Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume I.djvu/539

ANGORNO ANGOULEME 507 and soft, and about eight inches long, is shorn tvi ecu year, and is much esteemed as material fur shawls. In 1809 the number of these goats Angora Croat. in and near Angora was estimated at 1,000,- 000. The yearly yield of wool is about 2,700,- 000 Ibs. The Angora goat was introduced into South Carolina in 1849, and still more were im- ported in 1863. ANGORNO, a town of Borneo, in central Af- rica, near the S. W. shore of Lake Tchad ; pop. said to be above 30,000. Weekly markets are held, at which a very extensive trade is carried on in cotton, amber, metals, slaves, &c. ANGOSTURA, or Cindad Bolivar, a city of Vene- zuela, capital of the province of Guayana, on the right bank of the river Orinoco, at a pass (angostura) where it is confined between high rocks, about 260 m. S. E. of Caracas ; pop. about 7,000. It was founded in 1674, and named San Tomas do la Nueva Guayana, to distinguish it from another San Tomas 32 leagues distant. Its name was changed to Ciudad Bolivar, and subsequently in common speech to Angostura. It is built in the form of an amphitheatre, on the slope of a rocky hill, destitute of vegetation. The houses are massively constructed, usually of two stories. The city is the principal emporium for the com- merce of the Orinoco, although 240 m. from the mouth of the river. It is the seat of a bishopric, and contains a college, ecclesiastical seminary, hospital, and a hall in which a ses- sion of the congress of Colombia, then includ- ing New Granada and Venezuela, was held in 1819. The city is defended by a fort on the opposite side of the river, here 3,100 ft. wide. The exports consist of cotton, cocoa, indigo, hides, sugar, and Angostura bark. ANGOSTURA BARK, the bark of galipea offi- cinalis, a South American tree of the rue fam- ily, growing on the river Orinoco, and espe- cially on the Caroni, Venezuela. It possesses a peculiar and disagreeable smell when fresh, and a bitter and slightly aromatic taste. It is sometimes used in medicine as an aromatic tonic. By the natives it is employed to intoxi- cate fish, as the cinchona is in Peru. The false Angostura may be distinguished by its greater thickness and hardness, its total want of odor, and its intense tenacious bitterness, due to the poisonous alkaloid brucia. "When steeped in water it does not become soft like the true Angostura. It is said to be the bark of strych- nos nux-vomica. ANGOT, or Ango, Jean, a French merchant of Dieppe, died in 1551. He made trading voyages to Africa and the East Indies, and secured a large fortune, which he used with liberality. Some of his ships having been cap- tured by the Portuguese, he fitted out a fleet, fully provided with soldiers and arms, which en- tered the Tagus and blockaded Lisbon. Every vessel coming to that port" was intercepted, while both shores on the river were devastated. The king of Portugal sent an ambassador to Fran- cis I., who referred him to the merchant of Dieppe. Angot, however, persevered, and forced Portugal to pay a large indemnity for his losses. Unsuccessful speculations brought ruin upon him, and the king of France, to whom he had lent large sums, having failed to repay him, Angot spent his last years in destitution. AXGOl'LEME (anc. Inculisma, or Civitas Eco- lismensium), a town of France, capital of the department of Charente and of the ancient province of Angoumois, situated on the Cha- rente, 66 m. N. E. of Bordeaux, on the railway connecting that city with Paris ; pop. in 1866, 25,116. It is built on an isolated hill, rising about 200 feet above the river ; and though the streets are narrow and crooked, it presents with its white stone houses a neat and cheer- ful aspect. In the centre of the town is the old ruined castle, the birthplace of Marguerite of Navarre, and remains of the ancient fortifi- cations are also extant. A noble cathedral of the 12th century, the church of St. Andre dating from the llth, and a Benedictine abbey of the time of Charlemagne, are among its oth- er antiquities. It has a college, a museum of natural history, manufactures of paper, wool- lens, linen, earthenware, and cognac, a cannon foundery, and a thriving trade with Bordeaux and the southern departments. It was for some years the seat of a naval school, trans- ferred to Brest in 1830. From the 9th centu- ry Angouleme, with its territory of Angoumois, to which Perigord was at first united, was gov- erned by counts. In 1360 it was ceded to the English, who were driven out in the reign of King Charles V. It afterward belonged to the crown, was erected into a duchy by Francis I., and formed a royal apanage till 1650, since which the title of duke of Angouleme has been only nominal. ANGOULEME. I. Charles de Valois, duke of, natural son of Charles IX. of France by Marie Touchet, born April 28, 1573, died Sept. 24, 1650. He received from Catharine de' Medici the counties of Auvergne and Lauragais, mar- ried the daughter of the constable de Mont- morency, distinguished himself at the battles of Arques, Ivry, and Fontaine Franchise, but was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment for cer- tain intrigues with his uterine sister, the mar-