Page:1902 Encyclopædia Britannica - Volume 25 - A-AUS.pdf/680

 626

ARGYROKASTRO — ARISTIDES which has 19 Argyll ports out of 26. The following table gives particulars of these three districts in 1890, 1898, and 1899 :— Resident Total Value Boats. Value of Fishermen Gear. and Boys. of all Fish. No. Tons.

Olian (5374) is a parliamentary burgh ; all three belong to the Ayr group of parliamentary burghs. Dunoon, with Kirn and Hunter s Quay, is the principal police burgh (6772). There are 39 civil parishes, 26 of which are divided among four combinations of Islay, Lochgilphead, Lorn, and Mull, with poorhouses at Oban, Lochgilphead, Bowmore, and Campbeltown. The number of paupers and dependants in May 1899 was 2383. Argyllshire is a sheriffdom, and there are resident sheriffs-substitute at Inveraray, Campbeltown, Oban, and Fort-William, and courts are held also at Tobermory, Lochgilphead, Bowmore in Islay, and Dunoon. Education. —Forty-six school boards manage 159 schools, which had an average attendance of 11,117 in 1898-99, while 10 voluntary schools, of which 4 are Episcopal and 2 Roman Catholic, had 677. Campbeltown, Dunoon, and Oban have secondary schools, Tarbert public school has a secondary department, and 19 other schools earned grants in 1898 for giving higher education. Part of the “residue” grant is spent by the county council in subsidizing navigation and other classes in various schools, short courses in agriculture for farmers, and in providing bursaries. Agriculture,.—The greater part of the soil is moor or moss, insusceptible of cultivation, and utilized as grouse and deer forest. The acreage under crops in 1898 was only 6 "6 per cent, of the whole. Argyllshire is one of the crofting counties, but crofting is by no means universal. It is predominant in the island of Tiree and the western district of the mainland, but elsewhere farms of moderate size are the rule. In 1895 the average size of the 3272 holdings was 41 acres ; the percentage under 5 acres was 32-64 ; between 5 and 50 acres 47TO, and over 50 acres 20'26. The number of farms between 50 and 100 acres was 304 ; between 100 and 300, 305 ; between 300 and 500, 30 ; and over 500, 24. Oats are the principal corn crop, only about 1500 acres of barley being sown, and there is no wheat at all. Besides stock-raising there is a good deal of dairying in Kintyre, the leading agricultural district. The following table gives the principal acreages at intervals of live years from 1880 :— PermaGreen under Corn Clover. nent Year. Area Crops. Crops. Crops. Pasture. 1880 119,219 23,548 12,761 20,180 61,097 1597 1885 124,797 22,830 11,673 25,112 63,866 1316 1890 133,005 21,486 11,282 27,328 72,389 505 1895 134,063 20,444 10,644 26,999 75,222 725 1899 134,709 19,912 10,348 27,807 76,137 460 The following table gives particulars of the live the same years :— Cows or Total Total Heifers Sheep. in Year. Horses. Cattle. Milk or Calf. 1,021,948 1880 7204 59,976 22,385 1,000,653 1885 6930 62,235 23,106 1,008,279 1890 6662 59,627 22,747 1,026,712 1895 7025 60,005 22,446 984,304 1899 6367 61,698 22,888

stock during Pigs. 3758 4645 4981 4905 4285

The acreage under wood in 1895 was 48,412, of which 2068 had been planted since 1881. From the commencement of the operation of the Crofters’ Act in 1886 down to the end of 1898, 1097 applications to fix fair rent were dealt with by the Commission, and rents amounting to £6949 were reduced to £4825, and of £12,075 of arrears £7548 were cancelled. The Commissioners have dealt with 146 applications for enlargement of holdings, and have added 4663 acres to existing crofts. At the census of 1891 the number of persons engaged in agriculture was 8234 men and 900 women. Deer forests covered 232,698 acres in 1899, an increase of 16,000 since 1883, and their annual value was £7434. Industries and Trade.—Coarse woollens are still made for home use. The following table gives particulars of the mineral industry for 1885 and 1895 ; the figures showing the output of coal cover Dumfries as well as Argyll:— Coal. Granite. Year. Value. Tons. Tons. 1885 105,733 £24,671 17,938 £25,364 1895 113,945 £28,486 34,340 £60,977 37,211 £13,401 1899 154,786 £58,600 30,580 £62,440 66,128 £19,156 Fishing is the most important industry. Argyllshire ports and creeks are represented in four fishery districts, but as the Rothesay district comprises only a few Argyll ports, statistics may best be given for the fishery districts of Inveraray and Campbeltown, which are exclusively Argyll, and Fort-William,

1890 1898 1899

1537 6622 £35,807 £31,189 1062 4367 £20,000 £20,823 1023 3716 £20,225 £20,682

4122 2570 3464

£105,175 £87,929 £101,066

£82,902 of the total value of fish in 1899 was the value of herrings only ; £6992 the value of shell-fish. In the greater part of the districts the herring fishing is an autumn one. The Lochfyne fishing, which is the most important, lasts from June to January. White fishing is carried on at one or other of the ports all the year round. The number of persons employed in the three districts in connexion with the various branches of the sea fisheries in 1898 was 3873. The railway mileage has been increased by about 56 miles since 1875, and a light railway (18| m.) from Loch Long to Loch Fyne has been sanctioned. Authorities.—The (Eighth) Duke of Argyll. Commercial Principles Applied to the Hire of Land. London, 1877.—Crofts and Farms in the Hebrides. Edinburgh, 1883.—Iona. Edinburgh, 1889.—Scotland as it JVas and Is. Edinburgh, 1887.—House of Argyll. Glasgow, 1871.—A. Brown. Memorials of Argyllshire. Greenock, 1889.—Harvie-Blown and Buckley. Vertebrate Fauna of Argyll and the Inner Hebrides. Edinburgh, 1892.—D. Clerk. “ On the Agriculture of the County of Argyll ” {Trans, of H. and A. Soc. 1878).—T. Gray. Week at Oban. Edinburgh, 1881.—Stewart. Collection of Views of Campbeltown. (w. Wa.) Argfyrokastro, or Ergeri, a town of Turkey, on the river Drina in South Albania (Epirus). It is the chief town of the sanjak of the same name, which is one of the four composing the vilayet of Janina as reduced by the annexation of Thessaly to Greece. Its population numbers 9000. Arica or San IViarcos de Arica, a town and port in the Chilian province of Tacna and capital of the department of Arica, situated in 18° 28' 8" S. lat. and 70° 20' 46" W. long. Its population in 1895 was 2853. It is the centre of a great mining district, and is connected with Tacna by rail. The territory of Arica and of Tacna fell into Chilian hands during the war of 1879 with Peru. In 1898, 295 vessels of 493,447 tons entered, and 296 of 494,784 tons cleared. The customs dues on imports into Arica in 1897 were 144,713 pesos (gold), and in 1898, 99,084. An&gfe, a department in the S. of France, resting on the Pyrenees and watered by the Ariege. Area, 1893 square miles. The population declined to 237,619 in 1886 and 219,641 in 1896. Births in 1899, 4004, of which 149 were illegitimate ; deaths, 4374 ; marriages, 1543. The chief towns are Foix, Pamiers, and St Girons. In 1896 the schools numbered 776, with 32,000 pupils. Eight per cent of the population was illiterate. The area cultivated was 917,839 acres, of which 353,269 acres was plough-land. The mountains give very good pasture. In 1899 wheat yielded a return of the value of £225,037. Maize is also a profitable culture, as are likewise potatoes, which gave a return of 2,035,145 cwts. in 1898. Among the industrial cultures flax is the only noteworthy one. In 1899 the live stock numbered 573,560 head. Ariege produced in 1898 26,000 tons of iron ore, and 23,000 tons of copper, argentiferous lead, and manganese (mines of Mcdessos). The metallurgic industry yielded 48,000 tons of iron, cast-iron, and steel, of the value of £304,000. The other industries, with the exception of the manufacture of paper, are inconsiderable. Arish. See Arabia. Aristides, Apology of.—Until 1878 our knowledge of Aristides was confined to the statement of Eusebius that he was an Athenian philosopher who presented an apology “ concerning the faith ” to the Emperor Hadrian. In that year, however, the Mechitarists of S. Lazzaro at Venice published a fragment in Armenian from the beginning of the apology; and in 1889 Dr llendel Harris found the whole of it in, a Syriac version on Mount Sinai. While his edition was