CHILI. 



CHINA. 



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broken despite the severest quarantine meas- 

 ures. It ravaged Chili till the summer, and up 

 to May 21 there had been 899 cases at Valpa- 

 9 raiso, of which 628 proved fatal ; at Quillota, 

 out of 1,959 attacked. 1,002 died. 



Mineral Resources. The province of Coquimbo 

 has become remarkable for the production and 

 exportation of manganese. In 1885 the ex- 

 portation reached 3,753 tons, and during the 

 first half of 1886 it was 38,802 tons. Nearly 

 the whole of this was shipped to England. A 

 mine of good coal was discovered in the latter 

 part of 1886, on the island of Chiloe, which 

 has been bought and is worked by an English 

 company. This discovery is the more impor- 

 tant as Chili has so far been obliged to import 

 coal from England and Australia. At Esme- 

 ralda a rich silver-mine was discovered toward 

 the close of 1886, in addition to similar discov- 

 eries made in that locality three years pre- 

 viously. About $3,000,000 was taken out dur- 

 ing the interval. A company was formed in 

 New York in 1887, with a capital of $300,- 

 000, for the purpose of doing a general milling 

 and smelting business in Chili. Important gold 

 discoveries were made in 1886 at Condoriaco, 

 in the province of Coquimbo. 



Industries. Chilian wines are so excellent 

 that they begin to attract attention in France, 

 prizes having been awarded them at the last 

 exhibition in Bordeaux. The Argentine Re- 

 public is Chili's best market at present for her 

 wines. 



Oysters. Viscount V. R. de Solminhac, a 

 Frenchman, has applied to the Government for 

 a concession to plant oyster-beds along the 

 Chilian coast. 



The export from Chili to France of the ber- 

 ries of the Chilian shrub Aristotelia Magin, of 

 the Tiliacece, was begun in 1886. It is used 

 in Chili for the purpose of coloring wines. 

 Every portion of tho plant is utilized ; the 

 leaves have medical qualities, the wood is 

 sed for cabinet-work, the bark for tying. 



On Nov. 1, 1887, an international exhibition 

 was opened at the Agricultural Experimental 

 Garden in Santiago, of machines adapted 

 to separating flax from the fiber, stem, and 

 leaves of the flax-plant, a prize of $1,000 being 

 offered for the machine that should be decided 

 by the jury of award to be the one best fitted 

 for the work. 



It was resolved in the summer of 1887 to 

 convert the large sugar-refinery of Julio Bern- 

 stein at Villa del Mar, near Valpamiso, into a 

 stock company. As Chili has hitherto been de- 

 pendent for the large amounts of refined sugar 

 consumed in the country on importation from 

 Europe and the United States, this industry has 

 undoubtedly a promising future. 



Large quantities of wool are being bought in 

 Peru and Bolivia, and new factories are being 

 erected in Chili. The Government has given 

 an order for 18,000 woolen blankets and 21,000 

 yards of woolen cloth to be used in supplying 

 tho police and the army. 



Education. The state devotes $3,000,000 a 

 year to public instruction, which is free in all 

 grades, and the country has 1,500 primary 

 schools, which are attended by more than 100,- 

 000 children. 



CHINA, an empire in Eastern Asia. The Em- 

 peror is Hwangti, surnamed Kwang-seui, son 

 of the Prince Ch'un, or Seventh Prince. He 

 was born in 1871, succeeded to the throne by 

 proclamation in 1875, and assumed the govern- 

 ment of his dominions on attaining his ma- 

 jority Feb. 7, 1887; yet the Empress Regent 

 still exercises, to a large extent, the royal pre- 

 rogative. The Emperor's father, though pre- 

 cluded from holding any official post, has, for 

 some years, been the leading statesman in 

 China. The highest official body is the Nei- 

 ko, consisting of four members, with two as- 

 sistants from the Han-lin, who see that the acts 

 of the ministry conform to the laws. Under 

 the four ministers are the seven government 

 boards, viz.: the Board of Civil Appointments ; 

 the Board of Revenue ; the Board of Rites and 

 Ceremonies; the Army Board; the Board of 

 Public Works ; the Tribunal of Criminal Juris- 

 diction ; and the Admiralty Board. (For sta- 

 tistics of area and population, and the army, see 

 " Annual Cyclopedia " for 1886.) 



Finances. The revenue of the Imperial Gov- 

 ernment is known only by estimates. A writer 

 estimates the ordinary revenue for 1885 at 64,- 

 000,000 taels, or about $87,000,000, of which 

 20,000,000 taels represent the portion of the 

 land-tax that is payable in money ; 7,000,000 

 taels the rice tribute to Pekin, and the rice 

 levy in the provinces ; 9,500,000 taels, the salt- 

 taxes; 13,000,000 taels the foreign customs; 

 5,000,000 taels the native maritime and inland 

 taxes, and the new levy on opium ; and 9,500,- 

 000 taels, levies on native opium, and on vari- 

 ous other goods, native and foreign. The re- 

 ceipts from foreign customs are published regu- 

 larly. They amounted, in 1885, to 14,472,766 

 taels. The larger expenditure is on the army, 

 the co?t of which is estimated to be about $75,- 

 000,000 per annum. The total foreign debt 

 in 1887 amounted to about $25,000,000. A 

 loan of 5,000,000 marks, bearing 5 per cent, 

 interest was contracted in Berlin in 1887, 

 being eagerly taken at a premium. The Im- 

 perial customs department is managed by for- 

 eigners, with an Englishman at the head, under 

 whom are a large staff of European, American, 

 and Chinese subordinates. It is organized 

 similarly to the British civil service. 



In accordance with conventions concluded 

 with foreign powers, the likin and barrier 

 dues can be commuted by payment at the cus- 

 tom-house of 2J per cent, ad valorem, on all 

 imported goods. A transit-pass is then issued 

 which protects the goods from all local dues 

 between the port and the market. The con- 

 solidated tax is much less than the aggregate 

 of the separate dues, but the Pekin Govern- 

 ment agreed to it because the money goes into 

 the Imperial treasury, whereas the likin tax 



