(or TIERRA) DEL-FUEGO** (*The Land of Fire*), an island, or rather a group of islands, off the southern extremity of South America, separated from the mainland by the strait of Magellan; between S. Lat. 52° 40' and 56° W. Long. 63° 40' and 75°. It consists of one large island called Eastern Tierra-del-Fuego, or King Charles' South Land; two smaller islands to the south, Navarin and Hoste, separated from the former by Beagle Strait; and two to the west, Clarence Island and Santa Ines Island, or the Land of Desolation; besides a number of much smaller size, the most important of which is that containing Cape Horn, at the extreme south of the group. The largest island may be regarded as a prolongation of the continent of South America, and it resembles in most of its characteristics the neighbouring country of Patagonia. The eastern part is low and level, the coast sandy and little indented with bays and creeks; while the west coast is rugged, mountainous, irregular in its outline, intersected by long arms of the sea, and lined with a multitude of small islands and isolated rocks. It seems almost as if the current that sweeps round from the Pacific to the Atlantic had worn and frittered away the edge of the continent into the form it now has. The principal summits in Tierra-del-Fuego are—Mount Sarmiento, 6900 feet, and Mount Darwin, 6800 feet high; and the general height of the chains is between 4000 and 5000 feet. Their lower slopes are covered with stunted forests of beech and birch, above the limits of which there is an expanse covered with small alpine plants, while the extreme summits are covered with perpetual snow. In some places large glaciers descend to the water's edge, contrasting in their deep-blue colour with the pure white of the snow and the dark masses of the forests. The climate is exceedingly inclement; the temperature is low; and wind, rain, snow, and sleet succeed each other in an almost unvaried round. The vegetables and the animals of the country are few in number. Among the former, such plants as fuchsia and veronica flourish and grow to a much larger size than in England, and a sort of fungus that grows on the beech-trees forms a principal article of food to the inhabitants; and of the latter, guanacos, deer, foxes, otters, bats and mice are, besides whales and seals, the only specimens of mammalia. Birds, however, are numerous, especially sea-fowl. The natives in the north-east part of the large island resemble those of Patagonia; those of the rest of Tierra-del-Fuego are of much less stature, ill-proportioned, and very ill-looking. They live in wretched wigwams, and support a miserable existence by hunting and fishing. Tierra-del-Fuego was discovered in 1520 by Magalhães, who named it "the land of fire," from the number of watch-fires visible by night along the coast.

**TIFLIS.** See Tiflis.

**TIGRIS,** a river of Asiatic Turkey, in the pashalics of Diarbekir, Mosul, and Bagdad. It rises by two principal sources in the range of Anti-Taurus in Armenia, not far from those of the Euphrates, and flows first for a short distance N.E., then S.E. to Diarbekir. From this town it flows eastwards, parallel to Anti-Taurus, for 105 miles, till its confluence with the Bitlis from the left. Here its direction becomes S.E. as far as Mosul and the ruins of Nineveh, shortly below which it receives the Upper or Great Zab. At this point the Tigris takes a more direct southerly course as far as Bagdad, receiving from the northeast the Lower or Lesser Zab. At Bagdad its distance from the Euphrates is only 50 miles; and the two rivers flow for some distance nearly parallel. A little way below Bagdad the Tigris receives the Diyalah, and about the same point a canal joins it with the Euphrates. About 80 miles farther down it takes a curve to the east, and finally, after a total course of 1150 miles, joins the Euphrates at Korna, forming together with it the Shat-ul-Arab. (See EUPHRATES.) Between Mosul and Bagdad, a distance of about 220 miles, the average breadth of the river is 200 yards; but it varies considerably in different seasons, attaining its greatest height about the end of May. The neighbouring country is but thinly peopled and only partially cultivated, but it contains some extensive tracts of rich pasture land. The Tigris is navigable for rafts as far as Mosul, and at certain seasons as far as Diarbekir. Goods are conveyed down the stream, sometimes with great rapidity, on large rafts supported on inflated skins.