Professional Paper, No. 45), with various maps (see National
Geographic Mag., May 1904, lor a map embodying all knowledge
then known); ``Altitudes in Alaska'' (Bulletin 100, by H.
Gannett); ``Geographic Dictionary of Alaksa'' (Bulletin
299, Washington, 1906), by M. Baker; United States Post
Office, ``Map of Alaska'' (1901); United States Coast and
Geodetic Survey, Bulletins and maps; Bulletin American
Geographieal Society, February 1902, F. S. Schrader, ``Work
of the United States Geological Survey in Alaska''; Journal
of Franklin Institute, October and November 1904, W. R.
Abercrombie---``The Copper River Country of Alaska''; I. C.
Russell, Glaciers of North America. . . . Ivan Petroff, Report
Industries.--United States Census, 1880, Ivan Petroff,
Report on the Population, Industries and Resources of
Alaska; United States Census, 1890 and 1900; on reindeer,
Fifteenth Annuat Report on Introduction of Domestic Reindeer
into Alaska, by Sheldon Jackson (Washington, 1906); on
agriculture, United States Department of Agriculture, Experiment
Stations, Bulletin Nos. 48, 62, 82 . . . (1898-1900); Seal
and Salmon Fisheries and General Industries of Alaska,
1868-1805 (Washington, 1898) (United States Treasury, also
55 Congress, 1 Session, House Document 92, vols. vi.-x.),
4 vols.; D. S. Jordan et al., The Fur Seals and Fur Seal
Islanids (or Peport of ln.: also many special reports on
the seals published by the voln.: also many special reports
on the seals published by the United States Treasury: for
Report of British seal experts, Creat Britain, Foreign Office
Correspondence, United States, No. 3 (1897), No. 1 (1898).
History and Government.--H. H. Bancroft, Alaska, 1730-1885
(San Francisco, 1886); W. H. Dall, ``Alaska as it was and
is, 1863-1893,'' in Bulletin of the Philadelphia Society of
Washington, xiii.; Governor of Alaska, Annual Report to the
Secretary of the Interior; Fur Seal Arbitration, Proceedings
(Washington, 1895, 46 vols.l: also Great Britain, Foreign
Office Correspondence, United States, Nos. 6, 7, 8 (1893), No.
1 (1895); Alaskan Boundary Tribunal, Cases, Counter-cases,
Arguments, Atlases of United States and Great Britain
(Washington, 1903 seq.); and a rich periodical literature.
Population, Natives.--United States National Museum,
Ann. Report (1896); W. Hough, ``Lamp of the Eskimo''
(long, and of general interest): F. Knapp and R. L. Childe,
The Thlinkets of South-Eastern Alaska (Chicago, 1896).
1 At Kodiak, the monthly means range from 28 deg. to 33 deg. with a
total range from -10 deg. to 82 deg. F., as against -5 deg. to 87 deg. F.
at Sitka; the average temperature is 40.6 deg. F., rainfall 59 in.
2 At St Michael the mean annual temperature is about 26 deg. ,
the monthly means run from about -2 deg. to 54 deg. , and the extreme
recorded temperatures from about -55 deg. to 77 deg. F.; at Port
Clarence the annual mean is 22 deg. lmonthly means -7 deg. to 51 deg.
F.; extreme range of temperature, -38 deg. to 77 deg. F.; at Point
Barrow the annual mean is 7.70 F'., monthly means -18.6 deg.
to 38.1 deg. F., extreme range of temperature -55 deg. to 65 deg. F.
3 The mean annual temperature on the Yukon at the international
line is about 21 deg. F., the monthly means run from -17 deg. to 60 deg.
F., the range of extreme temperatures from -80 deg. to 90 deg. F.
4 At Fort Yukon five years' records showed mean seasonal
temperatures of 14 deg. , 60 deg. , 17 deg. , and -23.8 deg. F. for spring,
summer, autumn and winter respectively: at Holy Cross Mission 20 deg. ,
59 deg. , 36 deg. and 0.95 deg. , at Nulato 29 deg. , 60 deg. , 36 deg. and -14 deg. . `
5 The Harriman expedition collected in two months 1000 species of
insects, of which 344 species (and 6 genera) were new to science.
6 The trees here grow as large as 10 in. in diameter and 40 or
50 ft. high; the branches do nor spread, even where there is room,
so ihat the tallest tree has a top only four or five feet broad;
the roots, which cannot penetrate the shaded and frozen soil,
spread over the ice or shallowly into the tundra carpeting, and
often only by their matted neiwork prevent the fall of the trees.
7 280 species of mosses proper, of which 46 were new to science,
and 16 varieties of peat moss (Sphognum) were listed by the
Harriman expedition; and 74 species or varieties of ferns.
8 The value of the total aroduct of Alaska's fish canneries
was in 1905 $7,735,782, or 29.3% of the total for the
United States; in 1900 it was 17.4% of the country's total.
9 Seattle, Sitka and Valdez are connected by cable;
telegraoh lines run from the Panhandle inland to
the Yukon and down its valley to Fort St Michael.
ALASSIO, a town of Liguria, Italy, on the N.W. coast
of the Gulf of Genoa, in the province of Genoa, 57
m. S.W. of the town of the same name by rail. Pop. (1901)
5630. It is mainly noticeable as a health resort in winter
and a bathing-place in summer, and has many hotels. The
anchorage is safe, and the bay full of fish; the harbour
has a certain amount of trade. The old town contains one
or two interesting churches, and commands a fine view.
ALASTOR, in Greek mythology, the spirit of revenge, which
prompts the members of a family to commit fresh crimes to obtain
satisfaction. These crimes necessitate further acts of
vengeance, and the curse is thus transmitted from generation to
generation. The word is also used for a man's evil genius,
which drives him to sin without any provocation; a man so
driven is sometimes called Alastor. The epithet is applied to
Zeus and the Erinyes as the deities of revenge and punishment.
ALA-TAU (``Variegated Mountains''), the name of six
mountain ranges in Asiatic Russia. Three of these are in the
government of Semiryechensk in Central Asia, all belonging to
the Tianshan system:---(1) the Terskei Ala-tau, south of and
parallel to the lake of Issyk-kul; (2) the Kunghei Ala-tau,
and (3) the Trans-Ili Ala-tau, both N. of and parallel to the
same lake; and (4) the Dzungarian Ala-tau, lying N. of the Ili
depression. The first three link together the Tian-shan and
the Alexander Range. Their mean elevation is 6000--7000 ft.;
their culminating point, Talgar, on a transverse ridge between
(2) and (3), reaches 15,000 ft.; the limits of perpetual
snow run at 11,000-11,700 ft. The Dzungarian Ala-tau reach a
maximum altitude of 11,000 ft. and have a mean altitude of 6250
ft. From the middle of the Alexander Range another range
(5) called Ala-tau, or Talastau, strikes west by south. The
name Ala-tau also enters into the designation of (6), a range
between the upper Yenisei and the upper Ob, in the government
of Tomsk, namely, the Kuznetsk Ala-tau, forming an outlier of
the Altai Mountains, and reaching 6000-7000 ft. in altitude.
ALAUNA, ALAUNUS, the Celtic names of two rivers, &c., in Roman
Britain. Hence the modern Allan Water, river Alyn, &c.
ALAVA, DON MIGUEL RICARDO DE (1770-1841), Spanish general
and statesman, was born at Vittoria in 1770. He served first
in the navy, and had risen to be captain of a frigate when he
exchanged intorthe army, receiving corresponding rank. He
was present as a marine at the battle of Trafalgar on board the
flagship of his uncle Admiral Alava. In politics he followed
a very devious course. At the assembly of Bayonne in 1808 he
was one of the most prominent of those who accepted the new
constitution from Joseph Bonaparte as king of Spain. After the
national rising against French aggression, and the defeat of
General Dupont at Bailen in 1808, Alava joined the national
independent party, who were fighting in alliance with the
English. The Spanish Cortes appointed him commissary at the
English headquarters, and the duke of Wellington, who regarded
him with great favour, made him one of his aides-decamp.
Before the close of the campaign he had risen to the rank of
brigadier-general. On the restoration of Ferdinand,
Alava was cast into prison, but the influence of his uncle
Ethenard, the inquisitor, and of Wellington secured his speedy
release. He soon contrived to gain the favour of the king,
who appointed him in 1815 ambassador to the Hague. It was
therefore his remarkable forrune to be present at the battle
of Waterloo with Wellington's staff. He is supposed to
have been the only man who was present at both Waterloo and
Trafalgar. Four years later he was recalled owing, it is
said, to the marked kindness he had shown to his banished
fellow-countrymen. On the breaking out of the revolution
of 1820 he was chosen by the province of Alava to represent
it in the Cortes, where he became conspicuous in the party
of the Exallados, and in 1822 was made president. In
the latter year he fought with the militia under Francisco
Ballesteros and Pablo Murillo to maintain the authority of
the Cortes against the rebels. When the French invested
Cadiz, Alava was commissioned by the Cortes to treat with
the duc d'Angouleme, and the negotiations resulted in the
restoration of Ferdinand, who pledged himself to a liberal
policy. No sooner had he regained power, however, than
he ceased to hold himself bound by his promises, and
Alava found it necessary to retire first to Gibraltar and
then to England. On the death of Ferdinand he returned to
Spain, and espousing the cause of Maria Christina against
Don Carlos was appointed ambassador to London in 1834 and
to Paris in 1835. After the insurrection of La Granja he
refused to sign the constitution of 1812, declaring himself
tired of taking new oaths, and was consequently obliged
to retire to France, where he died at Bareges in 1843.
Frequent and honourable mention of Alava is made in Napier's
History of the Peninsular War, and his name is often met borh
in lives of the duke of Wellington and in his correspondence.
ALAVA, one of the Basque Provinces of northern Spain;
bounded on the N. by Biscay and Guipuzcoa, E. by Navarre, S. by
Logrono, and W. by Burgos. Pop. (1900) 96,385; area 1175 sq.
m. The countship of Trevino (190 sq. m.) in the centre of
Alava belongs to the province of Burgos. The surface of
Alava is very mountainous, especially on the north, where
a part of the Pyrenees forms its natural boundary. It is
separated from Logrono by the river Ebro, and its other rivers
are the Zadorra and the Ayuda. The climate is mild in summer,
fitful in autumn and spring, and very cold in winter, as even
the plains are high and shut in on three sides by mountains
snow-clad during several months. The soil in the valleys
is fertile, yielding wheat, barley, maize, flax, hemp and
fruits. Oil and a poor kind of wine called chacoli are also
produced. Many of the mountains are clothed with forests
of oak, chestnuts, beeches and other trees, and contain
iron, copper, lead and marble. Salt is also found in large
quantities; but mining and quarrying are not practised
on a large scale; only lead, lignite and asphalt being
worked. There are mineral waters in many places. Other
local industries of some importance include smelting, and
manufactures of beds, furniture, railway carriages, matches,
paper, sweets and woollen and cotton goods. Bread-stuffs.
colonial products and machinery are largely imported. Few
provinces in Spain are inhabited by so laborious, active and
well-to-do a population. The primary schools are numerously
attended, and there are very good normal schools for teachers
of both sexes, and a model agricultural farm: The public
roads and other works of the province are excellent, and,
like those of the rest of the Basque provinces, entirely kept
up by local initiative and taxes. Railways from Madrid to
