Aras
a river of Armenia, rising S. of Erzerum at the foot of the Bingoldagh; it flows for some miles through Turkish territory N. E. to the new Russian frontier. Here it turns eastward to the Erivian plain N. of Ararat, whence it sweeps in a semi-circle mostly between the Russian and Persian territories round to its confluence with the Kur, 60 miles from its mouth in the Caspian; length, 500 miles.
ARAUCANIA (ar-ō-ka'nē-a), the country of the Araucos or Araucanian Indians, in the south of Chile. The Chilean province of Arauco, lying between ARBITRATION the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, and bounded on the N. by Concepcion, on the S. by Valdivia, formed in 1875, has an area of 2,189 square miles, and a population (1917) of 73,260. The Araucanians are interesting as furnishing the only example of Indian self-government in the presence of the European races.
They are a fierce and warlike people, and have a kind of military aristocratic constitution. Formerly the government rested in the hands of four chiefs (Toquis), each nominated by one of the four divisions of the people, and one of whom was elected "great Toqui." They have no formal laws, but custom and tradition have all the force of these. They now number about 70,000. From the days of Pizarro and Almagro downward, Araucania has fought for its freedom-its wars of independence having lasted, with intervals of precarious truce, from 1537 to 1773. In 1861 a French adventurer, Tonneins by name, ingratiating himself with the Indians, was elected King of Araucania. He was soon at war with Chile, and was captured and allowed to go to France. Returning to Araucania, he kept up a struggle with the Chileans in 1869-1870, but repaired once more to France in 1871. In 1870 the Auracanians acknowledged the rule of Chile. ARAUCARIA (ar-ō-kā'rē-a), a genus of plants belonging to the order pinaceæ (conifers) and to the family or section abietinæ. Five or six species are known; all from the Southern Hemisphere. The one so common in English gardens is A. imbricata, a native of the mountainous parts of southern Chile. Another species, A. excelsa, or Norfolk Island pine, is a splendid tree of giant size. All the genus are ornamental from their fine and unfading foliage.