Uhland (00'-länt), JOHANN LUDWIG, a German poet, was born at Tübingen, in Würtemburg, April 26, 1787. He studied and practiced law at Tübingen, was a professor of the German language and literature in the university there, a leader in the diet, and a member of the Frankfort parliament. His dramas, Ernest of Swabia and Louis the Bavarian, and works upon early German and Norse literature and mythology, include the larger part of his writings, except his songs and ballads for which he is famous. The first collection of poems, made in 1815, were patriotic songs, called forth by the war against Napoleon, and more than fifty editions have been published. The Castle by the Sea, and The Black Knight, found among Longfellow's poems, are translations from Uhland, and there have been several translations of his songs and ballads. He died at Tübingen, Nov. 13,

1862.

Uhlans, a name given to the light cavalry of the Tartars, who were brought into Europe by their colonies in Poland. They were mounted on Tartar horses, and carried only light arms such as the saber, lance, and later the pistol. In the Prussian army, all the light cavalry are called uhlans. They were conspicuous in the Franco-German war for their bravery and agility. Ujiji, a country in central Africa on Lake Tanganyika. It is a fertile country, raising ground nuts, peas, beans, plaintains, sweet potatoes, egg plants and yams. Sugar cane, tobacco and cotton are cultivated to some extent. The people, called the Wajiji, are large and strong, with flat feet, wooly hair and dark skins. In the town of Ujiji, a collection of huts, with a bazaar where the Arabs trade, Stanley found Livingstone in November, 1871. See How I Found Livingstone, by Stanley.

Ulfilas (ul-fi-las), a bishop of the Goths, was born about 310, and is thought to have come from a family of Christians from Cappadocia, taken pris

oners by the Goths. He was learned in the Gothic, Greek and Hebrew languages, and made a Gothic alphabet of twenty-four characters, modeled after the Greek. He translated the Bible, all but the books of Kings, into the Gothic, and his Bible was in constant use among their cities. It is the earliest specimen of the Teutonic language. He became bishop of the Goths in 341, and settled with the Christian part of the nation near Nicopolis, persuading them to practice agriculture and the arts of civilized life. He died in Constantinople in 381. See Uilus, Apostle of the Goths, by Scott.

Ulm, a city of Würtemburg, is on the Danube river, 45 miles southeast of Stuttgart. It has one of the largest Protestant churches in Germany, one of the earliest libraries, with a remarka ble collection of antiquities, and strong fortifications. Its pipe bowls are noted. and with fine flour make a large part of its trade. Ulm was an imperial city of Swabia, and in the 15th century had within its walls and in the surrounding region belonging to it, nearly 100,000 inhabitants. It suffered in nearly all the great German wars, and is the site of the defeat of the Austrian general, Mack, by Napoleon, Oct. 20, 1805. Population, 26,214.

Ulysses (u - lys' - seez), or ODYS SEUS (o-dys'-se- us or o-dys' - seus), a Greek hero. He was ruler of Ithaca, and feigned insanity to avoid taking part in the siege of Troy. To show that he was crazy he plowed the sand on the seashore, but Polamedes exposed his deception by placing his infant son in the furrow, when he quickly turned the plowshare aside. Unsuccessful in his mission to demand the return of Helen, he joined in the 10 years' siege. being one of the most prominent of the Greek leaders. He fought with Ajax for the prize of Achilles' armor, which he gained, and was one of the Greeks hid in the wooden horse, who captured the city. On the island of the Cyclops,

when six of his companions were eaten by the giant, he put out the giant's one eye, and escaped by tying himself and his companions under the bodies of the sheep, which carried them with them when let loose from the cave. At the island of Æolus, that god gave Ulysses a bag containing the favorable winds, but the bag was opened by his followers and the winds escaping the ships were driven back to the island. Circe, the sorceress, changed part of his followers into swine, but he overcame her spells with the help of Mercury. He passed safely the island of the Sirens by filling the ears of his followers with wax, and tying himself to the mast. At Trinacria, his followers, while he slept, killed some of the cattle of Helios, which they had been warned not to touch, and a great storm arose, the ship was wrecked, and all on board drowned but Ulysses. He lived seven years on the island of Ogygia with the nymph Calypso, returned to Ithaca after 20 years' wandering, and slew the suitors of his wife, Penelope, with the help of Minerva and Telemachus, his son. The Odyssey gives the story of his wanderings.

Umbria, a country of ancient Italy, lying between the Adriatic sea and Etruria, or Tuscany. The Tiber and the Rubicon were among the principal rivers. It was one of the most powerful states in central Italy, but was conquered by the Romans in 308 B. C. The name is given now to Perugia, a province of the kingdom of Italy.

Uncas, an Indian chief of the Mohegan tribe, in Connecticut. The Mohegans were a band of Indians collected by Uncas after he had left the Pequot tribe, to which he belonged. He sided with the English in the war against the Pequots, and was so friendly with them that the Indians turned against him. In the wars which took place, Uncas captured and killed the chief of the Narragansetts. Several tribes made war against him, and the Narragansetts would have starved him out of his stronghold had not the English sent him supplies by night. He was called a cruel, wicked old man, but was faithful to his English allies. He died when very old, in 1682.

Unicorn, an animal with one horn, looking something like a horse. It is the figure pictured on the English coat of arms. It is a fabulous animal, nothing like it being known to naturalists. The unicorn of the Bible is thought to be a wild ox with two horns.

UNITED STATES

United States of America, a republic of North America, lying between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and reaching from British America to the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico. It covers 3,527,000 square miles; its longest line from east to west being nearly 2,800 miles, and the length from north to south 1,600 miles. Two great mountain ranges cross the country from north to south. The Appalachian range, which includes the White and Green mountains, Blue Ridge, Alleghenies, Adirondacks, Catskills and Highlands, is the most eastern, running nearly parallel with the Atlantic coast from New Hampshire to Georgia, and from 20 to 100 miles inland. This mountainous country, with peaks over 6,000 feet high, is about 100 miles wide, forming a barrier which is broken only by the Hudson and Mohawk rivers. Mount Washington, in New Hampshire, and the Black Dome, in North Carolina, are the highest points. The Rocky mountains, the second great range, are 300 miles wide, with a much greater width at some points, and reach from Canada to Mexico, with peaks over 14,000 feet high. The Sierra Nevada, in California, and the Cascade range in Oregon and Washington, and the Coast range, are parts of the Rocky mountain range. Mount Whitney, 14,887 feet high, in the Sierra Nevada range, is the highest mountain in the United States, and nearly as high are Mount Hood, Mount Shasta, Pike's Peak and Long's Peak, and others.

The Atlantic slope, between the Appalachian system and the ocean, has in general low coasts, sloping inwards to the hilly regions at the base of the mountains. There are many large bays and inlets, the Penobscot, Massachusetts, Cape Cod, Narragansett, New York, Delaware and Chesapeake bays, and Long Island, Albemarle and Pamlico sounds being the most important. The rivers flowing into the Atlantic are many of them navigable, the larger ones being more than 300 miles long, such as Penobscot, Kennebec, Hudson, Connecticut, Delaware, Susquehanna, Potomac, James, Cape Fear, Neuse, Roanoke, etc. The Atlantic coast line is 2,349 miles long, not including the indentations of the land.

The great central plain stretching from the Alleghenies to the Rockies, and watered by the Mississippi and its branches, is one of the most fertile regions in the world. Its hills are cov.

Italians. The Chinese are the only people excluded as a nation, but convicts, lunatics, idiots and all persons likely to become a public burden, are forbidden the country by the act of congress

of 1882.

The United States obtained its vast domain of 2,308,866,560 acres by settlement and purchase and conquest. The Norsemen are thought by some historians to have made settlements in Massachusetts and Rhode Island as early as the 10th and 11th centuries, but the continent was still unknown to Europe when Columbus sailed with his little fleet to the west, and found the western islands in 1492. Then the Cabots sailed along the coasts from Labrador to Virginia in 1498. Spain entered the region now belonging to the United States at St. Augustine in 1565, and at Santa Fé in 1598. The French occupied the Mississippi valley and the northwest, and Holland and Sweden had their colonies on the Hudson and the Delaware. The English who were to possess the land, settled in Virginia, at Jamestown, in 1607, and at Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620. The English settlers followed the Atlantic coast, and westward toward the interior, gradually driving before them Indians, Spaniards, Dutch and French. In 1803, by the Louisiana purchase (which see), for $11,250,000, the French gave up their claims to the great country west of the Mississippi to the Rocky mountains, and from Texas to British America. In 1819 Spain ceded Florida, receiving six and a half million dollars. The Mexican war added Texas, New Mexico, California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona to the country, the United States paying $15,000,000 for the first cession of land, and $10,000,000 for the final yielding up of a part of Arizona, known as the "Gadsden purchase." In 1867 Alaska was bought of Russia, the price paid being $7,200,000. Washington and Oregon were preserved to the Union by the treaty of 1846 with Great Britain, which settled the northern boundary at 49° of latitude. The lands of the Indians have been obtained by war and purchase, large reservations still belonging to the Indian tribes. More than a billion acres of land have been sold for cash by the government, or given to schools, railroads and settlers.

Besides the early Indian wars, and the struggles with other settlers, the country has carried on four wars. The war of the revolution was brought

UNITED STATES

about by the heavy taxation of the colonies by the English government, to repay the expenses of the French war, by which it had obtained possession of Canada. It lasted from 1775 to 1783, when the independence of the colonies was recognized by Great Britain in a treaty of peace signed at Paris, Sept. 3, 1783. The Declaration of Independence was adopted by the vote of twelve colonies, July 4, 1776, and the country was first called the "United States of America" in that document. The first battle of the revolution took place at Lexington, Massachusetts, and the struggle was continued for seven years, the surrender of Cornwallis' army at Yorktown, Oct. 19, 1781, practically ending the war. Great Britain sent to America in this war about 112,000 soldiers and 22,000 seamen, and lost 25,000 men, while the United States brought into the field 232,000 regular soldiers, and 56,000 militia, besides the French troops sent to her assistance.

The second war between the United States and Great Britain, called the War of 1812, arose from the seizure of American vessels at sea by the British, and their claim to the right of searching American ships for deserters from their navy. Nine hundred ships were searched and 5,000 sailors taken from them before war was declared, June 18, 1812, and began with an unsuecessful invasion of Canada. The naval battles were more successful, resulting in the capture in the first year of nearly 300 vessels. During the war, carried on for three years by land and sea, a British army landed in the Chesapeake, and captured the city of Washington, burning the public buildings. A treaty of peace, signed at Ghent, Dec. 24, 1814, ended the war, though the battle of New Orleans, was fought Jan. 8, 1815, before the news of the treaty had crossed the ocean. The Mexican war, from 1846-48, was brought about by the United States annexing, in 1845, Texas, which had revolted from Mexico, and ended in a treaty of peace, Feb. 2, 1848, which made the Rio Grande the boundary line between the countries, and gave New Mexico and California to the United States.

The question of the extension of slavery, which had been introduced into the country now forming the United States, in 1619, was the cause of the differences between the northern and southern states, which resulted in the