Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 01.djvu/337

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ARROW 273 ARSENAL publican. He violently opposed the mon- archy and in 1911 took an active part in the establishment of the republic. On Aug. 24 of that year he was elected the first president of Portugal, serving until May 27, 1915, when he resigned as the result of the coup d'etat of that year. He was well known as a poet and a writer on economic subjects. He died March 5, 1917. ARROW, a missile weapon, designed to be propelled by the impulse communi- cated by the snapping of the string of a bow, temporarily bent into an angular form, back to its normal state of rest in a straight line. To make the wound it inflicts more deadly, and prevent its being easily pulled out, it is barbed at the tip, and often poisoned, while at the other extremity it is feathered, to make it move more directly forward. ARROWHEAD, a genus of aquatic plants found in all parts of the world within the torrid and temperate zones, natural order alismacese, distinguished by possessing barren and fertile flowers, with a three-leaved calyx and three col- ored petals. The common arrowhead (S. sagittifolia) has a tuberous root, nearly globular, and is known by its arrow-shaped leaves with lanceolate straight lobes. ARROW LAKE, an expansion of the Columbia river, in British Columbia, Canada; about 95 miles long from N. to S. ; often regarded as forming two lakes — Upper and Lower Arrow Lake. ARROWROOT. (1) In botany, the English name of the botanical genus maranta, the type of the endogenous order Marantaceae. The flowers of maranta are in long, close, spike-like panicles, with Irregular corollas. The root is a fleshy corm, which, when washed, grated, strained through a sieve, and again repeatedly washed, furnishes the substance so much prized as good for invalids, which is described under 2. (2) In commerce, the starch extracted from the rhizomes of a maranta, and ex- ported to England in large quantities from the East and West Indies, and from Africa, each importation taking the name of the place from which it comes. Thus they have East Indian arrowroot, Bermuda arrowroot, St. Vincent arrow- root. Natal arrowroot, etc. Arrowroot is adulterated either by the mixing together of various qualities of arrowroot, or by the admixture of other starches, such as potato or tapioca. ARROYO MOLINOS (ar-oi'o-m5-le'- nos), a town of Spain, in Estremadura, 27 miles S. S. E. of Caceres. Here, on Oct. 28, 1811, a body of the French sent out by Soult on a foraging expedition was surprised by a much larger Eng- lish force under Lord Hill. An engage- ment took place, the result of which is differently appreciated by the historians of the two nations. The English took 1,300 prisoners, but the French retreated in good order. ARRU ISLANDS (ar'6), a group of over 80 islands in the Dutch East Indies, lying W. of New Guinea, with a united area of about 2,650 square miles and a population of about 23,000. The largest island is Tanna-Besar (77 miles long by 50 broad). The surface is low, and the coasts are steep and inaccessible, on the E. side fringed with coral reefs. The soil is covered with the most luxuriant vegetation. The islands are remarkably rich in animal life. The inhabitants re- semble the Melanesians of New Guinea more than the natives of the Moluccas. There is an active trade, but not in na- tive hands. Cotton and woolen goods, iron and copper wares, Chinese pottery, knives, rum, rice, opium, and arrack are imported, and bartered for mother-of- pearl, trepang, edible nests, pearls, tor- toise-shell, and the skins of birds of paradise. ARSACES, founder of the Parthian monarchy. He induced his countrymen to rise against the Macedonian yoke, 250 B. C, on which they raised him to the throne. Arsaces was slain in battle, after a reign of 38 years. He was the first of a long line of monarchs of the same name, the last of whom was put to death about 226 A. D. ARSACES TIRANUS, King of Ar- menia, who, being taken prisoner by Sapor, King of Persia, was cast into prison at Ecbatana, where he died 362 B. C. His country then became a Persian province. ARSENAL, a place appointed for the making, repairing, keeping and issuing of military stores. An arsenal of the first class should include factories for guns and gun-carriages, small-arms, small- arms ammunition, harness, saddlery, tents and powder; a laboratory and large storehouses. In arsenals of the second class, workshops take the place of the factories. The Royal Arsenal at Wool- wich, England, which manufactures war- like implements and stores for the Eng- lish army and navy, was formed about 1720, and comprises factories, labora- tories, etc., for the manufacture and final fitting up of almost every kind of arms and ammunition. Great quantities of military and naval stores are kept at the dockyards of Chatham, Portsmouth,