133 



AGADEZ. 



AGEN. 



distinct articles on each subject will be found in the NATURAL HISTORY 

 Division of the ENGLISH CYCLOP .EDIA ; and this remark will apply to 

 all similar instances. 



AGADEZ, or, as the Tuaricks call it, Ekade, ia a town of Africa, 

 situated in 16" 33' N. lat, 7 3<y E. long., on a Hamadah, or high 

 plain, consisting of sandstone. It is the capital of the kingdom of 

 Air or Asben, with which we have recently become acquainted through 

 the travels of Drs. Barth and Overweg, the former having visited 

 Agadez in 1850. No author is known who has mentioned this place 

 before Leo Africanus, in whose time it was a flourishing town. Agadez, 

 from its sihiation, must always have formed an important central 

 place between the Kelowis and the tribes inhabiting the districts to 

 the south and west There are traditions among the inhabitants of 

 the place, that it owes its origin chiefly to some tribes coming from 

 the north, probably belonging to the Berber race. There is, no 

 doubt, a good deal of slave blood among the present inhabitants of 

 Agadez, as is the case with the whole population of the south-eastern 

 )K>rtion of Air; but there must have been a very ancient stock of 

 indigenous black people, who have transmitted a peculiar language of 

 their own, the ' Emghedesic,' which is the same language as that 

 spoken by the people of Timbuctu. 



Agsdez formerly contained not less than from 50,000 to 60,000 

 inhabitant*. Dr. Barth was assured by the Turvati, one of whom 

 had been at Timbuetu seven times, that it was much larger than that 

 place. At present the appearance of the town is that of an almost 

 ruined place, scarcely the sixth part of it, namely about 700 houses, 

 being inhabited. The number of the inhabitants are estimated to be 

 from 7000 to 8000, who are partly merchants, partly artisans. The 

 merchants seem to visit only the markets of Kaahna, Tasawah, 

 Maradeh, Kano, and Sacatu, and do not go to the northern markets 

 of Ghat or Murzuk, unless on a journey to Mecca. There exists no 

 intercourse with Timbuetu. The commerce of Agadez itself is 

 principally in ghussub (millet), which constitutes the principal and 

 almost the only food of the inhabitants. The manufactures are very 

 limited, consisting of leather-work and mate. The saddles made in 

 Agadez, particularly those used in riding upon the meheris, or swift 

 camels, and also the sandals, are far famed. 



Respecting the degree of civilisation of the inhabitants, it may be 

 mentioned that there are five or six schools in Agadez, where the boys 

 are taught to read the Koran, and to write. The women seem to 

 enjoy great freedom. Some of them are pretty, and have Arab 

 features ; and among the men Dr. Barth observed fine faces and good 

 figures. The population is so mixed that it would be difficult to make 

 out the type of the original stock. 



The houses are generally spacious, built of mud, and a few are 

 whitewashed; they are all flat-roofed, the roof being formed by 

 planks of the doom palm covered with mats, over which earth is 

 thrown. Agadez has a tower, which is from 90 to 95 feet high. For 

 such a place, situated in the midst of warlike hordes, a tower is of the 

 greatest importance, in order to be aware beforehand when a razzia or 

 a caravan is approaching. There are wells of very good water near 

 the town, and there is also plenty of brushwood. (Dr. Earth's 

 Account './. !</.///-, in 'Journal of the Royal Geographical Society.') 



AODE, a seaport in the south of France, chief town of a canton in 

 the arrondisement of BcV.iem, department of Heratilt, is situated on 

 the left bank of the river Honmlt, and about two miles above its 

 mouth in the Gulf of Lyon, 28 miles S.W. from Montpellier, and has 

 8683 inhabitants. The Canal du Midi, or Languedoc Canal, by which 

 !i,i Garonne the Mediterranean is united to the Bay of Biscay, 

 runs mi,lpr thu walls of the town on the north and enters the shore- 

 lake of Thau about half a mile to the eastward. By this canal Agde 

 has communication with Toulouse and Bordeaux, whilst by the shore- 

 lake and Beaucaire canals, it is connected with the navigation of the 

 . The harbour, formed by order of Cardinal Richelieu in 1634, 

 is capable of containing 450 vessels of from 60 to 200 tons ; it is 

 entered from the sea by the channel of the Herault, which is 230 feet 

 wide "pi>o*ite the town, but increases to above 656 feet lower down, 

 and has a depth throughout of more than 16 feet. The entrance to 

 1 1 -led by the strongly fortified islet of Brescou, the 

 arsenal, casemates, barracks, and batteries on which are hollowed out 

 of the volcanic rock that forms the substance of the islet. On Mont 

 I.imp, an extinct volcano to the southward of the 

 town, a lighthouse of the first class with a revolving light, 413 feet 

 above the sea-level, and visible for above 20 miles at sea, stands in 

 !' N. lat., 3 29' K. long. There is also a port-light 29 feet high 

 on the east side of tin- month of the river. 



Agde is girt with walls flanked with round towers, and ranks as a 



- of the fourth class. The fortifications, most of the houses, 



and the quays which lin,' both banks of the river down to the sea, 



are built of black basaltic lava supplied from Mont St-Loup. The 



streets are all paved with this substance, and altogether the place has 



such a black look as fully t.. local name of La Ville Noire, 



';k Town. The cathedral, a handsome building notwithstanding 



its blacknem, is said to .lute f :,,! tl,, 7th century ; it is surmounted 



by a square clock towrr Imilt, ,,f r.,,k t., T1 .'. and 115 feet high. To 



if tli,! trtwn lira a rich and fertile plain, the soil of which 



mutt, r. Tli,;re are delightful 



walks along the bank* of the U<5rault and the Languedoc canal. A 



suburb on the right bank of the river ia joined to the town by a 

 suspension-bridge. Agde has n tribunal and chamber of commerce, 

 a naval school, and a council for determining causes among the 

 fishermen of the port. 



Agde is an entrepot for salt, lead, and the staple products generally 

 of the S. and S.W. of France. Its own industrial products are 

 chiefly brandy, soap, and verdigris. It has also an active coasting 

 trade in wines, brandy, liqueurs, olive oil, silk, wool, timber, cordage, 

 salt, iron, &e. Corn and flour are exported in large quantities to Spain, 

 and wine to Italy. About 120 vessels are engaged in the coasting 

 trade, and above 40 smaller craft in the fisheries, which are productive, 

 and supply the neighbouring markets with abundance of fish. Ship- 

 building also is carried on to some extent. A four-day fair, commencing 

 on the 3rd of August, is held yearly, chiefly for manufactured products 

 and wares. 



Agde occupies the site of the ancient Agath<5, said to have been 

 built by the Greeks of Massilia long before the Roman conquest of 

 ( liuil. The Goths held it till 743, when it was given up to Pepin, sou 

 of Charles Martel. Alaric, king of the Goths, convoked a council at 

 Agde, in 606, when (and perhaps for long before) the town gave title 

 to a bishop. The prelates of Agde in process of time became lords of 

 the town and its dependencies, for which they did homage to the 

 counts of Toulouse ; they were styled counts of Agde till the 

 suppression of the see in the 18th century. The diocese of Agde was the 

 smallest in France ; it comprised only 19 parishes. A second council was 

 held at Agile in 1535. The see is now merged in that of Montpellier. 



AGEN, a city in France, capital of the department of Lot-et-Garonne, 

 is situated in the great plain of Guienne on the left bank of the 

 Garonne, which is here crossed by a fine stone bridge of 11 arches ; 

 74 miles S.E. from Bordeaux, 336 miles S. by W. from Paris, in 44" 12' 

 N. lat., 37' E. long., and has 14,987 inhabitants. The town is 

 old and ill-built, the streets narrow and ill laid out. The best quarter 

 .is a suburb that extends some way along the Bordeaux road, which is 

 lined on each side with gigantic elm-trees. There are however several 

 interesting buildings in the city, among which are the fine old cathe- 

 dral of St-Caprais, a romanesque structure with modern restorations ; 

 the Jacobin church, which contains a central gallery supported on 

 columns that divide the spacious interior into two naves ; the former 

 episcopal palace, an extensive and beautiful building, now the residence 

 of the prefect of the department ; the ecclesiastical college ; and the 

 hospital of St-Jaques. On the site of the church of St.-Etienno, 

 destroyed in the revolutionary commotions of 1797, a market for com 

 and other produce has been built. The city is the seat of a depart- 

 mental university and of a high court of justice ; it has tribunals of 

 first instance and of commerce ; a consultative chamber of manufac- 

 tures ; a society of agriculture, science, and the arts ; a normal school ; 

 and a public library of 15,000 volumes. Agen gives title to a bishop, 

 whose see is co-extensive with the department of Lot-et-Garoune. 



To the east of the town rises a rocky hill, the slopes of which are 

 covered with vineyards and country-houses ; and its summit commands 

 a fine view of the valley of the Garonne with the Pyrenees in the 

 background. This hill is called L'Ermitage, from its having been for 

 a long tune the retreat of hermits, who have left as marks of their 

 industry a church with several chapels, and a staircase all hewn iu the 

 solid rock. In a gorge of the hill still stands the curious house in 

 which Julius Scaliger died (A.D. 1558), and in which also his no less 

 celebrated son, Joseph Scaliger, was born. The public walks of Ageu 

 are very beautiful, but one called Le Gravier, from its site having been 

 once covered by the river, is hardly to be matched throughout France. 

 It extends southward from the stone bridge and the Bordeaux road 

 above mentioned, between the town and the river, and presents a 

 magnificent avenue of gigantic elms, the branches of which, interlacing 

 high over-head, form a living vault impenetrable to the rays of the sun, 

 while beautiful views of the river and the plain are commanded in the 

 intervals between the trees. At its southern extremity this walk is 

 connected with the left bank of the river by a handsome suspension- 

 bridge. Besides these bridges must be mentioned the canal-bridge or 

 aqueduct of 23 arches, recently completed. 



Agen is well situated for trade, having water-communication by 

 means of the Garonne and the Languedoo canal, which joins the 

 Garonne at Toulouse, with the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean. 

 Small steamers ply on the Garonne to Bourdeaux. The industrial 

 products of the town are chiefly linen, canvas, serge, cotton counter- 

 panes, swanskins, starch, cotton handkerchiefs, candles, brandy, 

 and leather; it was formerly famous for its scarlet and crimson 

 dyes. The agricultural products of the territory of Agenoit, which 

 now forms the greater part of the arrondissements of Agen and Ville- 

 neuve, find an outlet at Agen, and consist of large quantities of fine 

 wheat, wine, hemp and flax, fruits, chestnuts, tobacco, madder, cattle, &c. 

 The famous prunes d'Agen are grown in vast plum-orchards near the 

 town. Agen has besides a considerable commerce in fine flour, woollen 

 cloth, cotton thread, feathers, &c. Five three-day fairs are held yearly. 



Agen occupies the site of the ancient Ayr/mum or Ayinnum, the 

 chief town of the Nitiobriges. Under the Roman empire it was a 

 place of some importance, and was governed by Roman praetors. 

 The early Christians suffered severe persecution here ; St. Vincent, 

 the second bishop of Agen, and many of his flock, were torn to pieces 

 on the spot now occupied by the Fountain St.-Vincent. Few 



