JAPAN. 



353 



the Mareb, Belesa, and Muna rivers. The delimi- 

 tation of Eritrea from the Egyptian Soudan was 

 arranged in a treaty signed April 15, 1891, sup- 

 plemented by the protocols of Dec. 7, 1898, June 

 1, 1899, and April 16, 1901, and the Anglo-Italian 

 agreement of Nov. 22, 1901. The boundary starts 

 from the coast at Ras Kasar, runs to Barca, and 

 thence to Sabderat, near Kassala, and from that 

 point due south to the Atbara. The colony is 

 administered by a royal Commissioner under in- 

 structions from the Italian Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs. Ferdinando Martini was Commissioner 

 in 1902. The area is estimated at 88,500 square 

 miles, with 450,000 inhabitants, mostly Arab 

 nomads. The Europeans number about 2,000. 

 The expenditure for the year ending June 30, 1901, 

 was estimated at 10,430,500 lire, of which local 

 taxation produced 2,229,700 lire and 8,130,800 lire 

 were contributed by the Italian Government. 

 Camels, cattle, sheep, and goats find plenty of 

 pasture, but agriculture will not be possible with- 

 out irrigation. Meat, hides, and butter are ex- 

 ported and mother-of-pearl and pearls, which are 

 produced to the amount of about 1,050,000 lire 

 per annum. An Italian company organized in 

 1898 received the rights of the pearl fisheries and 

 contracted to cultivate mother-of-pearl oysters. 

 The total value of imports at Massowah in 1900 

 was 9,376,543 lire, and of exports 2,745,470 lire. 

 There were 2,939 vessels, of 129,499 tons, entered 

 and 2,929, of 129,349 tons, cleared. A railroad, 17 

 miles long, from Massowah to Saati, is being con- 

 tinued to Asmara, the seat of the administration ; 

 and a telegraph-line is to be constructed to Adis 

 Abeba, the capital of Abyssinia. A telegraph- 

 line now runs from Massowah to Assab, 319 miles, 

 and thence to Perim, 62 miles. The common unit 

 of value is the Maria Theresa dollar, coined in 



Austria. To take their place the Italian mint 

 has coined 2,175,999 Eritrean dollars. 



South of Abyssinia, on the Somali coast, Italy 

 has a protectorate over the Sultan of Obbia and 

 the Mijertain and occupies the ports of Brava, 

 Merka, Mogadoscio, and Warsheik, which were 

 ceded by the Sultan of Zanzibar in 1892. (See 

 EAST AFRICA.) 



The frontiers between Eritrea and the Egyptian 

 Soudan and Abyssinia were settled by a conven- 

 tion with England and one with Abyssinia. The 

 Anglo-Egyptian authorities agreed to transfer to 

 Italy the territory between the Mareb and the 

 boundary of the Soudan which Menelek had ceded 

 to them, and he ratified the arrangement in re- 

 turn for the retrocession to Abyssinia by Italy 

 of the enclave of Tomat. The Ethiopian Negus 

 furthermore sanctioned the occupation by Italy 

 of the Kunama country. He granted in another 

 document mining, industrial, and trading conces- 

 sions to Italians covering Tigre, Gondar, and the 

 upper basin of the Takazze. 



When the British operations against the Mad 

 Mullah were extended so^that it was desirable for 

 a British force to pursue the foe into Italian 

 Somaliland the Italian Government gave permis- 

 sion on condition that an Italian officer should 

 accompany the expedition. At the same time 

 Italian war-vessels endeavored to stop the im- 

 portation of arms into Somaliland. The delimita- 

 tion of French and Italian possessions on the Red 

 Sea recognized territory north of Ras Dumeira 

 as Italian, including Raheita. The Sultan of 

 Raheita, whose predecessor ceded to Italy in 1870 

 her first African possession, the settlement of 

 Assab, caused a disturbance which led to the 

 annexation in May, 1902, of his dominion to 

 Eritrea. 



JAPAN, a constitutional empire in the Pa- 

 cific Ocean, between the possessions of Russia 

 and the United States, governed by the oldest 

 continuous line of political rulers in the world. 

 Of the unknown number of islands, of which 

 more than 4,000 have been counted, about 500 

 are inhabited. Area, exclusive of Formosa, 147,- 

 655 square miles. Seventy-five per cent, of the 

 people live on the main island, and the impor- 

 tant part of the nation's history has taken place 

 on the three islands of Hondo, Kiushiu, and 

 Shikoku. The northern limit of the empire is 

 fixed at 56 56', and the southern at 21 48' 

 north latitude, the other boundaries being at east 

 longitude 119 20' and 156 32'. By the census 

 of 1898 the population was 46,558,297. With the 

 normal rate of increase the figures would now 

 show very nearly 50,000.000 souls, of whom 

 50,000 are registered as living abroad, 24.034 be- 

 ing in Western countries or possessions, 1,068 

 being students or in Government service. The 

 money standard is gold, the yen being worth 50 

 cents. The present ruler, Mutsuhito, born in 

 Kioto, Nov. 3, 1852, is the one hundred and twen- 

 ty-second of the imperial line. His fiftieth 

 birthday was celebrated with great popular re- 

 joicings. He married in February, 1869, the Prin- 

 cess Haruko, born May 28, 1850, daughter of 

 Prince Ichijo; but no children have been born 

 of the union. The heir apparent, Prince Yoshi- 

 hito, born Aug. 31, 1879, of the imperial concu- 

 bine Yanagiwara Aiko, married, May 10, 1900, the 

 Princess Sada, daughter of Prince Kujo, born 



re 25, 1884. Two male children, Hirohito, born 

 VOL. XLII. 23 A 



May 5, 1901, and Haruhito, born June 25, 1902, 

 are the fruit of this union. The corner-stone of 

 the new palace for the imperial prince, which is 

 built of American structural steel, was laid on 

 May 9, with imposing ceremonies in foreign style, 

 these taking the place of the usual native cus- 

 toms at the completion of the roof-timbers. The 

 civil list is 3,000,000 yen. 



Since 1889 the Emperor has shared legislative 

 powers with the Imperial Diet, consisting of two 

 houses. By the new election law there is, besides 

 316 peers and imperial nominees in the upper 

 house, an increase of 13 new members in the 

 lower house, making 382. Franchise-holders must 

 pay at least 10 yen in direct taxes. These now 

 number 967,227. With numerous changes of the 

 Cabinet since 1889, constitutional reform has been 

 steadily continuous toward the British rather 

 than the German system, and the general tend- 

 ency of political life is toward democracy. The 

 last lower house was the only one that lived out 

 its full term, and the Katsura Cabinet, formed 

 in July, still holds office. The seventeenth an- 

 nual meeting of the Diet began Dec. 6, 1902. 



The Emperor presides actively over the impe- 

 rial Cabinet, which consists of the Ministers 

 Present of State and 9 heads of departments. He 

 is also assisted by a Privy Council of 20 veteran 

 statesmen, who are especially influential in the 

 appointment of the Mikado's servants, from Cab- 

 inet officers to consuls. 



The Army. The whole male population be- 

 tween the ages of twenty-one and forty is liable 

 to military service, and "the total number avail- 



