Federal District and
Maturin, S. by Guarico and W. by Zamora and Carabobo. Pop. (1905, est.)
152,364. Aragua has a short coast-line on the Caribbean west of the
Federal District, but has no port of consequence. Cattle, swine and
goats are raised, and the state produces coffee, sugar, cacao, beans,
cereals and cheese. The climate of the higher valleys is subtropical,
the mean annual temperature ranging from 74 deg. to 80 deg. F. The
capital, La Victoria (pop. 7800), is situated in the fertile Aragua
valley, 1558 ft. above sea-level and 36 m. south-west of Caracas. Other
important towns are Barbacoas (pop. 13,109) on the left bank of the
Guarico in a highly fertile region, Ciudad de Cura and Maracay (pop.
7500), 56 m. west-south-west of Caracas near the north-east shore of
Lake Valencia. The last two towns are on the railway between Caracas and
Valencia.

ARAGUAYA, ARAGUAY or ARAGUIA, a river of Brazil and principal affluent
of the Tocantins, rising in the Serra do Cayapo, where it is known as
the Rio Grande, and flowing in a north by east direction to a junction
with the Tocantins at Sao Joao do Araguaya, or Sao Joao das Duas Barras.
Its upper course forms the boundary line between Goyaz and Matto Grosso.
The river divides into two branches at about 13 deg. 20' S. lat., and
unites again at 10 deg. 30', forming the large island of Santa Anna or
Bananal. The eastern branch, called the Furo, is the one used by boats,
as the main channel is obstructed by rapids. Its principal affluent is
the Rio das Mortes, which rises in the Serra de Sao Jeronymo, near
Cuyaba, Matto Grosso, and is utilized by boatmen going to Para. Of other
affluents, the Bonito, Garcas, Cristallino and Tapirape on the west, and
the Pitombas, Claro, Vermelho, Tucupa and Chavante on the east, nothing
definite is known as the country is still largely unexplored. The
Araguaya has a course of 1080 m., considerable stretches of which are
navigable for small river steamers, but as the river below Santa Anna
Island is interrupted by reefs and rapids in two places--one having a
fall of 85 ft. in 18 m., and the other a fall of 50 ft. in 12 m.--it
affords no practicable outlet for the products of the state. It was
explored in part by Henri Coudreau in 1897.

See Coudreau's _Voyage au Tocantins-Araguaya_ (Paris, 1897).

ARAKAN, a division of Lower Burma. It consists of a strip of country
running along the eastern seaboard of the Bay of Bengal, from the