30 ARCHEOLOGY. (CHINESE TURKESTAN.) 



found in the neighborhood of these ruins but Dr. 

 Peters discovered during the sunnuer of 1 

 series of ancient copper mines along the eastern 

 bank of the upper Sabi. From all the evidence 

 discovered in the explorations, from the occur- 

 rence of symbols of phallus worship from the 

 /ambesi clown to the Sabi. and from other re- 

 sults, the author is led to believe that the ancient 

 conquerors In-longed to a Semitic race: and that 

 the repeated appearance of the names of Mas- 

 MI pa. I'msapa. Kusapi. Sabi. etc., makes it highly 

 probable that they were Sa beans, a race very 

 nearlv related to the Phenicians of the Mediter- 

 ranean. Thus the views of Theodore Bent and 

 other explorers l>efore Dr. Peters are confirmed. 

 Two stones with old inscriptions, not yet de- 

 ciphered, have been found in Manicaland. 



Arabian. In a discussion of the age of the 

 south Arabian Minn>an kingdom, Otto Weber 

 agrees iii general with (Jlaser and Hommel as to 

 the antiquity of the inscriptions, and endeavors 

 to prove tha't the kingdom antedated that of the 

 Salwan-. reaching its highest point of prosperity 

 about 1000 B.C. At this time the Minseans had 

 the commerce of southern Arabia in their hands, 

 while by means of a colony in the northern part 

 of Arabia. Musri, frequently confounded in the 

 Bible with Egypt, they were in close commercial 

 intercourse with Mesopotamia. The author be- 

 lieves that the Mimran inscriptions carry us back 

 at least as far as 1200 B. c. It follows, of course, 

 that the Minaan alphabet was developed much 

 earlier. The Mintpan kingdom lasted till about 

 tWH) B. r.. when it was overthrown by the Sabeans. 

 The same subject is discussed by Lidzbarski 

 (Ephemeris fur Seinitische Epigraphik) from the 

 epigraphic point of view. This author, in op- 

 position to Hommel, who supposed the Mi- 

 naan script to be the parent of the Phenician, 

 reaches the conclusion that the south Arabian 

 script was derived directly from the north Semitic 

 or Phenician. and that the oldest specimens of it 

 can not antedate 800 B. c. Discussing the forms 

 of the letters of the Siloam inscription at Jeru- 

 salem. Lidzbarski concludes, on epigraphical 

 grounds, that it is very ancient, as was at first 

 supposed, and not of the Herodian period, as has 

 recently been claimed. 



Chinese Turkestan. Discoveries of manu- 

 scripts and other ancient inscribed documents 

 made by Dr. M. A. Stein, of the Indian Educa- 

 tional Service, in Chinese Turkestan, promise to 

 be of considerable importance for the history of 

 that part of central Asia. Both the languages 

 and the alphabets of the documents are, for the 

 most part, Indian in character, but examples of 

 Chinese are not wanting, as well as of some non- 

 Aryan language which has not yet been identi- 

 fied. The manuscripts found at Dandin-Uilig, 

 Sven Hedin's Ancient City of Taklamakan, were 

 ehieHy written in the alphabet known as Central 

 Asian Hrahmi. and seem to represent a period ex- 

 tending from about the fifth to the eighth century 

 of the Christian era. Excavations made farther 

 to the east of the desert, in the district once 

 watered by the river Xya, which now loses itself 

 in the sa/uK have brought to light, among other 

 interesting objects, hundreds of wooden tablets 

 inscribed with Kharoshti characters and often 

 dated in years of the reigning sovereign. Both 

 the language and the alphabet of these tablets 

 are those of the Indo-Scythic princes of the first 

 century A. n. ; and it seems probable that the 

 ancient civilization of the district was over- 

 whelmed by the sand at that period. Only a gen- 

 eral account of Dr. Stein's work has yet been re- 

 ceived. J 



ARGENTINE REPUBLIC. 



ARGENTINE REPUBLIC, a federal republic 

 in South America. The legislative power is vested 

 in the national Congress, consisting of a Senate 

 of 30 members, 2 from each province and from the 

 federal district, and a House of Deputies contain- 

 ing 133 members elected for four years by the 

 people directly. The President is elected for six 

 years by electoral colleges having twice the num- 

 ber of members in each province that there are of 

 Senators and Deputies combined. The President 

 is Julio A. Roca, elected in 1898. The Vice- 

 President, whose function is to preside over the 

 Senate, is Norberto Quirno Costa. The Cabinet 

 at the beginning of 1901 contained the following 

 members : Secretary of the Interior, Dr. Felipe 

 Yofre; Secretary of Foreign and Ecclesiastical 

 Affairs, Dr. Amancio Alcorta; Secretary of Fi- 

 nance, Dr. Osvaldo Magnasco; Secretary of War, 

 Col. Pablo Ricchieri ; Secretary of the Navy, Com- 

 modore Martin Rivadavia; Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture, Dr. Martin Garcia Merou; Secretary of Pub- 

 lic Works, Dr. Emilio Civit. 



Area and Population. The republic is di- 

 vided into 14 provinces and 9 territories having a 

 total area of 1,319,247 square miles, and a popula- 

 tion in 1895 of 4,094,911, estimated to have in- 

 creased in 1899 to 4,569,000. Buenos Ayres, the 

 capital, had 800,613 inhabitants in 1900. The 

 number of immigrants in 1899 was 111,083, includ- 

 ing 53,295 Italians, 19,732 Spaniards, 2,449 French, 

 1,686 Russians, 950 Austrians, 732 Germans, 477 

 English, and 344 Swiss; emigration, 62,241. The 

 foreign residents in 1895 numbered 886,895, of 

 whom 492,636 were Italians, 198,685 Spaniards, 

 94,098 French, 21,788 British, 17,143 Germans, 

 14,789 Swiss, 12,803 Austro-Hungarians, 2,269 Por- 

 tuguese, and 32,184 of other nationalities. There 

 were 105,000 immigrants in 1900. 



Finances. The revenue in 1899 was $45,676,- 

 189 in gold and $61,419,990 in paper, and the ex- 

 penditure was $30,860,817 in gold and $103,887,- 

 458 in paper. The revenue in 1900 was estimated 

 at $45,981,735 in gold and $67,122,000 in paper, 

 and expenditure at $32,946,813 in gold and $95,- 

 447,513 in paper. The budget estimate of revenue 

 for 1901 was $37,991,000 in gold and $62.300,000 

 in paper. Of the gold revenue $28,000,000 come 

 from import duties, $2,800,000 from export duties, 

 $2,645,000 from port and navigation dues, $460,- 

 000 from consular fees and fines, and $4,086,000 

 from debt service. Of the revenue collected in 

 paper $15,000,000 come from the spirit duty, $ll,- 

 300,000 from the tobacco duty, $8,500,000 from 

 duties on wine, sugar, and matches, $1,600,000 

 from duties on beer and other articles, $5,300,000 

 from sanitary works, $1,800,000 from the land tax, 

 $8,400,000 from stamps and licenses, $4,900,000 

 from posts and telegraphs, $540,000 from land 

 sales and leases, $3,570,000 from railroads, and 

 $1,390,000 from other sources. The expenditures 

 for 1901 were estimated at $25,981,543 in gold, of 

 which $283,941 were for foreign affairs, $24,487,- 

 214 for debt, $10,388 for the navy, and $1,200.000 

 for extraordinary and unforeseen expenses; and 

 at $88,399,249 in paper, of which $16,938,096 were 

 for the Interior Department and Congress, $1,257.- 



for foreign and ecclesiastical affairs, $7.826.030 

 for financial administration, $11,977,250 for debt, 

 :ll, 685,938 for justice and education, $13,223,370 

 for the army, $9,529,764 for the navy, $1,438,220 

 for agriculture, $6,599.765 for public works, 

 $3.458,370 for pensions, and $4,464,000 for extraor- 

 dinary expenses. 



The debt on June 30, 1900, amounted to 87,- 

 575,508, including 6,345,000 of bonds held by the 

 Government. Of the total 45,738,708 were na- 

 tional loans, 31,891,657 provincial and other 



