ALOST, li'lost (Literally, to the east, from Ger. Ost, east, it being near the eastern fron tier), or AALST, filst. A town in Belgium, the old capital of the province of East Flanders, situated on a tributary of the Scheldt, called the Dender, which is here converted into a canal (Nap: Belgium, C 4). It is a walled city with five gates, whose finest building is the church of St. Martin, an unfinished edifice, in late Gothic style, one of the grandest in Belgium, and con taining a famous painting by Rubens, "St. loch Beseeching Our Saviour to Stay the Plague of Alost," and also the mausoleum of Thierry Mar tens, who was born here, and who introduced the art of printing into Belgium in 1475. Alost has a town hall (built about 1200), a col loge, a hospital, the royal school for 450 sons of military men, and an academy of design, etc. Its industries are weaving in silk, wool, and cotton, flax-spinning, lace-making, and it has a thriving trade in hops and grain. Pop., 1900, 30,100.
ALP, alp; ALB, alb (Swabian) (Lat. alpes, perhaps of Celtic origin; Gael. alp, rock, cliff), also called the lauhe Alb or Swabian Jura. A chain of mountains about 70 miles in length, and from 12 to 15 miles in breadth, extending northeast and southwest, and forming a water shed between the Neckar and the Danube. It lies almost entirely within the kingdom of \Viirttem berg, but crosses Hohenzollern, and is situated from 50 to 100 miles east of the Black Forest; but presents a totally different appearance from the latter region, on account of its being clothed with forests of hard wood instead of pine. it
forms a table-land intersected by a few narrow, deep valleys. The average height of the system is rather more than 2000 feet. On the north it descends to the Neckar in ridges of rocky cliffs and abrupt pointed headlands, but on the south it gradually slopes away to the level of the valley of the Danube. The scenery is often very pic turesque, for the sharp, precipitous crags are frequently crowned with the ruins of the strong holds of some of the famous old German fami lies, such as the Hohenzollerns, Ifohenstaufens, etc. The geological formations of the Swabian Alps are limestones of Mesozoic age, which, though regularly stratified, have been folded to a considerable extent. Caverns of a very remark able character abound. The valleys at the base of the hills are fertile, and produce abundance of wine and fruit, but the high table-land has an ex tremely poor and barren soil. The word Alp is sometimes applied to the green pasture lands on the slopes of the mountains in Switzerland.