tian retaliatory expeditions into West Asia and a long dominance over it. He had an admiral of the same name, whose self-laudatory inscription on his tomb is a most valuable mine of knowledge on the military and naval operations of the time. AAHMES-NEFERTARI was his queen: her mummy-case, one of the most magnificent ever discovered, is in the museum at Gizeh.

AAHMES II, the Amasis of Herodotus, fifth Pharaoh of the 26th dynasty, c. 570-526 B.C. An officer of Aipries headed a revolt against him, and overthrew and killed him. Though he seems to have risen from the ranks, and to have loved roystering and disliked royal etiquette, he made a capable and judicious soVereign; saved Egypt from conquest by Nebuchadnezzar (who ravaged it, but retreated), and managed to preserve it from invasion by Cyrus the Great. He was on very friendly terms with the Greeks: lending his influence to promote their commerce and colonization; assigning them the excellent port of Naucratis, which soon grew into a flourishing city; contributing liberally toward the rebuilding of the burned temple at Delphi; and according to Greek story having cordial relations with several philosophers and princes - Pythagoras, Polycrates, etc. Under the reign of Aahmes Egypt enjoyed much prosperity.

AALBORG, àl'bork ("eel-town"), Denmark, the chief city of N. Jutland; on the south side of the Limfjord (a sea-arm which joins the Cattegat to the North Sea), and on the Danish State Ry., which crosses the fjord by an iron bridge 990 feet long, one of the finest pieces of engineering in the kingdom. An important commercial town as far back as the 11th century (Wallenstein sacked it in 1627, the Swedes in 1644 and 1657). Despite a shallow harbor it has much trade, by means of small vessels, with Scandinavia and England; and it manufactures liquors, leather, lumber, soap, cement, cotton goods, etc. bishop's seat, it has a cathedral; also two old churches, an old castle, a museum, and a well equipped library. Pop. 33,500.

AALESUND. See ALESUND.

A

AALEN, ä'len, Germany, town of Württemberg on the Kocher river, 46 miles by rail east of Stuttgart. It is situated in the foothills of the Swabian Alps, 1,400 feet above sealevel. It was the boyhood home of Christian Schubart the poet who is commemorated by a statue. Large iron works, woolen, linen, ribbon and leather manufactures are carried on. Aalen was a free imperial city from 1360 until its annexation to Württemberg in 1802. Pop. 11,400.

AALI PASHA, Mehemed Emin, ä-lē' päshä', mě-hěm-ed' ā-min', a Turkish statesman: b. Constantinople 1815; d. 6 Sept. 1871. Entering public life at 15, he was chargé d'affaires at London 1838, ambassador to Great Britain 1841-44; chancellor of the divan 1845; thrice minister of foreign affairs in the troublous years 1846-52; grand vizier a short time in 1852 but soon displaced as not in political accord with his companions. Recalled as foreign minister during the Crimean war of 1854, in March 1855 he took part in the treaty of the "four guarantees"; in July again became

grand vizier, and at the Treaty of Paris in 1856 showed great decision and cleverness in looking after Turkish interests, but without entire success. In November his political tone forced him to resign, but he remained minister without portfolio, and member of the Great Council. After Reshid Pasha's death in 1858 he was again grand vizier, and soon again withdrawn; but in November 1861 he resumed the office of foreign minister. He was president of the convention on Rumanian affairs, Paris 1864, and member of the Black Sea Conference in London 1871. During the Sultan's absence at the Paris Exposition in 1867 he was regent; and while the very soul of the reform movement energetically suppressed the Cretan rebellion and the movement for Egyptian independence. In the full tide of activity he suddenly died,- an excellent man and statesman who strove all his life, like Midhat Pasha, but with little success, to regenerate and modernize his country.

AAR or AARE, ar ("river"), the name of several German streams: chiefly, a Swiss river tributary to the Rhine, about 175 miles long, the largest in Switzerland save that and the Rhone. Formed by torrents from the vast and famous Oberaar and Unteraar glaciers of the Bernese Alps in E. Bern, it flows northwest through the valley of Hasli over the Handeck Falls, 200 feet high, expands into Lake Brienz, and past Interlaken into Lake Thun, becomes navigable, passes Bern, turns north and then northeast along the southern slopes of the Jura, past Solothurn and Aarau, and joining the Limmat, shortly after breaks through the ridge and empties into the Rhine at Waldshut. Chief affluents, the Saane, Zihl, and Emme, the Reuss feeding it from the lake of Lucerne and Zuger See, the Limmat from the lake of Zurich and the Lütschine from the two splendid Grindelwald glaciers. The chief cities on its banks are Bern, Solothurn, Aarau and Interlaken.

AARAU, ("Aar-meadow"), Switzerland, capital of the canton of Aargau; right bank of the Aar, 41 miles northeast of Bern, 1,100 feet above sea-level, in a fertile plain just south of the Jura, whose peaks close by are the Wasserfluh (2,850 feet) and Giselahйluh (2,540 feet). It has famous manufactures of cannon, bells, and fine scientific instruments, besides cutlery, leather, silk, and cotton; and holds eight fairs yearly. There are also historic, scientific, and ethnographic museums, a cantonal library rich in volumes of Swiss history, and a bronze statue of the historian and novelist Heinrich Zschokke (q.v.), who lived here. Here, December 1797, the old Swiss confederacy held its last session; April to September 1798 it was the capital of the Helvetic Republic. Pop. 9,800.

AARDVARK, ärd'värk (Dutch, "earthpig"), the Cape ant-eater (Orycteropus capensis). Also called ground-hog and ant-bear. A South African mammal measuring about five feet from end of tubular snout to tip of long naked tail. It lives in shallow burrows and is of timid, nocturnal habit; it feeds on ants and other insects, licking them up with a long tongue which secretes a sticky saliva. The head is slightly pig-like, with erect ears; the

stout body is sparsely covered with short stiff hairs; the limbs are short, with strong claws for digging; the flesh is edible and considered delicate, though of peculiar flavor. See ANT

EATER.

AARDWOLF (Dutch, "earth-wolf"), a timid, nocturnal South African carnivore (Proteles lalandii), the only representative of the family Protelida. It resembles the hyena, to which it is closely related, but has less strength of jaw and teeth. Its fur is coarse; color ashy-gray irregularly striped with black; muzzle, black and nearly naked; ears, brown outside, gray within. It inhabits burrows, and being unable to kill vertebrates lives upon insects, larvæ, and small carrion.

AARESTRUP, Emil, â'ré-stroop, Danish poet (1800-56). He was born in Copenhagen. He was not duly appreciated until after his death, but is now acknowledged one of the foremost lyric poets of Denmark, ranking next to Christian Winther. His 'Collected Poems,' with critical sketch by G. Brandes, was published at Copenhagen in 1877.

AARGAU, ar'gow ("Aar-shire": Fr. Argovie, ar-gō-vē), Switzerland, an extreme N. canton between Basel W., Zurich E., Lucerne S., and the Rhine and Baden N. Area 542 square miles; capital, Aarau. It consists mainly of spurs of the Alps and Jura, nowhere over 3,000 feet above sea-level, with numerous fertile valleys watered by the Aar and its S.E. tributaries, the Limmat (or Linth) and Reuss (see AAR) being chief. The climate is moist and variable, and stock-farming and agriculture are advanced: fruit, vegetables, and vines abound, but the wines are inferior. Timber is plentiful. Manufactures: cottons, silks, ribbons, linens, hosiery, straw-plait, etc., and important machine works. The boat traffic on the Aar and Rhine, and the active land and water transit trade, employ many. It has several picturesque ruined castles. Aargau, part of old Helvetia, then conquered by the Franks (5th century), a Hapsburg fief 11731415, then captured by the Cantonal League and divided between Bern and Lucerne, was split up and a part made a member of the Helvetic Republic 1798. Its constitution was first fixed by the Congress of Vienna in 1815; in 1831 it gained a democratic one, and has ever since been a champion of liberalism. In 1841 it suppressed its eight monasteries, and this led to the formation of the Sonderbund (q.v.), or Secession League, of Catholic cantons in 1847. Legislative power is vested in the Great Council, one for every 1,100 people, which has to submit laws and decrees to a referendum; executive power in the Small Council of five, chosen by and from the Great one. Aargau sends 10 members to the National Council. Pop. (1913) 236,860, nearly all German. See SWITZERLAND and consult Hierli, J., 'Die archäologische Karte des Kantons Aargau' (Aaran 1899); Zschokke, E., Geschichte des Aargaus' (ib., 1903), and 'Historische Gesellschaft des Kantons Aargau' (ib., 1898).

AARHUUS, àr'-hoos, Denmark. (1) District, the east central part of Jutland, divided into Aarhuus and Randers amfs (or bailiwicks); area, 1,821 square miles; pop. about 325,000, mainly employed in fishing industries. (2) City, the second largest of Denmark, capi

tal of Aarhuus amt, on a bay of the Cattegat and the Danish State Ry.; has a harbor made in 1883-90, with a breakwater and six feet of water, regular steamer lines to Copenhagen and England, and a large trade in grain, cattle, etc.; and much shipbuilding, ironfounding, cotton-spinning, and other manufactures. It is a bishop's seat since 948, making it one of the oldest cities in Denmark; its cathedral, begun in 1201, is one of the largest and finest church buildings in the kingdom. It has a museum, banks and a stock exchange. Pop. about 62,000.

AARON, ar'un, a prominent but subordinate figure of the Exodus period in Jewish history, whose importance increases with the distance of the recorder from the early epochs, and with the remodeling of the early histories by the priesthood to support their later pretensions and their theocratic ideal of Judaism. In the earliest or Elohistic (q.v.) portions of the Hexateuch, he is brother of Miriam (Ex. xv, 20); but it is Joshua who is Moses' minister for religious rites and who keeps guard over the tent of meeting (Ex. xxiii, 11), the young men of Israel offer sacrifice, and Moses alone is the high-priest. Aaron, however, seems to be regarded as ancestor of one set of priests, those at the Hill of Phinehas, and perhaps of those at Bethel. In a later portion it is he who yields to the demand for an idol, and fashions the golden calf - an evident genealogy of Baal-worship, accredited to the ancestor of rival priests. In the Yahvistic portions he is Moses' older brother, but is brought upon the stage only to be ignored: Pharaoh sends for him and Moses to take away the plagues (Ex. vii), but he has no independent power and is merely Moses' agent in performing miracles, bringing on plagues, etc. The supererogatory nature of his functions makes it probable that his role is introduced by the priestly redactor, under whose hands he becomes a mighty leader little inferior to Moses: he sometimes receives laws directly from Yahwć (Num. xviii); he with Moses numbers the people; the Israelites rebel against him as well as Moses, though, when he criticises Moses, curiously his inciter Miriam is punished, not himself (Num. xii); he and Moses jointly disobey Yahwé's command at Meribah; and he is punished by having his life close before entering Canaan. This magnifying connects itself clearly with the post-exile books, where he is the ancestor of all legitimate priests, consecrated high-priest by Moses, and alone permitted to enter the Holy of Holies yearly: he represents the tribe of Levi, and even within it his descendants alone are rightful priests, and interlopers (see KORAH) are stricken dead by Yawhé. The pre-exilic prophets know nothing of this claim: Ezekiel traces the origin of the Jerusalem priesthood only to Zadok (q.v.). He belongs to the tribe of Joseph and its struggle to secure admission to the Jerusalem priesthood. Consult Meyer, Ed., 'Die Israeliten und ihre Nachbarstamme> (1906); Schmidt, N., Jerameel and the Negeb' (in the Hibbert Journal 1908); Oort 'Die Aaronieden' (in Theologisch Tijdschrift 1884).

AARON BEN ASHER, Jewish scholar: lived in Tiberias early in the 10th century. He

completed one of the two existing recensions of the vowels and accents of the Hebrew Bible. His rival Ben Naftali also completed a similar work, but the readings of the former are usually preferred.

In

AARON BEN ELIJAH, renowned Karaite theologian: b. Cairo, Egypt, 1300; d. Constantinople 1369. To distinguish him from his father, Aaron ben Joseph, also a famous scholar, he was often called "Aaron the Younger." By many he is considered the most logical reasoner of the Karaite school and in the profundity of his learning the equal of Maimonides. accordance with the doctrines of the Mutazilites, which influenced him early in his career, he emphasized the reason as the medium for salvation and enunciated a materialistic theory of the universe, though of divine origin. His first work was 'Ez ha-Hayyim' ('The Tree of Life', 1346), which was followed by 'Gan Eden (The Garden of Eden', a Karaite code, 1354); 'Keter Torah' ('The Crown of the Law, a commentary on the Pentateuch, 1362). Most of his life he lived in Nicomedia, in Asia Minor, but later in life took up his residence in Constantinople.

AARON, Hill of, a lofty mountain range of Arabia Petræa, in the district of Sherah or Seir, 15 miles southwest of Shobeck. On its highest pinnacle-called by the Arabs Nebi Haroun is a small building supposed by the natives to inclose the tomb of Aaron; and it may be the Mount Hor of Num. xxxiii.

AARSENS, Frans Van, är'sens, Dutch diplomat: b. The Hague, 1572; d. 1641. From 26 on he represented the States-General at the court of France for many years, first as agent and then as ambassador; and Richelieu ranked him one of the three greatest politicians of his time. He also held embassies to Venice, Germany, and England. The judicial murder of John of Barneveld by Maurice of Orange in 1619 was greatly helped on by Aarsens, who has gained a tardy popular opprobrium for it through Motley's life of John.

AASEN, Ivar Andreas, â'sen, ē'var än'drāas, Norwegian philologist and poet; b. Orsten, 1 Aug. 1813; d. 1896. At first a botanist, he turned philologist and student of native dialects from motives of patriotic enthusiasm: his great aim was to construct from their older elements a new national language ("Landsmaal"), as a substitute for Danish, in pursuance of which end he published several valuable philological works and set going the nationalistic movement called "maalstrov." As a poet he produced 'Symra,' a collection of lyrics, and 'Ervingen,' a drama.

AASVAR, âs'-vär, Norwegian islands near the Arctic Circle, where the great Nordland herring are caught in December and January to the extent of sometimes 200,000 tons, and 10,000 men are employed, who live elsewhere the rest of the year.

AASVOGEL, äs'fo-gel ("carrion-bird"), the South African vulture, of several different species.

AB, the 11th month of the Hebrews' civil year and the 5th of their ecclesiastical (which begins with Nisan), has 30 days, and answers to the July moon, or part of our July and August. The 9th day was a great fast in

5

memory of the destruction of the first temple by Nebuchadnezzar, 586 B.C., and the second by Titus, 70 A.D.

ABA or ABU HANIFAH, or HANFA, ä'ba or ä'boo hä-ne'fa, or hän'fa, surnamed Alnooma: b. in the 80th and d. in the 150th year of the Hegira (701-71) He is the most celebrated doctor of the orthodox Mussulmans, and his sect is the most esteemed of the four which they severally follow.

ABA, ä'ba, a mountain in Armenia, part of Mount Taurus, where the rivers Araxes and Euphrates have their rise.

ABABDA, äb âb'da, a wandering tribe of Hamitic Arabs found on the southern border of Egypt east of the Nile from Assuan to the Red Sea and north to Kena-Kosseir. They now number about 30,000, governed by an hereditary chief, but in ancient days were much more numerous. The more enterprising still carry on their old occupation of caravan guards, and others of trade carriers, and as dealers in herbs, drugs and gums. During the Mahdist wars of 1882-98 many enlisted in the Anglo-Egyptian troops. Under British rule they have advanced considerably and now engage profitably in agricultural and fishing industries. Self-styled "sons of Jinns," they are claimed to be descendants of the Troglodytes and Blemmyes of classic ages, the Gebadei of Pliny, who inhabited the same region.

ABACO, ä'ba-kō (or Lucaya), Great and Little, two Bahama islands 150 miles west of Florida. Great Abaco, the largest of the Bahamas, is about 80 miles long by 20 wide, with a lighthouse at its southeast point, at a natural perforation of the rock known to seamen as "The Hole-in-the-Wall." Little Abaco, 28 miles long, lies west of its north point. Area of both, 879 square miles; pop. 2,400.

AB'ACUS (Greek ǎßáɛ, from the Semitic PR, abq, dust). In mathematics, a term applied to several forms of reckoning apparatus, and hence for some centuries to arithmetic itself. The primitive form seems to have been a board covered with fine dust, whence the generic name. Among the Hindus this was a wooden tablet covered with pipe clay, upon which was sprinkled purple sand, the numerals being written with a stylus. (Consult Taylor, in the preface to his translation of the 'Lilawati,' Bombay 1816, p. 6). That this form was used by the ancient Greeks is evident from Iamblichus, who asserts that Pythagoras taught geometry as well as arithmetic upon an abacus. Its use among the Romans of the classical period is also well attested. Another form of the abacus, having many modifications, is a board with beads sliding in grooves or on wires in a frame. Herodotus tells us that this instrument was used by the Egyptians and the Greeks, and we have evidence that the Romans also knew it, although preferring a form described below. It is at present widely used in India and appears in the form of the swanpan in China, the saroban in Japan, and the tschoty in Russia, the latter being the same as the modern Arabian abacus. In its simplest form, the beads or counters are stored at one end of the frame and the computation is done at the other end by moving the correct number of

ABACUS

beads over against that side of the frame. Usually on a decimal scale, the separate wires represent units, tens, hundreds, etc., progressively, but a duodecimal scale is also in use, and among the Chinese there is a separate division horizontally across the frame below which units are counted up to five, and the fives transferred to the upper section where each bead stands for five units. In parts of India where English money is used the wires on the abacus represent pence, shillings, pounds, tens of pounds, hundreds of pounds, etc., there being 11 beads on the first wire, 19 on the second, and 9 on each one above. It is in this type of the abacus that prayer beads have their origin. The third form is a ruled table, upon which counters are placed, somewhat like checkers on a backgammon board, a game derived from this type of abacus. This was the favorite form among the Romans, whose numerals were not at all adapted to calculation, and it maintained its position throughout the Middle Ages and until the latter part of the 16th century. The HinduArabic numerals (see NUMERICALS) having then supplanted the Roman, such an aid to calculation was thought superfluous in western Europe. The counters used were called hoo by the Greeks, calculi (pebbles, whence calculare and our calculate) by the Romans, and in Cicero's time aera because brass discs were used. In medieval times they were called projectiles because they were thrown upon the table, whence our expression to "cast an account," and Shakespeare's "counter caster." The early French translated this as gettons, gectoirs, and jetons, whence our obsolete English jettons and the modern French jeton, meaning a medal, and also a counter for games. The Germans translated the late Latin denarii supputarii

(calculating pennies) as Rechenpfennige, the early printed books distinguishing between reckoning on the line (that is, on the ruled table) and with the pen. The Court of the Exchequer (q.v.) derives its name from this form of the abacus, about which the judges of the fiscal court sat. (Hall, The Antiquities and Curiosities of the Exchequer,' London 1891; Henderson, 'Select Historical Documents of the Middle Ages,' London 1892, p. 20.) Another form of the abacus, possibly introduced by Gerbert before he became Pope Sylvester II (q.v.), was arranged in columns and employed counters upon which the western Arab forms of the Hindu numerals (see NUMERALS) were written. The use of the term to designate an instrument of calculation led to its use for arithmetic itself, as in the 'Liber abaci' of Leonardo Fibonacci of Pisa (q.v.) and in the works of later writers.

Consult Knott, The Abacus' (in the

(Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan,' Vol. XIV); Bayley, in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (N.S., Vol. XV); Chasles, in the Comptes rendus, t. 16, 1843, p. 1409; Woepcke, in the Journal asiatique, 6 ser., t. 1. See FINGER NOTATION.

DAVID EUGENE SMITH, Professor of Mathematics, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York.

ABACUS. In architecture, the flat stone forming the highest member of a column, next under the architrave and bearing its first weight. In the Tuscan, Doric, and Ionic orders, its four sides are arched inward, with generally a rose in the centre. In Gothic architecture it was variously employed, according to the architect's fancy.

ABAD' ("abode"), a suffix meaning town or city, common in Hindu and Persian names: as Allahabad, city of God; Hyderabad, city of Hyder; Secunderabad, city of Alexander.

ABAD'DON, in the Old Testament and the rabbinical literature, Sheol, the underworld, or the place of the lost in it: in Revelation (ix, 11) the King of the Abyss, Greek APOLLYON.

AB'ADIR, according to Augustine, the chief god of the Carthaginians; according to Priscian, a stone which Saturn swallowed by contrivance of his wife Ops, believing it to be his new-born son Jupiter, and hence worshipped with divine honors.

ABAKANSK', a mountain range in Siberia, extending from the upper Yenisei to the Tom River, parallel to the Altai Mountains. Also a town founded by Peter the Great in 1707, near the Abakan River; now renamed Minusinsk (q.v.).

AB'ALO'NE (Sp., origin unknown). Any one of the several species of Haliotis (earshells or sea-ears) found along the California coast. The shell is a spiral so broadly flattened as to make an oval saucer, around the edge of which is a row of holes through which the tentacles pass when extended. The animal lives on rocks near the shore, feeding on seaweed; when frightened it withdraws entirely beneath its shell and clings with surprising force to the rock. The shell is lined with a bright motherof-pearl much used in arts and crafts. The animal itself is used as food by the Chinese and Japanese; quantities of them are dried and exported from California to the Orient. The name "abalone" is local, but marine gastropods of the same family are abundant in all seas not too cold, outside the western Atlantic. In the Channel Islands off the coast of France, a species known as ormers, Fr. 'oreilles de mer,' is used as food. See EAR-SHELL.

ABANAH, ä-bä'nä, or AMANAH (Gr. Chrysorrhoas, now Baradá, "The cold"), one of the two famous "rivers of Damascus" mentioned in the Scripture: rising in the heart of the Anti-Lebanon, it flows through a narrow gorge and spreads fan-wise through the Damascus oasis, irrigating the land and supplying the city, by the canals or "rivers," with its clear sparkling water, so greatly superior to the Jordan in beauty that Naaman's question is quite intelligible.

ABANCAY, ä-bän-kï', Peru, capital of dept. Apurimac, 65 miles west of Cuzco, on the Abancay, an affluent of the upper Apurimac; in an East-Andean valley, the best sugar district in Peru, with large refineries and silver mines. Pop. about 3,000.

ABANDONMENT, the act of abandoning, giving up, or relinquishing.

In commerce it is the relinquishment of an interest or claim. Thus, in certain circumstances, a person who has insured property on board a ship may relinquish to the insurers a remnant of it saved from a wreck, as a preliminary to calling upon them to pay the full amount of the insurance effected.

The principle is also applicable in fire insurance, and often under stipulations in life policies in favor of creditors. The chief object of abandonment being to recover the whole value of the subject of the insurance, it is necessary only where the subject itself, or portions of it, or claims on account of it, survive the peril which caused the loss. At once upon receiving information of a loss the assured must elect whether to abandon, and not delay for the purpose of speculating on the state of the markets.

The English law is more restricted than the American, by not making the loss over half the value conclusive of the right to abandon, and by judging the right to abandon by the circumstances at the time of action brought, and not by the facts existing at the time of the abandonment. By commencing full repairs the right of abandonment is waived. An abandonment may be oral or in writing. When acted upon by another party, the effect of abandonment is to devest all the owner's rights.

In criminal law abandonment is the intentional desertion of a dependent by one under a legal duty to maintain him. A parent or guardian of the person of an infant is guilty of a misdemeanor if the child is injured through the act of the guardian, and of murder if death results. The offense is now defined in nearly all States. Consult Bishop Commentaries on Criminal Law' (Boston 1895); Wharton, A., Treatise on Criminal Law) (San Francisco 1912).

ABANO, Pietro d', ä'ba-nō, pēā'trō dē, known also as Petrus de Apono, one of the most celebrated physicians of the 13th century: b. in the Italian village from which he takes his name, in 1246 or 1250; d. 1316. He visited the East in order to acquire a thorough knowledge of Greek, and then completed his studies at the University of Paris. Returning to Italy he settled at Padua, where his reputation as a physician became so great that his rivals, envious of his fame, gave out that he was aided in his cures by evil spirits. It was known, too, that he practised astrology, and he was twice summoned before the Inquisition. On the first occasion he was acquitted, and he died before his second trial came to an end. Besides the work, 'Conciliator Differentiarum Philosophorum et Præcipue Medicorum' (Mantua 1472), he wrote 'De Venenis eorumque Remediis' (1472), Geomantia,' 'Quæstiones de Febribus,' and other works.

ABANO BAGNI, ä'ba-no bä ñi, Italy, a health resort in the province of Padua, 29 miles from Venice by rail. Already in ancient times its hot sulphur springs were famous among the

7

AB'ARIM ("the beyonds," sc. Jordan), the edge of the Moabite plateau overlooking the entire Jordan valley: a range of highlands forming its whole horizon, broken only by the valley mouths of the Yarmuk, the Zerka, and the Jabbok. Its highest elevation is Mount Nebo, whence Moses had his "Pisgah_view" of Palestine (see PISGAH), and whence Jericho is plainly visible. Ancient altars, perhaps Amorite, were discovered here in 1881.

AB'ARIS, the Hyperborean (fabled as from the Caucasus or thereabout), a legendary sage first mentioned by Pindar and Herodotus, 5th century B.C., but quite uncertain of date or existence. He had the prophetic gift, and a magic arrow of Apollo on which he rode through the air; cured by incantations, rid the world of a great plague, etc. The Neo-Platonists made him Pythagoras' companion.

ABASCAL, José Fernando, ä-bäs-cäl', hō-sa' fĕr-nän'do, Spanish soldier and statesman: b. Oviedo, 1743; d. Madrid, 1821. Entering service in 1762, he rose to brigadier-general in the French Revolutionary wars; in 1796 became viceroy of Cuba and defended Havana against the English fleet; then was commander in New Galicia, and later viceroy of Peru, where he showed great ability and kindliness, and in recognition of his efforts to reconcile natives and Spanish was created Marqués de la Concordia. He defended Buenos Aires from the English, and suppressed revolts in Lima and Cuzco; but having a turn of ill success was recalled in 1816.

ABASOLO, Mariano, ä-bä-sō'lō, mä-rēä'-no, Mexican patriot: b. Dolores, Guanajuato, about 1780; d. Cadiz, 1819. Joining Hidalgo's (q.v.) Mexican revolution in 1810, he rose to major-general, and was noted for humanity to prisoners. After the final rout at Puente de Calderon, 17 Jan. 1811, he fled with his chief; with him was captured by the counter-revolutionists, tried at Chihuahua, and sentenced to imprisonment in Spain, where he died.

ABATEMENT. In law: (1) A removal or putting down, as of a nuisance. (2) A quashing; a judicial defeat; the rendering abortive by law, as when a writ is overthrown by some fatal exception taken to it in court. A plea designed to effect this result is called a plea in abatement. All dilatory pleas are considered pleas in abatement, in contradistinction to pleas in bar, which consider the merits of the claim. (3) Forcible entry of a stranger into an inheritance when the person seized of it dies, and before the heir or devisee can take possession. (4) The termination of an action in a court of law, or the suspension of proceedings in a suit in equity, in consequence of the occurrence of some event, as for example the death of one of the litigants. In contracts, a reduction made by the creditor in consideration of the prompt payment of a debt due by the debtor. In mercantile law, a deduction from