No satisfactory derivation of the word is suggested. The English word" daffodil " is a perversion of " asphodel," formerly written "affodil." The d may come from the French fleur d'affodille. It is no part of the word philologically.

See Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopädie, s.v.; H. O. Lenz, Botanik der alten Griechen und Römer (1859); J. Murr, Die Pflanzenwell in der griechischen Mythologie (1890).

ASPHYXIA (Gr. ȧ- priv., opiķis, a pulse), a term in medicine, literally signifying loss of pulsation, which is applied to describe the arrestment of the function of respiration from some hindrance to the entrance of air into the lungs. (See RESPIRATORY SYSTEM: Pathology.)

ASPIC (French, from Lat. aspis), an asp or viper found in Egypt whose bite is supposed to cause a swift and easy death, hence poetically a term for any venomous snake. From association, perhaps, with the coldness of the aspic (as in the French proverb, froid comme un aspic), the word is used for a savoury jelly containing meat, fish or eggs, &c. It is also the botanical name of the Lavandula spica, or spikenard, from which a white, aromatic and highly inflammable oil is distilled, called huile d'aspic.

ASPIDISTRA, a small genus of the lily order (Liliaceae), native of the Himalayas, China and Japan. Aspidistra lurida is a favourite pot-plant, bearing large green or white-striped leaves on an underground stem, and small dark purplish, cup-shaped flowers close to the ground.

ASPIROTRICHACEAE (O. Bütschli), an order of Ciliate Infusoria, characterized by an investment, general or partial, of nearly uniform cilia, without any distinct adoral wreath, and one or two adoral endoral undulating membranes. With the Gymnostomaceae it formed the Holotricha of Stein.

ASPIROZ, MANUEL DE (1836-1905), Mexican statesman and diplomatist, was born at Puebla, and educated at the university of Mexico, where he took his degree in 1855. He took part in the war against the emperor Maximilian, and in 1867, on the establishment of the republic, was appointed assistant secretary of state for foreign affairs. In 1873 he became Mexican consul at San Francisco, where he remained till his election to the Senate in 1875. He was professor of jurisprudence at the college of Puebla from 1883 to 1890, when he was again appointed assistant secretary of foreign affairs. From 1899 till he died in 1905 he was Mexican ambassador to the United States. Among his writings may be mentioned; Código de extranjeria de los EstadosUnidos Mexicanos (1876), and La liberdad civil como base del derecho internacional privado (1896).

ASPROMONTE, a mountain of Calabria, Italy, rising behind Reggio di Calabria, the west extremity of the Sila range. The highest point is 6420 ft. and the slopes are clad with forest. Here Garibaldi was wounded and taken prisoner by the Italian troops under Pallavicini in 1862.

was not nearly so conspicuous as that of some of his contemporaries. His ambitions lay rather in the direction of the House of Commons. He had taken a prominent part in politics as a Liberal since his university days, especially in work for the Eighty Club, and in 1886 was elected member of parliament for East Fife, a seat which he retained in subsequent elections. Mr Gladstone was attracted by his vigorous ability as a speaker, and his evidence of sound political judgment; and in August 1892; though comparatively unknown to the general public, he was selected to move the vote of want of confidence which overthrew Lord Salisbury's government, and was made home secretary in the new Liberal ministry. At the Home Office he proved his capacity as an administrator; he was the first to appoint women as factory inspectors, and he was responsible for opening Trafalgar Square to Labour demonstrations; but he firmly refused to sanction the proposed amnesty for the dynamiters, and he was violently abused by extremists on account of the shooting of two men by the military at the strike riot at Featherstone in August 1893. It was he who coined the phrase (Birmingham, 1894) as to the government's "ploughing the sands" in their endeavour to pass Liberal legislation with a hostile House of Lords. His Employers' Liability Bill 1893 was lost because the government refused to accept the Lords' amendment as to "contracting-out." His suspensory bill, with a view to the disestablishment of the church in Wales, was abortive (1895), but it served to recommend him to the Welsh Nationalists as well as to the disestablishment party in England and Scotland. During his three years of office he more than confirmed the high opinion formed of his abilities.

The Liberal defeat in 1895 left him out of office for eleven years. He had married Miss Helen Melland in 1877, and was left with a family when she died in 1891; in 1894, however, he had married again, his second wife being the accomplished Miss Margaret (" Margot ") Tennant, daughter of the wealthy ironmaster, Sir Charles Tennant, Bart., a lady well known in London society as a member of the côterie known as Souls," and commonly identified as the original of Mr E. F. Benson's Dodo (1893). On leaving the Home Office in 1895, Mr Asquith decided to return to his work at the bar, a course which excited much comment, since it was unprecedented that a minister who had exercised judicial functions in that capacity should take up again the position of an advocate; but it was obvious that to maintain the tradition was difficult in the case of a man who had no sufficient independent means. During the years of Unionist ascendancy Mr Asquith divided his energies between his legal work and politics; but his adhesion to Lord Rosebery (q.v.) as a Liberal Imperialist at the time of the Boer War, while it strengthened his position in the eyes of the public, put him in some difficulty with his own party, led as it was by Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (q.v.), who was identified with the " Boer" policy. He was one of the founders of the Liberal League, and his courageous definiteness of view and intellectual vigour marked him out as Lord Rosebery's chief lieutenant if that statesman should ever return to power. He thus became identified with the Roseberyite attitude towards Irish Home Rule; and, while he continued to uphold the Gladstonian policy in theory, in practice the Irish Nationalists felt that very little could be expected from his advocacy. In spite of his Imperialist

pro

and when the tariff-reform movement began in 1903, he seized the opportunity for rallying the Liberals to the banner of freetrade and championing the " orthodox" English political economy, on which indeed he had been a lecturer in his younger days. During the critical years of Mr Chamberlain's crusade (1903-1906) he made himself the chief spokesman of the Liberal party, delivering a series of speeches in answer to those of the tariff-reform leader; and his persistent following and answering of Mr Chamberlain had undoubted effect. He also made useful party capital out of the necessity for financial retrenchment, owing to the large increase in public expenditure, maintained by the Unionist government even after the Boer War was over;

district, through which the southernmost branch of the Brahmaputra enters, has from time immemorial been held in reverence by the Hindus. It is called the Brahmakunda or Parasuramkunda; and although the journey to it is both difficult and dangerous, it is annually visited by thousands of devotees. After a rapid course westwards down the whole length of the Assam valley, the Brahmaputra turns sharply to the south, spreading itself over the alluvial districts of the Bengal delta, and, after several changes of name, ends its course of 1800 m. in the Bay of Bengal. Its first tributaries in Assam, after crossing the frontier, are the Kundil and the Digaru, flowing from the Mishmi hills on the north, and the Tengapani and Dihing, which take their rise on the Singpho hills to the south-east. Shortly afterwards it receives the Dibang, flowing from the northeast; but its principal confluent is the Dihong, which, deriving its origin, under the name of the Tsangpo, from a spot in the vicinity of the source of the Sutlej, flows in a direction precisely opposite to that river, and traversing the tableland of Tibet, at the back of the great Himalaya range, falls into the Brahmaputra in 27° 48′ N. lat., 95° 26' E. long, after a course of nearly 1000 m. Doubts were long entertained whether the Dihong could be justly regarded as the continuation of the Tsangpo, but these were practically set at rest by the voyage of F. J. Needham in 1886. Below the confluence, the united stream flows in a south-westerly direction, forming the boundary between the districts of Lakhimpur and Darrang, situated on its northern bank, and those of Sibsagar and Nowgong on the south; and finally bisecting Kamrup, it crosses over the frontier of the province and passes into Bengal. In its course it receives on the left side the Dihing, a river having its rise at the south-eastern angle of the province; and lower down, on the opposite side, it parts with a considerable offset termed the Buri Lohit, which, however, reunites with the Brahmaputra 60 m. below the point of divergence, bearing with it the additional waters of the Subansiri, flowing from Tibet. A second offset, under the name of the Kalang river, rejoins the parent stream a short distance above the town of Gauhati. The remaining rivers are too numerous to be particularized. The streams of the south are not rapid, and have no considerable current until May or June. Among the islands formed by the intersection and confluence of the rivers is Majuli, or the Great Island, as it is called by way of pre-eminence. This island extends 55 m. in length by about 10 in breadth, and is formed by the Brahmaputra on the south-east and the Buri Lohit river on the north-west. In the upper part of the valley, towards the gorge where the Brahmaputra enters, the country is varied and picturesque, walled in on the north and east by the Himalayas, and thickly wooded from the base to the snow-line. On either bank of the Brahmaputra a long narrow strip of plain rises almost imperceptibly to the foot of the hills. Gigantic reeds and grasses occupy the low lands near the banks of the great river; expanses of fertile rice-land come next; a little higher up, dotted with villages encircled by groves of bamboos and fruit trees of great size and beauty, the dark forests succeed, covering the interior table-land and mountains. The country in the vicinity of the large rivers is flat, and impenetrable from dense tangled jungle, with the exception of some very low-lying tracts which are either permanent marshes or are covered with water during the rares will not grow on these depressions, and they are covered either with water, reeds, high grasses or rice cultivation. On or near such open spaces are collected all the villages. As the traveller proceeds farther down the valley, the country gradually opens out into wide plains. In the western district of Kamrup the country forms one great expanse, with a few elevated tracts here and there, varying from 200 to 800 ft. in height.

Soils.-The soil is exceedingly rich and well adapted to all kinds of agricultural purposes, and for the most part is composed of a rich black loam reposing on a grey sandy clay, though occasionally it exhibits a light yellow clayey texture. The land may be divided into three great classes. The first division is composed of hills, the largest group within the valley being that of the Mikir Mountains, which stand out upon the plain. Another set of hills project into the valley at Gauhati. But these latter are rather prolongations of spurs from the Khasi chain than isolated groups belonging to the plains. The other hills are all isolated and of small extent. The second division of the lands is the well-raised part of the valley whose level lies above the ordinary inundations of the Brahmaputra. The channels of some of the hill streams, however, are of so little depth that the highest lands in their neighbourhood are liable to sudden floods. On the north bank of the great river, lands of this sort run down the whole length of the valley, except where they are interrupted by the beds of the hill streams. The breadth of these plains is in some places very trifling, whilst in others they comprise a tract of many miles, according to the number and the height of the rocks or hills that protect them from the aberrations of the river. The alluvial deposits of the Brahmaputra and of its tributary streams may be considered as the third general division of lands in Assam. These lands are very extensive, and present every degree of fertility and elevation, from the vast chars of pure sand, subject to annual inundations, to the firm islands, so raised by drift-sand and the accumulated remains of rank vegetable matter, as no longer to be liable to flood. The rapidity with which wastes, composed entirely of sand newly washed forward by the current during floods, become converted into rich pasture is astonishing. As the freshets begin to lessen and

retire into the deeper channels, the currents form natural embankments on their edges, preventing the return of a small portion of water which is thus left stagnant on the sands, and exposed to the action of the sun's rays. It slowly evaporates, leaving a thin crust of animal and vegetable matter. This is soon impregnated with the seeds of the Saccharum spontaneum and other grasses that have been partly brought by the winds and partly deposited by the water. Such places are frequented by numerous flocks of aquatic birds, which resort thither in search of fish and mollusca. As vegetation begins to appear, herds of wild elephants and buffaloes are attracted by the supply of food and the solitude of the newly-formed land, and in their turn contribute to manure the soil. Geology.-Geographically the Assam hills lie in the angle between the Himalayas and the Burmese ranges, but geologically they belong to neither. The older rocks are like those of Bengal, and the newer beds show no sign of either the Himalayan or the Burmese folding-on the top of the plateau they are nearly horizontal, but along the southern margin they are bent sharply downwards in a simple monoclinal fold. The greater part of the mass is composed of gneiss and schists. The Sylhet traps near the southern margin are correlated with the Rajmahal traps of Bengal. The older rocks are overlaid unconformably by Cretaceous beds, consisting chiefly of sandstones with seams of coal, the whole series thinning rapidly towards the north and thus indicating the neighbourhood of the old shore-line. The fossils are very similar to those of the South Indian Cretaceous, but very different from those of the corresponding beds in the Nerbudda valley. The overlying Tertiary series includes nummulitic beds and valuable seams of coal.

The border ranges of the east and south of Assam belong to the Burmese system of mountain chains (see BURMA), and consist largely of Tertiary beds, including the great coal seams of Upper Assam. The Assam valley is covered by the alluvial deposits of the Brahmaputra.

Of the mineral productions by far the most valuable is coal. Compared with the Gondwana coal of the peninsula of India the Tertiary coal seams of Assam are remarkable for their purity and their extraordinary thickness. The" Thick Seam" of Margherita, in Upper Assam, averages 50 ft., and in some places reaches as much as 80 ft. The average percentage of ash in 27 assays of Assam coal was 3.8 as against 16-3 in 17 assays of Raniganj coal. The coal scams are commonly associated with petroleum springs. Gold is found in the alluvial deposits, but the results of exploration have not been very promising.

Earthquakes.-Assam is liable to earthquakes. There was a severe earthquake in Cachar on the 10th of January 1869, a severe shock in Shillong and Gauhati in September 1875, and one in Silchar in October 1882; but by far the severest shock known is that which occurred on the evening of 12th June 1897. The area of this seismic disturbance extended over north-eastern India, from Manipur to Sikkim; but the focus was in the Khasi and Garo hills. In the station of Shillong every masonry building was levelled to the ground. Throughout the country bridges were shattered, roads were broken up like ploughed fields, and the beds of rivers were dislocated. In the hills there were terrible landslips, which wrecked the little Cherrapunji railway and caused 600 deaths. The total mortality recorded was 1542, including two Europeans at Shillong. The levels of the country were so affected that the towns of Goalpara and Barpeta became almost uninhabitable during the rains.

Fauna. The zoology of Assam presents some interesting features. Wild elephants abound and commit many depredations, entering villages in large herds, and consuming everything suitable to their tastes. Many are caught by means of female elephants previously tamed, and trained to decoy males into the snares prepared for subjecting them to captivity. A considerable number are tamed and exported from Assam every year. Many are killed every year in the forests for the sake of the ivory which they furnish. The government keddah establishment from Dacca captures large numbers of elephants in the province, and the right of hunting is also sold by auction to private bidders. The annual catch of the latter averages about two hundred. The rhinoceros is found in the denser parts of the forests and generally in swampy places. This animal is hunted and killed for its skin and its horn. The skin affords the material for the best shields. The horn is sacred in the eyes of the natives. Contrary to the usual belief, it is stated that, if caught young, the rhinoceros is easily tamed and becomes strongly attached to his keeper. Tigers abound, and though many are annually destroyed for the sake of the government reward, their numbers seem scarcely, if at all, to diminish. Leopards and bears are numerous; and the sand-badger, the Arctonyx collaris of Cuvier, a small animal somewhat resembling a bear, but having the snout, eyes and tail of a hog, is found. Among the most formidable animals known is the wild buffalo or gaur which is of great size, strength and fierceness. The fox and the jackal exist, and the wild hog is very abundant. Goats, deer of various kinds, hares, and two or three species of antelope are found, as are monkeys in great variety. The porcupine, the squirrel, the civet cat, the ichneumon and the otter are common. The birds are too various to admit of enumeration. Wild game is plentiful; pheasants, partridges, snipe and water-fowl of many descriptions make the country a tempting field for the sportsman. Vultures and other birds of prey are met with.

Crocodiles (commonly called alligators) swarm in all parts of the Brahmaputra, and are very destructive to the fish, of which hundreds of varieties are found, and which supply a valuable article of food. The most destructive of the ferae naturae, as regards human life, are, however, the snakes. Of these, several poisonous species exist, including the cobra and karait (Naja tripudians and Bungarus caeruleus). The bite of a fairly-grown healthy serpent of either of these species is deadly; and it is ascertained that more deaths occur from snake-bite than from all the other wild beasts put together. Among the non-poisonous serpents the python ranks first. This is an enormous boa-constrictor of great length and weight, which drops upon his prey from the branch of a tree, or steals upon it in the thick grass. He kills his victim by rolling himself round the body till he breaks its ribs, or suffocates it by one irresistible convolution round its throat. He seldom or never attacks human beings unless in self-defence, and loss of life from this cause is scarcely ever reported. Agriculture. The principal and almost the only food-grain of the plains portion of the province is rice. The production of this staple is carried on generally under the same conditions as in Bengal; but the times of sowing and reaping and the names given to the several crops vary much in different parts of the province. In 1901-1902 out of a total cultivated area of 1,736,000 acres, there were 1,194,000 acres under rice. In addition jute is grown to a considerable extent in Goalpara and Sylhet; cotton is grown in large quantities along the slopes of the Assam range. Rubber is grown in government plantations and is also brought in by the hill tribes; while lac, mustard and potatoes are also produced.

Tea Plantations.-The most important article of commerce produced in Assam is tea. The rice crop covers a very great proportion of the cultivated land, but it is used for local consumption, and the Brahmaputra valley does not produce enough for its own consumption, large quantities being imported for the coolies. The tea plantations are the one great source of wealth to the province, and the necessities of tea cultivation are the chief stimulants to the development of Assam. The plant was discovered in 1823 by Mr Robert Bruce, who had proceeded thither on a mercantile exploration. The country, however, then formed part of the Burmese dominions. But war with this monarchy shortly afterwards broke out, and a brother of the first discoverer, happening to be appointed to the command of a division of gunboats employed in some part of the operations, followed up the pursuit of the subject, and obtained several hundred plants and a considerable quantity of seed. Some specimens were ultimately forwarded to the superintendent of the botanic garden at Calcutta. In 1832 Captain F. Jenkins was deputed by the governor-general of India, Lord William Bentinck, to report upon the resources of the country, and the tea plant was brought to his especial notice by Mr Bruce; in 1834 a minute was recorded by the governor-general on the subject, in which it is stated that his attention had been called to it in 1827 before his departure from England. In accordance with the views of that minute, a committee was appointed to prosecute inquiries, and to promote the cultivation of the plant. Communications were opened with China with a view to obtain fresh plants and seeds, and a deputation, composed of gentlemen versed in botanical studies, was despatched to Assam. Some seeds were obtained from China; but they proved to be of small importance, as it was clearly ascertained by the members of the Assam deputation that both the black and the green tea plants were indigenous here, and might be multiplied to any extent; another result of the Chinese mission, that of procuring persons skilled in the cultivation and manufacture of black tea, was of more material benefit. Subsequently, under Lord Auckland, a further supply of Chinese cultivators and manufacturers was obtained-men well acquainted with the processes necessary for the production of green tea, as the former set were with those requisite for black. In 1838 the first twelve chests of tea from Assam were received in England. They had been injured in some degree on the passage, but on samples being submitted to brokers, and others of long experience and tried judgment, the reports were highly favourable. It was never, however, the intention of government to carry on the trade, but to resign it to private adventure as soon as the experimental course could be fairly completed. Mercantile associations for the culture and manufacture of tea in Assam began to be formed as early as 1839; and in 1849 the government disposed of their establishment, and relinquished the manufacture to the ordinary operation of commercial enterprise. In 1851 the crop of the principal company was estimated to produce 280,000 lb. Since then the enterprise has rapidly developed. Tea is now cultivated in all the plains district of the provinces. When the industry was first established, the land which was supposed to be best for the plant was hill or undulating ground; but now it has been found in the Surma valley that with good drainage the heaviest crops of tea can be raised from low-lying land, even such as formerly supported rice cultivation. At the close of the year 1905 there were 942 gardens in all, with 422.335 acres, and employing 464.912 coolies. The majority of gardens are owned by Europeans, 405,486 acres belonging to them as against 16,849 to Indians. The total out-turn for the province in 1905 was 193.556,047 lb. Between 1893 and 1898 there was a great extension of tea cultivation, with the result that the industry began to suffer from the congestion

that follows over-production. Also to meet the requirements of the industry, an enormous number of coolies had to be brought into the province from other parts of India, and in recent years the supply of labour has begun to fall off, causing a rise in the cost of production. For these reasons there was a crisis in the tea industry of Assam, which was relieved to some extent by the reduction of the English duty on tea in 1906. Tea-Garden Coolies.-The labour required on the tea gardens is almost entirely imported, as the natives of the province are too prosperous to do such work. During the decade 1891-1901, 596,856 coolies were imported, or about a tenth of the total population of the province. The importation of coolies is controlled by an elaborate system of legislation, which provides for the regis tration of contracts, the medical inspection of coolies during the journey, and supervision over rates of pay, &c., on the gardens. The first labour act was passed in 1863, and since then the law on the subject has been changed by successive enactments. The measure now in force is called Act VI. of 1901. Under this act the maximum term of the labour contract is fixed at four years, and a minimum monthly wage is laid down, the payment of which, however, is contingent on the completion of a daily task by the labourer. Labourers under contract deserting are liable to fine and imprisonment, and, subject to certain restrictions, may be arrested without warrant by their employers. In addition to the labourers engaged under this act, a large number are employed under contract enforceable by Act XIII. of 1859, which provides penalties for breach of the contract, but does not allow of the arrest of deserters without warrant. Neither does this act regulate in any way the terms of the contract, nor contain any special provisions for the protection of the labourer. Many labourers on the conclusion of their first engagement under Act VI. of 1901 enter into renewed contracts under Act XIII. of 1859. In 1905 there were in all 664,296 labourers, and 24,209 fresh importations, of whom 62 % chose the old act. Railways.-The Assam-Bengal railway runs from the seaport of Chittagong to the Surma valley, and thence across the hills to Dibrugarh, at the head of the Brahmaputra valley, with a branch to Gauhati lower down the Brahmaputra. The hill section of this line was found exceedingly difficult of construction, and extensive damage was done by the earthquake of 1897; but it is now complete. This railway is financed by the government, though worked by a company, and therefore ranks as a state line. At the end of 1904 its open mileage was 576 m. There are several short lines of light railway or tramway in the province. The most important is the Dibru-Sadiya railway, at the head of the Brahmaputra valley, with a branch to the coal-fields.

Trade. The external trade of Assam is conducted partly by steamer, partly by native boat, and to a small extent by rail. In the Brahmaputra valley steamers carry as much as 86% of the exports, and 94% of the imports. In the Surma valley native boats carry about 43% of both. In 1904-1905 the total exports were valued at 726 lakhs of rupees. The chief items were tea, rice in the husk, oil-seeds, tea-seed, timber, coal and jute. The imports were valued at 457 lakhs of rupees. The chief items were cotton piece-goods, rice not in the husk, sugar, grain and pulse, salt, iron and steel, tobacco, cotton twist and yarn, and brass and copper. No less than two-thirds of the total trade is conducted with Calcutta. The trans-frontier trade is insignificant; and most of it is conducted with the Bengal state of Hill Tippera. The trade through Chittagong is increasing owing to the opening of the hill-section of the Assam-Bengal railway, which gives direct communication between the districts of Upper Assam and the port of Chittagong, and the incorporation of that port in the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam.

Inhabitants.-The total population of Assam, according to the census of 1901, was 6,126,343, of whom 3,429,099 were Hindus, 1,581,317 Mahommedans and 1,068,334 Animists. The number of foreigners in the population due to immigration by the tea-garden coolies was 775,844. But in spite of this immigration the rate of increase in the population was only 59% in the decade, and with the immigrants deducted 1.36%. Amongst native-born Assamese during the decade there was a serious decrease in Nowgong and some other districts, due to kalaazar and other diseases. The Assamese are an interesting race, of distinct origin from the neighbouring Bengalis. A large proportion of them derive their origin from tribes who came from the Himalayan ranges, from Burma or from the Chinese frontier. The most important of these are the Ahoms or Ahams, an offshoot of the Shan race of northern Burma. They were the last conquerors of Assam before the Burmese, and they long preserved their ancient traditions, habits and institutions. Hinduism first made its encroachments among their kings and nobility. Several generations ago they gave up eating beef, and they are now completely Hinduized, except in a few remote recesses of Assam. Hinduism has also impressed its language