Alt!', LOCH. 



AHDECHE. 



The dimensions of the grottoes are dimiuiahing gradually with tlic 

 siaisjsnlelliin at the concretions. Buffon has calculated, on the suppo- 

 iHifcn ** this augmentation is equally progresaive, that it uul,l 

 require only two centtirioa to fill up the greater part of the 

 which by that time would be transformed into quarriea of 



Some account for the existence of these cavities by describing them 

 as abandoned stone-quarries ; other* say they were fanned l>y the 

 waters of the Cure, one channel of which atill baa an underground 

 course through the hill in which the grottoes are formed. In support 

 of the former opinion it ia stated that Auxerre cathedral was built 

 with atone from Arey. 



(Emffdopidu MfHioduiue; Dictumnaire Vnirertd de la Franc* , 

 Malt* Bran ; Kctiotnutire dt Id Franct, Paris, 1844.) 



ARD, LOCH, a lake in Scotland, in the pariah of Aberfoyle, county 

 of Perth, ia separated from Loch Katrine on the north by the huge 

 mountain-mass of Ben Venn, which riaea to more than 3000 feet above 

 the sea. On the west the lake ia also inclosed by high mountains. 

 Ben Lomond ia distant 4 mile*, and the Troaachs 7 mile*. We may 

 bare notice that the term ' Loch' ia lined in Scotland alike for inland 

 lakes, like Loch Ard, and for large inlets of the aea, aa Loch Fyne and 

 Loch Long. 



AKDAUII. [MEATH.] 



ARDBRACCAN. faUATH.] 



ARDEBIL, ARDABIL, or ARDEBYL, one of the principal towns of 

 Azerbijan, is situated in 38* 14' N. lat, 48 19' K long., in a fertile 

 plain enoompuaed by hills, at a distance of 105 milea E. from Tabriz, 

 and 40 milea from the western shore of the Caspian Sea. The TalUh 

 Mountains, which separate Axerbijan from Qbilan, keap off the noxious 

 winds that prevail in the sultry lowland along the Caspian. Its healthy 

 situation, the fertility of the soil around it, and the abundance of water 

 with which it ia blessed, have obtained for it among the Persians tho title 

 of Abadan-i-Firuz, ' the abode of happiness.' The trees about Ardebil do 

 not begin to bod before the end of April, which shows that the tempe- 

 rature of the place U much affected by ita position near the mountains. 

 The town U defended by walla, flanked with round towers, and by a 

 citadel It if of importance aa an emporium in the caravan trade of 

 Tiflis, Derbeod, and Baku, with Ispahan and Teheran. In history, 

 Ardebil U remarkable a* having given birth to the dynasty of the 

 Sufi or Safawi rulers, of Persia : two of the ancestors of this family 

 of kings, Sheikh Safieddin and Sheikh Holder, are buried here ; and 

 their tombs are held in high veneration among the Mohammedans. 

 In the great plain of Chowal-Mogam, which extends from the neigh- 

 bourhood of Ardebil to the mouth of the Kur, a grand council of the 

 Persian empire met in 1 736, and elected Nadir Shah to the throne, 

 who wai crowned at Ardebil in the following year. Ardebil contained 

 a fine library, which was sent to Russia when the place surrendered 

 to Count Soukhtalinc. A small river, the Balukh, a feeder of tho Are*, 

 runs through the town ; it is subject to inundations when tho snow 

 on the surrounding hilla begins to melt. The great mountain of 

 SeviUn (13,000 feet high) ia 24 miles W. of Ardebil. Thin lofty peak, 

 which ia of volcanic origin, liea at the eastern termination of the long 

 range of mountains which forms the watershed between the Aras on 

 the north and lake Urumiah and the Tigris on the south. In the 

 neighbourhood of Ardebil there are several hot mineral springs. 



ARDE'CHE, a department of France, which is named from ita 

 principal river and cunawU of the former province of Vivarais. It U 

 bounded E. by the Rhone, which separates it from the depni 

 of bere, Drome, and Vaucluae, a by the department of (lard, W. I.;. 

 those of Loxere and Haute Loire, and N. by that of Loire. The 

 department extends between 44* 18' and 45 21' N. lat, and between 

 * W and 4 'WE. long.: it* greatest length from N. to a ia 74 miles, 

 and ita greatest breadth between the Allier and the Rhone is 44 mil.-. 

 The area of the department ia 3133-8 square milea : the population 

 in 1851 was 380,505, which give* 181-13 to the square mile, being 

 9-46 above the average per square mile for all France. 



Asr/sec. Except a narrow atrip along the right bank of the Rhone, 

 the department is almost entirely covered by the CeVennes Mountains, 

 the principal chain of which forma the weatem boundary of tho depart- 

 ment, while numerous crone ranges run in an easterly and south-easterly 

 direction toward* the Rhone. In this department is Mont Mr 

 -.i-o-.tuy point ^ tj,,, Cevennee, the summit of which is 6972 feet 

 above the level of the sea. From Mont Hewn, a secondary branch or 



eroas range called Coyron runs eastward, forming the watershed between 

 the Ardeche and the Erieux, and ends at the Rhone opposite Monte- 

 limart, while the principal chain, which south of Mont Mexen is 



called Tanargue, takes a southerly course, and crosses the western 

 portion of the department ; in both of these ranges there are several 

 oooiesl enmmrU and craters of extinct volcanoes. In the north of the 

 department the Cevennes and their ramifications take the name of the 

 Bontiens Mountains. Thee, are remarkable for tho regularity of their 

 structure, and consist of three parallel regions. In the 

 weeteiu of the*. the main ridge of the Cevennes, 



' " ", d other primitive rocks prevail : in the middle region 

 kaosoo* freestone, day-slate, and coal ; and in the eastern regi. 

 Moos and chalk, fhk disposition of the strata ha* been disturbed to 

 oath ward of the Brieox by the volcanic xone of central France, which, 

 peeemf through Mont Meseo, crosses them at right angles, and com- 



prises within it tho two ranges of Coyron and Tanargue. The 

 continuation of thu zone westward passm through the volcanic region 

 of Haute Loin, Cantal, and Puy-de-Ddme, but towards the south-east 

 it reaches the chalk, and terminates nt the Klionc in the basaltic 

 columns of Rochemaure. In this division of the department are 

 numerous extinct craters, lava-streams, ranges of columnar basalt and 

 other volcanic product*. 



.-,<{<-. Since the crest of the C<S vcnncs forma part of the watershed 

 between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, ..n.- would expect to find 

 rivers rising in this department and tl..iiiK in nearly opposite direc- 

 tions. And this is the case, but the department includes a very small 

 portion of the Atlantic slope ; the Loire just rises within it, not for 

 from the source of the Ardeche, and flows north-westward into the 

 department of Haute Loire ; and the Allier flows in the same direction 

 for a few miles along the south-western boundary between this depart- 

 ment and that of Lozere. All the other streams flow down the 

 Mediterranean alope into the Rhone. The principal of them are 

 proceeding from north to south the Cance, the Doux, the Erieux, 

 and the Ardeche. The Cance rises in the main ridge of the Cvvennes 

 in the north of the department, and flown north-eastward to Annonay, 

 where it receives the Doome ; it thence runs for a few miles towards 

 the south-east, and then resuming ita original direction enters the Rhone 

 after a course of about 25 miles. The Dovac also riaea in the CeVennes 

 a little south of the source of the Cance, and runs first towards the 

 south-south-east and then east by north into the Rhine, a little above 

 Tournon. The F.ritur rises in the CcVennes near St-Agreve, and flows 

 by a winding channel and in a general direction of east by south int.. 

 the Rh6ne above La-Voulte after a course of 36 miles : :lih river 

 divides the department into two districts, which ore respectively called 

 Haut Vivarais and Boa Vivaraix, the former north, the latter south 

 of the Erieux. Tlte A rdfclif, the largest river in the department, has 

 ita source in the CeVennes, not for from that of the Loire, in a R|>ot 

 called Cap-d'Ardeche, where a large number of small streams, falling 

 down in cascades from the high volcanic mountains, unite their waters. 

 In the upper port of its basin the Ardeche and its feeders form many 

 beautiful cascades, and having worn their way through Urn streams 

 and along masses of columnar basalt display advantageously the 

 volcanic agency that once prevailed in this region. The course of the 

 Ardeche is first eastward, as far as Aubenas, whence it runs south to 

 its junction with the Baume and the Choasezac, both of which join it 

 on the right bank : the river thence flows in a south-east direction into 

 the Rhone above Pont-St -Esprit, having for the lost few milea of 

 ita course separated the deportments of Ardeche and Card. A great 

 deal of timber and firewood is floated down the Anlcche to Aubenas, 

 where it ia formed into rafts and conveyed down to the Khdne ; the 

 river is navigable for boats for about 5 miles above its mouth. The 

 whole length of the Ardcche is about 50 miles. 



About 2 miles south from the little town of Vallon, and about 

 16 miles from the mouth of the river, the rocky hills on each aide 

 press dose upon the banks of the Ardeche, and seem to have been 

 formerly united by an enormous mass or ledge of gray limestone, 

 which formed a dam across the stream, causing it to make on abrupt 

 turn into a deep gorge which is still invaded by the river in ita freshets. 

 In process of time the pressure of tho great volume of water, collected 

 at this point forced a passage for the river through the rock, leaving 

 an enormous natural bridge of a single arch, 197 feet wide and 98 feet 

 high above the stream. This bridge, called Pont de TA re, lion served 

 from the most ancient times on record for connecting the territ 

 Vivarais with the rest of Languedoc. It was strongly fortified in t he 

 middle ages ; the defences were demolished by Louis XIII. , who also 

 caused a cut to be made in the rock on the north side of the bridge, 

 so as to render it passable for only one person at a time. 



Tho Aliynon, which joins the Ardeche below Thucytx, is a very 

 interesting stream to the geologist and the admirer of fine mountain 

 scenery. For about 8 miles above its junction with the Ardecl: 

 river has worn a passage in a lava-stream (which U clearly traceable 

 to the crater colled La Coupe de Jaujac) between the granite rocks on 

 one side, and columnar basalt, 160 feet high, on tho other. 



The department contains a few lake*, some of which seem to occupy 

 the craters of extinct volcanoes ; this is distinctly asserted of the lake 

 of Issarles, which is in tho west of the department, near the i 

 and ia nearly a mile in circumference. The department is crossed by 

 8 national and 21 departmental roads. The Rhone is navigable by 

 large boats and small steamers all along its eastern boundary. 

 principal road is the one that leads from Valence to Alois, passing 

 through Privaa and Aubenas. There are no railroads in the depart - 

 lull the Lyon- Avignon line is close uj>on the eastern boundary, 

 running up the left bank of the Khgne. 



Ulimntr, Soil, and Production!. The climate of the department 

 varies with the situation : in the west it is extremely cold ; oats and 

 barley ripen with difficulty, and the winter generally laotM eight months. 

 The temperature of tho valleys is milder, on.l in the valley of tho 

 Rhone the climate is very hot In summer the variation* of Tempera- 

 ture are sudden and sometimes great, owing to the win. I wlii. li sweep 

 down between the mountain-ranges. In the orrondiasement of Privas 

 the mean summer heat is indicated by 88 45' Fahr. ; the greatest 

 cold ..f ordinary winter* marks 18* below freezing point, and in 

 severe winters the thermometer has fallen to less than three degrees 



