Assafœtida. See Asafetida.
Assai-palm (as-ī; Euterpe oleracĕa), a native of tropical S. America, only about 4 inches in diameter and 60 or 80 feet high, with a crown of leaves, beneath which a small fruit grows on branched horizontal spadices. The pulp of the fruit mixed with water is used as a beverage.
Assal´, a salt lake in North-Eastern Africa, in Adal.
Assam´, one of the fifteen provinces of British India, separated from Eastern Bengal and reconstituted in 1912; area, 53,015 sq. miles. It forms a series of fertile valleys watered by the Brahmaputra and its tributaries, the valley of the Brahmaputra, which is the main one, consisting of rich alluvial plains, either but little elevated above the river, or so low that large extents of them are flooded for three or four days once or twice in the year, while the course of the river often changes. The climate is marked by great humidity, and malarious diseases are common in the low grounds; otherwise it is not unhealthy. The whole province, except the cultivated area, may be designated as forest, the trees including teak, sâl, sissoo, the date and sago palm, the areca palm (the betel-nut tree), the Indian fig tree, &c. The article of most commercial importance is tea, which was first exported in 1838, and the yield of which is now over 100,000,000 pounds annually. Other crops raised are rice, Indian corn, pulse, oil-seeds,
sugar-cane, hemp, jute, potatoes, &c. In the jungles and forests roam herds of elephants, the rhinoceros, tiger, buffalo, leopard, bear, wild hog, jackal, fox, goat, and various kinds of deer. Among serpents are the python and the cobra. Pheasants, partridges, snipe, wild peacock, and many kinds of water-fowl abound. Coal, petroleum, and limestone are found in abundance; iron is smelted to a small extent; gold-dust is met with; lime is exported to Bengal. There is no single Assamese nationality, and the Assamese language is merely a modern dialect of Bengali. Pop. 6,713,635, 3,637,828 of whom are Hindus, 1,886,528 Mahommedans, 66,430 Christians, 10,506 Buddhists, the rest being chiefly hill tribes of aboriginal faiths. The labourers in the tea-gardens are mostly drawn from Bengal. In 1826 Assam became a possession of Britain, being taken from the Burmese, who had made themselves masters of it about the end of the eighteenth century. The largest town is Sylhet (pop. 14,000).—Cf. E. A. Gait, History of Assam.
As´sapan (Sciuroptĕrus volucella), the flying-squirrel of N. America, a little animal with folds of skin along its sides which enable it to take leaps of 40 or 50 yards.
Assass´ins (from hashshāshīn, drinkers of hashish), an Asiatic order or society having the practice of assassination as its most distinctive feature, founded by Hassan Ben Sabbah, the Himyarite, a dai or missionary of the heterodox Mahommedan sect the Ismailites. The society grew rapidly in numbers, and in 1090 the Persian fortress of Alamut fell into their hands. Other territories were added, and the order became a recognized military power. Its organization comprised seven ranks, at its head being the Sheikh-al-Jebala or 'Old man of the mountains'. Upon a select band fell the work of assassination, to which they were stimulated by the intoxicating influence of hashish. For nearly two centuries they maintained their power under nine sheikhs. Hassan, after a long and prosperous reign, died in 1124. Most of his successors died violent deaths at the hands of relatives or dependents. After proving themselves strong enough to withstand the powerful sultans Noureddin and Saladin, and making themselves feared by the Crusaders, the Assassins were overcome by the Tartar leader Hulaku. The last chief, Rokneddin, was killed for an act of treachery subsequent to his capture, and his death was followed by a general massacre of the assassins, in which 12,000 perished. Dispersed bands led a roving life in the Syrian mountains, and it is alleged that in the Druses and other small existing tribes their descendants are still to be found. See Crusades; Khoja.
Assault´, in law, an attempt or offer, with force and violence, to do a corporal hurt to another, as by striking at him with or without a weapon. If a person lift up or stretch forth his arm and offer to strike another, or menace anyone with any staff or weapon, it is an assault in law. Assault, therefore, does not necessarily imply a hitting or blow, because in trespass for assault and battery a man may be found guilty of the assault and acquitted of the battery. But every battery includes an assault.
Assaye, or Assye (as-sī´), a village in Southern India, in Hyderabad, where Wellington (then Major-General Wellesley) gained a famous victory in 1803. With only 4500 troops at his disposal he completely routed the Mahratta force of 50,000 men and 100 guns. The victory, however, cost him more than a third of his men.
Assaying, the estimation of the amount of pure metal present in an ore or an alloy. The term was originally applied to testing of gold and silver only. It is now usually applied to the determination of the quantity of valuable metal in an ore or alloy, and is also sometimes applied to the estimation of any element which may affect the value of the ore.