Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/568

LEFT YUKON 488 YUNNAN There are four yugas : The Satya Yuga, containing 1,728,000 years; the Treta Yuga, 1,296.000; the Dwapara Yuga, 864,000 years; and the Kali Yuga, now in progress, began about 3094 B. C, and which will extend to 432,000 years. Horace Hayman Wilson points out that these numbers originate in the descend- ing arithmetical progressions of 4, 3, 2, 1, according to the notions of diminish- ing virtue in several ages applied to a cycle of 12,000 divine years, each equal to 360 years of mortals; and 12,000 X 360 is = 4,320,000, the periods of the four yugas added together. YUKON, the largest stream in the ex- treme N. W. portion of the North Amer- ican continent. It is 2,200 miles in length, the Mackenzie river, near it, being estimated at 2,300 miles. It is the 17th river of the world as to length, the seventh of the Western Hemisphere, the fourth of the North American continent, and the third in the United States. This last assertion is based on its whole length of 2,044 miles, however, but tak- ing only that portion which is in the United States, or Alaska, 1,260 miles, it is the fifth river of our country, the Mississippi, Missouri, Arkansas, and Ohio rivers being longer. Its length in navigable miles is 2,036, there being but four rivers in the world with a greater capacity, the Amazon, the Mississippi, the Missouri, and the St. Lawrence. The entire portion lying in the United States (Alaska) of 1,260 miles is navigable by river steamers. The first absolutely im- practicable obstruction to navigation is at the Grand Canon, 1,866 miles from the mouth. The Yukon river rises in Crater Lake, on the E. slopes of the Alaskan coast range (here called Kotusk Mountains), in British Columbia. In a few miles it passes into the British Northwest Territory, flows N. by W. 784 miles, and enters Alaska about lat. 65° N. This direction is kept till the Arctic circle is just reached, when the Yukon river bends suddenly at almost right angles, flows W. by S. about 1,000 miles, and empties into Bering Sea by a delta whose N. and S. mouths are from 80 to 90 miles apart. YUKON, a territory in N. W. British America; formerly a district of the Northwest Territories; created a sepa- rate territory in 1898. It lies in the W. portion, and just N. of British Co- lumbia. It was brought into prominence by the discovery in 1897 of immense quantities of gold on the Klondike river and its tributaries. The gold-producing region extends about 80 miles N. and S., and is perhaps 50 miles in width. See Klondike. YULE, the old English name for Christmas, still used provincially, as well as in Yule log, Yule cake. Yule tide. For the nature of the old heathen festi- val, and the way in which the observ- ances were overlaid or transformed by the Christian institution, see Christmas. YULE, SIB HENRY, a British Orientalist; born near Edinburgh, Scot- land, in May, 1820. Having entered the Indian army he served in the Sutlej campaign (1845-1846), in the Punjab (1848-1849), in Burma, and in the In- dian mutiny, and became secretary to the Public Works Department, in which capacity he took part in several impor- tant surveys and missions. In 1875 he was appointed a member of the Home Council of India. Of the many works which he wrote and edited, the most noted is his admirable translation, with notes and maps, of Marco Polo (1871; augmented edition, 1875). He edited several volumes for the Hakluyt So- ciety; and was a gold medalist of the Royal Geographical Society. He died in London, England, Dec. 30, 1889. YUNG WING, a Chinese diplomatist, born in Nanping, China, Nov. 17, 1828; came to the United States in 1847; was graduated at Yale College in 1854; and in 1864 was commissioned by the Chi- nese Government to buy machinei-y in the United States for the arsenal of Kiang-Nau. In 1870 he proposed to the Chinese Government the settlement of claims for the massacre of Christians at Tientsin by establishing a line of steam- ers to carry a tribute of rice, the out- growth of which was the celebrated China Merchant Steam Navigation Com- pany. He was also influential in per- suading the Chinese Government to pro- vide for the education of Chinese youth in foreign countries, that intercourse with foreigners might be made easier. In 1875 he married Miss Mary Kellog of Hartford, Conn., an act which met with disfavor, with the Chinese authori- ties and led to his recall. In 1878, how- ever, he was appointed assistant minis- ter of China to the United States, where he remained till the outbreak of the Chino-Japanese War, when he was or- dered to China. At the close of the war he was appointed one of the peace com- missioners, but on the refusal of the Japanese to recognize him because of his rank he was replaced by Chang-Ten- Hoon. Subsequently he was raised in rank and in 1897 represented the Chin- ese (Government at Queen Victoria's jubilee. He died in 1912. YUNNAN (-nan'), the extreme S. W. province of China; bounded on the S. by