[Aloes wood], the heart of certain tropical trees, which yields a fragrant resinous substance and admits of high polish.
[Alost] (25), a Belgian town on the Dender, 19 m. NW. from Brussels, with a cathedral, one of the grandest in Belgium, which contains a famous painting by Rubens, "St. Roche beseeching Christ to arrest the Plague at Alost."
[Aloysius, St.], See [Gonzaga.]
[Aloysius, St.], an Italian nobleman, who joined the Society of Jesus; canonised for his devotion to the sick during the plague in Rome, to which he himself fell a victim, June 21, 1591.
[Alpaca], a gregarious ruminant of the camel family, a native of the Andes, and particularly the tablelands of Chile and Peru; is covered with a long soft silky wool, of which textile fabrics are woven; in appearance resembles a sheep, but is larger in size, and has a long erect neck with a handsome head.
[Alp-Arslan] (Brave Lion), a sultan of the Seljuk dynasty in Persia, added Armenia and Georgia to his dominions (1030-1072).
[Alpes], three departments in SE. France: the Basses-A, in NE. part of Provence, bounded by Hautes-Alpes on the N. and Var on the S., sterile in the N., fertile in the S., cap. Digne; Hautes-A., forming part of Dauphiné, traversed by the Cottian Alps, climate severe, cap. Gap; A. Maritimes, E. of the Basses-A., bordering on Italy and the Mediterranean, made up of the territory of Nice, ceded by Italy, and of Monaco and Var; cap. Nice.
[Alphe`us], a river in the Peloponnesus, flowing west, with its source in Arcadia; also the name of the river-god enamoured of the nymph Arethusa, and who pursued her under the sea as far as Sicily, where he overtook her and was wedded to her.
[Alpine Club], a club of English gentlemen devoted to mountaineering, first of all in the Alps, members of which have successfully addressed themselves to attempts of the kind on loftier mountains.
[Alpine plants], plants whose natural habitat approaches the line of perpetual snow.