A L P E S,
HAUTES — ALPS
1896, of which 345,800 acres were in cereals, 172,900 acres in forest, and the rest in grass. The value of the wheat crop in 1899 was £432,810. Rye, barley, oats, as also fodder, give inferior returns, but olive and mulberry are cultivated with success, and the rearing of the silkworm yields good results—2283 cwts. of cocoons in 1899. There are few horses, but the Basses Alpes is among the departments most abounding in mules. In 1899 the live stock numbered 13,570 head of mules and asses, 5920 cattle, 318,350 sheep, 30,270 pigs, and 25,420 goats. The mining industry is not important, counting in 1899 about 3000 tons of coal and 5000 tons of lignite, and the industry in metals comprises only a few workshops. Altogether the department ranks among the least rich in France. Alpes, Hautes, a department in the S.E. of France, traversed by the Alps of the Dauphine, attaining in the Oisans Mountains 12,000 to 13,000 ft. high, and watered by the Drac and the Durance. Area, 2178 square miles, distributed among 24 cantons and 187 communes. The population declined from 122,924 in 1886 to 106,857 in 1901. Births (1899), 2519, of which 68 were illegitimate; deaths, 2413; marriages, 703. The chief towns are Gap, Briancon, and Embrun. In 1896 the primary schools numbered 600, with 24,708 pupils. Four per cent, of the population was illiterate. The soil is extremely poor. Out of 795,340 acres under cultivation in 1896, only 212,420 acres were utilized for cereals. In 1898 the wheat crop was of the value of £274,325, by the side of which may be ranked only that of the walnut, the plum, and the mulberry. The production in silk husbandry in 1899 amounted to only 363 cwts. of cocoons. There is no mining or metallurgic industry of any importance. A9pes Maritimes, a department of the S.E. of France, bordering on Italy. It is traversed by the Alps and watered by the Roy a and the Yar. The climate is mild on the coast, but cold in the interior. Area, 1444 square miles, distributed among 26 cantons and 153 communes. Population, 238,057 in 1886, 265,155 in 1896, and 320,822 in 1901. There is a strong current of Italian immigration. Births in 1899, 6438, of which 658 were illegitimate; deaths, 6037; marriages, 1848. The chief towns are Nice (93,150 inhabitants in 1896), Grasse, Puget-Theniers, and Cannes. In 1896 there were 480 primary schools, with 24,000 pupils. Seven per cent, of the population were illiterate. The total surface under cultivation was 501,410 acres, of which 156,845 acres were in corn-lands, and 34,580 acres in vineyards. Cereals and fodder yield small returns—wheat (1899) only £212,720; but the production of wine was of the value of £135,000, while the department takes the first rank for the culture of the olive, which amounted in 1899 to 893,000 cwts. Orange and citron, which are also grown, yielded 113,500 cwts. The live stock in 1899 counted altogether 146,050 head, a very low figure, and not compensated by the industrial development. There are some important distilleries. Alphabet. See Writing. Alphonse XII. (1857-1885), king of Spain, the son of Isabella II. and Maria Fernando Francisco de Asis, eldest son of the duke of Cadiz, was born 28th November 1857. When Queen Isabella and her husband were forced to leave Spain by the revolution of 1868 he accompanied them to Paris, and from thence he was sent to the Theresianum at Vienna to continue his studies. On 25th June 1870 he was recalled to Paris, where his mother abdicated in his favour, in the presence of a number of Spanish nobles who had followed the fortunes of the exiled queen. Shortly afterwards he proceeded to Sand-
331
hurst to continue his military studies, and while there he issued, on 1st December 1874, in reply to a birthday greeting from his followers, a manifesto proclaiming himself the sole representative of the Spanish monarchy. At the end of the year, when Marshal Serrano left Madrid to take command of the northern army, General Martinez Campos, who had long been working more or less openly for the king, carried off some battalions of the central army to Sagunto, rallied to his own flag the troops sent against him, and entered Valencia in the king’s name. Thereupon the president of the Council resigned, and the power was transferred to the king’s plenipotentiary and adviser, Canovas del Castillo. In the course of a few days the king arrived at Madrid, passing through Barcelona and Valencia, and was received everywhere with acclamation. In the following year, 1876, a vigorous campaign against the Carlists, in which the young king took part, resulted in the defeat of Don Carlos and his abandonment of the struggle. Early in 1878 Alphonso married his cousin, Princess Maria de las Mercedes, daughter of the duke de Montpensier, but she died within six months of her marriage. Towards the end of the same year a young workman of Tarragona, Oliva Marcousi, fired at the king in Madrid. On 29th November 1879 he v'married a princess of Austria, Maria Christina, daughter of the Archduke Charles Ferdinand. During the honeymoon a pastrycook named Otero fired at the young sovereigns as they were driving in Madrid. In 1881 the king refused to sanction the law by which the ministers were to remain in office for a fixed term of eighteen months, and upon the consequent resignation of Canovas del Castillo he summoned Sagasta, the Liberal leader, to form a Cabinet. Alphonso died of phthisis, 24th November 1885. Coming to the throne at such an early age, he had served no apprenticeship in the art of ruling, but he possessed great natural tact and a sound judgment ripened by the trials of exile. Benevolent and sympathetic in disposition, he won the affection of his people by fearlessly visiting the districts ravaged by cholera or devastated by earthquake in 1885. His capacity for dealing with men was considerable, and he never allowed himself to become the instrument of any particular party. In his short reign peace was established both at home and abroad, the finances were well regulated, and the various administrative services were placed on a basis that afterwards enabled Spain to pass through the disastrous war with the United States without even the threat of a revolution. (g. f. b.) Alps.—The writer of the article “Alps” in the ninth edition of this work possessed a more intimate knowledge of that chain than any of his contemporaries. Hence, so far as regards ordinary geography, nothing of importance in it calls for alteration. New surveys have occasionally somewhat altered the heights assigned to mountains, a few of which are noticed below, together with one or two minor corrections or additions; but in one respect, the geology of the Alps and its relation to their structure, very great advances have been made during the last thirty years, and to a brief outline of these this supplementary article will be mainly devoted. Much, no doubt, has yet to be learnt; many questions are still far from being settled; but the labours of numerous investigators, German, Austrian, and Swiss, with some Italian and English, aided especially by the application of the microscope to the examination of rocks, have cleared up not a few difficulties, and laid a safe foundation for future work. Perhaps the most important advance has been the knowledge gained in regard to the metamorphic rocks, viz., those in which subsequent changes have so affected the original structure that we infer rather than recognize
