282 



GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



and tomatoes. The bulbs and plants of the Easter 

 lily are also an important article of export. The 

 value of imports in 1898 was 113,903; exports, 

 351,274, the value of onions being 58.373, of 

 potatoes 19,955, and of lily bulbs 15,452. The 

 tonnage entered and cleared was 471,956, of which 

 409,751 tons were British. The shipping of the 

 colony consisted of 2 steamers, of 051 tons, and 

 23 sailing vessels, of 5,409 tons. There are 36 

 miles of land telegraph, 15 miles of cable, and 

 700 miles of telephone wire. A cable connects 

 Bermuda with Jamaica. 



British Guiana is administered by a Governor, 

 Sir Walter J. Sendall in 1900, assisted by a Court 

 of Policy, consisting of 7 official and 8 elected 

 members. Taxes and expenditures are voted by 

 the combined court, composed in addition to these 

 of 6 financial members elected by the registered 

 voters, who numbered 2,815 in 1899. The Roman 

 Dutch law is in force in civil cases, while the 

 criminal jurisprudence is based on that of England. 

 Of 278,328 population enumerated in 1898 there 

 were 99,615 of negro blood, 105,465 East Indians, 

 most of them coolies, 3,714 Chinese, and 2,533 born 

 in Kurope. The number of births in 1898 was 

 8,500; of deaths, 9,706. The revenue for 1899 was 

 525,865 ; expenditure, 525,387. Of the revenue 

 304,366 came from customs, 85,548 from li- 

 censes, 34,292 from the duty on rum, and 21,209 

 from the royalty on gold. The public debt amounts 

 to 975,791. The sugar estates, 74 in number, 

 had an area in 1891 of 69,814 acres, on which 

 90,492 persons were living. Gold mining began 

 in 1886, and in ten years 2,796,300 worth of 

 gold was taken out. In 1897 the product was 

 126,702 ounces; in 1898, 125,080 ounces; in 1899, 

 112,464 ounces. Cloth, flour, rice, fertilizers, hard- 

 ware, fish, machinery, and coal are the principal 

 imports. The total value of imports in the year 

 ending March 31, 1899, was 1,371,412; exports, 

 1,775,691. The export of sugar was 1,040,982; 

 of molasses, 11,968; of rum, 144,712; of gold, 

 415,746. There are 40 miles of railroad. The 

 tonnage entered and cleared in 1899 was 632,090. 

 The shipping of the colony consisted of 15 steamers, 

 of 1,171 tons, and 33 sailing vessels, of 1,682 tons. 

 The telegraphs have a length of 559 miles; tele- 

 phones, 677 miles. 



British Honduras is a Crown colony south of 

 Yucatan. The population of 34,747, as computed 

 in 1897, consisted of 481 whites and 34,266 col- 

 ored. The number of marriages in 1898 was 281 ; 

 of births, 1,469; of deaths, 1,146. The Governor 

 is Col. Sir David Wilson. The revenue for 1898 

 was $274,690; expenditure, $301,413. Customs and 

 excise duties, license fees, the land tax, and sales 

 and leases of Crown lands furnish the revenue. 

 The debt was $168,815 in 1898. The value of 

 imports in 1898 was $1,248,910; exports, $1,282,593, 

 consisting, besides mahogany and logwood, which 

 have always been the staple products of the coun- 

 try, of bananas, plantains, and cocoanuts shipped 

 to New Orleans. Coffee, rubber, and sarsaparilla, 

 the products of Yucatan, are also shipped from the 

 port of Belize. There were 618 vessels, of 183,332 

 tons, entered and 609, of 153,552 tons, cleared 

 during 1898. The shipping of the colony consisted 

 of 225 sailing vessels, of 4,950 tons, and 7 steamers, 

 of 1,992 tons. United States gold has been the 

 legal standard currency since IS'.il. 



Preservation of Wild Animals in Africa. 

 Representatives of England, France, Germany, 

 Italy, Portugal, and Spain, and of the King of 

 the Belgians acting for the Independent State of 

 the Congo, met in London, and <>n May 19, 1900, 

 signed a convention for the protection of wild 

 animals in Africa between 20 of north latitude 



and the Zambesi. It is not allowable to hunt 

 or destroy vultures, owls, secretary birds, or rhi- 

 noceros birds, on account of their usefulness, or 

 giraffes, gorillas, chimpanzees, mountain zebras, 

 wild asses, white-tailed gnus, elands, or the little 

 Liberian hippopotamus, on account of their rarity, 

 and the prohibition may be extended to other 

 useful or rare species threatened with extermina- 

 tion. The hunting or destruction is prohibited 

 of young elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, 

 zebras, buffaloes, ibexes, chevrotains, and antelopes 

 and gazelles of the genera Bubalis, Damaliscus. 

 Connochoetes, Cephalophus, Oreotragus, Oribia, 

 Rhaphiceros, Nesotragus, Madoqua, Cobus, Cervi- 

 capra, Pelea, ^Epyceros, Antidorcas, Gazella, Am- 

 modorcas, Lithoeranius, Doreotragus,Oryx, Addax, 

 Hippotragus, Taurotragus, Strepsicerus, and Tra- 

 gelaphus; also of females of any of these species 

 when accompanied by their young or of any fe- 

 males that can be recognized as such. Of adult 

 males of the same species only limited numbers 

 may be killed, and the restriction is extended to 

 various pigs, colobi and all the fur monkeys, aard 

 varks, dugongs, manatees, small cats, servals, 

 cheetahs, jackals, aard wolves, small monkeys, 

 ostriches, marabous, egrets, bustards, franco! ins. 

 guinea fowls and other game birds, and large 

 tortoises. Harmful animals, of which it is desired 

 to reduce the numbers within sufficient limits, 

 may be hunted, and measures will be applied 

 to effect their reduction. In this category are 

 lions, leopards, hyenas, the hunting dogs, otters, 

 baboons and harmful monkeys, large birds of prey 

 except vultures, secretary birds, and owls, croco- 

 diles, poisonous snakes, and pythons. Measures 

 will be taken to destroy the eggs of crocodiles, 

 poisonous snakes, and pythons, to insure the pro- 

 tection of ostrich eggs, and to supervise sick cattle 

 in order to prevent the transmission of contagious 

 diseases to wild animals. Export duties will be 

 imposed on skins of giraffes, antelopes, zebras, rhi- 

 noceroses, and hippopotamuses, and on rhinoceros 

 and antelope horns and hippopotamus tusks. Se- 

 vere penalties will be enforced against hunters of 

 young elephants and all tusks weighing less than 

 10 kilogrammes will be confiscated. Reserves will 

 be established, within which it shall be unlawful 

 to hunt, capture, or kill any bird or wild animal 

 except those specially exempted from protection ; 

 the reserves to be sufficiently large tracts of lands 

 having abundant food and water and, if possible, 

 salt for preserving birds and wild animals and 

 affording them the necessary quiet during the 

 breeding season. Outside of the reserves clo^c 

 seasons will be established to facilitate the rearing 

 of young, and only holders of licenses, revocable 

 in case of breach of the provisions of the conven- 

 tion, will be permitted to hunt. The use of nets 

 and pitfalls will be restricted, and the use of dyna- 

 mite or other explosives or of poison for the pur- 

 pose of taking fish is forbidden. The contracting 

 parties undertook to promulgate the provisions 

 of the convention within a year, and to communi- 

 cate within eighteen months information as to Ihe 

 areas established as reserves. The prohibitions and 

 restrictions may be relaxed in order to permit 

 the collection of specimens for museums or zoolog- 

 ical gardens or for scientific purposes, and also 

 where it is desirable for important administrative 

 reasons or necessitated by temporary difficulties 

 of administration. The domestication of x.cbi 

 elephants, and ostriches will be encouraged. The 

 convention will remain in force fifteen years, and 

 will continue in force from year to year thereafter, 

 any of the signatory powers having the right to 

 withdraw at the expiration of the period or in any 

 subsequent year by giving twelve months' notice. 



