Alani

Allies of the Goths and Vandals in their raids on the Roman Empire. They seem to have spread over the s. part of what is now European Ru ia as early as 100. They were horsemen; did not till the land; dwelt in wagons; used the la o in battle; decked themselves with the scalps of their enemies; knew no slavery, and exulted to die in battle. They were found in Gaul and Spain ab. 510, and accompanied Genseric into Africa 429. The victory of Chalons 451, where they served under Theodoric against the Huns, was nearly lost by their defection. The name soon after disappeared. Alarçon, HERNANDO DE. Spanish navigator, who in 1540 ascertained California to be a peninsula, and sailed some distance up the Colorado. Alarçon, PEDRO ANTONIO DE, 1833-1891. Spanish novelist of marked ability, but clerical and anti-modern in tendency. El Sombrero de Tres Picos , 1868; Escandalo , 1875.