which is carried on chiefly with Java and Singapore. The city of MENADO is situated on the coast near the end of the long northern peninsula. The MOLUCCAS, or Spice Islands, lie to the eastward of Celebes. The largest islands in the Molucca group are Gilolo, Ceram, and Buru, from which they are separated by the Molucca Passage and the Banda Sea, but the most noted is the small island of Amboyna, which is the seat of extensive commerce in cloves and other spices. The Banda Islands are famous for their nutmeg trees, but they are subject to destructive earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. The volcanic hills of the Moluccas are clothed with luxuriant vegetation, and an abundant rainfall, an equable climate, and refreshing breezes, combine to render these islands most attractive and delightful. They are peopled by Malays and Papuans. The Smaller Sunda Islands-Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Sandalwood, and Timor-are, like the larger islands, mountainous and volcanic, but the whole chain has a very different aspect from the other islands, and especially from the Moluccas, being deficient in verdure, for the most part without forests, and often absolutely barren, "many of the purely volcanic islands" reminding the traveller more of the burnt hills of Aden than of the luxuriant vegetation of the Spice Islands. The inhabitants of the islands as far east as Sumbawa are chiefly Malays; in Flores and Timor the people are of the Negroid race, akin to the Papuans of Australia and New Guinea. Only the western part of Timor belongs to the Dutch-the eastern half is still retained by Portugal. The Portuguese have absolutely done nothing to develop their portion of the island, and their chief settlement-Delli-is a “miserable town of hovels with a ruined fort." The islands and island-groups between Timor and New Guinea are all claimed by the Dutch, but there are no European settlements or officials on any of them. DUTCH NEW GUINEA includes the whole of the main island west of 141° E. long. with the adjacent Frederick Henry Island, the Aru and Ki Islands off the south-west coast, and Jappen and other islands at the mouth of Geelvink Bay on the north. BRITISH EAST INDIES. The richest portion of Borneo and the little island of Labuan belong to Britain. Labuan is a Crown Colony, and the territory of the British North Borneo Company, the Sultanate of Brunei, and the province of Sarawak, are British Protectorates. LABUAN' lies on the northern side of the Bay of Brunei, on the north-western coast of Borneo, about 6 miles from the mouth of the Brunei River. It has an area of 30 square miles, and a population of about 6,000, mostly Malays, with some Chinese traders and a few Europeans. The climate is hot and unhealthy, but a considerable amount of produce is collected from Borneo, for export to Singapore. There are extensive coal measures, and the annual production of coal is about 45,000 tons. The capital, VICTORIA, has a splendid harbour. In 1889, the colony was placed under the government of the British North Borneo Company. BRITISH NORTH BORNEO includes the northern part of the island, and has an area of 31,000 square miles, a coast-line of nearly 1,000 miles, and a 1. Laluan was ceded to Britain in 1845, and erecto 1 into a colony in 1847. It was placed in 176 Bader the Cernment of the Straits Settlements. 2. Ubined by Concession from the Sultan of Brunei in 1877, and from the Sultan of Sulu in 1878, and confirmed to the British North Borneo Company by Royal Charter in 1881. population of about 175,000. The Company's territory, whic. has been placed under British Protection, is described as a magnificent country, possessing the only good harbours in the whole of Borneo, with a salubrious climate, and forming, in a mineral and agricultural point of view, the richest portion of Borneo. The soil is fertile, and much tobacco, rice, sago, coffee, and o her tropical products are growa, and coal and gold have been tound. Over a milion acres have been already taken up for cultivation, and a brisk trade in fob reco and sago is carried on through Singapore (1,000 miles distant from Sandakan with Great Britain, while large quantities of timber, bêche de mer, edible birds' nests, &c., are sent to China. A railway runs from Brunei Bay to Jesselton. The State is rule i by a Governor and Council in Borneo, subject to the Board of Directors in London. SANDAKAN (7), the capita, on the north coast of the island, has an excellent natural barbour. BRUNEI, or Borneo, is a Native State, on the north-west coast of Borneo, which formerly included Sarawak on the south, and North Borneo on the north. The present area of the Sultanate is about 4,000 square miles. The capital, BRUNEI, is situated at the mouth of a navigable river, which flows into the only considerable inlet on the north-western coast of the island. The products are the same as those of North Borneo. SARAWAK is a large territory to the south-west of Brunei, wi h a sea-board of about 400 miles, and an area of fully 42,000 square miles, but the populat on scarcely numbers 500,000. It was acquired from the Sultan of Brunei by the late Sir James Brooke in 1841, and the present Rajah is his nephew. The plant-products are similar to those of other parts of Borneo, and among its great mineral resources are coal, gold, silver, diamonds, &c. The capital is KUCHING (Sarawak), a busy port on the extreme south-western coast. The PHILIPPINE ISLANDS form the most northerly portion of the East Indian Archipelago, and constituted till the recent war with the United States one of the most important remaining colonial possessions of Spain. Previous to this war the islands had been for some time in a state of rebellion against the Spanish authorities, and during its progress a Spanish fleet was destroyed in Manilia Harbour by the United States Admiral Dewey. In June of 1898 the insurgents set up an independent republic, and after the cession of the Archipelago in December 1898 to the United States, they long resisted their new rulers. Civil law now prevails throughout the Archipelago, though a force of over 20,000 men is st li required to maintain order. The largest islands of the group are Luzon, with an area of 43,000 square miles (nearly equal to that of England and Wales); and Mindanao with an are of 45,500 square miles. Between Mindanao and Luzon are the large islands of Negros, Panay, Samar, Leyte, and Zebu; between Luzon and North Borneo are the islands of Mindoro and Palawan. There are, altogether, over 3,700 islands and islets. The total area is over 128,000 square miles more than twice the size of England), and the population over 71⁄2 millions. All the islands of the Philippine group are mountainous; they also contain numerous rivers, and are throughout well-watered, fertile, and productive. Tobacco, sugar, and rice are largely grown and exported. The chief city is MANILLA (220), situated on the western coast of Luzon. There are numerous English and American merchants settled at Manilla, which is the seat of an extensive trade in hemp, sugar, copra, sapan wood, coffee, tobacco, and cigars. The principal exports to the United Kingdom are hemp and unrefined sugar; the chief British import is cotton goods. The SULU ARCHIPELAGO includes all the islands lying between Mindanao and Borneo, and have also been taken under the " protection of the United States. These island were formerly notorious haunts of pirates, and native vessels in these waters are even yet not safe from attack. Guam, in the Ladrones, was ceded to the United States by Spain in 1898. THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN. Japan, the "Britain" of the Pacific, is situated to the eastward of the Asiatic continent, from which it is separated by the sea of Japan. This ancient Empire consists of an extensive chain of islands, the largest of which is Nippon or Hondo. Kiushiu and Shikoku, to the south of Nippon, and Hokkaido or Yezo, to the north of that island, are the other principal islands. The Kuriles or Tsi-Sima, the Lu-Chu or Liukiu, Formosa, Southern Sakhalin3 (Saghalien), and the Bonin Islands, also belong to Japan. In addition Corea is now virtually a Japanese Protectorate, and Port Arthur, leased before the Russo-Japanese war to Russia, is now occupied by Japan. The total area of the Japanese Empire (including Formosa and South Sakhalin) is 175,630 square miles-over three times the size of England. Japan is said to possess a written history extending over 2,500 years, and its sovereigns to have formed an unbroken dynasty since 660 B.C.-the present Emperor, or the Mikado, the designation by which he is generally known in foreign countries, being the 121st of his race; but its authentic history begins about 400 A.D. COASTS: The coasts are of great extent and deeply indented with many magnificent natural harbours, such as the Bay of Tokio and the Gulf of Osaka. Of the various straits and channels the principal are:-La Perouse Strait, between Yezo and Sakhalin; Tsugaru or Sangar Strait, between Yezo and Nippon; and the Strait of Corea, between Kiushiu and the Corean coast. The famous Inland Sea of Japan, a wondrously beautiful channel, between Nippon and the islands of Shikoku and Kiushiu, communicates on the east with the Pacific by two openings-the Bungo Strait and the Kino Channeland with the Strait of Corea on the west by a narrow opening. NATURAL FEATURES: All the islands are mountainous; the principal ranges in each extend generally parallel to the eastern coasts. Several of the higher mountains are volcanoes, and rise high above the snow-line. Fertile plains and valleys, watered by numerous rivers, extend between the mountains and the sea. The mountains of Japan are generally well wooded and extremely pictu esque, the loftier peaks being covered with perpetual snow. The most beautiful of all of them, Fuji Yama, the sacred mountain of Japan, is a huge truncated cone of dazzlingly white snow. 1. The name Nippon means the "Land of the ha'in, off the east coast of Siberia, former'y be Sunrise," Kiushiuthe nine Provinces," and Shi-longed to Japan, but in 18,6 it was ceded to Russia koku "the four States." in exchange for the Kurie Islands. In 190, by the treaty of Per smouth, it was retroceded to Japan, and now bears the official name of Karafuto. 2. The official name of Formosa is Taiwan. The general elevation of the Japanese mountains is from 3,000 to 8,000 feet, but the well-known volcano of Fuji Yama,' about 60 miles from Tokió, in the island of Nippon, attains an elevation of 12,370 feet. In the interior of the same island, to the north-west of Tôkiô, is the active volcano of Asama Yama. There are several other active volcanoes, and severe earthquakes are frequent, all the islands being decidedly volcanic in character. There are nine rivers in Japan with courses of over a hundred miles-the longest being the Shinano (170), on the island of Nippon. Biwa, the largest lake, also on the island, of Nippon, is about 45 miles long and 10 miles broad. It is a magnificent sheet of water, closed north and west by lofty forest-covered mountains, and elsewhere skirted by an open highlycultivated country, dotted over with numerous villages and tea-houses, the resort of pleasure-seekers from all parts.' CLIMATE: The climate of Japan is temperate and healthy, but on the whole colder than the countries between the same parallels on the western side of Eurasia As regards its climate, Japan does not, perhaps, differ materially from Britain, excepting in its greater extremes of heat and cold at particular seasons, and in this, as well as in several other respects, the country may well be called the "Britain" of the Pacific. Its eastern seaboard is washed by a warm Equatorial current-the Kuro-Siwo, or Black Stream-which modifies its climate in the same way as the Gulf Stream influences the climate of the British Isles. But on the whole, and especially in the northern island, Japan is relatively colder than the countries of Western Europe between the same parallels. PRODUCTIONS: The natural productions-both vegetable and mineral-of Japan are numerous and valuable. Among the mineral products of Japan are copper, iron, coal, antimony, and sulphur, of which there are rich deposits, and some gold and silver. Among its plant-products are trees that yield valuable gums and resins, particularly the lacquer-tree, which affords the celebrated Japanese "lacquer;" with the tea plant and the mulberry-the latter being extensively cultivated as food for the silkworm. All kinds of fruits are also abundant, and the meadows and hillsides are adorned with lovely flowers and plants. The rivers and the coasts are extremely rich in fish. INHABITANTS: The country bears in general the appearance of populousness, and many of the cities are of large size. The total population is now about 47 millions, an average of nearly 268 to the square mile, about one-half the density in England.3 Race and Language: The Japanese are a Mongolian people, and resemble the Chinese, but their language, though written like the Chinese in ideographic characters, is entirely different. An aboriginal hairy race, the Ainos, inhabit a part of Yezo. Miss Bird saw Aino boys whose backs were covered with fur as fine and soft as that of a cat. There are about 14.70) foreigners in Japan-9,400 of whom are Chinesethe rest being chiefly English, Americans, Germans, and French. 1. Fuji Yama, the "sacred mountain." A Japan- | Czar of Russia, who was on his way to cut the first ese legend says that this mountain was suddenly thrown up in the third century befre cur era. sed of the Trans-Siberian Railway, was sudder, y attacked and wounded by a Japanese policeman. 2. At Örs, not far from Kioto, and on the shore 3. The den ity in Central Nippon and Shinkoku of Lake Biwa," one of the loveliest of the many is over 400, in Kiush u over 360, and m Western lovely spots in Japan," in May, 1890, the present | Nippon 440 per square mile. Education and Religion: The people are mostly Buddhists, but the ancient religion of the country was Shintoism, or sun-worship, and the adoration of invisible spirits, which is still professed by many of the lower classes. The higher classes generally profess Confucianism, and there are many Roman Catholics and Protestants. Agnosticism is now prevalent among the educated. Elementary Education is compulsory, and both Elementary and Higher schools are supported by Government Grants and local rates. There are several Normal Schools for teachers, and two Universities. About 1500 newspapers and magazines are regularly published. Hundreds of Japanese students have been, and many are still being, educated in European and American schools. INDUSTRIES: The Japanese are an extremely ingenious and a most industrious people, and have within recent years made marvellous progress in civilization and in the adoption of European arts and appliances, and the alliance with Britain has now brought her into the front rank of nations. The industry and ingenuity of the Japanese people are displayed in the careful culture of the land, the good roads which connect the various towns and villages, the skilful manufacture of silk, cotton, porcelain, and japanned wares. The country is so mountainous that not more than one-sixth of its area is available for cultivation, but the cultivable area is very productive, and rice, wheat, and other cereals, cotton, tobacco, the tea-plant, and the mulberry are extensively grown. The art of covering metals with varnish (japanning) derives its popular appellation from this country. Their porcelain displays much skill, and possesses a beauty of its own peculiar kind. There are thousands of fishing villages round the coasts, and nearly 300,000 boats and 900,000 persons are wholly or partially engaged in fishing. The internal trade of the country is mainly carried on by sea, but there are now over 5.000 miles of railway open to traffic, and about 1,c00 miles projected or in course of construction. There are 5,000 miles of State roads, and 16,500 miles of provincial roads. There is also an efficient postal and telegraph service. COMMERCE: The foreign trade of Japan is carried on entirely through the open ports of Yokohama, Kobé, Osaka, Nagasaki, Hakodate, and Niigata, and 24 other ports, and is chiefly with the United States, China, British Isles, Germany and India. The commerce of Japan is rapidly expanding, the value of the imports in 1905 being about 544 millions, and the exports 3534 millions sterling. It is only within the last 40 years that foreigners have been permitted to visit the ports of Japan. Prior to 1854, commercial intercourse was restricted to the Dutch, aniong European nations, and to their neighbours the Chinese. The Dutch were allowed to send a couple of ships annually to the port of Nagasaki, on the west coast of Kiusiu. But treaties of commerce now exist between Japan and the Governments of the United States, Great Britain, France, and other countries. The chief imports are cotton and seed, metals and machinery, sugar, cottons, and other piece-goods, wool and woollen goods, petroleum, urms, and machines and rice. 1. The nominal value of the yen or dollar is about 4s. ; the actual value is 25. od |