range with the highest mountains in Canada at the S.W. corner (Mount Logan and Mount St Elias), and the N. extension of the Rocky Mountains along the S. and N.E. sides; here, however, not very lofty. The interior of the territory is high toward the S.E. and sinks toward the N.W., and may be described as a much dissected peneplain with low mountains to the S. The most important feature of the hydrography is the Yukon (q.v.) and the rivers which flow into it. The Klondike gold mines are reached by river boats, either coming up from St Michael at its mouth, or down 460 m. from White Horse. The White Horse route is now used almost entirely, since the White Pass railway, 111 m. long, was constructed from Skagway, on Lynn Canal, an inlet of the Pacific. As the voyage up the Pacific coast from Vancouver or Victoria is almost entirely through sheltered waters, the journey to the Klondike is very attractive in summer. Comparatively little snow is seen in crossing White Pass during summer, though there are patches on the low mountains on each side. The Rocky Mountains, N.E. of the interior plateau, are somewhat snowy, but apparently with no large glaciers; but the St Elias range to the S.W. is buried under immense snowfields, from which great glaciers project into the valleys. The rocks are largely ancient schists and eruptive, Palaeozoic or Archcan, but considerable areas are covered with Mesozoic and Tertiary rocks, some of which include important seams of lignite or coal, the latter especially in the neighbourhood of White Horse. There have been comparatively recent volcanic eruptions in the region, as shown by a layer of white ash just beneath the soil for many miles along the river, and by a quite perfect cone with a crater and lava stream; but there are no records of volcanic outbreaks within the short modern history of the territory.
Before the discovery of gold on the Forty Mile and other rivers flowing into the Yukon the region was inhabited only by a few Indians, but the sensational finds of rich placers in the Klondike (q.v.) in 1896 brought in a vigorous population centred in the mines and at Dawson City, which was made the capital of the newly constituted Yukon Territory. When the White Pass railway was built, White Horse at its N. terminus became of importance, and since then a fluctuating body of prospectors and miners has been at work, not only in the Klondike but at various points along the other rivers. The territory is ruled by a governor and council, partly elective, seated at Dawson, and has a representative in the parliament of the Dominion. Almost the only economic product of the territory was at first gold, but copper and other ores later began to attract attention in the S. near White Horse. Though so near the Pacific the Yukon territory has a rigorous continental climate with very cold winters seven months long, and delightful sunny summers. Owing to the lofty mountains to the W. the amount of rain and snow is rather small, and the line of perpetual snow is more than 4000 ft. above sea-level, so that glaciers are found only on the higher mountains; but the moss-covered ground is often perpetually frozen to a depth of 100 or 200 ft. Vegetation is luxuriant along the river valleys, where fine forests of spruce and poplar are found, and the hardier grains and vegetables are cultivated with success. (A. P. C.)
YULE, SIR HENRY (1820-1889), British Orientalist, was born on the 1st of May 1820, at Inveresk, near Edinburgh, the son of Major William Yule (1764-1839), translator of the Apothegms of Ali. He was educated at Edinburgh, Addiscombe and Chatham, and joined the Bengal Engineers in 1840. He served in both the Sikh wars, was secretary to Colonel (afterwards Sir) Arthur Phayre's mission to Ava (1855), and wrote his Narrative of the Mission to the Court of Ava (1858). He retired in 1862 with the rank of colonel, and devoted his leisure to the medieval history and geography of Central Asia. He published Cathay and the Way Thither (1866), the Book of Ser Marco Polo 1871-75), for which he received the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society, and brought out with Dr Arthur C. Burnell Hobson-Jobson (1886), a dictionary of Anglo-Indian colloquial phrases. For the Hakluyt Society, of which he was for some time president, he edited (1863) the Mirabilia descripta of Jordanus and The Diary of William Hedges (1887-89). The latter contains a biography of Governor Pitt, grandfather of Chatham. From 1875 to 1889 Yule was a member of the Council of India, being appointed K.C.S.I. on his retirement. He died on the 30th of December 1889.
See Memoir by his daughter, prefixed to the posthumous third edition of Marco Polo (1903).
YULE, the season of Christmas (q.v.) . This word is chiefly used alone as an archaism or in poetry or poetical language, but is more common in combination, as in "yule-tide," "yule-log," &c. The Old English word appears in various forms, e.g . geola, vula, geol, gehhol, gehhel; cognate forms are Icel, jól; Dan. juul; Swed. jul. It was the name of two months of the year, December and January, the one the "former yule" (se aerra geola), the other the "after yule" (se aeftera geola), as coming before and after the winter solstice (Cotton MS. Tib. B. i.; and Bede, De Temporum Ratione, 13, quoted in Skeat, Etym. Dict., 1898). According to A. Fick (Vergleichendes Worterbuch der Indogerinanischen Sprachen, vol. iii. 245, 1874) in proper meaning is noise, clamour, the season being one of rejoicing at the turning of the year among Scandinavian peoples before Christian times.
YUN-NAN (i.e. Cloudy South), a S.W. province of China, bounded N. by Sze-ch'uen, E. by Kwei-chow and Kwang-si, S. by Burma and the Lao tribes and W. by Burma and Tibet; area estimated at from 122,000 to. 146,000 sq. m. Though the second largest province of the empire, its population is estimated at only 12,000,000. The inhabitants include many races besides Chinese, such as Shans, Lolos and Maotsze. The Musus, in N.W. Yun-nan, once formed an independent kingdom which extended into E. Tibet. Many of the inhabitants are nominally Moslems. The greater part of the province may be said to consist of an extensive plateau, generally from 5000 to 7000 ft. in altitude, containing numerous valley plains, which is divided in the N. by mountain ranges that enter at the N.W. corner and separate the waters of the Yangtsze-kiang, the Mekong and the Salween. The mountains attain heights of 16,000 ft. The climate is generally healthy and equable; on the plateau the summer heat seldom exceeds 86°, and in winter there is little snow. The principal rivers are the Yangtsze-kiang (locally known as the Kinsha-kiang = Golden Sand river), which enters Yun-nan at its N.W. corner, flows first S.E. and then N.E., forming for a considerable distance the N. boundary of the province; the Mekong, which traverses the province from N. to S. on its way to the sea through Annam; the Salween, which runs a parallel course through its W. portion; and the headwaters of the Songkoi, which rises in the S.E. of the province. This last-named river is navigable from the Gulf of Tongking to Man-hao, a town ten days' journey from Yun-nan Fu. There are two large lakes—one in the neighbourhood of Ta-li Fu, which is 24 m. long by 6 m. broad, and the other near Yun-nan Fu, which measures from 70 to 80 m. in circumference.
Besides Yun-nan Fu, the capital, the province contains thirteen prefectural cities, several of which—Teng-ch'uen Fu, Ta-li Fu, Yung-ch'ang Fu, Ch'u-siung Fu and Lin-gan Fu, for example—are situated in the valley plains. Mengtsze, Szemao and Momein (or Têng-yueh) are open to foreign trade. Yun-nan Fu is connected by railway (1910) with Tongking. The line which starts from Haiphong runs, in Yun-nan, via Mengtsze hsien (a great commercial centre), to the capital. Several important roads intersect the province; among them are—1. The road from Yun-nan Fu to Bhamo in Burma, via Ta-li Fu (12 days), Têng-yueh Chow or Momein (8 days) and Manwyne— beyond Ta-li Fu it is a difficult mountain route. 2. The road from Tali Fu N. to Patang via Li-kiang Fu, which thus connects W. Yun-nan with Tibet. 3. The ancient trade road to Canton, which connects Yun-nan Fu with Pai-sê Fu, in Kwang-si, on the Canton West River, a land journey which occupies about twenty days. From this point the river is navigable to Canton.
Agricultural products include rice and maize (the principal crops), wheat, barley and oats. The poppy was formerly extensively cultivated, but after the anti-opium edict of 1906 vigorous measures were taken to stamp out the cultivation of the plant. In certain localities the sugar-cane is grown. Tea from Pu-êrh Fu in S. Yun-nan is appreciated throughout the empire. Fruits and vegetables are plentiful, and there are large herds of buffaloes,
