AMAZONS AMBEHG. 



133 



tor ; the width of the mouth is stated by some writ- 

 ers at 150, by others at 180 miles. Boat navigation 

 commences at Jaen de Bracomoros, in Quito ; and 

 it is said that vessels of 400 or 500 tons may sail 

 from the mouth throughout almost the whole extent. 

 The depth is stated at from thirty to forty fathoms, 

 1500 miles from the ocean, and the tide is percepti- 

 ble 600 miles. Its descent, in a straight course of 

 1860 miles, was found by Condamine to be 1020 feet 

 (about six and a quarter inches in a mile) ; but the 

 place where the tide is first perceived is only ninety 

 feet above the sea. Its current is very rapid and 

 violent. It drains an extent of country about 1600 

 or 1700 miles from N. to S., receiving the waters of 

 about 200 rivers, some of them as large as the Dan- 

 ube. From the N. it receives the Santiago, Mo- 

 ~rona, Pastaza, Tigre, Napo, Negro, Putumayo, 

 Yupura, Yaguapiri, Curupatuba, Yari, &c. ; from 

 the S., the Guallaga, Ucayale, Cuchivara, Yahuari, 

 Cayari, Madeira, Topayos, Xingu, Gnanapu, Muju, 

 &c. The banks are clothed with immense and im- 

 penetrable woods, which afford a haunt to tigers, 

 bears, leopards, wild boars, and a great variety of 

 venomous serpents ; they also abouna in birds of the 

 most beautiful plumage, and apes of the most fan- 

 tastic appearance. The waters swarm with alliga- 

 tors, turtles, and a great variety of fish. The vege- 

 table productions, that grow wild, are cacao, cinna- 

 mon, vanilla, pines, &c. The country is adapted to 

 coffee, sugar-canes, rice, maize, plantains, lemons, 

 limes, and oranges. Here are also precious woods, 

 as cedar, red-wood, holly-wood, pine, &c. In the 

 rainy season, the river overflows its banks, and 

 waters and fertilizes the adjacent country. The 

 shores and islands were formerly peopled by numer- 

 ous tribes of Indians, who have either become extinct 

 or have retired to the mountains. The first Euro - 

 pean that visited this river was Francis d'Orellana, 

 who, having met with some armed women on its 

 banks, from this circumstance gave it the name of 

 the river of the Amazons. 



AMAZONS. An old tradition, which appears to be 

 founded, in some measure, on historical truth, gives 

 an account of a community of women, who permitted 

 no men to reside among them, fought under the 

 conduct of a queen, and long constituted a formida- 

 ble state. They had commerce with the men of the 

 neighbouring nations merely for the sake of preserv- 

 ing their community. The male children they sent 

 back to their fathers, but they brought up the 

 females to war, and burned off the right breast, that 

 this part of the body might not impede them in the 

 use of the bow. From this circumstance, they were 

 called Amazons, i.e. wanting a breast. The an- 

 cients enumerate three nations of A. 1. The Afri- 

 can, who made great conquests under their queen, 

 Myrena, but were afterwards extirpated by Hercules. 

 2. The Asiatic, the most famous of all, who dwelt 

 in Pontiis, on the river Thermodon. These once 

 made war on all Asia, and built Ephesus. Their 

 queen, Hippolyta, was vanquished by Hercules. 

 They attacked Attica in the time of Theseus. They 

 came to the assistance of Troy under their queen, 

 Peuthesilea, daughter of Mars and Otrere. About 

 330 years before Christ, their queen, Thalestris, 

 made a visit to Alexander of Macedon, soon after 

 which they disappear from history. 3. The Scythian 

 A., a branch of the Asiatic. They attacked the 

 neighbouring Scythians, but afterwards contracted 

 marriages with them, and went farther into Sarma- 

 tiii, where they hunted and made war in company 

 with their husbands. The old geographers gave the 

 name of Amazonia to a large tract of country 

 in the interior of South America, because the first 

 discoverers of the country said that they found there 



a nation of Amazons. Later writers have corrected 

 this error, and Amazonia lias disappeared. It is laid 

 down on the old maps as a part of wliat is at present 

 Brazil and Peru. The river Amazon, (q. v.), or 

 Maranon, which inundates and fertilizes this coun- 

 try as the Nile does Egypt, is the largest river in 

 the world. (See South America.) Orellana, the 

 first discoverer of the country, relates, that, as he 

 sailed up the river, he found on its banks a nation of 

 armed women, who made war on the neighbouring 

 people ; and this circumstance gave the name to the 

 river and country. 



AMBASSADOR (French, ambassadeur) ; the high- 

 est degree of foreign ministers. They represent the 

 person of their sovereign, or the people, if they are 

 sent by a republic. They enjoy great privileges. 

 Ambassadors, in this strict sense of the word, are 

 sent at present only by a few of the most important 

 governments of Europe, e. g. England, France, 

 Spain, Austria, Russia : Prussia never sends them. 

 The old republic of Venice was accustomed to send 

 ambassadors, and was always considered equal in 

 rank to a king. For further information, see Minis- 

 ter, foreign. 



AMBER. This well-known substance usually pre- 

 sents some shade of yellow in its colour, from which 

 it sometimes passes to reddish- brown. It is brittle ; 

 yields easily to the knife ; is translucent, and pos- 

 sessed of a resinous lustre. Specific gravity, TOGS. 

 It burns with a yellow flame, emitting a pungent, 

 aromatic smoke, and leaving a light, carbonaceous 

 residue, which is employed as the basis of the finest 

 black varnishes. By friction, it becomes strongly 

 electric ; from which property originated the name 

 and science of electricity, Xe*Tg<j being the Greek 

 word for amber; and with this substance Thales, 

 one of the Greek philosophers, performed the first 

 electrical experiment. It is found hi masses, from 

 the size of coarse sand to that of a man's head, and 

 occurs in beds of bituminous wood situated upon 

 the shores of the Baltic and Adriatic seas ; also in 

 Poland, France, Italy, and Denmark. Sometimes 

 it is found on the east coast of Britain, and in gravel 

 pits round London. More recently, it has been 

 found in the United States, at cape Sable, in Mary- 

 land. The largest mass ever found was got in 

 Lithuania, and weighed eighteen pounds. From its 

 occurring very frequently attached to pieces of 

 bitumenized wood, and containing insects, it is infer- 

 red, with great probability, that amber originated 

 from vegetable juices, and has undergone its pre- 

 sent modification, possibly, from sulphuric acid, 

 derived from the iron pyrites which always abounds 

 in the deposits where it occurs. It is susceptible of 

 a good polish, and has, at different times, been much 

 esteemed as a personal ornament ; but its want of 

 hardness and lustre, together with the ease with 

 which imitations are made of it, have brought it into 

 comparative disuse. By distillation, it affords an oil, 

 and a peculiar acid, the former of which is deno- 

 minated oil of amber, and the latter succinic acid, 

 from succinum, the Latin name for amber. The 

 succinic acid, when purified, exists in white, trans- 

 parent, prismatic crystals. It is soluble in water 

 and alcohol ; has strong acid properties ; it forms 

 salts with the alkalies and several of the earths. 

 The succuiate of potash is useful in analysis for the 

 separation of oxyde of iron. The oil of amber is 

 used in medicine. 



AMBERG ; formerly the capital city of the Upper 

 Palatinate, on the Vils, in the Bavarian dominions, 

 In the midst of numerous iron-works. Lon. 11" SO 7 

 E.; lat. 49" 2& N. It contains 7680 inhabitants, 

 and 712 houses. The manufactory of arms yields 

 yearly from 10,000 to 20,000 muskets of the best 



