Human

probable that any known kind of horse represents the original wild horse; for man has so long kept horses as domestic servants, and it is so certain that the wild horses in many regions are the descendants of runaways from man, that all the living forms may be regarded as having been influenced more or less thoroughly by human selecselection. tion and training. Wherever food is scanty or the country is mountainous, the horses are small, and are called ponies. They can exist in regions of almost perpetual snow or in the tropics, and thus being hardy, variable, and strong, are calculated to render the most valuable services to man. The more primitive kinds of horses appear to be duncoloured, and to have had a dark stripe down the back, allying them with the ass and zebra.

Horses are bred for use in war, for agricultural and draught purposes, and for speed. In the Bible there are many fine passages referring to the war-horse, and the The war-horse. records of Egypt show their employment for drawing chariots. Cavalry was of later introduction, partly because of the heavy expense of keeping the horses; but when this difficulty was surmounted, owing to the increased wealth of nations, cavalry became of great importance in war, and remained of very high value until the increased range of rifles somewhat diminished their employment, except for reconnoitring purposes.

To successive kings of England from an early period we are indebted for continual improvements in our domestic breeds. King John may be allowed some credit Royal influence. in this direction, if for little else. Germany, the Low Countries, and Spain in turn contributed new blood; and finally the introduction of an Arab horse early in last century was the starting point of the modern race of English thorough-bred, which ranks highest in the world for speed as well as beauty. The trotting-horse has become very characteristic of the United States, but is descended in the main from the same stock as the English racer. The dray-horse is as much a product of special breeding for power in slow movement as the race-horse for speed. Another well-known peculiar form of horse is the lively little Shetland pony with its long shaggy

mane.

other breeds.

Every one has heard of the attachment between the Arab and his steed, so often displayed in a reluctance to part with one to strangers under the temptation The Arab and of much money, when money was urgently needed. The Arab feeds and trains his desert companion with great care in youth, and finds his advantage in the endurance of which he is capable when adult. The Barb is an almost equally famous breed, whose home is the north of Africa. The absence of native horses in America and in Australia is a fact well worth pondering as an instance of special geographical distribution, in conjunction with the occurrence of ancient species of horses in America in former geological epochs of comparatively modern date. It is strange, indeed, to witness the disturbance

which human agency makes in the spread of animals. For long ages horses are non-existent in South America; the continent is discovered by men from the Old World, who soon transport some domestic horses thither; now and again a horse runs from home, and, finding the climate and food suitable, the wanderers become wild, and before long mulWild horses in tiply exceedingly, so as to range New World the country in vast herds. If we contemplate further the changes consequent on the food requirements of these horses,-for what one animal eats cannot be eaten by another. the parasitic creatures, internal and external which feed upon such a large animal as th horse; the multitude of smaller existences that are trampled out in the scampering and gallop ing of the horse-troops-we realise faintly the potent and far-reaching influences which are ever at work to modify and transform the aspect and relations of animate beings.

The asses, zebras, and quaggas are the remaining living members of the family, characterised especially the latter two, by their striped markings, which are, in- Zebras and deed, nearly always present in quaggas asses to some extent. The dark spinal stre is most constant in the ass; the handsome and intractable zebra of South Africa has very numerous alternate black and white band of colour nearly all over the body, even covering the legs with broad horizontal bars The quagga, ranging over the district south the river Vaal, has less numerous and less c spicuous markings. Four species of wild asses are recognized, but it is agreed that the Ab sinian ass is the parent of our domestic bree The comparative insignificance into which the ass has fallen in The domestic our country is not a sign that the creature is markedly less variable or wor of careful breeding than the horse; but t superior size and strength of the latter p bably gave him a start in the race of impro ment, which has ever since given him the p ference in the eyes of breeders. Very g results have been attained in the breeding: asses in the East, where they are and have been highly regarded. Mules are a cross be tween the ass and the mare, and constiter valuable representative of a hybrid or mediate between two distinct species.

PROFESSIONS AND OCCUPATIONS.

HOW TO ENTER THE CIVIL
SERVICE.
II.

HAVING given the General Regulations which competitive examinations for US vice clerkships are held, we now proceed t Special Regulations as they at present 1 giving only the necessary caution that they liable to alteration from time to time.

Candidates will be at liberty to offer themselves for examination in any or all of these subjects. No subjects are obligatory.

No candidate will be allowed any marks in respect of any subject of examination unless he shall be considered to possess a competent knowledge of that subject.

The fee for the preliminary examination is £1, and a further fee of £5 is required of every candidate admitted to the competition.

Out of the list resulting from each competitive examination will be filled (provided there be candidates duly qualified):

(a) All the vacancies in Class I. which may have been reported to the Civil Service Commissioners up to the date at which the notice of the examination is published in the London Gazette.

(b) Such other vacancies (being in the "New

Higher Division of the Civil Service") as the Civil Service Commissioners, with the approval of the Lords of the Treasury, shall estimate as likely to occur within six months after the date of the said notice.

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(c) Any vacancy in Class I. (but not in the New Higher Division ") occurring

within six months from the said date, which the head of the department may desire to have so filled.

Candidates will be allowed to choose, according to their place on the list, among the vacancies (a) for which they are duly qualified; or they may elect to wait for a vacancy (b) or for the chance of a vacancy (c). When vacancies (b) or (c) occur, they will be offered in rotation to the qualified candidates then on the list, who will be free to decline them without forfeiting their claim to subsequent vacancies (b) or (c).

By the term "New Higher Division of the Civil Service is meant situations to be filled under the above Regulations, with salaries commencing at £100, and rising by triennial increments to £400, to which may be added, at any stage, in the case of persons selected for the performance of special duties, duty pay of proportionate amount not exceeding £200.

Specimens of examination papers used in these competitions may be obtained through the booksellers; and intending candidates should bear in mind especially that quality rather than quantity is taken into account by the examiners, that no one is required to undertake all the subjects contained in the list given, and that unless competent knowledge is shownby a candidate in a subject, he will get no marks at all for his work in connection with it.

After a candidate has successfully passed his examination and received his appointment, he enters on a six months' probation, during which his ability will be put to a practical test under the supervision of the head of his department, and he will not be finally appointed to the public service unless during that period he gives satisfactory proof of his fitness for permanent employment.

The following list contains the names of the situations which, up to the present time, have been placed in Class I. Of these, those marked thus (+) are in the "New Higher Division":

Admiralty; Clerk. Chief Secretary's Office, Ireland; Clerk in the Veterinary Branch. Civil Service Commission; Clerk. Colonial Office; Clerk. Constabulary, Ireland; Clerk in the Inspector General's Office. Customs; Clerk. Ecclesiastical Commission; Clerk. Home Office; Clerk. India Office; Clerk in the Correspondence Department. Inland Revenue; Assistant Surveyor of Taxes, and Clerk. Lunacy Commission; Clerk. Patent Office; Clerk. Post Office; Clerk in Secretary's Office (Grade I.). Record Office, England; Clerk. Record Office, Ireland; Clerk. Science and Art Department; Clerk. Treasury; Clerk. War Office; Clerk.

Lower Division Clerkships.

Competitive examinations for lower division. clerkships are open to all natural-born subjects of Her Majesty, with the exceptions and restrictions as mentioned in the general regulations printed on page 707. Candidates must be over seventeen years of age, and under twenty, on the first day of the competitive examination.

Candidates on completing their twenty-fifth year, or on receiving appointments, will be removed from the list.

From these lists the Civil Service Commissioners, on the application of departments having vacancies, will supply, on probation, the requisite clerks, whether for permanent or temporary duty. Selections will, as a general rule, be made by the Civil Service Commissioners according to the order of the names on the list; but the Civil Service Commissioners may select any clerk who, in his examination, has shown special qualifications in any particular subject, if special application for such a clerk be made by any department.

No clerk will remain more than one year in any department unless at the end of that time the head of the department shall signify in writing to the Civil Service Commissioners that the clerk is accepted by the department. If

the requisite amount of proficiency in handwriting, orthography, and arithmetic (including vulgar and decimal fractions). With this view, preliminary examinations in these subjects will be held at such times and places as the Commissioners may appoint. Application for permission to attend one of these preliminary examinations must be made in the writing of the candidate, at such times and in such manner as may be fixed by the Commissioners.

The number of persons to be selected at each examination will be published as part of the notice of every such examination. A list of the competitors will be made out, in the order of merit, up to this published number, if so many are found by the examination to be qualified.

Each competitor placed on the list for the Lower Division of the Civil Service will remain thereon until he attains the age of twenty-five years, unless in the meantime he has been appointed to a situation in some public office.

he is not accepted, the department will report to the said Commissioners the reasons for not accepting him; and such Commissioners will thereon supply another clerk in his room, and I will decide whether the name of the rejected clerk shall be struck off the lists, as unfit for the service generally, or whether he shall be allowed a trial in another department.

Second-class clerkships in the India Office (salary, first year £80, second year £90, and afterwards £100, rising by triennial increments of £25 to £250) and second-class clerkships in the India Audit Office, (salary commencing at £80, and rising to £250) are filled by competition in the same manner, successful candidates being allowed their choice.

It is to be distinctly understood that clerks in the Lower Division may be transferred from one department to another at any time, as their services may be required. Specimens of examination papers, though not supplied by

the Commissioners, can be obtained of booksellers, and should be carefully studied by intending candidates.

The following is a list of the departments to which Lower Division men clerks have been assigned:

Admiralty; British Museum; Charitable Bequests Commission, Ireland; Charity Commission; Chief Secretary's Office, Ireland; Civil Service Commission; Colonial Office; Constabulary, Ireland, Inspector-General's Office; Copyhold, Inclosure, and Tithe Com. mission; Customs; Registry of Deeds, Ireland; Dublin Metropolitan Police (Commissioners' Office); Dublin Metropolitan Police (Divisional Offices); Education Department; Exchequer and Audit Office; Fisheries, Office of Inspectors of, Ireland; Friendly Societies Registry; Home Office; Inland Revenue; Local Government Board, England; Local Government Board, Ireland; Lunacy Com

POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY.

XVI.

SOUTH AMERICA.

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SOUTH AMERICA is the southern portion of the New Continent of America, being connected with North America by the Isthmus of Panama, where narrowest, only about forty-eight miles across, and otherwise surrounded by the sea, so as to form a vast peninsula. It lies between lat. 12° 30' N. and 55° S., and long. 34° 30' and 82° W., and is bounded on the north by the Caribbean Sea, north-east and east by the Atlantic Ocean, south by the Antarctic Ocean, and west by the Pacific Ocean. Its length from north to south is 4,800, and its greatest breadth

mission; Mint; National Debt Office; National Education Office, Ireland; Patent Office; Paymaster-General's Office, including Chancery Pay Office; Post Office; Prisons Service, Ireland; Prisons Department, Scotland; Privy Council Office; Public Works Loan Office; Public Works Office, Ireland; Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer's Office, Scotland; Reformatories' Office; Regis. trar-General's Office, England; Registrar-General's Office, Ireland; Registrar-General's Office, Scotland; Science and Art Department; Seamen's Registry Office; Stationery Office; Temporary Commissions; Trade, Board of; Trade Mark's Registry; Treasury; Valuation Office, Ireland; Veterinary Department; War Office (including Judge Advocate General's Office); Office of Woods (including Quit Rent Office, Dublin); Office of Works.

In our next article we shall speak of boy clerkships, included in the lower division of the Civil Service,

3,200 miles. Area about 7,000,000 square miles, and population 27,000,000. The entire length of coast-line is only about 16,000 miles. The vast mountain chain of the Andes stretches along the western coast from the Isthmus of Panama to Cape Horn. It is about 4,500 miles in length, with a breadth varying from 40 to 400 miles, and having as its highest summit Aconcagua. in Chili, 22,400 feet high. In general the slope is very steep towards the Pacific, the distance from which averages from 20 to 160 miles. The Patagonian and Chilian Andes consist of a single chain, which, further north, divides into stupendous ridges or cordilleras, enclosing between them the wide and lofty plateaux of Bolivia and Peru, more than 12,000 feet above the sea. Further north they form three distinct ranges, one of which runs north-east and extends along the coast of Venezuela; another proceeds north and terminates in Cape Gallinas; while the third passes north-west to form the Isthmus of Panama.

The interior of the country consists chiefly of three immense plains watered respectively by the Orinoco, Amazon, and Parana. The first of these, the llanos of the Orinoco, are flat, grassy plains, occupying about 150,000 square miles. The silvas of the Amazon, as their name indicates, are densely wooded, and are 1500 miles in length, by from 300 to 800 in breadth. The pampas of the Argentine country are treeless, grassy plains, having an area of 300,000 square miles. Besides these there is the desert of Patagonia, nearly 200,000 square miles in extent. Eastward the country again rises, and in Brazil are several mountain chains, running north-east and south-west, which attain a height of 8000 or 9000 feet. All the most important rivers of South America fall into the Atlantic. The largest of these is the Amazon, which rises in the table-land of Pasco, in Peru, flows eastward through nearly the entire breadth of the continent, and, after a course of about 4000 miles, in which it receives many important tributaries, falls into the Atlantic by a broad estuary. It is navigable for 2200 miles from its mouth. The next in size is the Parana, which rises in the mountains of Brazil, flows southward, receiving the Paraguay and other large streams, and afterwards uniting with the Uruguay to form the Rio de la Plata. Its length is about 2200 miles. Next, though much inferior to these, is the Orinoco, in the north, which rises in the Sierra del Parima, traverses Venezuela, and falls into the Atlantic Ocean by many mouths, after a course of about 1400 miles. It has numerous tributaries, and by means of the Cassiquiari has a natural communication with the Rio Negro, an affluent of the Amazon. The principal of the other rivers are the Magdalena, Essequibo, Socantins, San Francisco, Colorado, and Negro. The chief lakes are-Lake Maracaybo, in Venezuela, having an area of 5,000 square miles, and communicating with the sea by a narrow channel; Lake dos Patos, in the south-east of Brazil, 5000 square miles in area, and discharging its waters into the Atlantic ; and Lake Titicaca, on the confines of Peru and Bolivia, 4000 square miles in area, and 12,550 feet above the sea.

About two-thirds of the area of this continent is situated within the tropics, and consequently the climate is very hot, although not so hot as its geographical position would indicate, being tempered by the cool trade winds from the east. The hottest district is in the north of Venezuela, where the average annual temperature is 81°. The climate of Brazil and the adjoining countries is comparatively mild and temperate, the mean annual temperature at Rio de Janeiro being 74°. In the south the climate becomes very severe, and the western shores are considerably colder than the east

ern.

On the east coast between the tropics the rainfall is very considerable, being in some parts of Brazil as much sometimes as 260 inches in twelve months. On the west coast, on the other hand, there is a large tract in Upper Chili and Peru where no rain falls. The vegetation in those parts between the tropics where rain is abundant is most

luxuriant. Probably in no other part of the globe does it appear in such profusion and variety. Immense forests of gigantic trees, with flowers of great brilliancy, occupy most of this region. Fruit trees and plants also abound, including the cocoa-nut, orange, cocoa, pomegranate, tamarind, mango, plantain, pineapple, banana, etc. The cinchona tree and quassia plant also occur. Maize, the sugarcane, coffee, cotton, tobacco, indigo, etc., are cultivated. The jaguar and puma are the most formidable beasts of prey. The principal native domesticated animals are the llamas and pacos, but horses, oxen, sheep, etc., have been introduced from Europe and are now common. Monkeys and apes abound in the forests, and snakes are common. Of birds, the condor, a species of vulture of great size, is the most remarkable. Among others are eagles, vultures, falcons, parrots, humming birds, etc., many of them having very beautiful plumage. Silver is the most important mineral product, but gold and other metals are also found, and in Chili copper is very abundant. Tin, lead, mercury, iron, antimony, are also found, and diamonds and other precious stones are obtained in Brazil.

The following are the principal states :

COLOMBIA, THE UNITED STATES OF, formerly New Granada, occupies the northwestern portion of the continent, including the Isthmus of Panama. It is bounded on the north by the Caribbean Sea, on the east by Venezuela and Brazil, on the south by Ecuador, and on the west by the Pacific. Area, 318,250 square miles. The country is traversed from south to north by three great ranges of the Andes, the central range having the peak of Tolima, over 18,000 feet in height. Between the central and eastern ranges is the valley of the Magda lena, the chief river of the country; and between the central and western ranges that of the Cauca, a tributary of the former. A ship canal to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans is in course of construction across the Isthmus of Panama. The forests are extensive, including mahogany, cedar, and other trees; and the agricultural products are maize, wheat, rice, sugar, coffee, cotton, tobacco. The mineral productions are gold, silver, platinum, copper, iron, lead, coal, and precious stones. The chief exports are the precious metals, tobacco, coffee, hides, and cotton. Colombia is a confederation of nine states, viz, Panama, Cauca, Antioquia, Bolivar, Magdalena, Santander, Boyaca, Cundinamarca, and Tolima. The executive is vested in a President, the legislative in a Senate and a House of Representatives; the former composed of three members for each state, the latter of one representative for every 50,000 of the population, which is about 3,000,000.

VENEZUELA is bounded north by the Caribbean Sea, east by Guiana, south by Brazil, and west by Colombia. Area, 440,000 square miles, The northern and southern portions of the country are mountainous, while the central portion belongs to the great basin of the Orinoco. The vegetation is extremely rich and varied. The staple productions are coffee,