erably from that of the mainland Eskimo, though
grammatic structure and many of the vocables
are similar. They formerly occupied nearly all
of the islands of the Aleutian chain, and were
estimated to number 20,000 to 30,000; in 1900
the population was barely 2000. They are vaguely
divided into two tribes or sub-tribes, known
respectively as Unalaska and Atka. They are
strong and agile, capable of enduring great
fatigue and extremes of heat and scold, and are
peaceful and cheerful. They subsist by hunting
and fishing, using implements of wood, ivory,
bone, and stone, with the two types of Eskimo
water craft (kayak and umiak); their summer
habitations are tents or huts like those of the
mainland Eskimo, while in winter they occupy
huts of stone, snow, or other material, or
(especially on Fox Island) underground dwellings.
Originally sharing the primitive pantheism of
the Eskimo, they were Christianized by Russian
missionaries, and are now nominally connected
with the Greek Church.
ALE′WIFE (either aloofe, the Indian name of the fish, or from its resemblance to a corpulent woman who keeps an alehouse). A small clupeoid fish (Pomolobus pseudoharengus), 8 to 10 inches long, closely related to the herring and the shad, and resembling the latter in form and color. It is very abundant on the eastern coast of the United States, where it enters Chesapeake Bay and its rivers, the Hudson, and other streams to spawn. Their time of arrival depends upon the temperature, but usually is during the first week of April in the Hudson, somewhat in advance of other fishes. “Their eggs are adhesive, like those of the herring, and stick to the bottom in shoal water, or to anything they may touch, from 60,000 to 100,000 being laid by each female fish at once, almost all of which are devoured by countless enemies before they can hatch.” They have also become land-locked in several lakes of western New York. Though inferior to the shad in quality, they are taken in vast quantities (62,000,000 pounds reported in 1896), and are, next to the shad, the most important American anadromous food-fish. This fish is called gaspereau by French Canadian fishermen, and branch-herring and sawbelly are other local names. See Plate of Herring and Shad.
ALEXANDER the Great (B.C. 356-323). King of Macedonia and conqueror of the Eastern world, son of Philip II. of Macedon and of Olympias, an Epirot princess. At Alexander's birth, his father had already established his position as King of Macedonia, had made great progress in developing his army, and had begun the extension of his kingdom to the eastward, so that he possessed the rich gold mines in Mount Pangæus. The yearly revenue of 1000 talents made feasible his policy of expansion. Though a thoroughgoing Macedonian Philip was still possessed of genuine Greek culture; doubtless, while a hostage at Thebes, he had learned much besides military and political wisdom. He chose Aristotle as his son's tutor. How far the teacher influenced the pupil we cannot determine; he undoubtedly gave him a thorough training in rhetoric and literature—he may have inspired that love for the Hellenic past which characterized Alexander later; but it is improbable that Alexander's far-reaching ambition for conquest gained the sympathy of Aristotle. In the summer of B.C. 336 Philip was assassinated; that the murder was instigated by Olympias, whom Philip had put away in favor of the niece of his general Attalus, there is little doubt; and it is probable that Alexander was implicated in it. Philip had gained a remarkable position for a Greek ruler. He had extended his empire eastward, had made Thrace tributary, and had tried to capture Byzantium. Thessaly was dependent on him; he had gained a place in the Amphictyonic Council; and, by his victory at Chæronea (August, 338), he had made himself the head of all Greece, a position formally recognized by the Congress of States at Corinth in the following year. The greatest legacy, however, which he left his son was the large conception of a Panhellenic empire.
At his accession Alexander found himself surrounded by enemies at home and threatened by dangers abroad. The subject States were planning to revolt, and Greece hated the Macedonian hegemony. But the hands of assassins cleared away his domestic enemies. With the greatest speed he descended to the south; before the summer closed he had reëstablished Macedon's position in lower Greece and had been elected by the Congress at Corinth to his father's place as general against the Persians. The next year he speedily carried out a successful campaign against the defecting Thracians, and penetrated to the Danube. On his return he crushed in a single week the threatening Illyrians, and then hurried into Greece, for certain States had been negotiating with Persia. In September he razed Thebes to the ground, sparing only the house of the poet Pindar. This prompt action ended all positive resistance in Greece and left Alexander free to enter on his eastern campaigns.
At the beginning of 334 he crossed to Asia Minor, where his generals had already gained a foothold. To secure Macedonia and Greece he had been forced to leave behind a considerable portion of his army; only 30,000 foot and 5000 horse followed him, yet these were undoubtedly skilled veterans. His ships numbered but 160, which were so inadequate to combat the 400 galleys of the Persians that he soon disbanded them. After visiting the site of ancient Troy and making offerings there, he advanced in early summer to meet a Persian force at the river Granicus. He was victorious, and then proceeded to the conquest of Asia Minor. The prompt surrender of Sardis gave him the satrapy of Lydia, and Miletus soon fell. Halicarnassus resisted stubbornly for a time; but finally the defenders withdrew after firing the city. At the close of the summer's campaign Alexander marched into Lycia, which yielded at once, and then advanced through Pamphylia and Pisidia to Celænæ and Gordion, where with a stroke of his sword he loosed the famous knot and entitled himself to become the lord of Asia.
Gordion was the mustering point for the year 333. Alexander led his reassembled army first into Cappadocia, where he received the submission of Paphlagonia, and then advanced to the ‘Cilician Gates.’ By a ruse he caused the hostile force here to retire and entered Tarsus unopposed. All Cilicia was soon secured. Thus in less than two summers the greater part of Asia Minor had been won and the first step taken in the plan of conquest. The next was to advance by way of Syria to the subjugation of Egypt; this accomplished, Alexander could proceed against Babylon
