though entirely destitute of scaly armor, more resembling the latter as to its anatomical structure. The aard-vark measures about 5 feet to the end of the tail: its skin is thick, coarse, and covered with stiff hair; the limbs short, thick, and very muscular. This animal is very common in Cape Colony.
AARD-WOLF, the Proteles Lalandii, a singular carnivorous animal, first brought from south Africa by the traveler Delalande. It forms the connecting link between three genera widely separated from each other, having externally the appearance and bone structure of the hyena united to the head and feet of the fox, with the intestines of the civet.
AARGAU (är′gou), or ARGOVIA, one of the cantons of Switzerland, bounded on the N. by the river Rhine, on the E. by Zurich and Zug, on the S. by Lucerne and Berne, and on the W. by Soleure and Basel. Area, 542 square miles of well cultivated soil and extensive vineyards. This is one of the cantons most distinguished for industry and generally diffused prosperity. Pop. about 250,000.
AARHUUS (-hös). one of the districts into which Denmark is divided. It embraces the most eastern part of the peninsula of Jutland, and is divided into two bailiwicks, Aarhuus and Randers. Area, 1,821 square miles. Pop. about 225,000, chiefly occupied in the fisheries.
AARHUUS, a city, the capital of the bailiwick of the same name. It is situated on the Cattegat. Pop. about 65,000. The harbor is small, but good and secure.
AARON, son of Amram (tribe of Levi), elder brother of Moses, and divinely appointed to be his spokesman in the embassy to the court of Pharaoh. By the same authority, avouched in the budding of his rod, he was chosen the first high-priest. He was recreant to his trust in the absence of Moses upon the Mount, and made the golden calf for the people to worship. He died on Mount Hor in the 123d year of his age; and the high-priesthood descended to his third son, Eleazar.
Aaron's rod, in archæology, is a rod like that of Mercury, but with only one serpent, instead of two, twined around it.
AB, the eleventh month of the civil year of the Hebrews, and the fifth of their ecclesiastical year. It corresponds to part of our month of July and to the beginning of August; it consists of 30 days. The first and ninth days are fast days, commemorating respectively the death of Aaron and the destruction of the first and second temples.
ABABDEH, ABABDE, or ABABIDEK, a people of eastern Africa, scattered throughout Nubia, and between the borders of the valley of the Nile and the Red Sea, but located chiefly from latitude 23° to the western border of Lower Egypt.
ABACO, GREAT and LITTLE, two islands of the Bahamas, West Indies. Combined area about 879 square miles. Pop. about 5,000.
ABACUS, in architecture, a constituent part of the capital of a column, which supports the horizontal entablement.
In arithmetic, the name of an instrument employed to teach the elementary principles of the science of numbers. The Chinese abacus is also an instrument for facilitating arithmetical calculations. It consists of several series of beads or counters strung upon brass wires stretched from the top to the bottom of an instrument, and divided in the middle by a cross-piece from side to side. In the upper compartment every wire has two beads, each of which counts five; in the lower space every wire has five beads of different values; the first being counted as one, the second as 10, the third as 100, and so on.
ABAKANSK, a range of mountains in the government of Tomsk, in Siberia, extending from the river Tom to the Yenisei, parallel to the Altai mountains. Also the name of a fortified town of Siberia, in the government of Tomsk, on the river Abakan. This is considered the mildest and most salubrious place in Siberia.
ABANCAY, a district of Peru, in the department of Cuzco. The plains produce rich crops of sugar cane and the principal cereals. The mountains afford gold and silver, and pasturage for large herds of cattle. The chief town is Abancay, 50 miles from Cuzco.
ABANO BAGNI, a town in the province of Padua, Italy, 29 miles from Venice. It is visited by invalids for the benefit of its hot sulphur springs, which were well known to the ancients as Fontes Aponi. Pop. about 6,000.
ABARIM, the range of highlands, or mountains, to the E. of the Jordan, in the land of Moab. The highest point is Mount Nebo, where Moses is supposed to have died.
ABATTOIR. See Packing Industry.
ABBAS PASHA HILMI, Khedive of Egypt, born in 1874, oldest son of the Khedive Mehemet-Tewfik. He studied at the Theresianum at Vienna. On his fa-
