A Z A 



A Z A 



retired here upon being attnckej with a leprofy, cflabliflied a 

 la/ai--houfe, and conlerred conlidevable favours on the town, 

 and the neighbouring village of Priellwich. Its population is 

 1724. 



Ayr, a river of Scotland, rifes in the pariih of Muirkirk, 

 in the above county, and after a courfe of about ei;j;liteen miles 

 due weft, falls into the frith of Clyde, at the town juft defcrib- 

 ed. Its banks are ileep and romantic in fome places, but in 

 others it often overflows its (hores, and dots conliderable da- 

 mage. — Alfo, a river of France, which runs into the Aifne 

 near Grandpre. 



AY RAINES, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Somme, and chief place of a canton in the diftrift of 

 Amiens, nine miles S. S. E. of Abbeville. 



AYRSTOWN, or Ayfrstown, a town of America, 

 in Burlington county. New Jerfey, fituate on the middle 

 branch of Ancocus creek, fixteen miles from the mouth of 

 the creek in the Delaware, and thirteen fouthcaft from 

 Burlington. 



AYRY. See Aery. 



AYSCUE, Ayscough, or Askew, Sir George, in Bio- 

 graphy, an eminent Englirti admiral of the feventeenth cen- 

 tury, was defcended from a good family in Lincolnfhire ; 

 and entering into the fea-fervice in his youth, acquired the 

 reputation of an able and experienced officer, and obtained 

 the honour of knighthood from king Charles I. Adher- 

 ing, however, to the parliament in the civil war, he was 

 conllituted admiral of the Irilli feas, where he i^ faid to 

 have rendered great fervice to the proteftant intcrell, and 

 to have contributed much to the reduflion of the whole 

 ifland. In 1651, he reduced the iflands of Scilly, and 

 alfo Barbadoes and Virginia, to the cjbedience of the parlia- 

 ment ; and he afterwards behaved with great honour in the 

 war with the Dutch. In 1666, vvhilll he was engaged 

 with the Dutch fleet, his fhip was driven upon the Galloper- 

 fand ; and being furroundcd with enemies, and defpairing 

 of help from friends, he was obliged to furiender. After 

 this difafter, he went no more to fea ; but fpent the remain- 

 der of his days in retirement. Biog. Brit. 



AYSIAMENTA, orAvziAMENTA. SccEasement. 



AYSLINGEN, in Geography, a market town of Ger- 

 many, in a prefcAurate of the fame name, in the diocefe of 

 Augfljurg, fituate on the Danube. 



AYST, a river of Auftria, in the Blach quarter, on 

 which is feated the market town of Waldhanfen. 



AYTON, or AiTON, a fmall town of Greece, in Liva- 

 dia, five leagues north of the Dardanelles of Lepanto. This 

 is thought to be the ancient town of jiitolia, called Calydon 

 Aqu'dic, 



AYUD, AuDiN, or Hawd, a province of Hindoftan, 

 containing the moft northern countries belonging to the 

 Moguls, fuch as Kakares, Bankilh, Nagarkat, Siba, and 

 others. It is lituatcd to the northwcll of the Ganges, and 

 watered by rivers which fall into it ; fo that, notwTthftand- 

 ing its mountains, it is exceedingly fertile ; and its trade 

 with the countries to the north-eaft renders it very rich. 

 In this province there are many independent rajahs, and 

 two remarkable pagodas, one at Nagarkat, dedicated to the 

 idol Matta, and the other at Kalamak, which is venerated, 

 becaufe the Indians regard it as miraculous, that the water 

 of the town fliould be very cold, and yet fpring from a rock 

 that continually throws out flames. 



AZA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Afia, in Syria, 

 feated on an eminence to the vvtfl; of one of the branches of 

 the river Chains, fouth-weft of Chaonia. — Alfo, an ancitnt 

 town of the Leffer Armenia, placed by the Antonine Iti- 

 nerary in the route from Casfarea to Sangala, 26 miles from 

 the latter place — Alfo, a name given in the time of Steph. 



Byz. to the town of Gaza Alfo, a town of Paleftlne, in 



the tribe of Ephraim. 



AZAB, UssAB. or Saba, in Geography, a territory on 

 the Abylhuian conft of the Arabian gulf, near the flraits ol 

 Babelmandeb, which has been, from time immemorial, the 

 mart of frankincenfc, myrrh, and balfam. Behind Saba, 

 upon the Indian ocean, is the " Regio Cinnamonifcra," 

 where a conliderable quantity of that wild cinnamon grows, 

 which the Italian druggifts call "canella." Azab, or Sabaj 

 was formerly a principal Ilation of the caravans, which 

 traded to Arabia. It lies in N. lat. 13° 5'. E. long. 43° 5'. 

 and though it is not a l)ort, it affords a very tolerable road, 

 where is very fafe riding, under the flielter of a low defert 

 iflvind, called " Crab Ifland," with a few rocks at the end 

 of it. The people, however, fays Mr. Bruce, are Galla, 

 the mofl treacherous and villainous wretches upon the earth. 

 They are " Shepherds," who fometimes refort to the coafts 

 in great numbers, and fometimes traverfe the hinder part of 

 the hills that run clofe along the fliore, and occupy miferable 

 villages compofed of huts, that run nearly in an call and 

 weft dircftion from Azab to Rnhteta, the largeft of all their 

 villages. At Azab may be had plenty of water, Iheep, and 

 goats, and alfo fomc myrrh and inccnfe at the proper feafon. 

 But no confidence is to be had in the people. Thofe of 

 Moclia, who are abfoluttly necelTary to them in their com- 

 mercial tranfaclions, cannot trull them without furety or 

 hollages. Near iVzab there are large luins, which feem to 

 indicate its former magnitude and importance. There is 

 elpecially an aqueduft, which, in remote times, furnilhed a 

 very coiifiderable fupply of water from a fountain in the 

 mountains, which muft have greatly contributed to the 

 beauty, health, and pleafure of the place. This i^ con- 

 llrudled with large maffy blocks of marble, brought from 

 the neighbouring mountains, placed upon one another with- 

 out lime or cement, but joined with thick cramps, or bars 

 of brafs. There is likewife a number of wells, not fix feet 

 wide, compofed of pieces of marble hewn to parts of a 

 circle, and joined with fimiiar bars of brafs. This circum- 

 ftance is foniewhat furprifing, as we are informed by Aga- 

 tharcides (p. 60.), that the Alileans and Caflandrins, in the 

 fouthern parts of Arabia, jull oppofite to Azab, had among 

 them gold in fuch plenty, that they would give double the 

 weight of gold for iron, triple its weight for brafs, and ten 

 times its weight for filver ; and that in digging the earth, 

 pieces of gold were found as big as olive-ltones, and fome 

 much larger. However this be, the inhabitants of the con- 

 tinent, and of the peninfula of Arabia oppofite to it, agree, 

 that this was the royal feat of the queen of Saba, famous 

 in eccleliaftical hiftory for her journey to Jerufalem ; that 

 thcfe works belonged to her, and were erefted at the place 

 of her refidence ; and that all the gold, filver, and perfumes 

 came from her kingdom of Sofala, which was Ophir, and 

 which reached from thence to Azab, upon the borders o£ 

 the Red Sea, along the coaft of the Indian ocean. See 

 Abyssinia. 



The ruins at Azab, as well as thofe at Axum (See 

 Axum), appear to be thofe of public buildings, and not 

 of private dwellings ; and from this eircumftance it has been 

 inferred, that thefe were not cities of conftant refidence, 

 but rather places of refort, where the adventurous traders 

 and their attendants lived, as ufual, in their tents, but 

 where their religious rites were celebrated with the grcatcft 

 ' folemnity, and in a manner becoming the difpofitions of 

 men, who ventured in expeditions acrofs the deferts,. far 

 more difficult and dangerous than acrofs the Atlantic ; 

 whence, we may alfo imagine, was derived the great influence, 

 or rather power, of the order of priefts, who perhaps were 

 the only conftant inhabitants of thefe fpots, which they 



wilhed 



