ARABLE LAND, land which is fit for ploughing, and capable of being cultivated, as distinguished from grass-land, wood-land, common pasture, mountains, forests, morasses, and waste. In Government returns the term is applied to land that is actually under regular cultivation. The land capable of being cultivated amounts in England and Wales to about 25 per cent, and in Ireland to about 13 per cent. In the course of the last thirty or forty years there has, however, been a considerable diminution in the area of land actually cultivated, as a result of large foreign imports of grain and other agricultural products.
ARABS. The Arabs, as a race, are of middle stature, of a powerful though slender build, and have a skin of a more or less brownish colour; in towns and the uplands often almost white. Their features are well cut, the nose straight, the forehead high. They are naturally active, intelligent, and courteous; and their character is marked by temperance, bravery, and hospitality. The first religion of the Arabs, the worship of the stars, was supplanted by the doctrines of Mahommedanism, which succeeded rapidly in establishing itself throughout Arabia. Besides the two principal sects of Islam, the Sunnites and the Shiites, there also exists, in considerable numbers, a third Mahommedan sect, the Wahabis, which arose in the latter half of the eighteenth century, and for a time possessed great political importance in the peninsula. The mode of life of the Arabs is either nomadic or settled. The nomadic tribes are termed Bedouins (or Bedawins), and among them are considered to be the Arabs of the purest blood.
ARACACHA, or ARRACACHA (ar-a-kä'cha), a genus of umbelliferous plants of Southern and Central America. The root of _A. esculenta_ is divided into several lobes, each of which is about the size of a large carrot. These are boiled like potatoes and largely eaten in South America.
ARACAN (ar-a-kan'), the most northern division of Lower Burmah, on the Bay of Bengal; chief town and seaport Akyab. It was ceded to the English in 1826, as a result of the first Burmese war.
ARAÇARI ([.a]-r[.a]-sä'r[=e]), native name of a genus of brilliant birds (Pteroglossus) closely allied to the toucans, but generally smaller; natives of the warm parts of South America.