GEOGRAPHY, TRAVEL, ARCHITECTURE 



515 



south into the Atlantic, the former sometimes 

 extending to 100 miles in length, and from 

 twenty-five to thirty miles in diameter. 



Argentine Republic, formerly called 

 the United Provinces of La Plata, is a vast coun- 

 try of South America; extreme length, 2,300 

 miles; average breadth a little over 500 miles, 

 ifl bounded on the north by Bolivia; on the 

 by Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, and the 

 Atlantic; on the south by the Antarctic Ocean; 

 and on the west by the Andes. With the excep- 

 tion of the northwest, where lateral branches 

 of the Andes run into the plain for 150 or 200 

 miles, and the province of Entre Rios, which is 

 hilly, the characteristic feature of the country 

 i- the great monotonous and level plains called 



ipas. In the north, these plains are partly 

 forest-covered, but all the central and south 

 purls present vast treeless tracts, which afford 

 pi -tare to immense herds of horses, oxen, and 



p, and are varied in some places by brackish 



tops, in others by salt steppes. European 

 grains and fruits, including the vine, have been 



essfully introduced, and are cultivated in 



t parts of the republic; countless herds of 

 cattle and horses and flocks of sheep are pas- 



1 on the pampas, and multiply there very 

 rapidly. Gold, silver, nickel, copper, tin, lead, 

 and iron, besides marble, jasper, precious stones, 

 and bitumen, are found in the mountainous 

 districts of the northwest, while petroleum 

 \\ells have been discovered on the Rio Vermejo; 

 hut the development of this mineral* wealth has 

 hitherto been greatly retarded by the want of 

 proper means of transport. As a whole, there 

 are not extensive forests in the country, except 

 in the region of the Gran Chaco (which extends 

 also into Bolivia), where there is known to be 

 60,000 square miles of timber. Thousands of 

 square miles are covered with thistles, which 

 grow to a great height in their season. Cacti 

 also form great thickets. Peach and apple 

 trees are abundant in some districts. The 



ve fauna includes the puma, tfce jaguar, the 

 tapir, the llama, the alpaca, the vicuna, anna- 

 the rhea or nanclu, a species of ostrich, 

 1 he climate is agreeable and healthful. 

 97 being about the highest temperature experi- 

 As a whole, this vast country is very 

 thinly inhabited, some parts of it as yet being 

 little known. The native Indians were 

 very numerous, and have given little 

 trouble to the European settlers. Tribes of 

 th. -in yet in the savage state still inhabit the 

 less-known districts, ami live by hunting and 

 fishing. Some of the Gran Chaco tribes are said 

 very fierce, and European travelers have 

 been killed by them. The European element i> 

 strong in the republic, more than half of the 

 population beiim ! in ropeans or of pure European 

 descent. Large numbers of immigrants urhn 

 from Southern Kurope, the Italians : 

 the preponderance among those of foreign 

 birth. The typical inhabitants of the pampas 

 are the Gauchos, a race of half-breed cattle- 

 rearers and horse-breakers; they are almost 

 iallv on horseback, galloping over the 

 Electing their herds and drove*, 

 taming \\ild horses, or catching and slaughter- 

 ing cattle. In Mich occupations they acquire a 



marvelous dexterity in the use of the lasso and 

 bolas. 



Armenia, a country of Western Asia, ex- 

 tending from the Caucasus on the north to the 



| mountains of Kurdistan on the south, and from 



! the Euphrates on the west, to near the Caspian 

 on the east. It is subdivided among the Turk- 

 ish pashalics of Erzeroum, Kars, and Van, and 

 parts of the Persian province of Azerbijan, and 

 the Russian Government of Transcaucasia. 

 The native Armenians, estimated at one-seventh 

 of the whole population, are distinguished for 

 their enterprise in commercial and banking 



I transactions. The Armenian Christians mostly 

 belong to an ecclesiastical establishment of their 



I own, similar in many respects to the Greek 



| Church ; but many have adhered to the Roman 

 Catholic faith. Chief towns, Kara and Erze- 



j roum. Christian population about 1,000,000, 



) with an equal number of Kurds, Turks, Tartars, 

 etc. In 1878, after the Russo-Turkish War. 



I Russia acquired the districts of Kars and Arda- 



I han. The Armenians suffered severely in life 

 and property from the invasion of Kurds in 1882, 

 and in 1895, such frightful massacres took place 

 that the great powers of Europe were moved 

 to demand thorough measures of reform from 

 the Sultan in the government of Armenia. 

 The Sultan temporized and delayed until the 

 powers sent armed ships to Constantinople. 

 Aries (art), a city of France, in the depart- 



| ment of Bouches du Rhone, about fort 

 miles northwest of Marseilles. Aries was tin* 

 Arelate of the Romans. It was an important 



I town at the time of Caesar's invasion, aboi; 

 H. C., and afterwards received a Roman colony, 



I of which there are many remains, including a 

 magnificent amphitheater, and a palace built 

 by the Emperor Constantine. about A. D. 306. 

 Aries was the seat of the Merovingian kiiiL 

 the Sixth Century. It now carries on a 

 -iderable trade, and has manufactures in silk, 

 etc., besides furnishing a market for the products 

 of the surrounding country. The population 



! of the city in 1908 was about 24,567. 



Athens, the capital ot -muted on 



a peninsula formed by the ri\r> Ilissus and 

 Cephesis, about four miles from the eastern shore 

 ot the < .ult" of Egina. It is built at the base of 

 the hill on which stands ti i>. and has 



been greatly improved architecturally of late 

 years, since the new kingdom of Greece was es- 

 tablixhed. The royal palace, completed in 

 s most imposing modern struc- 

 tures; the city is the seat of a bishopric of the 

 Greek Church; audit has a university, attended 

 usually by upwards of 1,000 student*. Athens 

 is, however, chielly interest im on account of ita 

 III-NMV. and through it* possession of those monu- 

 ments of antiquity which still attest its former 

 greatness. All these are on or cloae around the 

 Acropolis. Chief of these are the remains of 

 Pelasgic walls and dwelling; the Pi 

 Gate; the Pinacothcka; Temple of Wingless 

 Victory, and, above all, the Parthenon, built by 

 . much destroyed by an explosion in the 

 Seventeenth Centut\ \thens is said to have 

 been founded about 1550 H. < . In 

 Pericles (460-429 B < .ntained 10,000 



houses, with a population estimated at from 



