1856 and 1868, and at the latter date amounted, exclusive of a floating debt, to 182,000,000 francs, or 7,280,000l., a portion of it contracted in Tunis, but the greater part in foreign countries, mainly France. No interest being paid to the creditors, the French and other Governments made reclamations, in pursuance of which the Bey consented to establish an International Finance Commission, to provide for the settlement and gradual extinction of the public debt; with this arrangement the French, since the annexation, have not interfered. Called into existence in 1869, the Commission worked up to 1884 with satisfactory results to both Tunis and its creditors.

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 5,702,0001. 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 a Budget Extraordinaire as amounting to 1,500,000 francs, or 60,000l. The corps of occupation, according to the budget statement for 1885, consists of 16,000 men. The cost of maintaining this force is to be borne partly by the war and colonial budgets of the Republic, and in part by the Regency, but in what proportions the expenditure is to be divided has not yet been stated. 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 Xɛus) Túvnra of Diodorus of Sicily. The present boundaries are on the north and east the Mediterranean Sea, on the west the Franco

Algerian 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 of 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 120,000, 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 Tunis-Goletta. The total foreign trade averages 2,400,000l. per annum, comprising 1,100,000l. imports, and 1,300,000l. exports. The exports in 1883 amounted to 846,774l., the imports being 1,153,8437. The principal articles exported are wheat, esparto grass, olive oil, wool, skins, dates, and barley. The principal imports are cotton, silk and woollen goods, liquors, sugar, and flour. The foreign trade is carried on mainly with Italy, France, and Great Britain.

In the returns of the Board of Trade the commerce of Great Britain with Tunis is thrown together with that of Tripoli, and is as follows for the five years from 1879 to 1883 :

The principal article of export from Tunis and Tripoli to Great Britain in the year 1883 was esparto grass, for making paper, of the value of 409,5927., while the principal article of import of British produce consisted in cotton manufactures, of the value of 147,9451.

A report from the British Consul-General states that these estimates of the Board of Trade are much understated; the imports from Great Britain and her colonies amount to about two-thirds of the whole imports of the country. The exports from Tunis to Great Britain in 1882, according to the Consul-General, amounted to 1,119,3967., and the imports from Great Britain to 796,3371. The trade in esparto grass will probably increase considerably under the operations of an Anglo-French company, who have obtained large concessions in the south of the country.

In 1883 3,768 vessels of 1,524,429 tons entered Tunisian ports, of which 1,222 of 1,018,535 tons were French.

Tunis has several lines of railway, running from the capital to Goletta, and other places in the environs, with a line to the Algerian frontier; in all 200 miles in 1883.

There were 2,500 miles of telegraphs in operation at the end of 1883.

British Political Agent and Consul-General.-Thomas F. Reade.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

The money, weights, and measures of Tunis, and the British equivalents, are as follows:

The Piastre, of 16 karubs.

MONEY.

average value 6d.

The gold and silver coins of France and Italy are in general use.

The pic, or principal long measure, is of three lengths, viz., 0.7359 of a yard for cloth; 0·51729 of a yard for linen; 0·68975 of a yard for silk.

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Tunis. 1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Correspondence respecting the establishment of French tribunals, and the abrogation of foreign Consular jurisdiction in Tunis. London, 1884. Journal Officiel of Tunis. 1884.

Report by Mr. Consul-General Wood on the trade, industry, and finances of Tunis, dated Tunis, September 27, 1875; in Reports from H.M.'s Consuls.' Part I. 1876. 8. London, 1876.

Report by Mr. Vice-Consul Dupuis on the trade and commerce of Susa in 1875, dated Susa, January 1876; in 'Reports from H.M.'s Consuls.' Part IV. 1876. 8. London, 1876.

Report by Mr. Consul-General Wood on the exports and imports of Tunis; in Reports from H.M.'s Consuls.' Part I. 1877. 8. London, 1877.

Reports by Mr. Vice-Consul Dupuis on the commerce of Susa; in 'Reports from H.M.'s Consuls.' Part IV. 1877, Part III. 1878, and Part II. 1879. 8. London, 1877, 1878, and 1879.

Report on the Trade of Tunis, 1880-1883, by Consul-General T. F. Reade, in Reports of H.M.'s Consuls.' Part XI. 1883.

Trade of Tunis and Tripoli with the United Kingdom; in Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries and British Possessions, for the year 1883.' Imp. 4. London, 1884.

2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Broadley (A. M.), Tunis, Past and Present. London, 1882.
Charmes (Gabriel), La Tunisie et la Tripolitaine. Paris, 1883.

De Flaux (M.), La Régence de Tunis. 8. Paris, 1866.

Dilhan (Ch.), Histoire abrégée de la Régence de Tunis. 8. Paris, 1867. Hesse-Wartegg (Chevalier de), Tunis, The Land and the People. London,

1882.

Michel (Léon), Tunis. 2nd edition. Paris, 1883.

Playfair (Lieut.-Colonel), Handbook of Algeria and Tunis. London, 1878. Rousseau (F.), Annales Tunisiennes. 8. Paris, 1864.

Tchihatcheff (M.), Algérie et Tunis. Paris, 1880.

Temple (Sir G.), Excursions in the Mediterranean. 2 vols. 8. London, 1856.

ZANZIBAR.

Government, Revenue, and Population.

Sultan, or more correctly, Seyyid, Bargash bin Saïd, G.C.M.G., son of the late Seyyid Sáeed, ruler of Muscat and Zanzibar, succeeded his elder brother, Majid, who died October 7, 1870.

The Sultan has (1885) five brothers, of whom the eldest is Sultan of Muscat. He has one son, born in 1877. There is no definite law of succession to the throne.

of

The island of Zanzibar was conquered in 1784 by the Imam of Muscat from the Arab princes who held sway over it, but the Sultan is now independent. It has an area of 625 square miles, but the Sultan's authority extends along the coasts of the mainland, from Warsheikh, in 3° N. lat. to Delgado Bay in 10° 42′ S. lat. The population of the Zanzibar dominions consists of Somalis and Gallas in the north, and of negroes many tribes further south. The Sultan's dominions cannot be defined inland, his influence extending but a little way from the coast, except along a few travel routes. The population of the island is variously estimated at from 150,000 to 300,000. There is a considerable foreign population, mostly engaged in trading. Of British born subjects in 1884 there were 90, and the total British protected subjects exceeds 6,000. There are also 35 French, 12 German, and 9 American subjects, besides 700 Goanese. The town of Zanzibar has a population estimated at 90,000, and Bagamayo, on the opposite mainland, 10,000. There are besides on the coast of the mainland many large and important towns, three of them ports of call for British mail steamers and the headquarters of British Vice-Consuls.

The revenue of the Sultan is mainly derived from Customs' dues and taxes on produce, besides a considerable private income, the total annual amount being about 220,000l.

Mahometanism is the religion of the country, the natives of the coast and islands being Sunnis of the Shafi school, while the Sultan and his relatives are schismatics of the Ibadhi sect. There are Christian Missions (Church of England, Wesleyan, Independent, and Roman Catholic) on the island and far into the mainland.

There is a regular army of about 1,200 men, and an irregular mob of natives from Arabia, chiefly employed on the coast.

Commerce.

The value of the imports in 1880 is stated in a consular report have been 709,9001., and exports, 870,3501. The chief imports