ALBEMAULE J-.OUND. 



ALBI 



178 



side, and parts of the New England states on tlie other. The Erie 

 and Champlain canals unite 8 miles north of Albany, and thence run 

 in one united channel to the large basin at Albany. This basin is 

 formed by a pier built in the river, a mile and a quarter long ; it is a 

 safe harbour not only for boats but also for large vessels during the ice- 

 floods in spring. Albany has several banks, insurance companies, and 

 commission houses. Its manufactures comprise carriages, hats and 

 caps, tobacco, ropes, soap, sheet-iron, copper and tin ware, &c. It 

 contains also some type foundries, several iron furnaces, steam sawing 

 and planing mills, several malting-houses and breweries. A very large 

 number of steam-boats, steam-tugs, and sloops ply on the Hudson to 

 New York and intermediate places. Flour and agricultural produce 

 are important exports. 



Albany was originally a Dutch fort, erected about 1612. The town 

 was founded by the Dutch in 1623, and called first Beaver- wyck, and 

 afterwards Williamstadt, which name it retained till 1664, when the 

 colony fell into the hands of the English. Its present name is derived 

 from James II., to whom, when Duke of York and Albany, Charles II. 

 granted the proprietorship of the colony. 



Albany is also the name of the county of which Albany is the chief 

 town. (Haskel and Smith, Gazetteer of the United States.) 



ALBEMARLE SOUND, an inlet of the Atlantic, on the eastern 

 coast of North Carolina, is 60 miles in length, and from 4 to 15 miles 

 wide. The Roanoke and Chowan rivers (both of which are navigable) 

 and several smaller streams fall into it The Chowan River is 3 

 miles wide at its mouth, but speedily becomes much contracted. 

 Albemarle Sound communicates with the Atlantic and with Pamlico 

 Sound by several narrow channels, and with the Chesapeake by a 

 canal cut through the Dismal Swamp. [CAROLINA, NORTH.] 



ALBKNGA, a province in the administrative division of Savona, 

 and formerly included in the duchy of Genoa, in the continental 

 dominions of the king of Sardinia, is situated on the southern slope 

 of the Apennines, near their junction with the Maritime Alps. It 

 stretches along the coast of the Mediterranean for about 30 miles, and 

 has a breadth inland of about 18 miles. It is bounded N.E. by the 

 province of Savona, S.W. by that of Oneglia, and N. by the province 

 of Mondovi in Piedmont. The country is intersected by numerous 

 offsets of the Apennines which run to the coast, screening narrow 

 valleys through which rush rapid torrents in times of rain. The only 

 river that does not dry up in summer is the Arocia, which, rising in 

 the province of Oneglia on the southern slope of the mountains oppo- 

 site the source of the Tanaro, flows in a south-east direction through 

 the long valley of La-Pieve, and afterwards entering the plain of 

 Albenga about 4 miles above its mouth, assumes the name of Centa. 

 The Centa enters the sea a short distance west of the town of 

 Albenga. Formerly the river flowed to the eastward of Albencja, 

 where a Roman bridge is still seen of 10 arches, the piers of which 

 are now buried in sand. In seasons of heavy rains the Arocia or 

 Centa used to overflow its banks and inundate the plain and town of 

 Albenga, but the river has been embanked above the town, which is 

 thus secured from floods. The marshes, which formerly existed near the 

 coast and caused malaria fevers in summer, have been also recently 

 filled up with sea-sand. The plain of Albenga, one of the few plain* 

 in the Genoese territory, is celebrated for ita great fertility. It pro- 

 duces corn, hemp, wine, oil, and fruit. Oil is the staple product of 

 the country, but the oil of this province is inferior to that of the 

 provinces of Oneglia and San Remo. A great number of the inha- 

 bitants of the coast lead a seafaring life. The province of Albenga 

 e jiituins 263 square miles, with a population in 1848 of 59,993. 



A Ibenga, the head town of the province, situated in a plain about a 

 mile from the sea-coast, 42 miles S.W. from Genoa, is a bishop's see; 

 it has several churches, a grammar-school, and 4735 inhabitants, who 

 live chiefly by agriculture. A small octagonal Roman temple, adorned 

 with eight granite columns, serves as a baptistery to the adjoining 

 church of St. Michael. The town existed in the Roman times under 

 the n:imn of Albfegaunum, and it belonged to the tribe of the Ligures 

 Ingauni, who fought strenuously against the Romans, and were finally 

 Bubdued by the proconsul L. jEmiuus Paulus, B.c. 181. (Livy xl. 25-29.) 

 Albingaunura was the birthplace of T. .Kliu.s Proculus, who assumed 

 for a time the imperial title in Gaul, until he was defeated and killed 

 by Probus. (F. Vopiscus, ' Historia Augusta.') Several Roman inscrip- 

 tions and other remains are scattered about the town. In the middle 

 ages, Albenga governed itself as a municipal town under the supre- 

 macy of Genoa. It was Napoleon's head-quarters during part of 1796. 

 Alattio, a town on the coast, 3 miles S. from Albenga, has a collegiate 

 church, a communal college, and 6500 inhabitants, mostly engaged 

 in genfirins,' pursuits. At the end of the last century there were 70 

 merchant-brigs belonging to this place, but the number is now greatly 

 reduced. Boata from Ahu^iocarry on the tunny and herring fishery on 

 the coast of Sardinia, and the tunny fishery on the coast of Tuni.<." It 

 is chiefly from Alassio that the inland country of Piedmont is supplied 

 with sea-fish, both fresh and pickled. The sailors from Alassio and 

 the neighbouring town of Laigueglia (1420 inhabitants) are among 

 the best and most trustworthy in the Mediterranean. Many of them 

 emigrate to America, and especially to Buenos Ayres, whilst others 

 have founded respectable mercantile houses in various parts of the 

 Mediterranean. Under the old ' ! lc the seamen of 



Laigueglia were among the few who ventured to trade under their 



OEOO. civ. VOL. I. 



own flag, and to brave the Barbary pirates who infested the sea, and 

 especially the coast of Genoa. Loano or Lorann, 7 miles N.N.E. from 

 Albenga, a town of 3350 inhabitants, was once a fief of the Fieschi and 

 afterwards of the Doria family. The town has several churches, one 

 of which is reckoned handsome. It is an unhealthy place. Finale, 

 the name of three small contiguous towns, distinguished as Final 

 Marina, Final Pia, and Final Borgo, the united population of which 

 amounts to above 6000. Final Marina has a handsome collegiate 

 church designed by Bernini, a college for boarders under the direction 

 of the Barnabite fathers, and a gallery of paintings. Final Borgo has 

 a college for boarders, and a collegiate church adorned with paintings 

 and sculptures, and with the mausoleum of Andrea del Carretto, last 

 Marquis of Finale. The valley of Finale is rich in orange-trees, some 

 of which are said to bear from 4000 to 5000 oranges. Finale and 

 its territory was for centuries a marquisate held by the family Del 

 Carretto. In the latter part of the 16th century dissensions broke 

 out between the marquis and the people ; the marquis was repeatedly 

 expelled ; and after his death his heir, Andrea del Carretto, sold his 

 rights to the court of Spain, which had long coveted a harbour on 

 this coast, in order to have a direct communication by sea with its 

 dominions in Lombardy. Finale was taken possession of in 1602 by 

 the Spaniards, who lavished large sums in fortifying the place, which 

 enjoyed for a century considerable commercial and other advantages 

 under its Spanish masters. After the war of the Spanish succession, 

 the Duchy of Milan having fallen to the share of the emperor Charles 

 VI., that sovereign, having no further necessity for the possession of 

 Finale, sold it to the Genoese for 1,200,000 crowns. The Genoese 

 took possession of Finale, and demolished some of the castles which 

 the Spaniards had raised. In 1743 the empress Maria Theresa ceded 

 to the king of Sardinia what she styled her rights upon Finale, with 

 the proviso that the king was to reimburse the purchase-money 

 to Genoa. This led to a rupture between Genoa and the empress, 

 which was followed by the forced occupation of Genoa by the 

 Auatrians, and its memorable deliverance through the bravery of the 

 people in 1746. 



ALBERT. [SosiME.] 



ALBERT TOWN. [ADELAIDE ; SOUTH AUSTRALIA.] 



ALBERTON. [VICTORIA.] 



ALBI, an archiepiscopal city in France ; capital of the department 

 of Tarn ; the seat of tribunals of first instance and of commerce, of 

 an exchange, diocesan seminary, communal college, and consultative 

 chamber of manufactures ; situated on the left bank of the Tarn, 

 43 miles N.E. from Toulouse, 347 miles due S. from Paris, in 43 55' 44" 

 N. lat., 2" 8' 39" E. long: population, 12,408. 



Albi occupies an ancient site called Civiiai Alliensium in the 

 ' Notitia Imperii.' In later times it had the Latin name of Albiga. 

 The Saracens ravaged the town in A.D. 730, and in 765 Pepin made 

 himself master of it. From this time till the 13th century Albi was 

 governed by viscounts, the last of whom, Raymond-Roger, sided with 

 Raymond IV., Count of Toulouse, and the Albigeuses, and shared 

 their misfortunes. In 1249 the territory of Albi was ceded to St. 

 Louis. The town was one of the strongholds of Protestantism in the 

 south of France during the reign of Louis XIV. ; and the revocation 

 of the Edict of Nantes forced many of its inhabitants into exile. 

 According to some authorities, the sect of the Albigenses derived 

 their name from this place. A council condemning the Albigenses 

 was held here in 1176. 



The town stands on an eminence above the Tarn. Like most old - 

 towns it is irregularly built with narrow streets of ill-constructed 

 houses. The Places so called are small, with the exception of one in 

 the new quarter of the town, upon which several handsome avenues 

 abut. From the Place du-Vigan, the square just alluded to, a wide 

 road extends to the margin of the river between two uniform terraces 

 screening a double alley of elms. Since the old ramparts have been 

 levelled, and the ditches filled up, the town has extended beyond its 

 old boundaries, and suburbs with wide populous streets have sprung 

 up. In the suburb of Castelviel or Chatcauvieux, on the road to 

 Montauban, are the remains of an old castle which commanded the 

 passage of the Tarn. A suburb called Pont, on the right bank of 

 the river, .contains several industrial establishments. 



The principal building in Albi is the cathedral of Sainte-Cdcile. 

 It was commenced in 1282 and completed in 1512. The structure 

 consists of a nave and choir. The total length is 34 5 feet, the width 

 88 feet, the height of the vault (which is supported on pilasters) above 

 the pavement 98 feet. A massive tower surmounts the whole, 

 308 feet in height, and terminating above in an octagon without a 

 spire. The compartments between the groinings of the roof, and also 

 the spaces of the walls between the pilasters, are adorned with 

 scriptural paintings on an azure ground. The choir is separated from 

 the nave by a screen and rood-loft of beautifully-chiselled stone-work ; 

 it is adorned by a great number of finely-sculptured statues. The 

 church of St.-Salvi dates from the 13th century, but contains portions 

 of much earlier date. The tower of this church \x built in the 

 Moorish style ; there is a tradition which states that a signal-light 

 was kept burning every night upon this tower to serve as a guide to 

 travellers from Toulouse to Albi when the country was covered with 

 thick forests. The residence of the prefect, formerly the episcopal 

 palace, is a massive building, constructed, like the cathedral, entirely 



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