obe, its
basin nearly equal in extent to the whole of Europe; traverses the
continent at its greatest breadth, rises in the Andes about 50 m. from
the Pacific, and after a course of 4000 m. falls by a delta into the
Atlantic, its waters increased by an immense number of tributaries, 20 of
which are above 1000 m. in length, one 2000 m., its mouth 200 m. wide;
its current affects the ocean 150 m. out; is navigable 3000 m. up, and by
steamers as far as the foot of the Andes.

AMAZONS, a fabulous race of female warriors, who had a queen of
their own, and excluded all men from their community; to perpetuate the
race, they cohabited with men of the neighbouring nations; slew all the
male children they gave birth to, or sent them to their fathers; burnt
off the right breasts of the females, that they might be able to wield
the bow in war.

AMBASSADOR, "an honest man sent to lie abroad for the commonwealth"
(_Wotton_).

AMBER, a fossil resin, generally yellow and semi-transparent,
derived, it is presumed, from certain extinct coniferous trees; becomes
electric by friction, and gives name to electricity, the Greek word for
it being _electron_; has been fished up for centuries in the Baltic, and
is now used in varnishes and for tobacco pipes.

AMBERGER, a painter of Nuernberg in the 16th century, a disciple of
Holbein, his principal work being the history of Joseph in twelve
pictures.

AMBERGRIS, an ashy-coloured odorous substance used in perfumery,
presumed to be a morbid fragment of the intestines of the spermaceti
whale, being often found floating on the ocean which it frequents.

AMBERLEY, LORD, son of Lord John Russell, wrote an "Analysis of
Religious Belief," which, as merely sceptical, his father took steps to
secure the suppression of, without success.

AMBLESIDE, a small market-town near the head of Lake Windermere, in
the Wordsworth or so-called Lake District.

AMBLYOPSIS, a small fish without eyes, found in the Mammoth
Cave, U.S.

AMBOISE (5), a town on the Loire, 14 m. E. of Tours, with a castle,
once the residence of the French kings. The Conspiracy of A., the
conspiracy of Conde and the Huguenots in 1560 against Francis II.,
Catharine de Medici, and the Guises. The Edict of A. (1563) conceded the
free exercise of their worship to the Protestants.

AMBOISE, GEORGE DE, CARDINAL, the popular Prime Minister of Louis
XII., who, as such, reduced the Public burdens, and as the Pope's legate