stock-rearing, though its capacities in this respect are not yet developed. It is estimated (1884) that 50,000 acres are under cultivation. Wheat of a superior kind is the chief crop, though sugar, coffee, and cotton are also grown; cattle, sheep, and ostriches are reared. The country is possessed of considerable mineral wealth, which has not yet been worked to any extent. Gold is known to exist, it is supposed in considerable quantity; in 1879, 78,290oz., valued at 300,6111., were passed through the custom-house of Cape Town and Durban. Excellent coal is found in the east of the country, which is being worked to a small extent, while iron is also known to abound; lead, silver, and tin have also been found. The southern boundary of the Transvaal is about 200 miles from Durban, 430 from Port Elizabeth, and 700 from Cape Town; while its eastern boundary is not 40 miles from Delagoa Bay. Negotiations were begun in 1884 for the construction of a line of railway from Lourenzo Marques to the Transvaal frontier, from which the Transvaal Government proposed to continue the line to Pretoria, with branch lines to important centres; the railway is reported to have been begun at Lourenzo Marques in 1886. Before the recent war the Transvaal was joined to Natal by telegraph, but at present it only extends from Pretoria to Standerton, 120 miles; the country has been connected with the Orange Free State by telegraph. Weights and measures are the same as in Cape Colony, and the currency is English money only. Books of Reference. 1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS. Convention between Her Majesty and the South African Republic. London, 1884. Correspondence respecting the Debt due to H.M.'s Government by the Transvaal State. London, 1882-83. Correspondence respecting the affairs of the Transvaal and adjacent territories. London, 1884. Further Correspondence respecting the affairs of the Transvaal and adjacent territories (C. 4,275, 4,432, 4,588). London, 1885. (C. 4,643) 1886. 2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS. Aylward (Colonel A.), Dutch South Africa; in Bulletin of the American Geographical Society,' No. 1. New York, 1883. Baines (T.), The Gold Regions of South Africa. London, 1877. Clark (Dr. C. B.), The Transvaal and Bechuanaland. London, 1883. Cape of Good Hope Directory for 1883. Cape Town, 1883. Fynney (F. B.), Geographical and Economic Features of the Transvaal, in 'Journal of the Royal Geographical Society,' vol. xlviii. Guide to the Goldfields. Pretoria, 1883. Jeppe (F.), Transvaal Book, Almanac, and Directory, published annually. Pretoria, 1885. Jeppe (F.), Transvaalsche oder Süd-Afrikanische Republik, in Petermann's 'Mittheilungen,' Ergänzungsheft, No. 24. Norris Newman (C. L.), With the Boers in the Transvaal and Orange Free State in 1880-81. London, 1882. Penning (W. H.), Transvaal Goldfields, in Journal of the Society of Arts, Vol. XXXII. London, 1884. Rehman (Dr. Anton), Das Transvaal-Gebiet des Sudlichen Afrikas, in Mittheilungen der K. K. Geographischen Gesellschaft in Wien. Band xxvi. Vienna, 1883. Roche (H. G.), On Trek in the Transvaal. London, 1878. Sandemann (E. F.), Eight Months in an Ox-Waggon. London, 1880. Silver's Handbook to South Africa. London, 1880. Weber (Ernest de), Quatre ans au pays des Boers. Paris, 1882. TUNIS. (AFRIKIJA.) Sidi Ali, son of Bey Sidy Ahsin, born October 5, 1817. Sueceeded his brother, Sidi Mohamed-es-Sadok, October 28, 1882. The reigning family of Tunis, occupants of the throne since 1691, descend from Ben Ali Tourki, a native of the Isle of Crete, who, by force of arms, made himself master of the country, acknowledging, however, the suzerainty of the Sultan of Turkey, in existence since 1575. As such the family assumed the title of Bey,' or Regent This suzerainty remained in force, with short interruptions, till the reign of the last Bey, who succeeded in obtaining an Imperial firman, dated October 25, 1871, which liberated him from the payment of the tribute paid by his predecessors, but clearly established his position as a vassal of the Sublime Porte. Government, Revenue, and Army. After the French invasion of the country in the spring of 1881, the treaty of Kasr-es-Said (May 12, 1881) confirmed by decrees of April 22, 1882, placed Tunis under the protectorate of the French. The French Resident is called Minister Resident, and with two secretaries practically administers the government of the country under the direction of the French Foreign Office, which has a special 'Bureau des Affaires Tunisiennes.' From January 1884 French judges superseded the Consular Courts, and to this arrangement the Great Powers have given their adhesion. French Resident General--M. Massicault. The estimated revenue for 1886-87 is 43,089,747 piastres, and expenditure, 43,087,302 piastres. The direct taxes amount to about 11 million piastres, customs to 4 milllons, monopolies to 6,400,000 piastres; surplus from previous budgets, over 16 millions. Among the expenses the largest item is for public works, 20,234,000 piastres. including 12 millions for the port of Tunis; the expenses of the ministry of finance are set down at 17,385,909 piastres, including 10,512,534 piastres for interest on debt; the general administration costs 4,254,366 piastres. Under the arrangements made by the International Finance Commission, the total public debt of Tunis stood fixed in 1884 at 125,000,000 francs, or 5,000,000l., the whole bearing interest at five per cent., besides a floating debt of 822,4681. By a decree of the President of the French Republic of May 28, 1884, and a similar decree of the Bey of Tunis of May 27, a loan was guaranteed by the French Government by which the Tunisian debt has been consolidated into a sum of 125,000,000 francs, or 5,000,000l., and the floating debt 17,550,000 francs, or 702,000l., or a total of 5,702,000l. The loan was emitted as a perpetual 4 per cent. rente of 6,307,520 francs, or 252,300l., divided into 315,376 obligations of a nominal capital of 500 francs. These were to be sold by preference to the holders of 5 per cent. Tunisian obligations at the price of 462 francs. The International Commission has been succeeded by a staff of French civilian controllers. The general administration of the country costs far more than it did before the French occupation, when the total was set down at 60,0531. The cost of maintaining the French army corps of occupation is entered in the Budget for 1887 as amounting to 6,518,183 francs, or 260,7271. The corps of occupation, according to the budget statement for 1887, consists of 16,209 men. The cost of maintaining this force is to be borne partly by the budget of the Republic, and in part by the Regency. The war expenditure set down by the Tunisian budget for 1886-87 is 813,027 piastres. For religious purposes the whole of the Regency is included within the Archbishopric of Algiers. Area, Population, and Trade. The kingdom or 'Regency' of Tunis, formerly one of the so-called Barbary States, comprises the tract of country included in the ancient Roman provinces of Zeugitana and Byzacium. It takes its present name from its modern capital Tunis, the Roman Tunes, the λɛvk Túrnra of Diodorus of Sicily. The present boundaries are on the north and east the Mediterranean Sea, on the west the FrancoAlgerian province of Constantine, and on the south the great desert of the Sahara and the Turkish Pachalik of Tripoli; and reckoning its average breadth from west to east to be 100 miles, it covers an area of about 42,000 English square miles, including that portion of the Sahara which is to the east of the Beled Djerid, extending towards Gadamés. The number of inhabitants is only known by estimates, no attempt at enumeration having ever been made. It is stated in the Almanacco Tunissino' for 1877, that the total population is calculated to number 2,100,000, comprising 2,028,000 Mahometans, 45,000 Jews, 25,100 Roman Catholics, 400 Greek Catholics, and 100 Protestants. But according to other and more trustworthy reports, there are, at the utmost, 1,500,000 inhabitants. According to all accounts, the population, which numbered 17 millions in the tenth century, and 5 millions in the middle of the eighteenth century, is gradually decreasing. The majority of the population is mainly formed of Bedouin Arabs and Kabyles. The capital, the city of Tunis, is situated 10 miles southeast of the site of ancient Carthage, built on the western side of a lake, some 20 miles in circumference, which separates it from its port Goletta. The city walls measure five miles in circumference, and the inhabitants are variously estimated from 100,000 to 145,000, comprising Moors, Arabs, Negroes, and Jews; there are 20,000 Christians. There are twelve ports open to foreign trade, but the bulk of the commerce passes through Goletta. The number of vessels entered at Goletta in 1885 was 1,035 (569 Italian), of 71,133 tons; and cleared, 800 (345 Italian), of 13,409 tons. The total foreign trade averages 2,400,000l. per annum, comprising 1,100,000l. imports, and 1,300,000l. exports. In 1885 the values of the total exports and imports, and of the principal articles exported and imported were:- Of the above exports 344,500l. were to Italy, 219,500l. to France, and 180,000l. to England and Malta. Of the imports, 293,000. were from England and Malta, 174,000l. from France, and 170,000. from Germany. The exports from Tunis to France in 1885 are given in the French returns at 7,766,933 francs, and imports from France to Tunis at 15,329,675 francs. The commerce of Tunis with Great Britain has been as follows according to the Board of Trade returns for the five years 18811885: |