ARCIS-SUR-AUBE. 



ARCY. 



4,18 



treaty four years afterwards. They remained tributary to the Porte 

 till the breaking out of the revolution in 1821, shortly after which 

 moat of them eagerly embraced the cause of liberty, and contributed 

 as much as lay in their power, both by men and ships, to the squadrons 

 fitted out at Hydra and Spezzia. Their intrepid 'behaviour in their 

 small vessels against the Turkish fleet became the . admiration of 

 Kurope, and contributed greatly towards the establishment of their 

 national independence. 



All the Cyclades are now a portion of the Kingdom of Greece, but 

 most of the other islands still remain under the Turks. In many of 

 the islands vessels are built, and in Syra more particularly there is 

 a large establishment for ship-building. 



4. Caribbean Archipelago. [ANTILLES.] 



6. Corcan A rchipelayo. [CoREA.] 



6. Adelaide Archipelago, on the south-west coast of Patagonia, lies 

 between Nelson Strait and the Strait of Magalhaens. These islands 

 are separated from the mainland by an intricate channel, varying 

 from two to five miles in breadth, called Smyth's Channel. They 

 consist of numerous elevated islands with sharp rugged peaks and 

 serrated ridges, separated by narrow and deep passages. 



7. Recherche Archipelago, a very scattered and intricate labyrinth 

 of reefs and islands on the south coast of Australia. The largest 

 island does not exceed four miles in length : they are all barren and 

 arid, producing little vegetation and nothing esculent. They have 

 attained some elevation from the accumulation of sand, like the 

 opposite coast, the approach to which is thus rendered dangerous. 

 \V,,c 4 and water, both in small quantities, may be procured on some 

 of the islands ; penguins, seals, and sharks are very numerous. This 

 group was so named by D' Entrecasteaux in 1792, when in search of La 

 Perouw. The largest and the western portion of the islands lies off 

 Espe'rance Bay ; the rest lie scattered to the eastward. The whole are 

 included between the parallels of 33 45' to 34 0' S., and the 

 meridians of 121 35' to 124 4' E. 



Besides these there are many groups of islands to which the term 

 Archipelago has been applied ; thus all the islands to the north and 

 east of Madagascar, from Bourbon to the Seychelles, and from 

 Rodriguez to the main, have been classed under the denomination of 

 the Ethiopian Archipelago. On the north-west coast of America arc 

 small clusters, called George Third's, Prince of Wales's, and Pitt's 

 archipelagoes ; and on the western coast of the Burmese empire, near 

 the Andamana, are two chains of small barren islands, called th': 

 Mergui and Tanasserim c vchipelagoes. The term has also been 

 applied to the Philippines, the Laccadives, the Chonos, the Louisiade 

 Islands, the Maldives, the Solomon Islands, the Sooloo Islands, and 

 various other groups, all of which will be found noticed in this work 

 under their ordinary appellations. 



ARCIS-SUR-AUBE. [AfBE.] 



A'RCOLA, a village in the Venetian States, about 15 miles S.S.E. 

 from Verona, lies in the midst of a low marshy country, through 

 which the Alpone flows, a torrent that comes from the mountains 

 near Vicenza and empties itself into the Adige about 3 miles below 

 Arcola. The town is situated on the left bank of the Alpone. 

 The ground between the left bank of the Adige and the right 

 bank of the Alpone is one impervious marsh, intersected by two or 

 three causeways, one of which leada to a narrow bridge over the 

 Alpone and to the village of Arcola beyond it. It was along thin 

 causeway that the French under Bonaparte, having crossed the Adige 

 at the village of Ronco, advanced on the morning of the 15th of 

 November, 1796, with the view of surprising the rear of the Austrian 

 army under General Alvinzi, which was then posted on the heights 

 of Caldiero near Verona. Two battalions of Croats and Hungarians 

 were posted at Arcola with some artillery and they stoutly defended 

 the bridge. Three times the French column attempted to storm it 

 amidst a shower of grape-shot and musketry, and three times it was 

 repulsed with great loss. Bonaparte himself was thrown from the 

 causeway into the marsh, and was near being taken. At last General 

 Guyeiix, with 2000 men, having crossed the Adige farther down, at 

 Try of Albaredo, below the confluence of the Alpone, marched 

 by the left bank of the latter stream where the ground is firmer, and 

 took ponseasion of Arcola. General Alvinzi however having sent 

 reinforcements in the evening, retook the village. Next day (16th) 

 ittlo became general between the two armies, and the village of 

 Arcola waa again the main point of the contest. The French attempted 

 'edly to carry the fatal bridge, and were again repulsed with 

 tremendous loss. Almost all their superior officers were killed or 

 wounded. Thus passed the 16th : the Austrians retaining possession 

 of Arcola for that night. On the 17th, Bonaparte having thrown a 

 bridge across the Alpone, just abovo its confluence, directed Augereau 

 to march with a column by the left bank, whilst another column 

 advanced by the famoi . The latter was repulsed as before ; 



but Augereau after a sharp contest succeeded in gaining possession of 

 the village. General Alvinzi then made his retreat upon Montebello 

 and Vicenza. This was the hardest fought battle in liunaparte's first 

 Italian campaigns, and one in which ho showed great personal courage. 

 The Austrians lost about 4000 killed, and as many were taken 

 prisoners. The French loss in killed and wounded was not made 

 known, but it must necessarily have been very great. Bonaparte's 

 obstinacy in attempting so many times to carry the bridge m front, 



instead of turning it, as he was obliged to do at last, has been strongly 

 censured. 



ARCOS. [SEVILLA.] 



AIH'OT, a considerable district of Hindustan, forming part of the 

 Carnatic. The district thus named is subdivided into the two portions 

 of northern and southern Arcot ; both of which are under the govern- 

 ment of the Madras presidency. They are situated between 11 and 

 14 N. lat., and 78 and 80 E. long. The chief river is the Palair, or 

 Milk River, which rises m the Mysore, flows past Arcot, and falls into 

 the Bay of Bengal south of Sadras. The only other important river 

 is the Punnair, which has its source near the Palair, flows in a south- 

 easterly direction, and falls into the Bay of Bengal at Cuddalore. 

 This district comprehended Pondicherry, during the time in which 

 that settlement was in the hands of the English, and surrounds the 

 district in which Madras is situated. 



The lands throughout the district are for the most part held by an 

 industrious race of yeomanry or small proprietary cultivators, either 

 in severally, or in joint village communities. These cultivators pay 

 their proportions of the revenue chargeable on the land which they 

 occupy direct into the treasury of the state, without the intervention 

 of any zemindars, or great proprietors, as is the case in a large 

 portion of Hindustan. 



The whole of these districts were, in 1801, formally ceded by treaty 

 to the East India Company by the nabob of the Carnatic, Azim ul 

 Omrah. On this occasion the British government appointed a com- 

 mission to investigate and adjust the claims made by the creditors of 

 the nabob, for whose satisfaction an annual revenue of 340,000 

 pagodas were set apart. When the transfer to the British was made, 

 the district was in a deplorable condition, but it has since gradually 

 improved. 



The northern and southern divisions of Arcot now form separate 



collectorates under the Company. The northern division includes 



i Sativaid, Pulicat, Congoondy in the Barramahal, part of Balaghaut, 



and the western pollams or zemindaries. The southern- division 



includes Cuddalore. [CARNATIC.] 



( Rennell's Memoir of a M ap of Hindottan ; Hamilton's East India, 

 Gazetteer ; Parliamentary Papers.) 



ARCOT, the chief town of the province, and the Mohammedan 

 capital of the Carnatic, is built on the right bank of the Palair, in 

 12 54' N. lat., 79 23' E. long. ; distant 73 miles W. by S. from 

 Madras, 722 miles S.E. by S. from Bombay, and 1070 miles S.W. from 

 Calcutta. 



The place is of great antiquity, and had a regularly-built fortress, 

 which has been in great part destroyed since its cession to the East 

 India Company. The town, which is inclosed by walls, is almost 

 entirely of modern erection. It contains the palace of the former 

 nabobs of Arcot ; the principal gateway of the palace is entire, but 

 the rest of the building is a heap of ruins. The chief inhabitants are 

 Mohammedans, who speak the Hindustanee dialect. The bed of the 

 Palair, which is here half a mile wide, is sometimes nearly dry, and at 

 other times is so swollen by the rains that its waters would inundate 

 the streets but for the ramparts of the old fort. The varied 

 fortunes of this city in the wars of the last century are noticed under 

 CARNATIC. 



( Mill's Britixli India, ; Rennell's Memoir of a Map of ffimlostan ; 

 I'lii-li'iaientary Paper!.) 



ARCTIC COUNTRIES. [NORTH POLAR COUNTRIES.] 



ARCUEIL. [SEINE, Department of.] 



ARCY, a village in France, celebrated for the grottoes near it, 

 is situated on a hill above the Cure, in the arrondissement of 

 Vermanton and department of Yonne, about 3 miles S. from the 

 town of Vermanton, and has 1500 inhabitants, including the win >I<: 

 commune. The village stands on a bed of the lower oolite. The 

 grottoes, which are numerous and some of them of vast size, 

 communicate with each other by narrow and in some instances low 

 passages. They are fonned in a calcareous rock of horizontal stratifi- 

 cation, and above 100 feet thick. In time of rains water penetrates 

 the rock, and by its calcareous infiltrations has covered the roofs and 

 sides of the grottoes with beautiful concretions. The entrance of the 

 grottoes is on the bank of the Cure. The apartments generally are 

 from 150 to 180 feet long, and the height reaches about 20 feet; the 

 third from the entrance however has a length of 262 feet, and a kind of 

 vaulted roof ; another is 328 feet long and 32 feet wide ; but the largest 

 of all is 400 paces long, above 40 feet wide, and above 90 feet high. 

 In the first two apartments are found large . blocks or masses of stone 

 lying in greater or less profusion on the ground ; and in the second 

 apartment is also a pool of clear and sweet water, about 125 feet in 

 diameter, the depth of which is not known. The apartments farther 

 in are distinguished by the number and variety of the crystallisations 

 which either hang from the roof (stalactites), or rise column-like from 

 the ground (stalagmites) ; they are formed, as stated above, by the 

 water which filters through the over-arching rock forming a deposit 

 about the orifice from which it issues, as well as on that part of the 

 ground on which it drops. As the crystallisations rising from below 

 are thus exactly itnder those depending from the roof, they frequently 

 unite and form pillars" which appear to support the roof of the 

 vaults. Many of thesj crystallisations are capable of receiving a 

 polish. 



