THE 



ENGLISH CYCLOPAEDIA. 



GEOGRAPHY. 



AA. 



AARGAU. 



A A the name of several rivers in Europe. 1. A feeder of the Ems, 

 **** flows past the village of Freren, in tho district of Lingen in 

 Hanover : it is joined on the left bank by the Plaane, a small stream 

 coming from the north of Westphalia. 2. A river of France, department 

 of Pas-de-Calais, rises a little S.E. of Samer, and flows N.E. past Fau- 

 quemberg, and St-Omer. Below this town the stream divides into two 

 branches, one of which, called the Colme, is carried eastward by the 

 Fumes canal to the sea at Ostende : while the other, retaining the 

 name of Aa, runs N.N.W. into the German Ocean through the port 

 of Graveliuea. The Aa has a course of about 36 miles, of which 1 5 

 miles from St.-Omer to Gravelines are navigable ; it is connected by 

 canals with the Lys, with Calais, and Dunkerque. Coal, turf, timber, 

 firewood, building-stone, corn, hay, wine, and brandy, are the chief 

 articles of traffic on the river. 3. A small river of North Brabant, 

 rises S.E. of the town of Hehuont, and joins the Dommel on the 

 right bank at Bois-le-Duo after a course of 32 miles. 4. A river of 

 the Dutch province of Groningen, rises in the Z\varte-Meer (a marsh 

 in the province of Drenthe, near the Hanoverian frontier) ; on being 

 joined on the luft bank by two other streams, also called Aa, it flows 

 northwards under the designation of the Westerwolder Aa into Dullart 

 Bay, forming for a short distance above its mouth the boundary 

 between territories of Hanover and Holland. 5. A river in Russia 

 which passes the town of Mitau, and carries a large portion of the 

 riand and Vilna into the Gulf of Livonia ; it runs 

 nearly N.W. from Mitau to Chlok, in the government of Livonia, 

 win re its course is eastwards, along the gulf to its mouth, opposite 

 the fort of Dunamunde, 6 miles N.W. of Riga. This river is dis- 

 tinguished by the name of the Treider-Aa ; its whole length is 78 

 miles. 6. Another river of Russia, distinguished as the Bulder-Aa, 

 drains the central part of the government of Livonia, passes Volmar 

 and Venden, and enters the gulf of Livonia, 13 miles N.N.E. from 

 after a course of 132 miles. After the spring-thaws large barges 

 ply "ti the river from Venden, at other times sand-banks and rapids 

 da the navigation. 7. Two streams of this name drain the can- 

 ton of Unterwalden, in Switzerland, and empty their waters into the 

 Waldstiitten lake. The more western of the two flows through the 

 lake and pant the town of Saruen. 8. Another river of the name in 

 Swit/i-Hiiii'l, t'oniin the outlet of the lakes of Baldek and Hallwyl, 

 and flows X. through the canton of Aargau into the Aar, which it 

 n tli' ri^ht bank midway between the mouths of the Sur and 

 ii**. TlnTe are several other small streams of this name in 

 Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, and Holland. The word is supposed 

 H originally a generic name for a running stream, and to 

 mean water. 

 AAOH. [BADE*.] 



AACHEN, rh.- (Jerman name of AIX-LA-CHAPKLLK. 



A ALBORG, a province of the kingdom of Denmark, comprises the 



most northern part of Jutland. It U bounded E. by the Kattegat, N. 



~, S. partly by the Lymfiord, and W. by the North 



1 't the three districts into which the province is divided, 



1 1 101 ring in the north, and Tisted in the west, are north of the 



Lyinfiord, mid tho district of Aalborg south and east of it. The 



>re miles, and the population about 130,000. 



n mostly flat, traversed however by low hills, which run 



northwards, and terminate in Sku^-n Point, on which there is a 



tight-house marki nice to the Kattegat. The western coast 



ral with moving sand-hills ; and in the two districts north of 



the Lymfiord the iuU.-rior presents but few fertile fields heaths, 



DIV. VOL. I. 



marshes, and forests, being the principal features of the surface. 

 Along the coast of the Kattegat the ground rises, and the district of 

 Aalborg contains a good deal of rich arable and pasture land. The 

 climate is very cold and damp in winter. Peat, whioh is abundant, 

 is the principal fuel. Horned cattle, horses, coarse-woolled sheep, 

 geese, and poultry, are reared in great numbers. Almost every house- 

 holder U a bee-keeper, and honey is an important produce of the 

 country. Vast quantities of herrings are taken along the coasts, and 

 in the Lymfiord, a narrow and shallow inlet from the Kattegat, which 

 now extends quite across Jutland ; the sea some years ago, during a 

 storm, having broken through the narrow bank of land that separated 

 its western extremity from the North Sea. The principal exports are 

 fish, salt provisions, butter, cattle, wool, &c. Bog iron, potters' 

 earth, and fullers' clay are found. There are no manufactures of 

 importance. 



Aalbory, the chief town, stands on the south side of the narrow 

 channel which joins the Lymfiord with the Kattegat, and is a sea-port, 

 with a considerable trade hi gram and herrings. From 400 to 500 

 vessels enter the port annually, and there is regidar steam communi- 

 cation with Copenhagen : the population is 7500. Aalborg gives 

 title to a bishop ; it has a cathedral school, and a small Baptist 

 church. There are some manufactures of soap, leather, sugar, and 

 tobacco. Hinrritiff, the chief town of the northern district, is a small 

 place, 29 miles N. from Aalborg : population, 1800. Tlaated, or Tisted, 

 the capital of the western district, is a small sea-port on the north 

 shore of the Lymfiord, 35 miles W. from Aalborg : population, 2200. 



The island of Moi'8, the largest in the Lymfiord, is included in tho 

 district of Thisted. It is 24 miles long and 11 broad; about two- 

 thirds of the surface is pretty high, flat, and fertile ; the remainder 

 consists of bogs and marshes. The chief town is Nyekiobiny, on the 

 east coast of the island : population, about 1 000. 



The island of Ltiaue in the Kattegat belongs to the district of 

 Hiorring ; it is 11 miles long, and 5 J broad. The surface is level, the 

 soil sandy and unproductive : the population is about 2500. Agri- 

 cultural operations are left to tho women ; the men spend their time 

 in fishing. 



AARAU. [AABCAU.] 



AARGAU (Argovie), a canton of Switzerland, is bounded N. by the 

 Rhine, which separates it from Baden ; W., by the cantons of Basel, 

 Bern, and Soleure ; E., by Zurich and Zug ; and S. by Luzern. It 

 takes its name from the river Aar, which rises in the glaciers of the 

 Grimsel and the Schreckhorn, (brains the valley of Ober Hasli, in 

 which it forms several cascades, and, after flowing through the lakes 

 of Brienz and Thun, and past the towns of Beni, Soleure, and Aarau, 

 falls into the Rhine on tho left bank, about 1 4 miles above Laufen- 

 burg, after a course of about 160 miles. The Aar becomes navigable 

 after its egress from the lake of Thuu. The name Aar-gau signifies 

 the district of the Aar. The area of the canton is 501 square miles : 

 the population, according to tho census of March 1860, was 199,720; 

 of whom 91,090 were Catholics, and 107,194 Protestants of difl'ereut 

 sects. 



The canton of Aargau is a fertile district, diversified by hills, 

 mountains, and valleys. Ramifications of the Jura mountains cover 

 the north-west of the canton, between the Aar and tho Rhine. 

 Besides the Aar and the Rhine the principal rivers are the Reuss and 

 tho Limmat, both of which are navigable, and enter the Aar on the 

 right bank. Aargnu is both a manufacturing and an agricultural 

 country. Tho products of the soil are corn, pasture, hay, white and 



Ii 



