Aral Lake
separated by the plateau of Ust-Urt from the Caspian Sea, is the largest lake in the steppes of Asia. It lies wholly within the limits of Russian Central Asia, embracing an area of about 25,000 square miles. It is fed by the Sir-Darya (the ancient Jaxartes) on the N. E. side and the Amu-Darya (or ancient Oxus) on the S. E. It has no outlet, and is generally shallow, its only deep water being on the W. coast, where it reaches a depth of 225 feet; but it shoals gradually eastward to a mere marshy swamp. Fish, including sturgeon, carp, and herring, are abundant, though the water is brackish. The lake is dotted with multitudes of islands and islets. Owing to the shallowness of its waters, and its frequent exposure to fierce and sudden storms, navigation is difficult. The area it now occupies has been dry land twice within historical times. This was the case during the Græco-Roman period, and again during the 13th and 14th centuries.
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Aralia
a genus of plants, the typical one of the order araliaceæ. A. umbellifera exudes an aromatic gum. A. nudicaulis is used as a substitute for sarsaparilla. The berries of A. spinosa, the angelica tree, prickly ash, or toothache tree, of America, infused in wine or spir- Dana thus di-its, are used in cases of colic, while a tincture of them is prescribed in toothache. A. racemosa, the spikenard of America, is also regarded as a medicinal plant. ARAMÆAN (ar-am-a'an), or ARA- MAIC, a Semitic language nearly allied to the Hebrew and Phoenician, anciently spoken in Syria and Palestine and eastward to the Euphrates and Tigris, being the official language of this region under the Persian domination. In Palestine it supplanted Hebrew, and was the tongue of the Jews in the time of Christ. Parts of Daniel and Ezra are written in Aramaic, or, as this form of it is often incorrectly named, Chaldee. An important Aramaic dialect is the Syriac, in which there is an extensive Christian literature.
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Aranjuez
(probably the Latin Ara Jovis), a town of Spain, on the left bank of the Tagus, 30 miles S. S. E. of Madrid by rail, in a beautifully wooded valley. The palace was long a favorite spring resort of the royal family. The famous gardens were laid out by Philip II. At Aranjuez was concluded a treaty between France and Spain in 1772, and it was also the scene of the abdication of Charles IV. in 1808. Pop. about 15,000.
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Arany
JÁNOS (or'ony), a Hungarian poet, born at Nagy-Szalonta, March 1, 1817. He was called to Budapest in 1860 as director of the Kisfaludy Society; founded the literary weekly "Kos- ARAPAIMA zori" ("The Wreath"); and in 1865 was appointed secretary of the Hungarian Academy, of which he had been a member since 1859. Owing to his feeble health he resigned in 1878. As a national poet he ranks immediately after Petöfi and Vörösmarty, his epical crcations deserving to be acknowledged as ornaments not only of Hungarian but of modern poetry in general. He is master of the ballad and a translator of highest merit, as proven by his versions of Tasso, Goethe, Shakespeare, and, above all, his translation of Aristophanes. He died in Budapest, Oct. 22, 1882.
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Arapaima
2026 Editor's Note: This page uses language about race that was commonplace when the book was published and is offensive by today's standards. The text has been left exactly as it was printed, rather than cut or softened, so that the historical record — including how ordinary such language once was — is preserved. (Ed: ET 2026-07-22) a genus of tropical fishes, including the largest know fresh water forms. They are found in the rivers of South America, and are sometimes taken in the Rio Negro, 15 feet in length, and 400 pounds in weight. They are shot with arrows or harpooned, and are highly esteemed as food; salted, they are conveyed in large quantities to Para. The genus arapaima belongs to the family osteoglossidæ, allied to the clupeidæ or herring, and is remarkable for the mosaic work of strong bony scales with which the body is covered. The head is also protected by bony armature. Osteoglossum and heterotis are closely related genera, found in various parts of the tropics.
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Arariel
An angel who, according to the rabbis of the Talmud , takes charge of the waters of the earth. Fishermen invoke him so that they may take large fish.
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Ararita
The verbum inenarrabile of the sages of the Alexandrian School, "which Hebrew Kabalists wrote Javeh, and interpreted by the sound Ararita, thus expressing the triplicity of the secondary kabalistic principle, the dualism of the means and the equal unity of the first and final principle, as well as the alliance between the triad and the tetrad in a word composed of four letters, which form seven by means of a triple and double repetiticn."
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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.
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Araucania
the country of the Araucos or Araucanian Indians, in the south of Chile. The Chilean province of Arauco, lying between 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.
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