international commissions have distributed native territory so freely, that in a short time but few of the original states will remain.

CONGO FREE STATE.

In 1885, the Congo Free State was constituted and defined by the International Conference held at Berlin. It was declared neutral and free to the trade of all nations, and has been successively recognized by all the leading countries of the world. The state is placed under the sovereignty of Leopold II., King of the Belgians, and is governed by an Administrator-General, who resides at Boma, the capital. Area, So0,000 square miles. Population, 24,000,000. Annual grant from Leopold II., $200,

000.

EASTERN EQUATORIAL AFRICA.

A commission was appointed in 1886, by Britain and Germany, to fix the boundaries of Zanzibar with reference to German territory. They agreed that Zanzibar is to possess a strip of coast from Cape Delgado to the Tana River, and extending ten miles inland, with several ports north of the latter; that Germany is to have, as a sphere of influence, the country stretching from the Rovuma River, northward to and including Kilimanjaro; and that Britain's sphere embraces the country between Kilimanjaro and the Tana River.

Zanzibar-Area, 9,190 square miles (Zanzibar Island, 614 square miles; Pemba, 372 square miles; Mafia, 210 square miles; Mainland, 8,000 square miles). Population, 250,000. Imports, 1883, $6,000,000; Exports, $4,000,000.

Germany--Protectorates, Wito Land, 5,200 square miles; Usagara, etc., 20,700 square miles; territory in which protectorates may be established, 122,800 square miles.

British territory in which protectorates may be established, 72,000 square miles.

THE PORTUGUESE COLONIES South of the Equator are named, respectively, Angola and Mozambique. The former, on the west coast, extends from the Cunene River to the mouth of the Congo and includes the small territories of Cabinda and Landana, north of the latter: Area, 115,000 square miles; Population, 1,000,000. Mozambique extends from Cape Delgado to Delagoa Bay, and up the lower Zambesi, but only a few isolated points are actually occupied. Area, 80,000 square miles. Population, 600,000.

FRENCH COLONIES.

Equatorial France comprises the Gaboon and Ogowe-Congo regions, which, as defined at the Berlin Conference, have an

area of 174,000 square miles; with about 1,700,000 inhabitants. Imports (Gaboon), 1883, $840,000; exports, $1,480,000.

GERMAN COLONIES.

On the southwest coast Luderitz Land comprises all the land between the Cunene and Orange Rivers (with the exception of Walvisch Bay), and the interior lands acquired by treaty. Area, 200,000 square miles, with about 236,000 inhabitants.

EGYPT.-Previous to 1884 the Khedive claimed authority over territories extending southward as far as the Equator. But within the last few years the inhabitants of these equatorial provinces have rebelled against the authority of the Egyptian Government. As a result these districts have been abandoned, and Akashe, above Wady Halfa, about 800 miles up the Nile from Cairo, has been provisionally agreed upon as the boundary of Egypt on the south. On the north it is limited by the Mediterranean Sea; on the east by Arabia and the Red Sea; and on the west by Tripoli and the Libyan Desert. Religion-500,000 Copts, descendants of the old Egyptians, who are Christians; 91,000 foreigners, also Christians; rest Mohammedan. Government-Egypt is nominally a vassal state of the Porte, to which it pays a yearly tribute of £695,792, but practically it is independent under the rule of an hereditary Khedive or Viceroy. The administration is now carried on by native Ministers, subject to the ruling of the Khedive, and under the supervision of England. A Legislative Council consisting of 30 members has recently been formed, but its power is very limited. Education -Numerous elementary and secondary schools are found throughout the country, from which the pupils pass to special colleges.

THE SUEZ CANAL.-From remote ages the Isthmus of Suez has been traversed by a canal following nearly the line of the present one; nothing certain, however, seems to be known as to who was its first constructor, but the credit is generally given to Pharaoh Necho, who reigned about 600 B.C. It, in course of time, got silted up with sand, but was cleared out by Trajan in the second century A.D., and again in 767. The Emperor Napoleon desired to reconstruct the canal, and had the isthmus surveyed, but nothing was done till M. Ferdinand de Lesseps, in 1854, obtained permission from the Viceroy of Egypt to construct a canal, uniting the Mediterranean and Red Seas. A company was formed to carry out his views, two-fifths of the capital being furnished by the Viceroy, and the remainder in Europe, chiefly in France. The work was commenced in 1860, and on September 28, 1869, M. Lesseps sailed in a small steamer through it. The canal runs north and south from Port Said to

mitted to the Union in 1861. in population. The first settlers in Kansas were Americans. Adseventh in hay, ninth in hogs, horses, wheat and coal, twenty-first KANSAS ranks fifth among the States in cattle, corn and rye,

Fort London, 1757. Admitted to Union, 1796. in corn and cotton, twelfth in population. First settlers, English, third in mules, sixth in tobacco, seventh in copper and hogs, ninth mitted to the Union, 1792. TENNESSEE ranks second in peanuts, and population. First settlers, English, Boonesboro, 1775. Adliquors, sixth in hogs, seventh in corn, eighth in rye, coal, mules KENTUCKY ranks first in tobacco, fourth in malt and distilled

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Suez; the length from sea to sea is 99 miles, with a width of 327 feet for 77 miles, and of 196 for the remaining 22 miles; the depth is 26 feet. In November, 1875, the British Government purchased from the Khedive the original shares held by him for £3,976,582. It is now proposed to widen the canal to 166 metres. The canal has reduced the distance from London to India from 11,379 miles to 7,628, a saving of 36 days on the voyage by the Cape. The number of vessels that passed through the canal in 1886 was 3,100. The tonnage, 8,183,313; the receipts £2,241,095. MAURITIUS.—An island lying in the Indian Ocean, and a possession of Great Britain, 500 miles east of Madagascar, includes within its government, as dependencies, the Seychelles Group, Rodriguez, and Diego Garcia Islands, and about seventy other islets. Area-713 square miles (with dependencies, 1,025 square miles.) Population-1887, 368,415. Religion-108,000 Roman Catholics and 8,000 Protestants. The Government is administered by the Governor, aided by an Executive Council of 5 members, and a Legislative Council of 27 members. EducationOne college with 145 students, and 140 primary schools, attended by 15,792 pupils in 1886. Government grant in 1886, £42,943.

ST. HELENA.-A solitary island situated in the South Atlantic, 760 miles from the nearest land, Ascension. Area-47 square miles. Population-1883, 5,085. It is controlled for Great Britain by a Governor, aided by an Executive Council of 4 members.

NORTH AMERICA

Forms the northern and larger part of the New World; the greater portion of it is almost entirely confined to the north temperate zone. Greatest length, 4,400 miles. Greatest breadth, 3,800 miles. The outline, more especially in the north, where it takes the form of an achipelago of islands, is very much intersected and broken by the numerous inlets of the sea. Excluding Arctic America and Greenland (1,338,500 square miles) the area is about 8,000,000 square miles. In a continent extending over about 65 degrees of latitude and nearly twice as many of longitude, great varieties of climate are necessarily met with. While the Pacific shores have generally a milder climate than those of the Atlantic, the average temperature of the continent is lower than that of corresponding latitudes in the Old World.

BRITISH NORTH AMERICA.-Within the Dominion of Canada is included all the land lying north of the United States, with the exception of Alaska, Newfoundland, and Labrador. Exclusive of the Arctic Islands, the total area is 3,420,777 square miles. Population-1881 (census), 4,324,810. 1889 (estimated), 5,000,000. French, 1,298,930; Irish, 957,403; English, 881,300;