attended by about 100 scholars. The commerce consists in the exchange of wool, butter, skins, fish, and oil for European manufactures.

ASIA.

Asia constitutes the eastern and main part of the Old World. Greatest breadth (Cape Chelyuskin 78° 12′ N.) to Cape Romania (1° 10′ N.) 5,300 miles. Greatest length, Cape Baba (260 3' E.) to East Cape (1690 o' W.) 7,000 miles. Area17,300,000 square miles, nearly five times that of Europe, or onethird of the land surface of the globe. Population-According to the latest estimates there are 840,000,000 inhabitants, or onehalf of the entire population of the world. Religion-Christians, 15,000,000; Mohammedans, 80,000,000; Brahmins, Buddhists, etc., 745,000,000. Climate-Northern or Siberian Zone has a mean annual temperature of less than 320 F., Verkhoyansk (the pole of greatest cold), mean temperature, 20 F., January 560 F., July 59.80 F. Central Zone has summer and winter of great extremes. Southern and Eastern Zones (monsoon region) have a regular alternation of seasons. Lahore (Panjab), mean temperature, 75° F., January 53° F., June 93° F.

TURKEY IN ASIA, the western promontory of Asia, lies between 12° 30′ and 420 N. lat., and 260 and 480 E. long. Area -680,000 square miles. Population-16,174,100. Religion-The prevailing religion is Mohammedanism, of which there are 12,000,000 adherents, while about 3,000,000 are nominally Christians, including Greeks, Armenians, etc. Government-This, the greater part of the Turkish Empire, is divided for administrative purposes into 24 official provincial governments or vilayets. At the head of each of these is placed a Vali or Governor-General, who represents the Sultan, and is assisted by a provincial council. Education-Throughout the Turkish Empire public schools have been long established in most considerable towns, while colleges, with public libraries, are attached to the greater number of the principal mosques. But the instruction afforded by these establishments is rather limited.

ARABIA.—A huge peninsula of S. W. Asia, bounded on the north by Turkey in Asia; on the east by the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman; on the south by the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden; and on the west by the Red Sea. Total area of peninsula, 1,219,000 square miles (independent Arabia, 966,952 square miles). Population-(Estimated) 3,700,000. The inhabitants are either Bedouins or "wanderers," or "Hadesi," settled in towns and villages. Religion--With the exception of a few Jews the inhabitants are Mohammedans. At no time has Arabia been united into one harmonious whole, and at present large portions

of its territory are claimed by foreign powers. Turkey claims as part of its Asiatic dominion the district of El Hasa bordering on the Persian Gulf, and the vilayets of Hadjaz and Yemen extending along the eastern shores of the Red Sea. Egypt holds possession of the Sinai peninsula and the old land of Midian which extends southward from the Gulf of Akaba. The territory belonging to Britain comprises the fortress of Aden, Perim Island at the entrance to the Red Sea, the Kuria Muria Islands off the southeast coast, and the island of Kamaran in the Red Sea. The remainder of the country embraces all the interior and the south and east coasts between the Bahrein Islands and Aden. It is divided among an uncertain number of petty and independent states, the chief of which are Oman in the extreme east, extending inland from the gulf of the same name, with Muscat for its capital, and Jebel Shammar and Nejd in the interior, the capital of the former being Hail, and of the latter Riad. Hadramaut, on the south coast, is split up into numerous little states or principalities.

PALESTINE.-This interesting region, the scene of the grandest events in the history of the world, is a narrow belt of land, bounded on the north by the mountain ranges of Lebanon and Hermon; on the east it stretches over the tableland of the Hauran to the Arabian desert; on the south it merges into the desert of Sinai; and on the west it is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea. Area-11,000 square miles. Population-Estimated, 700,000. Religion-Mohammedan (nearly 300,000 Christians in Lebanon). Government-Under Turkish rule, for administrative purposes, Palestine is divided into the government of el Kuds (Jerusalem), comprising the country west of the Dead Sea and the Jordan, as far north as about 320 30'; the government of Jebel Libnan (Lebanon), occupied by the slopes of that range on either side; the remainder is included in the vilayet of Syria. One of the most striking features of Palestine is its natural division into four parallel strips-the Coast Plain, the Hill Country, the Jordan Valley, and the Eastern Plateau. The Coast Plain, from 10 to 20 miles wide, extends without a break from the desert on the south to Mount Carmel (1810 feet) on the north. The Hill Country, commencing south of the Mediterranean, traverses the country from south to north (Mount Hermon, 9,400 feet; Mount of Olives, 2,683 feet). The Jordan Valley runs nearly parallel to the coast from the base of Mount Hermon to the Dead Sea, which occupies its deepest portion. The Eastern Plateau has a height of 2,500 to 3,000 feet, attaining its greatest altitude in Mount Hor (Jebel Horoun), 4,580 feet.

The one great river of Palestine is the Jordan, which, emerging from underground as a full-bodied stream at the Springs of Has

One of the thirteen original States. in population. First settlement, by English, at Windsor, 1635. silk goods, fourth in cotton goods, eighth in tobacco, twenty-third CONNECTICUT ranks first among the States in clocks, third in

DAKOTA in 1880 ranked third in gold, ninth in silver, twentysixth in miles of railway, thirty-ninth in population. First settlement, by Americans, at Pembina. Organized as a territory 1861; Admitted into the Union as two States, 1889. Population, 1887, estimated 568,477 (special census, 1885, 415,610).

beiya, 847 feet above the sea, flows first through the Waters of Meron, then through the Sea of Galilee, 682 feet below the Mediterranean, from which it passes down the wide valley of El Ghor, and finally falls into the Dead Sea, the surface of which is 1,292 feet below the Mediterranean.

PERSIA is bounded on the north by the Caspian Sea and Asiatic Russia; on the west by Turkey in Asia; on the south by the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea; and on the cast by Afghanistan and Baluchistan. Religion-Mohammedan with about 74,000 exceptions. Government-Despotic, the power of the Shah (Nasir-ed-Din, s. 1848), being absolute, in so far as it is not opposed to the accepted doctrines of the Koran. Under him, the Executive is carried on by a Council of 19 Ministers, presided over by a brother of the Shah. Education-There are a large number of colleges supported by public funds, and numerous schools for children. A larger proportion of the population of Persia are possessed of the rudiments of education than of any other country in Asia, except China.

AFGHANISTAN.-A country on the N. W. frontier of India, bounded on the north by Turkestan; on the east by India; on the south by Baluchistan; and on the west by Persia. Area— 298,235 square miles (inclusive of Kafiristan). Population4,500,000, mainly Mohammedans of the Sunni sect. Government-Emir. In consequence of its inaccessible highland tracts, its numerous races and their tribal organization, no civil administration can be said to exist beyond the collection of the revenue. BALUCHISTAN is bounded on the north by Afghanistan ; on the east by India; on the south by the Arabian Sea; and on the west by Persia. Area—106,635 square miles. Population— 500,000; Mohammedans of Shiah and Sunni sects. Government-The Khan concluded a treaty in 1876 with Britain, by which he has become a feudatory of the Empress of India. This treaty places the whole country at the disposal of the British Government for all military and strategic purposes.

KHIVA AND BOKHARA.-Two Khanates, bounded on the north by the Sea of Aral and Russian possessions; on the south by Afghanistan and Russian possessions; and on the west by the Trans-Caspian district; being separated from each other by the Oxus. Area-Khiva, 22,290 square miles; Bokhara 92,168 square miles. Population-Khiva, 700,000; Bokhara, 2,130,000. Religion-The inhabitants of both states are Mohammedans. Government-Boknara, since the capture of Samarkand by Russia, 1868, is little more than a vassal state of that country, though still allowed to enjoy a certain show of political independence under a Khan or Mir. Khiva-The Russians cap