are sometimes 15 or 20 miles in extent, and a great part of the country is covered with wood. The general aspect of the country is that of an unbounded plain; there is hardly a hill or mountain in the whole territory. Poland, in the Slavonian language, signifies a plain, or flat country. The climate is everywhere temperate, but as the land lies open to the north wind, the air is not so mild as in the neighboring parts of Germany.

4. DIVISIONS. This kingdom is divided into eight Waiwodships, Cracovia, Sandomir, Kalisch, Lublin, Plock, Masovia, Podlachia and Augustor.

5. CITIES. Warsaw, the capital, stands on a bank of the Vistula, on a rising ground. It is very irregularly built, and has several suburbs, the prin cipal of which is Praga, with which it is connected by a pontoon bridge. The city presents a heterogeneous aspect. It has above 100 splendid palaces, surrounded by a mass of wretched huts. Streets of noble dimensions, and adorned with edifices in the finest Italian style, are contrasted with groups of beggarly wooden piles threatening every moment to fall. The palace of Sig ismund is very spacious, and has a colossal bronze statue of the Emperor Sigismund III. The Marieville is a large building constructed on the plan of the Palais Royal at Paris, and contains the exchange, and upwards of 300 booths for the sale of goods. Warsaw contains a university and several convents and hospitals. Its population is as grotesque as its architecture, and resembles a perpetual masquerade; long bearded Jews; monks in the garb of every order; veiled and shrouded nuns, self secluded and apart: bevies of young Polesses in silk mantles of the brightest colors, promenading the broad squares the venerably ancient Polish noble, with mustaches, caftan, girdle, sabre, and red or yellow boots; the new generation equipped to the highest pitch of Parisian dandyism, with Turks, Greeks, Russians, Italians, Germans and Frenchmen, in an ever changing throng. Warsaw has a considerable commerce by the Vistula, and manufactures of cloth, linen, carpets, stockings, carriages and harnesses. Pop. 126,443.

Kalisch, is a handsome and regularly built city, with manufactures of cloth and linen. Pop. 7,310.

Kielca, is a well built town. Pop. 2,400.

Lublin, has a pop. of 10,500.

6. AGRICULTure. Poland is a country of great agricultural resources. The productions are corn, cattle, hemp and flax. The greater part of the territory is extremely well adapted to the rearing of sheep. The plains annually overflowed by the Vistula, afford perhaps the richest pasturage in Europe, Notwithstanding these natural advantages, the agricultural industry of the country has been greatly reduced by political oppression. About half the territory is cultivated; one fourth of the remainder is occupied by forests, and the remainder by marshes and waste lands.

7. COMMERCE. The principal trade is in the exportation of corn, which is conveyed down the Vistula to Dantzic, in large flat boats. The exportation is considerable; the exporters are Jews, who are the only capitalists in the country.

8. POPULATION, ARMY, &c. The population in 1829 was 4,088,290. The Polish army previous to the insurrection in 1830, was fixed at 50,000 men, and every Pole without distinction of birth or religion, was obliged to serve as a soldier, from the age of 20 to 30, although members of the liberal professions, elder sons of families, and state officers were exempted, and any individual might serve by substitute.

9. INHABITANTS. The Poles have an Asiatic cast of countenance, derived, probably, from the Tartars. They are tall, and well formed, with good fea tures, and often with fair complexions. The inhabitants may be divided into Poles, Jews, Germans, and Russians; and again into four classes, nobles, clergy, burghers, and peasants. The nobility have the titles of Prince, Count, and Baron. All, however, are equal by birth, and the only distinction is that of office. The nobles are exceedingly numerous, and generally poor:

Poland may be seen the men are shaven, all but a A vest is worn, reaching to

of these there are 60,000 families. The peasants are in effect, slaves, though their condition is becoming better, and many have been manumitted. They have a conditional estate in the land they till; and generally render in return to the landlord, three days' labor in the week. Dwarfs are said to be more common in Poland than in any other country. 10. DRESS. The dress is national; though in costumes of various nations. The heads of the circle on the crown, and all wear mustaches. the middle of the leg, a gown lined with fur, and girded with a sash, and wide breeches of a piece with the stockings. The shirts are without collars or wristbands, and neither stock nor neckcloth is worn. Boots are worn with thin soles. This is the dress of the gentry, and the female costume does not essentially vary from it. The men wear fur caps, and a hanger is indispensable to a gentleman.

The Jews wear a tall cap of fur black silk, girded with a wide sash. The peasants are often clothed but with rags. They wear in winter a coat of sheep-skin, with the fur inward; and in summer a coarse cloth. Their boots are frequently but the rind of trees, wrapped about their legs, with a thicker piece of bark for the sole.

over one of velvet, and a long tunic of All suffer their beards to grow.

11. MANNER OF BUILDING. The Polish towns are generally built around a square, with a town-house in the middle. The dwellings of the peasants are mean huts of wood, of one story, and with a single room for men and cattle. There is a stove in every house.

12. FOOD AND DRINK. The tables of the wealthy are well supplied, but the food of the poor is scanty and coarse. The peasants live mostly upon black rye bread, potatoes, cabbage and peas. They eat little animal food, though they use much salt. Schnaps, or a coarse kind of whiskey, is taken by the peasants, when they can obtain it, to excess.

13. DISEASES. The small pox continues to commit occasional ravages, and siphilis is common. It is the bane of the country, and of 100 recruits 80 have been known to have it. The plica polonica is a peculiar and national disease. It is occasioned by humors, which seem to have no other outlet but the hair. It is often fatal to cut off the hair during the disease, which, if suffered to run, exhausts itself in a few months, when the hair is cut off and a new growth comes. It becomes during the disease matted and endued with life, and will bleed when cut off. The disease is offensive but not dangerous. It is however sometimes fatal to the domestic animals that have long hair.

14. TRAVELLING. Hardship and privation must be suffered by the traveller in Poland. The inns are kept by the Jews, and they contain but one room; and this of such a kind that a lodging is often preferred in the stable. Neither beds nor provision are always to be had, and the traveller generally carries both. The usual travelling carriage is made of wicker work, in the form of a cradle.

15. CHARACTER, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. The Poles are distinguished for bravery, military spirit, and impatience of control. They are honorable, = hospitable, courteous and lively, but not without licentiousness. The rich nobles live in much state, and entertain their friends, and strangers in a princely manner. The ladies are celebrated for attractions. The peasants are poor, ignorant and fanatical. They are stupid from the effects of servitude and they have little conception of cleanliness. The Jews are the general traders, and the political freedom they enjoy in Poland, has developed better traits in their character as well as physiognomy than are found in countries where they are much oppressed. They have however a tendency towards extortion, and like the peasants they are offensively filthy.

16. AMUSEMENTS. There are many manly sports in use, as leaping, hunting, &c: bear-baiting and bull-fighting are also common. Dancing is a favorite amusement with the higher classes.

17. STATE OF THE ARTS, SCIENCE AND LITERATURE. There are good poets and historians who have written in the Polish language, and Copernicus was a native of Poland. Literature continues to be considerably cultivated; and English works have grown into favor, above the French, which were formerly the most popular.

18. RELIGION. The Catholic is the established religion, but all others are tolerated, and the Greek church is organized. There is a considerable number of recluses.

19. EDUCATION. Since 1815, the lower classes have received some attention in point of education: but they are still very ignorant. Before that time, all education was monopolized by the nobles. There are now few schools in villages, and those in towns are not very efficient.

20. GOVERNMENT. Poland is a dependency of Russia, the Emperor of which is king of Poland. There is a diet assembled once in two years, consisting of a Senate and Chamber of Deputies; this however is but a shadow of liberty, and the government of Poland is despotic.

21. HISTORY. Poland has been for a thousand years remarkable only for its misfortunes. The ancient inhabitants were a tribe of the Sarmatians. In the great eruption of the Goths and Huns; in a struggle of two centuries against the Germans; and in their own ceaseless intestine factions, they became impressed with a character singularly composed of passive and active features; the submission of the slave and the pride of the noble, the most abject sentiments and patriotic spirit. Poland made a slow progress toward civilization. It was governed by elective dukes for two or three centuries, when in 840 the first dynasty of hereditary princes was established, which continued till 1370. Lithuania was united to Poland in 1386. Kings of different houses possessed the throne amid a period of aristocratical anarchy for some centuries. Poland was conquered by the sovereigns of Russia, Austria and Prussia, and was subjected to three partitions in 1772, 1793 and 1795. At the last partition the king was deposed, the country blotted from the list of nations, and the whole territory divided between the three powers above mentioned. Napoleon wrested a portion of this country from the conquerors, and erected it into a state with the title of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw in 1807, but this government was overthrown at his downfal. The Prussian and Austrian divisions of Poland were attached as provinces to those monarchies, and the Russian division was formed into a kingdom as a part of the Russian Empire.

The Poles remained in quiet submission to the Russian government till 1830, when on the 29th November, Warsaw rose in insurrection, and the whole kingdom was speedily in revolt. The hope of assistance from some of the free governments of Europe induced them to spurn at all attempts on the part of the Russian emperor to bring them to submission, and a bloody struggle with the armies of the autocrat followed. The Poles at first obtained some signal advantages, but no foreign power stirred in their behalf, the Russians poured in fresh armies, and in a year from the breaking out of the revolt, Poland was overpowered by numbers and forced again to submit. The Russian despotism is now fully re-established.

CHAPTER LXXXVII. EUROPEAN RUSSIA.

1. BOUNDARIES AND EXTENT. This country is bounded north by the Frozen Ocean, east by Asiatic Russia, south by the Sea of Azof and the Black Sea, and west by Turkey, Austria, Poland, Prussia, the Baltic, Finland

ETS, SCIENCE AND LAT Lapland. It extends from 44° 40' to 70° N. lat., and from 210 to 65 E.

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and contains 1,489,110 square miles.

. MOUNTAINS. The Ural mountains form the boundary between Europe into favor, ab Asia. They consist of a chain 1200 miles in length, extending from the ɔzen Ocean south nearly to the Caspian Sea. The Finnic mountains are a ie is the estontinuation of the Scandinavian range, and extend some distance into Rusron is organized. The between the White Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia. The Alaunian mounas are a series of gentle elevations southeast of the Gulf of Finland. In the 15, the lower class ath are the mountains of Taurida.

It rises in the

It is 1700 miles

The Don and

they are still er 3. RIVERS. The Volga is the largest river of Russia. the noblesse of Sceliger, and flows southerly into the Caspian Sea. not very eficien length and is navigable for a great part of its course. a dependency nieper also flow south, the former into the Sea of Azof, and the latter into the is a diet asack Sea. In the north, the Petchora flows into the Frozen Ocean, the "Deputies: thewina and Onega into the White Sea and the Duna into the Gulf of Riga. and is desper he Neva is the outlet of the Lake of Ladoga and flows into the Gulf of Finfor a thousand.

tants were a t 4. LAKES. This country abounds in lakes. The Lake of Ladoga lies Huns: near the Gulf of Finland: it is 120 miles long and 65 broad. It aboundsin fish, wn ceaseless ad particularly in seals, and is connected with the sea by a canal. Lake larly cornega, lies between this lake and the White Sea: it is 150 miles long. The ther lakes are smaller.

Poland 5. ISLANDS. Nova Zembla, the largest island in the Polar Sea, lies near

and the prides made

ire duke ire northern coast of Russia. It contains 90,000 square miles. The eastern litary princes Fen oast is unapproachable on account of the icebergs. The western coast is at and indented with bays, which are the common resort of hunters. The ted to Print Fda peraxis now lies upon this island 10 feet deep. There is little rain, but the stunted erbs and lichens are watered with a plentiful dew. The mountains are said three paras o contain gold, silver and naptha. Bears, deer, wolves and other animals re common, but there are no inhabitants except hunters. There are a few other islands in the same neighborhood.

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6. SEAS AND GULFS. The White Sea in the north, communicates with the Frozen Ocean. It is sufficiently deep for navigation and is free from ice from July till winter. The Gulf of Finland is an arm of the Baltic extending easterly between Russia and Finland. The Sea of Azof in the south is an arm of the Black Sea.

7. CLIMATE. The White Sea, and the Ocean which washes the northern coast are covered with ice from September to June, and the rivers in this quarter are frozen for a still longer period. In the morasses and lakes the frost seldom disappears at all, and the sun's heat does not penetrate a span into the marshy soil. During the brief and cheerless summer the atmosphere is loaded with fogs. The sun at this season appears like an enormous red balloon hanging motionless in the air. The summer is damp, hot and oppressive. At Petersburg the temperature is milder, but the Neva is frozen from November till March. In the south the climate is delightful, and vegetation is flourishing. In the plains there is little rain in summer, and the streams dry up.

8. SOIL. The country watered by the Volga is tolerably fertile, but the richest districts are those upon the Don and Dnieper. In Livonia the soil is excellent. In the north the soil is unfit for tillage.

9. NATURAL PRODUCTIONS. In the north, firs, junipers and mosses are all the productions of the soil. The central parts abound in forests of linden, cherry, elm, birch, willow, poplar, alder, aspen, maple, pine, cedar and cypress. Upon the shores of the Black Sea grow the turpentine tree, the balm and Byzantine poplar. Walnut trees are plentiful in the Crimea.

10. MINERALS. The European part of Russia is not rich in minerals. Iron and Marble are found in some parts, and granite is abundant.

11. ANIMALS. In the north are found most of the animals described in the adjoining countries. In all the other parts sheep are abundant. Wild horse are found in the steppes of the Don.

12. FACE OF THE COUNTRY. The whole region is for the most part a champaign country with very few mountainous tracts. It abounds in those great level plains called steppes, sometimes resembling deserts, and at othe times savannas, waving with luxuriant grass.

13. DIVISIONS. Russia in Europe is divided into 46 Governments, including Finland already described. In a more popular view it is regarded as consis ing of 5 divisions; the provinces of the Baltic, Great Russia, Little Russi Southern Russia and Western Russia.

14. Towns. St Petersburg, the metropolis of the Russian empire, is sitt ated at the eastern extremity of the Gulf of Finland, and is built partly upon the mainland, and partly upon some small islands near the mouth of the Nera: one of its entrances is adorned with a magnificent triumphal arch. The

foundation of the city is extremely marshy, and so low as to subject the city to frequent inundations from the waters of the gulf.* It was founded in 1703

*The most remarkable of these inundations, occurred in November, 1824. The Neva rose to an unusual height, overflowed the city and swept away houses, furniture and goods, doing immense damage. The destruction of life was enormous, and whole villages near the city were totally submerged. At Cronstadt the imperial fleet suffered great injury and a ship of one hundred guns was left in the middle of one of the principal streets.

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