Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 01.djvu/170

ALPES, BASSES important lumbering interests. There are also fisheries, tanneries, and manufactories of paper, cement, etc. Pop. (1910), 12,706; (1920), 11,101.

ALPES, BASSES (bäs-äp), a department in the S. E. of France, one of the five formed out of the old Provence; divided into five arrondissements, Barcelonnette, Castellane, Digne, Forcalquier, and Sisteron; capital, Digne. It is a mountainous region, the E. portion belonging to the crystalline Alps, with summits rising to upward of 11,000 feet; the W. portion to the limestone Alps. This latter portion is one of the most arid and desolate in France. West of the Durance, the principal river of the department, a chain of the limestone Alps runs westward under the name of the Montague de Lure. The Durance pardy bounds the department of the N. Its principal tributaries, all on the left bank, are the Ubaye in the N., leading up to the Col d'Argentière, the Bléonne, the Asse, and the Verdon, which partly separates Basses Alpes from Var. None of these rivers is navigable. The principal wealth of the higher parts of the department consists in its mountain pastures, to which every spring large numbers of sheep from the lower Rhone are led. Cattle, horses, mules, and asses are also reared. Cereals are grown in many places, and in the southern districts olives and great quantities of almonds are produced, and the silkworm is reared. Area, 2,697 square miles. Pop., about 110,000.

ALPES, HAUTES (hot-alp), a department in the S. E. of France, adjoining the Italian frontier, formed almost entirely from the Dauphiné, but including a small part of the old Provence in the S.; divided into three arrondissements, Gap, Briançon, and Embrun; capital. Gap. In physical features it corresponds closely with Basses Alpes. In the N., on the borders of the department of Isère, the granite mass of Pelvoux rises to the height of 13,460 feet out of the limestone Alps. At its northern base runs the road from Grenoble by the Col du Lautaret (6,800 feet) to Briançon. The principal river is the Durance, which partly separates it from Basses Alpes, and, among its tributaries are the Buech, which flows from N. to S. in the W., and the Guil. The department is the poorest in France in natural resources. Its principal wealth consists of its mountain pastures, on which fine merino sheep are reared. Marble of all shades is abundant, and there is a considerable extent of anthracite near Briançon. Area, 2,178 square miles. Pop. about 110,000.

ALPES-MARITIMES (älp mär-ē-tēm´), a department in the extreme S. E. of France formed mainly from the province of Nice, ceded by Italy in 1860, but containing also the arrondissement of Grasse, detached from Var; divided into three arrondissements, Nice, Grasse, and Puget-Théniers; capital, Nice. The physical features are similar to those of Basses and Hautes Alpes. The limestone region in the S. W. is specially remarkable for its magnificent scenery, its deep and dark defiles or clus, and its numerous swallow-holes, in which streams disappear to reappear in fine springs. The mildness of the climate has caused several places on the coast to become favorable health resorts, especially Cannes, Antibes, Nice, and Mentone. The department surrounds on the land side the principality of Monaco. Among the products are vines, mulberries, olives, oranges, and citrons. Flowers are cultivated on a large scale for the making of perfumes, which forms the principal industry of the department. Area, 1,443 square miles. Pop., about 375,000.

ALPHA and OMEGA, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, sometimes used to signify the beginning and the end, or the first and the last of anything; also as a symbol of the Divine Being. They were also formerly the symbol of Christianity, and engraved accordingly on the tombs of the ancient Christians.

ALPHABET, so called from alpha and beta, the first two Greek letters, is the name given to a set of graphic signs, called letters, denoting elementary sounds, by the combination of which words can be visibly represented. Nearly 200 alphabets, ancient and modern, are known, of which about 50 are now in use. Most of them are developments from the primitive Phœnician alphabet, which was itself ultimately derived from the Egyptian hieroglyphic picture-writing.

All writing was in its origin pictorial. It began with ideograms, which developed into phonograms. Ideograms are pictures or symbols intended to represent either things or abstract ideas. Phonograms are the graphic symbols of sounds.

Five independent systems of ideographic writing have been invented: (1) The Cuneiform, which arose in the valley of the Euphrates, and developed into the Achæmenian syllabaries. (2) The Chinese, out of which the Japanese syllabaries have arisen. (3) The Hittite, which was the probable source of the Cypriote syllabary. (4) The Mexican