ALEPPO 11' N., Ion. 37 10' E., on the borders of the Syro-Arabian desert, about 60 m. E. of Antioch and 70 m. from the Mediterranean. The popula- tion, formerly estimated at upward of 200,000, has been reduced by earthquakes, and now numbers about 100,000, including 16,000 Chris- tians and 4,000 Jews; the rest being Greeks, Armenians, Arabs, and Turks. The city is en- compassed by low and barren hills and ir- regular mounds, intersected by fertile valleys. The gloomy aspect of the projecting chalk rocks is relieved by gardens along the rivulet Nahr Kowaik, planted with the celebrated pistachio trees and abounding in exquisite fruits and flowers. Including the straggling suburb, the circumference of Aleppo is 5 to 6 m., but the city proper is not over 3 m. in circuit, and it is shut in by a ruinous Saracenic wall. Alep- po is a city of a thoroughly oriental type, with extensive bazaars, numerous mosques, and a population remarkable for its elegant bearing. The streets are better than those of most eastern cities, though many of them are arched over. The houses are of stone, substantially built, with terraces for evening promenades. The commerce, though considerably less than formerly, is still active, the value of the imports in 1866, chiefly English, being $6,500,000, and of the exports, $2,700,000. The trade in Alep- po brocades and silks has declined since the introduction of European silks. The principal exports are wool, cotton, pistachio nuts, oil, ce- reals, &c. Aleppo, being on the only safe route between Syria and eastern Asia, is the great centre of the Damascus and Bagdad caravans. The name of Haleb is traced by some Arab philologists of the 14th century to the days of Abraham, who, according to this tradition, stopped there on his way to Canaan, distribut- ing milk to the poor and repeating the words Ibrahim aleb, " Abraham has milked." In 638 Aleppo was taken from the Byzantine empire by the Arabs and made the seat of a sultanate. It was reconquered by John Zimisces, and afterward became the capital of the Seljuk Turks. After being besieged by the crusaders, desolated by the followers of Timour, op- pressed by the Mamelukes of Egypt, and de- stroyed several times by earthquakes, it be- came, after the Turkish conquest at the begin- ning of the 16th century, a prosperous city, and the seat of a branch of the Levant com- pany. In 1850 it was the scene of massacres of Christians, and of revolts, which were sup- pressed in November with the aid of Generals Bern and Guyon, then in Turkish service. Prelates of the Roman Catholic, Greek, Ar- menian, and Syriac churches, and consuls of the principal Christian nations, reside here. The place has been often visited by the plague and the cholera. A disease of the skin called the Aleppo button (Arab, hebbet), or boil, at- tacks most of the residents, and is attributed to the unwholesome water. The natives gen- erally have it in infancy, and chiefly in the face. The eruption makes its appearance in 19 VOL. i. 19 ALESSANDRI 273 the form of a small, hard, red tubercle, increas- ing in size after several weeks, discharging pus, and eventually forming a scab, which on dis- appearing leaves an indelible mark. Dogs and cats are commonly attacked by it in the nose. Strangers are attacked sometimes soon after their arrival, sometimes not until years after their departure. The malady, which usually lasts a year, prevails all along the adjacent rivers, and along the valley of the Euphrates, as far as Bagdad. ALESHKI (formerly DnieprovsK), a town in S. Russia, in the government of Taurida, on an arm of the Dnieper, 5 m. 8. E. of Kherspn ; pop. in 1870, 8,484, and rapidly increasing. ALESIA, a fortified town of the Mandubii, in Celtic Gaul, renowned for its siege by Caesar in 52 B. C. It was a very old town, built on a high hill, washed by the Lutosa and Osera (be- lieved to be the Oze and Ozeraine, in Cote d'Or), near the sources of the Sequana (Seine). Its fall, and the surrender of Vercingetorix, who defended it, decided the subjugation of Gaul. It was destroyed by Caesar, but was subse- quently rebuilt, and became a very consider- able city under the Romans. It was ruined by the Normans in the 9th century. At the foot of the hill (Mont Auxois) now stands the vil- lage of Alise Ste. Reine, 6 m. S. of Montbard. M. Delacroix, an architect of Besangon, called attention in 1855 to the village of Alaise, near Ornans, in the department of Doubs, as the site of the battlefield of Alesia. Excavations were made at Alaise and at Alise, at the latter place under the auspices of Napoleon III., and archaeological evidence was produced in sup- port of the two localities, that respecting Alise Ste. Reine being regarded as conclusive in favor of this site by F. de Saulcy and other competent persons who conducted the re- searches there in 1861. Many works have been written on this controversy. The most impor- tant publications in behalf of Alaise are four by J. E. J. Quicherat (Paris, 1857-'62); in favor of Alise, by Rossignol (Dijon, 1856), the duke d'Aumale (Paris, 1858), and F. de Saulcy (1862). The academy of inscriptions and belles- lettres conferred a prize upon Rossignol's es- say. In 1862 M. Gravot published his opinion that the battle of Alesia was fought neither at Alise Ste. Reine nor at Alaise, but at Alise- Izernore, in the department of Ain. ALESSANDRESKU, Gregory, a Roumanian poet, born at Tergovist, Wallachia, about 1812. After a short service in the army, he became conspicuous as a liberal politician, and was banished to a monastery for publishing satires and fables reflecting upon the government. In 1859 he was for a short time minister of finance. A second edition of his most impor- tant work, entitled "Reminiscences, Impres- sions, Letters, and Fables," was published at Bucharest in 1863. ALESSANDRI, Basil, a Roumanian poet of Ve- netian origin, born in Moldavia in 1821. He was educated at Jassy and Paris, joined the
