Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/822

Rh 778 AMR A M S superiority over the towns of Hindustan, Besides considerable manufactures of shawls and silks in imitation of the Kashmir fabric, Amritsar carries on a very extensive transit^ trade, as well as considerable monetary transactions, with Hindustan and Central Asia, Provision is made for an ample supply of water to the town from the Biiri Doab canal. A striking object at Amritsar is the huge fortress of Govindgarh, built by Eanjit Sinh in 1809, ostensibly to protect the pilgrims visiting the place, but in reality to overawe their vast and dangerous assemblage. Amritsar was the first mission station of the Church of England in the Panjab. The census of 1868 gives a population within municipal limits of 43,931. The total population, however, of the city and suburbs is returned at 135,813, of whom 3477 are agriculturists, the rest being engaged in trade or other non-agricultural pursuits. The town has been constituted a first-class municipality, the affairs of which are conducted by a committee of twenty- eight members. The municipal income is derived from octroi duties, local taxes, house tax, &c., and amounted in 1871-72 to 19,800, or 9s. per head of the population within municipal limits. Since the opening of the Panjab railway Amritsar has rapidly become the great centre of trade in that province. Its position on the line and the enterprise of its merchants promise also to give it the com mand of the trade via Leh to Central Asia, which is now (1874) being opened up. It is the chief entrepdt in the Panjab for Manchester goods, in return for which it ex ports to other parts of India food-grains, the local manu factures in imitation of the Kashmir fabrics, and the costly shawls and stuffs which form the staple of the Kashmir trade. AMRU-IBX-EL-ASS, or Aim, one of the most famous of the first race of Saracen leaders, was descended of Aasi, of the tribe of Koreish. In his youth he wrote satirical verses against the person and doctrine of Mahomet. His zeal in opposing the new religion prompted him to under take an embassy to the king of Ethiopia, in order to stimu late him against the converts whom he had taken under his protection, but he returned a convert to the Mahometan faith, and, along with Khaled, joined the fugitive prophet at Medina. When Abu-Bekr resolved to make a new attack upon Syria, he entrusted Amru with a high command. In this ho was so successful that he rose to the elevated station of chief in Irak, when Khaled requested the attend ance of all the Arabian generals before Damascus. During the caliphate of Omar he also served in Palestine under Abu-Obeidah, taking the command in the siege of Cfesarea, which yielded to him in July G3S A.D. After the death of Obeidah, Amru assumed the chief command in Syria, in which he was confirmed by the caliph, notwithstanding the opposition of Othman. Soon afterwards (639) he led an army of 4000 Arabs into Egypt. During the progress of his march a messenger from Omar arrived with a letter containing directions to return, if he should receive this letter in the territories of Syria; but if he should receive it in those of Egypt, he might advance, and all needful assistance would be instantly sent to him. The content of the letter were not made known to his officers until he was assured that the army was on Egyptian soil, BO that the expedition might be continued under the sanction oi Omar s orders. Having taken Pharma, he advanced to Misrah, the ancient Memphis, and besieged it for seven months. Although numerous reinforcements arrived, he would have found it very difficult to storm the place pre vious to the inundation of the Nile, but for a treacherous lessening of the forces of the citadel, which was consequently taken by storm ; and the Greeks who remained there were either made prisoners or put to the sword. On the same spot Amru erected a city named Fostat, the ruins of which are known by the name of Old Cairo. Amru pursued th Greeks to Alexandria, and after an obstinate and blood; siege of fourteen months, the city was taken, 640 A.D. To Amru has generally been attributed the burning of the amous Alexandrian library, by command of the caliph Omar. But with this act of barbarism, so inconsistent with the character of Omar and his general, he is for the first time charged by Abul-Faragius, a Christian writer, who lived six centuries later. It is highly probable that ew of the 700,000 volumes collected by the Ptolemies remained at the time of the Arab conquest, when we con sider the various calamities of Alexandria from the time of aesar to those of Caracalla and Diocletian, and the dis graceful pillage of the library in 389 A.D. under the rule of a Christian bishop, Theophilus (see Gibbon, c. 51). Amru died 663 A.D. In a pathetic oration to his children on his death-bed he bitterly lamented his youthful offence in satirising the prophet, although Mahomet had forgiven him, and had frequently affirmed that &quot; there was no Mussulman more sincere and steadfast in the faith than Amru.&quot; AMRU-EL-KAIS, an Arabian poet, contemporary with Mahomet. He wrote one of the seven Moattakat (Sus pended), or poems, composed before the promulgation of Mahometanism, which derived their name from the fact that they were suspended in the Kaaba at Mecca. He was hostile to the claims of the prophet, and wrote verses against him. It is said that his death was occasioned by his wearing a poisoned shirt presented to him by the Greek emperor Heraclius, to whom he had gone to ask aid against the Beni-Asad, his own tribe. The story is, however, dis credited by Abulfeda. The Moallakat of Amru, in the original text, was published by Lette at Leydeu in 1848, and an English translation by Sir William Jones appeared in 1782. The edition of Hengstenberg (Bonn, 1823) con tains a Latin version. Another edition, by Arnold, appeared at Leipsic in 1 850. The edition of Baron MacGuckin Slane (Paris, 1837) includes the miscellaneous poems, a translation, notes, and a life of the poet. AMSANCTI (or AMPSANCTI) VALLIS, a valley with a small sulphureous lake and cavern in the territory of the Hirpini, or Principato Ultra (east of Naples), about four miles from the town of Frigento (Cicero, Pliny^or eight from Gesualdo. The spot can most easily be visited by railway from Ariano, on the Naples and Benevento line. It is described by Virgil (jEn. vii. 563-71) as an outlet from a cave giving access to the infernal regions : &quot;Hie specus horrendum, ssevi spiracula Ditis, Monstratur, rupto(]ue ingens Acheronte vorago Pestiferas aperit fauces ; quis condita Erinnys, Inyisum numen, terras coelumque levabat.&quot; The modern name is Le Mofete, after the goddess Mephitis, who, according to Pliny (N.IL ii. 95), had a temple here, of which there are no remains. The lake is considered by Dr C. T. Ramage (who made a special visit to it) as of volcanic character, and appears to lie on the edge of a crater-shaped valley. &quot; The water,&quot; he says, &quot;had a dark, pitchy appearance, and was thrown up occasionally in several places to the height of 4 or 5 feet. At the edge (of the crater) we were possibly 40 feet above the water, and we did not dare to descend, as the exhalations of sulphur were so strong that we should have been suffocated long before we reached the water In fact, the whole of this country seems to be volcanic, and is constantly subject to earthquakes.&quot; (See Nooks and Byways of Italy, by C. T. Eamagc, LL.D., 1868; Swinburne s Travels, vol. i., Murray s Handbook for South Italy, 1873.) AMSDOHF, NICOLAUS, a Protestant reformer of the 16th century, was born, Dec. 3, 1483, at Gross-Zschopa, near Wurzen, on the Mulde. He was educated at Leipsic, and then at Wittenberg, where he was one of the first who matriculated (1502) in the recently- founded university. He soon obtained various academical honours, and became