404 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



Cyprus has an area of 3,584 square miles and 

 a population of 186,173, of whom 137,631 are 

 Greek Christians, 45,458 Mohammedans, and 

 3,084 of other beliefs. The Government is ad- 

 ministered by a High Commissioner, Sir Henry 

 Ernest Bulwer, who was appointed in 1886. 

 There is a Legislative Council consisting of 18 

 members, of whom 6 are official, 6 are elected by 

 Christians, and 3 are elected by Mohammedans. 

 The revenue in 1889 was 149,362 and the ex- 

 penditure 109,963. The imports were valued 

 at 232,807 and the exports at 210,297. 



The rocky promontory of Aden, which is an 

 important coaling station on the route to India, 

 will soon be a strong fortress. There is an ex- 

 port trade in coffee, gums, skins, cloth, and to- 

 bacco. The island of Socotra, the Kuria Muiia 

 Islands, and the Somali coast protectorate, on the 

 African coast opposite, are subordinate to the 

 political resident at Aden, who is also the com- 

 mander of the military force. The Somali pro- 

 tectorate in 1888 imported merchandise of the 

 value of 3,329,210 rupees and exported 6,812,910 

 rupees' worth. Detachments of the Indian gar- 

 rison of Aden occupy the ports of Zeila, Bulhar, 

 and Berbera. The tribes of Harrar in August, 

 1889, raided Bulhar, killing 100 persons. To 

 punish them an expedition was sent out in the 

 following winter from Zeila, with orders to seize 

 or destroy wells, and thus bring the authors of 

 the raid to terms. The expedition was not en- 

 tirely successful, and on its return it suffered 

 considerable loss. Socotra, with an area of 3,000 

 square miles and a population of 4,000, produces 

 aloes, and the Kuria Muria group, which was 

 annexed in 1886, contains deposits of guano. 



The Bahrein group in the Persian Gulf is ruled 

 by a native chief, the Sheikh Esau, under British 

 protection. There are 400 boats engaged in the 

 pearl fishery^. The exports in 1888 were 5,205,- 

 840 rupees, including pearls of the value of 3,- 

 207,000 rupees. 



Labuan, a small island off the coast of Borneo, 

 exports sago, India-rubber, gutta-percha, wax, 

 and other produce of the Sunda Islands to Singa- 

 pore. The trade is mostly in the hands of Chi- 

 nese. The imports in 1888 were 71,591 and the 

 exports 83,909. British Borneo, with an area 

 of 31,000 square miles and a population of 175,- 

 000 natives and Mohammedan settlers, is the pos- 

 session of a chartered company, which was taken 

 under the protection of the British Crown on May 

 12, 1888. The revenue in 1888 was $158,462, ex- 

 clusive of $80,000 from land sales, and the ex- 

 penditure was $185,922. For 1889 the revenue 

 was estimated at $218.365, the produce of land 

 sales at $200,000, and the expenditure at $364,- 

 760. The exports are sago, rice, gums, coffee, 

 pepper, gambier, gutta-percha, wax, edible birds'- 

 nests, cocoa-nuts, rattan, seed pearls, beche-de- 

 mer, and cabinet woods, which are in great de- 

 mand in China, and tobacco, which has rapidly 

 taken the lead of all other products. The high 

 price of fine wrappers led to experiments which 

 turned out so favorably that tobacco planters 

 flocked to the island. The movement was stimu- 

 lated by the failure of the Sumatra crop in 1887 

 through drought, with the probability of fre- 

 quent failures in the future. The export of leaf 

 tobacco was 72,688 pounds in 1886, 30,800 pounds 

 in 1887, and 81,664 pounds in 1888. The Gov- 



ernment has sold about 600,000 acres of land for 

 tobacco plantations. The quality of the Borneo 

 tobacco is equal to the best Sumatra and brings 

 the highest price in the market. The Dutch, 

 who at first discouraged tobacco planting in their 

 part of Borneo, have decided to open it to Eu- 

 ropean enterprise, and have begun experimental 

 plantations in the south near Sambar and in the 

 west at Amonthay. In Sarawak also the culture 

 is being tried. This territory, formerly governed 

 as an independent state by Sir James Brooke and 

 afterward by his nephew Charles Johnson Brooke, 

 the present rajah, was taken under British pro- 

 tection, with the neighboring sultanate of Bru- 

 nei, in 1888. Its area is 35,000 square miles, 

 having a population of about 300,000. The rev- 

 enue in 1888 was $361,615, and in 1889 it exceed- 

 ed $400,000. From coal mines on the Sadong 

 river the requirements of the Government are 

 supplied and a considerable quantity is exported 

 to Singapore. Great progress has been made in 

 the cultivation of pepper, of which 1,000 tons 

 were exported in 1889. Sago is another of the 

 chief products, 11,000 tons having been exported 

 in 1888. The exports amount to about $1,500,- 

 000. Limbang, a territory that had thrown off 

 the oppressive yoke of the Sultan of Brunei, was 

 by request of the chiefs annexed to Sarawak in 

 1890. Ceylon has a Legislative Council composed 

 of the 5 members of the Executive Council, 4 oth- 

 er officials, and 6 elected members. The present 

 Governor is Sir Arthur Elibank Havelock, ap- 

 pointed March 12, 1890. The area is 25,364 miles 

 and the population is 2,761,396, including 1,658 

 troops. The revenue in 1889 was 14,558,000 ru- 

 pees. The imports in 1888 were 58,524,990 ru- 

 pees and the exports 39,383,135 rupees. The ex- 

 port of tea was valued at 12,624,850 rupees and 

 that of coffee at 7,729,242 rupees. Disease has 

 greatly diminished the product of the coffee plan- 

 tations. Other important articles of export are 

 cocoa-nut oil, of the value of 6,832,116 rupees, 

 plumbago, of the value of 2,232,778 rupees, cin- 

 chona, of the value of 1,844,012 rupees, cinna- 

 mon, areca nuts, and cordage. There are 180 

 miles of railroads. 



The Straits Settlements comprise Singapore, 

 Penang, Malacca, the Cocos Islands, which were 

 attached to the colony in 1886, and Christmas 

 Island, which was annexed in 1888. There is a 

 Legislative Council composed of 10 officials and 

 7 unofficial members. Under the control of the 

 British authorities are the native states of Perak, 

 with 179,590 inhabitants; Selangor, with 120,- 

 000 ; Sungei Ujong, with 14,000 ; and Pahang, 

 with 35,000. The revenue of the colony for 1890 

 is estimated at $4,465,116. The chief exports 

 are tin, sugar, pepper, nutmegs, maize, sago, 

 tapioca, rice, buffalo hides, rattan, gutta-percha, 

 India-rubber, gambier, gum, coffee, dye stuffs, 

 and tobacco. The total value of imports in 1888 

 was $159,270,650 ; of exports, $134,208,435. The 

 Cocos or Keeling group consists of about 20 

 coral islands producing considerable quantities 

 of copra and cocoa-nut oil. The native states 

 administered under the advice and control of 

 British residents have outstripped the colony in 

 prosperity. The revenue of Perak has risen 

 from $1,500,000 in 1885 to $2,750,000 in 1889 ; 

 that of Selangor, from $566,000 to $1,800,000 ; 

 that of Sungei Ujong, from $120,000 to $356,000 ; 



