Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 23.djvu/737

Rh  at the north end of a peninsula, which till the time of Alexander's siege was an island. The mole which he con structed to reach the island city has been widened by de posits of sand, so that the ancient island is now connected with the mainland by a tongue of land a quarter of a mile broad. The greatest length of the former island, from north to south, is about f of a mile and its area about 142 acres, a small surface for so important a town. The re searches of Kenan seem to have completely refuted the once popular idea that a great part of the original island has disappeared by natural convulsions, though he believes that the remains of a line of submerged Avail at the south end indicate that about 15 acres more were once reclaimed from the sea and have been again lost. Confined to this narrow site on which, moreover, place was found for the great temple of Melkarth with its courts and for all the necessities of a vast trade, for docks and warehouses, and for the great purple factories which in the Roman time were the chief source of wealth and made the town an unpleasant place of residence (Strabo, xvi. 2, 23; Pliny, v. 76) Tyre was very closely built; Strabo tells us that the many-storied houses were loftier than those of Rome. In the Roman period the population overflowed its bounds and occupied a strip of the opposite mainland, including the ancient Palsetyrus. Pliny gives to the whole city, con tinental and insular, a compass of 19 Roman miles; but this account must be received with caution. In Strabo's time the island was still the city, and Palaetyrus on the mainland was 30 stadia off, while modern research indicates an extensive line of suburbs rather than one mainland city that can be definitely identified with Palaetyrus. The ancient history of Tyre has been dealt with in the article PHOENICIA; the topography is still obscure owing to the paucity of Phoenician remains. The present harbour is certainly the Sidonian port, though it is not so large as it once was; the other ancient harbour (the Egyptian port) has disappeared, and is supposed by Renan to have lain on the other side of the island, and to be now absorbed in the isthmus. The most important ruins are those of the cathedral, with its magnificent monolith columns of rosecoloured granite, now prostrate. The present building is assigned by De Vogue to the second half of the 12th century, but the columns must be older and may have be longed to the 4th-century church of Paulinas (Euseb., //. E., x. 4). The water supply of ancient Tyre came from the powerful springs of Ras al- Ain on the mainland, one hour south of the city, where there are still remarkable reservoirs, in connexion with which curious revivals of Adonis worship have been observed by Volney and other travellers. Tyre was still an important city and almost impregnable fortress under the Arab empire. From 1124 to 1291 it was a stronghold of the crusaders, and Saladin himself besieged it in vain. After the fall of Acre the Christians deserted the place, which was then destroyed by the Moslems. The present town has arisen since the Metawila occupied the district in 1766.

 TYROL, a province of Austria, with the title of "county," lies between 10° 10′ and 13° E. long., and 45° 40′ and 47° 45′ N. lat., and is conterminous on the north-west with the Austrian province of Vorarlberg, on the north with Bavaria, on the east with Salzburg and Carinthia, on the south-east and south-west with Italy, and on the west with Switzer land. The last-named country forms in the lower Engadine an angle penetrating deeply into Tyrol. The country is entirely mountainous, being traversed by the main chain of the Alps. It may be roughly divided into the valley systems of the Lech and the Inn to the north of the chain and of the Etsch or Adige (Vintschgau) and the upper I )rave (Puster valley) to the south (see ALPS). Its area is 10,316 square miles; its population in 1880 was 805,176, inclusive of military, showing an increase of nearly 4 per cent, since 1869. Of these 432,062 spoke German, 360,975 Italian or some Romance dialect, and the re mainder some form of Slavonic; 565,468 persons were able to read and write, 56,728 to read only, leaving about 22 per cent, of the total population, including children, wholly illiterate. Education is strictly compulsory; but the schools are for the most part closed during the summer months, when all available hands are required in the fields and on the mountain pastures. Agriculture and forestry occupy about two-thirds of the entire population. Every householder owns a piece of cultivable land in the valley, while his goats, sheep, or cattle are driven with those of his neighbours to the mountain pastures (Alpen, Almen) which belong to the commune. Each commune has a president chosen by an elected committee of householders. The man selected cannot decline, but is bound to serve his term of office. The tenure of property is for the most part of the nature of absolute ownership. In 1880 100,393 persons of both sexes were returned as proprietors, 10,283 as tenants. The chief products are milk, butter, and cheese. Of grain-crops maize, which is largely grown in the Inn valley and Vintschgau, holds the first place. Wheat is grown in the lower valleys, barley and rye in the higher, the latter in favourable spots to a height of over 5000 feet. Potatoes are found above 6000 feet. In the Etsch valley, or district about Meran and Botzen, red and white wine of excellent quality is produced (in 1884 about 6,500,000 gallons). Of late years the cultivation of fruit has much developed, especially in south Tyrol. Silk is also produced (in 1885 1268 tons of cocoons). Game is still plentiful in the remoter valleys. In every district there are a certain number of licensed hunters, the prin cipal game being red deer, chamois, hares, blackcock, ptarmigan, &c. Mining occupies about one-fifth of the population. At Hall near Innsbruck are important salt works, and at Brixlegg in the same valley copper and lead are smelted. Iron is worked at Fulpmes in the Stubai valley and at Prad in the Vintschgau. Zinc is found at the head of the Passeir valley. In the Middle Ages gold and silver were found in sufficient quantities to make it worth while to extract them. About 4340 square miles of the country are covered with forest, chiefly pine, fir, and larch, which, however, is felled in a recklessly wasteful way. The capital of the county is (q.v.).

The general average of comfort in Tyrol is high, and the cost of living is very moderate. The peasant and his family are clothed in stuffs spun and woven at home, from the wool and flax produced in their own neighbourhood. The people are for the most part somewhat reserved in manner, hut courteous and hospitable. The savage fights which used to be a favourite pastime among the younger men are now almost, or quite, a thing of the past. In some valleys there is a good deal of musical talent; and companies of Tyrolese singers, particularly from the Ziller valley, travel about all over Germany. The zither is a favourite instrument, especially in the southern valleys; in the northern the guitar is more frequent. The religion is almost exclusively Roman Catholic; but in Innsbruck there are some hundreds of Protestants. The priests belong chiefly to the peasant class, and receive their education at Brixen and the university of Innsbruck. This contains about 600 students in the various faculties and possesses a library of some 60,000 volumes. There is a diet, or landtag, with its seat at Inns bruck, consisting of thirty -four representatives of the peasants, thirteen of the citizens, four of the prelates, ten of the nobles, three of the chambers of commerce at Innsbruck, Botzen, and Roveredo, and one of the university of Innsbruck. To the imperial reichsrath Tyrol sends eighteen members. Tyrol is garrisoned by troops recruited exclusively in Tyrol and Vorarlberg, and never, except in time of war, employed outside these provinces. Besides this there are the landwehr and the landsturm or militia.

History. The country corresponding to modern Tyrol first ap pears in history when the Rhsetians were subdued by Drusiis and Tiberius. This nation, by some held to have been cognate with the Etruscans, occupied the valleys from the source of the Rhine to that of the Drave. To the north of them were the Vindelici, and to the east the Norici; the former were apparently separated