Here are 25 Russian churches, and two convents;
the Armenians, Lutherans, and Papists, have their
places of worship ; and the Hindoos of Moultan
have been permitted to erect a temple. The hou-
ses are in general of wood ; and the inhabitants are
estimated at 70,000. It seldom rains here, but the
river Volga overflows, like the Nile, and when
the water has run off, vegetation is very rapid.
Here are several large vineyards from which some
wine is made for home consumption; also manu-
factures of gunpowder, and nitre, and on the side
of the Caspian Sea, are long marshes which pro-
duce a great quantity of salt. The Volga, either
of itself, or by its numerous branches, intersects
half of the interior provinces of European Russia,
and affords to Astracan a facility of communication
^by water of inestimable advantage ; it communi-
cates with Moscow by the Kashma branch and
with St. Petersburgh from Twer, partly by canal,
and partly by intermediate waters. The mouths
of the river abound with beluga, a species of stur-
geon, from the sound of which is made the finest'
isinglass, which forms a very extensive branch of
the commerce of Astracan. Here is also the cen-
tre of all the commerce of Russia with Persia and
the East, in which Russians, Persians, Armenians,
Greeks, Tartars, Jews, Hindoos, French, and
English all participate. It was taken from the
Mongol Tartars about the middle of the 15th
centurv, and is about 770 m. S. E. of Mos-
cow, and 1,050 S. S. E. of St. Petersburgh.

Asturias, a maritime province of the northwest
of Spain, extending for about 120 m. along the
shore of the Bay of Biscay. It is divided into
two parts, Asturias deOviedo and Asturias de
Santillana, so named from their chief towns. This
province is full of mountains and forests, its wine
and horses are excellent, and it has mines of gold,
lapis lazuli and vermilion. The eldest son of the
king of Spain is styled prince of the Asturias. It
was formerly a principality of the kingdom of
Leon, and is bounded on the S. by the province
of Leon; on the W. by Gallicia; and on the E.
by Biscay and Old Castile ; it extends inland from
the Bay of Biscay about 45 m. and contains a
superficies of 308 sq. leagues, and in 1810, a pop-
ulation of 364,238. St. Andero at the eastern ex-
tremity of the province, in lat. 43. 23. N. and 3.
40. W. long, and distant by way of Segovia
87 and by Aranda 711-2 leagues north from
Madrid, is the principal town on the coast, and
Oviedo, 75 1-2 leagues N. W. from Madrid, is the
chief town inland.

Asylum, t. Luzerne Co. Pa., on the Susquehan-
. na, 66 m. N. W. Wilkesbarre.

Atacama, a seaport and province of Peru. The
province has a great desert of the same name,
which separates Peru from Chile. The town is
remarkable for the fish called tollo, with which it
carries on a great trade with the inland provinces.
It is 210 m. S. by E. of Arica. Long. 69. 30.
W. lat. 21. 20. S.

Atrhinsk. a considerable town in the goverment
of Tobolsk, on the frontiers of Colyvan. It is sit-
uate on a branch of the Obi river, in the lat. of 56.
20. N. and 89. 30. E. long.

Atchafalayo, a river of Louisiana, one of the
tnouths of the Mississippi, striking off from that
stream just below the entrance of Red River,
and flowing south into the Gulf of Mexico. It is
only however when the river is very high, that
any great portion of the waters of the Mississippi
passes offhy this channel. Vast quantities of drift
timber have passed from the main stream into
this river, and becoming clogged between its
banks have formed what is called the Great Raft,
where the river is covered with a floating bridge of
timber, extending with interruptions, a length of
25 miles.

Atena, a town of Naples in Principato Citeriore,
near the river Negro, 22 m. N. of Policastro.

Ath, a fortified town of the Netherlands, in Hain-
ault. It has been often taken, and is seated on the
Dender, 12 m. N. W. of Mons, on the road from
Brussels to Tournay. Pop. about. 7,500.

Athaboli, a town of European Turkey, in Ro-
mania, on the coast of the Black Sea, 70 m. N.
E. of Adrianople.

Athapeseow, a lake in the N. part of British
America, discharging its waters into Slave Lake.
It is 200 m. long.

Athboy, a parish and town in the county of
Meath, Ireland. In 1821 the town contained a
population of 1,569, and the parish, including the
commons, and the village of Castletown, 4,275.
The town is 30 m. N. of Dublin, and has three
annual fairs.

Athelney, an island in Somerset, Co. Eng. at the
confluence of the Thone and Parret, a few miles be-
low Taunton, memorable for having afforded shel-
ter to king Alfred. Here he collected some of his
retainers, on which account he called it iEthelin-
gay, or the isle of Nobles, and hence he made fre-
quent sallies upon the Danes.

Athenrey, a populous parish and town in the
county of Galway, Ireland; in 1821, the pop-
ulation of the town was 1,093, and total of the par-
ish 10,977.

Athens, a once celebrated city, situate on a p.
montory at the southern extremity of Eastern Eu
rope, supposed to have been founded by Cecrops,
1,556 years antecedent to the Christian era, or
about the period of the height of Egyptian glory
in the age of Moses ; it became the seat of king!/
authority under Codrus, about the period of the
reign of David in Palestine, and in about 1,000
years subsequent to its foundation, it had attained
the summit of its glory, when it became the chief
city of the Grecian republic, which successfully
contended against the powerful arms of the Per-
sian monarchy, and excelled in all the arts of
poetry, painting, sculpture, and architecture ; the
two last, the Athenians may be said to have per-
fected, for all that succeeding ages have done has
been to copy, mix, and transform. Eighty-six
years antecedent to the Christian era, when refine-
ment among the Athenians had sunk into licen-
tiousness, and patriotism into selfish ambition, and
individual aggrandisement, Athens fell a prey to
the furious arms of Sylla, who sacked it of some
of its choicest treasures; from this period it may
be considered as having passed the meridian of
its glory. In the 50th year of the Christian era.
it was visited by the apostle Paul, whose speech
to the multitude from the celebrated temple on
Mar’s Hfll, as recorded in the 18th chap. of the
Acts of the Apostles, verse 22nd, will best testify
the social and moral condition of it's inhabitants
at the period ; it subsequently became a prey to
internal commotions, as well as to external ene
mies, and after experiencing various alternations
of fortune, it became tributary to the Turks, on
their establishing their dominion in Europe, and
under them was the chief town of the district of
Livadia ; numerous vestiges of architectural gran
deur still remain to attest the supremacy of the
Athenians in that noble and useful art. The tow
er of the new church of St. Pancras, built in Lon