MAURITIUS.

An island lying in the Indian Ocean, 500 miles east of Madagascar, between 57 deg. 17 min. and 57 deg. 46 min. E. long., and 19 deg. 58 min. and 20 deg. 32 S. lat., includes within its government, as dependencies, the Seychelles Group, Rodriguez, and Diego Garcia Islands, and about seventy other islets.

AREA.-713 square miles (with dependencies, 1,025 square miles).

POPULATION.-1887, 368,415.

RELIGION.-1880, 108,000 Roman Catholics and 8,000 Protes

tants.

GOVERNMENT.-The Government is administered by the Governor, aided by an Executive Council of 5 members, and a Legislative Council of 27 members.

EDUCATION.--One college, with 145 students, and 140 primary schools, attended by 15,792 pupils in 1886. Government grant in 1886, $215,000.

RAILWAYS.-92 miles open for traffic.

ASCENSION.

An isolated island lying in the South Atlantic, lat. 7 deg. 57 min. S. long. 14 deg. 21 min. W., is utilized by the Board of Admiralty, who maintain a small station there, and appoint a naval officer as Governor. Area, 34 square miles. Popu lation, 140.

ST. HELENA.

Another solitary island situated in the South Atlantic, 760 miles from the nearest land, Ascension, in lat. 15 deg. 55 min. S., and 5 deg. 42 min. W. long.

AREA.-47 square miles.
POPULATION.-1883, 5.085.

GOVERNMENT.-Administered by a Governor, aided by an Executive Council of 4 members.

EDUCATION.-11 school with 876 pupils in 1886.

POST OFFICE.-Telegraph, 11 miles of wire. Letters, Newspapers, etc., delivered in 1886, 23,374.

NORTH AMERICA.

POSITION.-North America forms the northern and larger part of the New World; the greater portion of it is almost entirely confined to the north temperate zone.

EXTREME POINTS. -Greatest length, Murchison Promontory (72 deg. N.) to Cape Matapalo (8 deg. 17 min. N.), 4,400 miles. Greatest breadth, Cape Charles (55 deg. 40 min. W.) to Cape Prince of Wales (68 deg. W.), 3,800 miles.

CONFIGURATION.-The outline, more especially in the north, where it takes the form of an archipelago of islands, is very much intersected and broken by the numerous inlets of the

sea.

AREA.-Excluding Arctic America and Greenland (1,338,500 square miles) the area is about 8,000,000 square miles.

POPULATION.-The number of inhabitants as shown by the

NORTH AMERICA-(Continued).

annexed table amounts to 84,000,000 or one-twentieth of the entire population of the world.

CONFIGURATION.-The flat nature of the eastern shore-line presents a marked contrast to the western coast, which is, as a rufe, bold and rocky, with very deep water immediately off shore.

OROGRAPHY.-The surface of North America presents three great physical features, the Western Cordilleras, the Eastern Highlands, and the Central Plain. The Western Cordilleras extend along the entire Pacific side of the continent. Running in two parallel ranges, they attain their greatest width near the 40th degree of latitude, being fully 1,000 miles apart. Here they inclose an immense plateau, the Great Basin, which, lying at an elevation of 5.000 feet, has an area of 208,000 square miles. The Eastern Highlands, much lower and less

NORTH AMERICA-(Continued).

united than those of the west, run in a south-west to a north east direction, with a general height of 1,000 to 2,000 feet. Between these two systems, and extending from the Arctic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico, the central region of North America is a vast plain or valley rising gradually from the north to 1,500 feet at the source of the Mississippi, whence it slopes gently to the mouth of that river. Culminating Points-Mt. St. Elias (Alaska), 15,000 ft.; Citlaltepetl (Mexico), 17,880 ft.; Popocatepetl (Mexico), 17,783 ft.; Mt. Hooker (Rocky Mts.), 16,750 ft.; Mt. Whitney (Sierra Nevada), 14,898 ft.; Black Dome (Alleghanies), 6,707 feet. Mean elevation of continent, 1,952 ft.

HYDROGRAPHY.-North America is unsurpassed by any of the other continents in its hydrographical features. Large rivers afford an easy access to the interior from all sides, while the lake region of the St. Lawrence, the largest extent of fresh water on the globe, has an area equal to That of the Black Sea. Length and drainage area of chief rivers--Missouri-Mississippi, 4,194 miles, 1,236,170 square miles; Mackenzie, 2,868 miles, 421,720 square miles; Saskatchewan, 1,658 miles, 131,820 square miles; Rio del Norte, 1,460 miles, 128,770 square miles; Colorado, 1,382 miles, 264,440 square miles; Yukon, 1,198 miles, 250,000 square miles; St. Lawrence, 704 miles, 510,060 square miles. Chief Lake Superior, 32,290 square miles; Michigan, 23,900 square miles; Huron, 23,684 sq. miles; Erie, 9,493 sq. miles; Ontario, 7,654 sq. miles.

CLIMATE.-In a continent extending over about 65 degrees of latitude and nearly twice as many of longitude, great varieties of climate are necessarily met with. While the Pacific shores have generally a milder climate than those of the Atlantic, the average temperature of the continent is lower than that of corresponding latitudes in the Old World. (For Map of North America see page 375.)

BRITISH NORTH AMERICA.

Within the Dominion of Canada is included all the land lying north of the United States, with the exception of Alaska, Newfoundland, and Labrador. On the north this immense territory is bounded by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by Baffin Bay, Davis Strait, Labrador, and the North Atlantic Ocean; on the south by the United States, and on the west by Alaska and the North Pacific Ocean.

AREA.-Exclusive of the Arctic Islands, the total area is 3,420,777 square miles. (Ontario, 181,800 square miles; Quebec, 188,688 square miles; New Brunswick, 27,174 square miles; Nova Scotia, 20,907 square miles; Prince Edward Island, 2,133 square miles; Manitoba, 73,720 square miles; British Columbia, 341,305 square miles; North-West Territory, 2,585,050 square miles.)

POPULATION.-1881 (census), 4,324,810; 1887 (estimated), 5,000,000 nearly. French, 1,298,930; Irish, 957,403; English, 881,300; Scotch, 699,863; Germans, 254,320; Indians (1885), 129,525.