Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/327

Rh V Y A V Y S 303 loading-places on the Vytchegda and the Yug to be shipped farther north to Archangel. Lakes are numerous, and vast marshes are met with everywhere, especially in the north; three-quarters of the area are under forests. The climate is very severe, the average yearly temperature being 36 F. at Vyatka (January, 8 2; July, 67 0), and 35 at Slobodskoi (January, 3 5 ; July, 65 -3). The population ( 2,859,000 in 1883, as against 2,170,221 in 1861), though sparse on the average, is somewhat dense in the better-situated valleys. The bulk consists of Great Russians (81 per cent.), but there are also considerable remains of the aboriginal Votiaks (250,000), Tcheremisses (about 150,000), Tartars, Tepters, Permians, and even Bashkirs. Mohammedans number about 100,000, and pagans (Tcheremisses and Votiaks) about 11,000. The Votiaks (Otiaks), a Finnish stem of the Permian group, call themselves Ot, Ut, or Ud, and the Tartars call them Ar, so that it is supposed that they may be akin to the Ars of the Yenisei. They are middle-sized, with fair hair and eyes, often red-haired; and the general structure of the face and skull is Finnish. By their dialect they belong to the same branch as the Permians. They are excel lent agriculturists, very laborious, and excel in bee-keeping. The soil is fertile, especially in the valleys of the south ; rye, barley, oats, buckwheat, and to some extent wheat are grown. The crops of 1885 were rye, 4,006,000 quarters ; oats, 3,957,000; barley, 734,000 ; wheat, 98,000; potatoes, 231,000 quarters. Corn is exported to the Kama or to the north, as also are fiax and hemp. There is no want of natural meadows in the south, and cattle- rearing prospers. The Vyatka horses, a fine breed, though rather small, are well known throughout Russia. There were in 1883 706,600 horses, 925,100 cattle, and 1,446,400 sheep. Attempts are being made to introduce finer breeds of cows and sheep. Industries are developing steadily, there having been in 1884 684 establishments, which employed 9700 workmen, and showed a yearly return of 1,510,000. They include distilleries (885,600), iron-works, chemical works, tanneries, soap and glass works, and cotton and paper mills. VOTKINSK (q.v.) has a considerable yearly production of agricultural machinery and steam-engines. The crown manufactory of guns at Izhevsk works up yearly 10,000 cwts. of steel. Domestic trades give occupation to more than 40,000 persons, and their returns in 1884 reached 706,800. The manu facture of wooden vessels, window frames, doors, furniture, sledges, and carts supplies a considerable export trade to the steppe pro vinces of the lower Volga. Domestic weaving produces, it is esti mated, about 5,400,000 yards of linen every year. Many peasants have nevertheless to leave their homes in search of work, either as &quot; burlaki &quot; for shipping and dragging boats or as porters ; hunting and bird-catching still have some importance in the forest tracts. Trade is considerable, iron, copper, tar, pitch, glass, leather, paper, timber, and wooden wares, as also corn, hides, flax, linseed, honey, and other raw produce being exported to Nijui Novgorod, Orenburg, and Siberia ; while groceries and various manufactured goods are imported. Vyatka is one of those few governments of Russia where the ~cmstvo, consisting to a great extent of representatives of the peasantry, has succeeded in creating a series of educational institu tions without incurring the displeasure of the Government. It distinguishes itself very favourably by its schools, libraries, surgeons, and hospitals in villages, and by its elaborate house-to-house statis tical descriptions of several districts, and statistical publications. There were in 1884 641 primary and 22 secondary schools. Vyatka is divided into eleven districts those of VYATKA (24,480 inhabitants in 1885) ; Elabuga (9750) ; Gtazoff (1945) ; Kotclnitch (4490) ; Matmyzh (3400) ; Nolinsk (3990) ; Or toff (3380) ; Sarapul (12,370); Stobodskoi (9225); Urzhum (5100); Yaransk (2855). VOTKINSK (q.v.) has 15,480 inhabitants, and Izhevsk has 21,500. VYATKA, capital of the above government, is situated on the Vyatka river, 653 miles to the north-east of Moscow. It is built mostly of wood, on the steep hills which rise above the river, as well as on their slopes and at their base. Its old walls have been demolished, and its old churches built anew. Two public gardens, a small public library, and the usual educational institutions of a Russian provincial town are all that it can boast of. Its manu factures are insignificant, but its trade in corn, leather, tallow, candles, soap, wax, paper, and furs (exported), and in all kinds of manufactured and grocery wares (imported), is important. The population in 1885 was 24,480. Vyatka was founded in 1181 by the Novgorodians, under the name of Khtynoff, for the purpose of maintaining their dominion among the Votiaks, Tcheremisses, and Tartars. The squirrel and beaver furs, especially the latter (beaver being then common in the region), and the Vyatka horses, as also wax and honey, were the chief attractions for trade ; and, notwithstanding the dangers then encountered on the route to Vyatka and Perm, via Vologda, the Novgorod merchants and ulcshuiniki (plundering merchants) will ingly visited Vyatka and settled there. The town soon grew around the fort, and had to be enclosed within new walls. In 1391 it was plundered by the Tartars, and again in 1477. The power of Nov gorod was decaying, and the Moscow princes, always pursuing the same policy of intrigue, and showing themselves ready to take up the cause of the poorer classes against the richer merchants, made advantageous use of internal struggles, and annexed KhtynofF to Moscow in 1489. It received the name of Vyatka in 1780. VYAZMA, a district town of Russia, in the govern ment of Smolensk, and 109 miles by rail to the north-east of that town, was a populous place as early as the llth century, and carried on a lively trade with Narva on the Gulf of Finland. In the 15th century it fell under the dominion of the Lithuanian princes, but was too close to Moscow to remain in their hands, and was retaken by the Russians by the end of the century. The Poles took it again, however, during the outbreak of 1611, and kept it till the peace of 1634. At present it is an important centre for the trade of Smolensk ; corn, hemp, linseed and hemp seed, tallow, and hides are exported to St Petersburg and Riga, while fish, metals, and manufactured goods are supplied to the neighbouring region chiefly by the Vyazma merchants. The population was 13,000 in 1882. VYERNYI, formerly AtMATY, capital of the Russian Central-Asian province of Semiryetchensk, is situated on a plateau at the base of the Trans-Ili Alatau, in 43 16 N. lat., 47 miles to the south of the Hi river. It was founded in 1854 as a small blockhouse, but from the advantages of its situation the fertility of the surround ing country, the ample water-supply from the Atma- tinka river, and of timber and firewood from the valleys of the Alatau it rapidly increased; in 1884 the popula tion numbered 17,545, nearly 3000 of them military. Around the central blocks are several suburbs of wooden and brick houses ; the streets are broad and planted with trees. Most of the houses are surrounded by thick growths of poplar and elm as well as by fruit-gardens, and the streets and squares are refreshed by channels of running water. The Little Russian, Kirghiz, and Tarantchi villages which surround the town, and have excellent orchards, amply supply Vyernyi with all necessaries. The Tarantchis proved specially helpful to the young settlement on account of their laborious habits and their acquaintance with the agriculture of the steppes. Situated as it is on the site of the old Atmaty, at the crossing of two roads from Kuldja to Tashkend, and from Semipalatinsk to Kashgar Vyernyi carries on an active trade in wheat, rice, corn, tea, oil, and tobacco. The dislocation of the rocks on the northern slope of the Alatau Mountains is the cause of severe earthquakes, the last of which, on June 9, 1887, destroyed or damaged nearly a thousand stone houses in Vyernyi and its neighbourhood, killing 326 persons. Slighter shocks were felt up till February 1888. VYSHNIY VOtOTCHOK, a district town of Russia, in the government of Tver, 82 miles by rail to the north-west of that city, owes its importance to its situation in the centre of the Vyshne-Vototsk navigation system, which connects the upper Volga with the Neva. The portage (volok) of less than 17 miles between the Tvertsa, a tribu tary of the Volga, and the Tsna, which flows into the Msta and the Volkhoff (Lake Ladoga), had long been used for transporting boats from the one basin to the other, and the canal, which was afterwards dug, soon became one of the most important links of connexion between the Volga and the Neva ; now, however, the boats prefer the Mariinsk system, and the prosperity of Vyshniy Vototchok is declining. The inhabitants (11,590 in 1884) support themselves chiefly by shipping, and partly by the cotton industry. The trade is still considerable.