Jews still exists, and within recent years it has given rise to disgraceful persecutions in Russia, Roumania, and Germany. The Gipsies are a wandering race; their origin is un

known.

LANGUAGE: The languages of Europe, with the exception of the Turkish and other Turanian dialects, belong to the Aryan or Indo-European family, and may be classed under four principal headings, broadly corresponding with the four great races of the continent, namely, the Celtic, the Teutonic, the Latin or Greek-Latin, and the Slavonic.

1. Dialects of the Celtic language are still spoken in the west of Ireland, the north and west of Scotland, Isle of Man, Wales, and Brittany.

2. The Teutonic family comprises the English, Lowland Scotch, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Dutch, and German languages.

3. The Greek-Latin or Romance languages are spoken in France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Roumania, and Greece.

4. The Slavonic language is spoken in Russia, Servia, Bulgaria, Bohemia, Moravia, and Poland.

RELIGION: Nearly all the nations of Europe profess Christianity, in one or other of its three forms.

The Protestants predominate in the Teutonic countries; Roman Catholics in the Romanic countries, except Greece; and the Greek Church in the Slavonic countries and Greece. The Turks profess Mohammedanism, while the Samoyedes and Lapps are heathens. The orthodox Jews profess Judaism, the Russian and Galician Jews are sunk in superstition, while many other Jews are agnostics.

Of the total population of Europe, 169 millions are estimated to be Roman Catholics, 95 millions belong to the Greek Church, nearly 95 millions are Protestants, while 7 millions are Mohammedans, and 8 millions are Jews, Gipsies, &c.

EDUCATION: All the great nations of Europe are more or less advanced in education, and the higher classes of even the most deficient in national culture are generally well educated. Schools, colleges, and universities are found in every European state, and are well attended.

Canals

As regards general education, the Teutonic peoples rank first, the Romanic nations second, while the mass of the Slavonic peoples are almost totally illiterate. The average number of the population unable to read and write in the various countries is estimated to be-in England, 20 per cent.; France, 35; Italy, 64; Hungary, 85; and Russia, 88. TRADE AND COMMERCE: The Trade and Commerce of Europe is larger and more important than that of any other continent. "The form of Europe adapts itself admirably to the exchange of raw materials or manufactured products, for large rivers, the natural highways, extend over the wide plains; and in the highland regions, where the streams are smaller, generally unnavigable, long arms of the sea reach far into the land. have been constructed to unite the river highways all over Europe; roads and railways have been extended in every direction across rivers and ravines, even over the Alps, or through them by tunnels; upwards of 110,000 miles of railway now form a network over Europe; telegraphs not only bring every corner of the land into business connection with every other, but reach out in submarine lines or cables to all parts of the world." There is, moreover, regular steamship communication between the great ports of Europe and the chief commercial towns on the coasts of America, Asia, Africa, and Australasia. cargo steamers and sailing vessels also convey food-stuffs and raw materials to Europe, and distribute its manufactured products all over the world.

Thousands of

The Natural Trade-Divisions of Europe are based, not on political or national divisions, but on similarity of produce and season of shipment.

The Baltic Trade embraces all the ports in the Baltic Sea. The staples of the Baltic trade are wood and timber, flax and hemp, wheat and oats. Coal, raw cotton and cotton goods, &c., are imported.

The Black Sea Trade is mainly in the two great staples of wheat from Odessa, and petroleum from Batum and Poti. Constantinople, at the entrance to the Black Sea, is an important coaling station and port of call.

The Danube Trade is enormous-the Danube being one of the greatest "business" rivers in Europe. The staple exports are wheat, maize, and other cereals, tallow, &c.; and the chief imports are English manufactured goods, &c. The Danube itself has a course of 1,600 miles, and is joined by no less than 60 navigable tributaries, some of them hundreds of miles in length. River steamers ply above Vienna; cargo steamers lead at Galatz, Braila, and the larger ships in the roads" at Sulina, at the mouth of the river. The European section of The Mediterranean Trade includes all the commerce flowing in and out of some of the most important ports on the continent, such as Barcelona and Valencia in Spain; Marseilles in France; Genoa, Naples, and Venice, in Italy; and the Greek ports, &c.

The General Trade embraces all ports between Hamburg and Gibraltar; it is the western connecting link between the Baltic trade-area and that of the Mediterranean,

The Norwegian and White Sea Trade completes the trade-areas of Europe. It consists of raw materials out, measured by finished goods in. The White Sea trade, which centres at Archangel, is closed" for several months every year; the Norwegian ports, on the contrary, are always open.

"

...The above résumé of the natural trade-areas of Europe is based upon the classi fication adopted in the "Golden Gates of Trade" and "Recent and Existing Commerce," by Dr. Yeats.

GOVERNMENT: The government of every State in Europe, except France and Switzerland, is monarchical in form, and is despotic in Russia and Turkey, but limited in the United Kingdom and other countries. France and Switzerland (and the small states of San Marino and Andorra) are republics.

Europe is politically divided into

Four Empires: Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey.

Eleven Kingdoms: Great Britain and Ireland, Norway and Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Roumania, and Servia. Two Republics: France and Switzerland (and the minor protected republics of San Marino and Andorra).

Four Principalities: Montenegro, and the minor principalities of Luxem burg, Monaco, and Lichtenstein.

The countries of Europe may be also arranged according to their "rank" or power in the following order :

1. Great Britain, Germany, France, Austria, Russia, and Italy. These constitute the "Six Great Powers" of Europe.

2. Norway and Sweden, Spain.

3. Turkey, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Portugal, Switzerland, and Greece.

119

POLITICAL DIVISIONS.-The following is a list of the principal countries of Europe, together with their area and popu

lation:

5,136,000

295

37,500

3:733,000

99

**The area and population are given in round numbers according to the number of inhabitants per square mile. The last column in black type shows the density, or average

latest returns.

The total area of the countries of Europe thus amounts to 3 million square miles, and the population to 390 millions, equal to an average density of 104 persons per square mile.

The Density of Population in the different countries of Europe depends not so much on their natural capacity, by reason of a fertile soil and genial climate, to support a large population, as on the energy and industry of the inhabitants. Some countries, like Turkey and others, although naturally fertile and capable of supporting a dense population, are yet not so thickly peopled as other countries, such as Holland, Belgium, and parts of England and Germany, which are not naturally fertile. Similarly, the industries of a country depend not only upon its natural productions, but also upon the character of its inhabitants; thus England has become a great manufacturing country, not merely because of the abundance of coal. iron, and other use'ul minerals and metals, but also by reason of the industry and enterprise of the English people.

The British Isles consist of Great Britain, Ireland, and numerous smaller adjacent islands, situated in the Atlantic Ocean, off the western side of the European continent.

Great Britain consists of England, Wales, and Scotland, and is the largest island in Europe, being 600 miles in length, and having an area of nearly 89,000 square miles.

Ireland lies to the west of Great Britain, and is divided from it by the Irish Sea Great Britain is nearly three times the size of Ireland, the area of which is 32,500 square miles.

Of the numerous islands and islets adjoining Great Britain and Ireland, the principal are the Isle of Wight, on the south; the Orkney and Shetland Islands, on the north; the Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland; Anglesey and the Isle of Man, in the Irish Sea; Achill and Aran Is ands, off the west coast of Ireland.

England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and the adjacent islands, constitute politically the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Wales, Scotland, and Ireland were formerly distinct countries from England. The conquest of Ireland commenced in 1170, and virtually ended when Limerick was surrendered in 1691. Wales was conquered in 1282, and formally annexed in 1536. The crowns of England and Scotland were united in 1603; in 1707 England and Scotland were united under the same Parliament; and in 1851 the Parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland were united; hence the name, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.”

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and its numerous colonies and foreign possessions in all parts of the world, together form the British Empire.

The area of the British Empire is upwards of 11,893,000 square miles, or more than one-fifth of all the land of the globe, while the population numbers 391,000,000, or about one-fourth of the total inhabitants of the world. Our Indian Empire alone has a population of more than 300 millions. The extension and consolidation of the British Empire is without a parallel in the history of the world. Nearly equal to the Chinese Empire as regards population, and now larger than that of Russia in extent, it is vastly superior to both in wealth, power, and influence.

ENGLAND AND WALES,' which together form the southern division of Great Britain, constitute by far the most important portion of the British Islands.

Although in times long past Wales was a distinct country from England, yet the two are now so inseparably connected, and have been so long under the same government, that it is most convenient to describe them under one head. and to speak of them as a single country.

1. England, ie., Angle-land, the land of the Angles," the most numerous of the Saxon in

vaders of Britain. The name "Wales" is derived from the Anglo-Saxon Wealhas, foreigners.