YAPURA, an affluent of the Amazon, which rises in Columbia; has a course of 1750 m., and is navigable to steamers for 970 m.
YARKAND (60), the capital or chief city of Eastern Turkestan, 100 m. SE. of Kashgar; is in the centre of a very fertile district of the vast continental basin of Central Asia, abounding also in large stores of mineral wealth; it is a great emporium of trade, and the inhabitants are mostly Mohammedans.
YARMOUTH (49), a seaport, fishing town, and watering-place of Norfolk, 201/2 m. E. of Norwich and some 2 m. above the mouth of the Yare; is the principal seat of the English herring fishery, and is famous for its herrings, known as bloaters; it has a fine roadstead called Yarmouth Roads, a safe anchorage for ships, being protected by sandbanks; has a number of public buildings, in particular a parish church, one of the largest in England, and a fine marine parade.
YARRELL, WILLIAM, naturalist, born at Westminster; wrote “History of British Fishes” and “History of British Birds” (1784-1856).
YARROW, a famous Scottish stream which rises on the confines of the shires of Peebles, Dumfries, and Selkirk, passes NE. through the Loch of the Lowes and St. Mary’s Loch, and joins the Ettrick 2 m. above Selkirk after a course of 25 m.
YATES, EDMUND, journalist, founded The World newspaper; wrote a supremely interesting “Autobiography” (1831-1894).
YEDDO. See TOKYO.
YELLOW SEA, or WHANG-HAI, an inlet of the Pacific, on the NE. coast of China, bounded on the E. by the Corea, including in the NW. the Gulf of Pechili, some 600 m. long, and its average breadth 300 m.; is very shallow, and gradually silting up owing to the quantity of alluvium brought down by the rivers which fall into it.
YELLOWSTONE, THE, a river which rises in the NW. of WYOMING (q. v.), and falls into the Missouri as one of its chief tributaries after a course of 1300 m.
YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, a high-lying tract of land in the State of WYOMING (q. v.) traversed by the Yellowstone, about the size of Kent, being a square about 75 m. in diameter; is set apart by Congress as a great pleasure ground in perpetuity for the enjoyment of the people; it abounds in springs and geysers, and care is taken that it be preserved for the public benefit, to the exclusion of all private right or liberty.
YEMEN (3,000), a province in the SW. of Arabia, bounded on the N. by Hedjaz, bordering on the Red Sea, and forming the Arabia Felix of the ancients; about 400 m. in length and 150 m. in breadth; it is a highly fertile region, and yields tropical and sub-tropical fruits, in particular coffee, dates, gums, spices, and wheat.
YENIKALE or KERTCH, a strait 20 m. long, connecting the Sea of Azov with the Black Sea.
YENISEI, a river which rises in the mountainous region that borders the plateau of Gobi, its head-waters collecting in Lake Baikal, and after a course of 3200 m. through the centre of Siberia, falls by a long estuary or gulf into the Arctic Ocean; it is the highway of a region rich in both mineral and vegetable products, the traffic on which is encouraged by privileges and bounties to the trader at the hands of the Russian government.