300,000l. per annum. The civil and judicial establishments of the colony cost nearly 370,000l., and the contribution to military expenditure amounts to 124,000l. annually. For public works, about 200,000l. have been expended in recent years, and about 50,000l. for education.

The revenue for 1884 is estimated at 1,163,7187.

The public debt of the Colony amounted in 1884 to 2,124,1087., incurred for the construction of railways and a breakwater for Colombo harbour; 122 miles of railway, costing 2,500,000l., are the free property of the Colony.

Population.

The island of Ceylon was first settled in 1505 by the Portuguese, who established colonies in the west and south, which were taken from them about the middle of the next century by the Dutch. In 1795-96, the British Government took possession of the foreign settlements in the island, which were annexed to the Presidency of Madras; but, in 1798, Ceylon was erected into a separate colony. In 1815 war was declared against the native Government of the interior, and the whole island fell under British rule.

The extreme length of the colony from north to south, that is, from Point Palmyra to Dondera Head, is 266 miles; its greatest width, 140 miles from Colombo on the west coast to Sangemankande on the east; its area is 25,364 English square miles.

The following table gives the area and population of the seven provinces of Ceylon, according to the last census, taken Feb. 17, 1881:

In 1871 the total population amounted to about 2,406,695, showing an increase of 354,701 in ten years.

The estimated population, June 30, 1884, was 2,822,009.

Of the total population enumerated, at the census of 1881, there

were 4,836 Europeans; 17,866 Eurasians and Burghers; 1,846,614 Singhalese; 687,248 Tamils; 184,542 Moormen; 8,895 Malays; 2,228 Veddahs; 7,489 others. Of the Europeans, 4,074 are British. The census returns stated 644,284 persons, or about one-fourth of the population, to be engaged in agriculture. The principal religious creeds were returned as follows:-Buddhists, 1,698,070; Hindoos, 493,630; Mohammedans, 197,775; Christians, 147,977. On January 1, 1884, there were 1,703 government and aided schools, with a nominal attendance of 102,109 pupils, or 1 in 28 of the population.

Trade and Industry.

The declared value of the total imports and exports of the colony, including bullion and specie, was as follows in each of the five years, 1879 to 1883:

Hitherto coffee has been the staple export from Ceylon, but disease has in recent years greatly reduced the produce. The quantity exported fell from 824,509 cwt. in 1879, to 305,417 cwt. in 1883. The value of the total export in this year was only 1,267,6317., the lowest since 1853. Tea, cinchona, and cocoa cultivation has been growing in recent years; 86,000 worth of tea was exported in 1883; cinchona bark 421,000l.; cocoa-nut oil, 406,000l.

The commercial intercourse of Ceylon is mainly with the United Kingdom and India. The amount of trade with the United Kingdom is shown in the subjoined tabular statement, in each of the five years from 1879 to 1883:

The principal article of export from Ceylon to the United King

dom is coffee, of the declared value of 2,508,8937. in 1878; of 3,001,0757. in 1879; of 2,571,5467. in 1880; of 1,524,7467. in 1881; of 1,632,6287. in 1882; and of 1,007,2407. in 1883. Besides coffee, other exports are cinchona, 25,1877. in 1878, 91,293l. in 1881, 256,6017. in 1882, and 474,6907. in 1883; cocoa-nut oil, 215,130%. in 1881, 94,1357. in 1882. 199,1077. in 1883; cinnamon, 106,2301. in 1881, 87,7887. in 1882, 90,4557. in 1883; plumbago, 43,4927. in 1881, 90,030l. in 1882, and 76,2247. in 1883; tea, 1207. in 1878, 11,5871. in 1881, 35,8667. in 1882, 134,3047. in 1883; cordage and twine, 68,8681. in 1882, 60,128l. in 1883. Manufactured cotton goods, of the value of 256,2577. in 1882, iron, wrought and unwrought, 54,8361., coals 105,2941., form the staple articles of British imports into Ceylon.

Ceylon had 164 miles of railway open for traffic at the end of 1884, and 16 miles in course of construction.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

The weights and measures of Ceylon are the same as those of the United Kingdom. The money of the country is the rupee of British India. For value see page 802.

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Ceylon. 1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Census of Ceylon, 1881. Colombo, 1882.

Colonial Office List, 1884.

Report on the revenue, trade, &c., of Ceylon, in 'Papers relating to H.M.'s Colonial Possessions.' London, 1884.

Statistics of Ceylon; in 'Statistical Abstract for the Colonial and other Possessions of the United Kingdom.' No. XXI. 8. London, 1884.

Trade of Ceylon 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.

Baker (S. W.), Eight Years' Wanderings in Ceylon. 8. London, 1855. Ferguson (A. M. & J.), The Ceylon Directory and Handbook. 8. Colombo and London, 1884.

Ferguson (John), Ceylon in 1884. 2nd edition. London, 1884.

Pridham (C.), Historical, Political, and Statistical Account of Ceylon. 2 vols. 8. London, 1849.

Ransonnet-Villez (Baron E. von), Ceylon: Skizzen seiner Bewohner, seines Thier- und Pflanzenlebens. Fol. Brunswick, 1868.

Schmarda (L. K.), Reise um die Erde: Zeilon. Vol. i. 8. Braunschweig,

1861.

Tennent (Sir James Emerson), Ceylon: an Account of the Island, Physical, Historical, and Topographical. 5th ed. London, 1860.

CHINA.

(CHUNG KWOH, THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.')

Reigning Emperor.

Tsait'ien, Emperor-Hwangti-of China, born 1871, the son of Prince Ch'un, brother of the Emperor Hien-fung; succeeded to the throne by proclamation, at the death of Emperor T'ung-chi, January 22, 1875.

The present sovereign, surnamed Kwangsü, is the ninth Emperor of China of the Tartar dynasty of Ts'ing, which succeeded the native dynasty of Ming, in the year 1644. There exists no law of hereditary succession to the throne, but it is left to each sovereign to appoint his successor from among the members of his family of a younger generation than his own. The late Emperor, dying suddenly in the eighteenth year of his age, did not designate a successor, and it was in consequence of arrangements, directed by the Empress Dowager, widow of the Emperor Hienfung, predecessor of T'ungchi, in concert with Prince Ch'un, that the infant son of the latter was made the nominal occupant of the throne.

Government and Public Revenue.

The laws of the empire are laid down in the Ta-ts'ing-hwei-tien, or 'Collected Regulations of the Ts'ing dynasty,' which prescribe the government of the state to be based upon the government of the family. The Emperor is considered the sole high priest of the empire, and can alone, with his immediate representatives and ministers, perform the great religious ceremonies. No ecclesiastical hierarchy is maintained at the public expense, nor any priesthood attached to the Confucian or State religion.

The administration of the empire is under the supreme direction of the Nei-ko or Cabinet, comprising four members, two of Tartar and two of Chinese origin, besides two assistants from the Hanlin, or Great College, who have to see that nothing is done contrary to the civil and religious laws of the empire, contained in the Ta-ts'ing-hwei-tien, and in the sacred books of Confucius. These members are denominated 'Ta-hio-sz,' or Ministers of State. Under their orders are the Liu-pu, or six boards of government, each of which is presided over by a Tartar and a Chinese. They are:-1. The board of civil appointments, which takes cognisance of the conduct and administration of all civil officers;

2. The board of revenues, regulating all financial affairs; 3. The board of rites and ceremonies, which enforces the laws and customs to be observed by the people; 4. The military board, superintending the administration of the army; 5. The board of public works; and 6. The high tribunal of criminal jurisdiction.

Independent of the Government, and theoretically above the central administration, is the Tu-chah-yuen, or board of public censors. It consists of from 40 to 50 members, under two presidents, the cne of Tartar and the other of Chinese birth. By the ancient custom of the empire, all the members of this board are privileged to present any remonstrance to the sovereign. One censor must be present at the meetings of each of the six Government boards.

The amount of the public revenue of China is only known by estimates. According to the most authentic of these, the total receipts of the government in recent years averaged 25,000,000Z., derived from taxes on land, grain, licences, and customs duties upon exports and imports, as collected at the Treaty ports by the foreign inspectorate. The land-tax in the north does not exceed 3s. per acre yearly, and the highest rate in the south is 138. The receipts from the customs alone are made public. They amounted to 7,872,257 haikwan taels, or 2,361,6777. in 1864, and gradually increasing, had risen to 14,085,672 haikwan taels, or 4,000,000l. in 1882, and 13,286,757 haikwan taels, or 3,723,0607., in 1883. The customs duties fall more upon exports than imports. The expenditure of the Government is mainly for the army, the maintenance of which is estimated to cost 15,000,000l. per annum on the average.

China had no foreign debt till the end of 1874. In December 1874 the Government contracted a loan of 627,6751., bearing 8 per cent. interest, secured by the customs revenue. A second 8 per cent. foreign loan, likewise secured on the customs, to the amount of 1,604,2767., was issued in July 1878. Two silver loans have since been contracted, and a loan of 1,500,000l. in 1884, the total external debt in 1884 being given at 3,573,2007. The internal debt amounts to about 8,570,000l.

Religion and Education.

The State religion of China has no outward ceremonial, except a few symbolical rites observed at New Year; it consists mainly in the study and contemplation of the moral precepts of Confucius and Lao-tse. The bulk of the people, however, are Buddhists. There are probably about 30 million Mahometans, chiefly in the north-east and south-west. Roman Catholicism has long had a footing in China, and is estimated to have about 1,000,000 adherents,