AVELLINO -AVERAGE. 



357 



Incarnations of Vishnu, the supreme God. The Mat- 

 sya avatar was the descent of the Deity in the form 

 of a fish ; Kachyapa, or Kurma, in that of a tortoise ; 

 Varaha, as a boar ; Nara-singha, as a monster, half 

 man, half lion ; Vamana, as a dwarf; Parasu-Rama, 

 as die son of Jamadagni. All these took place in 

 the Safya Yttga, or golden age. The others are more 

 recent. The seventh incarnation is called Rama- 

 chandra avatar, the descent of Vishnu to destroy a 

 giant. Their contests are the subject of the cele- 

 brated epic called the Rdmdyana. The eighth avatar, 

 called Bala-Rdma, was in order to chastise other 

 giants; the ninth, Buddt'ha, had a similar object. 

 The Kalki, or tenth avatar, is yet to come at the 

 .. end of the Kali Yuga, or the iron age. See Indian 

 Mythology. 



AVELLINO (Furcce Caudinae); a passage lying be- 

 tween a city of the same name (25 miles N. E. from 

 Naples) and Benevento, in the valley Di Gargano. 

 A Roman army, having entered this pass with its 

 rear exposed, was surrounded by the Samnites, who 

 better understood mountain warfare, and having laid 

 down its arms, was sent under the yoke like slaves, 

 B. C. 321. The surrounding country yields the 

 mountain productions of the south (which often serve 

 the frugal peasants for bread), sweet chestnuts and 

 walnuts on the north side of the mountains, where 

 they are protected against night frosts and too early 

 blossoming. The gloomily built city Avellino, with 

 1 1 ,300 inhabitants, in the Principato Ultra, contains 

 manufactories of Maccaroni, in which mountain-maize 

 is used with chestnuts, &c. They belong to the 

 princes Caraccioli, who have established a granary 

 there for their vassals, and derive considerable reve- 

 nues from the profitable business of dyeing, which 

 is favoured by the soft water of the surrounding 

 country. 



AVE MARIA, also AVE MARY, among the Catholics ; 

 the beginning of a prayer to the holy Virgin, whence 

 the whole prayer is called Aw Maria. Ave, in 

 Latin, means hail. Ave Maria! is Hail Mary! 

 It is the beginning of the salutation which the angel 

 addressed to the Virgin, as he announced to her that 

 she should be the mother of the Saviour (Luke i. 28. 

 Ave, gratia plena : Dominus tecum ; benedicta tu in 

 mulieribus). The name Ave Maria is also given to 

 those little balls in rosaries, each of which denotes a 

 prayer, called Ave Maria (see Rosary); while the 

 larger balls denote a Pater-noster. As in Italy, a 

 bell tolls at sun-set, which admonishes the people 

 to address their prayers to the Queen of heaven, the 

 close of the 24th hour, which, according to the Italian 

 division of time, coincifles always with sun-set, is 

 called Ave Maria ; and it is usual to say, at Ave Ma- 

 ria, half -past Ave Maria, &c., instead of at 24 o'clock, 

 half-past 24, &c. The exclamation has been taken 

 advantage of with very beautiful effect by Lord 

 Byron in the third canto of his Don Juan 



Ave Maria ! blessed be the hour, 

 The time, the clime, the spot, where I so oft 



Have felt that moment in its fullest power, 

 Sink o'er the earth so beautiful and soft, 



While swung the deep bell in the distant tower, 

 Or the faint dying day-hymn stole aloft, 



And not a step crept through the rosy air, 



And yet the forest leaves seem stirr'd witli prayer. 



Ave Maria ! 'tis the hour of prayer ! 



Ave Maria 1 'tis the hour of love ! 

 Ave Maria ! may our spirits dare 



Look, up to thine and to thy Son's above '. 

 Ave Maria 1 oh that face so fair 



Those downcast eyes beneath the heavenly dove 

 What though 'ti but a pictured image strike- 

 That painting ia no idol, 'tis too like. 



AVEN, or EVAN ; a considerable stream in the mid- 

 dle ward of Lanarkshire, which falls into the Clyde 



a little above Hamilton. Aven is also the name of a 

 river which divides Stirlingshire from Linlithgow- 

 shire, and falls into the frith of Forth betwixt Grange- 

 mouth and Borrowstowness. It is also the name of 

 a tributary streamlet of the Spey. 



AVENTINE, John (properly Thurmayr), a historian, 

 born at Abensberg, in Bavaria, in 1477, studied at 

 Ingoldstadt and Paris, and afterwards gave lectures 

 at Cracow and Ingolstadt. In 1512, he was ap- 

 pointed tutor to two Bavarian princes, with one ol 

 whom he visited foreign countries. In 1517, he was 

 appointed Bavarian historiographer, and wrote his 

 famous Annales Bo'iorum (last edition by Gundling, 

 Leipsic, 1710, folio), and his Bavarian Chronicle, 

 both standard works for German history. His Rudi- 

 menta Grammaticce Latince were published in 1512, 

 and contributed much to advance the study of philo- 

 logy in Germany. He died Jan. 9, 1534. 



AVENZOAR, or EBN ZOHAR ; an Arabian Physician 

 of the 12th century, born at Seville, in Spain, where 

 his father practised medicine. He became eminent 

 in his profession, travelled much, and passed through 

 many adventures, among which was a long imprison- 

 ment at Seville. He had the care of an hospital, and 

 composed a work entitled Al T/ietser, containing a 

 compendium of medical practice, and including many 

 facts and observations not found in preceding waiters, 

 which were probably the result of his own experience. 

 He died at Morocco in 1169. The report of his 

 having lived to the age of 135 is probably an error, 

 arising from his having been confounded with his son, 

 of the same name and profession, who lived at Mo- 

 rocco and was the author of a treatise on the regi- 

 men of health. 



AVERAGE, common, customary, or petty. In case of 

 shipments of goods, the bills of lading often contain 

 a stipulation that the shipper shall, besides a certain 

 rate or amount of freight money, also pay " primage 

 and average." The word average, in this place, ori- 

 ginally denoted several petty charges, such as towage, 

 beaconage, &c., which are to be borne by the ship, 

 freight, and cargo, the kind and amount of which are 

 very various, being determined by the marine ordi- 

 nances of some countries, and in others by the usage 

 of particular ports. There is often a great variety in 

 the usages at the different ports of the same country 

 in this respect. But the practice has come very much 

 into use in Great Britain, and is general in the unit- 

 ed States, to allow a certain rate per cent, on the 

 amount of the freight for primage and average, where 

 the bill of lading provides for the payment of 

 these. The printed form of the bills of lading 

 usually contains the words primage and average, 

 with a blank space, so that, when filled up, it reads 

 either with or without primage and average, ac- 

 cording to the agreement of the parties. Ave- 

 rage, general or gross, consists of expenses in- 

 curred, sacrifices made, or damage sustained, for the 

 common benefit of ship, freight, and cargo, and com- 

 prehends jetson (the loss sustained by throwing over- 

 board a part of the cargo, or of the provisions, tackle 

 or furniture of the ship, for the general safety), or 

 the cutting away of a mast, and also ransom paid to 

 pirates, compromise with captors) if permitted by the 

 laws), the damage occasioned by purposely running 

 the vessel on shore, and, by the usage of some coun- 

 tries, the expense of getting a stranded vessel afloat, 

 though it was accidentally stranded, and the expenses 

 of delaying the voyage to seek a port to refit. The 

 expenses and damage that are the subjects of contri- 

 bution in general average, must be divided among 

 all the parties to whom the ship, freight, and cargo, 

 belong, in the proportion cf their several interests. 

 Contribution for >etson was provided for in the ma- 

 ritime laws of Rhodes, and thence adoptel into the 



