Page:Supplement to the fourth, fifth, and sixth editions of the Encyclopaedia Britannica - with preliminary dissertations on the history of the sciences - illustrated by engravings (IA gri 33125011196181).pdf/461

 all of whom the Albanians are regarded as the most valuable of their troops.

An Albanian military force, according to the description of Dr Holland, cannot so properly be called an army, as a tumultuous assemblage of armed men. There is no regular distribution into corps; nor is much regard paid to the authority of any officer, with the single exception of the Pasha himself. Yet, such is their activity and intrepidity, that they have sometimes proved formidable to the best disciplined European armies. Whatever was done in the last Turkish campaign against the Russians, is said to have been achieved by Albanian troops.

This fierce and haughty race display a greater degree of contempt for the female sex, than is usual even among the most barbarous nations. The females are literally regarded as inferior animals, and treated as such; but, in the country districts, they are not confined, or veiled, as is customary in Mahometan countries.

The dress of the Albanian consists of a cotton shirt, a jacket, a mantle, sandals, and a red cap; to which is added, a large capote, or great coat, as a shelter from the weather. Every part, except the shirt, consists of woollen. As they have usually only one suit, which they wear day and night, it soon becomes a dreadful assemblage of dirt and vermin; and at length literally falls to pieces. The dress of the females is more various, and often fantastical. A singular custom prevails among the girls, of stringing together the pieces of money which they have collected for their portion, and wearing them upon their heads. Some of them have their hair hanging down in braids to a great length, loaded with this species of ornament.

Joannina, the present capital, is beautifully situated on the banks of a small lake, enclosed within a circuit of lofty mountains. The houses, in general, are not externally either splendid or elegant; and they are built in the most irregular manner, with scarcely any approach to the form of streets. The intermixture however of gardens and trees, gives to the city a fine appearance from a distance; particularly when combined with the magnificent back-ground, which everywhere crowns the landscape. There is a considerable number of Greeks at Joannina, who display an active and intelligent character, and cultivate with ardour the different branches of science and literature. The total number of inhabitants is estimated at upwards of thirty-five thousand.

The commerce of Albania is chiefly carried on through Arta, a small city situated on a gulf of the same name, in the most southern district of the country. The principal merchants however, are Greeks residing at Joannina, among whom a very active commercial spirit appears to prevail. Ali, who anxiously endeavours to promote the trade of his dominions, without however knowing the right way, imposes great restraints on the removal of the merchants. He generally insists, that at least one member of a family should continue to reside at Joannina. The mercantile houses of this city have often branches in other countries, particularly Germany and Russia, and several of them suffered considerably by the conflagration of Moscow. Under the continental system of the late French ruler, Malta became the great channel for the trade of Albania, and, notwithstanding the recent political changes, may probably retain it to a certain extent. The exports consist almost entirely of unmanufactured produce. Notwithstanding its mountainous character, the fertility of its plains affords a surplus of grain, of which, upwards of fifty cargoes are sent to Italy, the Ionian isles, Malta, and other places. The Pasha, however has checked this commerce by the impolitic system of assuming the monopoly of it into his own hands. Wool is exported, chiefly unmanufactured; but partly also wrought into coarse cloth. Other important articles of export are oil, tobacco of good quality, cotton and cotton yarn, chiefly from Thessaly. Some cargoes of wood for building and fire, are annually sent to Malta. The chief imports consist of woollen cloths, used for winter coverings. For this purpose, the preference is given to a coarser and cheaper species than any that is usually manufactured in Great Britain. This is supplied from Germany. Albania imports also guns, gunpowder, hardware, coffee, and sugar. On the 8th of October, an annual fair is opened in the neighbourhood of Joannina, and continues for fourteen days, when the imported articles are exchanged for native commodities, which then pour in from every quarter.

The reader will find much interesting information in regard to this country, and its present ruler, in the lately published Travels of Mr Hobhouse, and of Dr Holland. The latter resided for some time at Ali’s court, where, in quality of physician, he enjoyed the privilege of a familiar intercourse with that extraordinary personage; and the anecdotes which he relates, give no small share of interest to his otherwise valuable and instructive publication.(.) ALCARRAZAS, a name, of Arabic origin, applied to a kind of porous earthen ware, much used in Spain for cooling water. See. ALCOOMETER, or, a name given by Richter to the Hydrometer with a graduated stalk, See. ALEUTIAN,, or , (so called from the Russian word aleut, signifying a bold rock), is the name given by the Russian discoverers to a chain of small islands, situated in the Northern Pacific Ocean, and extending in an easterly direction, from the peninsula of Kamtschatka, in Asiatic Russia, to the promontory of Alaska, in North America. These islands are very shortly noticed in the body of the work under the head Fox Islands. According to the practice of the most recent Russian geographers, we have comprehended the whole of this archipelago under one general name, although it has been sometimes divided into three several groups: those nearest to the eastern coast of Kamtschatka being properly called Aleutian; the central group the Andreanofskie, or Andrenovian; and those nearest to the American promontory, the Fox Islands. The Russian geographers usually separate Behring’s and Copper Island, which are at the western extremity of this chain, from the other parts of it, included by them under the general name of 