ABD' EL KADER.

11

favour of his son; who was, accordingly, Kader's power. But these successes reinvested with the office and dignity of an sulted merely in the partial destruction of emir. Shortly afterwards, the neighbour- that town, and the subsequent retreat of ing tribes acknowledged him as their chief; the Marshal: Abd' el Kader resumed the and from his residence, or head quarters, occupation of all the ground which he had at Mascara, he contrived to extend his in- lost. In the military operations that enfluence still more and more widely. sued, the French were almost uniformly the victors; seldom, however, obtaining any advantages beyond the possession of the field of battle. At length, a body of 3000 men, under General d'Arlanges, after having fought successfully in a previous engagement, was defeated by the Arabian chief, on the Tafna, on the 25th of April 1836, and would probably have been entirely cut off, but for the timely arrival of an additional force of 4000 men, under General Bugeaud. On the 6th of July, of

inflicted a severe defeat on the enemy on the Sikak. The war now began to languish; and when it became desirable for the French, on undertaking the expedition against Constantine, to concentrate as large

The only important undertaking of Abd' el Kader, for a time, was an unsuccessful attack, on the 3d and 4th of May 1832, on the French, who, since the events just mentioned, had occupied the town of Oran. There followed then a state of more or less active warfare between the parties, without any permanent advantage of moment being gained by either; until, at length, wearied by such fruitless hostilities, a treaty was concluded between them, known, from the name of the French general command- the same year, the last-mentioned general ing in Oran, as the treaty Desmichels. It was soon apparent that the advantages of this treaty were principally reaped by the Arabian emir. He acquired an opportunity of triumphing over his enemies among his own countrymen, and of extend- a force as possible in a different direction, ing and confirming his power; an opportunity of which he profited to the utmost by his untiring activity. The discipline, too, of his troops was improved, by the aid of European renegades. And the confidence which had been diffused in the resources and ability of the emir was evinced, by the title of sultan being now conferred upon him by every city and tribe in the provinces of Oran and Tittery. At length, the French government, become aware of the mistake which had been committed in allowing Abd' el Kader leisure to strengthen himself, appointed General Trézel to succeed General Desmichels in his command, doubtless with such instructions to direct his conduct as could scarcely fail to lead to a renewal of hostilities. Such, at any rate, was the course adopted by the new commander, and such were the consequences which ensued. A French force penetrated into the enemy's territory, as far as the river Macta,-only, after having to maintain a sanguinary conflict, to make a disastrous retreat upon the point from which it had advanced.

So great was the moral effect of the result of this expedition on the minds of the Arabs, in favour of Abd' el Kader, that it was judged necessary, in November 1835, for Marshal Clausel, the commander-inchief of the French army in Algiers, to march himself, with a strong corps of troops, against this formidable enemy of his countrymen. He triumphed over the Arabs, after an obstinate resistance, gaining possession of Mascara, the centre of Abd' el

a treaty of peace was once more concluded between them and Abd' el Kader, who consented to acknowledge the sovereignty of France. This took place on the 30th of May 1837. Abd' el Kader, however, lost no time in making every preparation in his power for a renewal of the contest at a future period. He continued to strengthen the position of Tekedemt, which, after the destruction of Mascara, he had chosen for his residence, and which he had made the seat of a manufacture of arms, and the depôt of his military stores; he sought by every means to renew the confidence of his followers in himself and his fortunes, as well as to enlist in his support the Bedouins of the Sahara; he organized anew his subject territory, delegating to others many of the details of administration, on which he had hitherto bestowed his personal attention; he endeavoured, by the instrumentality of some deserters from the French army, to form an efficient body of regular troops; and he obtained ammunition and arms from the French themselves, by the trade which had been opened to him by the late treaty, and especially from English merchants, through Morocco, with whose ruler he always maintained the best understanding. The better to deceive the French government as to his real designs, besides maintaining, by means of his agents, an occasional intercourse with their officers in Algiers and Oran, he sent an ambassador to Paris in the summer of, 1838. When his preparations were completed, and circumstances, in other re

12

ABD' EL KADER-ABEL.

one or two papers on mathematical subjects,
which brought him into notice, and, aided
by the earnest recommendations of the pro-
fessors, obtained for him the patronage of
the government. An annual allowance of
600 dollars (thalers) was bestowed upon
him, that he might travel for his improve-
ment. He accordingly visited Berlin, Vi-
enna, and Paris. His efforts, during the
stay which he made in the last-mentioned
city, to induce the men of science to pro-
mote the publication of some memoirs
which he had prepared, were unavailing;
and he returned, in no slight degree dis-

spects, seemed to be propitious, he renewed
the war, on the alleged ground of the ex-
isting treaty having been violated by the
expedition undertaken, in October, 1839,
from Constantine, by Marshal Vallée, ac-
companied by the Duke of Orleans. Much
hard fighting occurred in the following
year, without any important results. But,
in February 1841, General Bugeaud as-
sumed the command of the French forces
in Africa, in the room of Marshal Vallée.
The contest at once assumed a decisive
character. Blow after blow was inflicted
upon Abd' el Kader, and he was soon re-
duced to extremities. His principal strong-couraged, to Berlin. Here, however, he
holds fell into the hands of the enemy. was so fortunate as to meet with precisely
The various tribes, which he had repeat- such a patron as he now wanted. Mr.
edly led to battle, now, for the most part, Crelle, himself highly distinguished as a
abandoned his cause as hopeless, and ac- man of science, and thoroughly qualified
knowledged their subjection to the king of to judge in the case, did not hesitate, on
the French. After the loss of Tlemecen perusing the papers submitted to him by
and the fort of Tafrua, in the beginning of the young Norwegian, to pronounce their
1842, and the almost entire destruction of author to be entitled to take rank among
his regular troops, he was under the ne- the first of living mathematicians. He
cessity of seeking refuge on the territory engaged, moreover, to publish those papers
of Morocco. His own tribe of Hashem, in the" Journal for the Pure and Applied
with a few others, continued faithful to Mathematics," which he at once resolved
him to the close of the contest, and have upon editing. This journal, too, with the
since evinced a disposition to renew it at "Astronomical News" (Nachrichten) of
every fitting opportunity. Abd' el Kader Mr. Schumacher, became the principal
has, in fact, repeatedly returned to give mediums for the communication of Abel's
serious annoyance to the foreign occupiers future labours to the scientific world. On
of his country, and has latterly become his return to Christiania, Abel was appoint-
again sufficiently formidable to call for ex-ed to supply the place of Professor Han-
traordinary measures on the part of the
French government to accomplish his de-
struction.

ABDUCTION is the carrying off, by force or fraud, of the person of a child, ward, heiress, wife or other woman. In the four first-mentioned cases, the law infers that force or fraud has been practised, although, in reality, persuasion only has been used. The abduction of females, especially heiresses, was a crime, according to Sir Walter Scott, of frequent occurrence in the Highlands of Scotland; and it is even now not seldom committed in Ireland, although, in aggravated cases, visited by the severest penalties of the law.

ABEL (Nicholas Henry), one of the most acute mathematicians of the present age, was born August 5th 1802, at Findoe, in the diocese of Christiansand, in Norway. After receiving the elements of instruction from his father, who was the clergyman of that place, he was sent to the cathedral school of Christiania, where his genius for mathematics was called forth by the solution of geometrical and algebraical problems. While still at the university, which he entered in 1821, he published

steen in the university and the school of
engineers, during the absence of that gen-
tleman on a journey to Siberia. He now
applied himself with the most indefatigable
ardour to the performance of the duties as-
signed him, and to the investigations in
which he was engaged. But his bodily
constitution was too feeble a support for a
spirit like his. His health soon began to
decline; and he expired on the 6th of
April 1829, in the 27th year of his age.
Young as he was, his merits were already
everywhere acknowledged; and from no
quarter had his praises been more gene-
rously and loudly uttered, than from that
to which, a few years previously, he had
looked for encouragement, and been dis-
appointed. The first mathematicians of
France had united in a testimonial to the
government of his own country in his be-
half; and, although the office which he
held in the university at Christiania was
merely a temporary one, there can be no
doubt that, had he lived, he would have
been appointed to the first vacancy in that
institution. As an evidence of the fame
which he had acquired, it may be men-
tioned that, a few days after his death, an

ABEL-ABLUTION.

invitation arrived from the King of Prussia, in a high degree honourable to Abel, for him to remove his residence to Berlin. His works have been published, in the French language, in two volumes 4to, at the expense of the King of Sweden. The most important portions of them are his paper on the impossibility of a general solution of equations of the 5th degree, and those relating to elliptic functions.

ABIAD (BAHR EL). See Nile.

ABJURATION* signifies any solemn recantation of opinions, especially of opinions connected more or less closely with religin. Of this nature, for example, is the renunciation required, on the marriage of the Emperor of Russia, from his consort, of her former religious persuasion, in fa

ABEYANCE. When a freehold or inhe ritance is not vested in any one, but is ready to descend upon or vest in the persons who shall first fulfil the conditions required by the nature of the estate, such freehold or inheritance is said to be in abeyance. Thus, if lands be leased to one person for life, with reversion to another for years, the remainder for years is in abeyance till the death of the lessee. TiABERDEEN.* Few places in Great Britain tles-of honour, as well as the rights and have so much improved, during the present privileges attached to them, may also be century, as New Aberdeen. Many new in abeyance; as, for example, the peerage streets, with substantial and even elegant in England, where the persons next in inhouses, have been formed; several beauti-heritance to the last possessor are females. ful bridges have been constructed; its manufactures and commerce in a remarkable degree extended; and its harbour deepened, by lengthening the pier originally built by Smeaton in 1780. The cotton manufacture now employs upwards of 3000 persons; the linen 4000. There are manufactories of woollens; iron works of various descriptions; distilleries and brew-vour of the tenets of the Greek church. eries. The products of these different establishments, together with salmon, kept fresh by being preserved in ice, and granite, for building and paving purposes, constitute the chief exports. A new edifice has been erected for Marischal College, and the numbers of the students attending the courses in it and King's College, in Old Aberdeen, have been considerably increased. In the session of 1837-38, we find them stated to have amounted to about 700. The population of the Old and New Town together was, in 1841, about 62,000. ABERDEEN (Lord).* To what has been already stated concerning this nobleman, in a previous volume of the present work, we may add that he was appointed Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in 1828, under the Duke of Wellington's ministry. Directed by him, a reaction then took place in the foreign policy of Great Britain. The battle of Navarino was disapproved of, and declared to be "an untoward event;" and British diplomacy was employed in negotiating in the interest of Don Miguel, by the very individual who, but a short time before, had applied to the Portuguese prince in Parliament the harshest epithets. Lord Aberdeen quitted office, with the Duke of Wellington, in November 1830; became a member of the cabinet again, as Secretary of the Colonies, during the shortlived tory administration, from November 11th 1834 to April 8th 1835; and was once more placed in charge of the foreign department, on the accession of Mr. Peel and his friends to power, in 1841. ABETTOR. See Accessary.

Such, too, was the renunciation of his Protestantism by Henry IV. of France, in 1593, as a condition requisite to obtain the acknowledgment of his sovereignty by his Roman Catholic subjects; as well as that which was exacted by the Inquisition at Rome, in the following century, from Galileo, of his doctrines concerning the motion of the earth. When abjuration of the realm is mentioned by English writers, what is meant is the taking of an oath, permitted by the ancient common law to any felon who has not been guilty of sacrilege, and who has fled to a parish church or churchyard for sanctuary, to renounce and depart the realm for ever. For oaths of abjuration in England created by statute, see Abjuration. In the United States we also have an oath or oaths of abjuration. Every alien, on becoming a citizen, is required to abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any government of which he was before a citizen or subject. And if the alien shall have borne any hereditary title, or belonged to any order of nobility, in the country from which he came, he must also make an express renunciation of such title or order of nobility.

ABLUTION; a religious ceremony, consisting in washing of the body, either wholly or partially. Ablutions, or lustrations, as they are also styled, were pre scribed in the Mosaic law, on various oc casions; sometimes to the priests, and at other times to the people of Israel generally. The superstitious attachment to them of the Hindoos, at the present day, is well known, as well as their peculiar

ABLUTION-ABYSSINIA.

reverence for the waters of the Ganges. | have their origin in the intestinal canal,

ABO. Since the great fire of 1827, the university has been removed to Helsing-ence to bridges. fors. Abo has, since that event, been rebuilt on a regular plan, with broad and well-constructed streets. It has about 14,000 inhabitants. The trade of the place is considerable, and ship-building is carried on to a large extent. Here also are a gymnasium and a school of navigation; and it is the seat of justice for South Fin-ence, have traversed the country in valand.

1

t

h

and intersected by three considerable stem of which, many feet in length, is said chains of mountains, viz., those of Lamal- to afford a wholesome and nutritious diet; mon, Samen, and Gojam, besides smaller the kolqual, whose leaves and branches ones. The highest peaks (those of Samen), contain an extraordinary quantity of a we are told, attain to an elevation of 14,000 milky fluid, employed by the natives in feet above the level of the sea, and, con- the process of tanning; the woognioos, retrary to the assertion of Bruce, reach the garded as a sovereign cure for the dysente limits of perpetual snow. The chief rivers ry, a disease extremely prevalent throughare the Bahr-el-Azrek or Blue river, long out the country; the cusso, a vermifuge so mistaken for the main stream of the Nile, celebrated, and in such universal use, that and the Tacazze, with their numerous it is always planted near churches, for the branches; some of these being themselves benefit of those persons who reside in their of very considerable magnitude. Both rise neighbourhood, or resort to them; the in the same chain or cluster of mountains, wanzey, a great favourite with the people in the province of Gojam, and, after a ge- of the country, and to which, as well as to neral Ñ. or N.W. course, unite with the the coffee tree, divine honours have been Bahr-el-Abiad, or true Nile, in Sennaar. paid; the beautiful kuara tree, whose red In the early part of its course, the first- beans, with a black spot in the middle, mentioned river reaches and passes through commonly called carats, have been from the great lake of Tzana or Dembea. The time immemorial, on account of their very Mareb, which is the most important branch remarkable equality in weight, employed of the Tacazze, is remarkable for losing in Africa, for the weighing of gold; and itself, in the dry season, in the sand, before the papyrus, famous for furnishing the it reaches its proper destination. But the principal species of paper used by the anHawash, a large river on the S.E. border cients. There are great numbers of wild of the kingdom of Shoa, presents a still animals; hyenas, leopards, lions, buffalos, more remarkable phenomenon: it flows antelopes, giraffes, zebras, elephants, rhitowards the Red Sea, but never reaches noceroses, hippopotami, crocodiles, civet it; in every period of the year losing itself cats, monkeys, &c. The hyenas are held in the intervening sandy desert. in a sort of superstitious awe or respect; and roam about the country, as well as sometimes come into the towns, singly, or in large herds, in quest of dead bodies,which are there, not unfrequently, suffered to lie about unburied,-without any attempt being made to destroy, or even to molest them. Lions are only met with occasionally; and the giraffe still more rarely. The elephant and rhinoceros inhabit the low grounds, and places where moisture abounds. They are hunted by the Shan gallas, who use their teeth as an article of commerce, and feed upon their flesh. One species of the rhinoceros is peculiar to Abyssinia, and is there found only in a few districts. It has two horns, having no connexion with the bones of the head. Of these horns they make the handles of their swords; and the skin of the animal, which is without any folds, is used for their shields. The domestic animals are, in general, similar to those of Europe. But there are two species of oxen' which seem to be peculiar to Abyssinia; one having humps on their backs, and no horns, and another which have horns of an uncommon length. The horses are small, but strong and active. They are mostly reserved for war and the chase; asses and mules being employed for beasts of burden and the draught. Birds of prey are very numerous, and are to be seen, especially,

The climate, as might be supposed from the varying elevation of the different parts of the country, exhibits as great a diversity as perhaps any other territory of equal extent. That of the greater portion of it, however, is temperate; Fahrenheit's thermometer ranging, during the year, from 41° to 69°. From April to September, there is a continued rainy season. Vegetation, during this time, advances with such rapidity as to admit of two, and, in some favoured spots, even three harvests being gathered; and by swelling the rivers which eventually discharge their waters into the Nile, the rains contribute also largely to the fertility of Egypt. Wheat is cultivated on the higher grounds, and is consumed only by the rich. The teff grows in almost all but the lowest situations, and from it is made the bread consumed by the people generally, of all classes; and on the lowest grounds, where no other grain will grow, the tocusso is raised, which, on being mixed with teff and barley, is a substitute, with the poor, for the better kinds of bread. Barley is chiefly used as food for horses. Besides the plants already mentioned, a considerable number of very remarkable ones are to be found in Abyssinia; some of them scarcely met with anywhere else. Among these may be mentioned the ensete, the green leafless