besides 1,520 officers and 6,847 gendarmerie.

There was formerly

also a national guard, but it has been dissolved to undergo reorganisation, only the officers remaining.

The Brazilian navy includes (1887) 9 ironclads, 1 unarmoured cruiser of 4,000 tons (in construction), 6 small cruisers, 18 gunboats (four of which are in construction), 2 transports, 20 tenders, training and sailing vessels, and 5 first-class and 4 second-class torpedo-boats. Two powerful sea-going turret-ships, the Riachuelo and a smaller vessel, the Aquidaban, have been built in England, the former launched in 1883 and completed in 1884, and the latter launched and completed in 1885. Both vessels are protected by a belt of armour (steel-faced) having a maximum thickness of 11 inches, and each has two turrets protected by 10-inch armour. The principal armament consists of four 20-ton breech-loading guns carried in the turrets, and there is an auxiliary armament of six in one ship, and in the other four 70-pounders and machine-guns. Both vessels are built of steel, sheathed with wood and metal, rigged with a good sail-spread, and made capable of keeping the sea for long periods. The Riachuelo is 305 feet long, 52 feet broad, and of 5,700 tons displacement. On trial she attained a speed of 16.7 knots with forced draught and 16.25 knots with ordinary draught. Her successor is 280 feet long, of less draught and displacement, and steams about a knot slower. Both vessels contain all modern improvements in construction and equipment, and they constitute a most valuable addition to the naval strength of Brazil. The Solimoes and Javari are two powerful double-turreted ships of light draught, suitable for coast-defence or river-service; they are of about 3,500 tons displacement, and 2,200 horse-power, with 12-inch armour, and four 10-inch Whitworth guns. Included in the total is the Bahia, a turret-ship, with 4-inch armour, having a displacement of 1,000 tons, and armed with two 7-inch guns; two other turret ships with 4-inch armour, the Alagoas and the Rio Grande, of 330 tons displacement, and one 32-pounder gun in a single turret ; the rest of this (Alagoas) class are unserviceable. The remaining armour-clads, Sete de Setembro and the Mariz é Barros are of the central-battery type, of small size, with armour 4 inches thick, and chiefly armed with 7-inch Whitworth guns, two to four guns being carried in each vessel. The Sete de Setembro is the most powerful of this division. She is of 2,145 tons displacement, and 2,000 horse-power, with 4-inch armour, and four 9-inch Whitworth guns.

The navy is manned by 5,788 officers and men, including marines. There are five naval arsenals, at Rio de Janeiro, Pará, Pernambuco, Bahia, and Ladario de Matto Grosso.

Area and Population.

The area of the empire is estimated at 8,515,848 square kilomètres, or 3,219,000 English square miles (some 'authorities reduce it to 3,000,000), with a population of 9,930,478, in addition to 250,000 wandering aborigines, in 1872, giving, on the average, about three inhabitants to the square mile. The census taken in 1872 was only a partial one, and its results are not regarded as trustworthy. The males were returned at 5,123,869, and the females at 4,806,609. Included in the total were 1,510,806 slaves. The subjoined table gives the area and population of each of the twenty provinces of the empire, according to an estimate of 1885.

The three largest towns in the empire are Rio de Janeiro, the capital, Bahia, and Pernambuco. At the end of 1883 the population of Rio de Janeiro was estimated at 350,000 (357,332 in 1885); of Bahia, 140,000; of Pernambuco, 130,000; Pelotas, 45,000; Belem, 40,000; San Paulo, 40,000; Campos, 40,000; Campinas, 35,000; Maranhão, 35,000; Porto Alegre, 35,000; Careteba, 34,000; Ouro Preto, 20,000.

The slave population in June 1886 was estimated to number

1,133,228, or 107,578 less than in the preceding year, not including the sexagenarians recently freed.

Brazil is the only country in America where slavery legally exists. But the number of slaves has greatly decreased since the year 1850, when they were estimated at two millions and a half.

A law for the gradual emancipation of the vast slave population passed the Senate and Congress in the session of 1871, but it is admitted to have been badly administered.

A Bill for the gradual extinction of slavery was passed in September 1885. The Bill is based on steady but gradual emancipation by means of indemnisation to the slave owners. A new registration of the whole slave population has taken place, each individual having his or her valuation registered, together with the age, occupation, and other details. A maximum of valuation has been established for several classes, grouped according to age, the females of all classes being valued at 25 per cent. less than the males. The highest valuation of any slave is the maximum of the class of those from 15 to 20 years of age (there are no slaves in Brazil of less than 14 years), and the lowest is for those of 50 and 60 years of age. The latter is 200 milreis, or, if the slave be a woman, 25 per cent. less; while the maximum for males of the dearest class is one conto of reis, or about 791. 3s. 4d. After 60 years of age the slave, by serving three years longer, is entitled to his liberty, provided that at any rate he shall not be kept in bondage longer than in his 65th year.

On the registered value for each year there will be made every year a deduction of 6 per cent.; so that, if there were no other agencies at work to hasten the extinction of slavery, that provision alone would reduce the value of all slaves to one-half in 11 years. But emancipation is to be hastened by other means. There is already a fund of emancipation,' made up of certain taxes upon slave property. That fund will be now considerably increased; first, by an overtax of 5 per cent. on all imports and internal taxes, and then also by the issue of Government bonds of internal debt, with 5 per cent. interest, up to the amount of 6,000,000 milreis per annum. The overtax is expected to produce at least 6,000,000 milreis per annum, and that sum, added to the present emancipation fund, would make up 7,500,000 milreis. With the 6,000,000 milreis of the proposed issue of bonds, the fund would consist of 13,500,000 milreis every year, although it is provided that, should the legislative power fail to provide special funds for the interests on the above referred to bonds, such interest is to be paid out of the emancipation fund, which will be thereby somewhat diminished. In that way, and aided by numerous private manumissions, granted gratuitously, it is expected that in 1892 there will be no more slaves in the country.

That law has already caused the liberation of 40,858 slaves more than 60 years of age, and the returns are by no means complete. Through the 'emancipation fund' formed by the law of 1871 there had been emancipated up to June 1885 27,166 slaves, at a cost of 17,416,585 milreis, being 16,443,682 contributed by the State, and 972,903 milreis by the slaves themselves. The free-born children of slave mothers numbered in June 1885 439,831, of which 219,071 were male and 220,760 female.

Most slaves are located in Rio de Janeiro, Minas Geraes, and S. Paulo. (See the YEAR-BOOK for 1885, p. 341.)

At

At the census of 1872 there were 3,787,289 whites, 3,801,787 métis, 1,954,452 negroes, and 386,955 Indians. In the northern provinces the Indian element preponderates, while in Pernambuco, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, and Minas the negroes are numerous. the seaports the chief part of the population is of European descent. The returns of births, deaths, and marriages are incomplete, statistics being available for only 803 out of 1,805 parishes, or 60-80 of the whole empire; moreover, only those are recorded which have taken place in connection with ecclesiastical rites. On this basis we have the following return for 1884: Marriages, 51,792; births (only of children baptised), 292,199 (67,275 illegitimate, 653 deserted); deaths, 113,954; excess of births, 178,245. The above do not include 698 still-born.

In 1870 there were 9,123 immigrants, and the number went on increasing gradually to 22,859 in 1880, 25,845 in 1882, 26,789 in 1883, and falling to 17,999 in 1884. But in 1885 there were 29,408 immigrants, including 11,000 Italians, 7,610 Portuguese, 2,120 Germans, 815 Spaniards, 717 Austrians and Poles, 233 French, 90 English. In South Brazil are 189,600 German Calvinists.

Trade and Commerce.

The average value of the exports from Brazil in 1869-70 to 1871-72 was 186,867,900 milreis, and the average imports in the same period was 150,423,300 milreis. In the three years from 1882-83 to 1884-85 the figures were as follows::

The average value of the inter-provincial trade in the latter three years was 125,632,307 milreis.

The principal products exported in 1884-85 were

Coffee is the principal product, and takes 68 per cent. of the total exports of 1884-85.

The government levies on most national products an export duty. In 1885-86 the proceed of that impost in all custom-houses was 8,386,072 milreis. The total revenue from customs was 41,387,594 milreis, or about 31 per cent. of the total revenue of the empire.

The exports of Brazil go mainly to the United States and Great Britain, to the extent of about one-third each, Germany and France coming after with about one-tenth each. In the imports into Brazil, Great Britain leads all countries, her share being 45 per cent., France coming next with 17 per cent. The principal articles imported are in the order of their value: cotton goods, wines and spirits, preserved meat and fish, woollen goods, farinaceous food, coals, linen goods, iron and steel.

The most important port is that of Rio de Janeiro. In the year 1885-86 the total official value of the exports from Rio was 92,469,238 milreis, and that of the imports 100,164,917 milreis, of which Great Britain contributed about 40 per cent., France near 12 per cent., and Germany 9 per cent. Of the exports the share of the United States was 59,430,000 milreis, or about 66 per cent. In 1885-86 the export of coffee from Rio was 457,800,000 lbs., valued at 86,827,722 milreis.

The amount of the commercial intercourse of Brazil with the United Kingdom is shown in the subjoined table, for each of the five years from 1881 to 1885:

The following are the values of the principal exports from Brazil to Great Britain :-Raw cotton, 2,343,9957. in 1875; 568,1781. in