BRAZIL.-The most extensive and most prosperous of the South American States. The Roman Catholic is the established religion of the state, though all other sects are tolerated. Government-Constitutional and hereditary monarchy. Executive, the Emperor, assisted by a responsible Ministry. Legislalive, the General Legislative Assembly, consisting of the Senate with 60 members, and the Chamber of Deputies with 125 memhers. Army-Peace footing, 15,048 men and 6,847 gendarmerie. War footing, 32,000 men. Navy-65 ships (9 ironclads) manned by 5,788 men. Education-In 1885 there were 5,520 public, 957 private schools, and 286 "colleges" attended by 435,997 pupils in all.

PARAGUAY is one of the smallest, and, with the exception of Bolivia, the only landlocked state of South America. The Roman Catholic is the established religion of the state, but the free exercise of other religions is permitted. GovernmentRepublican. Executive, the President, assisted by a Cabinet of 5 Ministers. Legislative, the Congress, composed of the Senate and the House of Deputies. The armed defense forces consist of 500 men and a fleet of 3 river steamers. Education-In 1885 there were 99 state public schools, with 3,676 pupils; 50 private schools with 1,424 pupils, and a national college with 150 students.

URUGUAY is the smallest of the South American States. The Roman Catholic is the state religion, but there is complete toleration of all sects. Government-Republican. Executive, the President, assisted by a council of five members. Legislative, the parliament, composed of the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives, the former consisting of 19 members, the latter of 53. The defense forces consist of 3,540 regulars, a national guard of 20,000 men, 5 river steamers and 3 gunboats. Education-One university at Montevideo, attended in 1886 by 1,452 students; 341 public schools with 28,380 pupils, and, in 1885, 429 private schools with 20,899 scholars.

ARGENTINE REPUBLIC.--Religion-Roman Catholic, but all creeds are tolerated. Government-Republican. Executive, the President. Legislative, the National Congress, composed of the Senate with 30 members, and the House of Deputies with 86. Army-7,324 men, exclusive of the national guard of about 350,000 men. Navy-39 ships (3 ironclads) manned by 2,150 men. Education-In 1885 there were 2 universities attended by 880 students, various superior schools, 15 lyceums with 3,189 pupils, and, in 1886, 3,415 elementary schools with 180,768 scholars.

CHILI.-Religion-Roman Catholic, but all other religions

Government-Republican.

are protected. Executive, the President. Legislative, the Senate of 43 members, and the Chamber of Deputies of 126. Army-6,510 regulars, and the national guard of 53,741 men. Navy-32 ships (3 ironclads) with 2,385 men. Education-One university and numerous lyceums attended, in 1886, by 5,900 students; 532 private schools with 28,242 pupils, and 862 public primary schools with 78,810 scholars.

Polar Exploration

Really begins with the search for the northeast passage. With this object Willoughby left England with three ships in 1553. Nova Zembla was sighted, but the voyage was disastrous, two ships were lost and with them perished the first leader of an Arctic expedition. In 1556 another expedition, under Burroughs, set out for the same purpose, but without success. The northeast passage proving impracticable, efforts were directed to the northwest. Frobisher sailed in 1576 and discovered Meta Incognita, a part of the present Baffin Land. Ten years later Davis navigated the strait which bears his name, advancing northward to 720 N. Barents, a Dutch seaman, made three voyages to the northeast. In 1596, on his third voyage, he discovered Spitzbergen and reached a latitude of 800 N. Sailing thence to Nova Zembla he doubled the north point and wintered on the eastern side of the island. Hudson, between the years 1607-1610, made four voyages; two of these were to the northeast, and a latitude of 800 23' N. was attained. On his third voyage he discovered Hudson River, and in the following year, 1610, the strait and bay since named after him. These discoveries were supplemented in 1616, when Baffin sailed up Davis Strait into Baffin's Bay. During the eighteenth century Russian explorations made great progress. The entire northern coast of Siberia was gradually discovered, while, in 1728, Bering examined the strait between Asia and America, and in 1741 Liakov, a Russian merchant, the islands now known as New Siberia. The numerous expeditions of the present century have driven the unknown regions of the north into comparatively narrow limits. In 1819 Parry passed through Lancaster Sound and wintered on Melville Island; eight years later he sailed to Spitzbergen, and traveling northward on sledges, reached 82° 45' N. Of the numerous expeditions which left England in search of Franklin, who had sailed in 1845, that under M'Clure in 1850 was, perhaps, the most important, since the northwest passage was then traversed for the first time. In 1853 Kane considerably extended knowledge in Smith Sound, while in 1874 the Austrian expedition discovered the archipelago of Franz Josef Land. The Nares expedition of 1875-6, passing through Smith

to the Union in 1889. Population, 1888, estimated, 175,000. by Americans, in 1852. Organized as a Territory in 1864; admitted miles of railway and forty-fourth in population. First settlement, tories in silver, fifth in gold, fifteenth in cattle, forty-seventh in MONTANA in 1880 ranked fourth among the States and Terri

was first settled by immigrants from the other States. Admitted corn and barley, ninth in rye, thirtieth in population. Nebraska NEBRASKA ranks eighth among the States of the Union in

into the Union in 1867.

Sound, wintered farther north than any previous expedition, and a sledding party under Markham reached 83° 20′, a latitude only surpassed by that of Lockwood, in the Greeley expedition, who, in 1882, stood under 83° 24′ N. Finally, in 1878, Nordenskjöld performed in the "Vega" that northeast passage which Willoughby had attempted over 300 years before.

The World's Largest Cities.

The following information is often inquired for, and as it may be useful in many cases for reference, we have compiled a table of the largest cities in the world, with their populations as stated by the latest authorities. In the absence of any official census, the Chinese cities have simply to be estimated, and, of course, must be accepted as an approximation only. We have not given any city whose population is below 500,000, though there are many we could enumerate which closely approach that figure. It will be seen that in the 35 cities tabulated below there are 32,510,319 souls, or nearly the population of the British Isles, a fact which cannot be grasped in a moment by any ordinary intellect.

ESTIMATED AGE OF THE EARTH.-According to geological computation, the minimum age of the earth since the forma tion of the primitive soils is 21,000,000 years-6,700,000 years for the primordial formations, 6,400,000 years for the primary age, 2,300,000 years for the secondary age, and 460,000 years for the tertiary age, and 100,000 since the appearance of man upon the globe.