than the mammalia. Above 400 species are regular inhabitants, besides many occasional visitants. The northern regions are characterized by the multitudes of swimming and wading birds; and in the mountainous and rocky parts of those regions there are also enormous eagles, large owls, and other birds of prey.

In the central and southern regions are found the golden and imperial eagles; and four species of vultures inhabit the Alpine ranges.

On the shores of the Mediterranean there is an intermixture of the ornithology of Europe, Africa, and Asia; as the Balearic crane, pelican, flamingo, &c. The birds of Europe are not so distinguished by the brilliancy of their plumage as those of the tropical regions, but they excel them in the melody of their notes.

FISH.-In the Mediterranean, the anchovy and tunny; in almost all the other seas of Europe, herring, salmon, cod, ling, haddock, &c., &c.

REPTILES. The reptiles of Europe are few, and generally harmless. The common viper is the only venomous serpent.

RACE. The inhabitants are almost entirely of the Caucasian race, of which there are three principal families, the Slavonic in the east; the Teutonic or German in the centre and north; and the Græco-Latin in the south. The Slavonic family inhabits Poland, almost all Russia, the north of Turkey, and the east of Austria. The Teutonic race is dominant in Germany, Holland, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, the west of Austria, part of Switzerland, and the British Islands. Græco-Latin races form the population of Greece, part of Turkey, Italy, part of Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, and almost all France. Besides the above we may mention the Celtic family, which comprises the main population of Ireland, the western highlands of Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, and Brittany; the Basques, a very remarkable race found between the mountains of the Asturias and the Biscay coast; the Moriscoes, descendants of the Moors of Grenada, who are still met with in the south of Spain; and the following branches of the Mongolian Race, the Laplanders and Finns who inhabit the north of Europe, the Magyars in Hungary, the Tartars in the south-east of Russia, and the Samoiedes in the extreme north of Russia.

THE BRITISH EMPIRE.

The BRITISH EMPIRE consists of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of extensive possessions and numerous colonies in every quarter of the world.

The island of Great Britain comprises England and Wales, or South Britain; and Scotland, or North Britain. Ireland lies to the west of Great Britain. Great Britain and Ireland, with the adjacent islands,* are usually called the British Isles.

The AREA of the British Isles is nearly 122,000 square miles; and the present POPULATION about 35 millions.

The AREA of the British Empire in various parts of the globe, including the Protected or Feudatory States of India, may be estimated at upwards of 83 millions of square miles; and the POPULATION at about 300 millions. Hence nearly a sixth of all the land on the SURFACE of the earth, and more than a fifth of its entire POPULATION, are under the sovereignty of the British Crown. Or,. in other words, Great Britain rules over a territory sixty-five times as large as itself, and over a population nearly eight times as numerous as its own. In fact, the sun never sets upon the dominions of England. Her ships traverse every sea; and in every harbour in the world her flag is seen.

The British possessions are:

IN EUROPE.-Heligoland, a small island in the German Ocean, about thirty-six miles from the mouths of the Elbe and Weser; Gibraltar, an important fortress in the southern extremity of Spain, commanding the entrance to the Mediterranean; and Malta, an important and celebrated island in the Mediterranean, to the south of Sicily, with the small islands of Gozo and Comino; Cyprus, a large island in the Levant Sea, recently (1878) ceded to Great Britain by Turkey.

IN ASIA.-The greater part of India or Hindostan, and the large and important island of Ceylon, near the south-eastern extremity of it. And in the Eastern or Indo-Chinese peninsula, the extensive and valuable territories or provinces of Assam, Aracan, Pegu, and Tenasserim; a portion of the peninsula of Malacca, which, with the islands of Penang and Singapore, form "the Straits Settlement;" and the island of Hong-Kong, at the entrance of the Canton river. To these may be added Aden, an important town and stronghold in Arabia, which commands the entrance of the Red Sea; and the island of Labuan, near the entrance of the Borneo river.

a Upwards of 5,000 in number, of which about 400 are inhabited.

IN AFRICA. The important colony of the Cape of Good Hope, or, as it is usually called, the Cape Colony; the adjoining and extensive colony of Natal;a Sierra Leone, Cape Coast Castle, Elmina, and other settlements and forts on the Gold Coast, and the Gambia. Also the Islands of Ascension, St. Helena, the Mauritius or Isle of France, Seychelles Islands, Lagos, and a few others of minor importance.

IN NORTH AMERICA.-The great and flourishing Dominion of Canada; and the Island of Newfoundland; also the Bermudas or Somers' Islands; and Belize or British Honduras in Central America. See page 357.

IN SOUTH AMERICA.-British Guiana, and the Falkland Islands.

IN THE WEST INDIES.-The Bahamas or Lucayos Islands, Jamaica, Barbadoes, Trinidad, and several other important islands.

IN OCEANIA. The important Australian colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia ; and the Islands of Tasmania or Van Diemen's Land, New Zealand, Fiji, and Norfolk.

PROTECTED STATES.-Those States lie in India; the principal ones are given at page 342.

a The coast of Natal was so named by Vasco de Gama, because it was discovered by him on Christmas Day (the day of the Nativity).

b Ceded by Holland in 1872.

c This includes the Scottish Islands.

The area of Scotland itself is

26,086 square miles.

REVENUE.-The annual revenue of the British empire amounts to about £156,000,000. This includes the revenue of British India, which is above £70,000,000 a year.

The ordinary revenue of the United Kingdom alone is about £86,000,000 a year; that is, it is equal to more than a fourth of the sum total of the revenues of all the States of Europe.

The revenue is derived principally from taxes on tea, tobacco, malt, hops, spirits, wines, stamp duties, property and income tax, land and assessed taxes, house duty, legacy and succession duty.

NATIONAL DEBT.-The national debt amounts to about £763,000,000; that is, about a fifth of the sum total of the

a The revenue of the financial year ending 31st March, 1882, was £85,822,282. Of this revenue the Customs produced £19,287,000; the Excise, £27,240,000; Stamps, £12,600,000; Property and Income Tax, £12,670,000; the Post Office, £7,000,000; the Telegraph Service, £1,630,000; the Crown Lands (net) £380,000; and miscellaneous sources of revenue, £5,355,282.

b National Debt.-In times of war, when the expenditure of a nation exceeds its income or revenue, in order to carry it on, the government is obliged to borrow money at so much per cent. from those individuals of the community who are able and willing to lend it. The interest of the money so borrowed is paid out of the taxes or annual revenue of the country; and the persons who are entitled to receive it are called government creditors or fundholders. Hence the origin of the National Debt. At present it requires about 27 millions a year to pay the interest of the debt which has been con tracted by the nation in this way; and it is obvious that if we had not this annual sum to pay, the axes of the country would be little more than half what they are at present; and almost everything which we use or consume would be cheaper in proportion. What an argument this is against war-irrespective of the other and far greater evils which it necessarily produces!

To the continental wars in which England was engaged during the reign of William III., we owe the first foundations of the National Debt. At his death, in 1702, the whole amount was £16,394,000; but from that period it continued to increase, and from the same causes. At the commencement of the war with our American Colonies it had increased to £128,583,636. That war cost us upwards of £121,000,000. At the commencement of the war with Revolutionary France, in 1793, the amount of the National Debt was £233,733,609; and at the termination of it in 1815, it was £864,822,438. At the former period (1793), the revenue or national income was £31,978,674, and the expenditure £28,032,953; and at the latter period (1815), the revenue was £180,496,362, and the expenditure £165,202,924. At the commencement of the war with Russia in 1855, the amount of the National Debt was £793,375,199; and it is now (1882) £763,045,940, on which the annual interest and terminable annuities amount to £28,961,836.