esting discovery was a jasper mould or formstone with six sides covered with curious patterns for gold and silver ornaments, and among them the mould for the small glassy cone with spiral lines which was frequently found. Axes of jasper or green-stone and many whorls of blue-stone were found here, and a large number of fine vases in terra-cotta, covered with paintings of warriors in dark-red on a yellow ground. These warriors wear coats of mail, girdle-belts, sandals, greaves, and either shaggy helmets, which look like the skin of a porcupine, or helmets with long crests; a protuberance like a horn stands out from the front of the helmets; the warriors also carry large, round shields, with a crescent-shaped hole at the bottom, and lances with the object looking something like an idol, seen on the representation of a warrior upon one of the tombstones. The men have an Asiatic cast of features. Interesting also are the vases with three handles in the form of crocodiles. There are other vases with rows of circles and rows of signs which may be writing. In this house were also found a large brazen tripod and another vessel of brass. General Count Luigi Palma di Cesnola, who has been engaged for the past ten years in extensive antiquarian explorations upon the island of Cyprus, is an Italian nobleman of Turin, of military education, who entered the service of the United States at the breaking out of the civil war, and, after serving with distinction, was, at its close, appointed American consul to Cyprus. His explorations have been prosecuted amid the greatest difficulties, and have been rewarded with discoveries of the highest historical and artistic value. He commenced his investigations in 1865, in an amateur sort of a way, having obtained a firman from the Porte for the purpose; but he soon became so engrossed in the archeology of the island, and so convinced that valuable relics could be unearthed, which would shed a new light upon the early history, art, and culture of the classic races, upon this spot, which was the portal between the ancient world of the East and the ancient world of Europe, that, notwithstanding the slender success of his first excavations, he declares that his enthusiasm was aroused to such a point that he could not have brought himself to give up the pursuit. He commenced his diggings at Kitium, the Chittim of the Bible, upon the burial-place of which stands the modern town Larnaca. At the end of a year he had identified the sites of four ancient cities, Idalium, Salamis, Golgos, and Kitium. At Kitium he opened, first and last, over 2,000 graves, but found most of them empty, they having been probably despoiled in some former age, perhaps by the Crusaders, as a rude painted figure, somewhat resembling a knight of the middle ages, which was found in one of the graves, would indicate. The tombs of Kitium belong for the most part to the period between 400 B. c. and the time of Christ. Here he came upon the remains of a Greek temple, with inscriptions indicating that it was dedicated to the goddess Demeter Paralia, in which many small figures in terracotta, some of them belonging to a ripe period of Grecian art, were found, and, in a tomb outside, a bronze jar containing some six hundred gold staters of Philip and Alexander; and also discovered the ruins of a Phoenician temple containing broken marble bowls and pateræ with dedications to Melkart and another Phonician divinity inscribed in Phoenician characters, besides a marble sarcophagus with a Phoenician head in high-relief, and two alabaster vases with an inscription on one in Phoenician. The Greek tombs were more richly furnished with funeral relics than the Phoenician, and yielded numerous lamps, bronze mirrors, and glass vessels, which were not iridescent like those found in other places. Going next to the site of Idalium, on which stands the modern Dali, Signor di Cesnola opened 15,000 graves, most of them Phoenician, containing thousands of terra-cotta vases of the most various sizes and shapes, but decorated in the earliest style of art with simple zigzag lines and concentric circles, but some of them Greek containing glass objects of a beautiful iridescence. Going next to Golgos, he met with a richer success than had yet attended his labors; the burial-place and two temples of the ancient city were explored, in the larger and more recent of which were nearly one thousand statues, some of them from the earliest and best period of Egyptian art, and some statues and bassreliefs in Assyrian style, and a few examples of Greek and Roman art, but most of them belonging to a period of which few other examples are known, and illustrate the birth of classic art and the development of the Greek ideal from the rigid conventionalism of the Egyptian and Assyrian models. These statues are most of them in a remarkable state of preservation. They were evidently produced by native artists, being cut from the calcareous stone of Cyprus, which was quarried but a short distance from Golgos. These most interesting sculptures are contained in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where, when they shall be exposed to the public, they will afford a comparative view of the origin and early development of classic art such as cannot be found elsewhere. It was at Golgos that Cesnola found the bulk of the collection which he carried to London for view in 1872. The reception to the treasures, of whose great historical value he was convinced, was at first cool and discouraging; but other archæologists soon recognized their importance. Efforts were made to secure the collection to the British Museum by purchase, but they were obtained by the more forehanded managers of the New York Museum at the price of $61,888.22. Eightyeight cases of the treasure had, however, been presented by General di Cesnola to the Ot toman Museum of Constantinople as an acknowledgment of the rights of the sovereign over the soil which had concealed this rich treasure trove. After finishing the explorations at Golgos, he went to Salamis, but his excavations here were fruitless, and it is probable that the exploitation of the ruins of that famous city took place at an early period. In the vicinity of Cape Pedalium, the modern Cape Greco, he explored the ruins of Leucolla, where were found the débris of a temple with statues in Greek style; the tombs here contained each a coffin of terra-cotta covered with three tiles, and ornamented simply around the rim with a wreath of colored flowers; here he explored a strange burial-place, a rock cavern, whose only approach was from the sea, in which were petrified human bones in great numbers. The succeeding explorations enabled him to identify the sites of Throni, Carpassia, Aphrodisium, Acte-Achæon, Lapethus, Soli, and Arsinoe, in which he found several temples and burial-places. Then crossing the mountains he made excavations on the sites of NeoPaphos and Palæo-Paphos, and at Visuri and Amathus, and thence proceeded to Curium, the exploration of which completed his labors. At the latter place, in the treasure-chambers of an unknown temple, he came upon his richest discovery, this being votive offerings of the most diverse materials and styles of workmanship, comprising some of the finest specimens of antique gem-engraving and delicate metalwork ever recovered. He was led to the site of this city by a vague indication on the chart of Strabo, which author, with Pausanias, he used as uncertain guides in most of his explorations. The spot indicated was the summit of a rock 300 feet high and five hours' ride from the west coast, west of the ruins of Amathus, or Palæo-Limisso, as it is called. It was a strong position, inaccessible on three sides, two of which were artificially scarped, the marks of the chisel being still visible. About 40 feet above the base a terrace was found hollowed out in the form of a ditch, 100 feet wide and 25 feet deep, and this was the ancient burial-place of the city. Thousands of tombs were found cut into the rock, some of arched form and roughly hewn, and others rectangular and very regular, some of them containing sarcophagi chiseled out of the solid rock. The graves were found to contain skeletons, a number of earthen lamps, four Phoenician amphora, a copper mirror, some rings of gold, and ear-rings and bracelets of silver. General di Cesnola noticed in seventeen places the broken shafts of columns, and detected the steps to an ancient fountain; broken pottery and fragments of pavement with ruts worn by wheels lay scattered about the whole ground, and in hundreds of small mounds he detected the places of ancient dwellings. He located the great temple of Apollo, and struck the treasure-chambers of a second unknown temple. He was attracted especially toward one spot where eight columns were imbedded in the soil, and upon excavating here he came to a mosaic pavement of Assyrian device, a large piece of which is preserved in his collection. There were marks of some former search for treasure, as the pavement was broken up and a space dug to the depth of six or seven feet below it. Cesnola dug deeper, encouraged by a hollow sound produced by stamping. At the depth of twenty feet farther down Cesnola came upon an arched passage in the rock, four feet wide by five high, which he followed out till he reached a slab which was the door to a small chamber. He was gratified by the discovery here of objects of gold jewelry; the loose earth which was in the compartment was removed and carefully sifted. He then came to a second chamber opening into this, which led to a third and a fourth cell. In the first were found articles of gold almost exclusively; in the second, of silver; in the third, of terra-cotta, caskets, vases, and groups of statuary; and in the fourth, works in bronze. This secret depository he concluded was the hidden treasury of some unknown temple, where, as he inferred from the somewhat disorderly manner in which the objects were stowed, the priests had hastily conveyed the precious furniture of the temple upon the occasion of some Persian invasion. Each of the rooms measures about fourteen and a half feet in height, by eleven in width, and twentythree in length; there were no inscriptions nor carvings upon the walls; the pavement was of blue pebbles, bedded in sand and plaster. In the gold vault there were sifted out of the mould 550 objects, embracing diadems, bracelets, necklaces, finger-rings, signet-rings, ear-rings, armlets, etc. The second room yielded only objects of silver, very imperfectly preserved, as are all specimens of ancient silverwork, some of them so eaten through by oxidation as to be almost ready to crumble at a touch; but still constituting the largest and finest collection of antique silver in the world. Two hundred and seventy articles were taken out, some of them remarkably well preserved, but most of them in a corroded and fragmentary condition. The third room disclosed a great variety of products of the fictile art, and the bronze chamber afforded 500 specimens of bronze-work. Among the objects of historical interest in the collection is the official seal of Thothmosis III., the Egyptian king who conquered Cyprus about fourteen centuries before Christ, a finely-incised intaglio still resting on the bar which runs through its centre, with its gold mounting intact, and the movable silver handle seldom found preserved in ancient signets. Most interesting are the Babylonian cylinders of meteoric, calcedony, hematite, and carnelian, with incised inscriptions, said by Sayce and Rawlinson to refer to the dates 1600, 1200, and 809 B. c. Another seal has the effigy of the Egyptian divinity Anubis, and an inscription in Phoenician. Most of the seals still remain pierced by the bar on which they turned; those of gold are nearly perfect and highly ornamented, while the silver ones are black and much corroded; the majority are in the latter metal, which was probably in that age more precious than gold. Among the first objects brought to light in the gold-room were two massive gold rings, bands with overlapping ends, probably armlets, with the inscription in the ancient Cypriote dialect, "Ereavdpoç Tov Пagov Baσiλews," Eteander, King of Paphos, upon each of them. This king lived, it is supposed, in the sixth or seventh century before Christ, and as these were probably an offering made by him to the deity of the temple, they assist in fixing the date of the deposit. A large number of coiled rings were found, some of them with the asp's head at the ends, in gold, silver, and bronze, some of which were too small to fit on any finger; and hence General di Cesnola conjectures they were a kind of ring-money. Many richly-ornamented fingerrings display designs of exceeding beauty; some of them still retain their gems of stone or antique paste; remains of enamel are seen on others, both in the ancient method, with imposed bands, which is called cloisonné, and in the champ-levé method, with incised field. Numbers of the gold clasps and pendants are beautifully incrusted by the granulated process, familiar in Etruscan jewelry. Several necklaces are exceedingly elaborate and beautifully designed; one of them has clasps representing lion's-heads, of masterly execution. Thin diadems of gold, such as were found in some of the tombs clasped about the foreheads of skulls, were found in the first vault. A calyx of thin gold, five and a half inches in diameter, is engraved within with circular bands, on which are traced in wavy lines figures of stags and huntsmen, with palm-trees and water, designed in the conventional Egyptian manner; it is a design of singular beauty and rare interest, and is in a perfect state of preservation. Many of the large rings and other articles were produced by overlaying silver or copper plates with coats of gold; but in the case of such specimens the oxidation and consequent distention of the inclosed metal have burst the outer coat and destroyed the ornament. This class of articles is still worse preserved than those made of solid silver, which, though blackened and wasted, are some of them still quite strong and heavy. A cornucopia, about fifteen inches in length, is made of thin silver overlaid in spots with gold plate. In the silver collection the most perfect specimen is a large bulb-shaped lecythus or unguentflask, with the lip and handle preserved, seven and five-eighths inches in height, with parts of its surface still bright and smooth, but with most of its ornamentation gone. Very important and interesting is a large patera in VOL. XVI.-3 A silver gilt, with engraved and repoussé patterns-the guilloche, fillets, and conventional Egyptian designs of trees, animals, deities, and cartouche patterns. A calyx, five inches in diameter, retains traces of a vine pattern. Another patera has a gold boss in the centre, and a circling band of honeysuckle and lotus ornament. Several others have repoussé fluting and engraved geometrical ornaments; and one finely-preserved specimen has a circle with star-points in the centre, and lines radiating from the points. The action of oxygen has caused a pile of pateras to cohere in one solid mass, so that they cannot be separated. The most beautiful, interesting, and valuable portion of the treasure is the collection of engraved stones, some of which are perhaps superior to any specimens of the glyptic art in existence. The materials are carnelian, calcedony, sard, onyx, agate, and jasper, the usual stones employed by ancient engravers. The finest of these are: a sard, seven-eighths of an inch in its longest diameter, representing Boreas abducting Zephyr, a masterpiece of bold artistic treatment and fine moulding of the nude figure; a specimen of the archaic manner representing the rape of Proserpine, rendered with strikingly forcible naturalistic effect; a bathing Venus with streaming hair, and a Mercury, boldly-drawn figures of exquisite finish, in the most perfect Greek style. Several intaglii in hard stones represent Egyptian deities and priests adoring the winged orb and serpent-head of the Egyptian triad. It would seem from the style, designs, and inscriptions, on many of the objects, that they were of Egyptian and Assyrian or Phoenician work, although it has always been supposed that those peoples, except the Babylonians, were ignorant of the art of cutting hard stones in intaglio. Alabastra in rock-crystal and alabaster very finely cut were also discovered; one in crystal, of handsome form, six and a half inches long, has finely-curved handles and a neck fitted with a gold cap and stopper, connected with a fine chain, and is finished inside with a high degree of polish. Some in alabaster bear Phoenician inscriptions. There are others in terra-cotta with inscriptions in the same language painted upon them. A fine sceptre head is carved out of onyx, as are also numbers of small amulets, representing the tortoise, an emblem of Venus, the patron goddess of the island. Of the bronze objects there were five hundred objects, consisting for the most part of lamps, lamp-stands, mirrors, and various other utensils. A magnificent vase, four feet in height and six in circumference, a wonderfully fine example of the archaic Greek style, was discovered in fragments, but has been very perfectly restored. A bronze sceptrehead is formed of three bull's-heads, with eyes of glass, and stones inserted in the foreheads. A finely-worked mirror-case is ornamented with concentric circles. Bronze mace-heads are ornamented with the lotus design. Among the various articles of this large collection is a twisted snaffle-bit of bronze. There are four lion's-heads of powerful design and fine workmanship, which probably formed part of a fountain. General di Cesnola has retired from the pursuit which he has followed so energetically and with such distinguished success. The results of the last three years' investigations have been much more fruitful than those of his first seven years. The field cannot be supposed to be yet entirely exhausted. His later investigations have been prosecuted with the proceeds of the sale of his first great find. Many of the surface diggings were purely experimental, on spots where there were no signs of human art above-ground. The city of New York has secured this most valuable collection. The objects represent a wide range of time, from the earliest beginnings of art to a period of late antiquity. The greater part of them may probably be referred to the transition period in which took place the birth of the true Greek art, the first departure from the conventional types of the Egyptians and Assyrians. ARGENTINE REPUBLIC (REPÚBLICA ARGENTINA), an independent state of South America, lying between latitude 22° and 41° south, and longitude 53° and 71° 17' west. It is bounded north by Bolivia; east by Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay, and the Atlantic Ocean; south by Patagonia, the dividing line with which is the Rio Negro; and west by Chili, from which country it is separated by the Andes. The territory of the republic is divided into fourteen provinces, which, with their capitals, and their estimated population for 1875, are as follows: ty leagues north of Puntarenas, and the whole of the remainder to the Argentine Republic. (For detailed statistics concerning area, population, etc., see previous volumes of the ANNUAL CYCLOPÆDIA, and especially that for the year 1872.) The President of the Republic is Dr. Don Nicolás Avellaneda (succeeded Señor Sarmiento in 1874); the Vice-President, Dr. Don Mariano Acosta (elected in the same year); Minister of the Interior, Dr. Don Simon de Iriondo; of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Don Bernardo de Irigóyen; of Finance, Señor Victorino de la Plaza; of Justice, Public Worship, and Public Instruction, Señor Don O. Leguizamon; of War and Marine, Señor Don Adolfo Alsina. Argentine minister to the United States, Señor Don Manuel R. García; secretary of legation, Señor Don G. Videla Dorna. The following is the list of the governors of the fourteen provinces: Buenos Ayres.... Cárlos Casares (May, 1875). Minister of the Interior..Dr. A. del Valle. Catamarca.. Córdoba... Corrientes. San Juan.. ..Rufino Varela. .M. Molina. Dr. E. Rodriguez. Dr. J. L. Madariaga. S. Bayo. 400,000 95,000 Santa Fé. Post-Office 214,807 70 120,000 Concepcion del Uruguay Telegraphs. 79.558 40 151,500 Corrientes. Lighthouses. 85,878 98 La Rioja.. 46,250 La Rioja. Dividend of Central Argentine Railway Co... 133,280 00 Catamarca. 79,551 Catamarca. Sundries.... 828,100 56 EXPENDITURE. Salta. Ministry of Foreign Relations. 175,218 98 Jujuy Ministry of Finance... 9,418,524 82 1,560,498 76 10,181,116 46 1,768,681 $28,570,566 20 Total.. The population of the capital, Buenos Ayres, set down in the official census of 1869 at 177,787, is calculated by Dr. G. Rawson to have been not less than 230,000 in 1875. The question of boundaries with Chili, in regard to the disputed territory of Patagonia, still remains unsettled. Chili is reported as likely to propose a compromise, based upon the assigning to that republic the whole of Tierra del Fuego, and that portion of the Patagonian territory comprised between either ocean and a line drawn from east to west thir Ministry of Justice, etc... Ministry of War and Marine.. Total...... The Minister of Finance, in his report to Congress, in August, 1876, states: The Government, under the most extreme pressure and surrounded by difficulties that almost threatened public-works loan for purposes alien to those authorits existence, was compelled to employ funds of the ized, but I must also state that the Government has met, and will continue punctually to meet, the service of said loan with the ordinary national revenue, and the national creditors need have no alarm; notwithstanding the crisis, the Government will meet all its obligations. I recommend Congress to order all the surplus and unplaced public-works bonds to The total amount of the public-works loan was $24,000,000, of which some six millions were still in the hands of the London bankers as late as September last. The foregoing tables show the existence of an ever-growing deficit in the Argentine finances, as may be observed by comparing the amount of the deficit of 1875 with that of 1874, and previous years. Nevertheless, the aggregate revenue for the year 1875 is about one million in excess of that for 1874. On the other hand, the single department of War and Marine consumed in 1875 no less a sum than $10,181,116, against $8,006,801 in the year immediately preceding, or an increase of nearly two and one-fourth millions. It should also be noticed that the expenses of that department, even in 1874, were far above the normal standard, save in the case of such a war as that which was terminated at Aquidaban in 1870. The general state of the Argentine finances has been exceedingly discouraging for the last three years; but there is a decided tendency to improvement. There is, however, reason to apprehend that the true condition of affairs will be found in the subjoined lines, under date of Buenos Ayres, August, 1876: We The crisis in Buenos Ayres continues; trade is so depressed that we believe twenty years ago there was more business done in this market than at present. Stocks and real estate show no signs of recovery. Gold is at a high premium, notwithstanding that it is hardly required for trade. see no failures in this market caused by the premium on gold. Paper-money is dearer, scarcer, and tighter, than before the promulgation of the legaltender act. Many think that the proposed loan to the national Government will cause a new emission and flood the market with paper, but they err; the Provincial Bank, which is admirably managed, has withdrawn from circulation close on five million hard dollars' worth of its specie notes, and thus is prepared, if the Chambers so order, to advance to the national Government without making a fresh emission. When the wool season begins, gold must be imported, owing to the few takers of exchange, and the probabilities are that paper-money will rapidly rise in value. Our produce is steadily increasing; our wool-clip last year shows fully 24,000 bales over the clip of 1874, and this year we look for a similar increase. The great depression in River Plate trade is entirely restricted to the branch of our imports, and our exchange and money transactions are reduced to legitimate business operations. We confess we see much to induce the greatest confidence in the country, and believe that the worst of the crisis is over; a crisis the like of which was never before witnessed in these countries, and the effects of which can be read in the four thousand tenantless houses in this city, and the almost innumerable evidences of badly-employed capital; we have splendid and costly stores in the city lying idle, strong rooms with nothing to lock up in them, barracas, custom-house stores, hotels, breweries, tramways, even railways, all lying idle, the flotsam and jetsam of the great crisis-wave that has swept over the Plate; but the waters are at last subsiding, and business will be sounder and better than before. The following is the text of the contract of the national loan referred to by the writer just quoted: FINANCE DEPARTMENT, October 3, 1876. Dr. Victorino de la Plaza, Finance Minister, on the one part, and Don Rufino Varela, Provincial Finance Minister, on the other part, being duly authorized, have agreed on the following terms: ARTICLE 1. The national Government authorizes the Provincial Bank of Buenos Ayres to emit for national account ten million hard dollars in the existing form of emission. ART. 2. Said new notes, as well as twelve millions already emitted by the Provincial Bank, shall receive a special stamp from the national Treasury to guarantee the payment of said notes according to the law of September 23, 1876. ART. 3. One of the national accountants shall reg ister the number and amount of the various notes, as the officer of the Treasury stamps them. ART. 4. All notes must be so stamped before issue, including those required by the bank to exchange for old torn notes. ART. 5. Holders of present currency of specie-notes change same for new issue. may apply at the bank within a certain period to ART. 6. If, at the expiration of said term, the number of notes does not reach twenty-two million hard dollars, the bank will proceed to emit up to that amount, to supply any lost or destroyed. ART. 7. Any specie-notes presented afterward shall be taken charge of by the bank. ART. 8. The above notes for twenty-two million hard dollars shall be legal tender throughout the republic, and be received in full payment of taxes, except in the custom-house, where they shall be receivable for half any amount of duties. Said notes shall not be legal tender for any contracts outside the province of Buenos Ayres previous to September 25th. ART. 9. The Provincial Bank will hand over ten million hard dollars to the national Government, as follows: In case of necessity the minister may arrange with the directors to draw two months in one. For all advances on this loan the Government will pay 4 per cent. per annum. ART. 10. From November 1, 1876, the national Government will begin to pay the Provincial Bank one-twelfth of the custom-house receipts, or more, if convenient, until the complete payment of this loan with interest, as also of the balance due by Government to the bank, viz., $75,294,103, with interest till paid. At the end of every quarter after November 1, 1876, the Provincial Bank will burn, in presence of the national accountant and treasurer, a sum of the new notes equal to the amount received from the custom-house, until all the ten millions be destroyed by fire. ART. 11. As soon as the national Government shall have paid off the present loan and the balance due the bank, this contract shall be at an end. ART. 12. The sums received from the customhouse each quarter shall be applied in the following order: 1. To redeem the ten-million loan now advanced; 2. To pay off the balance and interest already due to the bank; 3. To meet the agreed |