46' E. On this island Bartholomew Diaz made his second landing
in South Africa some time after the 3rd of February 1488, and
from the cross which he is thought to have erected on it the
island gets its name. Algoa Bay was the first landing-place
of the British emigrants to the eastern province of Cape
Colony in 1820. At a spot 6 m. N.E. of Cape Recife these
emigrants founded a town, Port Elizabeth (q.v.), its harbour
being sheltered from all winds save the S.E. By seafarers
``Algoa Bay'' is used as synonymous with Port Elizabeth.
ALGOL, the Arabic name (signifying ``the Demon'') of b
Persei, a star of the second magnitude, noticed by G. Montanari
in 1669 to fluctuate in brightness. John Goodricke established
in 1782 the periodicity of its change in about 2d 21h and
suggested their cause in recurring eclipses by a large dark
satellite. Their intermittent character prompted the
supposition. The light of Algol remains constant during close
upon 56 hours; then declines in 6 1/2 hours (approximately)
to nearly one-fourth its normal amount, and is restored by
sensibly the same gradations. The amplitude of the phase
is 1.1 magnitude; and the absence of any stationary interval
at minimum proves the eclipse to be partial, not annular.
Its conditions were investigated from photometric data, by
Professor E. C. Pickering in 1880;1 and their realization
was finally demonstrated by Dr H. C. Vogel's spectroscopic
measures in 1889.2 Previously to each obscuration, the
star was found to be moving rapidly away from the earth; its
velocity then diminished to zero pari passu with the loss
of light, and reversed its direction during the process of
recovery. Algol, in fact, travels at the rate of 26.3 miles
a second round the centre of gravity of the system which it
forms with an invisible companion, while the two together
approach the sun with an unvarying speed of 2.3 miles per
second. The elements of this disparate pair, calculated by Dr
Vogel on the somewhat precarious assumption that its dark and
bright members are of equal mean density, are as follows:--
Diameter of Algol . . . . 1,061,000 English miles.
'' Satellite . . . 834,300 '' ''
Distance from centre to centre. 3,230,000 '' ''
Mass of Algol . . . . . 4/9 solar mass.
'' Satellite . . . . 2/9 '' ''
Mean density . . . . . about 1/4 solar.
The plane of the joint orbit, in which no deviation from
circularity has yet been detected, nearly coincides with
the line of sight. The period of Algol, as measured by its
eclipses, is subject to complex irregularities. It shortened
fitfully by eight seconds between 1790 and 1879; soon afterwards,
restoration set in, and its exact length in 1903 was 2d
20h 48m 56s, being only two seconds short of its original
value. By an exhaustive discussion, Dr S. Chandler ascertained
in 1888 the compensatory nature of these disturbances;3 and
he afterwards found the most important among several which
probably conspire to produce the observed effects, to be
comprised in a period of 15,000 light-cycles, equivalent to
118 years.4 An explanatory hypothesis, propounded by him in
1892,5 is still on its trial. The system of Algol, according
to this view, is triple; it includes a large, obscure primary,
round which the eclipsing pair revolves in an orbit somewhat
smaller than that of Uranus, very slightly elliptical, and
inclined 20 deg. to the line of sight, the periodic time being 118
years. The alternate delay and acceleration of the eclipses
are then merely apparent; they represent the changes in the
length of the light-journey as the stars perform their wide
circuit. If these suppositions have a basis of reality, the
proper motion of Algol should be disturbed by a small, but
measurable undulation, corresponding to the projection of its
orbit upon the sky; and although certainty on the point cannot be
attained for some years to come, Lewis Boss regarded the evidence
available in 1895 as tending to confirm Dr Chandler's theory.6
A rival interpretation of the phenomena it dealt with
was put forward by F. Tisserand in 1895.7 It involved
the action of no third mass, but depended solely upon the
progression of the line of apsides in a moderately elliptical
orbit due to the spheroidal shape of the globes traversing
it. Inequalities of the required sort in the returns of
the eclipses would ensue; moreover, their duration should
concomitantly vary with the varying distance from periastron at
the times of their occurrence. It is a moot question whether
changes of the latter kind actually occur. When they are
proved to do so, Tisserand's hypothesis will hold the field.
Algol gives a helium-spectrum which undergoes no alteration at
minimum. Hence the light from the marginal and central portions
of the disc is identical in quality, and the limb can be
little, if at all, darkened by the ``smoke-veil'' absorption
conspicuous in the sun. The rays of this star spend close
upon a century in travelling hither. Dr Chase's measures with
the Yale heliometer indicated for it, in 1894, a parallax of
about 0'' .035;8 and it must, accordingly, be of nearly four
times the total brightness of Sirius, while its aerial lustre
exceeds seventy- fold that of the solar photosphere. Variables
of the Algol class are rendered difficult to discover by the
incidental character of their fluctuations. At the end of
1905, however, about 37 had been certainly recognized, besides
some outlying cases of indeterminate type, in which continuous
occultations by two bright stars, revolving in virtual
contact, are doubtfully supposed to be in progress. (A. M. C.)
1 Proceedings Amer. Acad. vol. xvi. p. 27.
2 Astr. Nach. No. 2947. 3 Astr. Journal, No. 165.
4 Ibid. No. 509. 5 Ibid. Nos. 255-256. 6 Ibid. No. 343.
7 Comptes Rendus, t. cxx. p 125. 8 Astr. Jour. No. 318.
ALGONQUIN, or ALGONKIN (a word formerly regarded as a
French contraction of Algomequin, ``those on the other
side'' of the river, viz. the St Lawrence, hut now believed to
be from the Micmac algoomaking--``at the place of spearing
fish''), a collective term for a number of tribes of North
American Indians dwelling in the valley of the Ottawa river
and around the northern tributaries of the St Lawrence.
The Algonquins allied themselves with the French against the
Iroquois. Many were driven west by the latter and later became
known as Ottawa. The French missionaries at work among the
Algonquins early in the 17th century found their language
to be the key to the many Indian dialects now included by
philologists under the general term ``Algonquian stock.''
The chief tribes included in this stock were the Algonquin,
Malecite, Micmac, Nascapi, Pennacook, Fox, Kickapoo, Delaware,
Cheyenne, Conoy, Cree, Mohican, Massachuset, Menominee, Miami,
Misisaga, Mohegan, Nanticoke, Narraganset, Nipmuc, Ojibway,
Ottawa, Pequot, Potawatami, Sac, Shawnee and Wampanoag. The
Indians of Algonquian stock number between 80,000 and 90,000,
of whom rather more than half are in the United States, the
rest being in Canada. Of the Algonquins proper there remain
about 1500 settled in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario.
For details see Handbook of American
Indians, ed. F. W. Hodge, Washington, 1907.
ALGUAZIL, a Spanish title often to be met in stories and
plays, derived from the Arabic ``visir'' and the article, ``
al.'' The alguazil among the early Spaniards was a judge, and
sometimes the governor of a town or fortress. In later times he
has gradually sunk down to the rank of an officer of the court,
who is trusted with the service of writs and certain police
duties, but he is still of higher rank than the mere corchete or
catch-poll. The title has also been given to inspectors of
weights and measures in market-places, and similar officials.
ALGUM, or ALMUG TREE. The Hebrew words Algummim or
Almuggim are translated Algum or Almug trees in the authorized
version of the Bible (see 1 Kings x. 11, 12; 2 Chron. ii. 8,
and ix. 10, 11); almug is an erroneous form (see Max Muller,
Science of Language, vol. i.). The wood of the tree was
very precious, and was brought from Ophir (probably some part of
India), along with gold and precious stones, by Hiram, and was
used in the formation of pillars for the temple at Jerusalem,
and for the king's house; also for the inlaying of stairs,
as well as for harps and psalteries. It is probably the red
sanders or red sandal-wood of India ( Pterocarpus santalinus.)
This tree belongs to the natural order Leguminosae, sub-order
Papilionaceae. The wood is hard, heavy, close-grained and of
a fine red colour. It is different from the white fragrant
sandal-wood, which is the produce of Santalum album, a
tree belonging to a distinct natural order Santalaceae.
ALHAMA DE GRANADA, a town of southern Spain, in the province
of Granada, 24 m. S.W. of Granada. Pop. (1900) 7679. Alhama
is finely situated on a ledge of rock which overlooks a deep
gorge traversed by the river Marchan or Alhama; while the rugged
peaks of the Sierra de Alhamarise behind it to a height of 6800
ft. The town is largely modern; for over one thousand of
its picturesque old Moorish houses, which formerly rose in
terraces up the mountain side, were destroyed, together with
five churches, the hospital, the theatre, the prison, and
800 of the inhabitants, in an earthquake which took place in
1884. Subscriptions were received from all parts of Spain,
and the present town was built at a little distance from its
predecessor. Few vestiges of antiquity survived, except the
baths from which Alhama (in Arabic ``the Bath'') derives its
name. These are situated near the river, and appear to have
been used continuously since Roman times (c. 19 B.C.-
A.D. 409) . The temperature of the hot sulphurous springs is
about 112 deg. F.; and, as the waters are considered beneficial
in cases of rheumatism and dyspepsia, many visitors come
to Alhama in spring and autumn, attracted also by the fine
scenery of the district. In the 15th century Alhama, and
the neighbouring fortress of Loja (q.v.), were generally
regarded as the keys of the kingdom of Granada, and their
capture went far to insure the overthrow of the Moorish
power. Alhama was taken by the Spanish marquis of Cadiz
in 1482; and its fall is celebrated in an ancient ballad,
Ay de mi, Alhama, which Byron translated into English.
ALHAMBRA, THE, an ancient palace and fortress of the Moorish
monarchs of Granada, in southern Spain, occupying a hilly
terrace on the south-eastern border of the city of Granada.
This terrace or plateau, which measures about 2430 ft. in
length by 674 ft. at its greatest width, extends from W.N.W. to
E.S.E., and covers an area of about 35 acres. It is enclosed
by a strongly fortified wall, which is flanked by thirteen
towers. The river Darro, which foams through a deep ravine on
the north, divides the plateau from the Albaicin district of
Granada; the Assabica valley, containing the Alhambra Park, on
the west and south, and beyond this valley the almost parallel
ridge of Monte Mauror, separate it from the Antequeruela district.
The name Alhambra, signifying in Arabic ``the red,'' is
probably derived from the colour of the sun-dried tapia,
or bricks made of fine gravel and clay, of which the outer
walls are built. Some authorities, however, hold that it
commemorates the red flare of the torches by whose light the
work of construction was carried on nightly for many years;
others associate it with the name of the founder, Mahomet
