reverence for the waters of the Ganges. | have their origin in the intestinal canal, This last is carried to such an extent, that it is said, if a votary who cannot go to that river, will call upon it when bathing in another stream, he will be cleansed from any sin or pollution he may have contracted. But it is among the Mohammedans that we find the greatest faith reposed in the spiritual efficacy of ablutions. Actions the most ordinary or trifling in their nature should, according to their strictest doctors, be preceded or followed by them. The early Christians practised ablutions before partaking of the communion; and the Roman Catholics still occasionally do so before and after mass.

ABO. Since the great fire of 1827, the university has been removed to Helsingfors. 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.

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 ones. The highest peaks (those of Samen), we are told, attain to an elevation of 14,000 feet above the level of the sea, and, contrary to the assertion of Bruce, reach the limits of perpetual snow. The chief rivers are the Bahr-el-Azrek or Blue river, long mistaken for the main stream of the Nile, and the Tacazze, with their numerous branches; some of these being themselves of very considerable magnitude. Both rise in the same chain or cluster of mountains, in the province of Gojam, and, after a general N. or N.W. course, unite with the Bahr-el-Abiad, or true Nile, in Sennaar. In the early part of its course, the firstmentioned river reaches and passes through the great lake of Tzana or Dembea. The Mareb, which is the most important branch of the Tacazze, is remarkable for losing itself, in the dry season, in the sand, before it reaches its proper destination. But the Hawash, a large river on the S.E. border of the kingdom of Shoa, presents a still more remarkable phenomenon: it flows towards the Red Sea, but never reaches it; in every period of the year losing itself in the intervening sandy desert.

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

the kolqual, whose leaves and branches contain an extraordinary quantity of a milky fluid, employed by the natives in the process of tanning; the woognioos, regarded as a sovereign cure for the dysente ry, a disease extremely prevalent throughout the country; the cusso, a vermifuge so celebrated, and in such universal use, that it is always planted near churches, for the benefit of those persons who reside in their neighbourhood, or resort to them; the wanzey, a great favourite with the people of the country, and to which, as well as to the coffee tree, divine honours have been paid; the beautiful kuara tree, whose red beans, with a black spot in the middle, commonly called carats, have been from time immemorial, on account of their very remarkable equality in weight, employed in Africa, for the weighing of gold; and the papyrus, famous for furnishing the principal species of paper used by the ancients. There are great numbers of wild animals; hyænas, leopards, lions, buffalos, antelopes, giraffes, zebras, elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotami, crocodiles, civet cats, monkeys, &c. The hyenas are held 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 Shangallas, 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,

corresponding with the name given to it.

ACCREDIT. Governments give to the diplomatic agents, whom they appoint to represent them near other governments, letters of credence; and the giving of these letters is styled accrediting them. The representative or diplomatic character of the agent is acknowledged, and begins, only on the delivery to the foreign government of the letters by which he is accre

ACKERMANN (Rudolph)* was born at Stollberg, in Saxony. The art of lithography, some specimens of which had been produced in London by Andre, in the beginning of the present century, was very much improved by Mr. Ackermann, and introduced by him into extensive use about the year 1817. He was also the first person in England to make use of gas lights; and, through the brilliant illuminations which he occasionally exhibited on his own premises, by means of an apparatus of his own, as well as through his active exertions in other respects, he led to the adoption of this mode of lighting the streets and houses of London and other large cities. And to his other merits, it may be added that he was one of the first who succeeded in rendering paper, hair-cloth, and certain other manufactured substances, impervious to water. He died on the 30th of January 1834.

tracking the havoc and desolation produced | sounds produced are very far from always in the warlike or marauding expeditions of their human fellow-destroyers. The most remarkable of these birds is the nisser, or golden eagle. Storks, parrots, partridges, pigeons, swallows, &c., are also abundant. Of the insects, the bee is entitled to an honourable mention. Much honey is brought to market and consumed; and so important an article is it considered, that we are told of the tribute of some of the subject tribes being paid by the deli-dited. very of a certain quantity of it annually. The locust is, as elsewhere in Northern Africa, exceedingly destructive. And several other insects are very annoying, and capable of inflicting great injury. Very little is known concerning the minerals of Abyssinia, the salt excepted which is found in the plain between Amphila and Massuah. The gold of Abyssinia is brought there from the regions to the S. and W. Manufacturing industry is in a rude state, and mostly confined to cotton, leather, and iron. And the trade of the country is not of any importance; it consists chiefly in the exportation of gold, ivory, and slaves, in exchange for a few Eastern or European luxuries. There are at present two languages spoken in Abyssinia; that of Tigre, and the Amharic. The former has been derived from the ancient Ghees; and although the latter has a certain affinity to it, the differences between them are sufficiently great to justify the inference, that the Abyssinians have descended from two distinct races of men, who probably were brought into intimate relations with each other at a very early period. The Falashas or Jews, in Šamen, have their own language, as have the Shangallas, Gallas, and the wandering tribes on the borders. Among the towns, Gondar, once the capital of the whole country, and now only of Amhara, is the most important; Antalow in Tigre, and Ankober in Shoa, are inconsiderable places. The houses in them, as elsewhere in Abyssinia, are wretchedly built, being, for the most part, mere mud hovels, with conical thatched roofs.

ACCOMPLICE. See Accessary.

ACCORDION; a small musical instrument, not long since invented in Germany, but which is now quite common elsewhere. It is composed of a double series of vibrating tongues, acted upon by a current of air produced by a sort of bellows. At first, it had only a single scale; but the accordions at present made, by means of stops to which the fingers are applied, often have two or more scales. From the great facility with which the instrument can be played, the

ACOUSTICS.* In the article Acoustics, in the first volume of the present work, it is stated that not more than 8192, nor less than 32 distinct concussions should be made on the medium for communicating sounds during a second of time, in order that the sound shall be audible to a common ear. Subsequently, however, to the experiments on which this conclusion was founded, it has been ascertained that the sounds produced by the wings of certain insects correspond to a rapidity of from 12,000 to 15,000 vibrations in a second. Indeed, the number of vibrations to which the ear is capable of adapting itself is affirmed by Savart to be as high as 24,000.-For a considerable period after the first careful experiments were made on the velocity of sound communicated through the atmosphere, this velocity was regarded as being at the rate of 1142 feet in a second of time. Until very lately, as the result of farther investigation, the rate assigned to it was 1130 feet. But a great number of experiments on the subject, made in Europe and elsewhere, during the present century, lead to the conclusion that the actual velocity of sound is even less. Sir John

ACOUSTICS-ADAM.

throughout which period, it is scarcely necessary to mention, he gave a uniform support to that minister. He resumed his office on the formation of the celebrated coalition ministry, and again went out, when they were succeeded in power by Mr. Pitt, in December 1783. In the mean time he had resolved, on account of the state of his pecuniary resources, to

of his works which were of an entirely | North's administration, in March 1782,— original character, the opera of " Peter and Catherine," in 1829; and another opera, entitled "Danilowa," in 1830. In the following year his talents were put in requisition for music adapted to the ballet. To his "Postilion of Longjumeau," however, published in 1836, he is indebted for the commencement of his European reputation. This opera has been followed by a vast number of other productions, exhibit-practise his profession of the law. He was ing an extraordinary excellence in the called to the English bar in 1782, and, lighter graces of musical composition. from this date until 1812, was alternately Adam has occasionally, too, ascended to a in and out of parliament; his time being, higher branch of his art, being the author however, in a greater degree occupied of several pieces of sacred music. He is with his legal avocations than with the a skilful performer, as well on the organ concerns of the public, The political as on the piano-forte, and has always ex- principles which he professed to hold were hibited a great predilection for the former still those of the Whigs. He was one of instrument. the managers appointed by the Commons to conduct the impeachment of Warren Hastings; and he took an active part in defence of the Duke of York from the charges brought forward against him by Colonel Wardle. At the bar Mr. Adam. rose to eminence; became king's counsel in 1796, and in 1802 counsel to the East India Company; and was appointed by the Prince of Wales, afterwards George IV., to be, successively, his solicitor-general, attorney-general, and chancellor and keeper of the great seal for the duchy of Cornwall. In 1814, he was made one of the barons of the exchequer in Scotland; and, finally, took his seat on the bench, in 1816,, as the lord chief commissioner of the Jury Court for the trial of civil causes, then for the first time established in that part of the United Kingdom.

ADAM (William) was born at Maryburg, in the county of Kinross, in Scotland, in August 1751, and died at Edinburgh, in February 1839. He was admitted to the Scottish bar in 1773, but never practised in Scotland. He was chosen representative for Gatton in the parliament which met in November 1774. During a considerable portion of the American war, while he called himself a whig, he acted, in a great degree, a part independent of both the ministry and opposition of that day. He animadverted severely on Lord North for his indolence and his want of energy in carrying on the war; but he more bitterly reviled the opponents of the minister, because of their sympathies with the Americans. At the opening of the session, in November 1779, he spoke and voted against an amendment to the address praying for the dismissal of ministers. He declared that "amongst those gentlemen who stood candidates for office, he could not single out one by whom the state was likely to be better served than by their present rulers." They" (the former) "had already betrayed their intentions by the abject concessions they would have made to our revolted subjects in America." And he expressed his fear, "should they be called into office, instead of carrying on the war with spirit and activity, they would terminate it with a dishonourable and humiliating peace." Mr. Adam's speech was commented upon very severely by Mr. Fox; and a duel, in consequence, took place between them, a few days afterwards, in which the latter was slightly wounded. In September of the following year, Mr. Adam was appointed to the office of treasurer of the ordnance, and continued to hold it till the dissolution of Lord

66

ADAM'S BRIDGE is a series of rocks and sand-banks, exposed at low water, extending from the island of Manaar, on the N. W. coast of Ceylon, to that of Ramisseram, on the opposite coast of Hindostan, a distance of about 35 miles, and having the gulf of Manaar to the S. of it. A direct communication between this gulf and the ocean, on the N. of the bridge, can only take place by means of the channels which are situated between the islands and coasts just mentioned; the channel on the coast of Hindostan being called the Paumbeen, and that on the coast of Ceylon the Manaar Passage. There is so little depth of water, too, in these channels, that vessels even of a very moderate size, in passing from the gulf of Manaar to the N. of Ceylon, are obliged to go round the whole of this extensive island.

ADANA; a town containing about 30,000 inhabitants, in the S. E. extremity of Asia Minor, near Syria. It is a place of con