are cloths, of various kinds, mostly cotton, with rice and cereals, guns, and kerosene oil; the exports are ivory (16,0007.), cloves (17,000l.), india-rubber (201,000l.) gum in 1879. In 1882 the imports were estimated at 800,000l., the exports at 1,000,0001. The largest trade is with Great Britain, Germany, America, France, India, and Arabia. In 1882 85 vessels of 89,733 tons entered the port, of which 41, of 57,540 were British; in 1881 the number entered was 114, of 116,665 tons, including 30 war vessels. There is no special coinage. The British Indian rupee is the coin now universally current, though in all business transactions the Maria Theresa dollar (about 4s. 2d.), is the standard of value. The rupee has a standard value of 47 cents. British Agent and Consul-General.-Sir John Kirk, K.C.M.G. Books of Reference. 1. OFFICIAL. Correspondence respecting Sir Bartle Frere's Mission to the East Coast of Africa, 1872-3. London, 1873. Report by Consul General Kirk on the trade and commerce of Zanzibar for 1881 in Reports of H.M.'s Consuls.' Part XIII. London, 1882. 2. UNOFFICIAL. Burton (Capt. R. F.), The Lake Regions of Central Africa. London, 1860. -Zanzibar. 2 vols. London, 1862. Decken (Baron C. C. Von der), Reisen in Ost-Afrika. Leipzig, 1869-70. Deutsches Handels-Archiv, March 1883. Johnston (Keith), Africa. London, 1878. Berlin. Krapf (J. L.), Travels during an Eighteen Years' Residence in East Africa. London, 1860. Stanley (H. M.), Through the Dark Continent. 2 vols. London, 1878. Thomson (Joseph), To the Central African Lakes and Back. 2 vols. London, 1881. Wilson (Rev. C. T.), and Felkin (R. W.), Uganda and the Egyptian London. 2 vols. London, 1882. III. ASIA. BURMA. Reigning King and Government. Theebaw, born 1858, succeeded to the throne in October 1878, on the death of his father Mengdung Meng, who had himself usurped the throne of his brother Pugân Meng in 1853. The succession goes by nomination among the blood-royal, and therefore Theebaw attempted to assassinate all his brothers on his accession. Two, however, escaped, the Nyoungyan and Nyoungoke princes both living in India; the former the more capable. There are other two claimants living in India, the Mingoon prince and the Mingoon Mintha prince. Theebaw has several daughters, but is reported to have no sons living. The founder of the present Burmese dynasty was Alompra, who died in 1760, and united the previous separate and hostile kingdoms of Ava and Pegu. Under Bodau Phra (1779-1819) Arakan, Martaban, and Tenasserim were added to the kingdom. As a result of the war with Great Britain, 1824-5, a considerable part of the Burmese territory was annexed by that power, and still more after the war of 1852, so that Independent Burma is now quite shut off from the seaboard, with which, however, there is excellent communication by the Irrawaddy. The Government of Burma is a despotism, dependent entirely on the will of the sovereign. There are, however, a Public and a Privy Council. The former, the Hlot-dau, consists of four ministers, or Woongyes, with the king or crown-prince as president. This body forms a legislative assembly, executive council, and court of justice and appeal. There are, also, four under-ministers, and a host of secretaries and minor officials, who conduct the administration at the capital in the name of the king but under the orders of the Hlot-dau. The Privy Council, or Byadeit, consists of four Atwen-Woons, and is supposed to advise the king privately and personally, and discuss all questions before submitting them to the lot-dau. The members of these two bodies are composed of icials appointed by the king, and dependent for their existence on his favour. The country is divided into provinces, townships, districts, and villages, each of which has its special governor; corruption, extortion, and oppression prevailing everywhere. There is no hereditary aristocracy. There is an army levied in the districts by the local officials, who exempt all able to purchase immunity. A form of Buddhism is the prevailing religion, and there are some Mahometans. Education, so far as reading and writing are concerned, is very general; it is entirely in the hands of the priests. Revenue, Population, and Trade. The revenue of the sovereign is raised by a multitude of taxes, mostly obtained by extortion; while there are besides frequent extraordinary extortions. There is a house and poll tax, said to be assessed by a Doomsday Book compiled in 1783; there are also taxes on agriculture, on fruit trees, sugar palm, tobacco land, teak forests, salt, fisheries, &c. The king's revenue is stated to amount to 800,000l., besides what he receives in labour. Burma has a length of 540 miles, a breadth of 420, and an area of 190,500 square miles. The population probably does not exceed three millions, even if the half-independent Shans on the north and east borders be included, and some estimates reduce the total to 1,675,000, including 600,000 Shans. Burma Proper does not exceed 50,000 square miles in area with a population estimated at from 1,000,000 to 1,500,000. The Burmese proper are of the Mongolic stock, and use a language of the Tibeto-Chinese type. The free labouring population consists of the small proprietors and common labourers; there is a large class of slaves and outcasts; and all are practically the slaves of the king. The present capital is Mandalay, with a population estimated at about 70,000. Bhamo is an important town near the Chinese frontier. Manufactures are on a small scale and mostly for home consumption; they are chiefly of cotton, silk, and iron. Though not so fertile as British Burma, the forests produce a great variety of valuable timber-trees; while rice, maize, wheat, pulse, indigo, cotton, and tobacco are grown to some extent, and a great variety of fruit trees. Iron is found in considerable quantities, and coal in small quantities; while tin, copper, plumbago, gold, silver, nitre, bismuth, jade, and other minerals exist, but these resources worked to a very slight extent. Petroleum is, however, worked considerably, though the wells are a strict monopoly. are It As Burma has no coast its foreign trade is very limited. imports rice, cotton and woollen goods, silk, salt, metals, pickled and dried fish, and foreign commodities from British Burma, Bengal, the Asiatic Archipelago, and Europe. Its chief exports are petroleum, nitre, lacquer-ware, hides, cutch, sesamum seed and oil, cotton, raw sugar, grain, jade, and tamarinds. Formerly there was a large trade with China, but recently this has greatly fallen off. The exports from Upper Burma to British Burma were valued at 2,000,8801. in 1879, 1,303,375l. in 1882, and 1,670,000l. in 1883; the exports from British Eurma to Upper Burma were valued at 1,775,4917. in 1879, at 1,485,8867. in 1882, and 1,580,000l. in 1883. By a treaty of 1867 British steamers are permitted to navigate the Irrawaddy, and the river trade is mostly in British hands. Burma has a currency modelled on that of British India. For small weights seeds of the Abrus precatorius are used, varying from one to two grains; 2 seeds = 1 rhine-kye, 4 rhine-kye = a great pal, 4 great pal = 1 mut, 4 mut = 1 kyap, 130 kyap = 1, piktha or viss 3.6516 lbs. Avoirdupois. A British Resident was maintained at Mandalay until 1882, when he was withdrawn. Books of Reference. 1. OFFICIAL. Report on the Administration of British Burma during 1882-3. Rangoon, 1883. Statistical Abstract of British India, 1873-74 to 1882-83. London, 1884. 2. UN-OFFICIAL. Anderson (Dr. J.), Expedition to East Yunnan. London, 1871. Bastian (Adolf), Reisen in Burma in den Jahre 1861-62. Berlin, 1866. Colquhoun (A. R.), Across Chryse. 2 vols. London, 1883. Cor (Captain H.), Journal of a Residence in the Burmese Empire. London, 1821. Fytche (General), Burma, Past and Present. 2 vols. London, 1878. Hunter (Dr. W. W.), Imperial Gazetteer of India; article, ‘Burma, Independent.' London, 1882. Laurie (Colonel), Our Burmese Wars and Relations with Burma. London, 1880; Ashé Pyee, The Superior Country. London, 1882. McMahon (A. R.), The Karens and the Golden Chersonese. London, 1876. Phayre (Sir Arthur), History of Burma. London, 1883. Snodgrass (Major), Narrative of the Burmese War. London, 1827. Sangermano (Rev. Father), Description of the Burmese Empire. Rome, 1833. Shway Yoe, The Burman, His Life and Notions. 2 vols. London, 1882. Yule (Colonel H.), Narrative of the Mission to the Court of Ava. London, 1858. CEYLON. Constitution and Government. THE present form of government of Ceylon was established by Letters Patent of April 1831, and supplementary orders of March 1833. According to the terms of this constitution, the administration is in the hands of a Governor, aided by an Executive Council of five members; viz. the Officer Commanding the Troops, the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney-General, the Treasurer, and the Auditor-General; and a Legislative Council of 15 members, including the members of the Executive Council, four other officeholders, and six unofficial members, representative of different races. and classes in the community. Governor of Ceylon.-Hon. Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon, G.C.M.G., born 1830, a younger son of the Earl of Aberdeen; Lieut.-Governor of New Brunswick, 1861-66; Governor of Trinidad, 1866-70; Governor of Mauritius, 1870-74; Governor of Fiji, 1875-80; Governor of New Zealand, 1880-82. Appointed Governor of Ceylon, November 1883. The Governor has a salary of 8,000l., and the Colonial Secretary of 2,4001. Revenue and Expenditure. The public revenue and expenditure of the colony, in each of the ten years 1874 to 1883, were as follows: The principal sources of revenue are the customs, of an average produce of 300,000l.; licences, including the arrack monopoly, returning 150,000l.; sales, with rents of public lands, producing together about 200,000l., stamps, 120,000l., and railway receipts |