ALOADIN ALO1C. 



chapel has been rendered extremely beautiful by 

 the introduction of a ceiling, in imitation of the 

 cehbralcd nut 1 of King's College, Cambridge. 

 There is also a handsome \viiulo\v, on the model of 

 one at York minster, and the walls arc painted in the 

 inanntT of tliosc of the cathedral nt Milan. The 

 custom of milking fret-men at A., which is very Judi- 

 croiH, is attributed to n piece of humorous revenge 

 mi the jiiirt of king Joim, for having endured con- 

 siderable i>er-<ui:il inconvenience from the miry slate 

 i.f the roads. Those who are to be made free, assem- 

 ble in the market-place on St Mark's diiy, eacli man 

 dn-sed in white, with a white cap, and a sword by 

 his side. 1'rom this place they proceed on horseback, 

 he::ded by tin- four chamberlains, attired in the same 

 manner, to the Town moor, where they alight, and 

 all rusii through a muddy pool; which ceremony 

 performed, they change their soiled habiliments, and 

 return to the town. The living is a perpetual curacy 

 in i lie archdeaconry of Northumberland, and diocese 

 of Durham. The church is dedicated to St Mary 

 and St Michael ; patron, the duke of Northumber- 

 land. Here is a free-school, supported by a revenue 

 arising out of the tolls, and various minor charities. 

 Here are also several congregations of dissenters. 

 The population is about 6000. 



ALOADIN ; prince of the Assassins, or Arsacides ; 

 commonly called the Old Man of the Mountains. He 

 was the sheik of a Syrian tribe professing the Mo- 

 hammedan religion, but blindly devoted to the will 

 of their chief, with whose temporal superiority was 

 also mingled a sort of ecclesiastical character. Unit- 

 ing, as it were, in his own person the pretensions of 

 prince and prophet, the slightest of his commands is 

 said to have been always executed, though at the 

 expense of certain loss of life to the emissary. Many 

 iabulous stories are related of this prince, from whose 

 followers the word assassin has its derivation. 



ALOES are an extensive tribe of plants, some of 

 wluch are not more than a few inches, whilst others 

 are thirty feet and upwards, in height. All the 

 leaves are fleshy, thick, and more or less spinous at 

 the edges, or extremity. These plants, which are 

 chiefly inhabitants of hot climates, have flowers of a 

 single petal, the mouth expanded, the base nectari- 

 ferous, and the filaments of the stamens inserted into 

 the receptacle. Some of the larger kinds of aloes 

 are of great importance to the inhabitants of coun- 

 tries in which they grow. Beset as the leaves are 

 with strong spines, they form an impenetrable fence. 

 The negroes of the western coast of Africa make 

 ropes and weave nets of the fibrous parts of these 

 leaves. The Hottentots hollow out the stems of one 

 of the kinds into quivers for their arrows. In Ja- 

 maica, there is a species of aloe, which supplies the 

 inliabitants with bow-strings, fishing-lines, and ma- 

 terials from which they are able to weave stockings 

 and hammocks. An aloe which grows in the king- 

 dom of Mexico is applied by the inliabitants to 

 almost every purpose of life. It serves to make 

 hedges for inclosures ; its trunk supplies beams for 

 the roofs of houses, and its leaves are used instead 

 of tiles. From this plant they make their thread, 

 needles, and various articles of clothing and cordage ; 

 whilst from its juices they manufacture wine, sugar, 

 and vinegar. Some parts of it they eat, and others 

 they apply in medicine. The juice of aloes was 

 formerly used in Eastern countries, in embalming, to 

 preserve dead bodies from putrefaction, and, as the 

 resinous part of this juice is not soluble in water, it 

 is sometimes adopted, in hot climates, as a preserva- 

 tive to ships' bottoms against the attacks of marine 

 worms. One ounce of it, mixed with turpentine, 

 tallow, and white lead, is considered sufficient for 

 covering alxmt two superficial feet of plank ; and 



alKmt twelve pounds as sufficient for a vessel ,>f fifty 

 tons burden, in j.roof of the efficacy of this me- 

 thod, two planks of equal thickness, and cut from 

 I he same tree, were placed under water, one of 

 them in Us natural slate, and the oilier smeared 

 with this composition. They were Mill'ered to con- 

 tinue in the water eight months, and when, at the 

 end of that time, they were taken out, the former 

 was perforated in every part, and in a slate of 

 absolute decay, whilst the. latter was as perfect as al 

 first In the East Indies, the juice of these plants 

 is used as a varnish to unnerve wood from the 

 attacks of destructive insects ; and skins, ;ind e\en 

 living animals, are .sometimes smeared with it for 

 the same purpose. There is a tract of mountains 

 alxnit fifty miles north of the cape of Good Hope, 

 which is wholly covered with aloes. Among tin; 

 Mohammedans, and particularly in Kypt, the aloe 

 is a kind of symbolic plant; it is dedicated to thu 

 offices of religion, and pilgrims, on their return from 

 Mecca, suspend it over their doors, to show that 

 they have performed that holy journey. The in- 

 spissated juice of several species of alms is used in 

 medicine, under the name of aloes. The medicinal 

 properties of aloes have been long known and 

 established, and their extensive application in medi- 

 cine is, perhaps, the best proof that can be adduced 

 of their utility. In the arts, aloes are in se\end 

 respects useful. Particularly, a beautiful violet 

 colour is afforded by the leaves of the Socotrine 

 aloe, which does not require the aid of any mordant 

 to fix it ; the same also is capable of being formed 

 into a fine transparent colour for painting in 

 miniature. 



ALOE, the great or American (agave Americana), 

 is a large plant, the leaves of which are thick, 

 fleshy, and spinous at the edge, and the stem 

 branched, and of great height. The flowers liave 

 the tube of the corolla narrowed in the middle, the 

 stamens longer than the corolla, and the style 

 longer than the stamens. This magnificent native 

 of North America is by no means an uncommon 

 plant in English gardens, but is seldom seen there 

 in flower. There is, indeed, a notion, but an erro- 

 neous one, that the American aloe does not bloom 

 until it is 100 years old. The fact is, that the time 

 of flowering depends almost wholly on the rapidity 

 of its growth. In hot countries, it will flower in a 

 few years ; but in colder climates, the growth being 

 slower, it is necessarily longer in arriving at 

 maturity. The stem, which bears the blossoms, 

 rises from the centre of the leaves, and, when the 

 plant is in a vigorous state, it frequently exceeds the 

 height of twenty feet An American aloe, in the 

 garden of the king of Prussia, was forty feet high. 

 Brandies issue from every side, and in such a man- 

 ner as to form a kind of pyramid, composed of 

 greenish-yellow flowers, which stand erect, and are 

 seen in thick clusters at every joint. When in full 

 flower, its appearance is extremely splendid ; and, if 

 the season be favourable, and the plant be sheltered 

 from the cold in autumn, a succession of blossoms 

 will sometimes be produced for near three months. 

 In the warmer parts of Europe, the American aloe 

 is cultivated as an object of considerable utility. 

 They are frequently set out in rows, as fences for 

 enclosures, particularly in Spain, Portugal, and 

 Italy. In Algarva, the leaves are employed for 

 scouring pewter, kitchen utensils, and floors, and, 

 being cut into slices, are used for the feeding of 

 cattle. The juice of these leaves is made into 

 cakes, which are used for washing, and will make 

 lather with salt water as well as with .fresh. The 

 fibres of the leaves, when properly prepared, may be 

 separated into threads, which are useful in various 



