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ARMAGH — ARMENIA

The place was formerly the estate of the Lee family, and was confiscated by the Government, the family finally receiving payment for it. The grounds are beautifully laid out, and the old Lee mansion remains unchanged. Armagh, an inland county of Ireland, province of Ulster, bounded on the N". by Lough Neagh, on the W. by Down, on the S. by Louth, and on the W. by Monaghan and Tyrone. Population.—The area of the administrative county.in 1899 was 312,659 acres, of which 132,269 were tillage, 141,455 pasture, 514 fallow, 3141 plantation, 6416 turf hog, 2493 marsh, 7473 barren mountain, and 18,898 water, roads, fences, &c. The new administrative county under the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, does not include the portion of the town of Newry, formerly situated in Armagh. Population (1881), 163,177 ; (1891), 143,289 ; (1901), 125,238, of whom 59,687 were males and 65,551 females, divided as follows among the different religious sects:—Roman Catholics, 56,707 ; Protestant Episcopalians, 40,853; Presbyterians, 20,029; Methodists, 5066; and other denominations, 2583. The decrease of population between 1881 and 1891 was 12T9 per cent, and between 1891 and 1901 it was 9‘2 per cent. Of the total population in 1891, 107,180 persons inhabited the rural districts, an average of 255 persons to each square mile under crops and pasture. Education.—The following table gives the degree of education in 1891 :—

18S1 1891 1895 1899

Horses and Mules. 13,988 14,969 15,367 14,001

2124 2459 2332 2394

77,008 88,524 86,337 88,743

Sheep.

Pigs.

Poultry.

8,970 25,216 18,674 21,093

21,388 9,250 31,442 10,536 27,957 9,216 26,960 8,589

396,256 470,673 540,099 616,914

The number of milch cows in 1891 was 31,311, and in 1899, 30,848. It is estimated that the total value of cattle, sheep, and pigs in 1899 was £1,158,077. In 1899 the number of holdings not exceeding 1 acre was 1690 ; between 1 and 5, 3735 ; between 5 and 15, 8355 ; between 15 and 30, 4334 ; between 30 and 50, 1401 ; between 50 and 100, 532 ; between 100 and 200, 95 ; between 200 and 500, 20; and above 500, only 1—total 20,163. The number of loans issued (the number of tenants being the same as the number of loans) under the Land Purchase Acts, 1885, 1891, and 1896, up to 31st March 1900, was 1360, amounting to £337,101. The number of loans sanctioned for agricultural improvements under sect. 31 of the Land Act, 1881, between 1882 and 1900 was 99, and the amount issued, £5203, the smallest amount issued in any Irish county. The total amount issued on loan for all classes of works under the Land Improvement Acts from the commencement of operations to 31st March 1900 was £22,363, also the smallest amount issued in any Irish county. (w. H. Po.) Afmag'hj a city in the above county, 64 miles N. of Dublin, and 30 S.W. of Belfast by rail. It ceased to be a parliamentary borough in 1885. The corporation Percentage. was abolished in 1841, and the administration since 1898 Males. Females. Total. has been in the hands of an urban district council. The R.C. Pr. Epis. Presb. Callan, which flows into the Blackwater, passes near the Read and write. 41,979 42,381 84,360 55-9 68-1 82-6 Read only. , 8,078 12,324 20,402 17-3 16-6 11-3 town, and the Ulster Canal is within 4 miles. There are Illiterate. . . 10,864 13,120 23,984 26-8 15-3 6'1 frequent markets and a fair once a month. Population In 1881 the percentage of illiterates among Roman Catholics was (1881), 10,070; (1891), 7438; (1901), 7569. 32-6. In 1891 there were 19 superior schools with 428 pupils (133 Armavir., Two places of this name must be menRoman Catholics and 295 Protestants), and 290 primary schools with 20,655 pupils (8996 Roman Catholics and 11,659 Protestants). tioned. (1) The ruins of the old capital of Armenia, on The number of pupils on the rolls of the national schools on 30th the S.E. slope of the extinct volcano Ala-ghoz, built by September 1899 was 24,332, of whom 10,795 were Roman Catholics Armais, a grandson of Haik, in 1980 B.c. and the capital and 13,537 Protestants. The following table gives the number of births, deaths, and of the Armenian kings till the 2nd century a.d. Now a small village, Tapadibi, occupies its seat. (2) A district marriages in various years :—town of Russia, Northern Caucasia, province of Kuban, on Year. Births. Deaths. Marriages. Kuban river, and on the main line of the Caucasian Railway, 40 miles by rail west of Stavropol, built in 1848. for 1881 4874 3665 982 3394 1891 2926 694 the settlement of Armenian mountaineers, and now a well1899 2842 2480 683 built, growing town with 8000 inhabitants, the merchants of which carry on a lively trade. In 1899 the birth-rate per 1000 was 20‘6, and the death-rate 18'0 ; the rate of illegitimacy was 3'5 per cent, of the total births. A r lYi © H S (old Persian Armina, Armenian The total number of emigrants who left the county between 1st Ilayasdan, or IlaikJi) is the popular name of a district May 1851 and 31st December 1899 was 93,620, of whom 52,339 were males and 41,281 females. The following are the chief towns south of the Caucasus and Black Sea, which formed part in the county, with their populations in 1901:—Armagh, 7569; of the old Armenian kingdom. The name, which first Lurgan, 11,777 ; Portadown, 10,046. A portion of the borough of occurs in the cuneiform inscriptions of Darius Hystaspis, Nevvry was formerly in Armagh, but in 1898 it was added to supplanted the earlier Urardhu, or Ararat, but its origin Down. Administration.—The county is divided into three parliamentary is unknown. In its widest extent Armenia stretched from divisions, north, middle, and south, the number of registered 37° to 49° E. longitude, and from 37-|° to 41^° N. latielectors in 1900 being respectively 10,114, 7363, and 7152. tude ; but this area was never, or only for a brief period, The rateable value in 1900 was £430,162. By the Local Govern- united under one king. Armenia is now divided between ment (Ireland) Act, 1898, the fiscal and administrative duties of the gland jury and (to a less extent) of other bodies were transferred Persia, Russia, and Turkey, and the three boundaries to a county council, urban and rural district councils were estab- have a common point on Little Ararat. lished, and under that Act the county now comprises four urban Geographically, Armenia is a continuation westward of and live rural sanitary districts. the great Iranian plateau. On the north it descends Agriculture.—The following tables show the acreage under crops, abruptly to the Black Sea ; on the south it breaks down in including meadow and clover, and the amount of live stock in 1881, 1891, 1895, and 1899. The figures for 1899 are for the new ad- rugged terraces to the lowlands of Mesopotamia; and on the ministrative county:—east and west it sinks more gradually to the lower plateaux of Persia and Asia Minor. Above the general Barley, Meadow level of the plateau, 6000 feet, rise bare ranges Wheat. Oats. Beans, Potatoes. Turnips. Other green Flax. and etc. Crops. of mountains, which run from north-east to Clover. 1881 7161 58,165 28,150 7739 2075 16,012 45,172 165,353 south-west at an altitude of 8000-12,000 feet, 1891 2758 51,055 346 26,434 8049 2592 4,966 49,971 146,171 and culminate in Ararat, 17,100 feet. Between 1895 1204 49,054 237 24,602 8193 1965 8,244 53.121 146,620 the ranges are broad elevated valleys, through 1899 1468 46,344 179 22,370 8227 1729 1,831 50.121 j 132,269 which the rivers of the plateau flow before enterFor 1899 the total value of the cereal and other crops was ing the rugged gorges that convey their waters to lower estimated by the Registrar-General at £866,848. The number of acres under pasture in 1881 was 112,655 ; in 1891, 126,130 ; and in levels. Geologically, Armenia consists of archaic rocks upon which, towards the north, are superimposed Palaeozoic, 1899, 141,455.