Ceylon. In the United States the amethyst is found in many localities, but seldom of sufficient clearness or color to be used as a gem. The Lake Superior crystals, from the slaty formations around Thunder Bay, are perhaps the best known, and annually thousands of dollars worth is sent from this locality to be sold at Niagara Falls, and othei tourist "resorts. The Oriental amethyst is a purple variety of corundum.
AM'ETECPIA (Gk. a, a, priv. + /lirpov, mctroii. measure, or a/ierpnf, ainetrus, disproportionate -f tJV. ops, eye). A condition of the eye siich that when it is resting parallel ray.s of light reaching it are foeised either in front of or behind instead of upon the retina. It is the reverse of enunetropia, the condition of the normal eye. See Hyperopia; Myopia; Astigmat- ism: Vision.
AMGA, ani-ga'. A river in the territory of
Yakutsk, Siberia, rising in the Yablonoi Moun-
tains, running north-northeast, and joining the
Aldan, one of the tributaries of the Lena ( Map:
Asia, N 2).
AMHABA, am-ha'ra (the high lands) . The
central di'ision of Abj-ssinia, occupying the ter-
ritory around Lake Tsana (Map: Africa, H 3).
The capital is Gondar (q.v.) See Amharic
Language.
AMHARIC (am-ha'rik) LAN'GUAGE. A modern Semitic dialect which derives its name from the peojile of Amhara ( q.v. ) , one of the divisions of Abyssinia. Next to the Arabic, Amharic is the most widely spread of the Semitic languages. It has displaced in popular usage
the original language of Abyssinia, the Ethiopic or Geez, and is now the spoken tongue, whereas the Geez is the religious tongue. For many years Amharic had no writing, so that it changed very nuich in its forms, conjugations, and even in the meanings of its roots. Moreover, its vocabulary received non-Semitic additions from the sur-
rounding African tribes. Hence it is that Amharie is the least Semitic of the Semitic languages, and this appears very strongly in the syntax. ^*hen the Amharic language began to be written, the Ethiojiic or Geez letters were
used. In this way something resembling a literature has grown up in comparatively modern times. There is an Amharie Bible, prepared by missionaries, and we have a few texts, such as Guidi's Le Cunzoni qecz-amarina in onore di R6-Abissini (Rome, 18S9): of grammars there are
Ludolph's (Frankfort, 1098); Isenberg's (London, 1842); Massaja's (Paris, 18G7); Priltorius (Halle, 1879); Guidi (Rome, second edition, 1892); of dictionaries, Isenberg's (London, 1S41); A. d'Abbadie's (1881). See Afeican Languages.
AM'HERST. A district of Lower Burma
(q.v.), British India.
AMHERST. A tovm in Hampshire Co., Mass., 08 miles west of Boston, on the Boston and Maine and Vermont Central railroads (Map: Massachusetts, C 3). The scenery is picturesque, with beautiful views of the Connecticut Valley, IMount Holyoke, and other mountains. It is the
seat of Amherst College, and of the Massachusetts Agricultural College (q.v.). Straw hat manufacture is the principal industry. Probably settled as early as 1708, Amherst was part
of Hadley, ami was known successively as New
Swamp, Hadley Farms, East Farms, and East
Hadley until, in 1759, it was incorporated as a
district under its present name, given by Gover-
nor Pomall in honor of General Jeffrey Amlierst
(q.v.). In 177f) it became a town. The govern-
ment is administered by town meetings, which
convene annually to elect officers and raise funds
for current' expenses. Pop., 1890, 4512; 1900,
5028. Consult Carpenter and Morehouse, The
Bistory of the Town of Amherst (Amherst,
1S9G),
AMHERST. A busy Canadian seaport, the
capital of Cumberland Co., Nova Scotia, near
the head of Cumberland Basin, an inlet of the
Bay of Fundy. It is 138 miles northeast of
Halifax by rail, has substantial public and pri-
vate buildings, and a considerable lumber and
general trade. Pop., 1901, 4964.
AMHERST, Jeffrey, Baron (1717-79). An
English soldier. He was born at Riverhead,
Kent, and for some time was .a page in the house-
hold of the Duke of Dorset. He entered the
army as ensign in 1731, soon became an aide-de-
camp of General Ligonier, and in the War of the
Austrian Succession served at Dettingen, Fonte-
noy, and Eoncoux, and in the Seven Years' War
at Hastenbeck. In 1758 Pitt rai.sed him
from the rank of lieutenant-colonel to that of
major-general, and put him in command of the
expedition against Louisburg, which, after a
short siege, surrendered on .Tuly 27. In Septem-
ber he replaced Abercromby as commander-in-
chief of the English forces in America; and in
1759 led the expedition against Ticonderoga and
Crown Point, gaining possession of the former
July 23, and of the latter August 1. In the fol-
lowing year he commanded in person the forces
before Montreal, and on September 8 compelled
the French to capitulate and surrender Canada
with all its dependencies to the British crown.
For his services he was appointed Governor-Gen-
eral of British North America, was formally
thanked by Parliament, and was made a Knight
of the Bath. Having no knowledge of Indian
warfare, and scorning to avail himself of the
undisciplined colonial militia, he proved unfit for
the task of suppressing the conspiracy of Pontiac
(q.v.), and returned to England in 1763, where,
as the conqueror of Canada, he was received with
the greatest enthusiasm. He was absentee Gov-
ernor of Virginia from 1763 to 1708. was ap-
pointed Governor of Guernsey in 1770. and be-
came a Pri'y Councillor in 1772. From 1772 to
1782. and from 1783 to 1793 he was acting Com-
niantler-in-chief of the British Army. He became
a general in 1778, was Commander-in-Chief 1793
to 1795, and was made a Field-Marshal in 1796.
For his record as an officer in America, consult:
Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe (Boston, 1884);
and The Conspiracy of Pontiac (Boston, 1S51).
AMHERST, William Pitt, Earl (1773-1857). A Biitish diplomatist and statesman. He succeeded his uncle .Jeffrey as Baron Amherst in 1797. In 181S he was sent as ambassador to China, where he refused to perform what he
thought a degrading act of kneeling, which was required of all who would sec the Emperor. For this he was not allowed to enter Peking, and the object of his mission was frustrated. On the way home he was wrecked. Another ship, in which he returned, touched at St. Helena, where
he had several interviews with Napoleon. He was Governor-General of India, from 1823 to
