A It ft A E D 479 objectionable. The Arctic Ocean washes the north of Europe, Asia, and America. It communicates with the Atlantic by a broad opening on the east of Greenland, and a narrow but important channel on the west, which has been traced as far north as 84-, and is known in the various parts of its extent by special names Davis Strait, Baffin s Bay, Utlak Soak, Smith Sound, Kennedy Channel, Robeson Channel, Lincoln Sea, but might conveniently be distin guished by some such general designation as the West Greenland Channel. With the Pacific there is communication between Asia and America through Behring s Strait. The coast line of all the three continents is for the most part exceedingly irregular, though this is less the case with Asia than with the other two. - Europe sends down the Onega, Dwiua, Pinega, Mezen, and Petchora; Asia the Obi, Yenisee, Lena, Indigarka, and Robinm^ and America the Mackenzie River. The most important of the numerous islands are Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla, with the multitudinous adja cent islets, to the north of Europe ; the Liakhov Islands, or New Siberia, off the coast of Asia : and the vast irre gular Archipelago into which the north-eastern portion of America is split, which extends to the quasi-continent of Greenland. While for human habitation the regions of the Arctic Ocean are the most desolate that can well be conceived, there is extraordinary abundance of the lower forms of animal life ; and while for centuries men have only visited them to gather their living harvests, or for purposes of exploration, traces are in many places to be found of human inhabitants in a distant age. At a still remoter period the islands of the Arctic Archipelago have been covered with forests, and Barrow s Straits have been the habitat of coral and sponge (Markham, in the Journ. Roy. Geogr. Soc. 1865, p. 88). A very large portion of the area included by the Arctic Ocean is still unexplored; but almost every year diminishes the extent of the unknown. The nearest approach to the Pole has been made up the West Green land Channel ; the passage along the eastern, coast away to the north of Spitzbergen being the next in order of suc cess. For information regarding the various Arctic ex peditions, see the article POLAR REGIONS. ARDEA, a Latian city, probably of Pelasgian origin, famous chiefly for its accidental connection with the semi- mythical rape of Lucretia and the expulsion of the Tar- quins from Rome. It lies 24 miles almost due S. from Rome, and 4 miles from the coast, on a small stream. It seems at one time to have been a place of great wealth and power ; but the little hamlet which still preserves its name hardly numbers 200 inhabitants. A few fragments of tufa-built fortifications are the only remains of its ancient architecture. ARDEBIL, or ARDABIL, one of the chief towns of Azerbijan in Persia, situated in 38 15 N. lat., and 48 19 E. long., on the Karasu or Balulk, a tributary of the Aras, in a fertile plain about 40 miles from the Caspian, seems to have been built out of the ruins of a former city. It is surrounded with a mud wall and towers, has a square castle with bastions at the corners fortified after European fashion, and contains the tomb of Shah Ismael Sufi, the founder of the Sufi dynasty of Persia. It is an emporium in the trade of Tiflis, Derbend, and Baku with Ispahan and Teheran. By a great council of the Persian empire, which met in 1736 in the neighbouring plain of Chowal- Mogam, Nadir Shah was chosen king, and his corona tion took place next year at Ardebil. In the vicinity there are a number of warm mineral springs, and to the west stands tte great mountain Sevilan, of volcanic origin, forming the eastern, extremity of the water-shed between the Aras and the Tigris. From its remarkable salubrity Ardebil has acquired the Persian title of Aladan i Firuz, the abode of happiness. ARDECHE, a department in the south of France, bounded on the N.W. by the department of Loire, on the E. by Isere and Drome, on the S. by Gard, and on the W. by Lozere and Haute Loire. It extends 72 miles from N. to S., and 45 from E. to W., at the widest points; and its area is 2134 square miles. The surface of Ardeche is almost entirely covered by the Cevennes Mountains ; the main line forming the western boundary of the department, and sending out the Boutieres, Coirou, Tanargue, and other branches, for the most part in an easterly direction. Several of the summits, of which the highest, Mount Mezenc, is 5972 feet above the sea, are evidently extinct volcanoes. The Rhone bounds Ardeche on the east, and receives most of its rivers, including the Cance, the Ay, the Doux, the Erieux, and the Ardeche. A few rivers, however, belong to the Atlantic side of the water-shed, the chief being the Loire, which rises on the western borders of the department, and the Allier, which for a short distance separates it from Lozere. The climate in the valley of the Rhone is warm, and sometimes very hot; but westward, as the elevation increases, the cold becomes more intense and the winters longer. Some districts, especially in summer, are liable to sudden alterations in the temperature. Grain and pulse are produced, but not in quantities sufficient for the popula tion, a large part of the fare of the peasants consisting of potatoes and chestnuts. The latter, besides, form one of the main articles of export, another being oil extracted from nuts. Wine is produced in considerable quantities along the valley of the Rhone. The rearing of the silk worm, however, is of all the industries the most important and remunerative. Goats and sheep are kept in large numbers, Ardeche being one of the chief sources of the supply of skins for glove-making. The number of horses is small, asses and mules being the beasta of burden mainly employed. Iron, coal, lignite, marble, limestone, and porcelain clay are among the mineral products. Hot springs are numerous, and some of them, as St Laurent, Celles, and Neyrac, are largely resorted to. Natural curiosities are the Pont d Arc over the Ardeche, and the Chaussee des Geants, near Vals. The country people adhere to their pro vincial habits and dialect, go barefoot, and wear tall hats and long blouses. Among the celebrated men of the depart ment may be named Cardinal Tournon and the brothers Montgolfier. The chief town is Privas ; the arrondisse- ments are Privas, Largentiere (which derives its name from its ancient silver mines), and Tournon. Population, 380,277. ARDELAN, a province of Persia, forming the eastern division of Kurdistan, and lying south of Azerbijan. Its capital Senna, in long. 40 E., and lat, 35 12 N., is built in a deep valley, which is well tilled and rich in orchards. The north part presents a succession of great table-lands, inhabited in the summer by wandering shepherds, who migrate in winter to the vicinity of Baghdad. The soil in the valleys is good, and abundance of wheat, barley, and the oil-plant (Sesamum orientate} is grown, besides a little tobacco. The oak forests of the mountains to the west yield fine timber, which is floated down the Tab into the Tigris, and gall-nuts, which are sent to India. The inhabi tants, mostly Kurds, are greatly given to war and robbery, and many of the tribes are subjects of Persia only nominally. ARDENNES, a department on the N.E. frontier of France, which derives its name from the famous forest, is bounded on the N. and N.E. by Belgium, on the E. by the department of the Meuse, on the S. by that of Marne, and on the W. by that of the Aisne. In shnpe it is an irregular pentagon, with a cape-like prolonga tion into Belgium on the north. It has a superficial extent of 523,000 hectares, or 1,291,8 iO acres, of which 300,000 hectares, or 741,000 acres, are arable land, while
154,000 hectares, or 383,800 acres, are occupied with