Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Anatomy-Astronomy

A R A
A R A
of which twenty-eight would allow of cavalry, and seven of
artillery and wheel-carriages. None of these had been ever
examined by the Spanish government, though it was more
' than suspected that a very considerable contraband traffic had
been conducted through these passes, in spite of the vigi¬
lance of the officers of revenue in both kingdoms.
Previous to the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the poli¬
tical constitution of Aragon was the most liberal in Europe.
Formally monarchical, its genius and maxims were purely re¬
publican. The kings, who were long elective, retained only
the shadow of power; while its real exercise was in the hands
of the Cortes; an assembly consisting of the nobility, the
equestrian order, the representatives of the cities and towns,
and the ecclesiastical order.
No law could pass without the assent of every member
who had a right to vote. Without the permission of the
Cortes no tax could be imposed, war could not be de¬
clared, nor peace concluded. Besides these, and other ex¬
traordinary privileges enjoyed by the Cortes, the Aragonese
possessed another safeguard against despotic power in the
election of a Justiza, or supreme judge, who acted as the
guardian of the people, and the controller of the prince. He
was the supreme interpreter of the laws, and was account¬
able to the Cortes alone for the manner in which he dis¬
charged the duties of his high office.—See Robertson’s His¬
tory of Charles V., vol. i. § 3.
The history of Aragon before its union with Castile by
the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, when it was merged
in the kingdom of Spain, will be found in the general his¬
tory of that country. It had, before this epoch, a succes¬
sion of twenty sovereigns, from the year 1035 to 1516.—See
Zurita, Anales de Aragon ; Viage de Ponz ; Geografia de
Don Isidore de Antillon; Historia de la Economia Poli-
tica de Aragon, por Don Ignacio de Asso.
ARAGONA, a town of Sicily, situated on a hill, seven
miles N.N.E. of Girgenti. It is ill-built, but has some cu¬
rious antiquities, and an old castle containing a fine gallery
of pictures. In its vicinity is the celebrated mud-volcano
of Maccaluba. Pop. 6500.
ARAGONITE, a carbonate of lime, with a small quan¬
tity of carbonate of strontia in its composition. See Mine¬
ralogy.
ARAHAL, a town of Spain, in the province of Sevilla,
7 leagues south-east of the city of that name. The popu¬
lation, amounting to about 7000, is chiefly agricultural.
ARAL, a vast lake or inland sea, in Asia, about 200
miles eastward of the Caspian, between Eat. 40° and 47° N.
Long. 57° and 61° E. Its form is irregularly oblong, extend¬
ing from N.N.E. to S.S.W., about 290 miles by 130 from
W. to E. It is separated from the Caspian by a plateau of
the moderate elevation of 700 feet above that sea. Its west¬
ern shores are steep and rocky; the southern and eastern
are low and sandy, interspersed with marshes. Its waters
are saline, but are readily drunk by horses. It abounds
with the same species of fish as are found in the Caspian ;
and in both is found a species of seal which M. Vallen-
ciennes has lately characterized as a peculiar species, differ¬
ent from the Phoca Vitulina of Linnaeus and Pallas. In
winter it is partially frozen, so that persons pass on the ice
from the mouth of the river Sir to the town of Kourgrat.
This sea receives two large rivers, the Amur, anciently the
Oxus, from the west, and the Sir or Jaxartes from the east.
Its name, in the language of the Kirghese-Tartars, is Aral-
Denghis, or Sea of Islands, a group of which were described
by the Russians in 1850 as near the middle of the sea, and
have been named the Isles of Nicholas I., Constantine, Bel-
linghausen, and Lazareff. The level of the surface of this
lake, compared with the Caspian and Black Sea, has not
been well ascertained. Some barometrical measurements,
little to be trusted, made its surface about 117 feet above
the Caspian ; but later, and seemingly more accurate obser- Araliaces
vations, with the same instrument, reduce this difference to ||
34 feet. Indeed M. Von Humboldt is inclined to think Arwu.
that the surfaces of both seas are on the same level, and
both on the same vast Aralo-Caspian depression of the
Asiatic continent, which he reckons to occupy “ a space of
18,000 square geographic leagues; that is to say, 900 square
leagues greater than France, with a depression of about 81
English feet below the level of the Black Sea.”—(Asie
Centrale, ii. 311.) (t. s. t.)
ARALIACEiE, a natural order of plants, of which the ge¬
nus Panax is the chief. The Ginseng of the East is P.fru-
ticosa, and there are several species of Panax in the New
World and in Australia.
ARAM, the name given by the Hebrews to the exten¬
sive territory lying between Phoenicia, Palestine, Arabia
Deserta, and the Tigris, and the mountain-range of Taurus.
Aram, or Aramaea, seems to have corresponded generally
to the Syria and Mesopotamia of the Greeks and Romans.
ARAMAIC Language. This was divided into two dia¬
lects—the western and the eastern; the former is the Syriac,
and the latter is the Chaldaic or Babylonic. Both, though
nearly dead tongues, are yet used by some tribes about the
ancient Aram, and in the hills near Mosul; and it was the
most common dialect of the Jews after the Babylonian cap¬
tivity till their dispersion by the Romans.
ARANDA de Duero, a town of Spain, in the province
of Burgos, on the right bank of the river Duero. Pop.
4200. Long. 3. 40. 34. W. Lat. 41. 40. 12. N.
ARANGOES, pierced beads of rough carnelian, of va¬
rious shapes and qualities, formerly imported from Bombay
in considerable quantities for re-exportation to Africa. The
best are barrel-shaped, from two to three inches long. Since
the abolition of the slave-trade few have been imported.
ARANJUEZ (the ancient Ara Jovis), a town of Spain,
in the province of New Castile, 28 miles S.S.E. of Madrid.
It is situated in a fertile and well-watered valley on the left
bank of the Tagus, immediately above the junction of
that river with the Xarama, in Lat. 40. 1. 54. N. Long.
3. 37. 30. W. It is usually the residence of the Spanish
Court from Easter till the end of June, during which time
the population is increased from 4000 to about 12,000.
The town is built in the Dutch style, with avenues of trees,
and has numerous hotels, public gardens, theatres, and other
places of amusement. The palace was begun by Philip II.
and enlarged and embellished by his successors. The gar¬
dens are much admired for their rural beauties, fine shaded
walks, fountains, and cascades. During the Peninsular war,
this place suffered severely from the French. The treaty
of 1772 between France and Spain, by which they pledged
themselves to assist each other in opposing the English in
America, was concluded here ; and here, on the 18th oi
March 1808, broke out the insurrection which ended in the
abdication of Charles IV. in favour of his son Ferdinand.
ARARAT, a remarkable mountain in Armenia, in Lat.
39. 42. N. Long. 43. 68. E., at the point where the terri¬
tories of Persia, Turkey, and Asiatic Russia meet. This
mountain receives the name of Massis from the Armenians,
and it is the Aghur-Tagh of the Turks. According to Par¬
rot it has two summits seven miles apart, one of which he esti¬
mates at 16,000, and the other at 12,000 feet above the sea;
but it rises from a table-land, which is itself as high as 5000
feet. The loftiest peak is covered with perpetual snow, which,
however, does not form a glacier, and it reaches no lower
than 14,100 feet above the sea. On the other summit it only
lies from the end of October to the beginning of September.
The ascent is difficult, and was first made by Parrot of Dor-
pat, and in 1845 by Abich. Ararat is isolated, except on
the north, where it is connected with a chain extending along
the valley of the River Aras towards Erzeroum. It is a vol-