Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 2.djvu/766

 BOSNIA

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BOSNIA

translation was undertaken by Severano, but never published. Aringlii's Latin translation appeared in 1651, but the liberties which this writer took with the original text were far from being improvements. Bosio's " Roma Sotterranea " is entirely devoted to a description of the cemeteries explored by the great archaeologist. His leading thought was to ascertain all that was possible regarding the historj' of each cemetery, by what name it was known in antiquity, who were its founders, what martyrs and illustrious Christians were interred there. Many of his con- clusions have in modern times been foimd to be erroneous, but on the other hand, recent research has shown, in one important instance, that a con- jecture of Bosio's, which de Rossi thought without foundation, was wholly correct. (See Christian Archeology.) Bosio's method is acknowledged by all to have been scientific; his shortcomings were those of the age in which he lived. In \-iew of the fact that numerous frescoes which existed in the early seventeenth centurj- have since been destroyed, it is unfortunate that the copjnsts employed by Bosio were not equal to the task assigned to them. Wil- pert states that the illustrations of "Roma Sot- teranea" are of httle use to the modern arehse- ologist.

NoRTHcOTE AND Brownlow. Roma Sotterranea (London, 1878); WiLPERT, Pitture delle Catacombe Romane (Home. 1903); MuLLER in Realencyklopadie fur prot. Theol., 8. v. Koimeterien (Leipzig, 1901).

Maurice M. Hassett.

Bosnia, Diocese of. See Sirmium,

Bosnia and Herzegovina. — Bosnia and Herze- go\'ina form the north-western corner of the Balkan Peninsula. Taking the two together as one territory, Bosnia-Herzegovina is bounded on the north by the Austrian pro\-inces and titular kingdoms of Croatia and Slavonia, on the east by the Kingdom of SerNna, on the south by one of the nominal provinces of Tur- key, the principality of Montenegro, and the titular kingdom and Austrian pro\nnce of Dalmatia, and on the west by Dalmatia and Croatia. The Dinaric Alps and the Save and Drina Rivers form a large part of the boundary line of the country which in shape closely resembles an equilateral triangle. The joint territorj' has an area of about 19,702 square miles and belongs nominally to the Turkish Empire. Arti- cle 2.5 of the Treaty of Berlin, 13 July, 1S78, granted Austria-Hungary the right to occupy and administer the two provinces. Since then they have been under the control of the Minister of Finance of the Austro- Hungarian monarchy as crown provinces. Bosnia and Herzegovina belong, -n-ith their alternating high- lands and mountain chains, to the region of the Karst mountains. The Karst region forms a part of the .spurs of the southern Alps. It is a mountainous lime- stone district of the mesozoic period with vallej's of incomplete formation. The rocky, unfruitful char- acter of the Karst region is more evident in the south- ern part of the territory than in the northern, for in the north the forest-covered ranges, running chiefly from south-east to north-west, enclose fertile valleys. The only flat country is the district called Posavina, lying on the Save. There is in general a terrace-like descent from the mountainous region towards the Adriatic and the Hungarian depression.

Bosnia may be regarded as a succession of great terraces, but Herzegovina, in which the mountain sides slope down towards the Narenta Ri\ er, has more the shape of a basin. The former belongs to the region of the Black Sea, the latter to that of the Adri- atic. The highest peaks, the Lofikc (,913 feet), the Treskavica-Planina (6,851 feet), and the Bjelasnica- Planina (6,782 feet) lie near the border of Herze- govina, respectively west and south-west of Serajevo. The Save is the chief river of Bosnia and its tribu- taries are the Una, the ^'rbas, the Ukina, the Bosna,

and the Drina. Herzego\-ina is drained by the Na- renta (Neretva) River. As Bosnia falls away towards the north until it descends into the low-lj-ing region of the Save, it is easy of access from central Europe and was, consequently, exposed to incursions by tJie kings of Hungary. After crossing the Saxe the Hun- garian armies could penetrate into the heart of the country without encountering any natural obstacles. Bosnia was also, in consequence of the physical for- mation of the land, frequently divided politically into two parts, the upper or mountainous Bosnia, which extended to where the rivers pass into the fiat coun- try of the Save, and the Bosnian plain along the Save. The Romans observed this natural hue of di\'ision and made it the Ixjundary between the prov- inces of Dalmatia and Pannonia. Just as the political unity of Bosnia was made more difficult by its natural configuration, so on the other hand, the development of a compact principality was favoured in Herze- go\-ina (called also Hum, Chulni, and Chulmo) by its basin-like shape.

Physical Formation. — Mesozoic formations appear throughout this territorj' especially in the shape of Triassic rocks; where there are dislocations the under- Ijing palaeozoic rocks frequently project. These lat- ter are made of slate, sandstone, and limestone, as for example, the famous mountain range of slate rock called Ivresevo, in the western part of the Serajevo district, and the range called Posara on the Save. Jurassic rock and chalk formations appear chiefly in Herzegovina and western Bosnia. Of far greater ex- tent are the neogenic fresh water formations contain- ing the great coal deposits of the two territories. There is also much volcanic rock of various ages. The climate of Bosnia is in general the usual conti- nental one of cold winters and hot summers, while in Herzego\'ina the nearness of the sea makes the cli- mate almost semi-tropical. The average yearly tem- perature is from 48.2^ to 50° FaJir. The average temperature of Travnik, situated at a height of 1,640 feet in about the centre of the country, is in January 28.4° Fahr., in April 50.,5°, in July, 68.3°, and in Octo- ber 50.3°. Since the time of the Romans Bosnia has yielded a large amount of iron; lignite or brown coal and salt are also obtained in a number of places. Min- eral and hot springs abound; among these are the hot spring at Ilidze near Serajevo, the chalybeate spring at Kiseljak, and a spring impregnated with arsenic at Srebrenica. Bosnia contains a laro;e amount of timber; 50 per cent of its area is covered with forests; 34 per cent is productive farming-land, and the le- maining 16 per cent is in the rocky Karst region. The Bosnian forests are full of boars, bears, wolves, foxes, Ijnixes, and deer. Agriculture is of a very primitive character and could be made far more pro- ductive. The chief agricultural products of the coun- try are maize and wheat; oats, rye, barley, hemp, and buckwheat are also raised. In Herzcgo\-ina in addi- tion to these staples wine and oil are produced and figs are cultivated.

Population. — According to the census of 22 April, 1895, Bosnia has 1,361,868 inhabitants and Herze- govina 229,168, giving a total population of 1,591.036. The number of persons to the square mile is small (about 80), less than that in any of the other Austrian crown provinces excepting Salzburg (about 70). This average does not vary much in tiie sLx districts (five in Bosnia, one in Herzegovina). The number of persons to the square mile in these districts is as fol- lows: Doljna Tuzla, 106; Banjaluka, 96; Bihac, 91; Serajevo, 73; Mostar (Herzego\-ina), 65; Travnik, 62. There are 5,388 settlements, of which only 11 have more than 5,000 inhabitants, while 4,689 contain less than 500 persons. Excluding some 30,000 Albanians, living in the south-east, the Jews who emigrated in earlier times from Spain, a few Osmanli Turks, the merchants, officials, and Austrian troops, the rest of