Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/131

Rh land is also favoured with much mineral wealth, including tin. The semi-tropical climate of the latter colony is suit able for the culture of particular crops, needing only a supply of other than European labour. Meantime South Australia, besides its production of copper and a fair share of wool, has become the great wheat-growing province of the continent. The separate colonies of Australia are still in a some what transitional state, emigration being so continuous, and the country to be yet occupied so extensive. For this and for other reasons, therefore, it may be more fitting to describe the several colonies, with respect to their industrial and social conditions, under their respective names. To enable the reader, however, to judge of the general position

of the provinces at a recent date, the following statistics are appended:—

(R.A.)

  USTRIA, or more strictly (Ger. Oesterreich and Oesterreich-Ungarn), is an extensive country in the southern portion of Central Europe, lying between long. 9° and 26° E., and lat. 42° and 51° N. It thus extends through 17 degrees of longitude and 9 degrees of latitude, and has an area of about 240,000 English square miles. With the exception of the islands in the Adriatic, and the narrow projecting tract of Dalmatia, it forms a compact region of country, but of an irregular shape. It is surrounded on all sides by other countries, except where it borders upon the Adriatic, which is about one-fifth of the entire extent of its boundaries Of the rest, about one-third on the W. and N. is formed by the German empire (Bavaria, Saxony, and Prussia), a third on the S. and E.

[Sketch Map of Austria.] by the Turkish empire and the Danubian Principalities, and the remaining third by Russia on the N.E. and Switzerland and Italy on the S.W. The boundaries are formed in some parts by river courses, in others by mountain ranges, and sometimes they extend through an open country. As compared with France, Austria has a form nearly as compact, but its frontiers are by no means so well defined or so strongly protected by natural barriers. It ranks third in extent among the countries of Europe (after Russia and Sweden), and fourth in point of population (after Russia, the German empire, and France).

Mountains. Austria is, after Switzerland, the most mountainous country of Europe, and about four-fifths of its entire area is more than 600 feet above the level of the sea. The mountains are frequently covered with vegetation to a great elevation. At the base are found vines and maize; on the. lower slopes are green pastures, or wheat, barley, and other kinds of corn; above are often forests of oak, ash, elm, &c.; and still higher the yew and the fir may be seen braving the fury of the tempest. Corn grows to between 3400 and 4500 feet above the level of the sea, the forests extend to 5600 or 6400 feet, and the line of perpetual snow is from 7800 to 8200 feet. In some parts, however, particularly in Tyrol, Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, the mountains appear in wild confusion, with rugged peaks and bare precipitous sides, forcibly reminding the traveller of Switzerland. Tyrol in particular has. like that country, its cascades, its glaciers, its perpetual snows, and its avalanches. The Alps occupy the south-west portion of the country, and form its highest lands. They are distinguished by various names, as the Rhaetian, None, Carnic, Julian, and Dinaric Alps. The Rhastian or Tyrolese Alps enter Tyrol from the Swiss canton of the Grisons, and are the loftiest range in the country, a number of the summits rising to the height of 12,000 feet, and the highest, the Orteler Spitze, attaining a height of 12,814 feet above the level of the sea. They divide into three principal chains, the most southern of which occupies the southern portion of Tyrol, and contains the Orteler Spitze, and others of the loftiest points in the country. The middle or principal chain extends in an easterly direction to the borders of Salzburg and Carinthia, and has many of its peaks covered with perpetual snow. The northern chain is inferior in elevation to the others, and few of its most elevated points reach the snow-line. The None Alps are a continuation of the Rhsetian eastward, passing through Salzburg, Styria, Carinthia north of the Drave, Lower and Upper Austria, to Hungary, where they gradually sink into the plains. They comprise three chains, a main chain and two lesser chains proceeding northward the one the Salzburg, the other the Styria-Austrian Alps. The main chain, the Noric Alps in a stricter sense, traverses Salzburg, Carinthia, and Styria, and has a length of about 170 miles, some of its peaks rising to the height of 12,000 feet. The Carnic or Carinthian Alps are also an offshoot of the Rhaetian Alps eastward, occupying the south-east of Tyrol, Carinthia, and the north of Carniola. They form several branches, and some of the summits are over 9000 feet high. The Julian or Carniolan Alps extend in a south-easterly direction through Carniola and Croatia, They present little of an Alpine character, and with one or two exceptions nowhere rise to the height of 5000 feet. They are for the most part bare and rugged. The Dinaric Alps are a continuation of the preceding, extending through Croatia and Dalmatia, and resemble them in character. The highest point, Mount Dinara, from which they take their name, is 5956 feet above the level of the sea.

After the Alps, the most important mountain system of Austria is the Carpathians, which occupy its eastern and north-eastern portions, and stretch in the form of an arch 