Alaska, 1868–1895 (Washington, 1898) (United States Treasury, also 55 Congress, 1 Session, House Document 92, vols. vi.–x.), 4 vols.; D. S. Jordan et al., The Fur Seals and Fur Seal Islands (or Report of the Fur Seal Investigation, 1896–1897) (Washington, 1898), 4 vols.; also many special reports on the seals published by the United States Treasury; for Report of British seal experts, Great Britain, Foreign Office Correspondence, United States, No. 3 (1897), No. 1 (1898).
History and Government.—H. H. Bancroft, Alaska, 1730–1885 (San Francisco, 1886); W. H. Dall, “Alaska as it was and is, 1865–1895,” in Bulletin of the Philadelphia Society of Washington, xiii.; Governor of Alaska, Annual Report to the Secretary of the Interior; Fur Seal Arbitration, Proceedings (Washington, 1895, 16 vols.); also Great Britain, Foreign Office Correspondence, United States, Nos. 6, 7, 8 (1893), No. 1 (1895); Alaskan Boundary Tribunal, Cases, Counter-cases, Arguments, Atlases of United States and Great Britain (Washington, 1903 seq.); and a rich periodical literature.
Population, Natives.—United States National Museum, Ann. Report (1896); W. Hough, “Lamp of the Eskimo” (long, and of general interest); F. Knapp and R. L. Childe, The Thlinkeets of South-Eastern Alaska (Chicago, 1896).
ALASSIO, a town of Liguria, Italy, on the N.W. coast of the Gulf of Genoa, in the province of Genoa, 57 m. S.W. of the town of the same name by rail. Pop. (1901) 5630. It is mainly noticeable as a health resort in winter and a bathing-place in summer, and has many hotels. The anchorage is safe, and the bay full of fish; the harbour has a certain amount of trade. The old town contains one or two interesting churches, and commands a fine view.
ALASTOR, in Greek mythology, the spirit of revenge, which prompts the members of a family to commit fresh crimes to obtain satisfaction. These crimes necessitate further acts of vengeance, and the curse is thus transmitted from generation to generation. The word is also used for a man’s evil genius, which drives him to sin without any provocation; a man so driven is sometimes called Alastor. The epithet is applied to Zeus and the Erinyes as the deities of revenge and punishment.
ALA-TAU (“Variegated Mountains”), the name of six mountain ranges in Asiatic Russia. Three of these are in the government of Semiryechensk in Central Asia, all belonging to the Tianshan system:—(1) the Terskei Ala-tau, south of and parallel to the lake of Issyk-kul; (2) the Kunghei Ala-tau, and (3) the Trans-Ili Ala-tau, both N. of and parallel to the same lake; and (4) the Dzungarian Ala-tau, lying N. of the Ili depression. The first three link together the Tian-shan and the Alexander Range. Their mean elevation is 6000–7000 ft.; their culminating point, Talgar, on a transverse ridge between (2) and (3), reaches 15,000 ft.; the limits of perpetual snow run at 11,000–11,700 ft. The Dzungarian Ala-tau reach a maximum altitude of 11,000 ft. and have a mean altitude of 6250 ft. From the middle of the Alexander Range another range (5) called Ala-tau, or Talastau, strikes west by south. The name Ala-tau also enters into the designation of (6), a range between the upper Yenisei and the upper Ob, in the government of Tomsk, namely, the Kuznetsk Ala-tau, forming an outlier of the Altai Mountains, and reaching 6000–7000 ft. in altitude.
ALAUNA, ALAUNUS, the Celtic names of two rivers, &c., in Roman Britain. Hence the modern Allan Water, river Alyn, &c.
ÁLAVA, DON MIGUEL RICARDO DE (1770–1841), Spanish general and statesman, was born at Vittoria in 1770. He served first in the navy, and had risen to be captain of a frigate when he exchanged into the army, receiving corresponding rank. He was present as a marine at the battle of Trafalgar on board the flagship of his uncle Admiral Álava. In politics he followed a very devious course. At the assembly of Bayonne in 1808 he was one of the most prominent of those who accepted the new constitution from Joseph Bonaparte as king of Spain. After the national rising against French aggression, and the defeat of General Dupont at Bailen in 1808, Álava joined the national independent party, who were fighting in alliance with the English. The Spanish Cortes appointed him commissary at the English headquarters, and the duke of Wellington, who regarded him with great favour, made him one of his aides-decamp. Before the close of the campaign he had risen to the rank of brigadier-general. On the restoration of Ferdinand, Álava was cast into prison, but the influence of his uncle Ethenard, the inquisitor, and of Wellington secured his speedy release. He soon contrived to gain the favour of the king, who appointed him in 1815 ambassador to the Hague. It was therefore his remarkable fortune to be present at the battle of Waterloo with Wellington’s staff. He is supposed to have been the only man who was present at both Waterloo and Trafalgar. Four years later he was recalled owing, it is said, to the marked kindness he had shown to his banished fellow-countrymen. On the breaking out of the revolution of 1820 he was chosen by the province of Álava to represent it in the Cortes, where he became conspicuous in the party of the Exaltados, and in 1822 was made president. In the latter year he fought with the militia under Francisco Ballesteros and Pablo Murillo to maintain the authority of the Cortes against the rebels. When the French invested Cadiz, Álava was commissioned by the Cortes to treat with the duc d'Angouleme, and the negotiations resulted in the restoration of Ferdinand, who pledged himself to a liberal policy. No sooner had he regained power, however, than he ceased to hold himself bound by his promises, and Álava found it necessary to retire first to Gibraltar and then to England. On the death of Ferdinand he returned to Spain, and espousing the cause of Maria Christina against Don Carlos was appointed ambassador to London in 1834 and to Paris in 1835. After the insurrection of La Granja he refused to sign the constitution of 1812, declaring himself tired of taking new oaths, and was consequently obliged to retire to France, where he died at Bareges in 1843.
Frequent and honourable mention of Álava is made in Napier’s History of the Peninsular War, and his name is often met both in lives of the duke of Wellington and in his correspondence.
ÁLAVA, one of the Basque Provinces of northern Spain; bounded on the N. by Biscay and Guipúzcoa, E. by Navarre, S. by Logroño, and W. by Burgos. Pop. (1900) 96,385; area 1175 sq. m. The countship of Trevino (190 sq. m.) in the centre of Álava belongs to the province of Burgos. The surface of Álava is very mountainous, especially on the north, where a part of the Pyrenees forms its natural boundary. It is separated from Logroño by the river Ebro, and its other rivers are the Zadorra and the Ayuda. The climate is mild in summer, fitful in autumn and spring, and very cold in winter, as even the plains are high and shut in on three sides by mountains snow-clad during several months. The soil in the valleys is fertile, yielding wheat, barley, maize, flax, hemp and fruits. Oil and a poor kind of wine called chacoli are also produced. Many of the mountains are clothed with forests of oak, chestnuts, beeches and other trees, and contain iron, copper, lead and marble. Salt is also found in large quantities; but mining and quarrying are not practised on a large scale; only lead, lignite and asphalt being worked. There are mineral waters in many places. Other local industries of some importance include smelting, and manufactures of beds, furniture, railway carriages, matches, paper, sweets and woollen and cotton goods. Bread-stuffs. colonial products and machinery are largely imported. Few provinces in Spain are inhabited by so laborious, active and well-to-do a population. The primary schools are numerously attended, and there are very good normal schools for teachers of both sexes, and a model agricultural farm: The public roads and other works of the province are excellent, and, like those of the rest of the Basque provinces, entirely kept up by local initiative and taxes. Railways from Madrid to the French frontier, and from Saragossa to Bilbao, cross the province. The capital is Vitoria (pop. 1900, 30,701), which is the only town with more than 3500 inhabitants.
For a fuller account of the history, people and customs of Álava, see Basques and Basque Provinces, with the works there cited. A very elaborate bibliography is given in the Cátalogo de las obras referentes á las provincias de Álava y Navarra, by A. A. Salazar (Madrid, 1887.) The following books by J. J. Landazuri y Romarate contain much material for a provincial history:—Historia ecclesiastica, &c. (Pamplona, 1797); Historia civil, &c. (Vitoria, 1798); Compendios historicos de la ciudad y villas de . . . Álava, &c. (Pamplona, 1798); Suplemento á los cuatro libros de la historia de . . . Álava (Vitoria, 1799); and Los varones illustres Álavenses (Vitoria, 1798). See also M. Risco in vol. 33 of Hispania Sagrada, by H. Florez, &c. (Madrid, 1754–1879).
