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A L W A R — AMAZON

following month, and in November exchanged this seat for the Isle of Wight, which he continued to represent until his elevation to the House of Lords. Except under the brief Gladstone administration of 1886, and the GladstoneRosebery Cabinet of 1892-95, Sir Richard Webster was attorney-general from 1885 to 1899. In 1890 he was leading counsel for the Times in the Parnell inquiry; in 1893 he represented Great Britain in the Bering Sea arbitration; and in 1898 he discharged the same function in the matter of the boundary between British Guiana and Yenezuela. He was well known as an athlete in his earlier years, having represented his university as a runner, and his interest in cricket and foot-racing was kept up in later life. In the House of Commons, and outside it, he was throughout his political career prominently associated with Church work ; and though he had no claim to a reputation for eloquence, his speeches were distinguished for the more solid qualities of gravity and earnestness. In 1899 he succeeded Sir Nathaniel Bindley as Master of the Rolls, at the same time being raised to the peerage as Baron Alverstone, and in October of the same year he was elevated to the office of Lord Chief Justice upon the death of Lord Russell of Killowen. AS Weir, or Ulwar, a native state of India, in the Rajputana agency. Area, 3051 square miles; population (1881), 682,926; (1891), 767,786—average density, 252 persons per square mile; (1901), 828,888, showing an increase of 8 per cent. When compared with a heavy decrease elsewhere throughout Rajputana, this increase may be attributed to the successful administration of famine relief, under British officials. The gross revenue in 1896-97 was Rs.27,88,410, of which Rs.20,48,000 was derived from land, Rs.1,25,000 from salt, and Rs.1,85,000 from interest. The expenditure included Rs.3,59,000 for public works, Rs.5,10,706 for imperial service troops, Rs.3,87,602 for irregular forces, Rs.1,53,000 for palace, and Rs.3,13,000 for stables, &c. There was a balance of Rs.65,53,000, mostly invested in government securities. The present Maharaja, Jai Singh, who succeeded in 1892, was educated at the Mayo College, where he excelled both in sports and in knowledge of English. Alwdr was the first native state to accept a currency struck at the Calcutta mint, of the same weight and assay as the imperial rupee, with the head of the British Sovereign on the obverse. Imperial service troops are maintained, consisting of both cavalry and infantry, with transport. The state is traversed by the Delhi branch of the Rajputana railway. A settlement of the land revenue is being carried out by an English civilian. The city of Alwar is situated in 27° 34' lat. N. and 76° 38' E. long.; railway station on the Rajputana line, 98 miles from Delhi. Population (1881), 49,876 ; (1891), 52,398 ; (1901) 56,740, showing a steady increase. It stands in a valley overhung by a fortress 1000 feet above. It is surrounded by a rampart and moat, with five gates, and contains fine palaces, temples, and tombs. The water-supply is brought from a lake 9 miles distant. It has a high school, affiliated to the Allahabad university; and a school for the sons of nobles, founded to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. The Lady Dufferin hospital is under the charge of an English lady doctor, with two female assistants. Amakusa, an island belonging to Japan, 36£ miles long and 13| wide, situated in 32° 20' N. lat. and 131° E. long., on the west of the province of Higo, from which it is separated by the Yatsushiro-kai. It has no high mountains, but its surface being very hilly four of the peaks rise to a height of over 1500 feet—the natives resort to the terrace system of cultivation with remarkable

success. A number of the heads of the Christians executed in connexion with the Shimabara rebellion in the 17th century were buried in this island. Amakusa produces fine kaolin, which was largely used in former times by the potters of Hirado and Satsuma. Amalfi, a town and archiepiscopal see of Campania, province of Salerno, Italy, on the N. coast of the Gulf of Salerno, 13 miles W. by S. from Salerno. This part of the coast produces first-class lemons. Macaroni is manufactured. A serious landslip choked up the harbour in January 1900. Population, 4792 (1881); 7329 (1901). Amara, a town of Asiatic Turkey, in the Basra vildyet, on the left bank of the Tigris, connected with the right bank by a bridge of boats. It is the chief town of a rich district and exports grain and dates. Population, 9500. Amarapura, formerly capital of Burma, now a subdivision of the Mandalay district, with an area of 304 square miles and a population of 62,310. The old city of Amarapura is in a state of utter ruin. The Burmans know it as Myohrung, “ the old city.” It is a station on the Rangoon - Mandalay railway, and is the junction for the line to Maymyo and the Kunlong ferry, and for the Sagaing-Myitkyina railway. The group of villages called Amarapura by Europeans is known to the Burmans as Taung-myo, “ the southern city,” as distinguished from Mandalay, the Myauk-myo, or “ northern city,” 3 miles distant. Amarapura, though little more than a century old and abandoned so recently as 1860, is stamped with the desolation of ages, so completely have the climate and vandalism changed its aspect. It contains many pagodas. AnictSicl, the chief town of a district in the Sivas vildyet in Asia Minor, and an important trade centre on the Samsun-Sivas road. It was one of the chief towns of the kingdom of Trebizond, and was much favoured by the early Osmanli sultans, one of whom, Selim L, was born there. Amasia has extensive orchards and fruit gardens ; and there are steam flour-mills. Wheat, flour, and silk are exported. In 1895 there was a massacre of Armenians. Population, 30,000 (Moslems, 20,000, of whom one-third are Shlas; Christians, 10,000). Amazon.—The river Amazon, the largest in the world, has a drainage area of 2,722,000 square miles, if the Tocantins be included in its basin. It drains fourtenths of South America, and it gathers its waters from 5° N. to 20° S. latitude. Its most remote sources are found on the inter-Andean plateau, but a short distance from the Pacific Ocean; and, after a course of about 4000 miles through the interior of Peru and across Brazil, it enters the Atlantic Ocean on the equator. It is generally accepted by geographers that the Maranon, or Upper Amazon, rises in the little lake, Lauricocha, in 10° 30' S. latitude, and 100 miles N.N.E. of Lima. They appear to have followed the account given by Padre Fritz, which has since been found incorrect. According to Antonio Raimondi, it is the Rio de Nupe branch of the small stream which issues from the lake that has the longer course and the greater volume of water. The Nupe rises in the Cordillera de Huayhuath, and is the true source of the Maranon. There is a difference among geographers as to where the Maranon ends and the Amazon commences, or whether both names apply to the same river. The Pongo de Manseriche, at the base of the Andes, and the head of useful navigation, seems to be the natural terminus of the Maranon; and an examination of the hydrographic conditions of the great valley makes the convenience and accuracy of this apparent. Raimondi terminates the Maranon at the