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laris amerjcana of BrifT.; and fiffleur a bee rouge et naiincs 

 ja\ines of Buffon. 



This bird is reprefentcd to be of a very quarrelfonic ilif. 

 pofition, but may be rained ; fits on trees, and meal'urcs in 

 length twenty-one inclies. The bill is red, black at the tip ; 

 crown, back, and fcapulars clitfniit ; breall vclIowi(h afh ; 

 legs yellow. 



AuTUMN'ALTS, a fpccies of Fp.tNGiLLA, Called by La- 

 tham the autumnal finch, it inhabits Surinam ; is of a 

 greenifh colour, with a ferruginous cap, and vent teftaceous. 

 L-innnjus. The tail is even at the end. 



AUTUMNUrf, in Ei:l:,moh^y, the name giver, b) Am- 

 mira! to the moth, or phalxna, called bv Gmelin P.j\j[!a,ia; 

 which fee. 



AUTUN, in Geography, an ancient city of France, and 

 chief place of a ditlrift in the department of the Saone and 

 Loire ; and, before the revolution, the capital of a diftrict 

 called Avtr.no'u, with a bidiop's fee. It is fituated near the 

 river Arroux, at the fjot of three mountains, in which are 

 three fprings, that fupply the city with v.-ater. The city 

 ilfelf is fmall, being about ^ of a mile in length, and about 

 the fame breadth ; it lias now few good buildings, but its 

 ruins indicate its former magnificence ; and thofe of its 

 walls in particular, fccni, by the firm union of the Hones 

 that compofe them, as if they had been cut out of the folid 

 rock. Here are the remains of three ancient temples, one 

 dedicated to Janus, and another to Diana; and alto of a 

 theatre, and a pyramid, the lail probably having been a 

 tomb. It has alfo two beautiful antique gates ; the field in 

 which it ilands is called " ttie field of urns," becaufe feveral 

 urns have been dug in it. Aulun was made a Roman colon v 

 by Auguftus, and after him called " Auguftodunum ;" 

 and as early as the reign of Claudius, it ventured of itfclf, 

 and without alTdlancc, to declare againft the legions of Gaul. 

 After a liege of feven m.ontliE, they ftorincd and plundered 

 this unfortunate city, already walled by famine; nor was 

 it reftorcd till the reign of Dioclcfian. The country from 

 Chalons to Autun is very rich in vineyards and cornfields, 

 and prefents, by its lofty hills and fwclling o\itline, a pidu- 

 rcfque fcene. The approach to it is by a road which winds 

 over hills, that is covered with an underwood of broom, and 

 crowned with a foreft of birch and fir-trees. The cathe- 

 dral is a handfomc building. N. lat. 46° yj\if%" . E. long. 4' 



I7'44"- 



AUTURA, in Anc'utU Gi'cgraphy, a river of Galha Cel- 

 tica, now the Eure, which falls into the Seine on the fouth 

 fide. 



AUTZ, \n Gi-cgrapby, a town of the duchy of Courland, 

 thirty-fix miles S. S. E. of Guldingen. 



AUVE, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Marne, and chief place of a canton in the diflrid of St. 

 Menehould, thirteen miles E. N. E. of Chalons. 



AUVERGKE, a province of France, before the revolu- 

 tion, but now forming the two departments of Puy de 

 Dome, and Cantal, bounded on the eaft by Forez, on the- 

 north by Bourbonnois, on the well by Limofin, Qiicrcy, a^id 

 La Manche, and on the fouth by Rouerguc, and the Ce- 

 vennes. Its extent from fouth to north is about forty 

 French leagues, and from weft to call thirty. It is divided 

 into Upper and Lower Auvergne. I'lie fo'iner ia cold and 

 mountainous, and yet has excellent paflure?, and fupplies 

 many large cattle ; the latter, to which belongs the valky 

 of liimagne, and by which appellation it has fometimes been 

 diflinguiihed, is a fertile and pleafant eountrY, abounding in 

 wine, grain, fruit, and hemp. Auvergne fupplies Lyons 

 »nd Paris with fat cattle ; a large quantity of check xi 



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made in this province ; and it has feveral marufaflures. It 

 has mints of lilver, iron, lead, and coali. Its princ pal ri- 

 vers are the AUIer, the Dordognc, and the Alagnon ; whirR 

 Ice. 'I'he capital of the whole province is Clermout. 

 'I"hc bafaltic mountains of this ancient province are famous; 

 and have been afcribed by fonie tmintnt naturalifts to vol- 

 canoes; but as they confill chi..1) of bafaltic colnmnj and 

 elevations, others, among whom may be reckoned the beft 

 judges, allege that they have no claim to a volcanic origiir. 

 'i'holo of Auvergne arc too cxtti.fivc to have been produced 

 by a fingle volcano, and it would be too bold a conjecture to 

 attribute them to a chain of volcanoes. " Tlie northern part 

 of the chain is flyled liie I'uy de Dome, while the fonthcrn 

 is crilLd that of Cantal. The Monts d'Or form the centre, 

 and arc the higheil mountains in France. The chief eleva- 

 tion is that of the Puy de Sanfi, which rifes about 6,500 

 feet above the level of the fca, while the Puy de Dome is 

 about 5COO, and the Plomb du Cantal, the hi'ghefl of that 

 part, is about 6,2cofeet. Near the Puy de Saiifi is I'Ango, 

 that gigantic mountain, and Ecorchadc, a flialtered and 

 wrecked elevation. The Plomb du Cantal is alfo accompa- 

 nied by bold rivals, as the Puy de Giiou, Ic Col-de-Cabrc, 

 le Puy Mari, and the Violent. This enormous affemblage 

 of rocks covers an extent of about 120 miles, and according 

 to the French authors, is chiefly bafaltic. 'I'he Puy dc 

 Sanfi is capped with almofl perpetual fnow, followed in the 

 defcent by naked rocks and ancient pines ; from its fide 

 iffues, from two fourccs, the river Dordogne, and many pic- 

 turefque cafcades devolve amidll bafaltic columns. On the 

 23d of June, 1727, Pradines, a village on the flopc of one 

 of thcfe mountains, was totally overwhelmed bv its fall ; the 

 whole mountain with its bafaltic columns rolling into the 

 valley. I'he inhabitants were fortunately engaged in the 

 celebration of Midfummer eve, round a bonfire at fome dif- 

 tance. Thefe mountains are in winter exjofed to dreadful 

 fnowy hurricanes, called ytc'irs, which in a few hours oblite- 

 rate the ravines, and even the precipices, and defcending to 

 t'l'.e paths and flreets, confine the iniiabitants to their dwel- 

 lings, till a communication can be opened with their neigh- 

 bours, fometimes in the form of an arch under the vail mafs 

 of fnow. Wretched the traveller who is thus overtaken: 

 his path difappears, the precipice cannot be dillinguifhtd 

 from the level ; if he Hand he is chilled, and buried if he 

 proceed : his eye-fight fails amidll the fnowy darknefs ; his 

 relpiratinn is impeded ; his head becomes giddy ; he falls 

 and perilhes. In fummer, thunder dorms are frequent and 

 terrible, and accompanied with torrents of large I ail, which 

 dellrov the fruits and flocks, which for fix months pailure 

 on the mountain!, guarded by fliephcrds, who have tempo- 

 rary cabins of turf and reed, ll)lcd buionj." Pinkertoii'i 

 Mod. Geog. vol. i. p. 274. 



Auvergne, in the revohit'ons of France, formerly main- 

 tained a jufl pre-eminence among the independent flate* 

 end cities of Gaid. The brave and numerous iiihabi- 

 arts difplayed a fiiignlar trophy, which was the fv.ord of 

 C^lar himfelf, which he had lofl when he was repulfed 

 before the walls ol- Gcrgovia. As the common oftspring 

 of Troy, they maintained a paternal aliiaii,;e with the 

 Romans ; and if each province iiad imitated tiic courage 

 and lovalty of Auvergne, the fall of the weftern cmpii-e 

 might have been prevented or delayed. They firmly main- 

 tained the fidelity which they had reluclantly fworn to 

 the Vifigoths ; but when their biaveft nobles had fallen in 

 the baulc of Poiftiers, they accepted, without rcfillancc, a 

 vh-.torious and catholic fovereign. Th.is cafy and valuable 

 cjnquctl \ra« atchievcd, and poffeffcd by Thcodoric, the 



% D : cldeft 



