Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/818

ARAGONITE. stein is a stalaetitic or stalagniitic variety. Ara- gonite was first found in Ara.eon, Spain, from which it derives its name. It also occurs in Boliemia, Austria, and in Sicily. The localities in the United States include Hoboken, N. J. ; Lockport, Edenville, and Rossie. N. Y. ; Chester County, Pa. : Dubuijue. Iowa, and Mine-la-Mottc. lie. It is cut and polished for ornamental pur- poses, and the well-known varieties of ilexican onyx, so largely used by architects for wain- scoting and interior decoration, are forms of aragnnite. ARAGUATA, :rra-gva'ta (native name). The ursine howler. See Howler. ARAGUAYA, il'ra-gwa-ya', or Kio Grande. A large river of Brazil, rising in the Serra Cayapo, in latitiule 18° 10' S., and longitude 51° 30' W. (Map: Brazil, H 5). It flows northeasterly between the States of Goj'az and Matto Grosso, inclosing in its course the large Island of Bananal (q.v.). Near San Francisco, in latitude 5° 30' S., the Araguaya joins the Tocantins, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean about 50 miles to the east of the main estuary of the Amazon. The Aragi^iaya is more than 1300 miles long and navigable for more than half that distance. A line of small steamers plies its waters to the Raj^ids of Santa Maria. ARAI HAKUSEKI, a-ri' ha'koo-sa'ke ( 1657- 1725). One of the most noted of modern Japa- nese scholars, Confucianists, and stylists, who, by his life and writings, illuminated and adorned the ideas that long molded Japanese society. When I.yeyasu "caused confusion to cease and order to prevail," native and Chinese learning revived in Japan, and a brilliant group of scholars in Yedo set forth the philosophical doctrines of Chu-Hi. Of these, Arai is best known. He became more liberal than his mas- ter, Seiga, but he was still orthodox, as against the Kogaku, or (in government view) "heretical" school of philosophy. As patronized by I.yeyasu and his successors, the T.vcoons, from 1615 to 1868, this philo.sophieal sj'stem became a sort of established church, and heretics w-ere made to feel severe political opposition, which sometimes ended in imprisonment and death. Yet scat- tered over the country, the pupils of Arai and other masters instructed young gentlemen and helped powerfully to mold the public opinion by which the ilikado was restored to power in 1868. He wrote a book in three volumes, Sei Yo lii Bun, or Annals of the Western Ocean, which was translated by S. R. Brown, in the Trans- actions of the North China Branch of the Asiatic Society (London, 1827-31). ARAKAN, ii'ra-kan', or Aracan. The north- ern division of Lower Burma, British India, ex- tending along the Bay of Bengal from about 18° to 21° 33' northern latitude, and covering, with the adjacent islands, an area of 18,540 square miles. The surface is very mountainous in the interior, which is traversed by several parallel chains. There are vast forests and marshes covered with a thick growth of grasses and un- derbrush. The climate is exceedingly unhealth- ful. The lower parts of the country are well adapted to the cultivation of rice, indigo, pepper, and raw sugar, and many tropical fruits are found in a wild state. The chief articles of ex- port are rice, salt, and teak-wood. The chief port is Akyab. The town of Arokan, situated in the interior to the northwest of Akyab, which before the British conquest is said to have num- bered nearly 100,000 souls, is now a place of ruins. The natives of Arakan are shorter and somewhat less round-headed than the Burmese proper, with whom the)' belong by race and lan- guage. A caste system with monogamy pre- vails among them. The population increased from 671,899 in 1891 to 760,848 in 1901. About sevent}' ]ier cent, of the inhabitants are Bud- dhists, while the remainder is made up chiefly of ilohammedaus. Arakan was formerly an in- dependent kingdom. At the end of the Seven- teenth Century it began to decline, owing to in- ternal strifes, and a century later fell into the possession of Burma, from which it passed to Great Britain in 1826. Anthropological details concerning the peoples of Arakan will be found in Lewin. Wild Races of Southeastern India (London, 1870), and Risley, Tribes and Castes of Bengal (Calcutta, 1891). " ARAKTCHEYEFF, il'rak-cha'yef. Alexei AxDREYEViTcii, Count (1769-1834). A Russian statesman. Of noble though poor family, he rose rapidly to high rank under the favoritism of Paul, who made him commandant of his body- guard at Gatchina. On his accession to the throne, Paul made him commandant of Saint Petersburg, conferred upon him the baronial title, dismissed him in a short while, made him Count in 1799, and again retired him in eight months. After Paul's assassination, Araktche- yetf was kept near the person of Alexander I., became minister of war in 1806. and in the late years of that Emperor's reign was his all- powerful adviser in matters of internal policy. The will of the Emperor, whom he almost wor- shiped, was carried out at all hazards, and as the energetic Arakteheyeff did not stop short of any cruelty, his name became s^iionymous with terror to all liberal thinkers. In 1833 he deposited 50,000 rubles, of which three-quarters of the principal and accumulated interest is to be awarded in 1925 for the best history of Alex- ander's reign. It was provided that the re- mainder shall cover the expense of printing the work, to form a second prize, and to be paid for translations of the work into French and German. As he left no heirs and made no will, Nicholas I. granted his estate at Gruzino and all his possessions to the Novgorod Corps of Cadets, henceforth known as Arakteheyeff Corps, so as to perpetuate the memory of the statesman. ARAL, ai-'ffl {Russian pron. a-riil'). or Aral-Dengis, Lake. (For derivation see below.) A lake east of the Caspian Sea. within the limits of Russian Central Asia, between latitude 43° 43' and 46° 45' N., and traversed bv the meridian of 60° E. longitude (Map: Asia, E. 4). It lies in the Aralo-Caspian lowlands, is bounded by the steppes and deserts of Khiva, by the land of the Kirghis, and by the plateau of Ust-Urt, separating it from the Caspian Sea. Its greatest length is about 230 miles; its greatest width is 182 miles ; and its area, according to Strelbitski, is 25,050 square miles; this does not include its four large islands, occup3'ing about 1000 square miles. After the Caspian Sea, it is the largest lake in the Eurasiatic continent, and, next to Lake Superior and the Victoria Nyanza, it is the fourth largest in the world. It lies at a height of 163 feet above the level of