34
AVERSA—AVON
1892.—Arnould’s Marine. Insurance, 7th ed., London, 1901.— Carver’s Carriage by Sea, 3rd ed., London, 1900. (t. G. C.) Aversa, a garrison town and episcopal see of the province of Caserta, Campania, Italy, 13 miles N. from Naples by rail. A good wine is made in the neighbourhood. There are manufactures of hemp, cotton, and furniture, and a technical school. Population (1881), 21,176; (1901), 23,477. Aveyron, a French department on the rim of the Central Plateau. Area, 3386 square miles, with 43 cantons and 302 communes. The population, 415,826 in 1886, had fallen to 382,074 in 1901. The births (1899) were 8893, of which277 were illegitimate; deaths, 8811 ; marriages, 2816. The people of Aveyron emigrate in large numbers to South America. In 1896 there were 1457 primary schools, with 70,000 pupils. One and a half per cent, of the population was illiterate. The chief towns are Rodez (16,000 inhabitants in 1896 ; the capital), Espalion, Millau, St Affrique, Villefranche, and Decazeville. The area under cultivation in 1896 comprised 1,469,650 acres, of which 904,020 acres wrere ploughland, 46,930 acres vineyard, and 29,640 acres grass. In 1899, wheat yielded a revenue of £598,225, and the production of rye, oats, and potatoes in the same year amounted to 2,220,000 cwt. It takes the seventh rank for the production of hemp. Vine productions were valued at £111,000, and it grows a great abundance of walnuts and chestnuts. The live stock in 1899 numbered 921,250 head, 722,000 of which were sheep. Mining in 1898 produced 1,020,000 tons of coal, 9000 tons of iron, and 600 tons of other minerals, especially argentiferous lead in the basin of Decazeville. The production in metals in 1898 did not, however, exceed 34,000 tons of iron, cast-iron, and steel, and its value, including that of the other metals, was not more than £380,000. The other industries are leather-dressing and glovemaking (Millau), the making of cheese, for which Roquefort is especially noted, and the weaving of coarse wool. Avignon, chief town of department Vaucluse, France, 453 miles S.S.E. of Paris, on railway from Lyons to Marseilles. The library contains about 117,000 volumes and 3300 manuscripts. The north and oldest part of the Papal palace, restored in the 19th century, is now the depository of the public archives. The 15th-century Benedictine church of St Martial, partly in ruins, contains a magnificent tomb of Urban Y. The ancient city gates have been in part destroyed, including the Porte d’lmbert (1896). Modern monuments are the Centenaire, erected in 1891, to commemorate the union of the Comtat Venaissin with France, and the statue of the Persian, Jean Althen, who in 1765 introduced the culture of the madder plant, which long formed the staple, and still forms an important branch, of local trade. John Stuart Mill died here in 1873, and is buried in the cemetery to the east of the town. Population (1881), 26,919; (1901), 46,896. Avila, a province of Central Spain, with an area of 2570 square miles. It is divided into 6 districts and 270 parishes. There are valuable forests of oak, beech, and many varieties of firs. The ducal house of Medina Sidonia has turned vast extents of old pasture-lands and mountains into productive pine-woods. More than a million and a half of acres are cultivated, only about 2 per cent, of which are well irrigated. The official statistics show 133,200 acres producing wheat, 94,250 acres producing other cereals, 58,750 pod fruit, 32,377 vines, and 14,582 olive. The live stock includes 9125 horses, 9300 mules, 20,348 donkeys, 60,329 cattle, 479,254 sheep, 94,356 goats, and 37,930 pigs. The means of communication are not abundant, especially in the mountainous districts. The Great Northern Railway places the province in communication with Madrid and France; there are about 155 miles of fairly good roads. The exports are chiefly cereals and live stock ; imports—manufactured goods, colonial products, machinery, and cod-fish. In 1887 the population-was 132,000; in 1897, 197,636. The average of births is 4‘08 per cent., of deaths 3'63 per
cent., and the proportion of illegitimates is 0T3 per cent. The proportion of illiterates is 37 per cent. Avila, a town of Spain, capital of the modern province of Avila, on the river Adaja, with a station on the line from Madrid to Valladolid. The climate is temperate in summer and very cold in winter, snow often then lying more than a foot deep. There is a considerable trade in agricultural products, live stock, leather, pottery, and manufactures of hats, linen, and cotton goods. The institute, the normal schools for teachers of both sexes, and several primary schools are well attended. Here is situated the royal school of cadets for the army commissariat corps. In the convent of the Encarnacion is the cell of Santa Theresa de Jesus, and there are remains of the old alcazar, now turned into barracks. The bishop of Avila is now a suffragan of the archbishop of Valladolid. Population (1897), 11,712. Aviles, or San Nicolas de Aviles, a port in the province of Oviedo, Spain. Population, 11,749. The trade, especially along the coast, has much increased of late years, the means of communication having been improved in the surrounding districts. Avintes, a town of Portugal, district of Oporto, on the left bank of the Douro, 4 miles above Villa Nova de Gaia, one of the handsomest suburbs of Oporto, which it supplies with vegetables, &c. Population, 5100. Avlona, or Valona (Albanian Vliora), a kaimakamlik of the vilayet of Janina, Turkey, and the nearest seaport to Italy on the Albanian coast. Its population is officially stated to be 6000. The surrounding district is agricultural and pastoral, producing oats, maize, cotton, olive oil, valonea, cattle, sheep, skins, hides, and butter. All these articles are exported in considerable quantities, besides bitumen, which is obtained from a mine worked by a French company. The imports are woollen and cotton piece-goods, metals, and petroleum. Avon, the name of several rivers of England, of which the most important are the following:—(1) The Lower Avon. Rising in the south of Gloucestershire, it describes a big eastward curve through Wiltshire, and enters Somersetshire a few miles S.E. of Bath; from this city it flows W.N.W. through Bristol to the estuary of the Severn, which it enters about 5 miles S. of the Severn Tunnel. The total length is about 70 miles. The chief importance of the river lies in its lowrer course, especially in the 7 miles below Bristol, though it is navigable for small vessels as far up as Bath, a distance of 12 miles. One of the causes of the decline in the trade of Bristol was the tortuous channel of the Avon between that city and the Severn. Something was done to remedy this in 1809, when a new channel was cut for the river through the city, the river itself converted into a “ floating harbour ” (3 miles long), and two dock basins dug beside it, covering an area of 85 acres and giving a depth of 22 feet. But owing to the increasing size of ocean-going vessels, this accommodation proved insufficient, and in 1884 the corporation of Bristol bought, as an out-port at the mouth of the Avon, the two docks of Avonmouth and Portishead. The former, situated on the Gloucester side of the Avon, has an area of 19 acres, with a depth on sills of 28 to 38 feet, and is equipped with large granaries, cattle quarters, chill rooms, and provision stores. The dock can be entered at any time by vessels of 2000 tons ; and there is anchorage for vessels drawing up to 30 feet at one mile distance from the dock gates. The Portishead dock, which is situated about 3 miles S.W. of the mouth of the Avon, has an area of 12 acres, with a depth on sill of 24 to 34 feet. It is easily entered and cleared in all weathers, being under the shelter
