The ISO (International Standards Organisation) assigns a two character code to each country name. These codes are used by Internet 'whois' databases (these two character abbreviations are the whois country codes) and also other applications.
The Snow Leopard (Unciauncia) is an endangered species of Leopard found in the higher, colder, snow-covered mountains of parts of Mongolia, Russia, China, Bhutan, northern India, Pakistan, Nepal and Afghanistan. The Snow Leopard is has long thick fur, yellowish grey in colour, marked with dark blotches or rosettes and a long tail that affords some protection against the cold, being wrapped over the face when the animal sleeps. A generally solitary animal, Snow Leopards may be seen hunting in pairs and feed on mountain goats, ibex, gazelle, boar and smaller mammals and birds which they hunt at night and in the early morning. Because of the scarcity of prey, when they have a big kill Snow leopards will gorge themselves so as to survive until the next successful hunt. Research Snow Leopard More pictures of Snow Leopard
The takin (Budorcas taxicolor) is a large, shaggy, horned, ruminant mammal related to the musk ox and native to Tibet, Bhutan and northern Burma where they live in small herds in the mountains. The takin stands about one metre tall at the shoulder and has very stout limbs and thick black horns which curve at first outwards and then backwards. Research Takin
Opium is the dried, milky juice (latex) of unripe capsules of the white poppy also known as the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), a plant probably indigenous in the south of Europe and western Asia, but now so widely cultivated that its original habitat is uncertain.
The medicinal properties of the juice have been recognized from a very early period. It was known to Theophrastus and appears in his time to have consisted of an extract of the whole plant, since Dioscorides about 77 AD draws a distinction between different types of opium, one of which he describes as an extract of the entireherb, and the more active form derived from the capsules alone. From the 1st to the 12th century the opium of Asia Minor appears to have been the only kind known in commerce. In the 13th century opium thebaicum is mentioned by Simon Januensis, physician to Pope Nicholas IV.
In the 16th century opium is mentioned by Pyres in 1516 as a production of the kingdom of Cous (Kuch Behar, south-west of Bhutan) in Bengal and of Malwa. Its introduction into India appears to have been connected with the spread of Islam. The opium monopoly was the property of the Great Mogul and was regularly sold. In the 17th century Kaempfer describes the various kinds of opium prepared in Persia, and states that the best sorts were flavoured with spices and called theriaka. These preparations were held in great esteem during the Middle Ages, and probably supplied to a large extent the place of the pure drug.
Opium is said to have been introduced into China, probably by the Arabs around 1280-1295, during the reign of Taitsu, and its use seems to have temporarily ceased in 1368. It appears to have been commonly used in that country as a medicine before the trade with India started. In a Chinese herbal compiled prior to the 17th century both the plant and its inspissated juice are described, together with the mode of collecting it, and in the General History of the Southern Provinces of Yunnan, revised and republished in 1736, opium is noticed as a common product up to this date, however, it was imported in comparatively small quantity by the Chinese solely as a remedy for dysentery, diarrhoea, and fevers, and was usually brought from India by junks as a return cargo.
In 1757 the monopoly of opium cultivation passed into the hands of the East India Company through the victory of Clive at Plassey. Up to 1773 the trade with China had been in the hands of the Portuguese, but the quantity annually exported to that country rarely exceeded 200 chests. In that year the East India Company took the trade under their own charge, and in 1776 the annual export reached 1000 chests, and 4054 chests in 1790. Although the importation was forbidden by the Chinese emperor Keaking in 1796, and opium-smoking punished with severe penalties, which were ultimately increased to transportation and death, the trade continued and had increased during 1820-1830 to 16,877 chests per annum. In 1839 a proclamation was issued threatening hostile measures if the English opium ships serving as depots were not sent away. The demand for removal not being complied with, 20,291 chests of opium (of 149.3 Ib each), valued at 2,000,000 pounds sterling, were destroyed by the Chinese commissioner Lin; but still the British sought to smuggle cargoes on shore, and some outrages committed on both sides led to an open war, which was ended by the treaty of Nanking in 1842. From that time until the end of the 19th century, in spite of the remonstrances of the Chinese Government, the exportation of opium from India to China continued, having increased from 52,925 piculs (of 133.3 Ib) in 1850 to 96,839 piculs in 1880. It appears to be certain, however, that, while the court of Peking was endeavouring to suppress the foreign trade in opium from 1796 to 1840, it did not or could not put a stop to the home cultivation of the drug, since a Chinese censor in 1830 represented to the throne that the poppy was grown over one-half of the province of Chekeang, and in 1836 another, Cho Tsun, stated that the annual produce of opium in Yunnan could not be less than several thousand piculs.
In 1885 it was estimated that south-western China, including Szechuen, produced not less than 224,000 piculs, while the entire import from India did not exceed 100,000 piculs. Opium was then produced in nine out of the eighteen provinces of China. The comparative cheapness of the Chinese opium, the lighter duties levied upon it, and the increasing care taken in its cultivation were enabling it to compete successfully with the Indian drug even in eastern China, where, however, it was hitherto chiefly used to mix with and cheapen the foreign article.
The amount of opium imported into Great Britain in 1861, 1871, and 1881 was 284,005, 591,466, and 793,146 lbs respectively, and the exports for the same years 290,120, 307,399, and 401,883 lb.
The method of cultivationa nd manufacture varies between countries, but generally the opium poppy is cultivated from seeds sown between November and March, and successive crops are ready from May to July. The flowers are white or purplish, there being different varieties of opium poppies; and a few days after the petals have fallen, when the capsules are about 25 mm. in diameter, they are cut round the middle with a knife, and left overnight for the juice to flow out and harden. After further drying on poppy leaves, the dark, plastic masses are made into lumps for sale.
Opium is bitter, and has a characteristic smell. Its properties depend upon the nineteen or twenty alkaloids it contains. The chief of these are: Morphine (9 per cent); narcotine (5 per cent); papaverine (0.8 per cent) ; thebaine (0.4 per cent); codeine or methylmorphine (0.3 per cent); narceine (0,2 per cent.). Morphine, the most important alkaloid, is separated from the others by extracting the opium with hot water, and boiling the extract with milk of lime. Alcoholic tincture of opium is known as laudanum. It contains about 0.75 per cent, of morphine.
Opium is used medicinally, mainly to relieve pain and to produce sleep, and for this purpose is best given hypodermically as morphine. It is also employed to relieve vomiting and to stop diarrhoea, to lessen distressing coughing, to stop bleeding in the stomach and intestines; while it is valuable in heart disease, diabetes, in cystitis and other inflammatory conditions, for haemoptysis, and, as Dover's powder, to cause perspiration in, for instance, common cold.
A conference of the Powers at the Hague in January 1912, drew up a convention of twenty-five articles by which they agreed to control the supply of and gradually suppress the manufacture of opium. Research Opium
BT is an abbreviation for Bhutan
BT is an abbreviation for British Telecom
BT is an abbreviation for Begin Transmission
BT is an bbreviation for BulletTrap Research BT
Archery is the sport of shooting with a bow and arrow. An ancient sport, originally employed for hunting and then for warfare, it originated the English game of darts and is the national sport of Bhutan. There are two main games of
archery - target archery which involves shooting arrows at circular targets; and field archery which involves shooting arrows at targets resembling game animals, such as deer. Research Archery
Bhutan is a Buddhist country in south east Asia. The official language is Dzongkha with Nepali and English also spoken. The religion is predomiantly Buddhist with a Hindu minority.
Bhutan was ruled by Tibet from the 16th century and then by China from 1720, coming under British influence during the later part of the 18th century and in 1907 a hereditary monarchy was established, and in 1910 Bhutan was granted internal autonomy by Britain, becoming independent in 1947. Bhutan is ruled by a coalition of a council of Buddhist ministers and a semi-democratically elected national assembly.
The terrain consists of rugged and loffy mountains, abounding in sublime and picturesque scenery. Although mountainous and in many parts extremely cold, much of the country is productive and well cultivated, the mountain slopes being cut into terraces for this purpose. Streams are numerous and rain abundant, and there are extensive forests of fine timber, among the trees being beech, ash, oak, birch, maple, with pines and firs on the higher elevations. Wheat, barley, millet, and various kinds of vegetables are grown, including even potatoes.
Irrigation is commonly employed. Wild animals were very numerous, including elephants, tigers, leopards, deer, wild hogs, etc. The chief domestic animal is a kind of pony peculiar to this region, strong and active, as well as handsome. The traditional manufactures were confined to some common articles of home consumption: woollens, cottons, wooden ware, weapons, and implements of iron, etc. Research Bhutan
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