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ASSIGNEE 308 ASSYRIA They were increased by degrees to 45,- 578,000,000, and their value rapidly de- clined. They were withdrawn by the Directory from the currency, and at length redeemed by mandate at one-thir- tieth of their nominal value. ASSIGNEE, a person appointed by another to transact some business, or exercise some particular privilege or power. Formerly the persons appointed under a commission of bankruptcy, to manage the estate of the bankrupt on be- half of the creditors, were so called, but now trustees, or receivers. ASSINIBOIA, the smallest of the four districts into which a portion of the Northwest Territories of Canada was divided in 1882. It lay immediately to the W, of Manitoba, with Saskatchewan and Alberta as its N. and W. boundaries. It was intersected by the Saskatchewan (South Branch) and the Qu'Appelle rivers. It was abolished in 1905, and is now included in the provinces of Sas- katchewan and Alberta. Area, 89,535 square miles. Regina, on the Canadian Pacific railway, was the capital. ASSINIBOIN, a tribe of North Ameri- can Indians, living principally in the N. W. part of the Dominion of Canada. ASSINIBOINE, a river of Canada, which flows through Manitoba and joins the Red river at Winnipeg, about 40 miles above the entrance of the latter into Lake Winnipeg, after a somewhat circui- tous course of about 500 miles from the W. and N. W. Steamers ply on it for over 300 miles. The river derives its name from Assiniboine, a branch of the Sioux Indians. ASSISI (as-se'se), a town in Italy, in the province of Umbria, 20 miles N. of Spoleto, the see of a bishop, and fa- mous as the birthplace of St. Francis d'Assisi. The splendid church built over the chapel where the saint received his first impulse to devotion is one of the finest remains of medieval Gothic archi- tecture. Pop. about 20,000. ASSIZES, a term chiefly used in Eng- land to signify the sessions of the courts held at Westminister prior to Magna Charta, but thereafter held annually in every county. Twelve judges, who are members of the highest courts in Eng- land, twice in every year perform a cir- cuit into all the counties into which the kingdom is divided, to hold these assizes, at which both civil and criminal cases are decided. ASSOCIATED PRESS. Organizatjon for gathering and distributing news. ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS. See Psy- chology. ASSONANCE, in poetry, a term used when the terminating words of lines have the same vowel sound, but make no proper rhyme. ASSOUAN (as-6-an'), (also EswAN; the ancient Syene), is the southernmost city of Egypt proper, on the right bank of the Nile. There are some remains of the ancient city. In the neighborhood are the famous granite quarries from which so many of the huge obelisks and colossal statues were cut to adorn the temples and palaces of ancient Egypt. It is from Syene that this kind of granite came to be known as syenite. Pop. about 17,500. ASSOUAN DAM. Its construction was begun in Februai-y, 1899. It was for- mally opened Dec. 8, 1902. This dam accomplished more for the promotion of agriculture along the banks of the Nile in Egypt than anything attempted in cen- turies. The dam formed a reservoir con- taining one million tons of water. It had 180 sluice openings. The water thrown back up-country brought 300,000 additional acres under cultivation. In 1907-1912, the dam was raised 161/2 feet, more than doubling the water supply. ASSYRIA, an ancient Semitic king- dom of Asia, the native name of which was Ashur or Asshur, and thus also called by the Hebrews. It was inter- sected by the middle course of the Tigris with its two affluents, the Upper Zab and the Lower Zab, and had the Arme- nian Mountains on the N. and Babylonia on the S. The Assyrian conquests during the 8th and 7th centuries B. C. enlarged its boundaries, and at one time it in- cluded Babylonia, parts of Elam, Pales- tine, Egypt, parts of Arabia and Asia Minor. The chief cities of Assyria in the days of its prosperity were Ashur, the most ancient, then Nineveh, the site of which is marked by mounds opposite Mosul (Nebi Yunus and Koyunjik), Calah or Kalakh (the modern Nimrud), Dur-Sargina (Khorsabad), and Arbela (Arbil). Lower down the Tigris ex- hibits a line of ruins from Telkrit to Bagdad. The country, probably some time before the 16th century B. C, be- came independent. At the end of the 14th century its king, Shalmaneser, is said to have founded the city of Calah; his son Tiglath-ninip conquered the whole of the valley of the Euphrates. The following ■^ve reigns were chiefly occupied by wars with the Babylonians. About 1120, a date fixed by Sennacherib, 705-681 B. C»,