were mummified about A. D. 400. The cover of the coffin of Mycerinus is inscribed with a text that was already several thousand years old in his time and describes the king as "living forever," a phrase which is cited in favor of the hypothesis that the Egyptians believed in a future life. Close by the remains of Mycerinus are six fine coffins, of, perhaps, about a thousand years later than he. The most important of these is the coffin of Amamu, which is inscribed within and without with a very ancient version of the Book of the Dead. The skeletons of Heni and Khati in this group are also of considerable interest, the skull of Khati being marked with two curious indentations on the upper part, one on each side, and both being free from indications of gout and rheumatism, from which Mycerinus seems to have suffered. Two coffins next to these, painted in bright colors, and differing in every way from the somber rectangular coffins of the Amamu class," are of the twentysecond dynasty, and form part of a large collection of coffins of the priests of Amen, the god to whose power the Thebans ascribed the victory which their king, Sekenen Ra, gained over the king of northern Egypt. Amasis I enlarged the shrine of Amen at Thebes and made provision for his priests; his successors in the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties enriched the shrine and conferred large benefits on the priests; and (probably) Amenophis I founded the college of Amen Ra and endowed it sufficiently to support a considerable number of Egyptians of high rank who as priests and priestesses, superintended the education of youth, the writing of the Books of the Dead and the embalming of the dead. To this confraternity we owe the splendid Books of the Dead of the eighteenth dynasty and the preservation of the funeral texts which were in use during the early dynasties at Heliopolis and Memphis, as well as several hundreds of very fine coffins. Its power was enormous, and its gradual growth from B. c. 1700 to B. c. 1000, when its chief priest seized the government, is described as one of the most instructive portions of Egyptian history. The progress of the confraternity can be plainly seen in the coffins. At first (about B. c. 1650) the color work on the coffins was done by the best artists, and the texts were written by the most careful scribes; two or three hundred years later we find careless painting and writing, inferior woodwork, and incomplete pictures and texts. About B. c. 1000, when the high priest became king, the colors on the coffins are gaudy, the varnish is daubed on, and new colors appear, with a number of gods and mythological passages never found on the coffins of the oldest time. The places of the old texts are usurped by what is called the Litany of the Sun, and scenes illustrative of new mythological conceptions begin to appear. From this it is clear that the confraternity of Amen did not abide entirely by old standards in religious matters. The British Museum has many interesting examples of mummies of the period from B. c. 900 to B. c. 600, swathed in linen as fine in color and texture as any known. About this time mummies were placed in cartonnage cases, and the highly colored scenes were occasionally defaced by daubing with bitumen. This is supposed to have been done in troubled times to prevent the tomb robbers from identifying the dead by the texts written upon them. A little before the rule of the twenty-sixth dynasty the mummies were covered with fatence heads. The shape of the coffin changed considerably and a style of decoration peculiar to the time arose. The huge coffins of the fourth and fifth centuries before Christ are uninteresting, and it seemed as if the funereal artist endeavored to make up in size for what he lacked in skill; the mummies of the period, too, are of little

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interest. At the beginning of the Ptolemaic period gold was freely used on the faces of the coffins, which are now identical in shape with the stone coffins of Tabnith and Eshmunazer found at Sidon. During the same period the coffins became much plainer and more decoration was bestowed upon the mummy. Brightly painted and gilded cartonnage cases were laid over it. The plaques, on which are painted figures of the gods, were made in hollow work. About the time of the Romans the use of coffins declined and the mummy, inclosed in a painted cartonnage case, or smothered in painted bandages, was laid upon a rectangular board beneath a vaulted cover. Both board and cover were brightly painted with colors which are characteristic of the period. In the case of some mummies the swathing is a work of art, but usually those which belong to this period are shapeless bundles. In the first and second centuries of our era a portrait of the deceased was painted in colors upon a board which was fastened to the swathings of the mummy. In a very fine group of cartonnages of the members of one family, consisting of a man, his two wives, and several children, the portrait of the man is of considerable interest on account of the style of decoration and the Demotic inscription upon it, while the cartonnages of the women give an exact representation of their appearance during life as to height and figure, dress, ornaments, etc. These cases are probably unique, and their value archæologically is much enhanced by the fact that a date may be assigned to them which can not be far wrong. In the fourth and fifth centuries of our era models of the heads and necks of the deceased, made of painted plaster, were placed on the covers of coffins immediately over the heads of the mummified dead. While specimens of extremely ancient mummifications have not yet been acquired by the museum, we can in this collection, says the writer of a description of it in the London "Times," "examine in a way never before possible all the various developments of Egyptian funereal art and observe the persistence of its chief characteristics during a period of about four thousand years. We may also see that from first to last the Egyptians everywhere held firmly the belief in the resurrection and in immortality which had been handed down to them as an assured thing in the early days of their marvelous civilization. They mummified their dead and performed elaborate rituals on their behalf and hewed wonderful tombs for them, not from motives of pride and vanity, but as the result of a living faith in a world beyond the grave and of a hope of the life everlasting which is to be lived in a spiritual body after the judgment, along with the beatified, in the kingdom of Osiris."

The Oxyrynchus Papyri.-A selection from the papyri found at Oxyrynchus by B. F. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt in 1897 was published by them with notes, and in most cases an English translation in a quarto volume, at the Oxford University Press. Including the Logia, or sayings of Jesus, which was described in the "Annual Cyclopædia for 1897, the volume contains 158 documents printed in full, descriptions of 49 others, and mentions 5 duplicates, recording therefore the contents of 212 manuscripts and fragments. Six of the documents, including the Logia, are theological. One of them, a bit of vellum, not a papyrus, contains a few verses from the gospel of Mark, belonging to a book probably written in the fifth or sixth century, the text of which agrees with the received text. Another has about two thirds of the first chapter of Matthew, supposed to date from the third century, and to be therefore older than any previously known manuscript of the gospel. It apparently tends to support the text of Westcott and Hort

rather than the received text. Nine of the manuscripts are new classical fragments. One of these is a part of a Sapphic ode, supposed to be by Sappho herself, in a badly mutilated condition. As represented in the attempted restoration by Prof. F. Blass, of Halle, it appears to have belonged to an ode in which the poet sought reconciliation with her brother Charaxus, whom she had offended. A fragment of a work on chronology includes the time of Alexander the Great. The death of the great conqueror is recorded two lines after a reference to the Olympic games. A chapter on rhythmic art, ascribed to Aristoxenus, has the peculiar interest that not one of the lyric passages citedwhich are unfortunately all brief-in support of the author's argument is from extant poems. In the fragments from known poets and prose authors (three of them Latin), all dating from the Roman era in Egypt (not earlier than the first century, A. D.), the readings agree closely with those of the better mediæval manuscripts, and thus give an additional proof of the great trustworthiness of our Greek texts. The largest part of the collection consists of private papers-contracts, bills, children's exercises, and other documents, "whose very triviality gives them now a peculiar interest." These are arranged in two groups: (1) papyri of the first four centuries, and (2) papyri of the sixth and seventh centuries. They include wills made by persons sane and in their right minds and duly attested by witnesses, in one instance as many as six, registrations of live stock and slaves, leases of lands, notes from and to bankers, minutes of a trial made by the presiding judge, reports of public doctors, papers concerning the sale or emancipation of slaves, exemption from military or other public service, the return of wills to testators for revocation, a cook's monthly bill, private letters, and invitations. These last are of peculiar interest on account of the illustrations they afford of the social and domestic relations and customs of the people of the time. In one. "Cheræmon requests your company at dinner at the table of the Lord Serapis to-morrow, which is the 15th, from the ninth hour" (about 4 o'clock); in another, “Herais asks you to dine to celebrate the marriage of her children at her house to-morrow, which is the 5th, from the 9th hour." The latter invitation does not necessarily point to the marriage of two couples on the same day, but to the intermarriage of a son and daughter, which was common in Egypt. One of the letters is from a lady in Oxyrynchus requesting a friend to release a number of articles from pawn: a white veil, a handkerchief, two bracelets, a necklace, a large tin flask, etc. At the end the writer prays for her friend's health and sends greetings to a person named Aia and to all her friends. Another lady's epistle is a letter of condolence, composed with a feeling of helplessness. But, after all, what can "one do in the face of such things? Therefore comfort yourselves. Farewell." In a long business letter the writer sends a key which he would have sent earlier had there been a blacksmith in the neighborhood. He also sends six quarts of good apples, and desires his correspondent to buy him a silver seal and match a pattern of white violet color. In the postscript he adds that he wants an obol's worth of cake for a nephew. A boy in a letter to his father, who is going to Alexandria, wants to go with him, and threatens: "If you will not take me with you I will not write you a letter, I will not speak to you, I will not say good-by to you. . . . Send me a lyre, I beg of you. If you don't, I will neither eat nor drink. There now, I pray for your health." This letter betrays its boyish origin in its bad spelling and defective composition. Some of the legal documents contain

curious personal descriptions of the parties concerned. "I am forty-four years of age," writes a man in his will, "I have a scar on the left side of my neck." A woman registering a slave is described as "about fifty years of age, of middle height and fair complexion, with a long face and a scar on the left foot." The rent of a piece of ground was to be paid partly in kind, partly in money. The kind payment was to consist of a fixed quantity (subject to allowance for a bad season) of fresh, clean, unadulterated wheat with no barley in it, measured with a bronze-rimmed measure. In some instances such statements appear as "I, Theon, the son of Theon, have signed for him, as he does not know letters."

Messrs. Grenfell and Hunt continued their examination of the papyri during the summer of 1898. Among the new additions to classical literature to Nov. 1 were a considerable fragment of Menander's Пepikeiрoμévn; part of a treatise on meters; some early scholia on the twenty-first book of the Iliad, written by the grammarian Ammonius; and some fragments of a tragedy on the subject of Niobe, perhaps by Sophocles.

Ancient Underground Canals. In the prosecution of engineering works near Tunis two very large underground vaulted canals have been discovered directed toward the ruins of Carthage. While considerable labor will be required to lay bare the whole work, the part already exposed reveals large subterranean chambers containing riches which may have been intended for statues. Large stairways of red marble give access to them.

ARGENTINE REPUBLIC, a federal republic in South America. The President is elected for six years by electors chosen in the several provinces. The national Congress consists of a Senate of 30 members, 2 from each province, elected by the legislatures, and 2 from the capital district, elected by an electoral college, and a House of Deputies composed of 86 members, elected in separate distriets by direct popular vote. Vice-President José E. Uriburu was proclaimed President on Jan. 22, 1895, for the remainder of the term ending Oct. 12, 1898, upon the resignation of Dr. Saenz Peña. Dr. Rafael Igarzabal was elected Vice-President in September, 1897. The Cabinet at the beginning of 1898 was composed as follows: Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Amancio Alcorta; Minister of Finance, Dr. W. Escalante: Minister of Justice, Worship, and Public Instruction, Dr. Benjamin Belaustegui; Minister of War and Marine, Lieut.-Gen. N. Levalle.

Area and Population.-The area of the republic is 1,778,195 square miles, that of the provinces being 515,815 and that of the territories 1,262,380 square miles. The population enumerated in the census of May 10, 1895, according to the revised returns, was 3,954,911, of which number 3,851,542 were in the provinces and 103,369 in the territories. The population consisted of 2,088,919 males and 1,865,992 females. There were probably 60,000 persons not enumerated, including 30,000 Indians, and at least 50,000 Argentinians were living or traveling abroad. Buenos Ayres, the capital, had 726,917 inhabitants on July 1, 1897, of whom more than 346,000 were of foreign birth. The total number of foreigners in the republic at the time of the census was 1,004,527.

Finances.-The revenue of the Federal Government for the year ending March 31, 1896, was $32,052,951 in gold and $29,468.174 in paper. The expenditure amounted to $46.891,221 in gold and $92,122,343 in paper. For 1897 the expenditure was estimated at $19.957,402 in gold and $83.335,168 in paper. The estimated revenue for 1898 was $32,049,454 in gold, chiefly from import and export duties, and $40,546,009 in paper from internal taxes,

railroads, stamps, post office, licenses, land tax, etc. The estimated gold expenditure was $19,957,402, of which $17,619,362 was for the debt, $2,025,000 for public works, and $313,040 for foreign affairs; estimated expenditure in paper currency, $92,159,745, of which $21,710,098 was for the interior and Congress, $592,648 for foreign affairs, $6,709,933 for finance, $5,552,422 for the national debt, $8,824,577 for temporary debts, $13,062,741 for justice and public instruction, $16,581,004 for the army, $10,626,319 for the navy, and $8,500,000 for public works. The premium on gold in the middle of 1898 was 175 and over.

The national debt in the beginning of 1897 amounted to £86.635,680 sterling, consisting of an external debt of £63,380,290, $91,861,000 of internal debts payable in gold and $82,374,994 payable in paper. The provincial debts, including unpaid interest, amounted in 1895 to $137,261,866 in gold and the municipal debts to $24,596,422 in gold. A bill was passed in 1896 providing for the assumption of the provincial external debts by the Federal Government. The railroad guarantees were also assumed in accordance with the terms of another

gallons of alcohol. The vineyards cover 71,000 and the sugar plantations 82,000 acres. There were 21,702,000 horned cattle, 74,380,000 sheep, 4,447,000 horses, and 3,885,000 goats, etc., in 1895. In 1896 there were 367,230 cattle slaughtered. In 1897 there were 164,414 slaughtered and 73,867 shipped alive to England, where 345,217 sheep were also landed, being 68 per cent. of the total year's produce. The exports of frozen mutton, nine tenths of it for the British market, were 50,894 tons, showing an increase of 5,789 tons over the shipments of 1896. The exports of frozen beef show an increase year by year, but those of jerked beef are declining to a much greater extent. Efforts have been made to establish a large export trade in butter, but the shipments in 1897, amounting to 1,319,364 pounds, show a decrease of nearly a third, while the export of cheese was only half as great as in the preceding year, and a fifth of that of 1895. The export of Argentine wheat in 1897 was only 101,845 tons, one tenth of the quantity exported in 1895. The exports of corn were 374,942 tons, one fifth as great as in 1896 and less than half as great as in 1895. The exports of linseed was 162,477 tons, compared

act of Congress. A deficit in the revenue for 1897 was covered by an internal loan of $39,000,000. The Army and Navy.-The Argentine regular army numbers 29,513 officers and men. The National Guard is estimated at 480,000. It comprises the whole able-bodied male population, which receives military instruction four days in every year, while the young men first inscribed at the age of twenty are drilled in camp for two months.

The navy consists of the first-class cruisers "San Martin" and "Garibaldi," bought of Italy, 3 other armored cruisers, 3 second-class cruisers, 2 monitors, 11 small cruisers and gunboats, 4 destroyers, and 12 first-class and 10 third-class torpedo boats. Commerce and Production.-The Argentine Republic is one of the greatest grazing countries in the world, and is rapidly becoming a great agricultural country also. Of a total cultivable area of 240,000,000 acres 15,000,000 acres were tilled in 1895. The production of wheat in 1897 was 1,500,000 tons, raised on 5,500,000 acres. The sugar crop in the northern provinces amounted to 110,000 tons. There were 42,267,000 gallons of wine and 10,582 tons of raisins produced in 1895, also 478,800

with 276.443 tons in 1895. The exports of wool were 204,571 tons, compared with 187,619 tons in the preceding year.

The total gold value of imports for 1897 was $98,288,948, of which $36,392,057 came from Great Britain, $11,114,102 from Germany, $11,019,576 from France, $10,943,038 from Italy, and $10,101,714 from the United States. The total value of exports was $101,114,102, of which $22,999,019 went to France, $14,047,135 to Germany, $12,999,019 to Great Britain, $8,934,829 to Belgium, $8.685,187 to Brazil, and $8,321,611 to the United States. In 1896 the total value of imports was $112,058,000, and of exports $115,671.000. The imports of coin and bullion were $6,063,345, and the exports $2.178,891. Of the value of merchandise exports $70,534,040 represented animals and animal products, $36,963,480 agricultural produce, $6,169,105 manufactured products, $1,268,663 forest produce, $352,840 mineral products, and $382,836 various products. As compared with 1896 there was a falling off in the total trade of $30,000,000, about equally divided between imports and exports. The cause was a failure of crops. The cattle exports

were 408,126 head in 1895, 382,539 in 1896, and 238,121 in 1897; but while the total decreased, the exports to Europe show a progressive gain. Navigation. -There were 11,830 vessels, of 7,115,467 tons, entered at Argentine ports from foreign countries during 1896, of which 7,791, of 6,331,879 tons, were steamers, and 4,039, of 783.588 tons, sailing vessels. The merchant navy in 1895 consisted of 75 steamers, of 21,613 tons, and 125 sailing vessels, of 28,241 tons.

The

Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. length of railroads in operation in 1896 was 8,998 miles. The capitalized gold value was $510,643,296, of which $56,331,063 represented lines belonging to the confederation, $83,859,062 provincial lines, $113,311,995 guaranteed lines, and $257,141.178 private lines. The gross earnings in 1896 were $31,238,326, and expenses $15,934,466.

The total length of telegraph lines in 1896 was 25,345 miles, with 59,060 miles of wire, of which 11,023 miles of line and 23,572 of wire belonged to the Federal Government, 7,070 miles of line and 18,717 of wire to the railroads, 4,428 miles of line and 7,462 of wire to telegraph companies, and 2,824 miles of line and 9,309 of wire to other companies and individuals. The number of dispatches in 1896 was 4,953,887.

The number of letters and packets that passed through the post office during 1896 was 177,183,190, of which 19,871,664 were foreign. The receipts from the postal service and Government telegraphs were $30,069,799, and expenses $27,169,020.

Political.-Gen. Julio Roca was proclaimed President and Dr. Quirno Costa Vice-President for the term beginning Oct. 12, 1898. A treaty of arbitration between Italy and the Argentine Republic was signed at Rome on July 23. In any dispute each government will choose a judge, who shall not be a citizen or resident of either of the contending countries, and a third judge, the president of the arbitration court, will be chosen by the two others, or, in case of their disagreeing, by the President of the Swiss Confederation or the King of Sweden and Norway. There shall be no appeal from the decision of the tribunal, the execution of which is left to the honor of the signatory powers. Under special conditions, however, the award may be open to revision. In August Congress voted new internal duties on alcohol, wine, and oils, calculated to produce $8.000,000 a year. The Government asked Congress to authorize the sale or lease of the national railroads.

The Chilian Boundary.—The dispute with Chili regarding the boundary in Patagonia became critical on several occasions in 1898, and both governments made military and naval preparations. The boundary commissioners were unable to agree upon the line between the Argentine Republic and Chili because the treaties of July 23, 1881, and Aug. 22, 1888, and the protocol of May 1, 1893, confounded the hydrographical with the orographical principle of delimitation. The protocol says that all lands, lakes, and rivers east of the highest crests of the Andes which divide the waters shall belong forever to the Argentine Republic. Since in this region low elevations in the valleys form the water-parting oftener than the ridges of the cordillera, while the Andes themselves consist of a dozen parallel chains, the treaty contradicts itself and is incapable of being fulfilled without an agreement as to its meaning. On April 27, 1896, the two governments formally agreed to submit any unsettled difficulties to the award of the British Government. Dr. Moreno met Barras Arana, the Chilian commissioner, on Aug. 25, and each drew up a general line of demarcation in accordance with the views of his Government and the knowledge obtained in recent explorations on the spot, as was agreed between the two governments in

May. The boundaries submitted by the two commissioners were irreconcilable. The Argentine Government informed the British Government that the whole question would be submitted to arbitration before receiving a note from the Chilian Government requesting a prompt reference. The Argentine Chamber authorized the Government to mobilize 80,000 men so as to be prepared for a failure to secure a pacific solution. The Chilian Government also decided to mobilize 50,000 men and obtained credits to the amount of $22,000,000, to be met by additional taxation. Chili proposed unrestricted arbitration, but the Argentine Government still held out for the strict application of the contradictory terms in the treaties.

ARIZONA, a Territory of the United States, organized Feb. 14, 1863; area, 113,020 square miles. The population, according to each decennial census, was 9,658 in 1870; 40,440 in 1880: 59,620 in 1890; and estimated at 101,000 in 1897. Capital, Phenix.

Government.-The following were the Territorial officers during the year: Governor, Myron H. McCord; Secretary, Charles H. Akers; Treasurer, C. W. Johnstone; Auditor, G. W. Vickers; Adjutant General, R. A. Lewis; Attorney-General, C. M. Frazier: Superintendent of Education, A. P. Sherman: Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Webster Street; Associate Justices, Richard E. Sloan, Fletcher M. Doan, George R. Davis; Clerk, Lloyd Johnston-all Republicans.

Finances and Valuations.—In his report to the Secretary of the Interior for the fiscal year of 1897 Gov. McCord stated that the treasury was in a prosperous condition. The bonded and floating debt at the first of the year aggregated $965,588.12, leaving the net debt of the Territory $885,758.19, the cash on hand being $79,829.93. The aggregate value of lands was $9,678,273.33, and the value of improvements thereon was $4,905,418.97. Railroad property was valued approximately at $5,139,669.60. More than 100,000 head of cattle were imported in the year, of which 12,749 were admitted free of duty. Internal-revenue collections during the year aggregated $19,900. Goods were exported during the year aggregating in value $1,032,414, an increase of $90,635 over the previous year. The total valuation of all assessable property was reported for 1898 at $31,473,359.96. Average valuations were as follow: Lands, $1.56 per acre; horses, per head, $18 24; mules, $22.73; cattle, $10.41; goats, $2; hogs, $2.70; asses. $26.77; sheep, $2; the average valuation for each mile of railroad was $5,071.02.

Law-abiding.-It is claimed by the "Mining and Industrial Reporter" that the Territory is one of the most law-abiding regions of the country; that life is as safe in the Territory as in New York or Chicago, infractions of the law in Arizona being less in proportion to population than in either of the cities named; that telegraphic reports of crimes in the Territory do great injustice.

Education.-Gov. McCord's report gave the status of the public schools as follows: Enrollment, 13,361; school districts, 227; teachers, 354: children of school age at the last census, 17,427; average length of school term, 6.37 months; average salary paid teachers, $68.69; amount paid in salaries of teachers, $155,991; total expenditures, $205,948; valuation of school property, $445,379.

Mining. Gold, silver, lead, copper, iron, lime, and coal are mined. The gold output for the year last reported was valued at $5,200.000; silver, 1,650,530 ounces, which gave a return of $1,105,855; copper, 71.210,331 pounds, valued at $7,121,033; and lead, 21,255,000 pounds, valued at $531,375. One gold mine is quoted in value at $50,000,000, another at $30,000,000, and there are many smaller properties that range in quoted value from $7,000,000

down. The mining counties most noticeable in Territorial newspaper reports are Gila, Mohave, Pima, and Yavapai. In Mohave one mine was reported to be "producing so much $100 gold ore that there are not teams enough to haul it." The production of copper is said to be attracting as much attention as that of gold. Hubernite, a variety of wolfram, used in preparing steel for fineedged tools, has been discovered in the Dragoon mountains.

Agriculture, etc.-The report of the Governor states that the aridity of the Territory does not prove a bar to high agricultural development The farming lands embrace about 1,000,000 acres, more than 260,000 acres of which are under canal irrigation, the only obstacle to the extension of the irrigating system being the lack of water. Lands are being brought under cultivation as rapidly as the development of water will admit. The notable increase in population during the past few years in the Salt River and Gila valleys, a population consisting almost entirely of farmers, is expected to result in great agricultural development. Among the most promising products new to the Territory are sugar beets, canaigre, ramie, cotton, dates, tobacco, sugar cane, and peanuts; corn is a staple. It is estimated that 40,000,000 acres are suitable for grazing, a large part of which is used. It is said that in portions of the Territory corn and other cereals thrive without irrigation; that corn planted at the right season and properly cultivated ought to mature without irrigation in any part of the Territory; that the Papago and Navajo Indians have long been successful in this system of cultivation. It has been demonstrated that certain grains, such as the Egyptian maize, and certain forage plants, will come to maturity with the natural rainfall. It is contended by investigators that much more water is now used in the raising of crops by irrigation than is necessary, and that in the near future double the present irrigation area will be worked with the quantity of water now used. A great advance in agriculture and horticulture is looked for from the introduction of growths requiring comparatively little water, such as dates and olives. At the last meeting of the Arizona Agricultural Association it was shown that many varieties of the grape can be successfully raised. About 100 varieties are under cultivation at the experiment station. The sugarbeet is extensively raised, and cauliflower is beginning to be largely cultivated. In the raising of strawberries "smudging" has been resorted to to keep off frost. When freezing weather comes, piles of old straw and dry manure are set on fire about the vines, which are thus covered with a fog of smoke, and at the same time ditches around the vines are filled with water. Attention has been called by a newspaper to "the largest sweet potato ever raised, the weight being 40 pounds." Statehood. The question of statehood for the Territory was settled for the present at Washington in January, 1898, by the House Committee on Territories rejecting the Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma bills.

Onyx.-A block of onyx of the translucent seagreen variety, weighing 13,150 pounds, has been taken from the Big Bug quarries.

ARKANSAS, a Southern State, admitted to the Union, June 15, 1836; area, 53,850 square miles. The population, according to each decennial census since admission, was 97,574 in 1840; 209,897 in 1850: 435,450 in 1860; 484,471 in 1870; 802,525 in 1880; and 1,128,179 in 1890. By estimates based on the school census of 1897 it was 1,302,185. Capital, Little Rock.

Government. The following were the State officers during the year: Governor, Daniel W. Jones;

Land Commissioner, J. F. Ritchie, succeeded, Nov. 1, by J. W. Colquitt; Commissioner of Mines, Manufactures, and Agriculture, W. G. Vincenheller, succeeded, Nov. 1, by Frank Hill; Adjutant General, A. B. Grace; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Henry G. Bunn; Associate Justices, S. P. Hughes, C. D. Wood, B. B. Battle, J. E. Riddick. All are Democrats.

Finances. The valuations of taxable property this year show the total value of real estate to be $117,873,253, of which $12,747,515 is railroad real estate, $73,934,207 is the value of farming lands, and $31,191,531 is the value of town and city lots. The valuation of personal property amounts to $59,552,873, of which $8,562,479 is of rolling stock of the railroads. The number of persons liable to pay poll tax is 263,685.

An agreement was reached this year by which the debt of the State to the United States is to be settled. (See "Annual Cyclopædia " for 1897. pages 30, 31.) The State is to pay $572 at present and provide for the payment of $160,000 in 1900. The bill provides that the State shall release to the railroad companies or their assigns all title to the 273,000 acres of land that have been in dispute, thus quieting the titles of settlers. It became a law by the signature of the President in April.

A suit involving the right of the State to assess the Western Union Telegraph Company, Pacific Express Company, and Pullman Palace Car Company for taxation, was decided in favor of the State, Nov. 18, 1897. The amount the State will recover is about $62,000, which will be distributed-one third to the State, one third to the counties in which the three corporations do business, and one third to the school districts.

The disbursements of the State Treasurer from Sept. 1, 1897, to Sept. 30, 1898, amounted to $1,387,887.42.

Pensions ranging in amount from $25 to $100 a year are given by the State to 1,178 Confederate

veterans.

Education. The annual enumeration of the school population-children between the ages of six and twenty-one years-as published in December, 1897, shows an increase of 2 per cent. over that of the preceding year. In enrollment in the schools there is an increase of 3 per cent., and in the aver