Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/263

 ALASCO ALASKA 239 of brass suspended at the end of a lever, and containing a chemical solution highly sensitive to the gas constituting fire damp. Long before the atmosphere has become sufficiently vitiated to be dangerous to life, or to be capable of ex- ploding, the chemical action in the ball has altered its weight, and thus caused the lever to move and let go an escapement which sounds an alarm. An alarm whistle is a steam whistle set on a boiler to give notice when the water falls below its proper level. For this purpose the whistle-cock is connected by a lever with a float, and opens when this float goes below a certain level. The steam rushing through the whistle sounds the alarm. ALASCO, John. See LASKI. ALA-SHEHR, a city of Turkey, in Asia Minor, in the eyalet of Aidin, at the N. E. base of the Boz Dagh (the ancient Mt. Tmolus), 75 m. E. by S. of Smyrna; pop. about 13,000, of whom 3,000 are Greeks. It is built on the site of ancient Philadelphia, is surrounded by a wall, and contains many ruins, including a large num- ber of Christian churches. It is situated on the caravan route from Smyrna to the interior, and has a thriving trade. ALASKA, a territory belonging to the United States, formerly known as Russian America. It comprises all that portion of the North American continent lying W. of the 141st par- allel of W. longitude, together with a narrow strip of land between the Pacific ocean and the British dominions, separated from the latter by a line drawn as follows : beginning at the south- ernmost point of Prince of Wales island, in lat. 54 40' N., running thence N. along Portland channel to the point of the mainland where it strikes lat. 56 N., and from this point along the summits of the mountain range parallel to the coast, except where the distance of such summits from the ocean exceeds 10 marine leagues, to its intersection with the 141st meridian. Wherever the peaks are situated further inland than the distance specified, the line is drawn, parallel to the winding of the coast, at that distance from it. The ter- ritory also includes all the islands near the coast, and the whole of the Aleutian archipel- ago except Behring island and Copper island on the coast of Kamtchatka. In the dialect of the natives first encountered by the Eussian explorers, the peninsula now known as Alias- ka was called Al-ay-es-ka, the name having become changed through Alaksa and Alashka to its present form, from which last is derived the general territorial designation Alaska, which Dall asserts to be an English corruption never used by the Russians. The area of Alaska, including the islands, is 580,107 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 29,097, of whom 26,843 were na- tives of the territory, 1,421 were half-breeds, 483 were Russians, and 350 were natives of the United States and foreigners not Russians. There are not more than 1,300 completely civ- ilized inhabitants. Sitka, or New Archangel, the capital of the territory and its only consid- erable town, is situated on a small but commo- dious harbor on Baranov island, in lat. 57 3' N., Ion. 135 17' W. It was long the head- quarters of the Russian- American fur company,