229 



ALLIGHUR. 



ALMONDBURY 



baths are given. The temperature of the springs varies from 72J to 

 113 s Fahr. The waters are administered in baths, douches, and 

 drink, and are advantageous in cases of paralysis, old rheumatisms, 

 tumours, and chronic catarrh. The dose is from 3 to 15 glasses. 

 The season lasts from May 20 to October 20. Vichy, another place 

 famous from time immemorial for its hot springs, is situated on the 

 right bank of the Allier, which is here crossed by a suspension-bridge, 

 and at a little distance from the town of Cusset noticed above. The 

 town, which was formerly fortified, is separated from the quarter of 

 the springs by a wide promenade shaded by trees. The population 

 of the town is 1361; but near the springs a great number of houses 

 and large hotels have sprung up capable of lodging 1200 visitors. 

 There are altogether seven springs, three of which are within the 

 handsome bath-house completed in 1834, and have the temperatures 

 96-8, 102-2, aud 111-2 Fahr. respectively. Of the others the hottest 

 is that which springs up near the suspension-bridge, and marks 95 

 Fahr. The waters are said to be very efficacious in cases of gorged 

 liver and chronic affections of the lower bowels. The season lasts 

 from May 15 to September 15. Above 2000 strangers visit the baths 

 annually. There is a military hospital at Vichy. 



The department forms the see of the bishop of Moulins, and is 

 included in the 13th Military Division of which Clermont-Ferrand is 

 head-quarters. Under the monarchy the department returned four 

 members to the Chamber of Deputies. 



ALLIGHUR, a district of Central India, in the province of Meerut, 

 situated between the rivers Ganges and Jumna, is estimated to contain 

 a million ; jid a. half of acres, about one third part of which is in culti- 

 vation, principally in the .southern division of the district, which i.s 

 very ft-i-t! . . The northern portion contains some of the most desolate 

 tracts of land in India, in which little is to be seen but low dark 

 jungle :ti n, in 1846, was estimated at 766,161. 



The principal towns in the district are Allighur, Coel, Hatras, 

 Moorsaun, and Anopsheher. Alliyhur, the capital of the district, is 

 situated in 27 ' 58' X. lat., 78" 8' E. long., about 50 miles N. from 

 Agra. Allighur was taken in 1803, from Dowlut Row Scindia, by the 

 forces under Lord Lake, and is now the head-quarters of a civil and 

 judicial establishment of the Company's government. At Cud, which 

 i, prop, -rly the town, distant about 2 miles S. from Allighur, the civil 

 authorities principally reside : the two places are connected by a line 

 aven" . is a fortress of considerable strength, 31 miles 



X. by W. from Agra. It was besieged in 1817, and taken by the 

 British after a tremendous bombardment, which did great damage to 

 the town. Hatnw has become a place of much commercial activity. 

 Moorinnii, ;;\v\ AK"I,?/,I/H r an- less important i. 



ALLOA, Clackmannanshire, Scotland, a seaport-town in the parish 

 of Alloa, is situated in 5C J 7' N. lat., 3" 44' W. long., on the left bank 

 of the river Forth, 27 miles above Edinburgh, and 7 miles below 

 Stirling : the population of the town in 1851 was 6676. The 

 electors of Alloa vote in the united counties of Clackmannan and 

 Kinross, 



The town of Alloa is very ancient, and the old part of it is irregu- 

 larly built hi narrow streets ; the modern part contains spacious 

 streets, with good houses and shops, principally turned towards the 

 river ; and several neat villas have been built in the vicinity. The 

 parish church, opened in 1810, an elegant structure in the gothic style, 

 has a spire 200 feet high, for which the inhabitants were chiefly 

 .d to the late Earl <if Mar. There are two Free churches, two 

 United Presbyterian chapels, and one each for Episcopalians and 

 Independents. The town has an assembly-room, in which the courts 

 of the county are held. There is a good subscription library. (Some 

 religious and benevolent societies are maintained in the town. 



Alloa town and parish contain, besides large distilleries, several 

 ries, the ale produced in which has long been hi repute ; also 

 woollen manufactories, chiefly for the blanket and shawl trade ; glass- 

 works situated at the river-side, which by a waggon-way receive coals 

 iy from the extensive coal-pits in the neighbourhood; gas-works; 

 and an extensive iron-foundry, chiefly for the making of steam-engines. 

 The Devon iron-works, in the vicinity of the town, contribute largely 

 to the trade of the port. Bricks, tiles, and other earthenware, copper 

 ially distillers' apparatus), leather, tobacco, and snuff, are 

 ivi'ly manufactured. Salmon fishing is carried on with con- 

 siderable spirit. Alloa lias a commodious harbour, with a depth of 

 at neap, and from 22 to 24 feet at spring tides. The 

 vessels registered as belonging to the port on December 31st, 1851, 

 r 50 tons, 33, tonnage 1005 ; above 50 tons, 64, tonnage 

 . 1 of 25 Ions, and 4 of 302 tons, aggregate 



burden. The number and tonnage of vessels which entered and 

 cleared at the port during 1851 were as follows: in the coasting 

 inwards, 258 vessels, tonnage 13,159; outwards, 393 vessels, 

 tonnage 20,346: in the colonial trade, outwards, 12 British vessels, 

 tonnage 5474 : foreign U, 6, tonnage 729 ; 



foreign vessels, ige 2632; outwards, British vessels, 59, 



j>e 8200; foreign vest-. : -mage 13,853. There is a con- 



siderable coasting trade, the exportation of < in this way 



amounting annually to up-. .nOO tons : the trade in malt is 



also great The harbour possesses a dry flock, capable of receiving the 

 * ', and a ferry over the Forth, with large steam ferry-boats, 

 where the passage is rendered convenient at all limes of the tide by 



piers on each bank, reaching to low-water mark. In the river, which 

 is here 500 yards broad, there are two low islands called inches, one of 

 which, nearest the town, forms a valuable farm of 80 acres. There is 

 daily communication by steam-boats to and from Edinburgh, Stirling, 

 and other towns on the Forth. Above Alloa is a dam, called Gart- 

 niorn, formed about the commencement of the last century, covering 

 about 160 English acres, probably the largest artificial lake in Scotland. 

 From it issues a stream which turns several mills, and cleanses the 

 harbour. In the immediate neighbourhood of the town is an ancient 

 tower, built prior to 1300; it is 90 feet high, with walls 11 feet 

 thick. It was the residence of the former Earls of Mar, and the place 

 where some of the princes of Scotland were educated. Some royal 

 relics were consumed in a fire which many years ago destroyed the 

 family mansion adjoining this tower. Shaw Park, a seat of the Earl 

 of Mansfield, and Tullibody House, a seat of Lord Abercromby, are 

 also in the parish. 



ALLOXBY. [CUMBERLAND.] 



ALMA'DEJT (Almoden del Azngue, 'the Mine of Quicksilver'), a 

 town of Spam, in the province of La Mancha, is situated on a ridge 

 scarped into ravines on both sides, in 38 40' N. lat., 4 48' W. long., 

 143 miles S.S.W. from Madrid, and 65 miles W.S.W. from Ciudad-Real. 

 The town consists chiefly of a long narrow street extending along the 

 summit of the ridge, and contains a population of about 7000. This 

 place is celebrated for its qui6ksilver names, which are the richest in 

 the world. A portion of them was wrought by the Romans, and a 

 town, the Siaapona Cetobrix of Pliny ( ' Nat. Hist.' xxxiii. 7 ), stood on 

 or near the site of Almaden. The town is built over the principal 

 mine, and the great adit, or shaft for entrance and egress, is close to 

 the houses. The workmen descend* and ascend the adit by about 

 twelve successive ladders. The geological formation is a dark-coloured 

 shite, intermixed with quartzite and a conglomerate resembling 

 volcanic tufa. The mineral is mostly cinnabar, in three principal 

 veins several feet thick, which traverse the quartzite and conglomerate, 

 resting against the slate, but sometimes piercing it. The lowest 

 portions of the mine are the richest, and in many parts native quick- 

 silver occurs hi crevices, and may be seen running down the sides of 

 the rock. The water of the mine, which is not in great quantity, is 

 discharged by one of Watt's earliest kind of steam-engines made about 

 1790. The entire depth of the workings is about 300 yards, and the 

 produce is drawn by mules up a wide and well-constructed stone 

 shaft. In fact, all the galleries and other permanent works of the 

 mine are of stone ; and everything required for this great establish- 

 ment, even the rope, is manufactured upon the spot. The storehouses 

 and magazines are mostly cut in the rock, and contain ample stores 

 of whatever is necessary. There are eight old furnaces and two new 

 ones, in which the mineral is calcined, and the metal is obtained by 

 sublimation, the deposition taking place in earthenware tubes, and 

 running thence into cisterns. The furnaces are supplied chiefly with 

 the wood of the cistus and other aromatic shrubs, so that a very 

 agreeable odour issues from the chimneys. 



The mines were formerly wrought by convicts, but free workmen 

 are now employed, who come from all parts of Spain and even 

 Portugal. They work almost naked, owing to the heat of the mine, 

 and their health is always more or less injured by the mercurial 

 exhalations ; but the wages are high for Spain ; the mine is closed in 

 summer, and the men are then discharged, when their native air 

 commonly restores their health, and in most instances they return to 

 the mine. 



There tire two other smaller mines ; one near the principal mine ; 

 the other about five miles distant, at Almadenyos, Little Almadcn, 

 which is supposed to be the one wrought by the Romans. In 11 HI 

 16th century the mines were rented by two of the Fuggers, the rich 

 capitalists of Augsburg, and were worked by their agents. When 

 they ceased to work the mine the part which had been wrought by 

 them was found to be filled with water. In 1843 a tunnel was in 

 process of construction for the purpose of draining off the water from 

 this porti"n. The mines are wrought by the Spanish government, 

 and about 5000 men are employed during the season, under an 

 inspector; but the produce of the mines is contracted for, and is 

 delivered at Sevilla. In 1843 the Rothschilds obtained the contract, 

 and probably still retain it. The produce at that time was limited 

 to 20,000 quintals (about 937 tons), though a much larger quantity 

 could be obtained if it were considered expedient in a commercial 

 point of view. 



( Capt. Widdrington's Spain and the Spaniards in 1843.) 



A I. .MACRO. [MANCHAj 



ALMANSA. [MURCIA.] 



ALMARAZ. [ESTREMADURA, Spanish.] 



ALMAZARRON. [BKIHA.] 



ALMEIDA. [BEIRA.] 



ALMERIA. [GRANADA.] 



ALMONDBURY, West Riding of Yorkshire, a village in the 

 township and parisfi of Almondbury, and wapeiitake of Agbrigg, is 

 situated in 53 38' N. lat., 1 48' W. long., distant 2 miles S.E. from 

 Huddersfield, and 188 miles N.N.W. from London : the population 

 of the township in 1851 was 9749, of the entire parish 41,804. The 

 living is a vicarage in the archdeaconry of Craven and diocese of 

 Ripon. In the parish, which includes an area of 28,092 acres, there 



