Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/653

 ARABELLA STUART ARABIA GIT it to temporary subordination. By the mar- riage of Louis VII. with Eleanor of Aquitaine, it became united to the French monarchy in 1137; but 15 years later the same princess, having been divorced from Louis, married Henry Plantagenet (afterward Henry II. of England), and transferred the possession of Aquitaine to her new husband. The title to the duchy was disputed by England and France for many years, but Charles VII. finally re- united it to the French crown in 1453. In the 13th or 14th century the name became cor- rupted into Guienne. (See GUIENNE.) ARABELLA STUART. See STUAET. ARABESQUE, a kind of ornamentation, either sculptured or painted, which was at first a characteristic of Moorish architecture, but has in modern times been largely used in decora- tions of every style. It consists of fantastic combinations of flowers, fruits, branches of .almost any graceful and beautiful objects which may be intertwined with one another in a variety of forms, or in constant repetitions of a single pattern. The Alhambra, as the best preserved specimen of Moorish architecture, is particularly rich in arabesques, and those here illustrated are taken from its walls. Raphael employed arabesques in the ornamentation of the Vatican, and of late years Kaulbach has often used them in fresco painting; while in the ordinary decoration of rooms and buildings they have become one of the most common methods of embellishment. ARABGIR, Arabgheer, or Arabkir, a town of Asia Minor, in the eyalet and 102 m. E. S. E. of Sivas, on the caravan road from Aleppo to Trebizond; pop. about 30,000, one fourth of whom are Armenians, and the rest Turks and Turcomans. The prosperity of the town is due to the caravan trade and to the cotton in- dustry of the Armenians. Fruit trees sur- round the town, especially the white mulberry, whose fruit is eaten fresh and also used for making brandy and sweetmeats. Wheat is successfully cultivated, and iron ore abounds in the surrounding highlands. ARABIA (by the Arabs called Jeziret el- Arab, the island or peninsula of the Arabs), a penin- sula forming the S. W. extremity of Asia, be- tween lat. 12 40' and 34 N., and Ion. 32 30' and 60 E., bounded N. by Palestine, the Syrian desert, and the Euphrates, E. by the Euphrates, Persian gulf, and gulf of Oman, 8. by the Indian ocean and the straits of Bab-el- Mandeb, and W. by the Red sea, the gulf of Sue/, and northern Egypt. It is about 1,500 m. in length from near Anah on the Euphrates to the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, and 900 in breadth from Suez to Bassorah. The S. coast is 1,200 m. long. Area estimated at somewhat more than 1,000,000 sq. m. Its northern limits can hardly be defined with ac- curacy, owing to the fact that the vast arid deserts of Syria and Arabia blend into each other without any distinct landmarks. Burck- hardt represents the boundary as extending from the shores of the Mediterranean near El- Arish along the southern border of Palestine and the Dead sea, thence winding across the Syrian desert to Palmyra, and crossing in a straight line to the Euphrates at Anah. The ancient geographers divided Arabia into three parts. Arabia Petraea or the Rocky occupied the mountainous tract between Palestine and the Red sea ; Arabia Deserta or the Desert extended eastward and southward from Pe- tnea to the Euphrates and the Persian gulf, comprising the great desert ; and Arabia Felix or the Happy occupied the shores of the Red sea and the Indian ocean. These divisions, however, have always been unknown to the inhabitants themselves. The modern divisions are: 1. The Bahr el-Tur Sinah or Sinaitic peninsula of Petermann, the El-Hadjr of Von Hammer, comprising the small peninsula be- tween the Mediterranean and the two northern arms of the Red sea, and corresponding very nearly to the Arabia Petrsea of Ptolemy. 2. Hedjaz, or the land of pilgrimage, commencing S. of the above, extending along the Red sea to the parallel of 19, and bounded E. by the great central desert. It is a barren dis- trict, consisting of sandy plains toward the coast and rocky hills in the interior ; the inhab- itants depend for a livelihood mainly on the gains from Moslem pilgrims. Some places, as Wady Fatimeh and Taif, are well watered and produce grain and vegetables. The chief com- mercial ports and cities are Jiddah and Yembo, and the two sacred cities of Mecca and Medina are also in this division. The viceroy of Egypt is nominally the ruler of this territory, but the Beled el-Haram or holy land proper, including the two sacred cities, is under the peculiar jurisdiction of the sherif of Mecca. The Howei- tat Arabs, a fierce and dangerous tribe, control the coast from the 25th parallel northward. 3. Yemen, occupying the remainder of the Red sea coast, and forming part of Arabia Felix. It comprises the finest and most fertile portion of the peninsula. Toward the sea the soil is scorched and barren, but the interior is a high-