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represents the other in different regions of the earth. A great deal of doubt and confusion has existed as to the number of species into which the llamas can be divided-a very common occurrence in dealing with domesticated or semi-domesticated creatures. Most authorities now, however, agree in regarding them as separable into four species, following the classification of Von Tschudi, who has given much careful consideration to the subject. The species, according to that naturalist, are the llama (Auchenia lama), the huanaco or guanaco (A. huanaco), the alpaca or paco (4. paco), and the vicugna (A. vicunna.) The two first-named species are, or rather were, more valued as beasts of burden, and for their flesh, than as sources of wool, being able to bear from 120 to 150 b burden over long distances daily. The guanaco attains a size not much less than our red deer; and is the largest and most widely spread of all the species, being found from the equator southward to Patagonia. The llama is next in size, but its habitat is limited to the loftier mountains of North Peru. Although both species yield a serviceable quality of wool, which is used by the Peruvians and found in commerce, it is chiefly to the alpaca we owe the supply of wool imported into this country under that name. The alpaca is considerably smaller than either the llama or the guanaco, but in general outline all the species resemble each other. In its native condition the alpaca ranges between 10° and 20° S. lat., from the centre of Peru into Bolivia, not coming lower down in vertical distribution than between 8000 and 9000 feet above the sea-level. At and above these heights it lives in herds in a semidomesticated condition, being only driven into the villages to be shorn. The wool, which varies in length from 2 to 6 inches, is of a very lustrous and fine quality, and is mostly white, black, or gray, shades of brown or fawn being rarer. The vicugna is a much rarer animal than the alpaca, being found sparsely scattered from Ecuador, throughout Peru, into Bolivia, but seldom descending under 13,000 feet above the sea-level. It is about the same size as the alpaca, and yields an exceedingly delicate wool, varying in colour from a reddish yellow to a dull white. It is usually worth about twice as much as alpaca, and is greatly valued for fine felts.

There is evidence of these animals having been held domesticated and used for their wool in their native regions from remote antiquity. Remains of clothing made from alpaca wools have been found in the graves of the Incas; and when, in the early part of the 16th century, Europeans first visited Peru, these animals formed the chief wealth of the natives, being the carriers of their commerce as well as the main source of their food and clothing. Small quantities of the wool were occasionally met with in English commerce; but it was not till 1836 that it became established as a regular trading commodity with Europe. In that year Mr (now Sir) Titus Salt, a wool-broker and manufacturer in Bradford, purchased a quantity he met with in a Liverpool warehouse at 8d. per b, and set himself to discover its capabilities. The amount and manner of his success will be described in the articles WOOL and WORSTED MANUFACTURES; it need only be remarked here that his experiments have resulted in making alpaca a staple second in importance to wool, and so creating an industry of great and rapidly increasing dimensions. The success of his experiments led to the erection of his great manufacturing establishment of Saltaire, in which upwards of 3000 hands are employed in the alpaca manufacture. The quantity of alpaca imported into England from 1836-the year of Sir Titus Salt's first experimental purchase to 1840, averaged 560,800 b yearly, which sold at about 104. per b. In 1852 the imports had risen to 2,186,480 , and the price advanced to 2s. 6d. per lb. In 1864 the

imports amounted to 2,664,027 fb, and in 1872 they were 3,878,739 b; the value of average qualities being from 2s. 6d. to 2s. 10d. per tb. The introduction of the various species of llama into Eutope has been frequently urged, Geoffrey St Hilaire and other French naturalists having specially pointed out the desirability of their introduction into France, and at one time a herd existed in the Pyrenees; but in Europe the creatures must be still regarded as curiosities of zoological collections. In 1859 systematic and costly attempts were made to acclimatise the alpaca in our Australian colonies by Mr Ledger, a gentleman who had devoted many years to observation of the conditions of life of the animal. At first the experiment presented most encouraging prospects; the herds continued healthy and increased in numbers; but gradually the subtle influences of the loss of their native mountain climate became apparent, the creatures drooped, their numbers dwindled, and for the present the undertaking must be regarded as a complete failure.

ALP ARSLAN or AXAN, MOHAMMED BEN DAOUD, the second sultan of the dynasty of Seljuk, in Persia, and greatgrandson of Seljuk, the founder of the dynasty. He was born in the year 1029 A.D., 421 of the Hegira. He assumed the name of Mohammed when he embraced the Mussulman faith; and on account of his military prowess he obtained the surname Alp Arslan, which signifies "a valiant lion." He succeeded his father Daoud as ruler of Khorassan in 1059, and his uncle Togrul Bey as sultan of Oran in 1063, and thus became sole monarch of Persia, from the river Oxus to the Tigris. In consolidating his empire and subduing contending factions he was ably assisted by Nizamal-Mulk, his vizier, one of the most eminent statesmen in early Mahometan history. Peace and security being established in his dominions, he convoked an assembly of the states, and declared his son Malik Shah his heir and successor. With the hope of acquiring immense booty in the rich temple of St Basil in Cæsarea, the capital of Cappadocia, he placed himself at the head of the Turkish cavalry, crossed the Euphrates, and entered and plundered that city. He then marched into Armenia and Georgia, which, in the year 1064, he finally subdued. To punish the Georgians for the brave defence which they had made, and as a badge of their humiliating condition, the conqueror obliged them to wear at their ears horse-shoes of iron. In the year 1068 Alp Arslan invaded the Roman empire, the seat of which was then at Constantinople. The Emperor Romanus Diogenes, assuming the command in person, met the invaders in Cilicia. In three several campaigns his arms were victorious, and the Turks were forced to retreat beyond the Euphrates. In the fourth he advanced with an army of 100,000 men into the Armenian territory, for the relief of that country. Here he was met by Alp Arslan; and the sultan having proposed terms of peace, which were insultingly rejected by the emperor, a bloody and decisive engagement took place near Malazkurd, in which the Greeks, after a terrible slaughter, were totally routed. Romanus was taken prisoner and conducted into the presence of Alp Arslan, who treated him with a noble generosity. A ransom of a million and an annual tribute of 3000 pieces of gold, an intermarriage between the families, and the deliverance of all the captive Mussulmans in the power of the Greeks, having been agreed to as the terms of peace and the liberty of the emperor, Romanus was dismissed, loaded with presents and respectfully attended by a military guard. He was unable, however, to fulfil the terms of the treaty, and the war was accordingly renewed. At this time the dominion of Alp Arslan extended over the fairest part of Asia: 1200 princes or sons of princes surrounded his throne, and 200,000 soldiers were ready to execute his commands. He now declared

his purpose of attempting the original seat of his ancestors.

quest of Turkestan, the |tion of about 13,000 feet above the sea, the highest sum After great preparations mits in France. The Drac, flowing northwards into the for the expedition, he marched with a powerful army, and Isère, and the Durance, with its tributaries the Guil and arrived at the banks of the Oxus. Before he could pass the Buech, are the chief rivers of Hautes Alpes. The the river with safety, it was necessary to gain possession climate is cold in winter, and in summer variable; the soil of some fortresses in its vicinity, one of which was for is barren, yielding only oats, barley, potatoes, rye, and several days vigorously defended by the governor, Yussuf timber, except in a few favoured valleys, where wine of Kothual, a Kharizmian. He was, however, obliged to sur- a fair quality and fruits of various kinds are produced. render, and was carried a prisoner before the sultan. Large numbers of sheep and other domestic animals are Being condemned to suffer a cruel death, Yussuf became reared or pastured in the department. Game, both large incensed, rushed upon the sultan, and stabbed him and small, is found in great abundance. The mines in the breast. The wound proved mortal, and Alp Arslan produce lead, copper, iron, and other metals. There are expired a few hours after he received it, on the 15th Dec. no manufactures of any commercial importance, although 1072. some leather, coarse woollen cloth, hats, woodwork, and ALPES, the name of three departments in the south-iron wares are made. Hautes Alpes, a part of the old east of France,-Basses Alpes, Hautes Alpes, and Alpes province of Dauphiné, is divided into three arrondisseMaritimes. ments: Gap on the west, Embrun on the south-east, and Briançon on the north-cast, with 24 cantons and 89 communes. The capital is Gap, the seat of the bishop; Embrun and Briançon being the only other towns of any size. Population, 118,898.

BASSES ALPES is bounded on the N. by the department of Hautes Alpes; on the E. by the kingdom of Italy and the department of Alpes Maritimes; on the S. by the departments of Var and Bouches du Rhône; and on the W. by those of Vaucluse and Drôme. It extends at the widest points 90 miles from N.E. to S.W., and 70 from E. to W., and contains an area of 2680 square miles. Its surface is mountainous, especially on the north-east, where offshoots of the Maritime Alps penetrate into the country, rising near the river Ubaye to an elevation of over 9000 feet above the level of the sea. With the exception of the south-eastern corner, which is drained by the Var, the whole department is in the basin of the Durance, which for a considerable distance separates Basses from Hautes Alpes, but eventually strikes southward through the former. Its chief tributaries are the Buech and the Jabron on the right, and the Ubaye, the Bléone, the Asse, and the Verdon on the left. The climate in the mountainous districts of the north is cold and variable. The soil there is poor, but it is cultivated with great industry-producing rye, oats, barley, potatoes, and timber. In the south and south-west, however, where the country is comparatively flat, the temperature is milder and the soil more fertile; here plums, almonds, apricots, peaches, and other fruits are produced in large quantities, as well as wine of an excellent description, chiefly for home consumption. Considerable numbers of cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs are reared in the Basses Alpes, besides which many flocks of sheep, from Var and Bouches du Rhône, are pastured during summer in the upper valleys of the department. Game is abundant. There are mines of lead and other metals of some value. The manufactures are few and of little importance, the chief being leather, coarse woollen cloths, cutlery, earthenware, and paper. Basses Alpes, one of the departments formed out of ancient Provence, is divided into five arrondissements-Digne, in the centre; Barcelonnette and Castellane, on the east; Sisteron and Forcalquier on the west; which together contain 30 cantons and 251 communes. Digne is the capital and the seat of a bishop, whose diocese is co-extensive with the department; and among the other towns are Barcelonnette, Castellane, Sisteron, Forcalquier, and Manosque. Population (1871), 139,332.

HAUTES ALPES is bounded on the N. by the departments of Isère and Savoir; on the E. by the kingdom of Italy; on the S. by the department of Alpes Basses; and on the W. by that of Drôme. It extends nearly 80 miles from N.E. to S. W., and contains an area of 2158 square miles. Its surface is very mountainous, being traversed in all directions by the Cottian and Dauphiné Alps, which, in Mont Pelvoux and other peaks, rise to an eleva

ALPES MARITIMES, bounded on the N. by Basses Alpes and the kingdom of Italy, which also forms its boundary on the E.; on the S. by the Mediterranean Sea; and on the W. by Var and Basses Alpes. It extends at the widest points 55 miles from N. to S., and 50 from E. to W.; and contains an area of 1517 square miles. The surface of this department, like that of the two former, is more or less mountainous, branches of the Maritimes Alpes covering the greater part of the territory. It is watered by the Roya, the Paillon, the Var (with its tributaries the Tinéa and the Esteron), the Loup, and the Siagne. The climate is on the whole warm and gentle, except among the higher mountains; while the mildness of the temperature along the shores of the Mediterranean has made that portion of the department a favourite resort for invalids. The upper valleys and mountain slopes are chiefly devoted to pasture for sheep, being ill-suited for cultivation, although a little barley and maize is grown; the richer districts of the south produce fruits of various kinds, tobacco, honey, and flowers, used in the making of perfumes. The other manufactures are of dried fruits, olive-oil, preserved anchovies and sardines, silk, soap, and paper. Alpes Maritimes is divided into three arrondissements-Grasse and Nice on the south, and Puget Théniers on the north, containing 25 cantons and 146 communes. The arrondissements of Nice and Puget Théniers constitute the bishopric of Nice; Grasse belongs to that of Fréjus. Nice is the capital; and among the other towns are Mentone, Villafranche, Grasse, Antibes, Cannes, and Puget Théniers. The Marseilles, Nice, and Ventimille railway, skirting the coast, connects Cannes, Antibes, Nice, and Mentone, and joins an Italian line which affords direct railway communication with Genoa. The department of Alpes Maritimes was formed in 1860 from the territory of Nice, which had been ceded to France, together with Mentone and Roccabruna, purchased from the Prince of Monaco, and the arrondissement of Grasse, transferred from Var. It had a population of 119,037 in 1871.

ALPHA and OMEGA (A and 2), the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, frequently employed to symbolise the idea of completeness or infinity. They are used as a designation of himself by the speaker in Rev. i. 8; xxi. 6; xxii. 13. In the last passage the speaker is undoubtedly Jesus Christ. In the symbolism of the early church A and 2, combined with a cross or with the monogram of Xplorós, represented Christianity, or, more specifically, faith in the divinity of Christ.

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BY

ALPHABET

Y an alphabet we mean a list of symbols which represent conventionally to the eye the sounds which are heard in the speech of a nation. An alphabet will therefore be perfect if the number of its symbols exactly corresponds to the number of simple sounds which are commonly distinguishable in the spoken language. But this perfection has probably never yet been reached: all known alphabets have failed, either by defect, i.e., from not representing all the simple sounds; or by redundancy, in having more than one symbol for the same sound. They must also necessarily become imperfect by lapse of time. No nation keeps the sound of its language unaltered through many centuries: sounds change as well as grammatical forms, though they may endure longer, so that the symbols no longer retain their proper values; often, too, several different sounds come to be denoted by the same symbol; and in strictness the alphabet should be changed to correspond to all these changes. But little inconvenience is practically caused by the tacit acceptance of the old symbol to express the new sound; indeed the change in language is so gradual that the variation in the values of the symbols is imperceptible. It is only when we attempt to produce the exact sounds of the English language less than three centuries ago that we realise the fact that if Shakespeare could now stand on our stage he would seem to us to speak in an unknown tongue; though one of his plays, when written, is as perfectly intelligible now as then. Such changes of sound are most developed in countries where many different dialects, through conquest, immigration, or otherwise, exist side by side: they are checked by the increase of education and by facility of locomotion—both of which causes tend to assimilate all dialects to that one which by some lucky chance has become the literary speech of the nation.

The term alphabet has come to us from the Latin alphabetum, which, however, occurs in no prose writer before Tertullian. It could not have been used, for metrical reasons, by Juvenal, when he wrote, "Hoc discunt omnes ante alpha et beta puellæ "—their A B C. But there is no reason why it should not have existed earlier: the word was borrowed from the Greek, as seems clear from the compound avaλpáßηros, which is as old as the comedian Philyllius (Meineke, Com. Frag. ii. 857), and he was alive in 392 B.C. It does not seem likely that this compound adjective would have been coined if the noun itself had not already existed in the same sense which it now bears. The symbols of our alphabet are nearly those of the Latin; these in their turn were borrowed from a Greek alphabet; and there seems no reasonable ground for doubting the common tradition that the Greeks derived their characters from a Phoenician source. All these borrowings will be fully described hereafter. At this point absolute certainty ends. We cannot prove to demonstration the origin of our alphabet; but positive facts and analogical arguments may be adduced which enable us to attain a very high degree of probability. It is now commonly believed that the characters were originally hieroglyphics, and in that ultimate form were devised in Egypt. There, for convenience of writing, they took a simpler form (called hieratic). In this shape they were borrowed by the Phoenicians; and thus, in their long course down to us, they passed gradually from being the written expression of an idea into the written expression each of a single sound. It is true that the proof is not clear throughout: sometimes the links are feeble, and here we have to employ the analogy of other languages, in which

the particular step which we want to prove has undoubtedly been made under similar circumstances. Still, it may with some truth be said that we can only prove the possibility of such a process, while any given alphabet may have had a perfectly independent origin; the Phoenician alphabet may have been developed in Phoenicia itself, and never been hieroglyphic at all. never been hieroglyphic at all. But this is very difficult to conceive. The a priori argument for the derivation of phonetic from hieroglyphic characters is strong. glyphics have unquestionably been the first attempt of many nations in a rude state to record their thoughts in a permanent and universally intelligible form. It is also certain that these hieroglyphics have undergone progressive degradation of shape, so that their visible connection with the thing signified was often lost; they became in many cases the expression of those combinations of sounds by which the things were denoted in the spoken language, though they still generally retained their original value as well. Here, at all events, a certain connection between hieroglyphics and sounds establishes itself; and a priori it is more probable that all alphabets should have derived the single sounds of which they consist from hieroglyphics, through the medium of their derived phonetic values, than that any alphabet should have been produced independently of hieroglyphics (which are admitted to have existed), by some arbitrary process of formation for which absolutely no testimony can be adduced. As we have said above, such a process is not impossible, and may be true for any particular alphabet; but the opposite theory has the most internal probability and all the evidence of which the case admits. Against this it seems insufficient to urge (as has been done) that there exist upon earth savages who have never developed any alphabetic writing out of their rude attempts a fact which may be readily granted; or that civilised men often return to the simple methods employed by uncivilised nations, such as cutting notches on sticks or tying knots in strings-such return being apparently adduced to prove that two totally different methods of expression can co-exist without there being any tendency to pass from one to the other; nay, it is added that in Egypt the hieroglyphic and the common (or demotic) character did certainly exist side by side; and if the latter were borrowed from the former, it would have superseded it, which it did not do. Now, in answer to this, reasons will appear shortly why the hieroglyphic characters lingered so persistently, even when the later phonetic character was in common use-nay, in the very same inscription or document with the hieroglyphic. Still, the argument would have some weight if it were not grounded on the false assumption that the demotic alphabet was a purely phonetic one, totally unconnected with its more aged rival. modern research has proved incontestably that the demotic characters can be traced back to their original hieroglyphic shape through the medium of the hieratic; in fact, that the cumbrous hieroglyphics were successively put into more and more abbreviated shapes, for convenience of writing, as its use increased.

But

Excluding, then, attempts of savages such as have been mentioned above, which were neither durable nor intelligible enough to make them of service, except for the smallest number of men during the most limited timeexcluding these as not deserving the name, we derive all real writing from hieroglyphics, such hieroglyphics being either purely pictorial, the expression of visible objects in the external world; or symbolic, when some external object is conventionally chosen to represent some action or

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some abstract idea. These two methods were probably | remember the fruitless attempts which have been made to nearly contemporaneous in their origin, because the necessity of writing at all supposes a considerable advance in civilisation, and therefore a considerable development of ideas. To this system as a whole the convenient term ideography is now generally applied. From this men have passed to phonetic writing, first, apparently, in the form of syllabism, in which each syllable of a word is regarded as an independent whole and represented by a single sign; then from this to alphabetism, in which the syllable is no longer denoted by an indivisible symbol, but is resolved into vowel and consonant, each with its own accepted sign.

work a reform in it, to be convinced that no people will of its own accord strike out a thoroughly new system of writing. Such revolutions can only be produced by the meeting of two different civilisations, and the reception by the one of the arts and ideas of the other. But such a meeting may, and more commonly does, only stimulate the inferior race to some partial development. For the new ideas new names are required: these may be metaphorically represented out of the old vocabulary, as when the Romans called the unknown elephant the Lucanian ox, and of course wrote it so. But suppose the inferior people to be one which has not yet advanced beyond hieroIt seems probable that all known alphabets (with one or glyphic writing; their simplest and most obvious plan two possible exceptions) may be traced back to four or five will be to take the strange name, and express it by those parents. These have differed much in fruitfulness, but all symbols out of their old stock which denote the nearest were originally hieroglyphic. These five systems of writing sounds to that of the name required. Such symbols then are the Egyptian, the cuneiform, the Chinese, the Mexican cease to represent ideas only, as they used to do; they are or Aztec, and the curiously cumbrous characters of Yucatan consciously employed to represent mere sounds, and thus and central America: these last may be seen interspersed arise the first beginnings of phonetism. A good example with figurative paintings in a facsimile given by M. de of this process may be found in the Aztec (Lenormant, i. Rosny at p. 20 of his very useful little summary, Les Ecri- 29; De Rosny, p. 19, who also gives others). When tures Figuratives des Differents Peuples Anciens et Modernes. Christianity was introduced into Mexico, the Lord's Prayer Of these, the first three alone can be said to have had any was reduced to writing in the following manner :—The great extension; and the first, if the Phoenician, and by Mexican symbols nearest to the two syllables of pater were consequence the European alphabets, were derived from it, a flag (sounded as pantli), and a rock (tetl): pater was therefar exceeds in importance all the rest together. These These fore represented pictorially by a flag and a rock; we cannot systems were perfectly independent, and developed them- tell whether it was sounded as pan-tetl, or only as pa-te— selves, each in the same course, but in its own manner, and the nearest possible equivalent in the Mexican language, each in the main to a different degree. At certain points which has no r. Similarly, noster was phonetically reprein their history all but one became crystallised, and sented by noch-tetl, pictorially by the Indian fig (nochtli) remained to show us the steps by which the progress to and the rock as before. Here, then, we have the application phonetism can be made. We do not propose to describe of symbols to denote sound without regard to the original here fully any of these systems of hieroglyphics. We are sense; just as we might draw the figures of an eye, a saw, only concerned to point out their relative degrees of de- and a horse, and convey by them the idea, "I saw a horse." velopment, their deficiencies, and the consequent motives The Aztec would not long have the ideas of a flag, a rock, which must have impelled men by degrees to the produc- and a fig presented to his mind when he read these symbols; tion of a genuine alphabet.1 and so the first conception of phonetism was gained, the first move from hieroglyphic to alphabetic writing. Yet he had not attained the first real step in the progress-i.e., syllabic writing because if he had decomposed his new words, pan would not have represented to his mind merely so much sound-a syllable by itself meaningless: it would have given him only the idea of a flag. And further than this the Aztec language did not pass: probably it only reached this stage incompletely with a small number of words. The great advance to syllabic writing is to be found elsewhere; first in the Chinese, perhaps through the accident of the monosyllabic nature of the language; but with a clearly-developed purpose in the Aramaic cuneiform inscriptions.

There are obvious deficiencies even in the most highly developed hieroglyphics. In the first place, they must have been excessively burdensome to the memory. They speedily lost their original form, which was in most cases too cumbrous to be retained when writing became frequent; their pictorial value was therefore lost, and the new form could not generally have been intelligible to a learner, who was thus obliged to acquire by memory an enormous number of symbols, compared with which even the Sanskrit alphabet may be regarded as easy. Secondly, it is impossible by hieroglyphics to express grammatical relations: the order, indeed, in which the symbols are placed may denote the distinction between subject and object; plurality may be expressed by the repetition of a symbol; some even of the relations in space, denoted in more advanced languages by cases, may be pictorially rendered; but all these helps do not go far to remedy this obvious want. Experience, however, shows how much inconvenience a nation will undergo rather than make any radical change in its phonetic system. We have only to look at our own alphabet, with its numerous and universally confessed deficiencies and redundancies, and then

The authorities referred to chiefly are Endlicher (Chinesische Grammatik), Oppert (Expédition Scientifique en Mésopotamie, tom. 2), and Bunsen (Egypt's Place in History, vol. v.) Frequent use has

In the Chinese written character we find a considerable number of symbols which were unquestionably at first pictorial. Though but very slight vestiges of their original meaning can now be seen in them, yet they can be traced back to older forms which are unmistakeable; and their origin is further attested by the name "images," which the Chinese give them, as distinguished from others which they call "letters." These symbols were simple, and denoted very ingeniously natural objects-the sun (by a circle with a dot inside), the moon (by a crescent with a line inside), a mountain (by three peaks side by side), rain

been made of De Romy's book mentioned above, and still more of the (by drops under an overarching line), a child (thus),

Essai sur la Propagation de l'Alphabet Phénicien dans l'Ancien Monde, by M. François Lenormant, of which the first volume only has yet appeared. It contains an introduction to his special subject, in which

the labours of Champollion, Young, Lepsius, Bunsen, De Rougé, in

Egyptian hieroglyphics, and of Grotefend, Rawlinson, Hincks, and Oppert, among the cuneiform characters, are ably summarised, and set forth with much clearness.

a mother (, a figure expressing the arms and bosom

effectively enough), &c. These symbols could be combined: thus the symbols for water and eye combined denoted tears, an car and a door expressed hearing and under

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