Since his death West’s reputation has seriously declined. His works, which fond criticism ranked during his life with the great productions of the old masters, are now considered as in general formal, tame, wanting that freedom of nature and that life which genius alone can breathe into the canvas. His Death of Wolfe is interesting as introducing modern costume instead of the classical draperies which had been previously universal in similar subjects by English artists; and his Battle of La Hogue is entitled to an honourable place among British historical paintings. An account of West’s life was published by Galt {The Progress of Genius, 1816); and biographies of him occur in Cunningham’s Lives of Eminent British Painters and Redgrave’s Century of Painters of the English School.

In 1230 the manor of West Bromwich was vested in the barons of Dudley, and in 1293 it descended to Walter de Evereus; in 1448 it passed to the Stanleys, from whom it was purchased by Sir Richard Skelton, solicitor-general to Charles I.; and in 1626 it came into the possession of Sir Samuel Clarke, by whose descendants, who subsequently assumed the name of Clarke-Jervoise, it was sold in 1823 to the earl of Dartmouth. West Bromwich was incorporated 13th September 1882. By the Act of 1885 its parliamentary representation was separated from that of Wednesbury, and it was erected into a parliamentary borough returning one member.

At the time of the Conquest West Ham belonged to Alestan and Leured, two freemen, and at Domesday to Ralph Gernon and Ralph Peverel. West Ham village was included in the part which descended to the Gernons, who took the name of Mont-fichet. It received the grant of a market and annual fair in 1253, but these have not been kept for many years. The lordship was given to the abbey of Stratford, and, passing to the crown at the dissolution, it formed part of the dowry of Catherine of Portugal, and was therefore called the Queen’s Manor. In 1885 the urban sanitary district was erected into a parliamentary borough, returning two members for the Northern and Southern Divisions respectively.

The West Indies are situated in about 20° N. lat. and 75° W. long., and form a broken, but upon the whole, continuous barrier, shutting out as it were the Atlantic Ocean, with its contents of 34,804,000 cubic miles of water, and its mean depth of 2135 fathoms, from the lesser basins of the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, containing respectively 1,675,000 cubic miles and 628,000 cubic miles, and with mean depths of 1269 fathoms and 772 fathoms. These two seas are separated by the island of Cuba and the isthmus of Yucatan, with the great Campeche Bank surrounding three sides of the latter. Spring tides do not rise above 4 feet, nor neaps above 2 J feet. Complicated currents and dangerous shoals, especially in the neighbourhood of the Bahamas, necessitate the exercise of considerable skill and care when navigating this region. The equatorial current sweeps around Trinidad and the Antilles into the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf Stream passes from the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Florida Channel. The well-known Sargasso Sea lies to the north-east of the islands.

The physical features of the region are clearly shown on the accompanying map (Plate XI. ), the orographical and bathymetrical data being reproduced from a yet unpublished chart intended to illustrate one of the “Challenger” Reports, and inserted here by permission of Dr Murray, Director of the “Challenger” Expedition Commission. In the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea there are 394,850 square miles covered by depths of 100 fathoms and less, 363,950 square miles with from 100 to 500 fathoms, 263,250 square miles by from 500 to 1000 fathoms, 572,950 square miles by from 1000 to 2000 fathoms, 274,850 square miles by from 2000 to 3000 fathoms, and 7750 square miles by over 3000 fathoms. The average surface temperature of the sea in the neighbourhood of the islands is from 75° to 78° F. in February, from 79° to 80° in May, and from 82° to 84* in August. The mean annual temperature of the Gulf Stream in the Florida Channel is 80° F.

The various groups which go to form the West Indies have in some cases more than one name, but the following classification is that usually adopted. To the north lie the Bahamas, situated upon the Great Bahama Bank, south from which is Cuba; Jamaica, again, lies to the south of the latter, and to the east of Jamaica are Hayti and Porto Rico. Still farther to the east lie the Virgin Islands, south of which are the Caribbee Islands, or Antilles proper, divided by mariners into the Leeward and Windward groups. Trinidad lies close to the coast of South America. Thus the whole archipelago stretches, in the form of a rude arc, from Florida and Yucatan in North America to Venezuela in South America.

Area and Population of the Islands according to the latest Returns. [table]

The principal rivers are the Cauto, the Sagua la Grande, and the Sagua le Chica in Cuba, the Rio Grande and Plantain Garden in Jamaica, and the Gran Yacui, the Neiba, and Yuna in Hayti. All have, necessarily, short courses, and none of them are of much importance.

The population is almost entirely of European, Negro, or East-Asiatic origin. The Negroes far outnumber the others, but the Asiatics are rapidly increasing in numbers.

As in most tropical countries where considerable heights are met with—and here over 15,500 square miles lie at an elevation of more than 1500 feet above sea-level—the climate of the West Indies (in so far at least as heat and cold are concerned) varies at different altitudes, and on the higher parts of many of the islands a marked degree of coolness may generally be found. With the exception of part of the Bahamas, all the islands lie between the isotherms of 77° and 82° F. The extreme heat, however, is greatly tempered by the sea breezes, and by long, cool, refreshing nights. Frost is occasionally formed in the cold season when hail falls, but snow is unknown. The seasons may be divided as follows. The short wet season, or spring, begins in April and lasts from two to six weeks, and is succeeded by the short dry season, when the thermometer remains almost stationary at about 80° F. In July the heat increases to an extent well nigh unbearable, and thunder is heard to rumble in the distance. No change need now be looked for till after a period varying from the end of July to the beginning of October, when the great rainfall of the year commences, accompanied by those tremendous and destructive hurricanes, so intimately and truly associated with popular ideas regarding this region, on which the annual rainfall averages 63 inches— an amount of precipitation calculated to represent a mass of water of 12,465,437,000,000 cubic feet. This season is locally known as the “hurricane months.” Out of a total of 355 hurricanes, or, more properly, cyclones, recorded during the last three hundred years, 42 have occurred in July, 96 in August, 80 in September, and 69 in October. These storms commence in the Atlantic and towards the east. For a day or two they follow a westerly course, inclining, at the same time, one or two points towards the north, the polar tendency becoming gradually more marked as the distance from the equator increases. When the hurricanes reach latitude 25° N., they curve to the northeast, and almost invariably wheel round on arriving at the northern portion of the Gulf of Mexico, after which they follow the coast line of North America. Their rate of speed varies considerably, but may be said to average 300 miles per day among the islands. The usual signs of the approach of the cyclones are an ugly and threatening appearance of the weather, sharp and frequent puffs of wind increasing in force with each blast, accompanied with a long heavy swell and confused choppy sea, coming from the direction of the approaching storm. But the barometer is the true guide, which should always be consulted when a cyclone is expected. If a sudden fall of the barometer is observed, or even if a marked irregularity of its diurnal variations takes place, a storm may be confidently looked for. In some of these hurricanes the barometer has been found to stand 2 inches lower in the centre of the disturbance than it did outside the limits of the storm field. December marks the commencement of the long dry season, which, accompanied by fresh winds and occasional hail showers, lasts till April. The average temperature of the air at Barbados, which may be taken as a favourable average, is, throughout the year, 80 β F. in the forenoon, and about 82° in the afternoon. The maximum is 87°, and the minimum 75°.

The geological features of the West Indies are interesting. A calcareous formation, often assuming the shape of marbles, is most common, and indeed preponderates above all the other rocks to a remarkable degree. The Bahamas, which are low, are composed wholly of limestone formed from coral and shells, crushed into a concretionary mass, hard on the surface, but soft where not exposed to atmospheric action, full of holes and indentations, and disposed in nearly level beds. The lower parts of the Antilles present a like formation where the land does not rise above 230 feet. Cuba shows two distinct compact limestones, one a clayey sandstone and the other a gypsum. These are confined to the central and western parts of the island, which has also syenitic rocks, with some serpentine from which petroleum is obtained. Four-fifths of Jamaica consists of limestone overlying granite and other igneous rocks. Hayti has much metamorphic strata, generally greatly uptilted, and often exhibiting marked folding. These rocks appear to have been limestones, shales, sandstones, and conglomerates. Auriferous quartz veins occur in slates, where these are found near eruptive masses; there is also some syenite, and both active and extinct craters are upon this island. The western Antilles are entirely of volcanic origin, and coral reefs occur along their shores; coral reefs are also presented on the coasts of many of the other islands, but are most irregular in their mode of occurrence, sometimes forming complete belts surrounding the land on all sides, but offener appearing in the shape of unconnected masses. The fossils of the West Indies are important, as from many of them clear evidence is obtained to show that at no very remote geological period the islands formed part of the adjoining continents. The remains of the megatherium, mylodon, and cabylara, essentially South-American, are also found in North America, but only along the seaboards of Georgia and Carolina. As these are also found in some of the West India islands, as well as in South America, it is thus perfectly clear that at one time the archipelago formed a land passage between the two great divisions of the New World. These remains have also been found in conjunction with the fossil human skeletons of Guadeloupe and the rude weapons associated with them. We may therefore fairly conclude that in Pleistocene times the West Indies formed the connecting link between the two Americas. The occurrence of tree stumps in situ several feet below high-water mark also points to a comparatively late sinking of the land in some areas.

The mineral wealth of the islands is not remarkable. Gold, silver, iron, copper, tin, platinum, lead, coal of a poor quality, cobalt, mercury, arsenic, antimony, manganese, and rock salt either have been or are worked. Of late years asphalt has been worked to considerable advantage among the pitch lakes of Trinidad. Opal and chalcedony are the principal precious stones.

The fauna of the region is Neotropical, belonging to that region which includes South and part of Central America, although great numbers of birds from the North-American portion of the Holarctic realm migrate to the islands. The resident birds, however, éighteen genera of which are certainly Neotropical, show beyond doubt to which faunal region the islands properly belong. Mammals are, as in most island groups, rare. The agouti abounds, and wild pigs and dogs are sufficiently numerous to afford good sport to the hunter, as well as smaller game, in the shape of armadillos, opossums, musk-rats, and raccoons. The non-migrating birds include trogons, 8ugar-birds, chatterers, and many parrots and humming birds. Waterfowl and various kinds of pigeons are in abundance. Reptiles are numerous: snakes—both the boa and adder —are innumerable, while lizards, scorpions, tarantulas, and centipedes are everywhere. Insects are in great numbers, and are often very annoying. Among domestic animals mules are largely reared, and where the country affords suitable pasture and forage cattle-breeding is extensively engaged in. Much attention is not bestowed on horse-breeding, except in regard to the comparatively small numbers required for use in driving and riding by the officials and planters. Goats abound, and large flocks of sheep are kept for the sake of their flesh alone, as the climate is not adapted for wool-growing.

The flora of the islands is of great variety and richness, as plants have been introduced from most parts of the globe, and flourish either in a wild state or under cultivation; grain, vegetables, and fruits, generally common in cool climates, may be seen growing in luxuriance within a short distance of like plants which only attain perfection under the influence of extreme heat, nothing being here required for the successful propagation of both but a difference in the height of the lands upon which they grow. The forests, which are numerous and wide-spreading, produce the most valuable woods and delicious fruits. Palms are in great variety, and there are several species of gum-producing trees. Some locust trees have been estimated to have attained an age of 4000 years, and are of immense height and bulk. Piptadenia is, on account of its almost imperishable character when in the ground, universally used as a material for house building. Xanthoxylon, the admired and valuable satin-wood of commerce, is common; Sapindus finds a ready market on account of its toughness; crab-wood yields a useful oil and affords reliable timber; and tree ferns of various species are common. Pimento is peculiar to Jamaica. But it is to the agricultural resources of the islands that the greatest importance attaches. For centuries almost the whole care of the planters was bestowed upon the cultivation of the sugar-cane and 'tobacco plant, but since the emancipation of the slaves and the fall in the price of sugar attention has been turned to the production of other and more varying crops. Perhaps this change has been most marked in the trade which has now sprung up in fruit, which is very large, and annually increasing. Sugar, however, is still the staple product, and has for some time been grown in considerable quantities on the small holdings of the Negroes and other labourers. Crops of tobacco, beans, pease, maize, and Guinea corn are also becoming popular, and a species of rice, which requires no flooding for its successful propagation, is largely produced. Hymenachne striatum covers many of the plains, and affords food for numerous herds of cattle.

For further particulars see Cuba, Jamaica, Hayti, and other articles on separate islands. Interesting information regarding the state of the islands immediately after the abolition of slavery may be found in Extracts from Papers Printed by Order of the House of Commons, 1839, Relative to the West Indies ; and notices of the earlier British settlers are contained in Hotten’s Original Lists of Emigrants, &c.

The entire State is mountainous or hilly, being comprised within the region known as the Cumberland or Alleghany plateau. The highest land in the State is upon the eastern and southern boundary, where the plateau in many places reaches elevations exceeding 4000 feet. Thence the country has a general slope to the north-west, and is lowest along the Ohio, where the elevation is but 600 to 800 feet. This plateau has been subjected to stream erosion until it has become a network of narrow crooked ridges with deep gorges or narrow valleys. The height of the ridges and the depth of the valleys, together with the ruggedness of the country, diminish towards the north-west, until near the Ohio the hills become rounded and softened in outline, and the valleys are broad and fertile.

The drainage system of the State is in some respects peculiar. Although the general slope is towards the north-west, the Potomac, which flows south-easterly to the Atlantic Ocean, has cut its way far back into the plateau, and drains, by means of numerous long branches, the north-eastern quarter of the State. The remainder of the State is drained to the Ohio by means of several large branches which flow in a general north-westerly direction. Heading in the south-west is the Big Sandy, forming a portion of the State boundary. Fourteen miles above its mouth enters the Guyandotte, and 50 miles above the Guyandotte comes the Great Kanawha, one of the principal branches of the Ohio. This large and powerful stream has cut its way back beyond the crest-line of the plateau, tapping numerous streams in south-west Virginia and western North Carolina, so that its sources are now against the Blue Ridge in the latter State. It is known in North Carolina and Virginia, and in West Virginia to the Great Falls, by the name of New River. In West Virginia it has numerous large tributaries—the Big and Little Coal rivers, Piney, and Bluestone from the south, and the Pocotaligo, Elk, Gauley, and Greenbrier from the north. The next branch of the Ohio, proceeding northward, is the Little Kanawha, which empties into the Ohio at Parkersburg. The north-western part of the State is drained by the Monongahela, one of the two head branches of the Ohio, and its tributaries, the principal of which are the Tygart’s Valley, Cheat, and Buckhannon rivers. Of these streams the Ohio is navigable for river steamers at nearly all stages of water. The same may be said of the Kanawha to a point near the Kanawha Falls, while the Big Sandy, the Guyandotte, and the Monongahela are navigable for flat boats for long distances, and these, as well as numerous other streams, are largely used for the floating of lumber. All the streams of the State, and especially the smaller ones, have a rapid fall, but their enormous water-power has as yet been utilized only to a trifling extent.

The climate is nowhere severe, although, owing to the range in elevation within the State, there is a considerable range in temperature. The mean annual temperature ranges from 54° to 55° F., being highest in the neighbourhood of the Ohio, in the western part of the State, and lowest upon the high mountains in the eastern and north-eastern portion. The maximum is rarely above 95° in any portion of the State, while the minimum occasionally reaches 10° in the more mountainous section. The rainfall may be given broadly at between 40 and 50 inches annually. It also varies with the elevation, being less in the lower portions and greatest upon the high mountains.

The fauna of the State is that common to the whole southern Appalachian region. Much of the area being as yet in a state of nature, deer of the white-tailed species are still abundant, and black bear are not unfrequently met with in the more rugged and remote portions. Wild turkeys are still found in some localities, and the mountains have long been a popular resort for hunters, while the streams, abounding in trout, afford an equally attractive field for the angler.

The timber resources of the State are enormous, and a small proportion of its area, amounting to only about 25 per cent., has been cleared. The remainder is covered with virgin forest. This consists mainly of broad-leafed trees of the most valuable sorts for lumber, such as chestnut, black walnut, cherry, ash, poplar, hickory, locust, maple, oak, &c. Considerable areas of white pine are found in the highest portions of the plateau, being practically the only original forests of this wood left in the United States. Besides these there are considerable quantities of yellow pine, hemlock, spruce, and cedar scattered through the State.

Viewed broadly, the geological structure of West Virginia is extremely simple. Practically the entire State is overlaid by nearly horizontal beds of the Carboniferous formation. The coal of West Virginia forms its principal mineral wealth. It is estimated that of its entire area not less than 16,000 square miles are underlaid by workable beds of coal. The Report of the United States Geological Survey upon mineral resources defines the general boundaries of the coal fields of the State as follows :—“The eastern boundary begins at the south on the mountain range just east of the Bluestone River, and proceeds east to Little Sewell Mountain;..... thence with the common boundary of Nicholas and Greenbrier and of Webster and Pocahontas counties to Rich Mountain in Randolph county; following this last-named ridge to Laurel Mountain, the dividing line between Upshur county on the west and Randolph and Barbour counties on the east, and thence with the Briery Mountain into Preston county, and so on to the Pennsylvania State line.” All the area to the west of this line is underlain by coal. To the east of it there are small outlying patches, as in Greenbrier, Meadow Mountain, and possibly in Pocahontas, Tucker, Grant, and Mineral counties, but these are unimportant as compared with the vast areas in the west. In the gorge of every large stream flowing through this area are seen outcropping beds of coal, easily accessible to the miner, and requiring only facilities of transportation to render the mineral of commercial value. In the matter of coal production the State is rapidly acquiring prominence. From a production in 1873 of 600,000 tons, it reached in 1886 a production of over 4,000,000 tons, being exceeded by only four of the States, viz., Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, and Iowa. The production is limited only by the demand, as the supply is almost inexhaustible. The coals of the State are of every variety except anthracite, and are noted for their purity for coking, steam, and gas purposes and for domestic fuel.

Iron ore is abundant in various portions of the State, but is worked only to a comparatively limited extent.

Salt springs are found in the valley of the Kanawha and in that of the Ohio, and there are extensive evaporating works in both these localities. The production, however, has been retarded by the competition of those in Michigan, owing to the greater cheapness of fuel and better facilities for transportation in the latter locality. The production of salt in West Virginia in 1886 amounted to 250,000 barrels. West Virginia contains numerous valuable mineral springs, among the best known of which are the Greenbrier White Sulphur springs in Greenbrier county, Capon springs in Hampshire county, Irondale springs in Preston county, and Red Sulphur springs and Salt Sulphur springs both in Monroe county. These are well-known and popular summer resorts in the mountains, and the waters from them are shipped to all parts of the United States.

While the entire State may be said to be either mountainous or hilly, it contains a large extent of arable land. Nearly all of the lower hill country can be cultivated, while in the mountainous region there are numerous broad valleys of excellent soil, and everywhere the hill and mountain sides can be cultivated if the slope is not excessively steep. The tenth census (1880) reported an area of 10,193,779 acres of land in farms, of which 3,792,327 acres, or about one-fourth the area of the State, was improved land, this being mainly in the lower and less mountainous portion. The average size of farms was 163 acres, showing as compared with the average 10 years earlier, viz., 214 acres, a decided decrease. The value of farms and farming implements was very nearly §136,000,000. The numbers of live stock upon farms, as distinguished from animals owned for business purposes in cities, consisted in January 1888 of 138,231 horses, 6475 mules, 474,933 sheep, 432,778 hogs, 171,273 milch cows, and 780,892 other cattle,—showing that the live-stock interests of the State are very large. The estimated value of all farm products sold, consumed, or on hand, as returned in 1880, was §19,360,049. The principal agricultural products are wheat, Indian corn, hay, tobacco, oats, and garden vegetables. The cereal products for 1887 consisted of 12,516,000 bushels of corn, 2,840,000 of wheat, and 2,531,000 of oats.

The manufactures, which are not extensive, are concentrated mainly at Wheeling, the largest city, on the Ohio, in the northern part of the State; they consist mainly of manufactures of iron and steel, glass, flouring and grist mill products, lumber, and leather. There were in 1880 2375 manufacturing establishments, employing a capital of §13,883,390 and 14,351 persons. The value of manufactured products was §22,867,126.

There are 1200 miles of completed railroads, with several branches and one trunk line in process of construction. The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad traverses the State from Parkersburg and Bellaire on the Ohio, the two branches meeting at Grafton, and running thence eastward to Washington, Baltimore, and New York. The Newport News and Mississippi Valley Railroad runs across the State from the mouth of the Big Sandy on the west to the Alleghanies near White Sulphur springs, and thence extends to Richmond and Newport News. The Ohio River line runs from Wheeling to Huntington on the Ohio. The West Virginia Central extends from Piedmont on the Baltimore and Ohio line to a point in Randolph county, and is now in process of construction south-westward to intersect the Newport News and Mississippi Valley line. The Clarksburg and Weston, intersecting the Baltimore and Ohio at Clarksburg, extends to Weston in Lewis county, and this has two branches, one to Glenville in Gilmer county, and the other to Buckhannon in Upshur county. The Grafton and Greenbrier Railroad, intersecting the Baltimore and Ohio at Grafton, extends up the Valley river to Belington in Barbour county. The Norfolk and Western Railroad, one of the main trunk lines of the Atlantic States, has a part of its lines in the southern portion of West Virginia. Railway construction is exceedingly active in all parts of the State, several new lines and numerous branches of existing lines being under construction and in contemplation.

The State early in its history (December I8ô3) adopted a liberal system of free schools. The plan is known as the township or district system,—the magisterial district or subdivison of each county being taken as the unit for taxation, and the general control of all the school interests of the district being placed in the hands of a district board of education elected by the people, and authorized among other duties to levy taxes, to determine the number of months of school and the number of sub-districts, to plant and build schoolhouses, and to manage the financial and other school interests of the districts. There is likewise in each county a superintendent, and in the State a general superintendent. This system has since been maintained and strengthened by legislative enactment till from 133 schoolhouses and 431 public schools of all grades in 1865 there were in 1887 4587 schoolhouses in the State. In 1865 the amount expended in support of free schools was $7722; this gradually increased till in 1887 the amount was $1,087,674. The number of teachers employed by public appropriation was 387 in 1865; in 1887 it was 5106. The estimated value of schoolhouses in the State, 140,000 in 1865, was 2,000,000 in 1887. Thσ average attendance in 1865 was 44 days; in 1887 it was 108. The school system of the State is made permanent by the constitutional enactment referred to, which requires that the legislature shall provide by general law for a thorough and efficient system of free schools. The general school system involves the education of teachers, and with this object from 1867 to 1872 the legislature provided for the establishment of six normal schools, which are in successful operation. In these schools tuition is free to all who desire to prepare themselves for teaching. They are popular among the people, and have done much to elevate the general standard of education. They prescribe courses of three years; nearly all of them have preparatory courses; four of them give collegiate training, and in all of them the study of ancient and modern languages is optional. The school system involves also what is known as the irreducible school fund. The principal, which now amounts to $600,000, is permanently invested. This fund is constantly augmented from sources provided by law and by voluntary contributions.

The United States Government has erected public buildings for its judicial, postal, and revenue departments within the State at Wheeling, Clarksburg, Parkersburg, and Charleston, the capital of the State. While Wheeling (g r .u) was temporarily the capital, a building was erected by its citizens for the uses of the State, which is now used for city purposes. The six normal schools already referred to have suitable buildings at Fairmont, Glenville, Huntington, Concord, Shepherdstown, and West Liberty. The hospital for the insane at Weston in Lewis county and a branch asylum in course of construction at Spencer in Roane county, a deaf-mute and blind asylum at Romney in Hampshire county, a penitentiary at Moundsville in Marshall county, and a university supported by the State at Morgantown in Monongalia county may be mentioned among the other public institutions of West Virginia.

The assessed valuation of real estate in 1887 amounted to $118,753,342, and that of personal property to $43,710,175; that of railroad property in 1880 was $4,497,030. andin 1887 $22,797,984. The State tax is 30 cents on each hundred dollars of valuation.

An amendment to the constitution is now pending, by which it is proposed to prohibit the sale or manufacture of intoxicating liquors. At present the laws of the State—and they have been enforced with more or less of modification almost since its foundation —involve the high licence system. The granting of the licence is based in all cases on good character, and is subject to the discretion of the county commissioners. Under the operation of these laws, and by virtue of local sentiment in its enforcement, no licence has been granted (and hence in effect the traffic has been prohibited) in as many as 38 of the 54 counties. The licence is subject to a tax fixed by the State law, and where sales are to be made in incorporated villages it is subject to an additional tax, which is fixed by the authorities of the incorporation.

In 1880 the population of the State was 618,457. That of the principal cities was—Wheeling, 30,737; Parkersburg, 6582; Martinsburg, 6335; Charleston (the State capital), 4192; Grafton, 3030; and Charlestown, 2016. The coloured population numbered 25,886, the foreign-born population 18,265. The increase in population from 1870 to 1880 was 39 ’ 9 per cent. The proportion of native whites was 93 per cent, of the whole number of whites, which is larger than that of any other State in the Union. The popular vote at late elections indicates a population of 800,000, and that of Wheeling, Charleston, and Parkersburg is shown by local investigation to have very largely increased.

The executive power is vested in a governor elected by the people for a term of four years, and ineligible under the constitution for re-election. There are also an auditor, a treasurer, an attorneygeneral, a secretary of state and State superintendent of free schools, who with the governor constitute a board of public works, and are likewise elected by the people for terms of four years, except the secretary of state and a librarian (who is ex officio adjutantgeneral), who are appointed by the governor. The legislative power is vested in a senate and house of delegates. The senate embraces 26 members, half of whom are elected every alternate two years, for a term of four years. The house of delegates consists of 66 members, who are elected every two years. The legislature meets biennially, and may be convened in extraordinary session by the governor, or by the concurrence of three-fifths of its members. The veto power is vested in the governor, but a majority concurring in each house of the legislature overrides it. The judiciary consists of a supreme court of appeals, with four judges, who in case of their equal division affirm the judgment of the lower court, and of circuit courts, with one judge each, exercising general original power and. appellate jurisdiction over magistrates or justices of the peace, and of magistrates and justices of the peace, whose jurisdiction in civil cases is limited to $300, and who exercise criminal jurisdiction in petty offences, and may issue warrants of arrest and make preliminary examination and commit for trial in the circuit court in cases of crime. The fiscal regulations of the counties are confided to a board, consisting of three county commissioners. The county organization consists of these commissioners, a sheriff, deputy sheriffs, a circuit court clerk, a county clerk, who is recorder of deeds, wills, &c., board of education, school trustees, overseers of roads, a commissioner of school lands, an overseer of the poor, and a commissioner of accounts. All these except the deputy sheriffs, commissioner of accounts, commissioner of school lands, and overseer of the poor are elected by the people.

History.— The establishment of West Virginia as a State was consummated on 20th June 1863. Its creation and admission were due to conditions which existed prior to the civil war of 1861-65, to popular sentiment which those conditions developed when the war was precipitated, and to the exigencies of the war itself. The Alleghany Mountains had divided the State of Virginia politically and commercially, and in the sentiment relating to her systems of taxation, revenue, and public expenditure into a Virginia and a “Western” Virginia, long before the civil conflict gave permanent result and fixed an official definition to the line of demarcation between them. Even after the war and the formation of the new State the title to two counties, Jefferson and Berkeley, “lying east of the mountains,” was the subject of legislation and contention before the courts. They were in 1870 judicially declared by the supreme court of the United States to be a part of the State of West Virginia. The western part of Virginia was sparsely peopled, its great forests undeveloped, its vast mineral resources only partially realized, and its slave interests comparatively small. The eastern section contained the larger population, owned the great bulk of slave property, and exercised controlling power over State affairs. The Alleghanies, dividing the two sections, in the absence of transverse railroad facilities naturally sent the citizens of one side with the flow of their navigable waters to western and southern markets, while those of the other, moved by similar natural causes, turned to the seaboard for their commercial and business intercourse. The basis of taxation, the basis of representation, and the relation of the slave interests to these, with the measure and distribution of public funds for works of internal improvement and other questions of local concern, constituted elements of continual controversy, and served to detract largely from the homogeneity of...

A Life of Lord Westbury by T. A. Nash is now (1888) in the press.

Climate.— With little or uo cold anywhere, the heat of summer over the whole area is considerable. Western Australia differs from the country to the east in having no extensive ranges to collect vapour, while the trade winds blow off the dry land instead of from the ocean; for these two reasons the climate is very dry. Thunderstorms often supply almost the only rainfall in the interior. The south-western corner, the seat of settlements, is the only portion where rains can be depended on for cultivation; but even there few places have a rainfall of 40 inches. As one goes northward the moisture lessens. The north-west and all the coast along to Kimberley, with most of that district, suffer much from dryness. The north-east comes in summer within the sphere of the northwest monsoons, though just over the low coast-range few showers are known. The south coast, exposed to polar breezes, with uninterrupted sea, has to endure lengthened droughts. In the Swan river quarter the rainfall is in winter, being brought by north-west winds, and summer days have little moisture. While the south wind cools the settled region, it comes over the parched interior to the northern lands. The hot wind of Swan river is from the east and north-east; but it is from the south in summer to Kimberley and the north-west. In one season the land breeze is hot, in another cool, but always dry. In the year 1885 Perth had a rainfall of 29 inches with an evaporation of 66. The temperature ranged from 34° to 109° in the shade. In 1885 there fell 32⅗ inches on 100 days, while Albany had 32 on 138 days, Augusta 46 on 122 days, and York less than 18 on 81 days. Geraldton port received the same as York, but on 63 days, while Cossack, the pearl port of the north-west, had but 9½ on 18 days throughout the year. Northampton showed 21¾, Beverley 14¾, and Eucla 9 9 / 10 inches.

Geology.— The base of Western Australia is of granite and its kindred formations, which underlie Silurian or more ancient rocks. Not only are the principal elevations so composed, but throughout the vast extent of bare and sterile land eastward and inland granite is most prominent, rising through recent deposits in knobs and tables onward into South Australia. It is the rock of the Australian desert. The great lake district is a depression, with a granite floor permeated with igneous veins, surrounded by isolated hills and ranges of the Primary and metamorphic rocks. King George’s Sound and the mountains around are granite, as also are disjointed ranges northward to Sharks Bay. The streams in the north-west, as well as the Lyons and Gascoigne, take their rise among the old igneous and Palaeozoic formations. Kimberley is full of similar rocks. The upper Irwin has garnetiferous granite. Granite, both on the south and western shores, supports the recent deposits of calcareous and arenaceous material. The horizontal sandstone of the interior and the flat-topped hills of sandstone rest upon the granite. The arid region around Sharks Bay, glistening with limestone and sand, has the ancient stone for a foundation, upon which coralline forms built their reefs. All sorts of metamorphic rocks prevail in the Leopold, Weld, and other ranges of Kimberley. Quartz veins are common in the hills. Cambridge Gulf is lined with quartzose grit embodying rock crystal, and the Blackwood river with gneiss. Porphyry appears at York, ou the Murchison, and elsewhere. Blue slate occurs on the Canning at Champion Bay, and on Hampton Plains. Carboniferous rocks are present near the Irwin, Canning, Fitzroy, and Murchison. Mr Hardman traced them north-east over 1500 square miles, bearing coal plants. Secondary formations are rare: a deposit of Oolite 400 feet thick is reported from the Murchison. Tertiary beds of limestone are more plentiful, generally seen near the coast; others of a coralline nature are more recent. Arenaceous limestone cliffs rise two to four hundred feet along the southern shore for hundreds of miles, and similar stone is seen at the junction of the Fitzroy and the Margaret. The spiriferous sandstone on the Denison Plains of Kimberley, like that of the Moresby range, is doubtless Palaeozoic. The desert sandstone, so easily decomposed to furnish moving sand-dunes, is regarded as Miocene by Prof. Tate. Freemantle stands upon a recent calcareous sandstone. Roeburne is similarly situated. The soutli-west abounds in calcareous accretions. Cape Arid stops with its granite the progress of Tertiary beds. Tertiary agates and jaspers occur on the Ord and the Ashburton. Three terraces lead from the calcareous mud of the north-west shore to the granite of Mount Brace. Nuyt’s Land is probably Pliocene. Volcanic rocks of various ages have burst through other formations, from Kimberley down to King George’s Sound. Basalt runs under the limestone of Bunbury, and even rises in pillars; it is in scoriaceous dykes at King Sound. Columnar greenstone occurs about Cape Leeuwin and Cape Naturaliste, while greenstone dykes yield copper in the Champion Bay district. There is a sort of Giant’s Causeway at Géographe Bay. Dampier Archipelago, Nickol Bay, the sources of the Fortescue and the De Grey, Glenelg river, Camden harbour, Mount Waterloo, Fitzroy river, and the gold field all show traces of volcanic action. Of the geology of three-fourths of the colony, however, we know scarcely anything. The presence of a new carbonaceous mineral called cliftonite has been recently determined by Mr L. Fletcher in a meteorite brought by the Rev. Mr Nicholai from Western Australia.

Minerals.— The earliest mines were of lead and copper in Victoria district, the ore being sent to Geraldton, the port of Champion Bay, 30 miles from the Northampton mines of silver, lead, and copper. Berkshire valley has in addition plumbago, the Irwin antimony, and Woongong silver. The Geraldine lead and silver ores were first worked in 1845, and produced £43,000 in 1878. Wheal Fortune and Tortura mines are of silver-lead; Gelira, Wheel Alpha, and Narra Narra of copper. Iron ores are abundant; they are magnetic at Mount Magnet. Coal has not yet been found in any quantity. Carboniferous rocks are seen in several places, and fair specimens of coal have been obtained. A semi-bituminous mineral near the Swan and the Murray yields a pale oil, which would serve to varnish wood. Gold, long looked for, has been found in Kimberley; and diggers rushed to the country about the Margaret, Mary, and Elvira rivers. The majority did not find returns equal to expenditure; but auriferous quartz of great richness has been reported recently. The proclaimed gold-field lies between 16° and 19½ o S., 126° and 129° E. Building stone is found of many varieties.

Agriculture. — This was once confined to the Swan river quarter, but is rapidly extending northward in Victoria district, where the land is free of timber, though the rainfall is very light. In Kimberley tropical produce, especially sugar, cotton, spices, and rice, can be readily raised. The south-west is essentially a farming country, but the soil is generally sandy. In 1886 86,248 acres were in crop (hay 25,718; wheat, 24,043; barley, 5185; oats, 1766; maize, 171; potatoes, 356; green forage, 1075; vines, 649). No settlement has a finer variety of fruits, and both wine and raisins are being exported. The cottage homesteads are surrounded with pleasant gardens, vineyards, and orchards.

Live Stock.— Timber was too thick in the old settlement for flocks and herds; the squatting districts are eastward of the dividing range and north of the Swan. The want of water both eastward and northward stops progress, but sheep stations are established in oases of reputed eastern deserts. The north-west, in spite of drought, is a favourite locality for squatters; but the better-watered Kimberley is regarded as the most hopeful. At the beginning of 1887 129,219,079 acres of the available country were leased by 6469 persons, at the rental of £73,863, averaging a little over half a farthing an acre. The horses numbered 38,360; cattle, 88,254; sheep, 1,809,071; pigs, 24,655; goats, 5301. Some parts, chiefly in the soutli-west, are troubled with poison plants. Borings in ill-watered places, as the southern and central districts, furnish water for stock. The Angora goat has been a success there. Rabbits already begin to trouble squatters. In proportion to inhabitants, Western Australia has advanced in pastoral pursuits beyond its neighbours, excepting in the quality of stock and the get-up of wool. Of 678,400,220 acres in the colony only 1,851,742 are alienated, though 130,000,000 are leased out by Government. The land laws are liberal. Lessees have pre-emptive rights over parts of runs at 5s. per acre, within a certain period. Inferior land is much cheaper. Kimberley leases are for not less than 50,000 acres at 10s. rent per 1000 acres,—this being the best pastoral country. A certain limited amount of stock is required according to acreage and district. Poisoned land can be leased for twenty-one years at £1 rent per 1000 acres, when the area is granted free if it be fenced and the poison plants eradicated; a licence, for that term, of such land, costs one-eighth of that rent. The break-up of the extensive original grants is still essential to further progress.

Flora. —Judged by its vegetable forms, Western Australia would seem to be older than eastern Australia, South Australia being of intermediate age. Indian relations appear on the northern side, and South African on the western. There are fewer Antarctic and Polynesian representatives than in the eastern colonies. European forms are extremely scarce. Compared with the other side of Australia, a third of the genera on the south-west are almost wanting in the south-east. In the latter, 55, having more than ten species each, have 1260 species; but the former has as many in 55 of its 80 genera. Of those 55, 36 are wanting in the south-east, and 17 are absolutely peculiar. There are fewer natural orders and genera westward, but more species. Baron Von Mueller declared that “nearly half of the whole vegetation of the Australian continent has been traced to within the boundaries of the Western Australian territory.” He includes 9 Malvaceae, 6 Euphorbiaceae, 2 Rubiaceae, 9 Proteaceoe, 47 Leguminosae, 10 Myrtaceae, 12 Compositae, 5 Labiatae, 6 Cyperaceae, 13 Convolvulaceae, 16 Gramineae, 3 Filices, 10 Amaranthaceae. Yet over 500 of its tropical species are identified with those of India or Indian islands. While seventenths of the orders reach their maximum south-west, three-tenths do so south-east. Cypress pines abound in the north, and ordinary pines in Rottnest Island. Sandalwood (Santalum cygnorum) is exported. The gouty stem baobab (Adansonia) is in the tropics. Xanthorrhoea, the grass tree, abounds in sandy districts. Mangrove bark yields a purple tan. Palms and zamias begin in the northwest. The Melaleuca Leucadendron is the paperbark tree of settlers. The rigid-leafed Banksia is known as the honeysuckle. Casuarinae are the he and she oaks of colonists, and the Exocarpus is their cherry tree. Beautiful flowering shrubs distinguish the southwest; and the deserts are all ablaze with flowers after a fall of rain. Poison plants are generally showy Leguminosae, Sida, and the Gastrolobium.

The timber trees of the soutli-west are almost unequalled. Of the Eucalypts, the jarrah or mahogany, E. marginata, is first for value. It runs over five degrees of latitude, and its wood resists the teredo and the ant. Sir Malcolm Fraser assigns 14,000 square miles to the jarrah, 10,000 to E. viminalis, 2300 to the karri (E. colossea or E. diversicolor), 2400 to York gum (E. loxo-phleba), 800 to the red gum (E. calophylla), and 500 to tuart or native pear (E. gomphocephala). Not much good wood is got within 20 miles of the coast. The coach builder’s coorup rises over 300 feet. Morrel furnishes good timber and rich oil. An ever-increasing trade is done in the timber of the south-western forests.

Fauna.— Among the mammals are the Macropus giganteus, Μ. irma, Μ. dama, Μ. brachyurus, Lagorchestes fasciatus, Bettongia penicillata, Phalangista vulpecula, Pseudochirus cooki, Dasyurus geoffroyi, Tarsipes rostratus, Antechinus apicalis, Perameles obesula, Perameles myosurus, Myrmecobius fasciatus. Fossil forms partake of the existing marsupial character, Diprotodon being allied to the wombat and kangaroo. Nail-bearing kangaroos are in the north-west; the banded one, size of a rabbit, is on Sharks Bay. Nocturnal phalangers live in holes of trees or in the ground. Carnivorous Phascogalae are found in soutli-west. There are three kinds of wombat. The rock-loving marsupial Osphranter is only in the north-east, and Perameles bougainvillei at Sharks Bay. The dalgyte or Petrogale lagotis is at Swan river and Hypsiprymnus in the south. The colony has only two species of wallabies to five in New South Wales. The Halmaturus of the Abrolhos is a sort of wallaby; a very elegant species is 18 inches long. The pretty Dromicia, 6 inches long, lives on stamens and nectar, like the Tarsipes, having a brush at the tip of its tongue; its tail is prehensile. The hare-like Lagorchestes fasciatus is a great leaper. The Hapalotis of the interior has nests in trees. Beaver rats and other small rodents are troublesome, and bats are numerous. The dingo is the wild dog. The platypus (Ornithorhynchus) and the Echidna are the only forms of the Monotremata. The seal, whale, and dugong occur in the adjacent seas.

The west is not so rich as the east of Australia in birds. Many forms are absent and others but poorly represented, though some are peculiar to the west. The timbered south-west has the greatest variety of birds, which are scarce enough in the dry and treeless interior. Of lizards the west has 12 genera not found in eastern Australia. Of snakes there are but 15 species to 3 in Tasmania and 31 in New South Wales. While the poisonous sorts are 2 to 1 in the east, they are 3 to 1 in the west. The turtle is obtained as an article of food. The freshwater fishes are not all like those of the east. They include the mullet, snapper, ring fish, guard fish, bonita, rock cod, shark, saw fish, parrot fish, and cobbler. Under the head of fisheries may be mentioned the pearl oyster, which is dived for by natives at Sharks Bay; the trepang or bêche-de-mer is also met with in the north. Insects are well represented, especially Coleoptera, Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera, Hemiptera, and Diptera. Trade and Commerce.— Safe harbours are few, and hundreds of miles of the coast-line are without shelter for a vessel. The coasting traffic, until recently, was confined to the south-west, from the Sound to Victoria district; but wool is now shipped at the north-west, as well as pearls, while wool, pearl shells, hides, tallow, and gold are claiming attention in the tropical north-east. The imports for 1886 amounted to £758,011, of which £347,915 came from the United Kingdom, and £396,871 from other British possessions, principally the neighbouring colonies and India. The exports reached £630,392,—the main items being wool (£322,578), shells (£104,964), guano, timber, sandalwood, pearls, lead, copper, manna gum, and gold. Of these exports, £505,331 went to Great Britain, and £92,716 to other British ports.

Industries.— The pastoral industry occupies the first place. Fisheries are taking an important position (pearl shell, bêche-demer, and preserved or tinned fish). Mandurah, at the mouth of the Murray, and Freemantle have preserving sheds for mullet and snapper. Guano beds are worked to much advantage at the Lacepede Isles. Salt is produced largely at Rottnest Island. Raisins are dried, and the oil of castor trees is expressed. The mulberry tree succeeds well, and sericulture is making progress. Dugong oil is got from Sharks Bay. Honey and wax are becoming valuable exports; from the abundance of flowers the hives can be emptied twice a year. Manna and gums of various kinds are among the resources of the country. Among the wines made are the Riesling, Burgundy, Sweetwater, Hock, and Fontainebleau.

Roads and Railways.— Excellent roads were made during the period of convict labour. The northern railway from Northampton mines to Port Geraldton is 35 miles long. The eastern line is from Freemantle through Perth to Guildford (20 miles) and to Beverley (90 miles). A concession of 12,000 acres per mile is bringing the rail from York nortlnvard to Victoria district, and from Beverley southward to Albany on King George’s Sound. Communication between the several ports is conducted by steamers, which have been aided by a state subsidy.

Administration.— Western Australia is a crown colony, administered by a governor, his executive council, and a legislative council partly nominated by the governor. The colonial revenue for 1887 amounted to £461,322, the expenditure to £456,897.

Education.— As in other colonies, the denominational system formerly prevailed; but lately an effort has been made to have public schools on a broader basis. The state in 1886 granted £7505 for 3169 scholars in the public schools, and £1415 for 1339, principally Roman Catholics, in the assisted schools. The Perth Inquirer was the first newspaper; there are now 11 in the colony.

Population.— Of the 42,000 inhabitants 7000 are in Perth, the capital, 5000 in Freemantle, 1000 at Albany, 900 at York. Some trouble from the aborigines was experienced by settlers at first, but now many of them are useful upon stations, making good shepherds. A successful mission for natives has been conducted for many years at New Norcia, about 80 miles north of Perth, by Spanish monks.

History.— Both the western and northern coasts of the colony are pretty accurately laid down on maps said to date from 1540 to 1550, where the western side of the continent terminates at Cape Leeuwen. The discovery of the coast may be attributed to Portuguese and Spanish navigators, who were in the seas northward of Australia as early as 1520. The next visitors, nearly a century later, were the Dutch. Edel explored northward in 1619, and De λVitt in 1628. The “Guide Zeepaard” in 1627 sailed along the south coast for 1000 miles, the territory being named Nuyt’s Land. Tasman made a survey of the north shore in 1644, but did not advance far on the western border. Dampier was off the north-west in 1688 and 1696, naming Sharks Bay. Vancouver entered King George’s Sound in 1791. The French, under D’Entrecasteaux, were off Western Australia in 1792; and their commodore Baudin, of the “Géographe” and “Naturaliste,” in 1801 and 1802 made important discoveries along the western and north-western shores. Captain Flinders about the same time paid a visit to the Sound, and traced Nuyt’s Land to beyond the South Australian boundary. Freycinet went thither in 1818. Captain King surveyed the northern waters between 1818 and 1822.

The earliest settlement was made from Port Jackson, at the end of 1825. Owing to a fear that the French might occupy King George’s Sound, Major Lockyer carried thither a party of convicts and soldiers, seventy-five in all, and took formal British possession, though Vancouver had previously done so. Yet the Dutch had long before declared New Holland, which then meant only the western portion of Australia, to be Dutch property. This convict establishment returned to Sydney in 1829. In...