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 by skilled native women. The colour of the greater proportion of alpaca imported into the United Kingdom is black and brown, but there is also a fair proportion of white, grey and fawn. It is customary to mix these colours together, thus producing a curious ginger-coloured yarn, which upon being dyed black in the piece takes a fuller and deeper shade than can be obtained by piece-dyeing a solid-coloured wool. In physical structure alpaca is somewhat akin to hair, being very glossy, but its softness and fineness enable the spinner to produce satisfactory yarns with comparative ease.

The history of the manufacture of this wool into cloth is one of the romances of commerce. Undoubtedly the Indians of Peru employed this fibre in the manufacture of many styles of fabrics for centuries before its introduction into Europe as a commercial product. The first European importations would naturally be into Spain. Spain, however, transferred the fibre to Germany and France. Apparently alpaca yarn was spun in England for the first time about the year 1808. It does not appear to have made any headway, however, and alpaca wool was condemned as an unworkable material. In 1830 Benjamin Outram, of Greetland, near Halifax, appears to have again attempted the spinning of this fibre, and for the second time alpaca was condemned. These two attempts to use alpaca were failures owing to the style of fabric into which the yarn was woven—a species of camlet. It was not until the introduction of cotton warps into the Bradford trade about 1836 that the true qualities of alpaca could be developed in the fabric. Where the cotton warp and mohair or alpaca weft plain-cloth came from is not known, but it was this simple yet ingenious structure which enabled (q.v.), then a young Bradford manufacturer, to utilize alpaca successfully. Bradford is still the great spinning and manufacturing centre for alpacas, large quantities of yarns and cloths being exported annually to the continent and to the United States, although the quantities naturally vary in accordance with the fashions in vogue, the typical “alpaca-fabric” being a very characteristic “dress-fabric.”

The following statistics, taken from Hooper’s Statistics of the Woollen and Worsted Trades of the United Kingdom, give an idea of the extent of the trade in yarns and fabrics of the alpaca type; unfortunately statistics for alpaca alone are not published.

Owing to the success in the manufacture of the various styles of alpaca cloths attained by Sir Titus Salt and other Bradford manufacturers, a great demand for alpaca wool arose, and this demand could not be met by the native product, for there never seems to have been any appreciable increase in the number of alpacas available. Unsuccessful attempts were made to acclimatize the alpaca goat in England, on the European continent and in Australia, and even to cross certain English breeds of sheep with the alpaca. There is, however, a cross between the alpaca and the llama—a true hybrid in every sense—producing a material placed upon the Liverpool market under the name “Huarizo.” Crosses between the alpaca and vicuña have not proved satisfactory.

The preparing, combing, spinning, weaving and finishing of alpacas and mohairs are dealt with under.

ALP ARSLAN, or, MAHOMMED BEN DA’UD (1029–1072), the second sultan of the dynasty of Seljuk, in Persia, and great-grandson of Seljuk, the founder of the dynasty, was born in the year 1029 (421 of the Hegira). He assumed the name of Mahommed when he embraced the Mussulman faith; and on account of his military prowess he obtained the surname Alp Arslan, which signifies “a valiant lion.” He succeeded his father Da’ud as ruler of Khorasan in 1059, and his uncle Togrul Bey as sultan of Oran in 1063, and thus became sole monarch of Persia from the river Oxus to the Tigris. In consolidating his empire and subduing contending factions he was ably assisted by Nizām ul-Mulk, his vizier, one of the most eminent statesmen in early Mahommedan history. Peace and security being established in his dominions, he convoked an assembly of the states and declared his son Malik Shah his heir and successor. With the hope of acquiring immense booty in the rich church of St Basil in Caesarea, the capital of Cappadocia, he placed himself at the head of the Turkish cavalry, crossed the Euphrates and entered and plundered that city. He then marched into Armenia and Georgia, which, in 1064, he finally subdued. In 1068 Alp Arslan invaded the Roman empire. The emperor Romanus Diogenes, assuming the command in person, met the invaders in Cilicia. In three arduous campaigns, the two first of which were conducted by the emperor himself while the third was directed by Manuel Comnenus, the Turks were defeated in detail and finally (1070) driven across the Euphrates. In 1071 Romanus again took the field and advanced with 100,000 men, including a contingent of the Turkish tribe of the Uzes and of the French and Normans, under Ursel of Baliol, into Armenia. At Manzikert, on the Murad Tchai, north of Lake Van, he was met by Alp Arslan; and the sultan having proposed terms of peace, which were scornfully rejected by the emperor, a battle took place in which the Greeks, after a terrible slaughter, were totally routed, a result due mainly to the rapid tactics of the Turkish cavalry. Romanus was taken prisoner and conducted into the presence of Alp Arslan, who treated him with generosity, and terms of peace having been agreed to, dismissed him, loaded with presents and respectfully attended by a military guard. The dominion of Alp Arslan now extended over the fairest part of Asia; 1200 princes or sons of princes surrounded his throne and 200,000 warriors were at his command. He now prepared to march to the conquest of Turkestan, the original seat of his ancestors. With a powerful army he advanced to the banks of the Oxus. Before he could pass the river with safety it was necessary to subdue certain fortresses, one of which was for several days vigorously defended by the governor, Yussuf Kothual, a Kharizmian. He was, however, obliged to surrender and was carried a prisoner before the sultan, who condemned him to a cruel death. Yussuf, in desperation, drew his dagger and rushed upon the sultan. Alp Arslan, the most skilful archer, of his day, motioned to his guards not to interfere and drew his bow, but his foot slipped, the arrow glanced aside and he received the assassin’s dagger in his breast. The wound proved mortal, and Alp Arslan expired a few hours after he received it, on the 15th of December 1072.

ALPENA, a city and the county seat of Alpena county, Michigan, U.S.A., on Thunder Bay, a small arm of Lake Huron, at the mouth of Thunder Bay river, in the N.E part of the lower peninsula. Pop. (1890) 11,283; (1900) 11,802, of whom 4193 were foreign-born; (1910 census) 12,706. It is served by the Detroit & Mackinac railway and by steamboat lines to Detroit and other ports. The city is built on sandy ground on both sides of the river and has a good harbour, which has been considerably