Ava

the capital of the Burmese Empire from to 1740, and from 1822 to 1888, is situated on Irawadi river at the confluence of the Mytnge the Myltha, which wash the city on the E., 8., W. It is about six miles below Amarapura, old, and Mandalay, the present capital. The of 1839 almost destroyed the place, but few great temples and a royal palace remain. Ava. [Kava.] Aval, [BAHREIN.] Avalanche, the slipping of an accumulation of or ice down a steep declivity in Alpine regions. are sometimes cla ified as ice, snowy drift or dust avalanches. Ice avalanches occur summer, being detached from glaciers; snowy occur in spring, sliding down habitual which they polish; and drift avalanches in winter after heavy falls of snow, consisting loose snow, accompanied in its fall by a rush of Avalanches, especially the two latter kinds, prove very destructive, so that the growth of is encouraged or masonry is erected to ward off; but their most important action is in in blocking the course of streams, so as to temporary lakes and cause floods. Avalon, AVALLON, or AVILION, the soul-king of Celtic mythology, the Ynys yr Avallon of Apples) or Ynysvitrin (Gla Island) of Welsh. This last name seems to connect it with Glasberg (Gla Mountain) of Teutonic myth, has a suspicious likene to Glastonbury, according to one legend,-King Arthur was; while another—adopted by Tennyson in the of Arthur—tells how the king was carried “‘ To the island-valley of Avilion, Where falls not rain, or hail, or any snow, Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lfes Deep-meadow’d, happy, fair with orchard lawns, And bowery hollows, crown’d with summer seas,” Avares, 2 branch of Huns, who about the of the sixth century were driven from their near the Altai Mountains by Chinese invaders, ultimately forced their way into Western and held large tracts of territory in, N. and 8. of the Danube, and in Ru ia far as the Don, They were conquered and by Charlemagne. The Avares still their name to a town and a large district square miles) in the old province of Leg hist an, on the N.E. side of the Caucasus. The numbering about 30,000, consists of wild mountaineers, nominally subject to Ru ia. Avaricum, [Bounrc .] Avatar, the incarnation of a deity, or the of such incarnation. The term is chiefly of the manifestations of Vishnu (q.v.), but 300 ment of in lates Matthew, tive naturally four shire, is Druidical about forming this enclosing dolmen. viz. conjectured the soene gal, way of in chief pania, of are and ties local distant Avatcha, ( 272 emyeee with propriety be applied te the incarnation Siva in Hunaman, the monkey-god, or of Jupiter the bull which bore away Europa. Tylor rethat a Hindu, “being shown the pictures of Mark, Luke, and John, with their respecman, lion, ox, and eagle, explained these quite and satisfactorily as the avatars of the Evangelists.” Avatcha. [PETROPAULOVsKI.] Ave, ABURY, or ABERY, a village in Wilt about 6 miles W. of Marl borough. The village situated in the midst of the remains of a large structure consisting of 100 monoliths, each 16 feet in height and 40 feet in circumference, a circle 1,000 feet in diameter. Within area are two smaller circles of double stones, ee i ae a et ee Oe Se Fe Let ar 8 8 — ewe meaty Fatt a bgt Ge ees Le 1 Se ae Ome = Sgn ’ iia VO OM Las yy if rats ‘eee he) a) + Se ae 4 ur oi AVEBURY, FROM THE SOUTH, (From a photograph by W. J, Barter stock, Marl borough.) the one a maenhir or column, the other a Two barrows exist in the neighbourhood, Silbury Hill and Hakpen Hill. It has been that the Avebury remains commemorate last of the twelve great Arthur i an battles, the of which was Badon or Waden Hill. Avebury, Lorp. [{LusBBOOK, SiR JOHN.] Aveiro, © port in the province of Beira, Portuat the mouth of the river Vouga, about half between Oporto and Coimbra. It is the seat a bishopric and college. There is a large trade fish, salt, oil, wine, and fruit. Avellino (cla ic A del linum), a fortified city and town of a province of the same name in Cam- Italy, at the foot of M. Vergine, 59 miles E. Naples. A bishopric, royal college, and cathedral found here, but the streets are narrow, gloomy, tortuous. The neighbourhood produces quant i of chestnuts and hazel nuts, and there are some manufactures and large dye works. Not ‘far are the famous Caudine Forks (Val de ) Averno. Gazzano) where the Romans suffered defeat from the Samnites in 321 B.c. Ave Maria (Lat. Hail Mary), a common invocation to the Virgin Mary, in use at the end of the seventh century, but formally sanctioned during the twelfth. A clause was added at the end of the sixteenth century. Pope John XXII. ordered in 1326 that every Catholic should repeat it thrice at the ringing of the bells calling to prayer at morning, noon, and night. Hence the bells (still rung in Roman Catholic churches) are often called the “ Ave Maria,” or ANGELUS (q.v.), in allusion to the opening words of the prayer, taken from the addre of the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin (Luke i. 28). Avenger of Blood, the term applied to the person on whom, by the Mosaic law, it devolved to punish death by violence. He was the nearest male relative of the person slain. (See Deut, xix. 12; Numbers xxxv. 9-34; Joshua xx.) A vent in us, a Bavarian historian, JoHANN THURMAYER, who took this name from A bends berg, where he was born about 1476. He was appointed tutor to the sons of Duke Albert of Bavaria, and wrote at his patron’s desire his Annales Boiorum, a valuable record of early German history, which, however, brought upon him a charge of heresy. He was acquitted and died at Ratisbon in 1534. A vent in us, Mons (now Jfonte di Santa Sabina), the most southerly of the seven hills on which ancient Rome stood, lies between Mons Ceelius and the Palatine. It was included within the city by Ancus Martius, and as an outlying quarter was the scene of several sece ions of the plebs. Temples of Diana and of Liberty with other monuments occupied the site.