Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/164

 158 LAOMEDON LA PAZ cus Nicator, and named after his mother. It was renowned for the fertility of its wine- growing environs, its splendor, and the ex- cellence of its harbor. In the later period of the Syrian empire it became almost in- dependent, and it suffered greatly during the civil war after the death of Caesar, when it stood a siege against the Cassians. It was rewarded by Antony with exemption from taxes, and adorned by Herod the Great with an aqueduct, the ruins of which, with other remnants of its ancient greatness, are still to be seen. During the middle ages it suffered from the attacks of the Moslems. Its site is now occupied by the Turkish city of Latakia. (See LATAKIA.) LAOMEDON. See TROY. LAON (anc. Lugdunum Clavatum, %&.&Bibrax Suessonum ; mediaeval Lat. Laudunum), a forti- fied city of France, capital of the department of Aisne, 74 m. N. E. of Paris; pop. in 1872, 10,268. It is mainly built on a steep isolated hill shaped like a V, and thought by many to be the Mons Bibrax mentioned by Caesar. On one arm of the V stand the modern citadel and the city proper enclosed by old* fortifica- tions ; on the other is a Jesuit residence, the remaining portion of the once magnificent monastery of St. Vincent. Of the populous suburbs which once extended all round the foot of the mountain, only two small villages now remain. The cathedral was burned about 1112, and rebuilt in 1114. It formerly had six towers and a central dome over the tran- sept, of which only the two western towers and one at the S. E. angle of the transept re- main entire. The western front has recently been restored at an expense of 2,000,000 francs. Of the four other churches within the walls, two are also of the 12th century, one being a church of the knights templars. The city has a library of 20,000 volumes, with a collect-ion of more than 2,000 rare autographs, a museum filled with Gallo-Roman and Celtic antiquities, a communal college, and a normal school. It is an emporium for the manufac- tures of St. Quentin, St. Gobain, and Folen- bray ; and has an active trade in nails, hats, woollen stuffs, and hosiery, besides corn, white poppy oil, and garden stuffs. In the suburbs are thriving potteries, tan yards, lime kilns, rope walks, and a manufactory of copperas. Laon became the residence of Queen Brune- haut in 575, and the French kings frequently resided there till the accession of the house of Capet in 987. It has a famous school, in which Anselm of Canterbury and Abelard taught for some time. During the middle ages the burgesses maintained a long and bloody struggle for communal rights with the bishop and chapter. Since the time of Caesar Laon has sustained many sieges. It held' out against Henry IV. in 1590, but was taken by him in 1594; was alternately occupied by the allies and Napoleon in 1814 and 1815, its environs being the scene of important engagements in March of the former year (see BLUCHER, vol. ii., pp. 755-'6) ; and on Sept. 9, 1870, capitula- ted to the Germans. On the last occasion, just as the German troops were marching in, a French soldier blew up the powder magazine, killing and wounding several hundred persons. LAOS, a country of Asia, in Indo-China or Further India, bounded by China, Anam, Siam, and Burmah, and extending from about lat. 16 C to 23 N., though its limits are not closely d< fined ; pop. estimated at about 1,500,000. It is traversed by the Mekong or Cambodia river, am is separated from Burmah by the Salwen. The surface appears to be a valley lying between two nearly parallel ranges which run along the N. E. and S. W. frontiers. The soil is fertile, and produces rice, tobacco, the sugar cane, in- digo, benzoin, gums, teak, sapan and sandal woods, betel, and numerous fruits. Elephants and draught cattle are the principal animals, and valuable mines of tin and iron are said to exist, while gold is washed from the sands of the rivers, and copper, lead, emeralds, and rubies are also found. The Laos are an hon- est but indolent race, much addicted to the study of magic, and resembling in religion, customs, and language the Burmese. They are skilful workers in metal, and make mats, paper (from bark), leather, pottery, silk and woollen fabrics, sugar, and gunpowder. They have a trade with the British settlements in Indo-China, and with Tonquin. Most of the tribes are dependent upon Siam. The first Christian mission among the Laos was com- menced in 1867 at Chieng May, about 500 m. N. of Bangkok, by the Presbyterian church in the United States. LAO-TSE. See CHINA, vol. iv., p. 454. LA PAZ. I. A W. department of Bolivia, bordering on Peru ; area, 43,051 sq. m. ; pop. in 1865, 519,465, about nine tenths of whom were Aymaras. The face of the country is extremely diversified, comprising some of the loftiest mountains (Illimani, Sorata, &c.) and deepest valleys on the American continent; while from the first descend most of the streams which unite to form the Rio Beni, one of the principal affluents of the Amazon. The soil is extremely fertile, and the vegetation varied and luxuriant. Fine timber and cabinet woods abound. Maize, wheat, and the other cereals are plentifully produced in almost all parts. Cotton, indigo, the sugar cane, tobacco, cacao, coffee, ginger, and pimento, with the several tropical fruits, are the chief produc- tions of the valleys ; while in the more elevated regions potatoes, chuflo (a species of potato brought to market frozen and dried), guinea (often used as a substitute for the two last), and the various fruits and many of the vege- tables of the temperate zone are very plen- tiful. The coca plant is everywhere culti- vated, and is the object of an extensive com- merce. Cattle, horses, mules, sheep, and hogs are raised in prodigious numbers ; vicuilas, alpacas, llamas, and guanacos are extremely