Yukon

Yu'kon, the great river of Alaska, is formed by the junction of the Lewis and Pelly at Fort Selkirk, in British territory (62° 45' N. lat.), and flows 2000 miles W. across Alaska into Behring Sea. Its upper reaches are navigable for steamers, but its vast delta is so silted up that it is not open to sea-going vessels. During three months of the year its waters swarm with salmon. Since 1895 the river gives name to a territory of Canada north of British Columbia. There are goldmines at Klondike, for which Dawson is the central town.

Yverdon

Yverdon (Eeverdong; also spelt Yverdun), a pleasant Swiss town in the Canton de Vaud, at the S. end of the Lake of Neuchatel, 20 miles N. of Lausanne by rail. The old castle, built in 1135, was used by Pestalozzi as an educational institute; and is now occupied by municipal schools, a library, and museum. There is a sulphur-bath near the town. Pop. 8000.

Yvetot

Yvetot (Eev'toh), an old town of France, in the dep. of Seine-Inferieure, 24 miles NW. of Rouen by rail, with manufactures of linen, cotton, calico. Pop. 7000. The town and territory of Yvetot was long a semi-sovereign principality, and the Lord of Yvetot was till 1681 popularly styled 'Roi d'Yvetot.' Beranger's song of that title was a satire on Napoleon.

Zaandam

ZAANDAM (Zahn'dam), a Dutch town, on the Zaan, at its entrance to the Y, 5 miles NW. of Amsterdam by rail. It has many corn, oil, and saw mills, and active manufactures of paper, dyes, starch, tobacco, and glue, and still a little shipbuilding. Most of the sixty wharves it had in the 17th century have disappeared, and its famous whale-fishery is also a thing of the past. Here in 1697 Peter the Great worked in a shipbuilding yard as a carpenter; the hut in which he lived was visited in 1814 by the Czar Alexander. Pop. 21,650.

Zabern

Zabern (Tzah'bem; Fr. Savene), a town of Lower Alsace, 22 miles NW. of Strasburg by rail. Pop. 8605.

Zacatecas

Zacatecas (Za-ka-tay'kas), capital of a Mexican state (area, 24,757 sq. m.; pop. 462,190), is situated in a deep ravine, 440 miles by rail NW. of Mexico city. It has a cathedral, and 3 miles E. the Franciscan college where the fathers of the old Cali-fornian missions were trained. Zacatecas is the great silver-producing state of Mexico, and around the city 15,000 men are employed in the mines, which since 1540 have yielded over $1,000,000,000. Gold has also been discovered. Pop. (1900) 39,912.

Zadonsk

Zadonsk', a Russian town on the Don, 70 miles N. of Voronej, is the seat of a celebrated monastery. Pop. 8800.

Zafarani Islands

Zafarani Islands (d as ah), three islets off the north coast of Morocco, occupied by Spain. Pop. 650.

Zagazig

Zagazig (Zagazeeg'), a town of the Egyptian delta, an important railway centre, 50 miles NE. of Cairo, on a branch of the Sweet-water Canal connecting Ismailia with the Nile. Pop. 35,500.

Zahringen

'Zahringen (Tzay'ring-en), a small village a mile N. of Freiburg in Breisgau, historically noteworthy for the ruined castle of the Dukes of Zahringen, the ancestors of the reigning House of Baden. Zaire. See Congo.