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 BRITISH EMPIRE BRITISH MUSEUM 297 regularly fortified, and a small space of sloping ground at its foot on which stands its town; area, 2 sq. m. ; pop. in 1871, , 18,695. Malta, a strongly fortified naval and military station, ; with its dependency Gozo. taken from the French in 1800; , area of both, 143 sq. m.; pop. in 18ti6, 139,502. IN ASIA. British India is divided into British possessions I and native states more or less under the control of the Brit- j ish government. Since Aug. 2, 1S5S, all the territories hereto- : fore under the government of the East India company have ' been vested in the crown, in the name of which all authority ' is exercised. The executive authority is vested in a governor j LM-neral, who acts under the orders of the secretary of state ; for India, and also appoints various lieutenant governors and commissioners for the several presidencies and provinces. The provinces of Hyderabad, Mysore, and Coorg (47,661 sq. m., pop. 6,389,792) are under the direct administration of the governor general. The remainder is under the following func- tionaries : lieutenant governor of Bengal, 239,591 sq. m., pop. 85,975,274; lieutenant governor of North west Provinces, 88,875 sq. m., pop, 30,086,898; lieutenant governor of the Punjaub, 102,001 sq. m., pop. 17,596,752; chief commissioner of Oude, 24,060 sq. m.; pop. 11,220,747; chief commissioner of Central Provinces, 84,162 sq. m,, pop. 7,985,411 ; chief commissioner of British Burmah, 98,881 sq. m., pop. 2,463,484; governor of Madras, 141,746 sq. m., pop. 26,539,052; governor of Bombay, 87,639 sq. m., pop. 11.093,512; commissioner of Sinde, 54,403 sq. m., pop. 1,795,594. Total area of British possessions in India, 968,929 sq. m.. pop. 151,146,426. There are some 60 or 70 native chiefs and states under the control of the British government; area, 646,147 sq. m M pop. 46,245,888. Besides India, the British possessions in Asia include the islands of Ceylon and Singapore, Hong Kong in China, and a few small , settlements, with a total population of about 2,800,000 ; also I Aden, a seaport at the mouth of the Red sea, pop. about 50,000. I IN AFBIOA. Cape Colony, extending from the Cape of j Good Hope to the Orange river, taken from the Dutch in 1806 ; 200,610 sq.m., pop. 566,158. Port Natal, N.E. of Cape Colony, I settled in 1838; 17,801 sq. m., pop. 269.862. Sierra Leone, settled in 1787, as a colony for slaves who had been released from their captors ; 468 sq. m., pop. 65,874 Gambia, N. of Sierra Leone, settled in 1681 ; 21 sq. m., pop. in 1851, 6,989. The Gold Coast Settlements, comprising several forts and trading posts, of which Cape Coast Castle is the chief; 16,626 sq. m., pop. estimated at 400,000. Mauritius, and several small islands adjacent, lying hi the Indian ocean, taken from the French in 1810; 708 sq. m., pop. 822,924. St. Helena, an island in the Atlantic, ceded by the Dutch in 1651 ; 47 sq. m., pop. 6,860. Ascension, an almost uninhabited rock N. of St. Helena. IK AHKRICA. Dominion of Canada, comprising the for- mer territorial divisions of Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Hudson Bay territory, British Columbia, and Vancou- ver island; 8,481,779 sq. m., pop. 8,648,000. Newfoimd- land ; 40,200 sq. m., pop. 146,536. Prince Edward Island ; 2,173 sq. m., pop. 94,021. The Bermudas, in the Atlantic BRITISH GUM, a name given by calico print- ers to dextrine, produced by heating starch to about 400 F., or until it becomes soluble in cold water and loses its property of forming a blue color with iodine. It is used for stiffen- ing fabrics, and also as an adhesive substance on postage stamps, on labels, on photographic pictures, and the like. (See DEXTRINE.) BRITISH MUSEUM, a national depository of science, literature, and art, which owes its or- igin to the will of Sir Hans Sloane, who died in 1753, and bequeathed to the nation his col- lection of medals and coins, antiquities, seals, cameos, drawings and pictures, and his library, consisting of 50,000 volumes and manuscripts, on the condition of the payment to his heirs of 20,000, being less than half its cost. Parlia- ment accepted this condition, by an act passed in June, 1753, and directed that the Oottonian library, a collection of historical documents made by Sir Robert Cotton during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I., which had been acquired by government in the reign of Queen , ocean, oil' the coast of the United States ; 24 sq. m., pop. p. 1,028,708. 68, ,5 122,812. Falkland Islands, in the Atlantic, , 11,796. West India Islands; 12,636 sq. m., pop. British Honduras; 18,500 sq. ra., pop. 25,685. Brittsh 6wana, taken from the French in 1803; 99,925 sq. m., pop. s, in the Atlantic, off the 8. . ,. a, , coast of South America ; 4,741 sq. m., pop. 686. IN AUSTRALASIA. Awtralitt, 2,978,127 sq. m., pop. in 1871, 1,661,027, comprising the following colonies: New South Wales, organized in 1788, 823,487 sq. m., pop. 501,611; West- ern Australia, organized in 1829, 978,000 sq. m., pop. 24,785 ; South Australia, organized in 1S36, 3S3.828 sq. m., pop. 188,995; Victoria, organized in 1851, 86,831 sq. m., pop. 729,868; Queensland, organized in 1859, 678,000 sq. m., pop. 115,567; Northern territory, not yet organized, 523,531 sq. m., pop. 201. Tasmania, formerly Van Diemen's Land, settled in 1808; 26,215 sq.m., pop. 97,368. New Zealand, settled in 18S9; 106,259 sq. m., pop. 294,02S. Ldbnan, an island near Borneo ; 50 sq. m., pop. 8,828. Sarawak, a protected state in the isl- and of Borneo, established in 1844 by Sir James Brooke ; 3,000 sq. m., pop. 50,000. The following table gives approximately, in round numbers, the area and population of the British empire : COUNTRIES. Area, square mile4. regulation. 121000 82000000 Asia 1 640000 200000000 America 3,700,000 6000,000 Africa.. . 250000 i TOO ooo 8100000 2000000 Total. 8811 000 240700000 British Museum. Anne, should be added to the Sloane collec- tion, together with a library of about 2,000 printed volumes, called Major Arthur Ed- ward's library, which had existed as an ap- pendage to the Cottonian library since 1738. The book department of the British museum was still further increased by the purchase, for 10,000, of the Harleian library of manuscripts, a collection of about 7,600 volumes of rolls, charters, and other historical documents, which had been accumulated by Robert Harley, earl of Oxford, and his son and successor, Edward Harley. The act of parliament for founding the museum authorized a lottery of 100,000, out of which 10,250 were expended for Montague house with its gardens of 7J acres, 12,873 were laid out in repairs, and 30,000 were set apart as a fund for the payment of salaries (which at first were moderate), taxes, and other ex- penses. The collection has since been increas- ed by the munificence of successive parliaments, and by gifts, bequests, and copyrights, until it constitutes a national institution unrivalled in variety and extent by any similar one in the world. It is situated in Great Russell street, Bloomsbiiry, London. From the rapid increase of the various collections a more commodious