Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/748

 LIVONIA kalns, 1028 feet ; Vella-Maggi, 946 feet ; Teufelsberg, 847 feet). The edges of the plateaus are intersected by deep valleys, which give a hilly character to the country ; the hilly tract between the Duna and its tributary the Livonian Aa has received from its picturesque narrow valleys, covered with deep forests and numerous lakes, the name of &quot; Wendish Switzerland.&quot; The plateau of Odenpa, watered by the tributaries of the Embach river, which flows for 93 miles from lake Wierz-yarvi into Lake Peipus, occupies an area of 2830 square miles, and has an average height of 500 feet. More than a thousand lakes are scattered over Livonia, of which that of Wierz-yarvi, having a surface of 105 square miles (114 feet above sea-level), is the largest; marshes and peat-bogs occupy as much as one-tenth of the province. Of the very numerous rivers which water Livonia, only the Duna, which flows for 90 miles along its frontier, and the Embach are navigable. The geological structure of Livonia has been elaborately examined. The Silurian formation which covers Esthonia, and much resembles the Norwegian Silurian, appears in the northern part of Livonia, the remainder of the province consisting of Devonian strata. The whole is covered with a mighty sheet of glacial deposits, sometimes 400 feet thick. The typical bottom moraine, with boulders of all sizes up to 20 feet in diameter, brought from Finland, extends all over the country, reaching even to the summit of Munna-Maggi. Glacial furrows, striee, and elongated troughs are met with everywhere, running mostly from north-west to south-east, as well as asar, which have the same direction and consist of morainic nucleus covered with stratified sands and clays; sand-downs cover large tracts on the shores of the Baltic. As in Esthonia, no traces of marine deposits are found higher than 100 or 150 feet above the present sea-level. The soil is not very fertile. Forests cover about two-fifths of the surface of this government, several of them having a diameter of 150 to 250 miles. The climate is rather severe. The mean temperatures are 43 Fahr. at Riga (winter, 23 ; summer, 63), and 42| at Dorpat. The intensity and direction of winds are very variable ; the average number of rainy and snowy days is one hundred and forty-six at Riga rainfall 24*1 inches) ; fogs are not uncommon. The population of Livonia, which was but 621,600 in 1816, reached 1,000,876 in 1870, and is now about 1,121,000 in 1882. Though it is often described as a German province, only about 7 per cent, of the population (64, 120 in 1863) are Germans, the great bulk being Ehsts or Esthonians (47 per cent.) and Letts (41 - 6 per cent. ). The Russians number about 35,000, Poles 5000, and Jews 7000. The Livonians, who have given their name to the country, and who formerly extended far east to Sebej in the government of Vitebsk, have nearly all passed away ; only a few thousands (2050 in 1863) inhabit the forests at the utmost extremity of the penin sula of Comiand. Their native language, of Finnish origin, is rapidly disappearing, their present language being rather a Lettish patois. Sjogren, in 1846, had much difficulty in making a gram mar and dictionary of it from the mouths of old people. The Ehsts, who greatly resemble the Finns of Tavastland, have main tained their ethnic features, their customs, national traditions, national songs and poetry, and their harmonious language. There is now a marked revival of national feeling, favoured by Young Esthonia,&quot; together with a tendency towards a union with Finland. No less than eight political papers are published in the Esthonian language. The prevailing religion is the Lutheran (746,654 in 1863) ; about 80,000 Ehsts in Livonia and Esthonia, and 50,000 Letts (see LITHUANIANS), as well as the Russians, belong to the Greek Church (156,874 in 1863) ; of the Russians, however, a con siderable proportion are raskolniks (nonconformists), who have emigrated to the Baltic provinces in consequence of prosecutions ; these last number about 14,500, of whom 8000 are found in the neighbourhood of Riga. About 6000 are Catholics. The Germans belong to the nobility, or to the burgher class in the towns. The efforts of the German conquerors to Germanize the country have completely failed. The Ehsts and Letts openly display their traditional hatred against the invaders. The teaching in primary schools is carried on in Esthouian and Lettish ; German prevails in colleges and higher schools. The Russian Government has for some time been labouring for &quot;Russification&quot;; the Russian civil ode was introduced in the Baltic provinces in 1835, and the use of Russian, instead of German, in official correspondence and in law the fact that the privileges given by the military law to those who have received primary education extend only to those who know Russian contributes to the extension of that language. Nearly all the soil belongs to the nobility, the extent of peasants estates being only 15 per cent. Serfdom was abolished in 1819, when the peasants received personal liberty, remaining, however, under the jurisdiction of their landlords, who maintained also the right to have a predominant influence in the nomination of ministers. Since 1849 the contribution in forced labour which the peasants were compelled to pay to landlords has been gradually, though imperfectly, commuted to a money payment, and the peasants have received the right to purchase their allotments. But, owing to later limitations of this law, as well as to the high price of allotments and to the establishment of a minimum size of 80 acres, the redemption of the land is going on very slowly. The class of peasant proprietors being restricted to a small number of wealthy peasants, the great bulk have remained KnccMs, that is, tenants at will ; they are very miserable, and about one-fourth of them are continually wandering in search of work. They readily emigrate, even to such unfertile provinces as Novgorod and Vitebsk, and from time to time the emigration takes the shape of a mass movement, which the Government stops by forcible measures. The average size of landed estates is from 9500 to 11,000 acres, far above the general average for Russia. The estates of the nobility are generally as well cultivated as in western Europe, while the peasants farms are mostly in a deplorable state. In 1877 21 4 per cent, of the surface of Livonia was under crop, yielding 1,942,600 quarters of grain, and 1,843,200 quarters of potatoes. There were at the same time 146,000 horses, 372,000 cattle, 312,000 sheep, and 150,000 pigs. The shores of the Baltic yield valuable fisheries. Manufactures are steadily increasing. The distilleries yield about 1,400,000 gallons of spirits, part of which is ex ported ; the beer breweries (two hundred) produce beer worth about 650,000 roubles. There are woollen, cotton, and silk mills, saw mills, and paper, glass, candle, tobacco, and machinery works, the chief manufacturing districts being Pernau and Riga. Livonia carries on a large export trade, especially through Riga and Pernau, in flax, linseed, hemp, grain, timber, and wooden wares; the Duna is of course the chief channel for this trade. During the last ten years, however, Libau has entered into brisk competition with the more northern ports of Livonia. The imports, especially through Riga, are also most important, the custom-houses of Livonia having had in 1881 an income of 6,000,000 silver roubles. The government is divided in eleven districts Riga (104,200), Wollmar (2050), Dorpat (22,600), Pernau (12,500), Wendcn (65,000), Arensburg in the island Osel (3150), Walk (2950), Fellin (2900), Werro (2050), Lamsall (1450), and Schlock (800). The capital of the government is Riga. The first historical notices of Livonia are by Tacitus and Jordancs, but coins of the time of Alexander the Great, found on the island of Osel, show that the coasts of the Baltic were at an early time in commercial relations with the civilized world. The chronicle of Nestor mentions as inhabitants of the Baltic coast the Tchud, the Lives, the Narova, Letgola, Semigalians, and Kors. It is probably about the 9th century that the Tchud became tributary to the Vary ago -Russian states. As they reacquired their independence, Yaroslaff I. undertook in 1030 a campaign against them, and founded YourieiT (Dorpat). The first Germans penetrated into Livonia in the llth century, and in 1158 several Bremen merchants landed at the mouth of the Duna. In 1186 the emissaries of the archbishop of Bremen began to preach the Christian religion among the Ehsts and Letts, and in 1200 the archbishop of Livonia estab lished his residence at the mouth of the Duna, at Riga. In 1202 or 1204 Innocent III. recognized the Order of Brothers of the Sword (Schiocrt-briidcr), the residence of its grandmaster being at &quot;W enden ; and the order, spreading the Christian religion by sword and fire among the natives, carried on from that time a series of uninterrupted wars against the Russian republics and Lithuania, as well as a struggle against the influence of the archbishop of Riga, which last was supported by the importance acquired by Riga as a centre for trade, intermediate between the Hanseatic towns and those of Novgorod, Pskov, and Polotsk. The first active interfer ence of Lithuania in the affairs of Livonia dates from the times which immediately followed the great outbreak of peasants on Osel ; Olgerd devastated then all southern Livonia. The order happening to purchase the Danish part of Esthonia, in 1347, began with fresh forces the war against the bishop of Riga, as well as against Lithuania, Poland, and Russia. The wars against those powers were terminated respectively in 1435, 1466, and 1483. About the end of the 15th century the master of the order, Pletten- berg, acquired a position of great importance, and in 1527 he was recognized as a prince of the empire by Charles V. On the other hand, the authority of the bishops of Riga was soon completely
 * ourts was ordered in 1867, but not generally brought into practice;