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 ASSIUT — ASTRAKHAN

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Assiut, or Siuty the administrative capital of and in the manufacture of lumber, the surrounding country Upper Egypt, and the largest and best-built town in the being densely forested with fir, cedar, and hemlock. It Kile Valley south of Cairo, with a population which rose was founded in 1811, as a depot in the fur trade, by John from 32,000 in 1882 to 42,000 in 1900. It stands near the Jacob Astor, after whom it is named. It was seized by left bank of the Nile on the Nile Valley railway, of which the British in 1813, but restored in 1818. In 1821, it is an important station, 248 miles south of Cairo. Here while occupied by the North-West Fur Company, it was is a large canal communicating during the floods with the burned and practically abandoned, leaving only a few Bahr Yusuf, which runs parallel with the Nile, and settlers. Population (1880), 2803 ; (1890), 6184 ; (1900), discharges its overflow into the Fayyum depression. The 8381. Astrakhan, a government of S.E. Russia, on the canal is now skirted by a magnificent embankment planted with shady trees leading from the river to the town. lower Volga. Area, 91,237 sq. miles, of which 6730 There are several bazaars, baths, and handsome mosques, sq. miles are in the delta of the Volga and the brackish one noted for its lofty minaret, and here the American lagoons, and 62,290 sq. miles covered by the Kalmyk and mission has established a college for both sexes. Assiut the Kirghiz Steppes. The climate is very hot and dry, is famous for its red and black pottery, which finds a the average temperatures being for the year, 50 I ahr.; ready market all over Egypt. In the neighbouring for January, 21°; for July, 78°; yearly rainfall, 7’3 ; often Libyan hills are numerous rock-tombs, where are often no rain at all in summer. Population (1897), 1,002,316, found the remains of wolf mummies, this animal having of whom 485,517 were women, and 132,383 urban. About been the tutelar deity of the place, whence its Greek 132,000 Kalmyks and 260,000 Kirghiz are half nomad. There are besides nearly 44,000 Tatars, 7000 Armenians, name of Lycopolis (“ wolf-town ”). Assuan, or Aswan, a town of Upper Egypt on 1350 Poles, and as many Jews. The average percentage the right bank of the Nile, facing Elephantine Island of births is 57, and that of deaths 3-7. Primary educabelow the First Cataract. It is a station on the Nile tion remains at a low level; the total number of pupils Valley railway, 590 miles from Cairo. In 1880, though in primary schools being only 12,337 (one school for every the centre of a flourishing trade with the Sudan and 2380 inhabitants). Fishing at the mouth of the Volga Abyssinia—the annual value of the goods in transit was gives occupation to nearly 30,000 persons, as much as estimated at £2,000,000—its population was only about 278,000,000 herrings being caught in a good year. Salt 4000. During the reign of the Khalifa it gained im- is largely extracted (300,000 tons) from lakes, chiefly at portance as the seat of the military government of the Baskunchak, which is now connected with the Volga by frontier provinces extending from Edfu to Wadi Haifa, rail. Cattle breeding is an important industry; in 1897 and numbered some 10,000 inhabitants. After the defeat there were 1,075,600 horned cattle, 214,935 horses, and of the Khalifa at Omdurman it became popular as a 3,521,000 sheep. Corn is imported, but gardening and winter health-resort, and in 1901 had a population of the culture of mustard, melons, and fruit for export are about 25,000. The great barrage immediately above on the increase. Agriculture is not much developed, Aswan will place the agricultural prospects of the sur- there being (1899) only 1,007,300 acres under cereals, rounding country on an entirely new and improved footing. and the total cereal crop being on the average 149,600 Forests cover only 430,000 acres. The Russian In connexion with the work upon this undertaking and tons. railways only touch the borders of the province. The the reservoirs a town of about 12,000 workmen has sprung government is divided into five districts, the chief towns into existence. Aswan gives its name to one of the of which are—Astrakhan, pop. 113,000; Enotaevsk, 2810; three second-class administrative districts into which the Krasnyi Yar, 4680; Tchornyi Yar, 5140; and Tsarev, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was divided in 1899, and is the 8900. Several villages are very populous, such as Nikoheadquarters of the English military commandant. laevskaya Sloboda (17,800). The Kalmyk Steppe (pop. /Vstdra., a port on the Caspian, situated in 38 2/ 127,776), and the Inner Kirghiz Horde (213,146), are N. lat. and 48° 53' E. long., on both sides of the river under their own internal administration. So also is the of the same name, which, according to the Turkmanchai territory of the Astrakhan Cossacks (pop. 25,600). treaty of 1828, is the frontier between Persia and Russia. Astrakhan, capital of the above, on the left bank of Until the Mercury Steam Navigation Company made it a the main branch of the Volga, and 60 miles from the port of call, about 1860, it was an unimportant fishing Caspian Sea (68 feet below the level of the ocean) has, village, but it has now a considerable trade, and much since the development of the naphtha industry and the Russian merchandise is landed there and forwarded to opening of the Transcaspian railway, become a great centre Azerbaijan and Tabriz via Ardebil, 30 miles south-west. for external and internal trade, the yearly returns of In 1897, 77 vessels (76 steamers), with a tonnage of 43,101, which are estimated at 16,100,000 roubles for the former entered the port, and 272 vessels (240 steamers), with a and 52,157,000 for the latter. The port is visited yearly tonnage of 88,011, cleared it. by about 4000 vessels; and 1242 vessels (90 steamers) belong to it. Population (1867), 47,839; (1897), 113,000. Asthma. See Pathology {Respiratory Organs). Asti, a town and episcopal see of the province of It is well provided with gymnasia for boys and girls and Alessandria, Piedmont, Italy, on the Tanaro, 22 miles W. technical schools. Good public gardens and squares (one from Alessandria by rail. Besides the cathedral, it has of which is adorned by a monument to Alexander II.) the interesting church of St Peter and the church of St have been laid out. Eight miles above Astrakhan, on the right hank of the Volga, John, both assigned to the Longobardic epoch (middle of the ruins of two ancient cities, one above the other. In the 8th century, but remodelled in the 10th). There is a are upper layer, amidst all sorts of debris, charcoal, and hones, have statue of Victor Emmanuel. Asti is famous for its wine. been found gold and silver mints made by the Mongol Horde Population, about 19,000. rulers, as well as various silver and gold ornaments. These ruins Astoria, a city of Oregon, U.S.A., and capital are separated by a layer of earth from older and scantier ruins, to be the remains of the large and prosperous city Atel, of Clatsop county, situated on the Columbia, near its supposed or Itil (Etel, Idl) of the Arabian geographers (Ibn Fozlan, Ibn mouth, in the north-western part of the state, and has an Hankal, etc.), which was the residence of the Khan of the Khozars, excellent harbour. It is connected with Portland by the and was destroyed by the Russes in 969. The upper layer of ruins Astoria and Columbia River railway and by steamboat may represent the old city of Balanjar (Balansar, Belender). (P. A. K.) lines. Its industries consist largely in salmon - canning