and moral effects indicated, to some extent, by a vastly increased postal intercourse. In the fiscal year ended March 31, 1883, the number of letters and postcards which passed through the postoffices of British India was 168,119,398; of newspapers 14,075,677; of parcels 1,312,228; and of packets 3,113,266; being a total of 186,620,569. The following table gives the number of letters, newspapers, &c., carried; and the number of offices and receiving houses, together with the total revenue and expenditure of the Post-office-in each of the ten fiscal years 1874 to 1883 :

In the fiscal year ending March 1870, the mails travelled over 50,281 miles, of which total 40,586 miles was done by boats and 'runners;' 5,460 miles by carts and on horseback; and 4,235 miles by railways. In the fiscal year ending March 31, 1883, the mails travelled over 61,204 miles, of which total 47,655 miles was done by boats and 'runners;' 3,648 miles by carts and on horseback; and 9,901 miles by railways.

The following table gives the number of miles of lines, the total receipts, and the working expenditure of the Government telegraphs in India, in each of the ten fiscal years from 1874 to 1883 :

There were 324 telegraph offices on March 31, 1883.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

The money, weights, and measures of India, and the British

In the

The relative value of the money of India and England fluctuates with the price of silver; thus, a Rupee is sometimes worth 2s. 2d., and sometimes only 1s. 7d., as it has been for several years. previous tables the conventional value of 2s. has been taken. The sum of 100,000 rupees is called a 'lac,' and of 10,000,000 a' crore,' of rupees.

=

25 lbs.

An Act 'to provide for the ultimate adoption of an uniform syster of weights and measures of capacity throughout British India' was passed by the Governor-General of India in Council in 1871. The Act orders: Art. 2. The primary standard of weight shall be called a ser, and shall be a weight of metal in the possession of the Government of India, equal, when weighed in a vacuum, to the weight known in France as the kilogramme,' = 2.205 lbs. avoirdupois. Art. 3. The units of weight and measures of capacity shall be, for weights, the said ser; for measures of capacity, a measure containing one such ser of water at its maximum density, weighed in a vacuum.' Unless it be otherwise ordered, the subdivisions of all such weights and measures of capacity shall be expressed in decimal parts.'

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning India.

1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Annual Statement of the Trade and Navigation of British India with Foreign Countries, and of the Coasting Trade between the several Presidencies, together with Miscellaneous Statistics relating to the Foreign Trade of British India, from various periods to 1882-83. Imp. 4. Calcutta, 1884.

Accounts relating to the Trade and Navigation of British India for 1884. Calcutta, 1884.

Correspondence respecting the relations between the British Government and that of Afghanistan since the accession of the Ameer Shere Ali Khan. Fol. London, 1879-80.

East India: (1) Finance and revenue accounts, 1882-3, and estimate for 1883-4; (2) Financial statement, 1883-4, 1884-5; (3) Home accounts; (4) Net revenue and expenditure; (5) Public Works expenditure; (6) Loans raised in India. London, 1884.

Finance and Revenue Accounts; and Miscellaneous Statistics relating to the Finances of British India. Part I. Revenues, Charges, and other Cash Transactions of British India. Fol. Calcutta, 1884.

Finance and Revenue Accounts: Part II. Revenues and Charges of each Presidency and Province. Fol. Calcutta, 1884. Finance and Revenue Accounts: Part III. ties for the Administration of Revenue, and Calcutta, 1884.

Revenues and Charges, StatisMiscellaneous Statistics. Fol.

Issued by permission of the 8. London, 1884.

Indian Army and Civil Service List. Secretary of State for India in Council.

Map, with Classified Index, of Indian State Railways. London, 1883. Report to the Secretary of State for India in Council on the Railways in India for the year 1883-84. By Colonel F. S. Stanton, R.E., Director-General of Railways in India. Fol. London, 1884.

Review of the accounts of the sea-borne foreign trade of British India for the year ending March 31, 1884. Simla, 1884.

Report of the Census of British India taken on February 17, 1881. 3 vols. London, 1883.

Statement exhibiting the Moral and Material Progress and Condition of India during the year 1881-82. Fol. London, 1833.

Statistical Abstract for the several Colonial and other Possessions of the United Kingdom in each year from 1869 to 1883. No. XXI. 8. London, 1884. Statistical Abstract relating to British India from 1873-74 to 1882-83. No. XVIII. 8. London, 1884.

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

2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Andrew (W. P.), India and her Neighbours. 8. London, 1878.

Banks (J. S.), Our Indian Empire, its rise and growth. 16. London, 1880. Blair (Charles), Indian Famines; their historical, financial, and other aspects. 12. London, 1874.

Carnegy (P.), Notes on the Land Tenures and Revenue Assessments of Upper India. 8. London, 1874.

Cotton (J. S.) India, in Colonies and Dependencies,' in 'The English Citizen' Series. London, 1883.

Cunningham (H. S.), British India and its Rulers. 8. London, 1881. Dilke (Sir Charles Wentworth, Bart., M.P.), Greater Britain: a Record of Travel in English-speaking Countries in 1866 and 1867. 3rd ed. 8. London, 1869.

Elliot (Sir H. M.), History of India as told by its own Historians. The Mussulman period. 8 vols. London, 1869-77.

Forbes (C. J. T.), British Burma and its people. 8. London, 1880. Fitzgerald (W. F. Vesey), Egypt, India, and the Colonies. 8. London, 1870. Fontpertuis (Ad. Frout de), L'Inde britannique. 8. Paris, 1878.

London, 1871.

Grant Duff M. E., M.P.), Notes of an Indian Journey. 8. London, 1876. Griffia (Sir Lepel H., The Rajas of the Punjab, being the history of the principal states in the Punjab. 2d edit. 8. London, 1872. Hunter (Dr. W. W.), The Indian Mussulmans. 2nd ed. 8. Hunter (Dr. W. W.), The Imperial Gazetteer of India. 9 rois. 1881. Hunter (Dr. W. W., Statistical Account of Bengal. 20 vols. London, 1877. Statistical Account of Assam. 2 vols. London, 1879.

Hunter (Dr. W. W.), The Indian Empire, its History, People, and Products. London, 1852.

Jacolliot (L). Lois, prêtres, et castes dans Inde. 8. Paris, 1877.

Kaye (John William), The Administration of the East India Company: a history of Indian progress. 8. London, 1853.

Keane (A. H.) and Temple (Sir R.), Asia. London, 1882.

Low (Charles Rathbone), The History of the Indian Navy. 2 vols. 8. London, 1878.

Mahon (Lord), Rise of our Indian Empire. 8. London, 1858.

Malleson (Col. G.B.), The Native States of India, in subsidiary alliance with the British Government. 8. London, 1878.

Markham (Clements R.), Memoir of the Indian Surveys. 8. London, 1871. Marshman (John Clark, The History of India, from the earliest period to the close of Lord Dalhousie's administration. 3 vols. 8. London, 1867-70.

Prichard (J. T.), The Administration of India from 1859 to 1868. 2 vols. 8. London, 1869.

Reclus (Elisée), Géographie Universelle. L'Inde et L'Indo-Chine. Paris, 1883. Rousselet (L), India and its Native Princes. 4. London, 1876.

Routledge (James), English Rule and Native Opinion in India. 8. London, 1878.

Sherring (Rev. M. A.), History of Protestant Missions in India. 8. Benares, 1875.

Strachey (Sir John), The Finances and Public Works of India, from 1869 to 1881. 8. London, 1882.

Temple (Sir R.), India in 1880. London, 1881. Men and Events of my Time in India. London, 1882.

Torrens (Wm. T. M-Cullagh), Empire in Asia: How we came by it. 8. London, 1872.

Watson (J. Forbes), and Kaye (Jn. Wm.), The People of India: a Series of Photographic Illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the Races and Tribes of Hindustan. 4 vols. Imp. 4. London, 1866-70.

Wheeler (J. Talboys), The History of India from the earliest ages. 4 vols. 8. London, 1874–76.

Williams (Dr. Monier), Modern India and the Indians. S. London, 1879.

JAPAN.

(SHO KOKU. NIPPON.)

Reigning Sovereign.

THE Japanese claim that their empire was founded by the first Emperor Jimmu 660 B.C., and that the dynasty founded by him still reigns. It was revived in the year 1868, when the now ruling (de jure) sovereign overthrew, after a short war, the power of the Tycoon (the de facto sovereign), who had held the ruling power since the twelfth century; and in 1871 the feudal system (Daimio) was entirely suppressed. The sovereign bears the name of Supreme Lord, or Emperor; but the appellation by which he is generally known in foreign countries is the ancient title of Mikado or 'The Honourable Gate.'

Mikado of Japan.-Mutsu Hito, born at Kioto, Nov. 3, 1852; succeeded his father, Komei Tenno, 1867; married, Dec. 28, 1868, to Princess Haru-ko, born May 28, 1850, daughter of Tadaka Daijin, of the House of Fujiwara Ichijo.

According to the law of succession, as established by custom, the crown usually devolves upon the eldest son on the death of the sovereign. The throne can be, and has frequently been, occupied by a female, who, however, is not allowed to remain single, but must seek a consort within the limits of the Shi Shinnô. When the direct succession fails, the vacancy is filled up from one of the four collateral imperial houses (Shi-Shin-no), who, it is maintained, are not only descended from the same ancestors, but are usually connected with each other by intermarriage. The Emperor has a fixed civil list of 1,748,785 yen, or 349,7577., annually.

Constitution and Government.

The system of government of the Japanese empire is that of an absolute monarchy. The power of the Mikado is absolute and unlimited, in legislative, executive, and judicial matters.

The Great Council (Daijo-Kwan), in which the Emperor himself presides, is the supreme executive as well as the highest legislative body. It is composed of a Prime Minister, two junior or Vice-Prime Ministers, and a number of Privy Councillors, the latter, as a rule, either heads of the several executive departments or other important bodies. At present there exists no complete severance between the legislative and executive sections of the