A L A A L A 439 yards of ginghams and checks. In the same year 613 flour mills operated on 3,298,848 bushels of grain. There were 284 lumber mills, producing 1,115,000 laths, 97,192 feet of lumber, and 1,422,000 shingles. In the iron manufac tures there has been a marked advance, which is the more noticeable because several other industries have experienced a serious decline. Thus, in 1850 the quantity of ore used for making pig-iron was only 1138 tons, in 1860 it had risen to 3720 tons, and in 1870 to 11,350; the value of the products being respectively 4500, 12,918, and 42,051. Alabama has also manufactories of rolled and cast iron; but the rise in the value of their products is not so marked. There are, besides, tanneries, carriage and waggon works, and machinery factories, in addition to industries of a local nature. Mobile is the chief mercantile city of the state. In the years ending June 30, 1871 and 1872, 688 and 369 vessels (gross burden, 558,525 and 272,853 tons) entered, and 711 and 369 (551,310 and 277,356 tons) cleared the port of Mobile. Cotton was the principal article of export the amount in 1871 being 287,074 bales, and in 1872, 137,977; of which 240,660 and 123,522 bales went to Great Britain. Mobile is con nected with the general network of railways of the United States. A line runs from the city through Montgomery and on to Atlanta in Georgia; another runs from Mobile to Meridian in Mississippi; a line crosses the state from Meridian through Cahawba to Montgomery; a loop-line runs from Montgomery to Troy, and proceeding round by Columbus in Georgia, rejoins the main line at Opelika; from Selma a line proceeds north-easterly, following the valley of the Coosa, and passing through Georgia and Tennessee; and another traverses the valley of the Tennessee, from which a branch strikes off to the north to join the Ten nessee group of railways at Nashville. A line also con nects Mobile with New Orleans. The part of the line from Mobile to Montgomery between Mobile and Tensas was completed under considerable engineering difficulties. It crosses the Mobile river by a swing drawbridge 1000 feet in length, with a draw of 260 feet; while the Tensas river bridge is built on cylindrical piers, each span measuring 152 feet, and its total length 2084 feet. There are at present 1602 miles of railway and 2135 of telegraph lines in operation in Alabama. Alabama returns 8 members to Congress. The state government is vested in a governor, Senate, and House of Representatives. The Senate consists of 33 members elected for four years, one half retiring every two years. The House of Representatives consists of not more than 100 members, elected for two years, and apportioned among the counties according to population, each county, however, being entitled to at least one representative. The members of both houses receive 16s. 8d. each per diem, and the governor 520, 16s. 8d. per annum. The taxation in 1870 amounted to $2,982,932, and the public debt to $13,277,154. In 1860 the taxation was only $851,171. The state is divided into 65 counties, and Montgomery is the capital. The other principal towns are Mobile, Tus- caloosa (the former capital), Florence, Huntsville, Selma, and Wetumpka. Alabama was first penetrated by the Spaniards in quest of gold in 1541, under the celebrated leader De Soto. The natives defended themselves stubbornly, and in their defence inflicted and sustained very severe losses. The present site of Mobile was first occupied by the French in 1711. In 1763 the French possessions east of the Missis sippi, including Alabama, were ceded to England. Alabama was originally included in Georgia, but in 1802 became part of the territory of Mississippi. In 1813 the Creek Indians made a desperate effort to check the encroach ments of the Anglo-Saxons, but were eventually crushed in the battle of Horse Shoe Bend by General Jackson, who compelled them to surrender three-fourths of their terri tory. In 1819 Alabama was admitted into the Union as an independent member of the confederation. It seceded in the year 1861, but since the close of the war has been again admitted into the Union. The census of 1870 showed the following results: Total population of Alabama, 996,992; coloured, 475,510; with 98 Indians. Of these, 987,030 were native born, and 9962 foreign. In 1860 the population was 964,201, of whom 526,271 were whites and 437,770 (435,080 slaves) were coloured; in 1820 (the year after Alabama had been admitted into the Union) the numbers were total, 127,901; whites, 85,451; coloured, 42,450 (41,879 slaves). Of the total population in 1870, 488,738 were males (255,023 whites, 233,677 coloured, 38 Indians) and 508,254 females (respectively, 266,361, 241,833, 60). In regard to educa tion, there were in the state between 5 and 18 years of age, 173,273 males (91,989 whites, 81,274 coloured, andlo Indians) and 169,703 females (89,798, 79,882, and 23); of whom 77,139 have attended school (viz., 31,098 white and 7502 coloured males, and 30,226 white and 8313 coloured females). The returns give 2969 schools, with 2372 male and 992 female teachers. Of persons 10 years and upwards, there were 349,771 returned as unable to read, and 383,012 as unable to write. ALABASTER (said to be derived from the Arabic al batstraton, the whitish stone), a name properly restricted to the fine massive variety of gypsum, or sulphate of lime, which is used in the manufacture of ornamental vases, statuettes, clock-frames, &c. When pure, it is of a brilliant pearly- white lustre, so very soft as to be easily scratched by the nail, and is soluble to a slight extent in water. It occurs in large and very pure masses at several localities in Tuscany, and is turned or chiselled into its various ornamental forms in Florence, which is the centre of the alabaster trade. At a time when the taste for alabaster work was more general than now, it was quarried at Lagny, near Paris. In Eng land considerable deposits are found in various localities, but chiefly in Derbyshire and Staffordshire, where it is worked to form the plaster of Paris moulds used by potters ; hence it is termed " potters stone." Fine blocks found in quarrying the potters stone are reserved for the alabaster turners. A yellow variety of alabaster, found at Sienna, is termed " alabastra agatato." When it presents a fibrous structure, it is known as " satin spar," which when cut has the opalescent appearance of " cat s eyes/ Ori ental alabaster is the name applied to the stalagmitic variety of carbonate of lime formed on the floors of lime stone caves by the percolation of water, an entirely dif ferent material from the above. It is usually clouded or banded in an agate-like manner, and hence is sometimes known as onyx marble. The alabaster yielded by celebrated quarries, known to the ancients and now again worked, in the province of Oran, Algeria, is of this kind. It is this oriental alabaster that is referred to in the Bible, the aXaflaa-TpLrrjs of the Greeks. The stone was held in very high estimation among the civilised nations of antiquity, being then chiefly procured from quarries in the neighbour hood of Thebes, which to this day remain unexhausted. At the present time it is procured from Oran (Algerian onyx), the Pyrenees, Chili, Calif ornia, &c. In the Soanean Museum there is an Egyptian sarcophagus in oriental alabaster, covered with hieroglyphics, which was purchased by Sir John Soane for 2000 guineas. ALABASTER, WILLIAM, D.D., poet and scholar. If to have been commemorated with golden words by Ed mund Spenser in his Colin Clouts come Home Againe, 11. 400-415, and by Herrick in his Hesperides ; and to have
been reckoned "foernan worthy of his steel" by Bishop
