A Z O 



164 



A Z O 



Half sum 



Complement of altitude, subtract 



7* 16' 

 41 40 



Second difference 32 36 



Then, 

 Co. arith. of sine of co. lat. 

 Co. arith. of sine of co. alt, 

 Sine of first difference, . 

 Sine of second difference 



38 32' 

 41 40 

 35 44 

 32 36 



0.205.5330 

 0.1773117 

 9.7664229 

 9.7314040 



Sum of the logarithms 19.8806716 



Sine of the half sum is 60 39' 9.9403358. Dou- 

 ble of this is 121 18', the sun's azimuth from the 

 north, the complement of which to 180 is 58 42', 

 the sun's azimuth from the south, (q) 

 AZINCOURT. See Agixcourt. 

 AZOF, a town and fortress in Cuban Tartary, 

 belonging to Russia. It is situated on the southern 

 shore, and near the mouth of the river Don ; and is 

 supposed to be the same with the ancient Tana. 

 'This town, according to Strabo, was built by the 

 Bosparanian Greeks, and was considered a place of 

 great trade ; but little is known of its history till 

 1474, when we find it in possession of the Genoese, 

 who soon after resigned it to the Turks. During 

 the succeeding wars between the Turks and Rus- 

 sians, Azof was alternately lost and won by these 

 powers, till, by the treaty of Belgrade, it was agreed 

 that the fortifications should be demolished, and the 

 town remain subject to Russia. In this state it con- 

 tinued for 30 years ; when, in the last wars with the 

 Turks, the fortifications were rebuilt by the order 

 of Catharine II. and this town is now in the best 

 possible state of defence. Its consequence, however, 

 as a port of trade, has been of late rapidly declining ; 

 and the arm of the Don, on which it lies, is gradual- 

 ly filling with sand. Population 3800. N. Lat. 

 47, E. Long. 39 14'. (p) 



AZOF, Sea of, known also by the* name of the 

 Zabache Sea, lies in the dominions of Russia, and 

 communicates with the Euxine by the straits of 

 Caffa. Its principal harbour is Taganrok, which 

 carries on a considerable trade with the Crimea, and 

 the maritime towns of Natolia. The whole of the 

 northern coast is laid out in fisheries. The fish, in 

 general, are small, but so abundant, that 60,000 are 

 often taken at one draught. A remarkable circum- 

 stance, of the emersion of an island in the sea of Azof, 

 has been lately announced by M. Pallas, the celebra- 

 ted naturalist. On the 5th of September 1799, this 

 island suddenly made its appearance, at the distance 

 of 150 fathoms from the shore. The phenomenon 

 was preceded by a noise like thunder, and accompa- 

 nied with an eruption of smoke and flames, the ex- 

 plosion of which resembled the discharge of heavy 

 ordnance ; at the same time, a violent shock of an 

 earthquake was felt from Cuban as far as Catrino- 

 dan. The sea of Azof is 210 miles in length, and 

 from 40 to 60 in breadth. N. Lat. 45 20' to 47 

 20', E. Long. 34 30' to 39 W. See Tooke's 

 View of the Russian Empire, (p) 



AZORES, Terceras, or Western Isles, are a 

 group of islands lying in the Atlantic Ocean, about 

 800 miles west of Cape St Vincent, and almost at 



an equal distance from Europe, Africa, and Ame- Azorn. 

 rica. They are discovered from a great distance at 

 sea, on account of a high mountain, called the Peak, 

 or Pico, in an island of the same name, and which 

 Mr Pinkerton strongly recommends to geographer* 

 to assume as a first meridian of longitude. The 

 Azores are nine in number, Tercera, St Michael, 

 Santa Maria, Gratiosa, St George, Fayal, Pico, 

 Flores, and Corvo, of which the two last are very 

 small, and lie at a considerable distance from the rest. 

 Concerning the history of these islands, little is known 

 with certainty. Their discovery has been claimed 

 by the Portuguese, though the precise period has 

 not been determined. It has, however, been main- 

 tained, that they were first visited by Joshua Vander- 

 berg, a merchant of Bruges, who, when on a voyage 

 to Lisbon in 1439, having been driven from his 

 course in a violent storm, fell in with the Azores, 

 and called them " The Flamingas," or Flemish Is- 

 lands. Communicating the intelligence to his friends 

 at Lisbon, he gave such an account of his adventure, 

 as induced the Portuguese, who were then the most 

 enterprising nation in Europe, to attempt a farther 

 discovery. Having successively explored the diffe- 

 rent islands, Don Henry, prince of Portugal, was so 

 pleased with the acquisition, that he went in person 

 to take possession of them in 1449. In 1466, Al- 

 phonso V. gave them to his sister the Duchess of 

 Burgundy, when some of them were colonized by 

 Germans and Flemings. These, however, seem al- 

 ways to have acknowledged the authority of Portu- 

 gal. At present a Portuguese governor resides at 

 Angra, the chief city of Tercera. In spiritual affairs 

 they are under the jurisdiction of the bishop of the 

 Azores, whose capital residence is in the island of 

 St Michael. 



The Azores have frequently suffered severely from 

 earthquakes and volcanic eruptions ; and from the 

 geological history of these islands, it would appear 

 that some of them must have owed their origin to 

 these terrible convulsions of the earth. Kircher af- 

 firms, that in 1538 frequent earthquakes were felt 

 for nearly eight days, which were so violent as to 

 compel the inhabitants to forsake their houses, and 

 lie night and day in the open fields. On the 26th 

 June, a fire burst through the surface of the sea, fla- 

 ming to the clouds, vomiting prodigious quantities 

 of sand, earth, stones, and minerals ; and raging with 

 such fury, that, had not the wind blown from the 

 land, the whole of the neighbouring island would 

 have been destroyed. 



This was followed by the emersion of a group of 

 rocks, which at first filled a space of only five or six 

 acres, but which soon extended to as many miles. 

 Another shock of an earthquake broke them in 

 pieces, and then united them into a solid mass, 

 which now forms one of the small islands that lie 

 on the north-west of the Azores. See Kircher's 

 Mioidits Subterrancus, lib. iii. 



In 1720, another island, all fire and smoke, which 

 roared like thunder, appeared between St Michaels 

 and Tercera, on the night of the 20th November. 

 The bursting out of the flames was attended by an 

 earthquake, which shattered many of the houses in 

 Tucera ; and, for many leagues round the island) 

 3 



