741 



AUXERRE. 



AVARS. 



743 



of preservation, by lava currents, and by accumulations of cinders, 

 ashes, and ejected portions of pre-existing rocks, there are some 

 remarkable for the absence of craters and lava currents, and which 

 seem due to a modification of the more usual volcanic action. Of 

 these one of the most remarkable is the Puy-de-D6me, formed of a 

 particular kind of rock, which has thence been named ' Domite.' 

 This rock varies much in its appearance, but is generally light gray, 

 and sometimes contains fragments of granite and of the porphyritic 

 trachyte of the Monts-Dor. 



The Pariou may be considered one of the most interesting of the 

 crater-volcanoes of the district : it rises to the height of 3986 feet 

 above the level of the sea ; and its truncated cone is a remarkable 

 object, even among the other volcanic eminences of the country. The 

 crater is beautifully preserved, and is about 930 yards in circum- 

 ference, and 93 yards in depth. The upper part of the mountain 

 rises from another crater, from which the upper cone has evidently 

 been thrown up. The lower crater has been broken down on the 

 aide of the Puy-de-Goules, and a current of lava has issued from it, 

 passing near Orcines, and forming the sheet of volcanic matter on 

 which Ija Baraque is built. Before it arrived at this point some 

 granite elevations arrested the lava-current and divided it into two 

 unequal streams, the smallest of which passed the point where the 

 village of Durtol now stands, and stopped at Nohament. The other 

 stream, after passing La Baraque, and forming the cheire (as these 

 sheets of lava are termed in Auvergne) of Villars, descended on the 

 granitic plateau of the country, and flowed on to Fontmore, about 

 half a league from Clennont. The Puy-de-Laschamps is a more 

 modern volcano, which attains the greatest elevation above the sea, 

 its height being 4170 feet above its level. Nothing can be more exact 

 than the resemblance of these volcanoes to those now in activity in 

 other countries. Their presence in Auvergne shows that volcanic 

 action may suddenly commence in any part of the earth's surface, 

 where no such action had previously been apparent ; and that having 

 caused the ejection of various igneous products, and altering the 

 whole physical character of a country, it may cease, for at least long 

 periods of time, and a district once laid waste by volcanic eruptions 

 be again freed from their ravages. 



During the period that the volcanoes of Auvergne were in a state 

 of activity conditions would necessarily be favourable for the pro- 

 duction of alluvial deposits, the ashes, cinders, and ejected stones 

 being readily washed down into the valleys, where they would be 

 swept onwards by the rivers, and exposed to still further attrition. 

 In them we should expect to discover some traces of the animals 

 which inhabited the country at this period, and from which we might 

 obtain an insight into the geological date of some of the eruptions 

 themselves. The remains of animals, so situated that they must 

 have been entombed in the places where they now occur when the 

 Auvergne volcanoes were in activity, have been found, and from the 

 kind of remains discovered, volcanic eruptions are supposed to have 

 occurred up to a late part of the supracretaceous period. According 

 to Messrs. Croizet and Jobert there are at the Montagne-de-Perrier 

 (N.W. from Issoire), and in the neighbouring country, about thirty 

 beds above the lacustrine limestone, which may be divided into four 

 alternations of alluvium and basaltic deposits. Three or four beds 

 contain organic remains. The principal ossiferous stratum is about 

 10 feet thick, and can be traced for a considerable distance at the 

 Montagne-de-Perrier. The remains discovered consisted of elephant, 

 one species ; mastodon, one or two ; hippopotamus, on* ; rhinoceros, 

 one ; tapir, one ; horse, one ; boar, one ; felis, four or five ; hyaena, 

 two ; bear, three ; canis, one ; castor, one ; otter, one ; hare, one ; 

 water-rat, one ; deer, fifteen ; and ox, two. The remains are mixed 

 confusedly with each other, and are of all ages ; and mingled with 

 them are the fecal remains of carnivora, appearing to occupy the 

 places where they have been dropped. As moreover the bones are 

 never rolled though frequently broken and often gnawed, the animals 

 whose remains are thus entombed would appear to have been inha- 

 bitants of the immediate vicinity of the places where their remains 

 are now found. 



The lava-currents discharged from the volcanoes of Auvergne have 

 nometiines traversed pre-existing valleys, arresting the progress of 

 rivers, the waters of which accumulated into lakes behind the barriers 

 of lava. When these lakes became full, the surplus waters discharged 

 over the dams gradually eroded them, until they formed deep chan- 

 nels for the rivers, and the lakes disappeared. We should anticipate, 

 unless the physical features of a given locality were materially changed 

 rlnriiKf an eruption, that the lowest lip of the brim of such lakes 

 would be in the direction of the pre-existing valleys, and at the 

 junction of the lava-currents with the opposite sides of such valleys. 

 This seems to have been the case with the lava-current from the 

 1'uy-deCome (near Clermont), which flowed into the valley of the 

 Sioule ; the river having cut a new bed between the lava and the 

 granite on the opposite side of the valley. An example of a deep cut 

 made by a river into the rock over which it flows may also be 

 observed in another part of the same valley, where a lava-current 

 that issued from the Puy-Rouge, and barred the progress of the 

 stream, has been cut into a ravine, and an excavation formed in the 

 gneiM beneath to the depth of 50 feet. 



AUXERRE, capital of the department of Yonne in Franco, i 



situated on the left bank of the Yonne, which here begins to be 

 navigable, at a distance of 107 miles S.E. from Paris by the Paris- 

 Lyons railroad, from the Joigny station on which it is distant 

 16 miles, in47 47' 54" N.lat., 3 34' 33" E. long. : population, 12,236. 

 The city stands on the slope of a hill, in a country fruitful in wine ; 

 the air is considered very pure. It is a fine old place, with many 

 well-built houses, and some wide streets. There are two squares. 

 A boulevard runs round the town on three sides, and abuts on the 

 quays that line the river. The quays are backed by well-built 

 houses. The cathedral, dedicated to St. Etienne, stands on a lofty 

 site, and is accounted one of the finest in France. It is built in the 

 gothic style, and consists of nave, transepts, and choir, which termi- 

 nates eastward in a square lady-chapel, instead of the usual semi- 

 circular apse. The choir dates from 1216 : the other portions are of 

 later date and more florid in style. There is an ancient crypt under 

 the choir. The interior of the cathedral is 328 feet long, 113 feet 

 wide; the groined roof of the nave is 108 feet high, and at the inter- 

 section of the nave and transepts a tower springs up to the height of 

 200 feet above the pavement. It is lighted through well-preserved 

 painted windows of the 13th century, and adorned with numerous 

 sculptures, bas-reliefs, and marble monuments. The church of St.- 

 Germain is celebrated for its crypts and holy relics. The other 

 remarkable buildings are the churches of St.-Eusebius and St.-Peter, 

 the buildings of the ancient abbey of St.-Germain, now the Hotel-Dieu, 

 and the bishop's palace, now the residence of the prefect. The town 

 is the seat of tribunals of first instance and of commerce, of an eccle- 

 siastical seminary, and of primary normal schools. Woollen cloths, 

 serges, druggets, stockings, cotton-yarn, bricks, and pottery are made 

 in Auxerre. The chief trade of the town is in wine, of which about 

 4,000,000 gallons are sent by water to Paris and into Normandy. 

 Wood and charcoal are also considerable articles of trade at Auxerre. 

 There are in this town a library which contains 25,000 volumes and 

 several ancient manuscripts, an agricultural society, a college, a 

 theatre, and baths. The bishopric of Auxerre dates from the 3rd 

 century ; its first bishop, St. Peregrin, suffered martyrdom here in 

 the reign of Aurelian, in A.D. 2C3. It is now united to tho arch- 

 diocese of Sens and Auxerre, which comprises the department of 

 Yonne. Auxerre is mentioned in the later periods of the Roman 

 dominion hi Gaul under the name of Autissiodurum. It was 

 in the country of the Senones. After the fall of the Western empire 

 the city came under the dominion of the Franks. Under the Carlo- 

 vingian dynasty the county of Auxerre, which was then co-extensive 

 with the bishopric, was granted by the kings of France to the bishops 

 of Auxerre ; and by these the city of Auxerre was bestowed on the 

 counts of Nevers to hold on condition of fealty and homage to the 

 see. It was subsequently united to the crown of France in 1370. 

 The bishop retained, till of late years, the only relic of his feudal 

 superiority. When he made his solemn entry into his see the king's 

 procureur as first vassal assisted in carrying him to the throne. 



The district formerly called Auxerroii, was co-extensive with 

 the county and the diocese of Auxerre. It is now comprised in the 

 department of Yonne, in which it forms the greater part of the 

 arrondissement of Auxerre. 



AUXONNE, a fortified town in the department of Cote-d'Or in 

 France, is situated on the left bank of the Saflne, 201 miles S.E. 

 from Paris, 18 miles S.E. from Dijon, and upon the projected railroad 

 from Dijon to Salins, near the Swiss frontier : population, 7251. 

 The streets are straight, and the fortifications serve as promenades. 

 There is a fine bridge over the Sa6ne ; and at the end of the bridge, 

 on the side next the town, is a causeway 2400 paces in length, having 

 23 arcLes for allowing passage to the water in case of inundation. 

 The castle, which was built in the reigns of Louis XII. and Francis 

 I., is flanked by five massive towers. There are barracks, an arsenal, 

 a school of artillery, a cannon foundry, and powder mills ; also a 

 library and a college. The trade of Auxonne is chiefly in wine, 

 brandy, grain, melons, and wood ; broad-cloth, serge, muslin, and nails 

 are manufactured. There are in the neighbourhood quarries of 

 marble and of various kinds of stone. Turquoises and fossil corals 

 are found in these quarries. 



AVA. [BIBMAN EMPIRE.] 



AVAL. [BAHREIN ISLANDS.] 



AVALLON. [YONNE.] 



AVARS, or A V ARES, a tribe or people of Mongolian descent, who 

 made their first appearance in large numbers in the country around 

 the Don, the Caspian Sea, and the Volga, in the 6th century, after 

 having been driven from their own country by the Turcomans. They 

 are generally supposed to have been of the same stock as the Ugrirms 

 or Huns. They had many chiefs, who are cilled by the Greek writers 

 xayavos. or Chaganus, evidently the same as the better known title of 

 Khan. A part of them remained in thi inouu'taiiious regions of the 

 Caucasus, but the greater part, about 555, penetrated to the Danube, 

 and settled themselves in Daria. While h' re many of them served in 

 the army of Justinian ; thoy also materially assisted the Longobards 

 to conquer and destroy the Gepidic, and by the end of the century, 

 under their most famous chief Khan Bujan, they had possessed them- 

 selves by degrees of the whole of I'imnon a. They afterwards 

 conquered Dal mat ia, penetrated with devastating armies into Germany 

 a far as Thuringia, and also into Italy, where they fought with tho 



