Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/321

Rh RUSSIAN.] POLAND 309 only as a fossil ; the sable, mentioned in the annals, has migrated eastwards ; the wild horse, also, described by the annals as intermediate between the horse and the ass probably like the recently discovered Equus przewalskii is said to have been met with in the 13th century in the basin of the Warta, and two cen turies later in the forests of Lithuania. The wild goat, bison, and elk have migrated to the Lithuanian forests. The lynx and beaver have also disappeared. The brown bear continues to haunt the forests of the south, but is becoming rarer in Poland ; the wolf, the wild boar, and the fox are most common throughout the great plain, as also the hare and several species of Arvicola. The mammals in Poland, however, do not exceed fifty species. The avi-fauna, which does not differ from that of central Europe, is repre sented by some one hundred and twenty species, among which the singing birds (Detitirostras and Conirostraz) are the most numerous. On the whole, Poland lies to the westward of the great line of passage of the migratory birds, and is less frequented by them than the steppes of south-west Russia. Still, numerous aquatic birds breed on the waters of the Baltic lake-region. The population of Poland, 6,193,710 in 1871, reached 7,319,980 in 1881, showing an increase of 1 8 per cent, per annum during the ten years, and an average of 15 persons per square mile. Of these 17 per cent, lived in towns. They were distributed as follows : Governments. Area, Square Miles. Total Popula tion, 1881. Urban Population. Per Square Mile. Kalisz 4,391 765,403 96,848 17 4 Kielce 3,897 622,842 38,493 16 iiomza 4,667 538,588 51,554 11-5 Lublin 6,499 860,382 78,867 13-2 Piotrkow Ptock.. 4,730 4,200 837,928 538,141 144,246 78,797 177 12-8 Radom 4,769 633,715 69,058 13-3 Siedlce Suwaiki 5,535 4,846 616,649 603,174 117,011 61,827 11-1 12-4 Warsaw 5,623 1,303,158 485,852 23-2 Total 49,157 7,319,980 1,222,553 14-9 The bulk of the population are Poles. During prehistoric times the basin of the Vistula seems to have been inhabited by a dolicho cephalic race, different from the brachycephalic Poles of the present day; but from the dawn of history the Slavonians (Poles), mixed to some extent with Lithuanians, are found on the plains of the Vistula and Warta. The purest Polish type is found in the basin of the middle Vistula and in Posen ; in the north-east there is a Lithuanian admixture, and in the south-east a Little Russian. The geographical domain of the Poles corresponds approximately with the limits of Russian Poland. Some 250,000 Lithuanians (277,000 or 284,000, according to other enumerations) occupy the north part of Suwatki, their southern limit being the Hancza river and the towns Seino and Suwaiki ; while the Ruthenians (about 506,000 in 1873) appear in compact masses in the east and south east, occupying the whole space between the Bug and the Wieprz as far as Siedlce, as also the region between the upper Wieprz and the San. The White Russians numbered 27,000 in the north-east and east, and the Great Russians 12,000. The Poles extend but little beyond the limits of Russian Poland. In east Prussia they occupy the southern slope of the Baltic ridge (the Mazurs) ; and on the left bank of the lower Vistula they spread to its mouth (the Kaszubes). Westward they occupy a strip of land of an average breadth of 50 miles in Brandenburg, Posen, and Silesia, stretching down the Warta as far as to Birnbaum (100 miles east of Berlin) ; and in the south they extend along the right bank of the Vistula in western Galicia to the San. In Russia they constitute, with Jews, Lithuanians, Ruthenians, and White Russians, the town popu lation, as also the landed nobility and szlachta, in several provinces west of the Dwina and the Dnieper. Their numbers in these pro vinces may be seen from the following figures : Governments. Population (1867). Number of Poles. Percentage of Polos. Probable Number of Poles in 1881. Vilna Podolia Volhynia Minsk 973,570 1,946,760 1,643,270 1,135,590 143,290 233,650 172,405 117,750 147 12-0 10-5 10 4 175,000 269,000 215,000 160,500 Grodno Vitebsk Kieff.. 958,850 838,050 2 144 280 89,850 40,725 71 640 9 3 4-9 3 3 112,700 54,950 87 650 Moghileff..... Kovno .. 908,860 1 131 250 26,115 30 875 2-9 27 32,700 38 950 Courland Smolensk 597,290 1,163,590 13,155 1,450 2-2 o-i 14,000 1,600 Total 13,441,360 940,905 7-00 1,162,050 According to the localities which they inhabit, the Poles take different names. They are called Wielkopolanie on the plains of middle Poland, while the name of Maiopolanie is reserved for those on the Warta. The name of Leczycanie is given to the inhabitants of the marshes of the Ner, that of Kurpie to those of the Podlasie ; Kujawiacy, Szlacy in Silesia, and Gorale in the Carpathians. The Kaszubes, and especially the Mazurs, may be considered as separate stocks of the Polish family. The Mazurs (whose northern limits may be thus described Przerosl in Suwalki, Goldap, Rastenburg, and Bischofsburg in Prussia, and Mlawa in Ptock) are distinguished from the Poles by their lower stature, broad shoulders, and massive structure, and still more by their national dress, which has nothing of the smartness of that of the southern Poles, and by their ancient customs ; they have also a dialect of their own, containing many words now obsolete in Poland, and several grammatical forms bearing witness to the Lithuanian influ ence. They submit without difficulty to German influence, and already are Lutherans in Prussia. The language of the Kaszubes can also be considered as a separate dialect. The Poles proper are on the whole of medium stature (5 feet 4 - 6 inches), finely built, dark in the south and fair in the north, richly endowed by nature, inclined to deeds of heroism, but perhaps deficient in that energy which characterizes the northern races of Europe, and in that sense of unity which has been the strength of their present rulers. The German element is annually increasing both in number and in influence, especially during the last twenty years. The todz manufacturing district, the Polish Birmingham, is becoming more German than Polish ; and throughout the provinces west of the Vistula German immigration is going on at a steadily increas ing rate, especially in the governments of Ptock, Kalisz, Piotrkow, and Warsaw. It is estimated that a strip of land 35 miles wide along the Prussian frontier is already in the hands of Germans, whose advance is further favoured by the rapid transference of landed property into German hands in Posen. In Russian Poland associations of four to six men, supported by German banks, purchase large numbers of properties belonging to members of the Polish nobility who have been ruined since the last insurrection. No fewer than 30,736 German landholders, owning 5433 estates, were enumerated last year in the provinces west of the Vistula ; while 13,714 foreign proprietors, farmers, and labourers (11,497 Prussians and 1914 Austrians) were at the same time owners of 1,857,900 acres, valued at 135,000,000 roubles. According to other statistics, the foreigners in Poland, mostly Germans, who remained foreign subjects, numbered 170,000 in 1881 (5 15 per cent, of the population). Of these, 91,440 (families included) hold landed property to the amount of 2,605,500 acres, or 8 3 per cent, of the area of the kingdom. The aggregate number of Germans in Russian Poland, estimated at 370,000 in 1873, must now exceed 450,000, thus constituting about one-fifteenth of the population. The Jews, who are found everywhere throughout Poland, are still more numerous, and must now exceed a million. They are nowhere agricultural ; in the larger towns many of them are artisans, but in the villages they are almost exclusively engaged as shopkeepers, second-hand traders, dealers on commission, innkeepers, and usurers. In the country, both commerce and agriculture are in the hands of their intimately connected trading associations. Their relations with Poles and Ruthenians are anything but cordial, and &quot;Jew-baiting&quot; is of frequent occurrence. They are increasing much more rapidly than the Slavs. The relative numbers of the various inhabitants of Poland may be seen from the following figures : According to Galkin (1868). According to Kittich (1873). Per cent. Poles 3,900,580 4,375,840 68-4 Jews 764,950 860,330 13-4 Little Russians 428,380 505,960 j White Russians 33,520 26,865 } 8-5 Great Russians 11,065 12,155) Germans 234,150 370,360 5-8 Lithuanians 277,050 241,150 3-8 The prevalent religion is the Roman Catholic, to which, in 1870, Religion. 4,596,956 out of a population of 6,034,430 belonged; at the same date 246,485 were adherents of the United Church, 327,845 were Lutherans, 34,135 were of the Greek Church, and 4926 Noncon formists. The Jews at the same date were reckoned (certainly an under-estimate) at 815,443, and the Mohammedans at 426. The number of followers of the United Church has much diminished since 1873, when they were compelled to join the Greek Church. Since the last insurrection a series of measures have been taken to reduce the numbers of the Roman Catholic clergy in Poland ; in 1883 there remained 1313 churches out of 1401, 1544 priests out of 2322, 10 monasteries out of 29, and 8 convents out of 30. One diocese (Podlasie) having been abolished, and a new one established