was on a low spur of the hill, below the town. An early terrace wall supports a precinct in which are a stoa and some remains of temples; these were excavated by the British School at Athens in 1894, but very little was found.

See also W. M. Leake, Travels in Northern Greece, ii. p. 163i Journal of Hellenic Studies, xvi. pp. 291-312 (V. W. Yorke). . (E. GR.)

ABAKANSK, a fortified town of Siberia, in the Russian government of Yeniseisk, on the river Yenisei, 144 m. S.S.W. of Krasnoyarsk, in lat. 54 deg. 20' N., long. 91 deg. 40' E. This is considered the mildest and most salubrious place in Siberia, and is remarkable for certain tumuli (of the Li Kitai) and statues of men from seven to nine feet high, covered with hieroglyphics. Peter the Great had a fort built here in 1707. Pop. 2000.

ABALONE, the Spanish name used in California for various species of the shell-fish of the Haliotidae family, with a richly coloured shell yielding mother-of-pearl. This sort of Haliotis is also commonly called ``ear-shell,'' and in Guernsey ``ormer'' (Fr. ormier, for oreille de mer). The abalone shell is found especially at Santa Barbara and other places on the southern Californian coast, and when polished makes a beautiful ornament. The mollusc itself is often eaten, and dried for consumption in China and Japan.

ABANA (or AMANAH, classical Chrysorrhoas) and PHARPAR, the ``rivers of Damascus'' (2 Kings v. 12), now generally identified with the Barada (i.e. ``cold'') and the A`waj (i.e. ``crooked'') respectively, though if the reference to Damascus be limited to the city, as in the Arabic version of the Old Testament, Pharpar would be the modern Taura. Both streams run from west to east across the plain of Damascus, which owes to them much of its fertility, and lose themselves in marshes, or lakes, as they are called, on the borders of the great Arabian desert. John M'Gregor, who gives an interesting description of them in his Rob Roy on the Jordan, affirmed that as a work of hydraulic engineering, the system and construction of the canals, by which the Abana and Pharpar were used for irrigation, might be considered as one of the most complete and extensive in the world. As the Barada escapes from the mountains through a narrow gorge, its waters spread out fan-like, in canals or ``rivers'', the name of one of which, Nahr Banias, retains a trace of Abana.

ABANCOURT, CHARLES XAVIER JOSEPH DE FRANQUE VILLE D', (1758-1792), French statesman, and nephew of Calonne. He was Louis XVI.'s last minister of war (July 1792), and organized the defence of the Tuileries for the 10th of August. Commanded by the Legislative Assembly to send away the Swiss guards, he refused, and was arrested for treason to the nation and sent to Orleans to be tried. At the end of August the Assembly ordered Abancourt and the other prisoners at Orleans to be transferred to Paris with an escort commanded by Claude Fournier, ``the American.'' At Versailles they learned of the massacres at Paris, and Abancourt and his fellow-prisoners were murdered in cold blood on the 8th of September 1792. Fournier was unjustly charged with complicity in the crime.

ABANDONMENT (Fr. abandonnement, from abandonner, to abandon, relinquish; abandonner was originally equivalent to mettrea bandon, to leave to the jurisdiction, i.e. of another, bandon being from Low Latin bandum, bannum, order, decree, ``ban''), in law, the relinquishment of an interest, claim, privilege or possession. Its signification varies according to the branch of the law in which it is employed, but the more important uses of the word are summarized below.

ABANDONMENT OF AN ACTION is the discontinuance of proceedings commenced in the High Court of Justice either because the plaintiff is convinced that he will not succeed in his action or for other reasons. Previous to the Judicature Act of 1875, considerable latitude was allowed as to the time when a suitor might abandon his action, and yet preserve his right to bring another action on the same suit (see NONSUIT); but since 1875 this right has been considerably curtailed, and a plaintiff who has deilvered his reply (see PLEADING), and afterwards wishes to abandon his action, can generally obtain leave so to do only on condition of bringing no further proceedings in the matter.

ABANDONMENT IN MARINE INSURANCE is the surrender of the ship or goods insured to the insurers, in the case of a constructive total loss of the thing insured. For the requisites and effects of abandonment in this sense See INSURANCE, MARINE.

ABANDONMENT OF WIFE AND CHILDREN is dealt with under DESERTION, and the abandonment or exposure of a young child under the age of two, which is an indictable misdemeanour, is dealt with under CHILDREN, CRUELTY TO.

ABANDONMENT OF DOMICILE is the ceasing to reside permanently in a former domicile coupled with the intention of choosing a new domicile. The presumptions which will guide the court in deciding whether a former domicile has been abandoned or not must be inferred from the facts of each individual case. See DOMICILE.

ABANDONMENT OF AN EASEMENT is the relinquishment of some accommodation or right in another's land, such as right of way, free access of light and air, &c. See EASEMENT.

ABANDONMENT OF RAILWAYS has a legal signification in England recognized by statute, by authority of which the Board of Trade may, under certain circumstances, grant a warrant to a railway authorizing the abandonment of its line or part of it.

ABANO, PIETRO D, (1250-1316), known also as PETRUS DE APONO or APONENSIS, Italian physician and philosopher, was born at the Italian town from which he takes his name in 1250, or, according to others, in 1246. After studying medicine and philosophy at Paris he settled at Padua, where he speedily gained a great reputation as a physician, and availed himself of it to gratify his avarice by refusing to visit patients except for an exorbitant fee. Perhaps this, as well as his meddling with astrology, caused him to be charged with practising magic, the particular accusations being that he brought back into his purse, by the aid of the devil, all the money he paid away, and that he possessed the philosopher's stone. He was twice brought to trial by the Inquisition; on the first occasion he was acquitted, and he died (1316) before the second trial was completed. He was found guilty, however, and his body was ordered to be exhumed and burned; but a friend had secretly removed it, and the Inquisition had, therefore, to content itself with the public proclamation of its sentence and the burning of Abano in effigy. In his writings he expounds and advocates the medical and philosophical systems of Averroes and other Arabian writers. His best known works are the Conciliator differentiarum quae inter philosophos et medicos versantur (Mantua, 1472; V.enice, 1476), and De venenis eorumque remediis (1472), of which a French translation was published at Lyons in 1593.

ABANO BAGNI, a town of Venetia, Italy, in the province of Padua, on the E. slope of the Monti Euganei; it is 6 m. S.W. by rail from Padua. Pop. (1901) 4556. Its hot springs and mud baths are much resorted to, and were known to the Ronlans as Aponi fons or Aquae Patavinae. Some remains of the ancient baths have been discovered (S. Mandruzzato, Trattato dei Bagni d' Abano, Padua, 1789). An oracle of Geryon lay near, and the so-called sortes Praenestinae (C.I.L. i., Berlin, 1863; 1438-1454), small bronze cylinders inscribed, and used as oracles, were perhaps found here in the 16th century.

ABARIS, a Scythian or Hyperborean, priest and prophet of Apollo, who is said to have visited Greece about 770 B.C., or two or three centuries later. According to the legend, he travelled throughout the country, living without food and riding on a golden arrow, the gift of the god; he healed