A V A 



*^ Among thefe hilly regions, where em"brac'd 

 In peaceful vales, the happy Griions dwell ; 

 Oft, rufhing fudden from the loaded cliffs. 

 Mountains of fnow their gath'ring terrors roll 

 From Keep to lleep, loud thund'nng down they come, 

 A wintiy wade in dire commotion all ; 

 And herds and flocks, and travellers and fwains. 

 And fometimes whole brigades of marching troops, 

 Or hamlets fleeping in the dead of night, 

 Are deep bent.ith the fmothering ruin hurl'd." 



AVAL AS, a town of Servia, twelve miles fouth of Bel- 

 grade. 



AVALITES Sinus, in ^ncienl Geography, a gulf on 

 the right of the Erythrxan fea. In this gulf was a fca-port, 

 called Avalis, on the coaft of Ethiopia: and the people of 

 Ethiopia who lived near this gulf were called Avalites, and 

 Abalites. Ptolemy. 



AVALLON, in Geography, a town of France, in the 

 department of the Yonne, and principal place of a dillrift, 

 feated on the river Coufin. This is a town of confiderable 

 trade in grain, wine, and cattle, with a cloth manufactory ; 

 twenty-three miles S. S. W. from Auxerre, and fifty fouth 

 of Troyes. N. lat. 47^^ 29'. E. long. 3" 5'. 



AVALON, a peninfula of the illand of Newfoundland, 

 not far from the fouth-eaft part of it, with Placentia bay 

 on the fouth, and Trinity bay on the north. 



AVANCAY, a jurifdiftion in the diocefe of Cufco, in 

 South America, lying north-eaft from the city of Cufco, 

 and extending above thirty leagues. The climate is variable, 

 but in general hot, and many parts of it are cultivated with 

 canes, wliich yield a very rich fugar. The more temperate 

 parts abound in wheat, malice, and fruits, which are ftnt to 

 the city of Cufco. In tliis province is the valley of Xaqui- 

 jaguna, or Xaisguana, where Gony.alo Pizarro was defeated 

 and taken pvifoner by Pedro de la Gafco. 



AVANCHE. SeeAvExcHE. 



AVxANIA, \:\ t\\cTiirlj/lj Legifliitiire, a fine for crimes, 

 and on deaths, paid to the governor of the place. In the 

 places where feveral nations live together under a Turkilli 

 governor, he takes this profitable method of puniihing all 

 crimes among the Chrillians or Jews, unlefs it be the mur- 

 der of a Turk. Pococke's Eg. vol. ii. part ii. p. 30. 



AVANT, a French prcpofition, fignifying fc/in-, or any 

 priority either in refpeft of time or place ; fometimcs nfed in 

 compofition in our language, but more ufually contrafted, 

 and wrote vaunts or vant, or even van. 



Ay AHT Fofe, Sec. SeeVAxFo^. 



Avast Guard, See. See /-'an Guard, &c. 



AVANTICI, in Ancient Geography, a people reckoned 

 among the inhabitants of t!ie Alps, and, according to Pliny, 

 comprehended by Galba within the province called Narbon- 

 nerifib. Som.e have reprcfented them as the inhabit;uits of 

 Avanticum or Aventicum, the capital of Helvetia ; but as 

 Gallia Narbonnenfis never extended fo far, Hardouin rcjefts 

 this opinion. Menard (Mem de Liter, t.xxix. p. 24^-) 

 fixes them in a place, now called Av;in(;on, between Gap 

 and Embrum. . 



AVANTURINE, in Natural Hljlory, a ycllowift ftonc 

 full of fpnrkles, refembling gold, very common in France. 

 An artificial imitation of it is made by mixing fparkles of 

 copper with glafs, whilft it is in fufion, which 13 ufed by 

 enan.ellers, and to fprinkle as fand upon writing. Various 

 ftones have been known by this appellation. See Quartz, 

 and Felspar. 



AVAOU, in Ichlhyoloiy, the name given by the natives 

 of Otahcite to a fpecies of Gobius figured by BroufToiintt 

 in his decade of fifties. See Gobius Ocellams. 



6 



A V A 



A\ ARA, or Atera, in Ancient Geography, a n'ver of 

 Gaul, which paffcs by the town of Avaricum. 



AVARAY, in Geography, a town of France, in the de- 

 partment of the Loir and Cher, and chief place of a cantoa 

 in the diftria of Mer, 12 miles N. E. of Blois. 



AUAKCAVELICA. See Guamasca. 



AVARES, or Avari, a tribe of Sarmatian origin, de- 

 noting/rtr dijlant, and formerly applied to a clafs of the in- 

 habitants of the fouthern parts of Ruffia, from ihcir dwelling 

 farther to the call than any of the Sarmatian (locks. 



In the diilcrtation of M. PcyfTonnel on the origin of the 

 Sclavonian languajfe, we are informed that the flavcs, who 

 poffcfled Macedonia, Greece, and Epirus, were alfo called 

 a-vares or avur'i; and that they were unknown to the inha- 

 bitants of Conllantinople till the end of the reign of Jufti- 

 nian. At this time, fays Gibbon, A_D. 558. their ambaf- 

 fadors addreffcd the Roman emperor who admitted them to 

 an audience, as the reprefentatives of the (Irongeft and mod 

 populous of nations, the invincible, the irreliillblc Avars. 

 Their friendlhip was purchafcd by the timid emperor, and 

 Valentin, one of the emperor's guards, was fent under the 

 charaitcr of an ambaffador to their camp at the foot of 

 mount Caucafus. He perfuaded them to invade the ene- 

 mies of Rome. Tlicfe fugitives, who had fled before the 

 Turkifh arms, pafTed the Tanais and Boryllhenes, and bold- 

 ly advanced into the heart of Poland and Germany, violating 

 the law of nations and abuiing the rights of victory. Be- 

 fore ten years had clapfed, their camps were fcatcd on th.. 

 Danube and the Elbe, many Bulgarian and Sclavonian 

 names were obliterated from the earth, and the remnants of 

 their tribes are found, as tributaries and vaflals, under the 

 ftandard of the Avars. The Chagan, by which appellation 

 their king was diftinguiOicd, Hill affeflcd to culti\-ate the 

 friendlliip of the emperor ; and Juftinian enttrlained fome 

 thoughts of fixing them in Panronia, to balance the prevail- 

 ing power of the Lombards. But the virtue or treachery 

 of an Avar betrayed the fecret enmity and ambitious defigi.s 

 of their countrymen ; and they loudly complained of the ti- 

 mid, though jealous policy of detaining their ambaffadors, 

 and denying the arms which they had been allowed to pur- 

 chafe in the capital of the empire. An embalTy that was 

 received about this time from the conquerors of the Avars, 

 might pofTibly have produced an apparent change in the dif- 

 pofition of the emperors. The Turkilh ambadadors having 

 purfued the footfteps of the vanqui/hed to the Jaik, the 

 Volga, mount Caucafus, the Euxine, and Conllantinople, at 

 length appeared before the fucceffor of Conllantine, to re- 

 quell that he would not efpoufe the caufe of rebels and fu- 

 gitivts. In confcqucnce of this embafly, the emperor 

 renounced, or feemcd to renounce, the fugitive Avars, and 

 accepted the alhance of the Turks. In the year 566, Juf- 

 tin II. gave audience to the ambaffadors of the A%-ars, and 

 tlie fcene was decorated to imprt-fs the barbarians with afto- 

 ni(hment, veneration, and terror. After the firft emotions 

 of furprife, the chief of the embafly extolled the greatnefs 

 of the Chagan, by whofe clemency the kingdoms of the 

 fouth were permitted to exill, whoft victorious fubjeds had 

 travtrl'ed the frozen rivers of Sevthia, and who now covered 

 the banks of the Danube with innumerable tenls. It was 

 alfo alleged, that the late emperor had cultivated, with an- 

 nual and coftly gifts, the friendlhip of a grateful monarch, 

 and that the enemies of Rome had rel'pedcd the allies of the 

 Avars. The fame prudence, it was intimated, would 

 inftnift the nephew of Juttinian to imitate the liberality 

 of his uncle, aid to pnrchafe the blcflings of peace 

 from an invincible people, who delighted and excelled in the 

 exercife of war. To this addrcfs the emperor replied in the 



I'auie 



