AFGHANISTAN. 



ALABAMA. 



On information sent by him to Gilgit, a force of 

 Goorkhas outnumbering the .Russian guard was 

 sent into the Pamir, and the Kussians withdrew 

 to avoid a collision 



The Alichur, or Great Pamir, and the Little 

 Pamir are bleak and desolate table-lands, 10.000 

 to 14,000 feet above the level -of the sea, bounded 

 on the north by Russian territory, on the east 

 by Kashgaria, a Chinese province, on the west 

 by Afghanistan, and on the south by Chitral, 

 Gilgit, and Jassin, Himalayan states under Brit- 

 ish protection. The boundary between the Brit- 

 ish and the Russian spheres of influence has not 

 been marked out in this region, as it has before 

 the gates of Herat on the northwestern frontier 

 of Afghanistan Since the delimitation in the 

 west the British have extended their dominion 

 over Cashmere and the frontier Hill states bor- 

 dering on the Pamir, an English military agent 

 has been stationed at Kashgar with the assent 

 of the Chinese Government, the Chinese have 

 laid claim to sovereign rights over parts of the 

 Pamir, and the Ameer has reduced semi-inde- 

 pendent tribes in the east of his dominions and 

 conquered districts outside his former boundaries. 

 His rapprochement toward Russia is said to have 

 resulted in the renunciation of his rights over 

 the khanate of Wakhand and of all claims to 

 the Parnii steppes. The Russians have sent out 

 so-called scientific expeditions, sometimes at- 

 tended with Cossack guards, which have ex- 

 plored the Alichur and the Little Pamir up to 

 the British frontier. Col. Gromtchevski in 1889 

 overpowered an Afghan detachment that was 

 sent to arrest him, and by means of presents in- 

 duced the officers of a Chinese outpost at the 

 confluence of the Aksu and the Istigh to let him 

 proceed to Kashgar. He found the Kilik Pass 

 over the Hindu-Kush mountains exceedingly 

 easy, and received a friendly welcome in the Hill 

 state of Hanza-Nagyr Afghan outposts turned 

 him back at the Baroghil Pass, and Col. Nisbet, 

 English resident in Cashmere, warned him away 

 from Ladak. The Russian Government has sev- 

 eral times invited the English Government to 

 demarkate 'the frontier in the Pamir region. 

 The Russians claim the greater part of the 

 Pamir by reason of an agreement made between 

 Prince Gortchakoff and Lord Clarendon in 1872 

 and restated in the delimitation treaty, which 

 makes the Oxus the boundary between the 

 spheres of influence of the two countries up to 

 its source. Notwithstanding this agreement, 

 the Russian authorities have recognized Shignan 

 and other tracts over which the Ameer was 

 found to exercise effective sovereignty north of 

 the Oxus as Afghan territory. The English 

 have assumed that the river flowing from Lake 

 Victoria in the Alichur plateau is the principal 

 head-stream of the Oxus. This the Russians 

 hold to be a mistake, because the Aksu, rising in 

 a lake in the Little Pamir, is much longer and 

 carries a greater volume of water. The geo- 

 graphical expeditions of Gromtchevski, Greshi- 

 mailo, and others were followed in 1891 by one 

 of a more plainly political character, led by 

 Prince Galitzin and accompanied by a strong 

 Cossack escort, which started from Osh, in the 

 Russian province of Ferghana, formerly the 

 khanate of Khokand. Cant. Younghusband 

 and Lieut. Davison, who attempted to recon- 



noitre after the arrival of the Russians, were for- 

 mally prohibited from entering the region claimed 

 by Russia. The Russians dispute the right of 

 China to the posts of Enghen, Irkistam, and 

 Ulukchat, and all the passes west of Kashgar, 

 insisting on the frontier conceded by Yakut) 

 Khan in his negotiations with Prince Kuro- 

 patkin. 



ALABAMA, a Southern State, admitted to the 

 Union Dec. 14, 1819 ; area, 52,250 square miles. 

 The population, according to each decennial cen- 

 sus since admission was 127,901 in 1820 ; 309,527 

 in 1830; 590,750 in' 1840: 771,623 in 1850; 964,- 

 201 in 1860 ; 996,992 in 1870 ; 1.262,505 in 1880 ; 

 and 1,513,017 in 1890. Capital, Montgomery. 



Government. The following were the State, 

 officers during the year: Governor, Thomas G. 

 Jones, Democrat ; Secretary of State, J. D. Bar- 

 ron ; Treasurer, John L. Cobbs ; Auditor, Cyrus 

 D. Hogue ; Attorney-General, William L. Martin ; 

 Superintendent of Public Instruction, John B. 

 Harris ; Commissioner of Agriculture, Reuben 

 F. Kolb, succeeded in September by Hector D. 

 Lane ; Railroad Commissioners, Henry R. Short- 

 er, Levi W. Lawler, W. C. Tunstall : 'Chief Jus- 

 tice of the Supreme Court, George W. Stone ; 

 Associate Justices, David Clopton, Thomas N. 

 McClellan, Thomas W. Coleman, and R. W. 

 Walker, who was appointed by the Governor in 

 May, pursuant to the act of Feb. 12, 1891, pro- 

 viding for an additional justice of this court. 



Finances. The balance in the State treasury 

 on Oct. 1, 1890, was $332,561.17. For the fiscal 

 year 1890-'91 the State tax rate of four mills 

 produced revenue insufficient to meet the cur- 

 rent State expenses, and the balance on Oct. 1 

 of this year was therefore slightly reduced from 

 the figures above given. In 1891-'92 the rate 

 will be four mills for regular State expenses, and 

 one half-mill additional to raise money for Con- 

 federate pensions, pursuant to the act passed this 

 year. 



Railroads. The valuation of railroad prop- 

 erty for 1891, as fixed by the State Board of 

 Assessment, was $46,797,928.26, an increase of 

 $3,459,146.79 over 1890. There were 3,177 miles 

 of railroad reported for assessment, an increase 

 of 110 miles over 1890. 



Banks. The thirty national banks of the 

 State held, on May 4, resources amounting to 

 $14,766,442, of which loans and discounts were 

 $8,765,694. Their combined capital stock 

 amounted to $4,329,000 ; their surplus fund to 

 $1,029,657 ; their undivided profits to $742,493 ; 

 their issue of bank notes to $1,094,330; and in- 

 dividual deposits to $6,260.527. 



Coal. The coals of Alabama embrace all the 

 bituminous varieties, such as gas, coking, block, 

 splint, and cannel. Mining of coal was begun in 

 this State about 1853, but the total output did 

 not reach 100,000 tons until 1876. The produc- 

 tion for the census year 1880 was 323,972 tons, 

 valued at $476,911 at the mines. The product 

 for the calendar year 1889 was 3,378,484 tons, 

 valued at $3,707,426. The average number of 

 persons employed during the year, including 

 superintendents, engineers, mechanics, and cler- 

 ical force, was 6,762, and the amount of wages 

 paid was $31.175,356. 



Population by Races. The following table 

 shows the white and colored population of the 



