Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/264

Rh 254 P O D P D and S., Bessarabia on the S.W., and Galicia (Austria) on the W., from which last it is separated by the Zbrutch, or Rodvotcha, a tributary of the Dniester. It has an area of 16,223 square miles, extending for 200 miles from north west to south-east on the left bank of the Dniester. In the same direction two ranges of hills, nearly parallel, and separated by the Bug, traverse the government ; they are ramifications of the so-called &quot; Avratynsk heights.&quot; One of these ranges runs parallel to the Dniester at a distance of some 40 miles, and reaches a maximum elevation of 1185 feet in th e northern districts, sending a lateral branch to the Dniester at Kamenets. The other range, entering also from the north-west, follows the boundaries of the government of Kieff on the left bank of the Bug ; its highest eminences do not exceed 1 050 feet. The geological structure of Podolia is in accordance with the above-mentioned orographical features ; a strip of land to the east of the Bug belongs to the Huronian granitic region of the Dnieper, granites and aplites (granulites) appearing also in the bed of the Bug, and being covered with Quaternary deposits only, while the remainder of the province, towards the west, is covered with Tertiary (Miocene). In the deep valleys of the rivers, older formations the Cretaceous and Silurian, as also sometimes the granites appear from beneath the Tertiary. The whole is covered with a boulder-clay, mostly contain ing debris of the local rocks, and with loess, the origin of both still being a subject of controversy among Russian geologists. Two large rivers, with numerous tributaries, water the government, the Dniester, which forms its boundary with Bessarabia and is navigable throughout its length, and the Bug, which flows almost parallel to the former in a higher, sometimes swampy valley, and is broken at several places by strong rapids. The Dniester is an important channel for trade, no less than 30,000 tons of corn, spirits, and timber being exported every year from its eighteen ports, the chief of which are Moghileff, Kalus, Zhvanets, and Porog. The rapid smaller tributaries of the Dniester supply numerous flour-mills with motive power. The soil is almost throughout &quot;black-earth,&quot; and Podolia is one of the most fertile provinces of Russia. Forests cover about 245,000 acres. Marshes occur only on the Bug. The climate is moderate, the average temperature of the year at Kamenets being 48 3 (24 5 in January, 69 in July). The population, which was 2,242,650 in 1881, and is now estimated at 2,335,000, consists chiefly of Little Russians, Poles (about 12 per cent.), and Jews (about 13 per cent.), of whom some 9000 are agriculturists. There are besides about 300 Armenians, some 2500 Germans, and nearly 45,000 Moldavians. There are many Nonconformists among the Russians, Tultchin being the seat of their bishops and a centre of propaganda. The chief occupation is agriculture, 56 per cent, of the surface being under crops, and the average harvests of recent years reaching 3,382,000 qrs. of corn and 453,000 qrs. of potatoes. The chief crops are wheat, Indian corn, oats, rye, potatoes, and beetroot. No less than 2,500,000 qrs. of corn are exported every year to Austria or to Odessa. Gardening is in a flourishing condition, and fruit is largely exported to the interior ; the vine is cultivated, mostly for grapes, but partly also for wine ; the culture of tobacco is a considerable source of income. Cattle-breeding is less de veloped, owing to a want of grazing grounds and meadows. Horned cattle a mixture of the Hungarian and Bessarabian breeds are, however, exported to Moscow and to Austria. Finer breeds of sheep are raised in the proportion of two-fifths of the whole number. In 1881 Podolia had 169,000 horses, 432,000 horned cattle, 513,000 sheep, and 307,000 swine. Bees are kept throughout the territory, and honey is exported. Sericulture h;is developed considerably of late years, and will probably take an important position, owing to the climate. Agriculture and cattle-breeding are on the whole declining. Lately manufactures have grown rapidly. In 1865 they already employed 14,450 hands, but produced only to the value of 5,334,000 roubles. Fourteen years later they employed more than 20,000 hands, and their yearly production was valued at 29,411,000 roubles. The first place is taken by beetroot sugar works (15,800 hands ; 1,038,000), after which come distilleries (1,372,000), sugar refineries (287,100), flour-mills (-134,500), tobacco manufacture (32,200), the wool Ion cloth industry, and several smaller manufactures (spirits, leather, soap, candles, ma chinery, and agricultural implements). An active trade is carried on with Austria, especially through the Isakovets and Gusyatin custom-houses, corn, cattle, horses, skins, wool, linseed, and hemp seed being exported, in exchange for wooden wares, linen, woollen stuil s, cotton, glass, and agricultural implements. The trade with the interior is also carried on very briskly, especially at the twenty-six, fairs, the aggregate returns of which exceed 3,000,000 roubles ; the chief are at Balta and Yarmolintsy. Podolia is traversed by a railway which runs parallel to the Dniester, from Lemberg to Odessa, and has two branch lines to Kiefl (from Zhmerinka) and to Poltava (from Balta). Primary schools are better than in many central provinces of Russia, and Kamenets-Podolsk has of late years begun to show some develop ment of intellectual life. The publications of the provincial assembly and the memoirs of the historical and statistical com mittee of the government are especially worthy of notice. Podolia is divided into twelve districts, the chief towns of which are Kamenets-Podolsk, capital of the government (22,650), Balta (22,450), Bratslaff (5550), Gaysin (9450), Letitcheff (4800), Litin (7100), Moghileff-on- Dniester (18,150), Novaya Ushitsa (4500), Olgopol (6950), Proskuroif (11,750), Vinnitsa (18,800), and Yampol (4300). The following towns have municipal institutions: Bar (7800), Khmclnik (7800), Nemirolr (5450, has a lyceum), Salnitsa (3300), Staraya Ushitsa (3700), Verbovets (2150), and Tultchin (11,220), besides many myestetchki, having Polish municipal insti tutions. History. The country has been inhabited since the beginning of the Neolithic period. In the 5th century B.C. it was already known to geographers, and Herodotus mentions it as the seat of the Alazones and Neuri, who were followed by the Dacians and Getae. The Romans left traces of their rule in the Wall of Trajan, which stretches through the modern districts of Kamenets, Ushitsa, and Proskuroff. Many nationalities passed through this territory, or settled within it for some time, during the great migrations, leaving traces in numerous archaeological remains. The annals of Nestor mention that the Slavonians, Bujanes, and Dulebes occu pied the Bug, while the Tivertsi and Uglitches were settled on the Dniester. They were conquered by the Avars in the 7th cen tury. Oleg extended his rule over this territory the Ponizie, or lowland, which became later a part of the principalities of Yolhynia, Kieff, and Galicia. In the 13th century the Ponizie was plundered by the Mongols ; a hundred years afterwards Olgerd freed it from this rule, annexing it to Lithuania under the name of Podolia, a word which has the same meaning as Ponizie. After the death of &quot;Witowt Podolia was annexed to Poland, with the exception of its eastern part the province of Bratslaff which remained under Lithuania until its union with Poland. The Poles retained Podolia until the third division of Poland in 1793, when it was taken by Russia, which instituted the present government of Podolia in 1796. PODOLSK, a district-town of Russia, in the govern ment of Moscow, is situated 23 miles to the south of the capital, at the junction of the two main roads going from Moscow to the Crimea and to Warsaw, and within a mile from the Podolsk railway station. It is picturesquely built on the hilly banks of the Pakhra, here crossed by an elegant suspension bridge for carriages as well as by the railway bridge. Down to 1781, when it became a district town, the wealthy village of Podol was a dependency of the Daniloff monastery of Moscow, and it still maintains many of the features of a suburb of that city. The numberless caravans of cars and sledges which before the opening of the southern railway carried on the entire transport of merchandise to and from Moscow (as they still to some extent continue to do) had their chief halting place at Podolsk before setting out on a long journey, or before entering the capital ; the principal occupation of the inhabitants was accordingly to keep inns and taverns, and to supply the caravans with provisions and other neces saries of travel. The merchants of Podolsk prefer to carry on their trade at Moscow, and in itself the town has no commercial importance. Still, notwithstanding the recent modifications in. traffic produced by the railway system, the population of Podolsk (11,000 in 1881) is increasing. The limestone quarries in the neighbourhood, at the con fluence of the Desna and Pakhra, supply the capital with a good building material, while a steam factory of cement, i lime, and bricks employs 900 hands and has an annual