537 



ARRANMORE. 



ARTA, GULF OR 



538 



of Ireland where they settled, have left behind them the evidences of 

 considerable advancement in the arts, especially in stone building. 

 There are eight other circular stone fortresses erected by the same 

 people on the Arran Islands. The masonry of all is of the same 

 Cyclopean character ; and in several the walls of uncemented stone are 

 still standing to the height of 20 feet. Dun-Aengus is the largest, 

 and is described in the ' Report on the Ordnance Memoir of Ireland ' 

 as one of the most magnificent barbaric monuments remaining in 

 Europe. The ecclesiastical remains are equally remarkable. Inish- 

 more was early known as Aran-na.-w.aomh, or Aran of the Saints, from 

 the number of religious recluses who made it their abode. Upwards 

 of 20 churches and monastic establishments are enumerated in the 

 three islands. Some of these were grouped within the inclosure of 

 the old Belgic fortresses. Stone oratories and little bee-hive stone 

 huts of monks of the 7th and even of the 6th century are still to be 

 seen within the cyclopean walls of the fortress of the Fir-Bolg chief, 

 Muirbeach Mil, on tlie great island. The church of St. Kenanach, on 

 1 iddle Island, has lost its stone roof, but is in other respects 

 entire, and presents a very interesting example of the ecclesiastical 

 cture of the 7th century in Ireland. It is but 10 feet 6 niches 

 rid 12 feet 6 inches in breadth in the inside. The walls 

 are S feet thick, and quite cyclopean in their structure. One stone is 

 18 feet in length being the entire external breadth of the church 

 and 3 feet in thickness. The islands are still frequented by pilgrims 

 from distant parts of the country. These islands give the title of earl 

 in the Irish peerage to the family of Gore. 



(Irak Fitheriet Report, 1836 ; O'Flaherty's West ConnaugU, in the 

 Publication! of the Irish Archceoloffical Society, Dublin, 1846; Petrie's 

 Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland, Dublin, 1845 ; and Transaction! 

 of Royal Irith Academy, voL xx.) 

 AR11ANMOKE. [GALWAY.] 



ARRAS, a city in France, capital of the former province of Artois 

 and of the present department of Pas-de-Calais, stands on the Scarpe, 

 which here receives the Crinchon, in 50 17J' N. lat., 2 46' E. long. : 

 population, 24,439. It is a first-class station on the Great Northern 

 of France railway ; its distance by this route from Paris is 134 miles, 

 from Brussels 97 miles, and from Amiens 42 miles. The town is built 

 partly on an eminence and partly on a plain, and consists of four 

 parts the Citd, the Upper Town, the Lower Town, and the Citadel 

 flanked by several suburbs. The Cite" stands on the highest ground, 

 and occupies the site of the ancient Nemetocenna or Nemetacum, the 

 capital of the Atrebates, in which Julius Caesar spent the winter of 

 B.C. 51. The Upper Town sprung up in the 6th century round an 

 oratory of St.-Waast, which under one of the sons of Clovis was 

 uperseded by an abbey of large extent. The Lower Town, which is 

 the most modern and the finest part of Arras, skirts the glacis of the 

 citadel. The houses of Arras are all well-built of stone, quarried in 

 the upper part of the town, but in the Cite' and the Upper Town the 

 streets have neither regularity nor uniformity. In the Lower Town 

 however the streets are straight and wide; the houses uniform, of 

 good height, and constructed of cut stone ; here too there are 

 several handsome squares, the largest two of which are contiguous, 

 and surrounded by gothic buildings, which are fronted by arcades, 

 supported by freest jne columns. Among the principal buildings of 

 Arras are the cathedral of Notre-Dame, a large and handsome gothic 

 structure, consisting of nave, choir, and transepts ; the prefect's 

 residence, built in 1780 for the meeting of the States or provincial 

 parliament of Artois ; the town-hall, the theatre, the barracks, and 

 the arsenal. The public library, consisting of the books that belonged 

 to the Abbey of St.-\Vaast, and numerous modern works, contains 

 34,000 volumes and a great number of manuscripts. Other notice- 

 able objects in Arras are the belfroi, or old watch-tower, which is 

 classed among the historical monuments of France, the cabinet of 

 natural history, the church of St.-Waast, the arsenal, and the 

 fortifications. 



Of the old fortifications some towers and portions of walls still 

 remain. The modern fortifications were the first constructed by 

 Vauban according to his own system. They consist of a solid bastioned 

 wall, defended by ditches and numerous outworks ; and of a citadel 

 which is separated from the city by a wide esplanade, but situated 

 within the ramparts. The citadel is in plan an irregular pentagon. 

 The esplanade forms a splendid public walk. 



Arras has given title to a bishop since A.D. 390. Its first prelate 

 St. Diogenes was killed by the barbarians in 410, and the see 

 remained vacant till A.D. 630 when St. Waast became the second 

 bishop of Arras. His successors resided at Cambrai till 1093, when 

 bishop Lambert returned to the original diocesan seat. An important 

 council was held in Arras in 1025, touching the sacramento of the 

 Roman Catholic Church. Another council was held here in 1490. 

 The diocese of Arras comprehends the department of Pas-de-Calais. 

 The Scarpe is navigated by barges from this town. The corn market 

 of Arras is the most important in the north of France. The trade 

 of the town in agricultural produce and in its own manufactures is 

 considerable. Amongst the industrial products are coarse woollens, 

 cotton yarn and cloth, hosiery, lace, soap, thread, pipes, beet-root sugar, 

 ironmongery and hardware, leather, colza oil, and pottery. There are 

 breweries, oil-mills, lanyards, naileries, wool-washing establishments, 

 and factories for the construction of locomotive engines and steam 



machinery. The town is the seat of tribunals of first instance 

 and of commerce, and of a consultative chamber of manufactures. 

 Among the literary and scientific institutions are a college, a school of 

 military engineering, a school of design, a school for deaf-mutes, a 

 diocesan seminary, and a literary and scientific society. 



Nemetacum, like many other Gallic towns, was better known by the 

 name of the tribe in whose territory it stood ; and from the Atrebates 

 the name of the town (Arras) and the name of the province (Artois) 

 are said to be derived. It appears from the writings of St. Jerome 

 that it was in his time noted for its woollen manufactures. It 

 continued all through the middle ages, and even to the 1 6th century, 

 i famous for its tapestry ; and the name of the town was given in 

 England to the pictured hangings that adorned the palaces of her kings 

 and nobles. The Franks in their first invasion of this part of Gaul 

 seized the town, but they were soon driven out of it by the Romans. 

 In 407 the Vandals, and in 880 the Northmen, ravaged it, and from 

 the last date the town was entirely deserted for 30 years. Shortly 

 after its restoration it was seized by Charles the Simple, who held it 

 till 915. In 1355 the fortifications were strengthened from fear of the 

 English. Louis XI. took possession of Arras after the death of 

 Charles the Rash in 1477 ; but the inhabitants, attached to the house 

 of Burgundy, revolted. Thereupon the king besieged the town in 

 person, took it by assault, drove out all the inhabitants, whom he 

 replaced by others drawn from all parts of France, and through a desire 

 to obliterate the very name of Arras he called the city Franchise. 

 Soon afterwards the Spaniards got possession of Arras and held it till 

 1640, when the French again made themselves masters of it after a long 

 siege. By the treaty of the Pyrenees the town was definitively ceded 

 to France. Arras suffered terribly in the first French revolution, 

 when it was domineered over for two years (1793-5) by Joseph Lebon, 

 one of the most ferocious terrorists of the time. Lebon and the two 

 Robespierres were natives of Arras. 



Two treaties were concluded at Arras in the 15th century : one in 

 1435 between France and Burgundy, by which several towns were 

 annexed to the latter ; and one in 1482 between Maximilian of Austria 

 and Louis XI. of France, whereby Margaret, daughter of Maximilian, 

 was to have been given to the dauphin, with Artois and Burgundy as 

 a dowry. 



ARROE. [SCHLESWIG.] 



ARROO or AKRU ISLANDS, situated in the eastern seas on the 

 northern verge of the great Australian bank, about 80 miles S.W. from 

 Papua or New Guinea, extend from north to south about 100 miles. 

 The breadth from east to west may be about 30 miles, but it has not 

 been definitely ascertained. The centre lies in about 6 S. lat., and 

 134 30' E. long. Some of the islands to the south are of considerable 

 extent ; the largest is about 70 miles long and 20 miles broad. Those 

 islands which lie to the northward on the edge of the bank are small, 

 being in few cases more than six miles in circumference. The islands 

 are separated from each other by narrow channels, some of which are 

 of great depth, and in one is a dangerous whirlpool. From the shores 

 of all the islands extend coral reefs, which to the eastward are of con- 

 siderable extent. The surface of the islands is generally low ; in some 

 places occur patches of rock, which reach a height of about 20 feet 

 above the sea level. An appearance of greater height is given by the 

 forests of lofty trees which cover the islands. Little is known of the 

 interior of the country or of the inhabitants. Some Chinese and 

 Dutch merchants reside at Dobbo, the chief trading-place in these 

 islands. The productions of the Arroo Islands are pearls, mother-of- 

 pearl, tortoise-shell, trepang, edible birds' -nests, and an aromatic bark 

 named missoy, which resembles cinnamon, and is extensively used 

 among the eastern islands, although rarely imported into Europe. 

 British goods to a considerable amount, chiefly calicoes, hardware, 

 arms, and gunpowder, are brought from Singapore. Kangaroos of 

 small size have been found on the islands. 



This cluster of islands is likewise remarkable as being much resorted 

 to by Birds of Paradise, which breed here in large numbers. These 

 birds are caught for the sake of their beautiful plumage by the 

 natives, who first cut off their legs, and then drawing their entrails 

 preserve the remainder by fumigation. In this dried state these birds 

 likewise form an article of commerce between the natives and the 

 Chinese traders. 



(London Geographical Journal ; Hamilton's East India Gazetteer.) 



ARS-EN-R& [CHARENTE-lNFERIEURE.] 



ARSI'NOE, the name of a city in Egypt, at the head of the western 

 branch of the Red Sea, and near the termination of the canal which 

 unites the Red Sea and the eastern branch of the Nile; its name, 

 which was derived from Arsinoe, the wife of Ptolemseus Philadelphus, 

 appears to have been afterwards changed to Cleopatris. The site of 

 the village of Ardseherud, near Suez, corresponds to that of Arsiuoe. 

 The harbour at this port was one of the most important in Egypt 



Arsinoe was also the name of a nome, or one of the ancient provin- 

 cial divisions of Egypt which corresponds to the modern FAIOUM. 

 This province and the chief town in it derived their names from the 

 Arsinoe just mentioned. The town stood on the left bank of the 

 Nile, in 29 N. lat. The old name of the town was the ' City of 

 Crocodiles," this animal being highly reverenced there, as w.e learn 

 from Strabo. 



ARTA, GULF OF (ancient Amlracian Gulf), an arm of the Ionian 



