work, we may proceed to place the walls. The third wall, built by Agrippa, does not concern us. The site of the second wall has been partly fixed by Herr Conrad Schick. The first wall was the wall of the Upper City. On the northern side it ran from the Jaffa Gate to the Haram wall. The uncertainty has been about its southern portion. The investigations of the author have led him to adopt a line that corresponds in detail with the descriptions in the Book of Nehemiah. Taking Nehemiah's night survey, then the consecutive allotments of work assigned to those who repaired the walls, and, thirdly, the points successively reached and passed by the processionists when the walls were dedicated, it is shown that every mention of a gate or a tower, the number and order of the salient and re-entering angles, and every other note of locality, exactly agree with the course of the walls as suggested. This course, moreover, involves the least possible variation from the present line of walls, and that more in the way of addition than of deviation. The hypothesis commending itself as true by corresponding minutely with Nehemiah's description, by tallying exactly with other Biblical references, and by meeting all the other requirements of the case, it has the important practical bearing that it indicates the site of the royal sepulchres, of the stairs of the City of David, of "the gate between the two walls," etc., and shows that Zion was the eastern hill. Hittite. Characteristic Figures of the Inscriptions. -In a course of lectures at the British Muse the peoples of the country of the Khatti mentioned on the Assyrian monuments. Some of the personages among the representatives of the Hittites on Egyptian monuments, and also figures of persons in authority found at Jerablus, or Carchemish, are represented with the "pigtail," while other figures are in long hair without this style of dress. This would indicatesupposing the mass of the population to have been Semitic or of allied race-that there was in some of the cities at least, a ruling stock of another race, which may have been Tartar. On the opposite sides of the walls of the great chasm of Bogaz Keui are processions, one of male the other of female figures which meet at the head of the ravine, where a gigantic male figure, standing on the bent-down heads of two persons with long robes, and a female figure standing on some animal and wearing a mural crown are presenting floral symbols in which is a form like that of the mandragora or mandrake, to each other. The figures in the female procession, each bearing what resembles an unstrung bow, remind the observer of the Amazons; and it is a striking fact that Bogaz Keui is not far from the place, by the river Thermodon, to which the Greeks assigned the Amazons. If the story of the Amazons was purely legendary, these sculptures might be regarded as showing that it was believed in in what might be regarded as their own country. A seal lately obtained from Yusgat, now in the British Museum, is considered to cast some light on the nature of the Hittite inscriptions. It is circular and contains solar, devo um, Mr. Thomas Tyler expressed it as the currently received opinion that there probably never was a Hittite empire in such a sense as the word empire now suggests. The view that the nation consisted of independent states or cities, which formed federations under pressure of the necessities of war is apparently confirmed by the expression, "King of the Hittites," used in the Old Testament. These peoples are to be identified with the Khita of the Egyptians and tional, and symbolical designs, with a male figure bringing tribute or a present, and a female making obeisance to a king sitting on a throne, behind whom are other figures symbolical, perhaps, of the spoils of war or the hunt. The design is analogous to a portion of the door way inscription from Jerablus, in which oxen, asses, and other valuable possessions, the spoils of war, are presented to a king wearing a pigtail and a conical cap. A quadrangular seal from Tarsus, en graved on five faces, bears on one face two figures presenting a floral symbol resembling the mandrake, while of seven other principal figures, two, one having the head of a hawk, wear the pigtail. All the figures have the toes turned up, as in what are called the Hittite boots. Figures also occur resembling the crux ansata, or symbol of life, of the Egyptian monuments. The Stela of Fassiller.-Mr. Sterrett, of the American School at Athens, describes the discovery at Fassiller, not far from the site of Lystra, in Isauria, of a monument of the same class of the sculptures at Bogaz Keui, Euyük, and Giaur Kalesi. It is an immense monolithic stela, now lying on its back, and contains the figures of two men and two lions in very high relief. Occupying the center of the stone, at the bottom, is an erect human figure, clothed in a gown draping the whole of it, to the ground. The hands are clasped on the breast, with the chin touching them. The head-dress seems to be a helmet; its mouth is open; its ears and eyes are very large. On either side of this figure stands a lion, full face, about as tall as the man without his crested helmet, and with the legs not divided; that is, the curvatures alone are indicated, while the mass of stone between the legs has not been dug away. Above the human figure is a second figure of a man striding forward, his left foot, which is in front, supporting his whole weight. This foot rests on the top of the crest of the helmet of the lower figure; but the feet are not chiseled out, or even indicated. The legs are merely straight lines. The right hand is raised, and holds a round object, with something projecting from it vertically on one side, while a large object is held under the left arm. This object reaches to the feet, but diminishes in size and relief, till at the foot the relief is very slight. On the head is a grand tiara, with four divisions or bosses. The whole height of the stela is 7·23 metres; width at bottom, 2-75 metres: thickness at top, 0.32 metre. A circular seal having a string-hole, was engraved on one of the two convex sides with a human figure having an ox's head and wearing the boots with turned up toes, and with a design on the other side that could not be made out. obtains its funds through the subscriptions of citizens. The Temple at Sippara. In describing the temple that Mr. Rassam has discovered at Aboo Hubba, the site of the ancient Sippara, or Sepharvaim, Mr. W. St. Chad Boscawen has pointed out the close resemblance that it presented to the Jewish temple. Its internal arrangements and even the names of the different portions were identical with those of the Jewish temple. The Holy Place (hekal) was separated from the Holy of Holies (parrako) by a veil. In the civil portions of the temple a close parallel was presented to those of the Mohammedan mosque. The temple was the treasury; it was also the school, and, like the mosque, was supported by a glebe or wakuf estates and a regular tithe. Several thousand tablets had been discovered by Mr. Rassam in the treasury of the temple, covering a period extending from the fall of Nineveh, 625 B. C., until the time of Alexander the Great. These archives throw much light upon all branches of Babylonian social customs, and make possible a restoration of the life of the people in the by-gone past with the fullest detail. Among the tablets is one recording the payment of the tithes by the major domo of Belshazzar, and a list of the dues paid by the prince himself in behalf of himself and his father. The date of the reign of the older Sargon, as given on the cylinder of Nabonidus which was recovered in this temple (about 3800 B. c.), may be regarded as correct. The historical statements on the same cylinder are in all other particulars accurate. Among the other inscriptions found on this site, were some cylinders recording the restoration of the great canal known as the Nahr Malka by Khammurabi, who reigned about 2200 B. C. These inscriptions, coupled with others written nearly fifteen centuries later by Nabopolassar, show that during that long interval the Euphrates had shifted its course to the west. In Sargon's time (3800 B. C.) the river no doubt flowed close to the walls of Sippara, but in 2200 B. c. it had removed so far west that a canal had to be cut to connect the city with the river, and in 550 B. C. this canal had to be still further prolonged to meet the still receding river. These facts afford evidence of the antiquity of the city. Babylonia. Babylonian Exploration Fund of Philadelphia.—An exploring party has been sent out to Babylonia under the auspices of the Baby- Africa. The Caves of the Troglodytes. — The lonian Exploration Fund of Philadelphia, and caves of the troglodytes, near Ain Tarsil, sailed from New York on the 23d of June. It about three days' ride southwest of the city of consists of Dr. John P. Peters, director, with Morocco, have been visited and partly explored his assistant. Mr. J. D. Prince; Dr. Hilprecht, by a correspondent of the London "Times." of the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. They had been previously visited by Balanza Harper, of Yale, Assyriologists; Mr. P. H. and Sir Joseph Hooker, who mention them Field, architect; and Mr. J. H. Haynes, pho- but did not explore them. They are situated tographer. Arrangements were made for carry- in a narrow gorge, or cañon, the cliffs of which ing on the work for one year, its continuance rise almost perpendicularly from a deep valley, to depend upon the success achieved during and are cut in the solid rock at a considerable that time. The Babylonian Exploration Fund height from the ground. In some places they was organized in Philadelphia, in November, are in single tiers, and in other places in two or 1887, under the presidency of Dr. Pepper, Pro- three tiers, one above the other, and ordinarily vost of the University of Pennsylvania, and inaccessible, except by ropes and ladders. The VOL. XXVII.—3 A entrances to the caves vary from 3 to 4 feet in height, are about 3 feet broad, and give access to rooms of comfortable size, furnished with windows, which were in some cases connected with other smaller rooms, also furnished with windows. The appearance of the caves is hardly consistent with the conception of the troglodytes as savages, which has been drawn from Hanno's account of them. For these abodes show signs of great labor, and indicate that their builders, in making the floors and ceilings perfectly smooth, and putting more than one window in the same room if it was a large one, had ideas of care and comfort. Russia. The Tomb of a Scythian King. Interesting and important discoveries have been made in the exploration by the Russian Imperial Archæological Commission of the mounds of that district of the western Caucasus which is traversed by the river Kuban. One of the most important of them—the Great Kurgan near Krymskaia-consists of three chambers, extending through a length of 67 feet. The walls are of inassive, well-hewed slabs of stone, stuccoed and frescoed, and the floor, of stone slabs, is laid in cement. The first of these chambers contained numerous archæological relics of earthenware, silver, engraved beads, remains of an iron wheel and of two horses, and the skeleton of a young woman of high rank, with a triangular golden plate bearing figures in relief, which formed part of her tiara, and other personal ornaments of gold. The second room contained a few relics. In the third, or principal room, was a skeleton, which is presumed to be of a Scythian king, having around its neck a thick golden unclosed hoop, bearing figures at the ends; near it a golden plate, which was probably part of head-dress, and around it silver drinking-horns and drinking-cups, a silver quiver overlaid with gold and adorned with figures, copper arrows, and iron spear-points. Remains of rotten boards and nails indicated that both bodies had been inclosed in coffins. The relics are assigned to a date not much later than the Christian era, and are believed to represent an age of Scythian arts and customs of which little has hitherto been known. ARGENTINE REPUBLIC, an independent republic of South America. (For details of area, population, etc., see "Annual Cyclopædia" for 1883.) Government.-The President is Dr. Juarez Celman, whose term of office will expire on Oct. 12, 1892; the Vice-President is Dr. Carlos Pellegrini. The Cabinet was composed of the following ministers: Interior, Dr. Eduardo Wilde; Foreign Affairs, N. Q. Costa; Finance, Dr. W. Pacheco; Justice, Dr. F. Posse; War and Navy, Gen. E. Racedo. The Argentine Minister at Washington is Don Vicente G. Quesada, and the Consul at New York, Señor Adolfo G. Calvo. The American Minister at Buenos Ayres is Bayless W. Hanna, and the Consul, Edward L. Baker. Finances. On March 31, 1888, the foreign indebtedness of the republic amounted to $92,427,000; the domestic debt, at the same date, amounted to $47,000,000; total, $139,427.000. The provinces have besides a foreign debt of $88,219,611, and a domestic debt of $25,000,000. The income in 1887 was $58,135,000, and the expenditure, $50,019,000. Sev The law making the authorized note-circulation of banks a legal tender will expire on Jan. 9, 1889, when it will forcibly have to be renewed. On June 15, 1888, the Government had in circulation $6,000,000 of fractional paper money. In 1887 the gold premium at Buenos Ayres averaged 351 per cent., as compared with 384 in 1886, and 37 in 1885. Early in May, 1888, the Government held $77,000,000 gold coin, ready to moderate the premium. A bridle has been put on wild stock speculation by limiting the delivery of stocks on time sales to thirty days. Since 1880 the Argentine Government, provinces, railroads, etc., have contracted loans to the amount of $305,810,000; out of this amount only $43,080,000 went toward canceling matured bonds. eral new loans were negotiated in Europe during 1888; one for £7,000,000 for the conversion of outstanding Government bonds from 6 per cent. interest to 4 per cent.; £2,000,000 in behalf of the city of Buenos Ayres: £2,000,000, city of Rosario; £2,000,000, province of Córdoba; £1,000,000, province of Santa Fé; £600,000, province of Tucuman; province of Mendoza, £1,000,000; province of San Juan, £1,000,000; province of Entre-Rios, £1,200,000; and, province of Corrientes, £1,000,000; together, £21,200,000. The bank of the province of Buenos Ayres also floated a $20,000,000 loan in Germany. During 1887 the national bank increased its capital by $12,000,000, and the following banks were founded: The German and Rio de la Plata Bank, capital on shares, $2,000,000; the French Bank, $2,000,000; the new Italian Bank, $2,000,000; the Argentine People's Bank, $1,000,000; and the Buenos Ayres People's Bank, $3,000,000; the Banco de Córdoba increasing its capital $500,000. On June 15, 1888, the total note circulation of banks was $87,925,000. On June 15, 1887, it was $79,000,000. The banking and currency of the Argentine Republic have been in an extremely unsettled condition for several years. A resolute attempt to put them upon a better basis was made in the law of Nov. 3, 1887, which made banking practically free, and provided a national currency guaranteed by national bonds bearing 4 per cent. interest in gold. These bonds are delivered to any banking institution that submits to the required Government inspection, for 85 per cent. of their par value, and may be deposited as security for an issue of bills up to the face value of the bonds. Army and Navy. The army of the republic exclusive of the National Guard, according to official returns of June, 1887, was 6,256 strong, comprising 2,945 infantry, 2,571 cavalry, and 740 artillery. The National Guard was 400,000 strong. The navy consists of 38 vessels, mounting 73 guns, of a total tonnage of 16,612, with 13,055 indicated horse-power, and manned by 1,966 sailors. There are three iron-clads, four cruisers, four gun-boats, seven torpedo-boats, four steam transports, and sixteen smaller steam and sailing craft. Railroads. The lines in operation in the summer of 1887 were as follow: Government lines Lines belonging to the province of Buenos Ayres Total Argentine Republic and Robert P. Houston, of England, by which the latter agrees to construct ten steamers, of at least 4,000 tons burden and a speed of 16 knots an hour, to ply between the north of Europe and the ports of the Argentine Republic, and four steamlaunches for emigrant service in Europe. Also four steamers to ply between the United States and the ports of the Argentine Republic. The principal conditions of the agreement are the following: The Government of the Argentine Republic guarantees a loan of 5 per cent. per annum on £1,250,000 for the European 1,374 service, and 5 per cent. per annum on £360,000 for the United States line. The contractor for the European service agrees that these steamers shall always fly the flag of the Argentine Republic, and that, in case of war, the Government shall have the option to buy them at a sum not greater than their original cost. Exceptionally good accommodations are to be provided for emigrants. Length in kilometres. 989 293 286 3,701 6,648 There were in course of construction 1,651 kilometres, to which will be added 7,925 kilometres of new lines, at a total cost of £58,500,000, on which the Government has undertaken to guarantee 5 per cent. interest, with the exception of the Formosa-Tarija line, on whose cost only 4 per cent. is to be guaranteed. The Argentine railroad system forwarded in 1887 7,657,406 passengers, and 3,705,876 tons of merchandise. The gross earnings were $23,805,722, and the running expenses $13,177,772 leaving net earnings to the amount of $10,627,950. During 1886 and 1887, concessions were granted for the building of 17 lines of railway; in 1888 there were 84 applications for concessions to construct new lines. In 1888, 200 kilometres of tramway, out of a total of 600 kilometres to be constructed in the immediate vicinity of Buenos Ayres, were in working order. Telegraphs.-The lines in operation in 1887 were owned and operated as follows: In case the revenues of the contracting company exceed five per cent., it will refund to the Government from this excess the sums it has received as guarantees, and in case the revenues reach ten per cent., the excess is to be divided between the Government and the company. The guarantee terminates at the end of eighteen years. It is stipulated that in going from Europe the steamers must not call at any port except Montevideo and places where it is customary to take coal; but on the return trip they may call at any port. One of the steamers must arrive in the Argentine Republic at least once a week. Passenger and freight rates are to be fixed by agreement between the Government and the company. The company also agrees to furnish each steamer with a refrigerator capable of holding at least 3,000 dressed sheep or an equivalent amount of beef. The service is to begin in February, 1889, and by the following November all the steamers must be running. The United States service will be performed under similar conditions, except that no refrigerators are to be placed on these vessels. Commerce. In 1886 there entered Argentine ports 4,727 sailing-vessels, with a joint tonrage of 764,238 tons, and 6,288 steamers registering 2,751,052 tons. In 1887 the increase in the arrivals was 4,000 vessels, with a total tonnage of 1,000,000. The foreign trade of the Argentine Republic for six years has been: There were added to the Argentine telegraph New Steamer Lines.-A contract was made in 1882 1885 1887 The revenue collected from customs was $44,114,000 in 1887, an increase of thirty per cent. over 1886. The Argentine Republic is rapidly advancing toward the position of an important grainexporting country. Immense tracts of pasture are being converted into farmland. A few years ago not sufficient wheat was raised to supply the home market. The number of reapers imported into the country last year was 1,429. The chief exports of Argentine products in 1887 were: Indian corn, 361,000 tons; wheat, 238,000 tons; linseed, 81,000 tons; jerked beef, 19,800 tons; wool, 240, 000,000 pounds (against 290,000,000 in 1886); sheepskins, 67,000,000 pounds; cattle, 110,000 head. Beginning with the year 1888, the export duty on wool and all products emanating from stock-raising has been abolished. An octroi, or consumption-tax, is charged on all goods leaving the bonded warehouses for local consumption, but from this tax several articles are exempted, paying from 2 to 60 per cent. import duty. The free list remained the same as in 1887. A French syndicate has conceived the plan of organizing a service of towing, by means of tug-boats, vessels through the Straits of Magellan, between the Atlantic and the Pacific, the toll to be twenty cents a ton. Chili would have to give its consent, and has been applied to. Education. There are 3,000 schools and educational establishments in the republic, attended by 230,000 pupils. sent to Europe the General Commissioner of Immigration, Don Samuel Navarro, to make arrangements for advancing passage-money to desirable individuals from the north of Europe wishing to emigrate to the republic, under provisions of the law of November, 1887, to be repaid in three equal yearly installments; the first, one year after arrival. Colonization.-A colonization society has been formed in Brussels, Belgium, for the settlement and exploitation of 40,000 hectares of land granted by the Argentine Government for the purpose to Florimond van Varenbergh, the capital being fixed at 2,500,000 francs, and the charter of the company extending over twenty years. The site is on the Atlantic, on the peninsula of Valdez, and the colony is to he called "New Flanders." The concessionnaire has bound himself to introduce there 125 Belgian families of farmers. Another colonization company was formed at Corrientes, "La Colonizadora de Corrientes," with a capital of $1,000,000. The Government has made the following land grants during seven consecutive years: In 1881, 40,000 hectares; in 1882, 20.000; in 1883, 120,000; in 1884, 40,000; in 1885, 182,000; in 1886, 907,000; and in 1887, 4,369,000, together, 5,678,000 hectares. During the first four months of 1888 the total land sales amounted to 2,752,818 hectares, sold for $23,851,495. Exploring Expeditions.-The Geographical Institute of Buenos Ayres, under Government aid, has undertaken to explore southern Patagonia. Don Augustin del Castillo, captain of a frigate, who explored that part of the country before, was to command the expedition, which sailed for the Gallegos islands, and was to penetrate, if possible, beyond Lago Argentino to Lagos Viedna and San Martin, returning by the Rio Negro; also to determine the precise boundaries between the republic and Chili. Another expedition, having for its object the exploration of the eastern slopes of the Cordillera from Mendoza to the Rio Negro, left on Dec. 1, 1888, undertaken by Dr. Frederick Kurtz, Professor of Botany at the University of Córdoba, and Dr. William Bodenbender, of the Paleontological Museum of that city. The expense is detrayed by the Geographical Institute of Buenos Ayres, and by the National Academy of Sciences at Córdoba jointly. Permanent Exhibition.--The President has issued a decree creating a permanent exhibition of Argentine products at Buenos Ayres. Cattle. The slaughterings at the saladeros for exportation of salted hides in the valley of the Rio de la Plata were as follows: Immigration. The number of immigrants landed in 1887 was 120.842, in 574 steamers, as compared with 93,116 in 1886. During the first six months of 1888 there arrived 63,503 immigrants. During the six years, from 1882 to 1887, both inclusive, 515,220 immigrants Rio Grande landed. During the summer of 1888 the Government PLACES. Buenos Ayres.. Total. 1887. 1886. 1885. 61,000 182,000 246,500 180,000) 814,000, 256,500 581,000 744,000 755,000 420,000 841,000 883,000 1,242,000 1,581,000 1,648,000 |