisions are well marked, and show the
close geographic relation of this area to the southern part
of the Continent.'' The orographic features of the Pacific
Mountain system trend parallel to the coast-line of the Gulf of
Alaska, changing with this at the great bend beyond the N.,
and of the Panhandle from S.E. and N.W. to N.E. and S.W. and
running through the Alaska Peninsula. The Pacific Mountain
system includes four ranges. The Coast Range of the Panhandle
attains a width of 100 m., but has no well-defined crest
line. The range is characterized by the uniformity of
summit levels between 5O00 and 6000 ft. Continuing the Coast
Range, with which it is closely associated---the Chilkat
river lies between them---is the St Elias Range (a term
now used to include not only the mountains between Cross
Sound and Mt. St Elias, but the Chugach, Kenai, Skolai and
Nutzotin mountains); among its peaks are: Mt. Crillon ( 15,900
ft.), Mt. Fairweather ( 15,290 ft.), Mt. Vancouver (15,666
ft.), Mt. Wrangell (17,500 ft., an active volcano) in the
Nutzotin Mountains, Mt. St Elias (18,024 ft.) and, in Canadian
territory, Mt. Logan (19,539 ft.). The Aleutian Range, of
whose crest the Aleutian Islands are remnants, fills out the
system near the coast. The Alaskan Range, connecting with
the Nutzotin and Skolai branches of the St Elias Range, lies
a little farther inland; it is splendidly marked by many snowy
peaks, including Mt. Foraker (17,000 ft.) and Mt. Mckinley.
The latter, which on the W. rises abruptly out of a marshy
country, offers the obstacles of magnificent, inaccessible
granite cliffs and large glaciers to the mountaineer; it is
the loftiest peak in North America (ca. 20,300 ft.). In the
Alaskan Range and the Aleutian Range there are more than a
dozen live volcanoes, several of them remarkable; the latter
range is composed largely of volcanic material. Evidences
of very recent volcanic activity are abundant about Cook
Inlet. The Rocky Mountain system extends from Canada (the
Tukon territory) into N.E. Alaska, which it crosses near
the Arctic Coast in a broad belt composed of several ranges
about 6000 ft. in altitude. There is no well-defined crest
line; the axis of the system is roughly parallel to the
Pacific Mountain system, but runs more nearly E. and W. in
Alaska. Between the Pacific Mountain and the Rocky Mountain
systems lies the vast Central Plateau region, or Yukon
plateau. Finally, between the Rocky Mountains and the
Arctic Ocean is the Arctic Slope region, a sloping plain
corresponding to the interior plains of the United States.
First Physiographic Region.---The Panhandle is remarkably
picturesque. The maze of islands, hundreds in number, of
the Alexander Archipelago (area about 13,000 sq. m.) are
remnants of a submerged mountain system; the islands rise
3000 to 5000 ft. above the sea, with luxuriantly wooded
tops and bald, sheer sides scarred with marks of glacial
action; the beachless coast is only a narrow ledge between
the mountains and the sea, and unlike the coast of Norway,
to which in outline it is not dissimilar, is bold, steep and
craggy. Through the inner channels, sheltered from the
Pacific by the island rampart, runs the ``inland passage,''
the tourist route northward from Seattle, Washington.
The inter-insular straits are carried up into the shore as
fjords heading in rivers and glaciers. Thus the Stikine
river continues Sumner Strait and the Taku continues Cross
Sound. The Stikine, Taku and Alsek rivers all cross the
mountains in deep-cut canyons. Everywhere the evidences
of glacial action abound. Most remarkable are the inlets
known as Portland Canal and Lynn Canal (continuing Chatham
Strait). The first is very deep, with precipitous shores
and bordering mountains 5000 to 6000 ft. high; the second
is a noble fjord 100 m. long and on an average 6 m. wide,
with magnificent Alpine scenery. It is subject in winter
to storms of extraordinary violence, but is never closed by
ice. Both Portland Canal and Lynn Canal are of historical
importance, as the question of the true location of the
first and the commercial importance to Canada or to the
United States of the possession of the second, were the
crucial contentions in the disputes over the Alaska-Canadian
boundary. At the head of Lynn Canal, the only place on the
whole extent of the south-eastern Alaskan coast where a clear-cut
waterparting is exhibited between the sea-board and interior
drainage, the summits of the highest peaks in the Coast Range
are 8000 to 9000 ft. above the sea. White Pass (2888 ft.) and
Chilkoot Pass (3500 ft.), at the head of the Lynn Canal, are
the gateway to the mining country of the Klondike and Upper
Y(ukon. They are the highest points that one meets in travelling
from Skagway along the course of the Yukon to`Bering Sea.
Prior to the opening (in August 1900) of the railway between
Skagway and White Horse, Canada (110 m.), by way of the White
Pass, all transportation to the interior was effected by men
and pack-animals (and for a time by a system of telpherage)
over these passe 1/3 and the Chilkat or Dalton trail; the
building of the railway reduced carriage rates to less than
a tenth of their former value, and the Chilkat and Chilkoot
Passes were no longer used. The coast region above the
Panhandle shows on a smaller and diminishing scale the same
characteristic features, gradually running into those of the
Aleutians. Out of the Alaska and Nutzotin mountains two great
rivers flow southward: the Copper, practically unnavigable
except for small boats, because of its turbulence and the
discharge of glaciers into its waters; and the Susitna, also
practically unnavigable. Both of these rivers have their
sources in lofty mountain masses, and are swift and powerful
streams carrying with them much silt; their passes over the
water-parting N. of the Kenai Peninsula are through gorges from
4000 to 10,000 ft. in depth. The Copper, the Susitna and its
tributary, the Yentna, as well as the Skwentna, a tributary
of the Yentna from the west, all run through picturesque
canyons, and their upper courses are characterized by glacial
and torrential feeders. Their valleys are well timbered.
The glaciers of the Panhandle and throughout the rest of
the Pacific region are most remarkable---extraordinary alike
for their number and their size. They lie mainly between
56 deg. and 61 deg. N. lat., in a belt 1000 m. long, of which the
central part, some 350 or 500 m. long and 80 m. to 100 m.
wide, has been described as one great confluent neve
field. Thousands of Alpine glaciers from one to fifteen miles
long fill the upper valleys and canyons of the mountains.
More than a hundred almost reach the sea, from which they are
separated by detrital lowland or terminal moraines. Other
glaciers are of the Piedmont type. Greatest of these and of
Alaskan glaciers is the Malaspina, a vast elevated plateau of
wasting ice, 1500 sq. m. in area (nearly a tenth the area of
all Switzerland), touching the sea at only one point, though
fronting it for 50 m. behind a fringing foreland of glacial
debris. It is fed by Alpine glaciers, among them one of
the grandest in Alaska, the Seward, which descends from Mt.
Logan. It is more than 50 m. long, and more than 3 m. broad at
its narrowest point, and several times in its course flows over
cascades, falling hundreds of feet. Of tide-water glaciers
the most remarkable is probably the Muir. It has an area
of 350 sq. m.; the main trunk, which is 30 to 40 m. broad,
is fed by 26 tributaries, 20 of which are each greater than
the Mer de Glace, and pushes its bergs into the sea from ice
cliffs almost 2 m. wide, standing IOO to 200 ft. above the
water, and extending probably 700 to 1000 ft. beneath its
surface. It has been calculated that the average daily
discharge of the Muir in summer is 30,000,000 cubic ft. Its
course, which is only about 13 m., has a slope of 100 ft. per
mile, and the main current moves 7 ft. daily. The Character of
the Muir was greatly altered by an earthquake in 1899. There
are some 30 tide-water glaciers---a considerable number of
them very noteworthy. The Valdez is 30 m. long and 5000 ft. in
altitude. Most of the Alaskan glaciers are receding, but
not all of them; and at times there is a general advance.
The Muir receded 1.6 m. from 1879--1890, the Childs about
600 yards in 17 years; others over 4, 7 or 10 m. in 20 years.
The Aleutian Islands (q.v.), like the Alexander Archipelago, are
remnants of a submerged mountain system. Their only remarkable
features are the volcanoes on the easterly islands, already mentioned.
Continental Alaska.---Continental Alaska in the interior
is essentially a vast plateau. ``The traveller between the
main drainage areas of the interior is struck by the uniform
elevation of the interfluminal areas. Rounded hills, level
meads and persistent flat-topped ridges, composed of rocks of
varying structure, rise to about the same level and give the
impression that they are the remnants of a former continuous
surface. Occasional limited areas of rugged mountains rise
above this level, and innumerable stream valleys have been
incised below it; but from the northern base of the St Elias
and Alaskan ranges to the southern foothills of the Rocky
Mountain system, and throughout their length, the remnants of
this ancient level are to be seen. In height it varies from
about 5000 ft. close to the bases of the mountain systems
to less than 3000 ft. in the vicinity of the main lines of
drainage, and slopes gradually towards the north.'' The Seward
Peninsula is particularly rugged. This great plateau drains
westward through broad, gently flowing streams, the network
of whose tributary waters penetrates every corner of the
interior and offers easy means of communication. Both the main
streams and the smaller tributaries often flow through deep
canyons. The Yukon is one of the great drainage systems of the
world. The Yukon itself has a length of more than 2000 m.
and bisects the country from E. to W. Behind the bluffs that
form in large part its immediate border its basin is a rolling
country, at times sinking into great dead levels like the
Yukon flats between Circle City and the Lower Ramparts, some
30,000 sq. m. in area. Of the two great affluents of the
Yukon, the Tanana is for the most part unnavigable, while the
Koyukuk is navigable for more than 450 m. by river steamers,
and for more than 500 m. above its mouth shows no appreciable
diminution in volume. A low water-parting divides the Yukon
valley from the Kuskokwim, the second river of Alaska in
size, navigable by steamers for 600 m. Torrential near
its source, it is already a broad, sluggish stream at its
confluence with the East Kuskokwim. The tides rise 50 ft.
near its mouth and the tide-head is 100 m. above the mouth.
Rocky Mountains. --The Rocky Mountain system in Alaska
is higher and more complex than in Canada. About 100 m.
wide at the international boundary, where the peaks of the
British Mountains on the N. and of the Davidson Mountains
On the S. are 7000 to 8000 ft. high, the system runs W.S.W.
as the Endicott Mountains, two contiguous ranges of about
5000 to 6000 ft., and as these ranges separate, the northern
becomes the De Long, the southern the Baird Mountains, whose
elevation rapidly decreases toward the coast-line. The system
is sharply defined on the north and less so on the south.
Arctic Slope Region.---The Arctic Slope region is
divided into the Anuktuvuk Plateau about 80 m. wide,
with a maximum altitude to the S. of 2500 ft., and
between the plateau and the Arctic Ocean the Coastal
Plain. Very little is known of either part of the region.
Climate.--From the foregoing description of the country it
is evident that the range of climate must be considerable.
That of the coast and that of the Yukon plateau are quite
distinct. The Panhandle, along with the lisiere (foreland),
westward to Cook Inlet might be called temperate Alaska, its
climate being similar to that of the N.W. coast of the United
States; while to the westward and northward the winters become
longer and more severe. d/he cause of the mild climate of the
Panhandle, formerly supposed to be the Japanese current, or
Kuro Shiwo, is now held to be the general eastward drift of the
waters of the North Pacific in the direction of the prevalent
winds. To the warmth and moisture brought by this means the
coastal region owes its high equable temperature, its heavy
rainfall (80-110 in.) and its superb vegetation. The mean
annual temperature is from 54 deg. to 60 deg. F. Winter sets in
about the 1st of December and the snow is gone save in the
mountains by the 1st of May. The thermometer rarely registers
below zero F. or above 75 deg. F.; the difference between
the midwinter and midsummer averages is seldom more than
25 deg. . The summer is relatively dry, the autumn and winter
wet. The vapour-laden sea air blowing landward against the
girdle of snow and glaciers on the mountain barriers a few
miles inland drains its moisture in excessive rain and snow
upon the lisiere, shrouding it in well-nigh unbroken fog
and cloud-bank. Only some 60 to 100 days in the year are
clear. In passing from the Sitkan district westward toward
Kodiak and the Aleutians (q.v.) the climate becomes even
more equable, the temperature a little lower and the rainfall
somewhat less; i the fogs at first less dense, especially
near Cook Inlet, where the climate is extremely local, but
more and more persistent along the Aleutians. The clear
days of a year at Unalaska can be counted on the fingers;
five days in seven it actually rains or snows. Bering Sea
is covered with almost eternal fog. Along the coast N. of
Alaska Peninsula the rainfall diminishes to 10 in. or less
within the Arctic circle; the summer temperature is quite
endurable but the winters are exceedingly rigorous.2 East
of the mountains in south-eastern Alaska the atmosphere is
dry and bracing, the temperature ranging from -14 deg. to 92 deg.
F. In the farther interior, in the valleys of the Yukon, the
Tanana, the Copper and the Sushitna the summers are much the
same in character, the winters much more severe. On the Yukon
at the international boundary the mean of the warmest month
is higher than that of the warmest month at Sitka, 500 m.
southward. At some points in the Upper Yukon valley the range
of extreme temperatures is as great as from --75 deg. to 90 deg.
F.3 The mean heat of summer in the upper valley is about
60 deg. to 70 deg. F., and at some points in the middle and lower
valley even higher.4 By the middle of September snow flurries
have announced the imminence of winter, the sipaller streams
congeal, the earth freezes, the miner perforce abandons
his diggings, and navigation ceases even on the Yukon in
October. All winter snows fall heavily. The air is dry and
quiet, and the cold relatively uniform. In midwinter in the
upper valley the sun rises only a few degrees above the horizon
for from four to six hours a day, though very often quite
obscured. In December, January, February and March the
thermometer often registers lower than -50 deg. F., and the mean
temperature is -20 deg. . In May the rivers open, the cleared land
thaws out, and by June the miner is again at work. Summer is
quickly in full ascendancy. In May and June the sun shines
from eighteen to twenty hours and diffused twilight fills
the rest of the day. The rainfall is light, from 10 to 25
in. according to the year or the locality. Dull weather is
unknown. All nature responds in rich and rapid growth to
the garish light and intense heat of the long, splendid
days. But the Alaska summer is the uncertain season at times
the nights are cold into July, at times snow falls and there
are frosts in mid-August; sometimes rain is heavy, or again
there is a veritable drought. In the great river valleyss.
of the Yukon basin climatic conditions are much less uniform.
Fauna anid Flora.---The fauna of Alaska is very rich and
surprisingly varied. The lists of insects, birds and mammals
are especially noteworthy.5 Of these three classes, and of
other than purely zoological interest, are mosquitoes, which
swarm in summer in the interior in vast numbers; sea fowl,
which are remarkably abundant near the Aleutians; moose,
and especialiv caribou, which in the past were very numerous
in the interior and of extreme economic importance to the
natives. The destruction of the wild caribou has threatened
to expose the Indians to wholesale starvation, hence the
effort which the United States government has made to stock
the country with domestic reindeer from Siberia. This effort
made under the direction of the Bureau of Education has been
eminently successful, and in the future the reindeer seems
certain to contribute very greatly to the food, clothing,
means of shelter and miscellaneous industries of the natives;
and not less to the solution of the problems of communication
and transportation throughout the interior. It is, however,
the fish and the fur-bearing animals of its rivers and
surrounding seas that are economically most distinctive of
and important to Alaska. The fishing grounds extend along
the coast from the extreme south-east past the Aleutians
into Bristol Bay. Herring are abundant, and cod especially
so. There are probably more than 100,000 sq. m. of cod-banks
from 22 to 00 fathoms deep in Bering oea and E. or the Alaska
Peninsula. Salmon are to be found in almost incredible
numbers. Of marine mammals, whales are hunted far to the N.
in Bering Sea and the Arctic Ocean, but are much less common
than formerly, as are also the walrus, the sea otter and
the fur seal. All these are disappearing before commercial
greed. The walrus is now found mainly far N.; the sea
otter, once fairly common throughout the Aleutian district,
is now rarely found even on the remoter islands; the fur
seal, whose habitat is the Pribilof Islands in Bering
Sea, has been considerably reduced in numbers by pelagic
hunting. There are half-a-dozen species of hair seals and
sea-lions. The number of fur-bearing land animals is equally
large. Sables, ermine, wolverines, minks, land otters,
beavers and musk-rats have always been importantitemsin the fur
trade. There are black, grizzly and polar bears, and also
two exclusively Alaskan species, the Kodiak and the glacier
bear. The grey wolf is common; it is the basal stock of
the Alaskan sledge-dog. The red fox is widely distributed,
and the white or Arctic fox is very common along the
eastern coast of Bering Sea; a blue fox, once wild, is
now domesticated on Kodiak and the Aleutians, and on the
southern continental coast, and a black fox, very rare,
occurs in south-eastern Alaska; the silver fox is very rare.
The Alaskan flora is less varied than the fauna. The
forests of the coastal region eastward from Cook Inlet, and
particularly in south-eastern Alaska, are of fair variety,
and of great richness and value. The balsam fir and in the
south the red cedar occur in scant quantities; more widely
distributed, but growing only under marked local conditions,
is the yellow or Alaska cedar, a very hard and durable wood
of fine grain and pleasant odour. The Oregon alder is fairly
common. Far the most abundant are coast and Alpine hemlocks
and the tide-land or Sitka spruce. The last is not confined
to this part of Alaska, but is the characteristic and universal
tree. It is of primary economic importance to thenatives,who
use it for the most variouspurposcs. On the islands of the
Alexander Archipelago and on Prince William Sound it grows
to gigantic size; even on the Koyukuk and the middle Yukon
it attains in places a diameter of 2 ft. In 1002 a forest
reservation comprising the largest part of the Alexander
Archipelago was created by the United States government. The
separation of the coast and interior floras is almost complete;
only along the mountain passes and river valleys, and rarely
there, is there an exchange of species. Timber, however, is
fairly abundant along the entire course of the Yukon above Anvik
(about 400 m. from the mouth), along the great tributaries of
the Yukon, and, so far as explorations have re vealed, along
every stream in central Alaska; and the woods of the interior
consist almost entirely of spruce. On the Yukon flats it
grows in a vast forest impenetrably dense.6 The timber line,
which in the I,anhandle and along the southern coast of the
continental mass runs from 1800 to 2400 ft., frequently rises
in the interior plateau even to 4000 ft. Next in importance
after spruce, in the interior, is birch, and then balsam
poplar. Thickets of alders and willows in wet places and
new-made land, aspens and large cottonwoods west of the
characteristic spruce area (as on Seward Peninsula), are also
common. Toward the Arctic circle, the timber becomes, of
course, sparse, low, gnarled and distorted. The willows in
the Arctic drainage basin shrink to shrubs scarcely knee-high.
Bushes are common in western Alaska, but undergrowth is very
scanty in the forests. Crasses grow luxuriantly in the river
bottoms and wherever the tundra moss is destroyed to give them
footing. Most distinctive is the ubiquitous carpeting of
mosses, varying in colours from the pure white and cream of
the reindeer moss to the deep green and brown of the peat
moss, all conspicuously spangled in the briefsummer with
bright flowers of the higher orders, heavy blossoms on stunted
stalks. The thick peat moss or tundra of the undrained lowlands
covers probably at least a quarter of Alaska; the reindeer moss
grows both on the lowlands and the hills.7 Sedges available
for forage grow in the tundra. In August berries are fairly
abundant over the interior; one of them, the salmon or cloud
berry, preserved in seal oil for the winter, is an important
food of the natives. The grasses are killed by the frosts in
September. The western timber limit is on Kodiak Island.
The Aleutian Islands (q.v.) are almost destitute of trees,
but are covered with a luxuriant growth of herbage. Climatic
differences cannot account for the treeless condition of
the country W. of this point, and the true explanation lies
probably in the fact that in winter, when the seeds of the
coastal forests ripen and are released, the prevalent winds
W. of Kodiak are damp and blow from the S. and S.W., while
the spread of the seeds requires dry winds blowing from the
N. and N.W. Such favourable conditions occur only rarely.
The Soil of Alaska seems to be in Jtself rich, and quite
capable of agricultural development; the great impediment
to this is in . the briefness of the summer. Contrary,
however, to the once universal belief, the experiments of
the department of agriculture of the United States have
definitely proved that hardy vegetables in great variety
can readily be produced in the coastal region and at various
stations in the Yukon valley; and presumably, therefore, all
over the interior S. of the Arctic circle, save along Bering
Sea; also that there is little doubt of the practicability
of successfully cultivating buckwheat, barley and oats, and
possibly also rye and wheat; that grasses for grazing grow
generally and often in abundance; and in general that the
possibilities of interior Alaska as a live-stock country
are very cons18erable. It is calculated that a twentieth of
south-eastern Alaska is available for agriculture, and that of
the entire country 100,000 sq. m. are pasturable or tillable.
Indiistrl'.---The fur and fish resources of Alaska have until
recently held first place in her industries. Herrings furnish
oil and guano, and the young fish are packed as ``sardines'' at
Juneau. Cod can be taken with comparatively little danger or
hardship. During the Russian occupation a small amount was
shipped to California and the Sandwich Islands. The take
since 1879 has been practically constant. The take of halibut
is increasing steadily. The salmon industry dates from
1878. The total output (in 1901, 100,000,000 lb.; in 1006,
about 72,000,000 lb.), which since 1900 has been more than
half the total salmon product of the United States, is more
than ten' times the product of all other fish.8 On the Karluk
river, Kodiak Island, is the greatest salmon fishery in the
world. More than 3,000,000 salmon have been canned here
in one season. The second salmon stream is the Nushagak,
flowing into Bristol Bay; this bay is the richest fishing
field of Alaska, furnishing in 1901, 35% of the total
production. The recklessly wasteful manner in which these
fisheries are conducted, and the inadequate measures taken by
the United States government for their protection, threaten
the entire industry with destruction. From 1867 to 1902
the value of the total fishery product was estimated at
$60,000,000. The fur-seal industry has been better protected
but still unavailingly. (See SEAL FIsheries and BERINO SEA
ARBITRATION.) The value of the fur seals taken from 1868 to
1902 was estimated at $35,000,000 and that of other furs at
$17,000,000. The walrus, hunted for its ivory tusks, and
the sea otter, rarest and most valuable of Alaskan fur
animals, are near extermination; the blue fox is now bred
for its pelt on the Aleutians and the southern continental
coast; the skins of the black and silver fox are extremely
rare, and in general the whole fur industry is discouragingly
decadent. The whale fishery also has greatly fallen off;
there is no profit on the oil and the whales are sought for
the baleen alone; they are much less numerous too than they
once were, and have to be sought farther and farther north.
Minerals.--The timber resources of Alaska are untouched
and the serious exploitation of her minerals is very recent.
As early as 1861 gold discoveries were made on the Stikine
river; repeated discoveries, culminating in the Cassiar
district ``boom,'' were made in British Columbia from 1857 to
1874; colourings along the Yukon were reported in 1866-1867
and systematic prospecting of the upper river began about
1873. Juneau was founded in 1880; the same year the opposition
of the Indians was withdrawn that had prevented the crossing
of the mountain passes to the interior, and after 1880
repeated and scattered discoveries were made on the Lewes,
Pelly, Stewart and other streams of the Upper Yukon country in
Canada. As early as 1883-1885 there was a considerable mining
excitement due to these discoveries, and a much greater one
in 1887 after the discovery of coarse gold on Forty Mile
Creek in American territory; but these were as nothing to
the picturesque and feverish rush that followed the location
of the first Klondike claim in Canadian territory in August
1896. (SEE KLONDIKE.) The mines in American territory
were temporarily deserted for the new diggings. Other gold
districts are scattered over the whole interior of Alaska.
Nome (q.v.) was the scene of a great gold mining stampede in
1900. The quartz mines near Juneau are among the greatest
stamp mills of the world (SEE JUNEAU.) The product of gold
and silver (of the latter some 1.3% of the total) from 1895
to 1901 was more than $32,000,000 from Alaska proper (not
including that from the Canadian Tukon fields) as against
a production of $5,000,000 in 1880-1896. The gold product
of the Canadian Yukon territory from 1896-1903 was about
$96,000,000, as estimated by the Canadian Geological Survey. In
1905 the product of gold from Alaska was valued at $15,630,000
(mines report); and from 1880 to 19djec the production of
gold, according to the estimate of A. H. Brooks, was more than
$100,000,000. The gravest problem of mining in the interior
country, even graver than that presented by the climate, is
transportation; in 1900 the Tanana fields, for example, were
provisioned from Circle City, about 125 m. distant, at the
rate of a cent per lb. mile (i.e. $2000 for moving a ton 100
m.). Even higher rates prevailed in the copper country in
1902. Various other minerals in addition to gold have been
discovered, and several of them, notably copper and silver
(the latter appearing with the gold deposits), may probably
be profitably exploited. In 1905 the product of copper
was valued at $759,634, that of silver at $80,165 (mines
report). Coal, and in much larger quantities lignite,
have been found in many parts of Alaska. Most important,
because of their location, are deposits along the Alaska
Peninsula and between Circle City and Dawson. The latter
furnishes fuel to the river steamboats, and it is hoped may
eventually supply the surrounding mining region. There are
valuable deposits of gypsum on Chicagof Island, and marble
quarries are being developed on Prince of Wales Island.
As against $7,200,000 paid for Alaska in 1867, the revenues
returned to the United States in the years 1867--1903 totalled
$9,555,909 (namely, rental for the Fox and Pribilof Islands,
$999,200; special revenue tax on seal-skins, $7,597,351;
Alaskan customs, $528,558; public lands, $28,928; other sources
$401,872). It has been estimated that in the same period
the United States drew from Alaska fish, furs and gold
to the value of about $150,000,000; that up to 1903 the
imports from the states aggregated $i00,000,000; and that
$25,000,000 of United States capital was invested in Alaska.
Since 1896 communication with the outer world has been greatly
increased. Alaskan mails leave the states daily, many
post-offices are maintained, mail is regularly delivered
beyond the Arctic circle, all the more important towns have
telegraphic communication with the states,9 there is one
railway in the interior through Canadian territory from
Skagway, and other railways are planned. The total mileage
in 1906 was 136 m. In that year the Alaskan Central Railroad
(from Seward to Fairbanks, 463 m.) was chartered; 45 m. of
this road were in operation in 1905. One long military road
as an ``All American'' route from Valdez has long been built.
Population.---The population in 1867 at the time of the
cession from Russia is estimated at 30,000, of which two-thirds
were Eskimo and other Indians. Population returned in
1880, 33,426; in 1890, 32,052; in 1900, 63,592, of whom
approximately 48% were whites, 46% natives and 6% Japanese and
Chinese; (1910 census) 64,356. The Asiatics are employed in
the salmon canneries. The natives of Alaska fall under four
ethnologic races: the Eskimo or Innuit---of these the Aleuts
are an offshoot; the Haidas or Kaigani, found principally
on Prince of Wales Island and thereabouts; the Thlinkits,
rather widely distributed in the ``Panhandle''; and the
Tinnehs or Athapascans, the stock race of the great interior
country. In 1800 the pure-blooded natives numbered 23,531,
of whom 6000 were Haidas, Thlinkits or other natives of the
coastal region, 1000 Aleuts, 3400 Athapascans and 13,100
Eskimo. The natives have adopted many customs of white
civilization, and on the Aleutians, and in coastal Alaska, and
in scattered regions in the interior acknowledge Christianity
under the forms of the Orthodox Greek or other churches. The
rapid exhaustion in late years of the caribou, seals and other
animals, once the food or stockin-trade of the Aleuts and other
races, threatens more and more the swift depletion of the
natives. They have also felt the fatal influence of the liquor
traffic. From 1893 to 1895 the United States expended $55,000
to support the natives of the Fur Seal Islands. This policy
threatens to become a continued necessity throughout much of
Alaska. There is a small government Indian reservation
on Afognak Island, near Kodiak. The white population is
extremely mobile, and few towns have an assured or definite
future. The prosperity of the mining towns of the interior
is dependent on the fickle fortune of the gold-fields,
for which they are the distributing points. Sitka, Juneau
(the capital) and Douglas, both centres of a rich mining
district, Skagway, shipping point for freight for the Klondike
country (see these titles), and St Michael, the ocean port
for freighting up the Yukon, are the only towns apparently
assured of a prosperous future. Wrangell (formerly Fort
St Dionysius, Fort Stikine and Fort Wrangell), founded in
1833, is a dilapidated and torpid little village, of some
interest in Alaskan history, and of temporary importance from
1874 to 1877 as the gateway to the Cassiar mines in British
Columbia. Its inhabitants are chiefly Thlinkit Indians.
Government.---Alaska, by an act of Congress approved the
7th of May 1906, received the power to elect a delegate to
Congress. Before this act and the elections of August 1906
Alaska was a governmental district of the United States without
a delegate in Congress. Its administration rests in the hands
of the various executive departments, and is partly exercised
by a governor and other resident officials appointed by the
president. It is a military district, a customs district (since
1868), is organized into a land district, and constitutes
three judicial divisions. In 1867-1877 the government was
in the hands of the department of war, although the customs
were from the beginning collected by the department of the
treasury, with which the effective control rested from 1877
until the passage of the so-called Organic Act of 17th May
1884. This act extended over Alaska the laws of the state
of Oregon so far as they should be applicable, created the
judicial district and a land district, put in force the
mining laws of the United States, and in general gave the
administrative system the organization it retained up to the
reforms of 1899-1900. The history of government and political
agitation has centred since then in the demand for general
land legislation and for an adequate civil and criminal law,
in protests against the enforcement of a liquor prohibition
law, and in agitation for an efficiently centralized
administration. As the general land laws of the United States
were not extended to Alaska in 1884, there was no means,
generally speaking, of gaining title to any land other than
a mining claim, and so far as any method did exist its cost
was absolutely prohibitive. After partial and inadequate
legislation in 1891 and 1898, the regular system of land
surveys was made applicable to Alaska in 1899, and a generous
homestead law was provided in 1903. An adequate code of civil
and criminal law and provisions for civil government under
improved conditions were provided by Congress in 1899 and
1900. The agitation over prohibition dates from 1868; the
act of that year organizing a customs district forbade the
importation and sale of firearms, ammunition and distilled
spirits; the Organic Act of 1884 extended this prohibition
to all intoxicating liquors. The coast of Alaska offers
exceptional facilities for smuggling, and liquor bas always
been very plentiful; juries have steadily refused to convict
offenders, and treasury officials have regularly collected
revenue from saloons existing in defiance of law. The
prohibition law is still upon the statute-books. The chief
weaknesses in the colonial administration of the territory,
particularly prior to 1900---but only to a slightly less
extent since---have been decentralization and a lax civil
service. The concomitants of these have been irresponsibility
and inefficiency. The governor has represented the president
without possessing much power; the department of war has had
illdefined duties; the department of justice has, in theory,
had charge of the general law; the department of the interior
has administered the land law; the agents of the bureau of
education have superintended the stocking of Alaska with
reindeer; the United States Fish Commission has investigated
the condition of marine life without having powers to protect
it. The treasury department has charted the coasts, sought
to enforce the prohibition law, controlled and protected
the fur seals and fisheries, and incidentally collected the
customs. Since the creation of the department of commerce
and labour (1903), it has taken over from other departments
some of these scattered functions. All in all, the
government has proved itself without power to protect the
most valuable industries of the district, and for many years
there has been talk of a regular territorial government.
The paucity of permanent residents and the poverty of the
local treasury seem to make such a solution an impossibleone.
History.---The region now known as Alaska was first explored
by the Russian officers Captain Vitus Bering and Chirikov
in I 741 They visited parts of the coast between Dixon
Entrance and Cape St Elias, and returned along the line of the
Aleutians. Their expedition was followed by many private
vessels manned by traders and trappers. Kodiak was discovered
in 1763 and a settlement effected in 1784. Spanish expeditions
in 1774 and 1775 visited the south-eastern coast and laid a
foundation for subsequent territorial claims, one incident of
which were the Nootka Sound seizures of 1789. Captain James
Cook in 1778 made surveys from which the first approximately
accurate chart of the coast was published; but it was reserved
for Vancouver in 1793-1794 to make the first charts in the
modern sense of the intricate south-eastern coast, which only
in recent years have been superseded by new survel's. Owing
to excesses committed by private traders and companies, who
robbed, massacred and hideously abused the native Indians,
the trade and regulation of the Russian possessions were
in 1799 confided to a semi-official corporation called the
Russian-American Company for a term of twenty years, afterwards
twice renewed for similar periods. A monopoly of the American
trade had previously been granted in 1788 to another private
company, the Shohkof. Alexander Baranov (1747--1819); chief
resident director of the American companies (1790-1819), one
of the early administrators of the new company, became famous
through the successes he achieved as governor. He founded
Sitka (q.v.) in 1804 after the massacre by the natives of
the inhabitants of an eadier settlement (1799) at an adjacent
point. The headquarters of the company were at Kodiak until
1805, and thereafter at Sitka. In 1821 Russia attempted by
ukase to exclude navigators from Bering Sea and the Pacific
coast of her possessions, which led to immediate protest from
the United States and Great Britain. This led to a treaty
with the United States in 1824 and one with Great Britain in
1825, by which the excessive demands of Russia were relinquished
and the boundaries of the Russian possessions were permanently
fixed. The last charter of the Russian-American Company expired
on the 31st of December 1861, and Prince Maksutov, an imperial
governor, was appointed to administer the affairs of the
territory. In 1864 authority was granted to an American
company to make explorations for a proposed Russo-American
company's telegraph line overland from the Amur river in
Siberia to Bering Strait, and through Alaska to British
Columbia. Work was begun on this scheme in 1865 and continued
for nearly three years, when the success of the Atlantic
cable rendered the construction of the lme unnecessary and
it was given up, but not until important explorations had been
made. In 1854 a Californian company began importing ice from
Alaska. Very soon thereafter the first Official overtures
by the United States for the purchase of Russian America were
made during the presidency of James Buchanan. In 1867, by a
treaty signed on the 30th of March, the purchase was consummated
for the sum of $7,200,o00, and on the 18th of October 1867
the formal transfer of the territory was made at Sitka.
Since its acquisition by the United States the history of Alaska
has been mainly that of the evolution of its administrative
system described above, and the varying fortunes of its
fisheries and sealing industries. Since the gold discoveries
a wonderful advance has been made in the exploration of the
country. A military reservation has been created with Fort
Michael as a centre. The two events of greatest general interest
have been the Fur Seal Arbitration of 1893 (see BERING SEA
ARBITRATION), and the . Alaska-Canadian boundary dispute,
settled by an international tribunal of British and American
jurists in London in 1903. The boundary dispute involved the
interpretation of the words, quoted above, in the treaties
of 1825 and 1867 defining the boundary of the Russian (later
American) possessions, and also the determining of the location
of Portland Canal, and the question whether the coastal girdle
should cross or pass around the heads of the fjords of the
coast. The tribunal was an ad-)udication board and not an
actual court of arbitration, since its function was not to decide
the boundary but to settle the meaning of the Anglo-Russian
treaty, which provided for an ideal (and not a physical)
boundary. This boundary did not fit in with geographical
facts; hence the adjudication was based upon the motive of
the treaty and not upon the literal interpretation of such
elastic terms as ``ocean,', ``shore'' and ``coast-line.''
The award of the tribunal made in October 1903 was arrived
at by the favourable vote of the three commissioners of
the United States and of Lord Alverstone, whose action
was bitterly resented by the two Canadian commissioners;
it sustained in the main the claims of the United States.
AUTHORITIES.---W. H. Dall and M. Baker, ``List of Charts,
Maps, and Publications relating to Alaska'', in United States
Pacific Coast Pilot, 1879; Monthly Catalogue United
States Public Documents, No. 37 (1898), and Bulletin
227, United States Geological Surve8' (1904), for official
documents; H. H. Bancroft, Alaska 1710--f8&5) pp. 595-609;
and various other bibliographies in titles mentioned below,
especially in Brooke's The Geography and Geology of Alaska.
General.--United States Monthly Summary of Commerce Finance,
July 1903, ``Commercial Alaska, 1867-1903. Area, Popula
tion, Productions, Commerce . . .''; W. H. Dall, Alaska
and its Resources (Boston, 1870); C. Sumner, Speech on
``Cession of Russian-America to the United States,'' in
Works, vol. xi. (Boston, 1875): C. H. Merriam, editor,
Halrriman Alaska Expedition (New York, 1901-1904, 3 vols.).
Physiography and Climate.---United States Department of
War, Explorations in Alaska, 1864-1900 (Washington, 1901);
United States Geological Survey, Annual Reports since
1897---``The Geography and Geology of Alaska: A Summary of
Existing Knowledge,'' by Alfred H. Brooks (Washington, 1905;
Professional Paper, No. 45), with various maps (see National
Geographic Mag., May 1904, lor a map embodying all knowledge
then known); ``Altitudes in Alaska'' (Bulletin 100, by H.
Gannett); ``Geographic Dictionary of Alaksa'' (Bulletin
299, Washington, 1906), by M. Baker; United States Post
Office, ``Map of Alaska'' (1901); United States Coast and
Geodetic Survey, Bulletins and maps; Bulletin American
Geographieal Society, February 1902, F. S. Schrader, ``Work
of the United States Geological Survey in Alaska''; Journal
of Franklin Institute, October and November 1904, W. R.
Abercrombie---``The Copper River Country of Alaska''; I. C.
Russell, Glaciers of North America. . . . Ivan Petroff, Report
Industries.--United States Census, 1880, Ivan Petroff,
Report on the Population, Industries and Resources of
Alaska; United States Census, 1890 and 1900; on reindeer,
Fifteenth Annuat Report on Introduction of Domestic Reindeer
into Alaska, by Sheldon Jackson (Washington, 1906); on
agriculture, United States Department of Agriculture, Experiment
Stations, Bulletin Nos. 48, 62, 82 . . . (1898-1900); Seal
and Salmon Fisheries and General Industries of Alaska,
1868-1805 (Washington, 1898) (United States Treasury, also
55 Congress, 1 Session, House Document 92, vols. vi.-x.),
4 vols.; D. S. Jordan et al., The Fur Seals and Fur Seal
Islanids (or Peport of ln.: also many special reports on
the seals published by the voln.: also many special reports
on the seals published by the United States Treasury: for
Report of British seal experts, Creat Britain, Foreign Office
Correspondence, United States, No. 3 (1897), No. 1 (1898).
History and Government.--H. H. Bancroft, Alaska, 1730-1885
(San Francisco, 1886); W. H. Dall, ``Alaska as it was and
is, 1863-1893,'' in Bulletin of the Philadelphia Society of
Washington, xiii.; Governor of Alaska, Annual Report to the
Secretary of the Interior; Fur Seal Arbitration, Proceedings
(Washington, 1895, 46 vols.l: also Great Britain, Foreign
Office Correspondence, United States, Nos. 6, 7, 8 (1893), No.
1 (1895); Alaskan Boundary Tribunal, Cases, Counter-cases,
Arguments, Atlases of United States and Great Britain
(Washington, 1903 seq.); and a rich periodical literature.
Population, Natives.--United States National Museum,
Ann. Report (1896); W. Hough, ``Lamp of the Eskimo''
(long, and of general interest): F. Knapp and R. L. Childe,
The Thlinkets of South-Eastern Alaska (Chicago, 1896).
1 At Kodiak, the monthly means range from 28 deg. to 33 deg. with a
total range from -10 deg. to 82 deg. F., as against -5 deg. to 87 deg. F.
at Sitka; the average temperature is 40.6 deg. F., rainfall 59 in.
2 At St Michael the mean annual temperature is about 26 deg. ,
the monthly means run from about -2 deg. to 54 deg. , and the extreme
recorded temperatures from about -55 deg. to 77 deg. F.; at Port
Clarence the annual mean is 22 deg. lmonthly means -7 deg. to 51 deg.
F.; extreme range of temperature, -38 deg. to 77 deg. F.; at Point
Barrow the annual mean is 7.70 F'., monthly means -18.6 deg.
to 38.1 deg. F., extreme range of temperature -55 deg. to 65 deg. F.
3 The mean annual temperature on the Yukon at the international
line is about 21 deg. F., the monthly means run from -17 deg. to 60 deg.
F., the range of extreme temperatures from -80 deg. to 90 deg. F.
4 At Fort Yukon five years' records showed mean seasonal
temperatures of 14 deg. , 60 deg. , 17 deg. , and -23.8 deg. F. for spring,
summer, autumn and winter respectively: at Holy Cross Mission 20 deg. ,
59 deg. , 36 deg. and 0.95 deg. , at Nulato 29 deg. , 60 deg. , 36 deg. and -14 deg. . `
5 The Harriman expedition collected in two months 1000 species of
insects, of which 344 species (and 6 genera) were new to science.
6 The trees here grow as large as 10 in. in diameter and 40 or
50 ft. high; the branches do nor spread, even where there is room,
so ihat the tallest tree has a top only four or five feet broad;
the roots, which cannot penetrate the shaded and frozen soil,
spread over the ice or shallowly into the tundra carpeting, and
often only by their matted neiwork prevent the fall of the trees.