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(W. R. M.)&emsp;  POLAND, RUSSIAN, a territory consisting of ten governments which formerly constituted the kingdom of (see above), but now are officially described as the “governments on the

Vistula,” or occasionally as the “territory on the Vistula.” It is bounded N. by the Prussian provinces of West and East Prussia, W. by those of Posen and Prussian Silesia, S. by the Austrian crown land of Galicia, and E. by the Russian governments of Volhynia, Vilna, Grodno, and Kovno.

Physical Features.—The territory consists for the most part of an undulating plain, 300 to 450 ft. above the sea, which connects the lowlands of Brandenburg on the west with the great plain of central Russia on the east. A low swelling separates it from the Baltic Sea; while in the south it rises gradually to a series of plateaus, which merge imperceptibly into the northern spurs of the Carpathians. These plateaus, with an average elevation of 800 to 1000 ft, are mostly covered with forests of oak, beech and lime, and are deeply cut by river valleys, some being narrow and craggy, and others broad, with gentle slopes and marshy bottoms. Narrow ravines intersect them in all directions, and they often assume, especially in the east, the character of wild, impassable, woody and marshy tracts. In the south-eastern corner of Poland they are called podlasie, and are in a measure akin to the polyesie of the Pripet. The Vistula, which skirts them on the south-west, cuts its way through them to the great plain of Poland, and thence to the Baltic. Its valley divides the hilly tracts into two parts—the Lublin heights on the east, and the Sędomierz (Sandomir) or central heights on the west. These last are diversified by several ranges which run east-south-east, parallel to the Beskides of the Carpathian system, the highest of them being the Lysa Góra, which reach 1910 ft. and 2010 ft. above the sea. Another short ridge, the Chęcinski hills in Kielce, follows the same direction along the Nida river and reaches 1345 ft. south of the Nida, the Olkusz hills, linked on to spurs of the Beskides, fill up the south-west corner of Poland, reaching 1620 ft, and containing the chief mineral wealth of the country; while a fourth range, 1000 to 1300 ft. high, runs north-west past Częnstochowa, separating the Oder from the Warta (Warthe). In the north, the plain of Poland is bordered by a flat, broad swelling, 600 to 700 ft. above the sea, dotted with lakes, and recalling the lacustrine regions of north-western Russia. Wide tracts of sand, marshes, peat-bogs, ponds, and small lakes, among which the streams lazily meander from one marsh to another, the whole covered with thin pine forests and scanty vegetation, with occasional patches of fertile