_Communications._--Under a treaty with Brazil in 1903 and with Chile in 1904 (ratified 1905) provisions were made for railway construction in Bolivia to bring this isolated region into more effective communication with the outside world. Brazil agreed to construct a railway around the falls of the Madeira (about 180 m. long) to give north-eastern Bolivia access to the Amazon, and paid down £2,000,000 in cash which Bolivia was to expend on railway construction within her own territory. Chile also agreed to construct a railway from Arica to La Paz, 295 m. (the Bolivian section becoming the property of Bolivia fifteen years after completion), and to pay the interest (not over 5%) which Bolivia might guarantee on the capital invested in certain interior railways if constructed within thirty years, providing these interest payments should not exceed £100,000 a year, nor exceed £1,600,000 in the aggregate. Argentina had already undertaken to extend her northern railway from Jujuy to the Bolivian frontier town of Tupiza, and the Peruvian Corporation had constructed for the Bolivian government a short line (54 m. long) from Guaqui, on Lake Titicaca, to Alto de La Paz, which is connected with the city of La Paz, 1493 ft. below, by an electric line 5 m. long. This line gives La Paz access to the Peruvian port of Mollendo, 496 m. distant, and promises in time to give it railway communication with Cuzco. Rivalry for the control of her trade, therefore, promises to give Bolivia the railways needed for the development of her resources. Up to 1903 the only railways in Bolivia were the Antofagasta and Oruro line, with a total length of 574 m., of which 350 m. are within Bolivian territory, a private branch of that line (26 m. long) running to the Pulacayo mines, and the line (54 m. long) from Guaqui to Alto de La Paz--a total of only 430 m. As a result of her war with Chile in 1878-81, the railways (282 m. long) of her Litoral department passed under Chilean control. Lines were in 1907 projected from La Paz to the navigable waters of the Beni, from La Paz to Cochabamba, from Viacha to Oruro, from Uyuni to Potosi and Sucré, from Uyuni to Tupiza, and from Arica to La Paz via Corocoro. The central northern line of the Argentine government was completed to the Bolivian frontier in 1908, and this line was designed to extend to Tupiza. The undertaking of the Arica-La Paz line by the Chilean government, also, was an important step towards the improvement of the economic situation in Bolivia. Both these lines offer the country new outlets for its products. Entry: BOLIVIA
GEORGETOWN, a city, a port of entry and the county-seat of Georgetown county, South Carolina, U.S.A., at the head of Winyah Bay, and at the mouth of the Pedee river, about 15 m. from the Atlantic Ocean, and about 55 m. N.E. of Charleston. Pop. (1890) 2895; (1900) 4138 (2718 negroes); (1910) 5530. Georgetown is served by the Georgetown & Western railway, has steamship communication with Charleston, Wilmington, New York City and other Atlantic ports, and, by the Pedee river and its tributaries (about 1000 m. of navigable streams), has trade connexions with a large area of South Carolina and part of North Carolina. The principal public buildings are the post office and custom house. Among the city's manufactures are lumber, foundry and machine-shop products, naval stores and oars; and there are shad and sturgeon fisheries. The growing of cotton and truck-gardening are important industries in the neighbouring region, and there is considerable trade in such products. The first settlement here was made about 1700; and the town was laid out a short time before 1734. The Winyah Indigo Society grew out of a social club organized about 1740, and was founded in 1757 by a group of planters interested in raising indigo; It long conducted a school (discontinued during the Civil War) which eventually became part of the city's public school system. In 1780 Georgetown was occupied by a body of Loyalist troops, with whom the American troops had several skirmishes, but on the 10th of August 1781 General Francis Marion forced the evacuation of the town and took possession of it. A few days later, an American named Manson, who had joined the British forces, attacked the town from an armed vessel, and burned about forty houses, the small body of militia being unable to make an effective resistance. General Lafayette first landed on American soil at Georgetown on the 24th of April 1777. Georgetown was incorporated as a town in 1805, and was chartered as a city in 1895. Entry: GEORGETOWN
In regard to the purification of water, filtration was long looked upon as merely a mechanical process of straining out the solid particles, whereby a turbid water could be rendered clear. In the course of time it was noticed that certain materials, such as charcoal, had the power to some extent also of softening hard water and of removing organic matter, and at the beginning of the 19th century charcoal, both animal and vegetable, came into use for filtering purposes. Porous carbon blocks, made by strongly heating a mixture of powdered charcoal with oil, resin, &c., were introduced about a generation later, and subsequently various preparations of iron (spongy iron, magnetic oxide) found favour. Innumerable forms of filters made with these and other materials were put on the market, and were extolled as removing impurities of every kind from water, and as affording complete protection against the communication of disease. But whatever merits they had as clarifiers of turbid water, the advent of bacteriology, and the recognition of the fact that the bacteria of certain diseases may be water-borne, introduced a new criterion of effectiveness, and it was perceived that the removal of solid particles, or even of organic impurities (which were realized to be important not so much because they are dangerous to health _per se_ as because their presence affords grounds for suspecting that the water in which they occur has been exposed to circumstances permitting contamination with infective disease), was not sufficient; the filter must also prevent the passage of pathogenic organisms, and so render the water sterile bacteriologically. Examined from this point of view the majority of domestic filters were found to be gravely defective, and even to be worse than useless, since unless they were frequently and thoroughly cleansed, they were liable to become favourable breeding-places for microbes. The first filter which was more or less completely impermeable to bacteria was the Pasteur-Chamberland, which was devised in Pasteur's laboratory, and is made of dense biscuit porcelain. The filtering medium in this, as in other filters of the same kind, takes the form of a hollow cylinder or "candle," through the walls of which the water has to pass from the outside to the inside, the candles often being arranged so that they may be directly attached to a tap, whereby the rate of flow, which is apt to be slow, is accelerated by the pressure of the main. But even filters of this type, if they are to be fully relied upon, must be frequently cleaned and sterilized, and great care must be taken that the joints and connexions are watertight, and that the candles are without cracks or flaws. In cases where the water supply is known to be infected, or even where it is merely doubtful, it is wise to have recourse to sterilization by boiling, rather than trust to any filter. Various machines have been constructed to perform this operation, some of them specially designed for the use of troops in the field; those in which economy of fuel is studied have an exchange-heater, by means of which the incoming cold water receives heat from the outgoing hot water, which thus arrives at the point of outflow at a temperature nearly as low as that of the supply. Chemical methods of sterilization have also been suggested, depending on the use of iodine, chlorine, bromine, ozone, potassium permanganate, copper sulphate or chloride and other substances. For the sand-filtration of water on a large scale, in which the presence of a surface film containing zooglaea of bacteria is an essential feature, see WATER SUPPLY. Entry: FILTER
In ancient times foreign intercourse, trade and navigation were in many instances regulated by international arrangements. The text is extant of treaties of commerce and navigation concluded between Carthage and Rome in 509 and 348 B.C. Aristotle mentions that nations were connected by commercial treaties; and other classical writers advert to these engagements. Under the Roman empire the matters thus dealt with became regulated by law, or by usages sometimes styled laws. When the territories of the empire were contracted, and the imperial authority was weakened, some kind of international agreements again became necessary. At Constantinople in the 10th century treaties cited by Gibbon protected "the person, effects and privileges of the Russian merchant"; and, in western Europe, intercourse, trade and navigation were carried on, at first tacitly by usage derived from Roman times, or under verbal permission given to merchants by the ruler to whose court they resorted. Afterwards, security in these transactions was afforded by means of formal documents, such as royal letters, charters, laws and other instruments possessing the force of government measures. Instances affecting English commercial relations are the letter of Charlemagne in 796, the Brabant Charter of 1305, and the Russian ukase of 1569. Medieval treaties of truce or peace often contained a clause permitting in general terms the renewal of personal and commercial communication as it subsisted before the war. This custom is still followed. But these medieval arrangements were precarious: they were often of temporary duration, and were usually only effective during the lifetime of the contracting sovereigns. Entry: COMMERCIAL
_Public Works and Communications._--Local transit is provided for by the suburban service of the steam railways, elevated electric roads, and a system of electric surface cars. Two great public works demand notice: the water system and the drainage canal. Water is pumped from Lake Michigan through several tunnels connecting with "cribs" located from 2 to 5 m. from shore. The "cribs" are heavy structures of timber and iron loaded with stone and enclosing the in-take cylinders, which join with the tunnels well below the bottom of the lake. The first tunnel was completed in 1867. The capacity of the tunnels was estimated in 1900 by two very competent authorities at 528 and 615 million gallons daily, respectively. The average daily supply in 1909 was 475,000,000 gallons; there were then 16.6 m. of tunnels below the lake. The wastes of the city--street washings, building sewage, the offal of slaughter-houses, and wastes of distilleries and rendering houses--were originally turned into the lake, but before 1870 it was discovered that the range of impurity extended already a mile into the lake, half-way to the water "crib," and it became evident that the lake could not be indefinitely contaminated. The Illinois and Michigan Canal, for which the right of way was granted in 1821 and which was built in 1836-1841 and 1845-1848, and opened in 1848 (cost, $6,557,681), was once thought to have solved the difficulty; it is connected with the main (southern) branch of the Chicago river, 5 m. from its mouth, with the Illinois river at La Salle, the head of steamer navigation on the Illinois river, and is the natural successor in the evolution of transportation of the old Chicago portage, ½ m. in length, between the Chicago river and the headwaters of the Kankakee; it was so deepened as to draw water out from the lake, whose waters thus flowed toward the Gulf of Mexico. It is about 96 m. long, 40-42 ft. wide, and 4-7 ft. deep, but proved inadequate for the disposal of sewage. A solution of the problem was imperative by 1876, but almost all the wastes of the city continued nevertheless to be poured into the lake. In 1890 a sanitary district, including part of the city and certain suburban areas to be affected, was organized, and preparations made for building a greater canal that should do effectively the work it was once thought the old canal could do. The new drainage canal, one of the greatest sanitary works of the world, constructed between 1892 and 1900 under the control of the trustees of the Sanitary District of Chicago (cost up to 1901, $35,448,291), joins the south branch of the Chicago with the Desplaines river, and so with the Illinois and Mississippi, and is 28.5 m. long,[7] of which 15 m. were cut through rock; it is 22 ft. deep and has a minimum width of 164 ft. The canal, or sewer, is flushed with water from Lake Michigan, and its waters are pure within a flow of 150 m.[8] Its capacity, which was not at first fully utilized, is 600,000 cub. ft. per minute, sufficient entirely to renew the water of the Chicago river daily. A system of intercepting sewers to withdraw drainage into the lake was begun in 1898; and the construction of a canal to drain the Calumet region was begun in 1910. The Illinois and Michigan canal is used by small craft, and the new drainage canal also may be used for shipping in view of the Federal government's improvements of the rivers connecting it with the Mississippi for the construction of a ship-canal for large vessels. The canal also made possible the development (begun in 1903) of enormous hydraulic power for the use of the city. The Illinois and Michigan Canal has been supplemented by the Illinois and Mississippi Canal, commonly known as "the Hennepin," from its starting at the great bend of the Illinois river 1¾ m. above Hennepin, not far below La Salle; the first appropriation for it was made in 1890, and work was begun in 1892 and completed in October 1907. Its course from Hennepin is by the Bureau Creek valley to the mouth of Queen river on the Rock river, thence by the Rock river and a canal around its rapids at Milan to its mouth at Rock Island on the Mississippi river. This barge canal is 80 ft. wide at water-line, 52 ft. wide at the bottom, and 7 ft. deep. Its main feeder is the Rock river, dammed by a dam nearly 1500 ft. long between Sterling and Rock Falls, Illinois, where the opening of the canal was celebrated on the 24th of October 1907. Entry: CHICAGO
HERAT, a city and province of Afghanistan. The city of Herat lies in 340° 20´ 30´´ N., and 62° 11´ 0´´ E., at an altitude of 2500 ft. above sea-level. Estimated pop. about 10,000. It is a city of great interest historically, geographically, politically and strategically, but in modern days it has quite lost its ancient commercial importance. From this central point great lines of communication radiate in all directions to Russian, British, Persian and Afghan territory. Sixty-six miles to the north lies the terminus of the Russian railway system; to the south-east is Kandahar (360 m.) and about 70 m. beyond that, New Chaman, the terminus of the British railway system. Southward lies Seistan (200 m.), and eastward Kabul (550 m.); while on the west four routes lead into Persia by Turbet to Meshed (215 m.), and by Birjend to Kerman (400 m.), to Yezd (500 m.), or to Isfahan (600 m.). The city forms a quadrangle of nearly 1 m. square (more accurately about 1600 yds. by 1500 yds.); on the western, southern and eastern faces the line of defence is almost straight, the only projecting points being the gateways, but on the northern face the contour is broken by a double outwork, consisting of the _Ark_ or citadel, which is built of sun-dried brick on a high artificial mound within the enceinte, and a lower work at its foot, called the _Ark-i-nao_, or "new citadel," which extends 100 yds. beyond the line of the city wall. That which distinguishes Herat from all other Oriental cities, and at the same time constitutes its main defence, is the stupendous character of the earthwork upon which the city wall is built. This earthwork averages 250 ft. in width at the base and about 50 ft. in height, and as it is crowned by a wall 25 ft. high and 14 ft. thick at the base, supported by about 150 semicircular towers, and is further protected by a ditch 45 ft. in width and 16 in depth, it presents an appearance of imposing strength. When the royal engineers of the Russo-Afghan Boundary Commission entered Herat in 1885 they found its defences in various stages of disrepair. The gigantic rampart was unflanked, and the covered ways in the face of it subject to enfilade from end to end. The ditch was choked, the gates were unprotected; the tumbled mass of irregular mud buildings which constituted the city clung tightly to the walls; there were no gun emplacements. Outside, matters were almost worse than inside. To the north of the walls the site of old Herat was indicated by a vast mass of débris--mounds of bricks and pottery intersected by a network of shallow trenches, where the only semblance of a protective wall was the irregular line of the Tal-i-Bangi. South of the city was a vast area filled in with the graveyards of centuries. Here the trenches dug by the Persians during the last siege were still in a fair state of preservation; they were within a stone's-throw of the walls. Round about the city on all sides were similar opportunities for close approach; even the villages stretched out long irregular streets towards the city gates. To the north-west, beyond the Tal-i-Bangi, the magnificent outlines of the Mosalla filled a wide space with the glorious curves of dome and gateway and the stately grace of tapering minars, but the impressive beauty of this, by far the finest architectural structure in all Afghanistan, could not be permitted to weigh against the fact that the position occupied by this pile of solid buildings was fatal to the interests of effective defence. By the end of August 1885, when a political crisis had supervened between Great Britain and Russia, under the orders of the Amir the Mosalla was destroyed; but four minars standing at the corners of the wide plinth still remain to attest to the glorious proportions of the ancient structure, and to exhibit samples of that decorative tilework, which for intricate beauty of design and exquisite taste in the blending of colour still appeals to the memory as unique. At the same time the ancient graveyards round the city were swept smooth and levelled; obstructions were demolished, outworks constructed, and the defences generally renovated. Whether or no the strength of this bulwark of North-Western Afghanistan should ever be practically tested, the general result of the most recent investigations into the value of Herat as a strategic centre has been largely to modify the once widely-accepted view that the key to India lies within it. Abdur Rahman and his successor Habibullah steadfastly refused the offer of British engineers to strengthen its defences; and though the Afghans themselves have occasionally undertaken repairs, it is doubtful whether the old walls of Herat are maintained in a state of efficiency. Entry: HERAT
_Environs._--In several directions many places once to be described among the environs have practically become suburbs of Edinburgh. Newhaven (population of parish, 7636), so called from the harbour constructed in the reign of James IV., had a shipbuilding yard of some repute in former times. The village has always been a fishing-place of importance, the "fishwives" in their picturesque garb being, till recently, conspicuous figures in the streets of the capital. It used to be a popular resort for fish dinners, and it plays a prominent part in Charles Reade's novel of _Christie Johnstone_. To the west lies Granton (pop. 1728), where the 5th duke of Buccleuch constructed a magnificent harbour. Before the building of the Forth Bridge the customary approach to Fifeshire and the north-east of Scotland was by means of a steam ferry from Granton to Burntisland, which is still used to some extent. There is regular communication with Iceland, the continental ports and London. A marine station here was established by Sir John Murray, but has been discontinued. Still farther west lies the village of Cramond (pop. of parish, 3815), at the mouth of the river Almond, where Roman remains have often been found. It was the birthplace of several well-known persons, among others of John Law (1671-1729), originator of the Mississippi scheme, Lauriston Castle being situated in the parish. Cramond Brig was the scene of one of the "roving" adventures of James V., when the life of the "Gudeman of Ballengeich" was saved by Jock Howieson of the Braehead. Corstorphine (pop. 2725), once noted for its cream and also as a spa, is now to all intents and purposes a western suburb of the capital. The parish church contains the tombs of the Forresters, of old the leading family of the district, with full-length sculptured figures, and at the base of Corstorphine Hill--from one point of which ("Rest and be Thankful") is to be had one of the best views of Edinburgh--are the seats of several well-known families. Among these are Craigcrook Castle (where Lord Jeffrey spent many happy years, and the gardens of which are said to have given Scott a hint for Tullyveolan in _Waverley_), and Ravelston House, the home of the Keiths. To the south of the metropolis are Colinton (pop. 5499), on the Water of Leith, with several mansions that once belonged to famous men, such as Dreghorn Castle and Bonally Tower; and Currie (pop. 2513), which was a Roman station and near which are Curriehill Castle (held by the rebels against Queen Mary), the ruins of Lennox Tower, and Riccarton, the seat of the Gibson-Craigs, one of the best-known Midlothian families. At Dalmahoy Castle, near Ratho (pop. 1946), the seat of the earl of Morton, are preserved the only extant copy of the bible of the Scottish parliament and the original warrant for committing Queen Mary to Lochleven Castle in Kinross-shire. Craigmillar, though situated in the parish of Liberton, is really a part of Edinburgh. Its picturesque castle, at least the oldest portion of it, probably dates from the 12th century. Its principal owners were first the Prestons and latterly the Gilmours. After playing a varied rôle in local and national story, now as banqueting-house and now as prison, it fell gradually into disrepair. It was advertised as to let in 1761, and early in the 19th century, along with the chapel adjoining, was in ruins, but has been restored by Colonel Gordon-Gilmour. It was a favourite residence of Mary Stuart, and its associations with the hapless queen give it a romantic interest. Duddingston (pop. 2023), once a quiet village, has become a centre of the distilling and brewing industries. The parish church, effectively situated on an eminence by the side of the lake, was the scene of the ministration of the Rev. John Thomson (1778-1840), the landscape painter, who numbered Sir Walter Scott among his elders. Duddingston House is a seat of the duke of Abercorn. Liberton (pop. of parish, 7233), a name that recalls the previous existence of a leper's hospital, is prominently situated on the rising ground to the south of Edinburgh, the parish church being a conspicuous landmark. Adjoining is the village of Gilmerton (pop. 1482), which used to supply Edinburgh with yellow sand, when sanded floors were a feature in the humbler class of houses. Portobello (pop. 9180), being within 3 m. of the capital, must always enjoy a large share of public patronage, though it is not in such favour as a watering-place as it once was. Its beautiful stretch of sands is flanked by a promenade extending all the way to Joppa. The beach was at one time used for the purpose of reviews of the yeomanry. The town dates from the middle of the 18th century, when a cottage was built by a sailor and named Portobello in commemoration of Admiral Vernon's victory in 1739. The place does a considerable trade in the making of bricks, bottles, earthenware, pottery, tiles and paper. Joppa, which adjoins it, has salt works, but is chiefly a residential neighbourhood. Inveresk (pop. 2939), finely situated on the Esk some 6 m. from Edinburgh, is a quaint village with several old-fashioned mansions and beautiful gardens. Alexander Carlyle, the famous divine (1772-1805), whose _Memorials of his Times_ still affords fascinating reading, ministered for fifty-five years in the parish church, in the graveyard of which lies David Macbeth Moir (1798-1851), who under the pen-name of "Delta" wrote _Mansie Wauch_, a masterpiece of Scots humour and pathos. Lasswade (pop. of parish, 9708), partly in the Pentlands, famous for its oatmeal, was often the summer resort of Edinburgh worthies. Here Sir Walter Scott lived for six years and De Quincey for nineteen, and William Tennant (1784-1848), author of _Anster Fair_, was the parish dominie. Many interesting mansions were and are in the vicinity, amongst them Melville Castle, the seat of the Dundas Melvilles, and Auchendinny, where Henry Mackenzie, author of _The Man of Feeling_, resided. The two most celebrated resorts, however, amongst the environs of Edinburgh are Roslin (pop. 1805) and Hawthornden. Roslin Castle is romantically situated on the beautifully wooded precipitous banks of the Esk. It dates from the 12th century and is a plain, massive ruin, architecturally insignificant. Partially destroyed by fire in 1447 and afterwards rebuilt, it was sacked in 1650 and again in 1688, and then gradually fell into decay. The chapel, higher up the bank, a relic of great beauty, was founded in 1446 by William St Clair, 3rd earl of Orkney. It is believed to be the chancel of what was intended to be a large church. Although it suffered at the hands of revolutionary fanatics in 1688, the damage was confined mainly to the external ornament, and the chapel, owing to restoration in judicious taste, is now in perfect condition. The Gothic details are wonderful examples of the carver's skill, the wreathed "Prentice's pillar" being the subject of a well-known legend. The walk to Hawthornden, about 1½ m. distant, through the lovely glen by the river-side, leads to the mansion of the Drummonds, perched high on a lofty cliff falling sheer to the stream. The caverns in the sides of the precipice are said to have afforded Wallace and other heroes (or outlaws) refuge in time of trouble, but the old house is most memorable as the home of the poet William Drummond, who here welcomed Ben Jonson; the tree beneath which the two poets sat still stands. Near Swanston, on the slopes of the Pentlands, where R.L. Stevenson when a boy used to make holiday occasionally, is a golf-course which was laid out by the Lothianburn Club. The Pentland range contains many points of interest and beauty, but these are mostly accessible only to the pedestrian, although the hills are crossed by roads, of which the chief are those by Glencorse burn and the Cauld Stane Slap. Habbie's Howe, the scene of Allan Ramsay's pastoral _The Gentle Shepherd_, is some 2 m. from Carlops, and Rullion Green is noted as the field on which the Covenanters were defeated in 1666. At Penicuik (pop. 5097), where the Clerks were long the ruling family, S.R. Crockett was minister until he formally devoted himself to fiction. The town is, industrially, remarkable for its paper mills and mines of coal and other minerals. Entry: EDINBURGH