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Although there are numerous spacious harbours on the coasts, there are few remarkable indentations, the principal being the Gulf of Carpentaria, on the N., the Great Australian Bight, and Spencer's Gulf, on the S. The chief projections are Cape York Peninsula and Arnhem Land in the north. Parallel to the N.E. coast runs the Great Barrier Reef for 1000 miles. In great part the E. coast is bold and rocky, and is fringed with many small islands. Part of the S. coast is low and sandy, and part presents cliffs of several hundred feet high. The N. and W. coasts are generally low, with some elevations at intervals.

The interior, so far as explored, is largely composed of rocky tracts and barren plains with little or no water. The whole continent forms an immense plateau, highest in the east, low in the centre, and with a narrow tract of land usually intervening between the elevated area and the sea. The base of the table-land is granite, which forms the surface-rock in a great part of the south-west, and is common in the higher grounds along the east side. Secondary and tertiary rocks are largely developed in the interior. Silurian rocks occupy a large area in South Australia, on both sides of Spencer Gulf. The mountainous region in the south-east and east is mainly composed of volcanic, Silurian, carbonaceous, and carboniferous rocks yielding good coal. No active volcano is known to exist, but in the south-east there are some craters only recently extinct. The highest and most extensive mountain-system is a belt about 150 miles wide skirting the whole eastern and south-eastern border of the continent, and often called, in whole or in part, the Great Dividing Range, from forming the great water-shed of Australia. A part of it, called the Australian Alps, in the south-east, contains the highest summits in Australia, Mount Kosciusko , Mount Clarke , and Mount Townshend . West of the Dividing Range are extensive plains or downs admirably adapted for pastoral purposes. The deserts and scrubs, which occupy large areas of the interior, are a characteristic feature of Australia. The former are destitute of vegetation, or are covered only with a coarse, spiny grass that affords no sustenance to cattle or horses; the latter are composed of a dense growth of shrubs and low trees, often impenetrable till the traveller has cleared a track with his axe.

The rivers of Australia are nearly all subject to great irregularities in volume, many of them at one time showing a channel in which there is merely a series of pools, while at another they inundate the whole adjacent country. The chief is the Murray, which, with its affluents the Murrumbidgee, Lachlan, and Darling, drains a great part of the interior west of the Dividing Range, and falls into the sea on the south coast . Its greatest tributary is the Darling, which may even be regarded as the main stream. On the east coast are the Hunter, Clarence, Brisbane, Fitzroy, and Burdekin; on the west, the Swan, Murchison, Gascoyne, Ashburton, and De Grey; on the north, the Fitzroy, Victoria, Flinders, and Mitchell. The Australian rivers are of little service in facilitating internal communication. Many of them lose themselves in swamps or sandy wastes of the interior. A considerable river of the interior is Cooper's Creek, or the Barcoo, which falls into Lake Eyre, one of a group of lakes on the south side of the continent having no outlet, and accordingly salt. The principal of these are Lakes Eyre, Torrens, and Gairdner, all of which vary in size and saltness according to the season. Another large salt lake of little depth, Lake Amadeus, lies a little west of the centre of Australia. Various others of less magnitude are scattered over the interior.

The climate of Australia is generally hot and dry, but very healthy. In the tropical portions there are heavy rains, and in most of the coast districts there is a sufficiency of moisture, but in the interior the heat and drought are extreme. Considerable portions now devoted to pasturage are liable at times to suffer from drought. At Melbourne the mean temperature is about 56?, at Sydney about 63?. The south-eastern settled districts are at times subject to excessively hot winds from the interior, which cause great discomfort, and are often followed by a violent cold wind from the south . In the mountainous and more temperate parts snow-storms are common in winter .

Australia is a region containing a vast quantity of mineral wealth. Foremost come its rich and extensive deposits of gold, which, since the precious metal was first discovered in 1851, have produced a total of nearly ?600,000,000. The greatest quantity has been obtained in Victoria, but New South Wales and Queensland have also yielded a considerable amount, and now Western Australia stands first in respect of annual output. Australia also possesses silver, copper, tin, lead, zinc, antimony, mercury, plumbago, &c., besides coal and iron. Various precious stones are found, as the garnet, ruby, topaz, sapphire, and even the diamond. Of building-stone there are granite, limestone, marble, and sandstone.

The Australian fauna is almost unique in its character. Its great feature is the nearly total absence of all the forms of mammalia which abound in the rest of the world, their place being supplied by a great variety of marsupials--these animals being nowhere else found, except in the opossums of America. There are about 110 kinds of marsupials , over twenty kinds of bats, a wild dog , and a number of rats and mice. Two extraordinary animals, the platypus, or water-mole of the colonist , and the porcupine ant-eater constitute the lowest order of mammals , and are confined to Australia. Their young are produced from eggs. Australia now possesses a large stock of the domestic animals of Britain, which thrive there remarkably well. The breed of horses is excellent. Horned cattle and sheep are largely bred, the first attaining a great size, while the sheep improve in fleece and their flesh in flavour. There are upwards of 650 different species of birds, the largest being the emu, or Australian ostrich, and a species of cassowary. Peculiar to the country are the black swan, the honey-sucker, the lyre-bird, the brush-turkey, and other mound-building birds, the bower-birds, &c. The parrot tribe preponderates over most other groups of birds in the continent. There are many reptiles, the largest being the alligator, found in some of the northern rivers. There are upwards of sixty different species of snakes, some of which are very venomous. Lizards, frogs, and insects are also numerous in various parts. The seas, rivers, and lagoons abound in fish of numerous varieties, and other aquatic animals, many of them peculiar. Whales and seals frequent the coasts. On the northern coasts are extensive fisheries of trepang, much visited by native traders from the Indian Archipelago. Some animals of European origin, such as the rabbit and the sparrow, have developed into real pests in several of the colonies.

The natives belong to the Australian negro stock, and are sometimes considered the lowest as regards intelligence in the whole human family, though this is doubtful. At the census of 1891 they were believed to number about 60,000, exclusive of those in the unexplored parts. They are of a dark-brown or black colour, with jet-black curly but not woolly hair, of medium size, but inferior muscular development. In the settled parts of the continent they are inoffensive, and rapidly dying out. They have no fixed habitations; in the summer they live almost entirely in the open air, and in the more inclement weather they shelter themselves with bark erections of the rudest construction. They have no cultivation and no domestic animals. Their food consists of such animals as they can kill, and no kind of living creature seems to be rejected, snakes, lizards, frogs, and even insects being eaten, often half raw. They are ignorant of the potter's art. In their natural condition they wear little or no clothing. They speak a number of different languages or dialects. The women are regarded merely as slaves, and are frequently maltreated. They have no religion; they practise polygamy, and are said sometimes to resort to cannibalism, but only in exceptional circumstances. They are occasionally employed by the settlers in light kinds of work, and as horse-breakers; but they dislike continuous occupation, and soon give it up. The weapons of all the tribes are generally similar, consisting of spears, shields, boomerangs, wooden axes, clubs, and stone hatchets. Of these the boomerang is the most singular, being an invention confined to the Australians.

The five colonies, independently of each other, having declared their desire for a federal union, the Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed. A Convention, which sat at Adelaide in 1897-8, drafted a Constitution Bill, and on 9th July, 1900, the British Parliament passed the Act to constitute the Commonwealth. There is now a Governor-General and Central or Federal Parliament, consisting of a Senate and a House of Representatives, while each State has also a Governor, an administration, and a Parliament of its own. Each Parliament consists of two Houses corresponding to the British House of Lords and House of Commons, but both Houses are elected by popular vote. Altogether the machinery of government very much resembles that of the home country. The aggregate annual revenue of the colonies is over ?30,000,000. The public debt on 30th June, 1917, was ?372,517,623. The former militia and volunteer units have been gradually merged into the new Citizen Army started by the Australian Government in 1911. The Government also agreed in the same year to furnish an Australian fleet unit, upon which King George conferred the title of 'Royal Australian Navy'. There is no established Church in the colonies. The denomination which numbers most adherents is the English or Anglican Church, next to which come the Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, and Methodists. Education is well provided for, instruction in the primary schools being in some cases free and compulsory, and the higher education being more and more attended to. There are flourishing universities in Melbourne, Sydney, and Adelaide. Newspapers are exceedingly numerous, and periodicals of all kinds are abundant. There is as yet no native literature of any distinctive type, but names of Australian writers of ability both in prose and poetry are beginning to be known beyond their own country.

Pastoral and agricultural pursuits and mining are the chief occupations of the people, though manufactures and handicrafts also employ large numbers. The total land area under cultivation was calculated at 13,298,576 acres in 1919-20. For sheep-rearing and the growth of wool the Australian colonies are unrivalled, and while the production of gold has considerably decreased, that of wool is constantly on the increase. The great bulk of the wool exported goes to Britain, which receives over 300,000,000 pounds from the Australian colonies annually . The commerce is rapidly extending, and becoming every year more important to Britain, whence the colonists derive their chief supplies of manufactured goods in return for wool, gold, and other produce. Next to wool come gold, tin, copper, wheat, preserved meat, and tallow, hides and skins, cotton, tobacco, sugar, and wine as the most important items of export. The chief imports consist of textile fabrics, haberdashery, and clothing, machinery and metal goods. The aggregate imports in 1920 amounted to about ?97,456,899 in value, the exports to ?148,564,523. There are upwards of 23,000 miles of railway in actual use or in course of construction, and about 133,000 miles of telegraph. In 1912 the building of the Trans-Australian railway from Port Augusta to Kalgoorlie was commenced. The longest telegraph line is that running northwards across the continent from Adelaide. The two chief routes for mails between Britain and the Australian colonies are by way of the Suez Canal, and by San Francisco across the American continent. The coinage is the same as in the mother country. Banks and banking offices are numerous, including post office or other savings banks for the reception of small sums.

It is doubtful when Australia was first discovered by Europeans. Between 1531 and 1542 the Portuguese published the existence of a land which they called Great Java, and which corresponded to Australia, and probably the first discovery of the country was made by them early in the sixteenth century. The first authenticated discovery is said to have been made in 1601 by a Portuguese named Manoel Godinho de Eredia. In 1606 Torres, a Spaniard, passed through the strait that now bears his name, between New Guinea and Australia. Between this period and 1628 a large portion of the coastline of Australia had been surveyed by various Dutch navigators. In 1664 the continent was named New Holland by the Dutch Government. In 1688 Dampier coasted along part of Australia, and about 1700 explored a part of the W. and N.W. coasts. In 1770 Cook carefully surveyed the E. coast, named a number of localities, and took possession of the country for Britain. He was followed by Bligh in 1789, who carried on a series of observations on the N.E. coast, adding largely to the knowledge already obtained of this new world. Colonists had now arrived on the soil, and a penal settlement was formed at Port Jackson. In this way was laid the foundation of the future colony of New South Wales. The Moreton Bay district was settled in 1825; in 1835 the Port Phillip district. In 1851 the latter district was erected into a separate colony under the name of Victoria. Previous to this time the colonies both of Western Australia and of South Australia had been founded--the former in 1829, the latter in 1836. The latest of the colonies is Queensland, which dates from 1859. The discovery of gold in abundance took place in 1851 and caused an immense excitement and great influx of immigrants. The population was then only about 350,000, and was slowly increasing; but the discovery of the precious metal started the country on that career of prosperity which has since been almost uninterrupted. Convicts were long sent to Australia from the mother country, but transportation to New South Wales practically ceased in 1840, and the last convict vessel to W. Australia arrived in 1868. Altogether about 70,000 convicts were landed in Australia .

AUSTRA?LIOIDS, one of the five groups into which Professor Huxley classifies man, comprising the indigenous non-Aryan inhabitants of Central and Southern India, the ancient Egyptians and their descendants, and the modern Fellahs.

AUSTRIA, or GERMAN AUSTRIA, a republic formed out of the fragments of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. The republic was proclaimed on 12th Nov., 1918, and the government was taken in hand by the National Constitutional Assembly. The new republic, the frontiers of which were provisionally defined by the treaty of St. Germain , includes Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Salzburg, and parts of Styria, Carinthia, Tyrol, and Vorarlberg, some districts having been assigned to Yugo-Slavia and Italy. German Austria now has an area of 30,716 sq. miles, and a pop. of 6,130,197.

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY , previous to the changes resulting from the European War , a Central European monarchy, inhabited by several nationalities, and consisting of the Austrian Empire, the Hungarian monarchy, and the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina annexed by Austria on 5th Oct., 1908. The States had together a total area of about 261,242 sq. miles, and were bounded S. by Turkey, the Adriatic, and Italy; W. by Switzerland, Bavaria, and Saxony; N. by Prussia and Russian Poland; and E. by Russia and Roumania. On 12th Nov., 1918, the German-Austrian Republic was proclaimed, and the government was taken in hand by the National Constitutional Assembly. The account given in the following pages applies to the countries only as they existed before the end of the European War.

The population of Austria proper in 1913 was estimated at 29,193,293.

The prevailing character of the Austrian dominions is mountainous or hilly, the plains not occupying more than a fifth part of the whole surface. The loftiest ranges belong to the Alps, and are found in Styria, Salzburg, and Carinthia, the highest summits being the Ortlerspitzen on the western boundary of Tyrol, and the Grossglockner on the borders of Salzburg, Tyrol, and Carinthia. Another great range is that of the Carpathians. The chief rivers are the Danube, with its tributaries, and the Dniester. The Danube is navigable for pretty large vessels; the tributaries also are largely navigable. The lakes are numerous and often picturesque, the chief being Lake Balaton or the Plattensee. The climate is exceedingly varied, but generally good. The principal products of the north are wheat, barley, oats, and rye; in the centre vines and maize are added; and in the south olives and various fruits. The cereals grow to perfection, other crops being hops, tobacco, flax, and hemp. Sheep and cattle are largely reared.--Wild deer, wild swine, chamois, foxes, lynxes, and a species of small black bear are found in many districts, the fox and lynx being particularly abundant.--In mineral productions Austria is very rich, possessing, with the exception of platinum, all the useful metals, the total annual value of the mineral products of Austria being estimated at upwards of ?15,000,000, the principal being coal, salt, and iron.

Before the European War, manufactures were in the most flourishing condition in Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, and Lower Austria; less so in the eastern provinces, and insignificant in Dalmatia, Bukowina, Herzegovina, &c. Among the most important manufactures were those of machinery and metal goods, Austria holding a high place for the manufacture of musical and scientific instruments, gold and silver plate and jewellery; of stone and china-ware and of glass, which is one of the oldest and most highly-developed industries in Austria; of chemicals; of sugar from beet; of beer, spirits, &c.; and especially the manufactures of wool, cotton, hemp, and flax.

In addition to the general import and export trade, Austria carried on a very considerable amount of business in the transit of goods through her territory. In 1914 the total value of imports into Austria-Hungary was ?114,716,000, of exports ?83,996,000; the value of imports in 1913 was ?141,433,000, the exports ?115,129,000. Among imports were cotton and other fibres, textile goods and yarn, metals, machinery, drugs, chemicals, oils, fats, hides, skins, &c. The chief exports were cereals, animals, metallic goods, woven fabrics, pottery and glass manufactures. Nearly two-thirds of the commerce are with Germany, next in importance being the trade with Roumania, Italy, and Russia. The exports direct to the United Kingdom in 1913 were ?7,705,949; the imports of British produce direct, ?4,480,760; but these amounts do not include indirect exports and imports through other countries. The staple exports to the United Kingdom were corn and flour. The chief imports from it were cotton manufactures, machinery and metals, woollen goods, fish, &c. In 1913 the mercantile navy of Austria had a total burden of about 471,252 tons. The principal ports were Trieste, in Austria, and Fiume, in Hungary.

None of the European States, except Russia, exhibited such a diversity of race and language as the former dual monarchy. The Slavs--who differ greatly, however, amongst themselves in language and civilization--amounted to above 20,000,000, or 46 per cent of the total population, and formed the great mass of the population of Bohemia, Moravia, Carniola, Galicia, Dalmatia, Croatia, and Slavonia, and Northern Hungary, and half the population of Silesia and Bukowina. The Germans, about 9,950,266, formed almost the sole population of the archduchy of Austria, Salzburg, the greatest portion of Styria and Carinthia, almost the whole of Tyrol and Vorarlberg, large portions of Bohemia and Moravia, the whole of West Silesia, &c.; and they were also numerous in Hungary and Transylvania. The Magyars or Hungarians formed nearly half of the inhabitants of the former Kingdom of Hungary and the connected provinces.

The State religion of the former dual monarchy was the Roman Catholic. In 1910 there were in the Austrian portion of the monarchy 22,530,000 Roman Catholics, 3,417,000 Greek Catholics united to the Roman Church, 689,000 non-united, 589,000 Protestants, and 1,314,000 Jews.

The intellectual culture of the people was highest in the German provinces, but in some of the other provinces the percentage of uneducated was very high. Attendance at the elementary schools was compulsory on all children from their sixth to the end of their fourteenth year in most of the Austrian provinces; to at least the twelfth year in the whole empire. There were numerous gymnasia and 'real schools', the gymnasia being intended chiefly to prepare pupils for the universities, while in the real schools a more practical end was kept in view, and modern languages and physical science formed the groundwork of the educational course. The technical high schools in Austria were very important institutions, and there are many other special schools where the students received training in mining, agriculture, industries of all kinds, art, music, commerce, &c. In 1917 there were eight universities maintained by the State, viz. in Vienna, Prague , Gratz, Cracow, Lemberg, Innsbruck, and Czernowitz. Most of these have four faculties--Catholic theology, law and politics, medicine, and philosophy.

Before the revolution of 1918 the ruler of the dual monarchy had the title of emperor in his Austrian dominions, but he was only king of Hungary. The Parliament of the Austrian division of the empire was known as the Reichsrath, or council of the realm, consisting of an Upper House , composed of princes of the imperial family, nobles with the hereditary right to sit, archbishops, and life-members nominated by the Emperor; and a Lower House of 516 deputies elected on the basis of universal suffrage. There were seventeen provincial Diets or Assemblies, each provincial division having one. In the Hungarian division of the Empire the legislature was a Parliament consisting of an Upper House or House of Magnates and of a Lower House or House of Representatives, the latter elected by all citizens of full age paying a small amount in taxes, or otherwise qualified. Its powers corresponded to those of the Austrian Parliament or Reichsrath. All matters affecting the joint interests of the two divisions of the monarchy, such as foreign affairs, war, and finance, were dealt with by the Parliaments of the two States. There were three Budgets, viz. one for common affairs, one for Austria, and one for Hungary. The Budget estimates for the former Austrian kingdom in 1913 were ?130,716,773 . In 1918 the estimates were: expenditure 24,321,140,000 crowns, revenue 4,854,789 crowns. Austria's special debt in Feb., 1918, was placed at 54,081,765,681 crowns, of which 29,274,603,300 crowns were war debt. On 20th Nov., 1918, the Provisional Government of the Austrian Republic passed a law adopting the Budget of 1918-9, and empowering the Minister of Finance to make good the difference between revenue and expenditure.

Military service was compulsory and universal throughout the dual monarchy. The old Austro-Hungarian army numbered about 820,000 men on a peace footing.

In the troubled period following the French revolution of 1830 insurrections took place in Modena, Parma, and the Papal States , but were suppressed without much difficulty; and though professedly neutral during the Polish insurrections Austria clearly showed herself on the side of Russia, with whom her relations became more intimate as those between Great Britain and France grew more cordial. The death of Francis I and accession of his son, Ferdinand I, made little change in the Austrian system of government, and much discontent was the consequence. In 1846 the failure of the Polish insurrection led to the incorporation of Cracow with Austria. In Italy the declarations of Pio Nono in favour of reform increased the difficulties of Austria, and in Hungary the opposition under Kossuth and others assumed the form of a great constitutional movement. In 1848, when the expulsion of Louis Philippe shook all Europe, Metternich found it impossible any longer to guide the helm of the State, and the Government was compelled to admit a free press and the right of citizens to arms. Apart from the popular attitude in Italy and in Hungary, where the Diet declared itself permanent under the presidency of Kossuth, the insurrection made equal progress in Vienna itself, and the royal family, no longer in safety, removed to Innsbruck. After various ministerial changes the Emperor abdicated in favour of his nephew, Francis Joseph; more vigorous measures were adopted; and Austria, aided by Russia, reduced Hungary to submission.

The year 1855 is memorable for the Concordat with the Pope, which put the educational and ecclesiastical affairs of the Empire entirely into the hands of the Papal see. In 1859 the hostile intentions of France and Sardinia against the possessions of Austria in Italy became so evident that she declared war by sending an army across the Ticino; but after disastrous defeats at Magenta and Solferino she was compelled to cede Milan and the north-west portion of Lombardy to Sardinia. In 1864 she joined with the German States in the war against Denmark, but a dispute about Schleswig-Holstein involved her in a war with her allies , while at the same time Italy renewed her attempts for the recovery of Venice. The Italians were defeated at Custozza and driven back across the Mincio; but the Prussians, victorious at K?niggr?tz , threatened Vienna. Peace was concluded with Prussia on 23rd Aug. and with Italy on 3rd Oct., the result of the war being the cession of Venetia through France to Italy and the withdrawal of Austria from all interference in the affairs of Germany.

AUTEUIL , formerly a suburban village of Paris, but now enclosed within the fortifications.

AU?TOCRAT , an absolute or uncontrolled ruler; the head of a State who is not controlled by any constitutional limitations, such as the Tsars of Russia till 1917.

AU?TOGRAPH, a person's own handwriting; an original manuscript or signature, as opposed to a copy. The practice of collecting autographs or signatures originated in Germany and the Low Countries, chiefly among members of the universities, and dates at least from the sixteenth century. Among the earliest collections known are those of John Cotton and Hans Sloane in the British Museum, and of Philippe de Bethune, brother of Sully, and Lom?nie de Brienne at the Biblioth?que Nationale. The most celebrated collection formed in England in recent years is that of Alfred Morrison.

AUTOM?ATISM, the confinement of activity in men or animals within a purely mechanical limit, resulting from injury to or partial removal of the brain.

AUTON?OMY, the power of a State, institution, &c., to legislate for itself.

AUTOPH?AGI , birds which feed themselves as soon as hatched.

AU?TOPLASTY, the operation by which wounds and diseased parts are repaired with healthy tissues taken from other parts of the same person's body.

AU?TOTYPE, a species of photographic print. A thin sheet of gelatine on paper is rendered sensitive to light by treatment with bichromate of potash, and then exposed under an ordinary photographic negative. The portions of gelatine affected by the light become insoluble, the remainder of the gelatine is then washed away, and the picture remains reproduced in the gelatine, there being slight elevations and depressions corresponding with the distribution of light and shade. This may be printed from, but it is more often made use of to obtain electrotypes or other reverses, from which impressions can more easily be taken.

AUTUMN, the season between summer and winter, in the northern hemisphere often regarded as embracing August, September, and October, or three months about that time. The beginning of the astronomical autumn is 22nd Sept., the autumnal equinox; and the end is 21st Dec., the shortest day. The autumn of the southern hemisphere takes place at the time of the northern spring.

AUTUN , a town, South-Eastern France, department of Sa?ne-et-Loire. It has two Roman gates of exquisite workmanship, the ruins of an amphitheatre and of several temples, the cathedral of St. Lazare, a fine Gothic structure of the twelfth century with chapels added in the fifteenth; manufactures of carpets, woollens, cotton, velvet, hosiery, &c. Pop. 15,498.

AUTUNITE, a hydrous phosphate of uranium and calcium, crystallizing in the rhombic system in yellow plates. Like other minerals of the uranium series it shows radio-activity.

AUVERGNE , a province, Central France, now merged into departments Cantal and Puy-de-D?me, and an arrondissement of Haute-Loire. The Auvergne Mountains, separating the basins of the Allier, Cher, and Creuse from those of the Lot and Dordogne, contain the highest points of Central France: Mount Dor, 6188 feet; Cantal, 6093 feet, and Puy-de-D?me, 4806 feet. The number of extinct volcanoes and general geologic formation make the district one of great scientific interest. The minerals include iron, copper, and lead, and there are warm and cold mineral springs. Auvergne contributes a large supply to the labour markets of Paris and Belgium, there being in Paris alone some 50,000 Auvergnats.

AUXERRE , a town, France, department of Yonne, 110 miles S.E. of Paris. Principal edifices: a fine Gothic cathedral, unfinished; the abbey of St. Germain, with curious crypts; and an old episcopal palace, now the H?tel de Prefecture; it manufactures woollens, hats, casks, leather, earthenware, violin strings, &c.; trade, chiefly in wood and wines, of which the best known is white Chablis. Pop. 21,930.

AUXOM?ETER, an instrument to measure the magnifying powers of an optical apparatus.

AUXONNE , a town, France, department of C?te-d'Or , on the Sa?ne; a fortified place, with some manufactures. Pop. 6300.

A?VA, a town in Asia, formerly the capital of Burma, on the Irawadi, now almost wholly in ruins.

AVA-AVA, ARVA, KAVA, or YAVA , a plant of the nat. ord. Piperaceae , so called by the inhabitants of Polynesia, who make an intoxicating drink out of it. Its leaves are chewed with betel, in South-Eastern Asia.

AVALLON , a town of Central France, department Yonne. Pop. 5900.

AVAN?TURINE, or AVEN?TURINE, a variety of quartz containing glittering spangles of mica through it; also a sort of artificial gem of similar appearance.

AVATAR?, more properly AVATARA, in Hindu mythology, an incarnation of the Deity. Of the innumerable avatars the chief are the ten incarnations of Vishnu, who appeared successively as a fish, a tortoise, a boar, a man-lion, a dwarf, &c.

AVATCH?A, a volcano and bay in Kamchatka. The volcano, which is 9000 feet high, was last active in 1855. The town of Petropavlovsk lies in the bay.

AVEBURY , a village of England, in Wiltshire, occupying the site of a so-called Druidical temple, which originally consisted of a large outer circle of 100 stones, from 15 to 17 feet in height, and about 40 feet in circumference, surrounded by a broad ditch and lofty rampart, and enclosing two smaller circles. Few traces now remain of the structure. On the neighbouring downs are numerous barrows or tumuli, one of which, called Silbury Hill, rises to the height of 130 feet, with a circumference of 2027 feet at the base, covering fully 5 acres.

AVEIRO , a coast town in Portugal, province of Douro, with a cathedral, an active fishery, and a thriving trade. Pop. 11,523.

AVELLINO , a town in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Avellino, 29 miles east of Naples, the seat of a bishop. Avellino nuts were celebrated under the Romans. Pop. 24,620. Area of the province, 1165 sq. miles; pop. 411,813.

A?VE MARI?A , the first two words of the angel Gabriel's salutation , and the beginning of the very common Latin prayer to the Virgin in the Roman Catholic Church. Its lay use was sanctioned at the end of the twelfth century, and a papal edict of 1326 ordains the repetition of the prayer thrice each morning, noon, and evening, the hour being indicated by sound of bells called the Ave Maria or Angelus Domini. The prayers are counted upon the small beads of the rosary, as the pater-nosters are upon the large ones.

AV?ENTAILE, the movable face-guard of the helmet, through which the wearer breathed.

AV?ENTINE, one of the seven hills of Rome, east of the Tiber. It was included in the city by Servius Tullius.

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