277 



AMBERG. 



AMBOYNA. 



and ita vicinity b excluded, their collective population hardly exceeds 

 180,000. 



The number of vessels plying on the Amazonas is email. It is said 

 that the Mississippi carries more vessels in a month, and the Yang- 

 tae-Kiang in a day, than the Amazonas all the year round. But this 

 state of things is to last no longer. The Brazilian government has 

 ordered that this great river shall be navigated by steamers, and then 

 the ascent of the Amazonas, which it takes the ordinary craft several 

 months to accomplish, will be made in as many days. The wild and 

 cultivated products of the soil are brought down from the settlements 

 to Gram Para and are thence exported to other countries. The 

 cultivated prod nets are tobacco, indigo, cotton, coffee, mandioca flour, 

 sugar, molasses, and rum. The wild product* are collected chiefly by 

 the Indians, and consist of sarsaparilla, cacao, cravopino (the fruit of 

 the Casia caryophyllata, a kind of nutmeg), turtle oil, balsam of 

 copaiba, quinia, wax, drugs, vanilla, Brazil nuts, anotto, tamarinds, 

 pechurine beans, tonga beans, red pepper, ropes, mate and hammocks 

 made of palm fibres, India-rubber, gum, pitch, rosin, fustic and other 

 dye-woods, timber, and salt-fish. Fish abound in the Amazonas ; 

 turtles also of various kinds, alligators, and the manatee or sea-cow, 

 are numerous. 



(Condamine's Relalitm if un Voyage fait dara I' Intfrieur de T Ami- 

 riqiu tffridionale ; Humboldt's Perional ffarraiire, &c. ; Lieut. Maw's 

 Journal of a Pottage, Ac. ; Henderson's History of Brazil ; Spix and 

 Martins, Keite in Bmtilitn ; Smyth's and Lowe's Narrative of a Journey 

 from Lima to Part; Poppig's Reise in Chile, Ptru, und auf dem 

 Amatonentutte ; Prince Adalbert's Traflt in Southern Europe and 

 Brazil : Edwards' s Voyaije up Ike Amazon.) 



AMBERG, a town in the Upper Palatinate in Bavaria, 8S miles E. 

 from Nurnberg, and 32 miles N. by W. from Ratisbon : population, 

 10,800. It is a well-built and agreeable town, divided into two equal 

 parts by the Vilz, a feeder of the Nab, which joins the Danube about 

 a mile above Ratisbon. The handsome church of St. Martin is adorned 

 with several fine monument*. The town has a college, an arsenal, 

 a mint, guildhall, house of correction, high school, gymnasium, a 

 seminary for the education of teachers, a library consisting of 34,000 

 volumes of printed books, and a cabinet of natural history. It was 

 formerly the capital of the circle of the Upper Palatinate, and is still 

 the seat of ita court of appeal. The industrial products comprise fire- 

 arms and small arms, earthenware, woollen cloths, linen, tobacco, 

 ironmongery, beer, &c. There are considerable iron-mines in the 

 neighbouring mountains. Amberg has some trade alo in salt. 



AMBEKIEUX. [Anr.] 



AM BERT. [PuY-DB-DoME.] 



AMBHEER, a town in the principality of Jeypoor (of which it was 

 once the capital), in the Rajpoot states, in 26 67' N. lat., 76 20' E. 

 long., is built on the margin of a small lake, and is surrounded on all 

 ides by mountains, which give a considerable degree of romantic 

 beauty to the spot. A palace built on the edge of a precipice over- 

 hanging the lake, and formerly inhabited by the rajas, is in good 

 preservation, and is now used as a state-prison. A small island in the 

 lake is cultivated as a royal garden. Many of what were once magni- 

 ficent buildings within the city are in a ruinous state, and Ambheer 

 is now nearly depopulated. Enough, however, remains to show that 

 it must once have been a splendid place. 



AMBLECOTE. [STArroRDSHinB.] 



AMBLE9IDE. [WESTMORLAWD.] 



AMBOISE. [ISDRE-ET-LOIBB.] 



AMBOOR, a neat and regularly-built town of the Carnatie province, 

 in the south of India, is situated in 12 49' N. lat., 78 48' E. long., 

 108 miles W. by 8. from Madras. It stands within a range of hills of 

 moderate elevation. The river Palair, or Milk River, passes within 

 three miles of it. Amboor was formerly a place of considerable 

 strength, having a lofty isolated mountain at its side on which a fort 

 was built, so difficult of approach ag to be considered almost impreg- 

 nable. Since 1 801, when Amboor came into the possession of the East 

 India Company, the works of this fort have been partially destroyed ; 

 the part which remains is now used as a place of confinement for 

 criminals. The territory around is well watered and very productive. 



AMBOYNA, one of the Moluccas or Spice Islands, in the eastern 

 MM, lies off the south-west coast of the island of Ceram, between 3 26' 

 and 3 48' 8. lat., 127 60' and 128" 15' E. long. Its length is said to 

 be about 82 miles, and its average breadth 10 miles. The population is 

 composed of Malays, Chinese, the Dutch residents, and native tribes, 

 who are called Horaforas ; but we are unable to state its amount. 

 The south-west coast is indented by a bay so deep that the island is 

 nearly divided by it into two unequal limbs, which are connected at 

 the head of the bay by a narrow isthmus. The two peninsulas into 

 which the island is thus divided are called Hitoe and Leytimor; the 

 former lies to the north-west, and comprises full two-thirds of the 

 surface of the island. In 1683 the Dutch governor attempted to cut 

 through the isthmus, which is called the Pass of Baguewala, in order 

 to open a more direct communication with the small islands of 

 Saparoua, Oma, and Harocha, but the work was stopped through the 

 superstitious fears of the natives. 



The island is mountainous and abundantly furnished with trees 

 and underwood ; but the quantity of timber for building purposes is 

 so (mall tlStt importations are constantly made from Java. Lingoa- 



wood, commonly known as Amboyna-wood, is principally procured from 

 Ceram. The soil is for the most part a reddish cl vy ; in the valleys 

 it is of a darker colour and mixed with sand. Sulphur is produced 

 among the hills, some of which are encrusted with a copious efflores- 

 cence of that mineral. The island is considered healthy, notwith- 

 standing the great heat of the climate. It is remai kable that to the 

 eastward of the 120th degree of longitude the monsoons are directly 

 the reverse of what are experienced to the westward of that line ; so 

 that the weather is fine and dry on the east coast of Celebes, in the 

 Moluccas, and the adjacent islands, when the conti ary state prevails 

 at Sumbhawa, Lombok, Java, and Borneo. On the other hand, it is 

 dry in these islands, while the Moluccas are deluged with rain, which 

 at those seasons is so heavy in Amboyna that the merest rivulets are 

 swollen into mighty torrents, which overflow their channels and bear 

 down everything that opposes their progress. It is only at such 

 seasons that Amboyna can be said to have any rivers ; at other times 

 the streams are not deserving of the name. Four of them, Way Tome, 

 Way Alia, Way Nito, and Bate Gadja, which rise iu the mountains 

 of Leytimor and discharge themselves into the sea near the town of 

 Amboyna, are not more than from two to three feet deep in the 

 dry season. 



The earliest visit made to Amboyna by Europeans was in 1 5 1 1 , when 

 the Portuguese viceroy, Albuquerque, dispatched a squadron from 

 Malacca, which returned with a lading of spices, having been received 

 with kindness by the natives. Ten years afterwards a squadron of 

 Portuguese ships was sent to take formal possession of the Spice 

 Islands in the name of the king of Portugal. The commander 

 established himself in the island of Ternate as his head-quarters, and 

 the dominion of the Portuguese over the Moluccas continued for 60 

 years, during which time the natives endured from them every species 

 of tyranny and cruelty. 



At the commencement of the 17th century these islands were taken 

 from th* Portuguese by the Dutch, their conquest being facilitated by 

 the anxiety of the natives to get rid of their first European oppressors. 

 Unhappily the change of masters brought with it no change for the 

 better in the condition of the people, who were subjected to every 

 kind of injustice which the cupidity of their Dutch rulers could 

 suggest. As a consequence of this treatment the inhabitants of 

 Amboyna were continually in arms, and the country became the 

 constant scene of strife and desolation. 



At a very early period after its first formation, the English East 

 India Company endeavoured to appropriate to itself a share in the 

 spice trade. In 1612 the Company formed a settlement at Cambello 

 in this island, from which the settlers were forced to retire in June, 

 1614. A treaty relative to the right of trading with the Spice Islands 

 was concluded between the English Company and the Dutch, in 

 London, in July, 1619. But so many disputes occurred in executing 

 the provisions of this treaty, that the grounds of contention appear 

 to have been multiplied rather than reduced and at length reached 

 such a point, that under the accusation of conspiring to surprise the 

 garrison and expel the Dutch from the island Captain Towerson and 

 nine Englishmen, with nine Japanese and a Portuguese sailor, were 

 seized at Amboyna, tried, pronounced guilty, and executed. 



During the war with Holland, in 1796, Amboyna was captured by a 

 British force under Admiral Rainier. It was restored at the peace in 

 1801, was taken again by the English in 1810, and was again given up 

 to Holland at the treaty of Paris in 1814. 



The cultivation of cloves forms the principal object of industry 

 with the natives. With the desire of keeping the cultivation of the 

 clove-tree completely within their power the Dutch caused it to be 

 extirpated from every island with the exception of Amboyna, where 

 they provided for a sufficient production of the spice. The average 

 annual produce of cloves is said to be about 300,000 Ib. 



The cajeput tree, whence the medicinal oil of that name is procured, 

 grows in Amboyna ; which also produces indigo, sago, and all the 

 vegetables and fruits commonly found in that quarter of the globe. 

 The woods contain great numbers of deer and wild hogs, the flesh of 

 which forms a principal article of food with the natives. Buffaloes, 

 cows, horses, sheep, and goats have been introduced by the Portuguese 

 and Dutch from Java and Celebes. 



The Horaforas are said to be a wild race, of great muscular strength 

 and mischievous disposition. The Malays of Amboyna are descend- 

 ants of a Malay colony which preceded the Portuguese ; they are 

 chiefly Mohammedans, but some of them are Catholics and some 

 Lutherans. The Chinese are not numerous, but they are very enter- 

 prising traders. The European race is the least numerous on the 

 island, consisting chiefly of Dutch or the descendants of Dutchmen 

 and Malay women. 



The town of Amboyna, which is in 3 40' S. lat., 128" 16' E. long., 

 is built on the south-east shore of the bay of Binnen, in the peninsula 

 of Leytimor. It is clean, neat, and built with regularity. The houses 

 are of wood, only one story high, and the rooft are covered with 

 interlaced branches and leaves of palm-trees. The town contains an 

 hospital, a town-house, and two churches. The western quarter of 

 the town is inhabited by Chinese, and the Europeans occupy the south 

 end. Fort Victoria, in the front of the town, is in form an irregular 

 hexagon, with a ditch and covered way on the land-side, and a horn- 

 work towards the sea : population of the town, 9000. 



