nearly the whole of the banking business of Brazil:-Paid-up capital, 101,884,380 milreis; reserve, 19,548,449 milreis; deposits, 132,471,494 milreis; doubtful credits, 10,217,220 milreis; cash balance, 16,108,791 milreis. In 1889 the savings-banks of the country held 22,851,000 milreis.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

The money, weights, and measures of Brazil, and the British equivalents,

are:

MONEY.

The Milreis of 1,000 Reis. Par value, 28. 3d.; but the rate of exchange varies greatly-27d. in January 1890.

English sovereigns are legal tender. At the end of 1888 the English Sovereign was worth 8.7 milreis. Gold and silver coins have almost disappeared in recent years in Brazil, and the only circulating medium is an inconvertible paper currency, consisting of Treasury notes, depreciated in value, together with nickel and bronze coins. In 1888 an Act was passed with the avowed object of restricting the issue of paper money and restor ing the credit of the country.

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES.

The French metric system, which became compulsory in 1872, was adopted in 1862, and has been used since in all official departments. But the ancient weights and measures are still partly employed. They

Diplomatic and Consular Representatives.

1. OF BRAZIL IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Envoy and Minister.-Viscount de Arinos, appointed January 1890. Secretary.--Pedro d'Araujo Beltrão.

Consul-General.-Baron de Ibiramirim (London).

There are Consular representatives at Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Cork, Dublin, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hull, Liverpool (C.G.), Manchester, Newcastle, Southampton, Adelaide, Bombay, Canada (C.G.), Cape Town, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Sydney.

2. OF GREAT BRITAIN IN BRAZIL.

Envoy and Minister.-G. Hugh Wyndham, C.B., appointed envoy to Brazil Feb. 1, 1888.

Secretary.-C. F. F. Adam.

There are Consular representatives at Rio de Janeiro (C.G.), Bahia, Pará, Pernambuco, Rio Grande do Sul, Santos.

Statistical and other Books of Reference.

1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Boletim da alfandega do Rio de Janeiro (weekly).

Collecção das leis do Imperio do Brazil e collecção das decisões do Governo do Imperio do Brazil. 8. Rio de Janeiro, 1864-87.

Estatistica do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro, 1888.

Ministerio da Fazenda. Proposta e relatario apresentados a Assemblea Geral Legislativa. Rio de Janeiro, 1888.

Relatario apresentado a Assemblea Geral Legislativa pelo Ministro de Estado dos Negocios do Imperio. Ditto, da Agricultura, Commercio e Obras Publicas. Rio de Janeiro, 1889. Secção de estatistica. Annex do relatario do Ministerio do Imperio apresentado em Maio de 1885. Rio de Janeiro, 1885.

Empire of Brazil at the Universal Exhibition of 1876 at Philadelphia. 8. Rio de Janeiro, 1876.

Report on Brazil in U.S. Consular Reports, No. 82, 1887.

Trade of Brazil with Great Britain; in

Reports on the Finance, Commerce, and Agriculture of Brazil in 1887-88, in No. 504. Diplomatic and Consular Reports,' 1889. Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries and British Possessions for the Year 1888. Imp. 4. London, 1889.

2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Abreu and Cabral, Brazil geografico-historico. Rio de Janeiro, 1884.
Agassiz (Louis), Journey in Brazil. 8. London, 1868.

Bates (H. W.), South America. London, 1882.

Bates (H. W.), The Naturalist on the River Amazon. London, 1864.

Bigg-Wither (Thomas P.), Pioneering in South Brazil. 8. London, 1878.

Brown (C. B.) and Lidstone (W.), Fifteen Thousand Miles on the Amazon and its Tribu taries. London, 1878.

8.

Burton (Capt. R. F.), Exploration of the Highlands of Brazil. 2 vols.
Dent (J. H.), A Year in Brazil. London, 1886.

8. London, 1869.

Fletcher (Rev. Jas. C.) and Kidder (Rev. D. P.), Brazil and the Brazilians. 9th ed. London, 1879.

Gallenga (A.), South America. London, 1880.

Hadfield (William), Brazil and the River Plate, 1870-76. 8. London, 1877.

Hartt (Charles F.), Geology and Physical Geography of Brazil. Boston, 1870.
Keller (Franz), The Amazon and Madeira Rivers. Fol. London, 1874.

Laemmert (Eduardo von), Almanak administrativo, mercantil e industrial, da corte o provincia do Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro.

Laerne (K. F. van Delden), Brazil and Java. Report on Coffee Culture. London, 1885. Le Brésil. Paris (published weekly).

Le Brésil en 1889. Ouvrage public par les soins du Syndicat du Comité Franco-Brésilien pour l'Exposition Universelle de Paris. Paris, 1889.

Muthall (Michael G.), Rio Grande do Sul and its German Colonies. 8. London, 1873. Orton (James), The Andes and the Amazon; or, Across the Continent of South America. 8. New York, 1876.

Pereira da Silva, Situation sociale, politique et économique de l'empire du Brésil. 18. Paris, 1865.

Rodrigues (José Carlos), Constituição politica do Imperio do Brasil, seguida do acto addicional, da lei da sa interpretação e de outras, analysada. 8. Rio de Janeiro, 1881.

Sainte-Adolphe (Millict de), Diccionario geografico de imperio do Brazil. 2 vols. 8. Paris, 1870.

Scully (William), Brazil, its Provinces and Chief Cities; the Manners and Customs of the People; Agricultural, Commercial, and other Statistics. New ed. 8. London, 1868. Selys-Longchamps (W. de), Notes d'un voyage au Brésil. 8. Bruxelles, 1875. Smith (H. H.), Brazil, the Amazon, and the Coast. London, 1880.

South American Journal. London, 1888 (published weekly).

Wallace (Alfred R.), Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro. 8. London, 1870.

Wappaeus (Dr. Johann Eduard), Handbuch der Geographie und Statistik von Brasilien. 8. Leipzig. 1871.

Wells (J. W.), Three Thousand Miles through Brazil. London, 1886.

CHILE.

(REPÚBLICA DE CHILE.)

Constitution and Government.

The

THE Republic of Chile threw off allegiance to the Crown of Spain by the declaration of independence of September 18, 1810, finally freeing itself from the yoke of Spain in 1818. The Constitution, voted by the representatives of the nation in 1833, with a few subsequent amendments, establishes three powers in the State the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. legislative power is vested in the National Congress, consisting of two assemblies, called the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. The Senate is composed of members, elected for the term of six years, in the proportion of one Senator for every three Deputies; while the Chamber of Deputies, composed of members chosen for a period of three years, consists of one representative for every 30,000 of the population (formerly 20,000, raised by law of August 9, 1888); both bodies are chosen by the same electorsthe Chamber directly by departments, and the Senate directly by provinces. Electors, if married, must be 21 years of age, or 25 if unmarried, and possess real property of an amount fixed every ten years, or be in receipt of an income from any source equivalent to the produce of such real property. Deputies must have an income of 1007. a year, and Senators 4007. The executive is exercised by a President, elected for a term of five years.

President of the Republic.-José Manuel Balmaceda, inaugurated President of the Republic, as successor of Don Domingo Santa Maria, September 18, 1886.

The President of the Republic is chosen by indirect election, and is not re-eligible. The people, in the first instance, nominate their delegates by ballot, and the latter, in their turn, appoint the chief of the State. The salary of the President is fixed at 18,000 pesos.

The President is assisted in his executive functions by a Council of State, and a Cabinet or Ministry, divided into seven departments, under six Ministers, viz.:-Of the Interior; Foreign Affairs and Worship; Justice and Public Instruction; Finance; Departments of War and Marine; Industry, Public Works, and Colonisation. The Council of State consists of five members nominated by the President, and six members chosen by the Congress.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

For the purposes of local government the Republic is divided into Provinces, presided over by Intendents; and the Provinces into Departments, with Gobernadores as chief officers. The Departments are further divided into municipalities, which are popularly elected, the number of members varying with the number of the inhabitants, and their tenure of office being for three years.

Area and Population.

The Republic is divided (according to rearrangement of 1887) into 22 provinces, subdivided into 68 departments and 2 territories. Departments and territories are subdivided into 855 sub-legations and 3,068 districts.

The following are the area and population of the provinces and territories, according to the census of November 26, 1885, going from south to north, and the estimated population for 1888, together with the population per square mile :

The territory of Antofagasta was taken from Bolivia during the last war, and Tarapacá ceded by Peru in terms of the peace of Oct. 20, 1883. The Peruvian province of Tacna is to continue in the possession of Chile for ten years, at the end of which time a plébiscite is to decide to which country it shall belong.

Ꭰ Ꭰ

In 1885 there were in Chile 1,262,640 males and 1,263,680 females. At the last census (1885) the foreign population amounted to 87,077 persons, of whom 34,901 were Peruvians, 13,146 Bolivians, 9,835 Argentines, 6,808 German, 5,303 English, 4,198 French, 4,114 Italian, 2,508 Spanish, 1,275 Swiss, 1,164 Chinese, 924 Anglo-American, 674 Austrian, 434 Swedish and Norwegian, and the rest from other countries of Europe and of America. In 1886 there were 82,623 births and 82,529 deaths, giving a surplus of only 94. By the treaty (1881) with the Argentine Republic, the latter retains all Patagonia, except a small strip on the west coast and Magellan Straits, ceding to that country all except the eastern part of Tierra del Fuego.

The returns are, however, admittedly incomplete, and it is officially estimated that the population of Chile is much larger than appears from the foregoing table. The following is the official estimate:-

Population as in table
Estimate of indigenous population

Fifteen per cent. on census return, estimated pro-
portion making no return

2,665,926

50,000

399,889

3,115,815

The two largest towns of Chile are Santiago, the capital, and Valparaiso, the first of which had 200,000, and the second 105,000 inhabitants in 1885; other towns are Talca, 24,000; Concepcion, 24,000; Chillan, 21,000; Serena, 17,000; Iquique, 16,000; Tacna, 14,000; San Felipe, 12,000; Copiapó, 10,000; Curicó, 11,000; Angeles, 9,000; Quillotu, 9,000; Linares, 8,000; Cauquenes, 7,000; Angol, 7,000; Valdivia, 6,000.

Religion.

The Roman Catholic is the religion of the State, but according to the Constitution all religions are respected and protected. The clergy in charge of dioceses and parishes are subsidised by the State. There is one archbishop and three bishops. Civil marriage is the only form acknowledged by law.

Instruction.

Education is gratuitous and at the cost of the State. It is divided into superior or professional, medium or secondary, and primary or elementary instruction. Professional and secondary instruction is provided in the University and the National Institute of Santiago, and in the lyceums and colleges established in the capitals of provinces. The branches included are law, mathematics, medicine, and fine arts. The number of students inscribed for the study of these branches at the beginning of 1888 was 1,074. The total number of students under superior and secondary instruction in 1888, including those of the University section and the provincial lyceums, was 4,877. There are besides normal, agricultural, and other special schools. There were 950 public primary schools in the country, with 81,362 pupils in 1887, and an average attendance of 55,813; and 501 private schools, with an inscription of 26,912. At the census of 1885 there were 600,634 children between 6 and 15 years of age. At the census of 1885, 634,627 people could read and write, and 96,636 could only read. The National Library contains 70,000 volumes of printed books, and numerous manuscripts.