548 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



north latitude with the 151st meridian of \vr-t 

 longitude. Recent measurements made by the 

 United States Geological Survey show this to 

 be the talle>t peak in the United States, 

 overtopping Mount St. Klias and Mount Logan 

 by about 1,000 feet, its height being L'0. 164 feet. 

 The irreat height of Mount McKinley has been 

 known to the Indians and the scattering whites 

 of that region, for many years, as its towering 

 summit is plainly visible on clear days for a 

 distance of IL'.") miles or more. 



Munich (mii'-nik), the capital city of Ba- 

 varia, on an extensive plateau, about 1,700 feet 

 above sea-level, chiefly on the left bank of the 

 I>ar. The old town has a quaint and irregular 

 character, but the new town, which has sprung 

 up chiefly to the north and west, has a regular 

 and imposing appearance, and altogether Mu- 

 nich is one of the finest towns in Germany. The 

 royal palace forms a very extensive series of 

 buildings chiefly in the Italian style, and con- 

 tains many magnificent apartments and rich 

 artistic and other treasures. The royal library 

 (occupying a fine building in the Florentine 

 style) has upward of 1,000,000 volumes and 

 30,000 manuscripts, being thus one of the largest 

 in Europe. The university had in 1899-1900, 

 194 professors and teachers, and 4,257 students 

 in theology, jurisprudence, medicine, and phi- 

 losophy, together with a library of over 300,000 

 volumes. The industries are numerous, and in 

 some particular branches have acquired a high 

 name. Among others may be mentioned paint- 

 ed glass and other artistic productions, mathe- 

 matical, optical, and surgical instruments, gold 

 and silver lace, jewelry, glass, carriages, bells, 

 musical instruments, etc. Munich is the seat of 

 the high courts of legislature and of law, and of all 

 the more important offices of the state. It was 

 founded by Henry, Duke of Saxony, in '962 ; 

 taken by Gustavus Adolphus in 1632, by the 

 French under Moreau in 1800, and by Napoleon 

 in 1805. Population, 545,091. 



Naples (Italian, Napoli), a magnificent city 

 of Southern Italy, capital of a province of same 

 name, and of the former kingdom of the Two 

 Sicilies, on the north side of the far-famed Bay 

 of Naples, near the base of Mount Vesuvius, 

 118 miles southeast of Rome. Built in the 

 form of an amphitheater, Naples, as viewed 

 from the sea, presents a panorama of almost 

 unrivaled beauty. Architecturally speaking, its 

 public edifices are more remarkable for their 

 size than for their elegance of design. It has 

 some manufactures and a large commerce. 

 This city, the supposed Parthenope of the an- 

 cients, has, at various times, been devastated 

 by the effects of war, earthquakes, and the 

 volcanic eruptions of its neighbor, Vesuvius. 

 The environs of Naples Capri, Pompeii, etc. 

 are renowned for their picturesqueness and 

 archaeological interest. Population, 563,731. 



Netherlands, The, or Holland (Dutch 

 Nederland, or Koninkrijk der Nederlanden), is 

 a kingdom of Europe on the North Sea, north 

 of Belgium and west of part of Northern Ger- 

 many. In addition to its European territories, 

 Holland possesses extensive colonies and de- 

 pendencies in the Asiatic archipelago and Amer- 

 ica; including Java, Sumatra, great part of 



Borneo, Celebes, part of New Guinea, Surinam 

 or Dutch Guiana, the West Indian islands of 

 Curacao, Saba, St. Eustatius, etc. Some por- 

 tions of the Netherlands proper are sixteen to 

 twenty feet below the surface of the sea, and 

 nearly all parts too low for natural drainage. 

 The coast line is very irregular, being marked 

 by the great inlet of the Zuider Zee, as well as 

 by various others, and fringed by numerous 

 islands. In great part the coast is so low that 

 were it not for massive sea-dykes, large areas 

 would be inundated and lost to the inhabitants. 

 In the interior also dykes are a common feature, 

 being built to protect portions of land from the 

 lakes or rivers, or to enable swampy pieces of 

 land to be reclaimed by draining, the water 

 being commonly pumped up by windmills. 

 These inclosed lands are called "polders," and 

 by the formation of the polders the available 

 area of the country is being constantly increased, 

 lakes and marshes being converted into fertile 

 fields, and considerable areas being even rescued 

 from the sea. One of these reclamations was 

 j the Lake of Haarlem, the drainage of which, 

 I yielding more than 40,000 acres of good land 

 now inhabited by about 12,000 persons, begun 

 in 1839, was finished in 1852. Almost the only 

 j heights are the sand hills, about 100 to 180 feet 

 ! high, along the coast, and a similar chain of 

 j low hills, southeast of the Zuider Zee. In the 

 I same line with the sand hills, extending past 

 the mouth of the Zuider Zee, runs a chain of 

 islands, namely, Texel, Vlieland, Schelling, Ame- 

 land, etc., which seem to indicate the original 

 line of the coast before the ocean broke in on 

 the low lands. The coast of Friesland, opposite 

 these islands, depends for its security altogether 

 on artificial embankments. The highest eleva- 

 tion, 656 feet, is in the extreme southeast. The 

 general aspect of the country is flat, tame, and 

 ! uninteresting, and about a fifth of the whole 

 surface consists of marsh, sand, heath, or other 

 unproductive land. Wheat, of excellent qual- 

 ity, is grown only in favored portions of the 

 south provinces. Rye, oats, and buckwheat, 

 ! with horse-beans, beet, madder, and chicory, 

 ! are more common crops; and tobacco is culti- 

 ! vated in the provinces of Gelderland, South 

 Holland, and Utrecht; flax in North Brabant, 

 j South and North Holland, Friesland, and Zee- 

 jland; and hemp, sugar-beet, oilseeds, and hops 

 I in various parts of the kingdom. Culinary 

 vegetables are cultivated on a large scale, not 

 j merely for the sake of supplying the internal 

 demand, but also for the exportation of the 

 seeds, which form an important article of Dutch 

 commerce. But it is in stock (cattle, horses, 

 sheep, swine, goats), and dairy products in par- 

 ticular, that the rural industry of the Nether- 

 lands shows its strength. The commerce of the 

 country was, at one time, the most important 

 in the world, and is even yet of great importance 

 and activity. The foreign trade centers chiefly 

 in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. The industrial 

 occupations are varied. Shipbuilding and sub- 

 sidiary trades are among the chief. Of textile 

 manufactures, that of linen is the most impor- 

 tant; but silks and velvets, as well as woolens 

 and cottons, are produced in considerable quan- 

 tity. Pigments, brandy, gin, paper, glass, 



