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, "Ereavdpos Tov Пlapov 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-8 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 Egyp tian 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..... Carlos Casares (May, 1875). Minister of the Interior.. Dr. A. del Valle. Catamarca.... Córdoba... Corrientes. Entre-Rios.... Jujuy.... La Rioja.. Mendoza. Salta San Juan. San Luis.. Santa Fé. Santiago. Tucuman.. Rufino Varela. M. Molina. Dr. E. Rodriguez. Dr. J. L. Madariaga Dr. R. Febre. .C. Aparicio. R. Ocampo. . R. Cortés, S. Bayo. Buenos Ayres 400,000 Santa Fé 95,000 Santa Fé. Post-Office 214,807 70 Entre-Rios Corrientes La Rioja. Catamarca. San Juan. 120,000 151,500 Corrientes. Lighthouses. 85.878 98 Dividend of Central Argentine Railway Co... Sundries. 133,280 00 825,100 56 Mendoza.. 75,550 Mendoza. Total.. $17,206,746 84 EXPENDITURE. 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.... 10,181,116 46 $28,570,566 20 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: 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. We 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 terins: 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., $75,294,108, 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 This table shows an increase of nearly eight millions as compared with 1874. The total value of the imports for 1875 was $55,765,627, against $49,377,129 (according to the Memoria of the Minister of Finance, $55,961,177); from which it is apparent that the balance of trade is still largely and progressively in favor of foreign countries and against the Argentine Republic. Encouraging views are entertained that the existing state of adversity must ere long be modified, and we quote a recent writer on the subject, a resident of Buenos Ayres: For the last two or three years the value of Argentine exports has been seriously depressed, and this has, of course, reacted on the general resources; but the quantity, far from diminishing, is rapidly increasing. Any improvement in prices of wool, hides, and tallow, in European markets, would soon be felt in renewed activity of trade at Buenos Ayres, and a larger national revenue. Another source of wealth, which has lately come into operation, consists of wheat and Indian-corn, both being now exported to Brazil and other countries, besides supplying food which formerly had to be imported. From Chili alone the supply of wheat amounted to five million dollars, which are now saved. There are other sources of traffic opening up for the export of Argentine products: a steamer, called the Frigorifique, built and fitted out at Rouen, sailed in October for the Plate, to bring back a cargo of meat preserved on a new principle, which promises to be a success. A large number of horses have recently been exported to France, and are likely to be followed by still larger droves, for the French cavalry. They were sold at very remunerative prices. Railway enterprise, in which a very considerable amount of capital has already been embarked, is one of the means by which Argentine resources are becoming largely developed, and the result of their working traffic proves incontestably the profits de rived from this new source of locomotion. Some lines, constructed under Government guarantee, and only just completed, are for a time a charge upon the national revenue, but this will not long continue, while the lines successfully in operation are yielding large returns, even under the present depression of trade. The very depth of the financial and commercial crisis, which has so long existed in the Plate, is certain to produce a great reaction when once people are satisfied that the worst is over. A postal treaty with England, and an extradition treaty with Belgium, were among the more important events in the foreign policy of the Argentine Government in 1876. The following summary of the report of the Minister of the Interior will serve as a rapid review of the state of the various interests dependent upon that department: Owing to the crisis, there has been such a decline of revenue as to oblige us to cut down the public expenditure in a remarkable manner. As the Government railways now approach completion, we intend next to occupy the engineers in studies of the Upper Paraná and Uruguay, to improve navigation; also to examine the project of making a port for Buenos Ayres, and to draw a map of all the new railways we shall require when a healthy financial condition shall once more return. Three new railways were opened to traffic last year (1875), the Mercedes, East Argentine, and Campana lines. The Tucuman line will be completed in 1876, and then we shall have 2,260 kilometres, or 1,412 miles English, as follows: As regards the Tucuman line, we have to recog nize the perseverance, energy, and good-will of Messrs. Telfener, who have sided us in every manner, accepting whatever delays or postponements when the Treasury was unable to pay for the works executed; and carrying on the works in spite of war, crisis, and the adverse elements. The contractors have already opened to traffic 416 kilometres, and Mr. Telfener notifies us of another section now ready. The prompt completion of this great work is a matter of national honor. The rails are already within ten or twelve leagues of Tucuman, but the traveler finds more difficulty in this short interval than in the hundred leagues of the railway. We propose a saving of $300,000 in the works not yet completed, especially in the stations. The certifi cate of the Department of Engineers shows the value of works already done by Messrs. Telfener to reach $7,518,869, equal to £1,505,000. We have made a contract with Telfener to work the line for 80 per cent. of gross receipts, but he has sent in a request to cancel the agreement. The Andine Railway was opened last October, and Mr. Rogers works it for four years at 80 per cent. of the gross receipts during three years, and 75 per cent. of those of the fourth year. The Central Argentine line (which was opened in May, 1870) earned last year a surplus of £32,200 sterling over the guarantee of 7 per cent. Mr. W. Thompson, who succeeds Mr. Arinstrong as director, has paid in the above surplus to the Government. Last year we paid Messrs. Wanklyn and Lezica |