Quotes4study

You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} work in a format other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version posted on the official Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} web site (http://www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg{~TRADE MARK SIGN~} License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky     The Brothers Karamazov

Each ebook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the ebook's ebook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, compressed (zipped), HTML and others.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky     The Brothers Karamazov

Owing to the destruction of the primeval forests for the formation of sugar plantations, the indigenous flora is only seen in parts of the interior plains, in the river valleys and on the hills; and it is not now easy to distinguish between what is native and what has come from abroad. The principal timber tree is the ebony (_Diospyros ebeneum_), which grows to a considerable size. Besides this there are bois de cannelle, olive-tree, benzoin (_Croton Benzoe_), colophane (_Colophonia_), and iron-wood, all of which arc useful in carpentry; the coco-nut palm, an importation, but a tree which has been so extensively planted during the last hundred years that it is extremely plentiful; the palmiste (_Palma dactylifera latifolia_), the latanier (_Corypha umbraculifera_) and the date-palm. The vacoa or vacois, (_Pandanus utilis_) is largely grown, the long tough leaves being manufactured into bags for the export of sugar, and the roots being also made of use; and in the few remnants of the original forests the traveller's tree (_Urania speciosa_), grows abundantly. A species of bamboo is very plentiful in the river valleys and in marshy situations. A large variety of fruit is produced, including the tamarind, mango, banana, pine-apple, guava, shaddock, fig, avocado-pear, litchi, custard-apple and the mabolo (_Diospyros discolor_), a fruit of exquisite flavour, but very disagreeable odour. Many of the roots and vegetables of Europe have been introduced, as well as some of those peculiar to the tropics, including maize, millet, yams, manioc, dhol, gram, &c. Small quantities of tea, rice and sago, have been grown, as well as many of the spices (cloves, nutmeg, ginger, pepper and allspice), and also cotton, indigo, betel, camphor, turmeric and vanilla. The Royal Botanical Gardens at Pamplemousses, which date from the French occupation of the island, contain a rich collection of tropical and extra-tropical species. Entry: MAURITIUS

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 17, Slice 8 "Matter" to "Mecklenburg"     1910-1911

GRENADA, the southernmost of the Windward Islands, British West Indies. It lies between 11º 58' and 12º 15' N. and between 61º 35' and 61º 50' W., being 140 m. S.W. of Barbados and 85 m. N. by W. of Trinidad. In shape oval, it is 21 m. long, 12 m. broad at its maximum and has an area of 133 sq. m. It owes much of its beauty to a well-wooded range of mountains traversing the island from N. to S. and throwing off from the centre spurs which form picturesque and fertile valleys. These mountains attain their highest elevation in Mount Catharine (2750 ft.). In the S.E. and N.W. there are stretches of low or undulating ground, devoted to fruit growing and cattle raising. The island is of volcanic origin; the only signs of upheaval are raised limestone beaches in the extreme N. Red and grey sandstones, hornblende and argillaceous schist are found in the mountains, porphyry and basaltic rocks also occur; sulphur and fuller's earth are worked. In the centre, at the height of 1740 ft. above the sea, is the chief natural curiosity of Grenada, the Grand Etang, a circular lake, 13 acres in extent, occupying the site of an ancient crater. Near it is a large sanatorium, much frequented as a health resort. In the north-east is a larger lake, Lake Antoine, also occupying a crater, but it lies almost at the sea level. The island is watered by several short rivers, mainly on the east and south; there are numerous fresh water springs, as well as hot chalybeate and sulphurous springs. The south-eastern coast is much indented with bays. The climate is good, the temperature equable and epidemic diseases are rare. In the low country the average yearly temperature is 82° F., but it is cooler in the heights. The rainfall is very heavy, amounting in some parts to as much as 200 in., a year. The rainy season lasts from May to December, but refreshing showers frequently occur during other parts of the year. The average annual rainfall at St Georges is 79.07 in., and at Grand Etang 164 in. The excellent climate and good sea-bathing have made Grenada the health resort of the neighbouring islands, especially of Trinidad. Good roads and byeways intersect it in every direction. The soil is extraordinarily fertile, the chief products being cocoa and spices, especially nutmegs. The exports, sent chiefly to Great Britain, are cocoa, spices, wool, cotton, coffee, live stock, hides, turtles, turtle shell, kola nuts, vanilla and timber. Barbados is dependent on Grenada for the majority of its firewood. Sugar is still grown, and rum and molasses are made, but the consumption of these is confined to the island. Entry: GRENADA

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 5 "Greek Law" to "Ground-Squirrel"     1910-1911

BATAVIA, a residency of the island of Java, Dutch East Indies, bounded E., S. and W. by the residencies of Krawana, Preanger and Bantam, and N. by the Java Sea. It also comprises a number of small islands in the Java Sea, including the Thousand Islands group, with a total area of 24 sq. m. The population in 1898 was 1,313,383, including 12,434 Europeans, 82,510 Chinese, 3426 Arabs and other Asiatic foreigners. The natives belong to a Sundanese group, but in the north contain a large admixture of Malays. The northern half of the province is flat, and even marshy along the coast, and consists of a broad band of alluvium formed by the series of parallel rivers descending from the south. The southern half on the other hand is covered by a mountain range whose chief peaks are situated along the southern border, namely Halimun mountain, the volcanoes Salak, Pangerango and Gede, and the Megamendung. The soil is fertile, and whereas rice is mainly grown on the lowlands the highlands are especially suitable for the cultivation of coffee, tea, tobacco, cinchona and vanilla. Extensive cocoanut plantations are also found in the plains, and market-gardening is practised in the neighbourhood of the towns. Sugar was formerly cultivated. The government of the residency of Batavia differs from that of the other residencies in having no native regencies, the lands being privately owned. The divisions of the residency are Batavia, town and surroundings, Tangerang, Meester Cornelis and Buitenzorg, the first being directly governed by a resident and the remainder by assistant residents. As early as the second half of the 17th century the Dutch East India Company began the practice of selling portions of the land to private persons, and of granting other portions as the reward of good services. A large strip of hill-country, almost corresponding to the present southern or Buitenzorg division of the residency, was appropriated by the governor-general in 1745 and attached to that office. In 1808, however, Marshal Daendels disposed of this property to various purchasers, including the Dutch government, and thus the whole of the residency gradually passed into private hands. Hence the administration of the residency is largely confined to police duties. The principal towns are Batavia (q.v.), which is the capital of the residency, as well as the seat of government of the whole Dutch East Indies, Meester Cornelis, Tangerang, Bekasi and Buitenzorg (q.v.). Tangerang and Bekasi are important centres of trade. The Buitenzorg hill-country is much visited on account of its beauty, and cool and healthy climate. Gadok is a health resort 6 m. south-east of Buitenzorg. Entry: BATAVIA

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Slice 4 "Basso-relievo" to "Bedfordshire"     1910-1911

_Flora._--The flora of the Quito basin has been well studied by various European botanists, more especially by Dr William Jameson (1796-1873) of the university of Quito, who began the preparation of a synopsis of the Ecuadorean flora in 1864-1865 (_Synopsis plantarum Quitensium_, 2 vols., Quito, 1865). The flora of the forested lowlands on both sides of the Andes has not been studied and described so fully. From the Pacific coast upward to a height of about 3000 to 4000 ft. the vegetation is distinctively tropical, including among its economic products cacao, cotton, sugar, tobacco, rice, maize, yucca (also known as cassava and mandioca), peanuts, bananas, sweet potatoes, yams, arracacha (_Conium moschatum_, H.B.K., or _Arracacha esculenta_), indigo, rubber (_Castilloa_), ivory-nuts, cinchona and bread-fruit. Most of these become rare at 3000 ft., but a few, like sugar-cane, are cultivated as high as 8000 ft. The alluvial valley of the Guayas, above Guayaquil, is celebrated for the richness of its vegetation, which, in fruit alone, includes cacao, coffee, coco-nuts, pine-apples, oranges, lemons, guayavas (_Psidium pomiferum_), guavas (_Inga spectabilis_), shaddocks (or grape-fruit), pomegranates, apricots, chirimoyas (_Anona Chirimolia_), granadillas (_Passiflora quadrangularis_), paltas (_Persea gratissima_, otherwise known as "alligator pears"), tunas (_Cactus_), mangoes (_Mangifera Indica_), pacays (_Prosopis dulcis_), aji (Chile pepper), and many others of less importance. Besides rubber, the forests produce a great variety of cabinet and construction woods, ivory-nuts (from the "tagua" palm, _Phytelephas macrocarpa_), "toquilla" fibre (_Carludovica palmata_) for the manufacture of so-called Panama hats, cabbage palms, several species of cinchona, vanilla and dyewoods. Among the large trees which are valued for their timber are redwood (_Humiria balsamifera_), Brazil-wood, algarrobo, palo de cruz (_Jacquinea ruscifolia_), guaiacum or holy wood, rosewood, cedar and walnut. From 6000 to 10,000 ft. above the sea, the indigenous species include the potato, maize, oca (_Oxalis tuberosa_), and quinua (_Chenopodium quinoa_), and the exotic species, wheat, barley, oats, alfalfa (_Medicago sativa_), and most of the fruits and vegetables of the northern temperate zone. Wheat does not form a head below 4500 ft., nor ripen above 10,500. The larger forest trees are rarely seen above 10,000 ft., and even there only on the outer slopes of the Cordilleras. The _Escallonia myrtalloides_, however, is found at an elevation of 13,000 ft., and the shrubby _Befarias_ 400 or 500 ft. higher. A characteristic growth of the open plateau and upland valleys is the cabulla, cabaya or maguey (_Agave americana_), whose fibre is much used by the natives in the manufacture of cordage, sandals (_alpargatas_) and other useful articles. In the treeless region lying between 11,600 and 13,800, or in other places between 12,000 and 14,000 ft., the similarity of the vegetation to that of the corresponding European region, according to Wagner, is especially striking. On the _paramos_ of Chimborazo, Pichincha, Iliniza, &c., the relation of characteristic genera to those identical with genera in the Alpine flora of Europe is as 5 to 4; and the botanist might almost suppose himself in the Upper Engadine. Of the flora of the highest Andes, Whymper found 42 species, of various orders, above 16,000 ft., almost all of which were from Antisana and Chimborazo; 12 genera of mosses were found above 15,000 ft., and 59 species of flowering plants above 14,000 ft., of which 35 species came from above 15,000 and 20 species from above 16,000 ft. The highest specimen obtained was a lichen (_Lecanora subfusca_, L.) on the south side of Chimborazo, 18,400 ft. above sea-level. Mosses (_Grimmia_) were found on Chimborazo at 16,660 ft., ferns (_Polypodium pycnolepis_, Kze.) at 14,900, and specimens of _Gentiana rupicola_, H. B. K., _Achyrophorus quitensis_, Sz. Bip., _Culcitium nivale_, H. B. K., at 16,300; _Phyllactis inconspicua_, Wedd., at 16,600, _Astragalus geminiflorus_, H. B. K., at 14-15,000, _Geranium diffusum_, H. B. K., at 16,000, _Malvastrum phyllanthos_, Asa Gray, at 16,500, _Draba obovata_, Benth., at 16,660, and _Ranunculus praemorsus_, Kth., at 16,500--all on Chimborazo. _Fuchsia loxensis_, H. B. K., was found on the slope of Sara-Urcu at 12,779 ft., and currant bushes (_Ribes glandulosum_, R. & P.), on Chimborazo, at 14,000. On the eastern slopes of the Andes, where the rainfall is continuous throughout the year and the atmosphere is surcharged with moisture, the forest growth is phenomenal. It is similar to that of the Colombian and Peruvian _montanas_, modified, if at all, by the excessive humidity which prevails in this region. Entry: ECUADOR

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 10 "Echinoderma" to "Edward"     1910-1911

_Agriculture._--The tenure by which lands were held before 1838 was strictly feudal, resembling that of Germany in the 11th century, and lands were sometimes enfeoffed to the seventh degree. But in the "Great Division" which took place in 1848 and forms the foundation of present land titles, about 984,000 acres, nearly one-fourth of the inhabited area, were set apart for the crown, about 1,495,000 acres for the government, and about 1,619,000 acres for the several chiefs; and the common people received fee-simple titles[6] for their house lots and the pieces of land which they cultivated for themselves, about 28,600 acres, almost entirely in isolated patches of irregular shape hemmed in by the holdings of the crown, the government or the great chiefs. Generally the chiefs ran into debt; many died without heirs; and their lands passed largely into the hands of foreigners. At the abolition of the monarchy in 1893, the crown domains were declared to be public lands, and, with the other government lands, were by the terms of annexation turned over to the United States in 1898. They had been offered for sale or lease in accordance with land acts (of 1884 and 1895--the latter corresponding generally to the land laws of New Zealand) designed to promote division into small farms and their immediate improvement. In 1909 the area of the public land was about 1,700,000 acres. In 1900 there were in the Territory 2273 farms, of which 1209 contained less than 10 acres, 785 contained between 10 and 100 acres, and 116 contained 1000 acres or more. The natives seldom cultivate more than half an acre apiece, and the Portuguese settlers usually only 25 or 30 acres at most. Of the total area of the Territory only 86,854 acres, or 2.77%, were under cultivation in 1900, and of this 65,687 acres, or 75.6%, were divided into 170 farms and planted to sugar-cane. In 1909 it was estimated that 213,000 acres (about half of which was irrigated) were planted to sugar, one half being cropped each year. The average yield per acre of cane-sugar is the greatest in the world, 30 to 40 tons of cane being an average per acre, and as much as 10¼ tons of sugar having been produced from a single acre under irrigation. The cultivation of the cane was greatly encouraged by the Reciprocity Treaty of 1875, which established practically free trade between the islands and the United States, and since 1879 it has been widely extended by means of irrigation, the water being obtained both by pumping from numerous artesian wells and by conducting surface water through canals and ditches. The sugar farms are mostly on the islands of Hawaii, Oahu, Maui and Kauai, at the bases of mountains; those on the leeward side have the better soil, but require much more irrigating. The product increased from 26,072,429 lb. in 1876 to 259,789,462 lb. in 1890, 542,098,500 lb. in 1899 and about 1,060,000,000 lb. (valued at more than $40,000,000) in 1909. Nearly all of it is exported to the United States. Rice was the second product in importance until competition with Japan, Louisiana and Texas made the crop a poor investment; improved culture and machinery may restore rice culture to its former importance. It is grown almost wholly by Japanese and Chinese on small low farms along the coasts, mostly on the islands of Kauai and Oahu. In 1899 the product amounted to 33,442,400 lb.; in 1907 about 12,000 acres were planted, and the crop was estimated to be worth $2,500,000. Coffee of good quality is grown at elevations ranging between 1000 to 3000 ft. above the sea; the Hawaiian product is called Kona coffee--from Kona, a district of the S. side of Hawaii island, where much of it is grown. In 1909 about 4500 acres were in coffee, the value of the crop was $350,000; and 1,763,119 lb. of coffee, valued at $211,535, were exported from Hawaii to the mainland of the United States. A few bananas and (especially from Oahu) pineapples of fine quality are exported; since 1901 the canning of pineapples has been successfully carried on, and in the year ending May 31, 1907, 186,700 cases were exported, being packed in nine canneries. Oranges, lemons, limes, figs, mangoes, grapes and peaches, besides a considerable variety of vegetables, are raised in small quantities for local consumption. In 1909 the exports of fruits and nuts to the continental United States were valued at $1,457,644. An excellent quality of sisal is grown. Rubber trees have been planted with some success, particularly on the eastern part of the island of Maui; they were not tapped for commercial use until 1909. In 1907 there were vanilla plantations in the islands of Oahu and Hawaii. Tobacco of a high grade, especially for wrappers, has been grown at the Agricultural Experiment Station's farm at Hamakua, on the island of Hawaii, where the tobacco is practically "shade grown" under the afternoon fogs from Mauna Kea. Cotton and silk culture have been experimented with on the islands; and the work of the Hawaiian Agricultural Experiment Station is of great value, in introducing new crops, in improving old, in studying soils and fertilizers and in entomological research. Honey is a crop of some importance; in 1908 the yield was about 950 tons of honey and 15 tons of wax. The small islands of Lanai, Niihau and Kahoolawe are devoted chiefly to the raising of sheep and cattle--Niihau is one large privately owned sheep-ranch. There are large cattle-ranches on the islands supplying nearly all the meat for domestic consumption, and cattle-raising is second in importance to the sugar industry. It was estimated in 1908 that there were about 130,500 cattle and about 99,500 sheep on the islands. The "native" cattle, descended from those left on the islands by early navigators, are being improved by breeding with imported Hereford, Shorthorn, Angus and Holstein bulls, the Herefords being the best for the purpose. In the fiscal year 1908, 359,413 lb. of wool (valued at $58,133) and 928,599 lb. of raw hides (valued at $87,599) were shipped from the Territory to the United States. Entry: HAWAII

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 1 "Harmony" to "Heanor"     1910-1911