Gold-mining continued to be carried on successfully in the various colonies. New mines were discovered early in the year at the head of the Palmer River, in the colony of Queensland, and large numbers flocked thither. The crops were generally poor. In New South Wales a heavy drought was reported, while in Victoria the crops were seriously damaged by successive heavy rainfalls.

The plan to unite all the Australian colonies into one confederacy continued to be strongly urged during the year. A considerable impulse was given to it by the Intercolonial Exhibition held at Melbourne in the early part of the year.

The laying of the submarine cable between Sydney and New Zealand was successfully completed in the beginning of the year, and it was opened in February.

The exploration of the interior of the Australian Continent continued to be carried on with unabated energy. News was received in August from Mr. Wilshire, in the Northern Territory, announcing the discovery of good land on the Victoria and Daly Rivers, with grassy plains and soil fit for all tropical productions.

The last surviving native of Tasmania died during the year. It was the Queen, Lidgiwidgi Tancaninni, called Lalla Rookh by the white population. Tasmania, or the island of Van Diemen, which became in 1803 an English colony, had in 1815 a native population of 5,000; in 1847 there were only 45 left, and now the last of the race is dead. Lalla Rookh had been married five times, and each time to a king. She lived at Hobart Town, in the house of the Government inspector, and received a small pension from the British Government. She was seventy-three years old, and died of paralysis.

A sanguinary affair took place among the natives of Feejee in the early part of the year. A number of tribes not yet converted to Christianity made an attack upon the colony. They were aided by a number of natives who, once converted, had reverted to their heathen state in consequence of the measles, which had raged so terribly in the colony in 1875. They destroyed entire villages, and celebrated their victory by eating eighteen women and children. In consequence of these atrocities the Governor, Sir Arthur Gordon, marched against them, and succeeded in completely defeating them. Thirty-five of the leaders were tried and sentenced to death, but only fourteen were executed.

During the middle of the year the vessel Dancing Wave was captured by the natives of the Solomon Islands, who devoured the entire crew. Only one escaped and reported the affair. The man-of-war Sanafly was sent out to punish the murderers.

Mr. R. Abbay, in an article on the periodicity of fresh-water lakes of Australia, in No. 342 of Nature, makes the following interesting statements: Lake George, in New South Wales,

which is from 23 to 24 miles long, and in its widest part seven miles wide, did not exist twenty-four years ago. In 1852 the deepest part of the lake was covered by a morass, while all the rest was rich alluvial ground. The depth of the present lake is only 25 to 30 feet, which, considering its great extent, is a strong argument in favor of the supposition that the lake has existed at some previous time, and was at least just as extensive as at present. This supposition is strengthened by the old alluvial terraces of the creeks, which lie 10 or 12 feet above the present level of the lake. But this could not be the case one or even several centuries ago, as the present lake is surrounded by a wide belt of forest-trees, which must have grown at a period which dates farther back than a century from the

date of the present inundation. The chief reason for the present growth of the lake, Abbay thinks, may be found in the destruction of the forests in the cavity, the southern end of which is at present occupied by the lake. The consequence of the disappearance of the forests was a more rapid drainage of the entire basin, the water could flow off quickly and accumulate in the deepest part of the basin, while the loss by evaporizing was greatly diminished, as the water now reaches the lake in a few hours, even from the most distant part of the basin. Lake Bathurst, a few miles distant, also shows a considerable increase in its volume of water.

During the month of March meetings were held in Sydney to discuss a new journey of exploration of D'Albertis in New Guinea. D'Albertis proposed to travel up the Fly River to the centre of the island, where he expected to find its source, and then to return overland to Yule Island or Port Morley. He expected to perform the journey in from six to eight months. This plan was very favorably re

Czernovitz

Cracow

Gratz...

Innspruck

Lemberg

Prague
Vienna

UNIVERSITIES.

Total..

Professors.

Students and Hearers.

29

209

Of the total number of students, 7,620 were ordinary and 1,281 extraordinary; 7,432 were Austrians, and 1,469 foreigners. Of the latter, 1,055 were from Hungary, 144 from Germany, 35 from Switzerland, 53 from Italy, 2 from Belgium, 1 from the Netherlands, 8 from Great Britain, 66 from Russia, 12 from Turkey, 16 from Servia, 8 from Greece, 54 from Roumania, 3 from Asia, 13 from America, and 1 from Australia. According to the language, 4,162 were Germans, 1,540 Czechs, 1,338 Poles, 454 Ruthenians, 194 Slovenians, 223 Servians and

BRAUNAU, BOHEMIA.

According to the common budget of the whole empire for the year 1877, the amount required for the ordinary branches of administration was 117,091,389 florins. The receipts for the same branches were estimated at 5,779,730 florins, the receipts from customs at 11,000,000 florins, leaving 100,311,659 florins to be distributed among Austria and Hungary. Of this amount, 2,006,233 florins were to come from the Treasury of Hungary, as a part of the Military Frontier had been placed under civil government during the year; and of the balance Austria contributed seventy per cent. and Hungary thirty per cent. The common debt of the empire on January 1, 1876, amounted to 411,999,941 florins. The budget of Austria proper, for 1876, was as follows (in florins):

The number of telegraph-stations was 2,212. The number of dispatches sent and received was 4,547,830.

The new armament of the Austrian artillery with the Uchatius gun was completed during the year. The Uchatius gun like the Krupp, is a breech-loader, and has given, in comparison with the Prussian weapon, the most satisfactory results. The alloy of which it is made is a simple mixture of copper and tin, but the peculiar plan adopted for suddenly cooling the mass after casting is maintained a close secret. Analysis of the metal gives no clew to the nature of this operation, the result of which is to secure an even and crystalline alloy free from "honey-comb" and "tin-pitting," which are the usual defects met with in bronze-work. After casting the cannon, and suddenly cooling it, General von Uchatius dilates the bore by introducing a steel wedge, which increases the calibre considerably, and places the weapon in a state of tension that is said to add much to its capacity to withstand the effects of continued firing. The expense of the bronze weapon is far less than that of the steel cannon of Krupp, for while a field-piece of the latter construction costs no less than £114, if fashioned of crucible steel, the value of the Cehatius gun is not more than £35. As it is, the new weapons are to cost the Austrian Gov

ernment upward of £1,500,000, so that, had the Austro-Hungarian army been fitted out with Krupp guns instead, more than three times as much money would have been required.

The two Houses of the Reichsrath resumed their labors in January. The Herrenhaus on January 14th took up the discussion of the monastic association bill, which had been brought in by the Government in 1874.* Cardinal Schwarzenberg and all the bishops and abbots had taken their seats on this occasion. It was bitterly attacked by the cardinal and other Catholic speakers. The former stated that whoever attacked the convents attacked Christianity. The convents were the bulwarks of the Church, and were the first points to be attacked by those who opposed the Catholic Church. Minister Stremayr, speaking for the Government, stated that no hostile act against these corporations was intended by the law. It could the inner relations of the Church. On the 17th never be the object of the state to meddle with the entire law was finally passed to a second regulating the legal status of the Old Catholics and third reading. On the other hand, the law was rejected. The monastic association law was passed in the Chamber of Deputies in February, after considerable debate. In November, Minister Stremayr informed the confessional committee of the House of Deputies that the Emperor had refused to sign the law as framed by the two Houses of the Reichsrath, but that he had authorized the ministry to bring in a new law. On February 9th the Chamber of Deputies adopted the new marriage law, according to the majority report of the committee. The discussion turned chiefly on the question in what manner the impediment to inarriage was to be removed in the case of clerics. The majority report as adopted by the House made a distinction between those who had received the higher and the lower orders, and proposed that, in the case of the former, the impediment to marriage should only be removed by a change of religion, while the latter would merely be required to leave the clergy. The minority was opposed to this distinction, and proposed that the vow of celibacy should no longer be valid after the cleric had renounced his profession, no matter whether he had received higher or lower orders, and without leaving the religious community which regarded the vow of celibacy as an impediment to marriage. A third proposition, by Freiherr von Händel, which was sanctioned by the Minister of Justice, also wished to see no distinction made between the higher and the lower clergy, but demanded that a change of religion should in all cases precede the legalization of marriage. The other propositions of the committee regarding mixed marriages, and the remarriage of persons who had left the Catholic Church, were adopted without change. The Reichsrath adjourned on March

See ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA for 1874, p. 56. + See ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA for 1875, p. 59.