which the most productive, licences,' furnishes about 125,000. per annum. The items land sales,' and 'land revenue,' produce together little more than 100,000l. The largest item of the expenditure is for public works, and the next largest for police and administration of justice. About 17,000l. per annum are spent for educational purposes. Population. The following table gives the area and population of Ceylon, in the several provinces, according to a return of the year 1862. Of the total population here enumerated, 15,231 were white, and the rest coloured. The male sex preponderated over the female in the proportion of ten to nine both among the white and the coloured inhabitants of Ceylon. Trade and Commerce. The commercial intercourse of Ceylon with the United Kingdom is shown in the subjoined tabular statement, which gives the total value of the imports from Ceylon into the United Kingdom, and of the exports of British and Irish produce and manufactures to Ceylon, in each of the five years 1860 to 1864 :— The staple article of imports from Ceylon into the United Kingdom is coffee, of the average value of 2,000,000l. per annum. The only other articles of note are cocoa-nut oil and raw cotton, the former averaging 240,0007., and the latter 100,0001. during the five years 1860-64. Manufactured cotton goods, of the average value of about 360,000l. per annum, form the principal British export to Ceylon. For Money, Weights, and Measures, see INDIA. Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Ceylon. 1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS. Report of Governor Sir C. J. MacCarthy, dated Colombo, August 20, 1863; in Reports on the Past and Present State of H.M.'s Colonial Possessions.' Part II. London, 1864. Report on the State of Ceylon, dated July, 1864; in Reports on the Past and Present State of H.M.'s Colonial Possessions.' Part II. London, 1865. Statistical Tables relating to the Colonial and other Possessions of the United Kingdom. Part IX. London, 1864. The Colonial Office List for 1865. London, 1865. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS. Baker (S. W.), Eight Years' Wanderings in Ceylon. 8. London, 1855. Duncan (George), Geography of India. Part II. Ceylon. 8. Madras, 1865. Mouat (Frederic J.), Rough Notes of a Trip to Reunion, the Mauritius, and Ceylon. 8. Calcutta, 1852. Pridham (C.), Historical, Political, and Statistical Account of Ceylon. 2 vols. 8. London, 1849. Tennent (Sir James Emerson), Ceylon: an Account of the Island, Physical, Historical, and Topographical. 5th ed. London, 1860. CHINA. Constitution and Government. THE form of government of the Chinese empire is strictly patriarchal. The sovereign called 'Ta-hwang-li,' or the Great Emperor, is regarded as the father of his people, and has unlimited power over all his subjects. The fundamental laws of the empire are laid down in the first of the 'Four Books' of Confucius, which prescribe the government of the state to be based upon the government of the family. Reigning Emperor.-Ki-tsiang, 'High Prosperity,' formerly Prince Tsai-sung, born April 5, 1855, the eldest son of the Emperor Hienfung, 'Perfect Bliss;' succeeded to the throne at the death of his father, August 22, 1861. The present sovereign is the 8th Emperor of China of the Tartar dynasty of Ta-tsing, The Sublimely Pure,' which succeeded to the native dynasty of Ming in the year 1644. The emperor is spiritual as well as temporal sovereign, and, as high priest of the empire, can alone, with his immediate representatives and ministers, perform the great religious ceremonies. No ecclesiastical hierarchy is maintained at the public expense, nor any priesthood attached to the Confucian or State religion. The administration of the empire is under the supreme direction of the Interior Council Chamber,' comprising four members, two of Tartar and two of Chinese origin, besides two assistants from the Han-lin, or Great College, who have to see that nothing is done contrary to the fundamental laws of the empire, contained in the sacred books of Confucius. These members are denominated 'Ta-hyo-si,' or Ministers of State. Under their orders are the Le-poo, or six boards of government. They are:-1. The board of civil appointments, which takes cognisance of the conduct and administration of all civil officers; 2. The board of revenues, regulating all financial affairs; 3. The board of rites and ceremonies, which enforces the laws and customs to be observed by the people; 4. The military board, superintending the administration of the army; 5. The board of public works; and 6. The high tribunal of criminal jurisdiction. Independent of the government, and theoretically above the central administration, is the Tu-che-yiven, or board of public censors. It consists of from 40 to 50 members, under two presidents, the one of Tartar and the other of Chinese birth. By the ancient custom of the empire, all the members of this board are privileged to present any remonstrance to the sovereign. One censor is to be present at the meetings of each of the six government boards, without taking any part in the deliberation, and others have to travel through the various provinces of the empire to inspect and superintend the administration of the chief public functionaries. Revenue and Population. The estimates of the public revenue of China vary greatly, and while they are stated by some to exceed 100 millions sterling, are held by others not to come up to half that amount. Official returns of the Chinese government-intended for a special public use, and as such not very reliable-which were published in 1844, give the revenue as follows:*. The above was returned as the net revenue of the country. No statement of the expenditure is given in the official accounts; but from missionary reports, as well as the accounts published in the 'Peking Gazette,' it would appear that there are almost constant deficits, which the governors and high officers of provinces must make good by loans or extraordinary taxation. The amount of land-tax not paid in money is chiefly discharged in rice, wheat, and pulse, which is kept by the government in immense granaries in the suburbs of Pekin and Tung-chow. The revenues of the various provinces of the empire were stated as follows in the official report of 1844 : Macgregor, John, Appendices to Commercial Reports, Part 23, London, |