Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 7.djvu/817

Rh Act, 1875, all actions are begun and carried on in the same manner, and an action for the recovery of land will, with very few exceptions, proceed in the same manner as any other action.  EKATERINBURG, or, a town of Asiatic Russia, at the head of a department in the province of Perm, on the Siberian highway, about 238 miles to the south-east of Perm, in 56 49 N. lat. and 60 35 E. long. It is situated near the eastern skirt of the Ural Mountains, and occupies both banks of the Isset, which is there crossed by a dam and forms a valuable reservoir for industrial pur poses. In 1834 it was made the seat of a suffragan bishop, and it has long been the head-quarters of the administration of the mines, not only for the immediate neighbourhood, but also for the Bogosloff, Goroblagodat, Perm, Zlato- ustoff, and Kam-Votkin districts. The streets are broad and regular, and several of the houses of palatial propor tions. There are two cathedrals St Catherine s founded in 1758, and Epiphany in 1774, with more than a dozen churches and a monastery, two gymnasiums, a departmental school, a city infirmary, a workmen s hospital, an almshouss, a children s home, a prison, a theatre, and a museum opened in 1853. Besides the Government mint for copper coinage, which dates from 1735, the Government engineering works, and the imperial factory for the polishing of malachite, jasper, marble, porphyry, and other ornamental stones, the industrial establishments comprise tallow- factories, soap-works, glue-works, rope-works, distilleries, potteries, and carriage factories. The trade is very exten sive, especially in cattle, grain, iron, woollen and silk stuffs, and colonial wares ; and besides a weekly market there are two annual fairs. The population in 1860 numbered 19,832, mostly belonging to the Greek Church, only 47 being Catholics, 198 Protestants, and 36 Mahometans; in 1871 it had increased to 25,233.

1em  EKATERINODAR, the chief town of the Russian government of Kuban, on the right bank of the Kuban, near the confluence of the Karasuk, in 45 3 N. lat. and 38 30&quot; E. long., 1400 miles from St Petersburg and 555 north-west of Tiflis. It is badly built on a swampy site exposed to the inundations of the river ; and its houses, with few exceptions, are slight structures of wood and plaster. Six churches, a gymnasium, two schools, and a hospital are the principal public buildings. None of the industrial establishments, which comprise soap-works, tanneries, brick-works, and potteries, are of more than local importance ; but there is a fair trade in horses, cattle, sheep, wool, and fish. In the neighbourhood is a large garden and orchard maintained by the Government for the encouragement of horticulture. The town dates from the reign of Catherine II., when in 1792 the Zaporogian Cossacks were transferred to the Kuban district. In 1860 the population amounted to 9620, mainly Cossacks ; in 1871 it was 17,622.  EKATERINOSLAFF, or, a government of Southern Russia, which lies partly to the W. of the Dnieper, stretches E. to the Donetz and the Kalmius, and in the S. reaches the Sea of Azoff between the mouths of the Berda and the Kalmius. It is watered by the Dnieper for 220 miles, and bounded by the Donetz for 132. The district of Rosstoff, lying round the head of the Gulf of Taganrog, though naturally a portion of the Country of the Don, is also assigned to Ekaterinoslaff. According to the military survey, the area of the govern ment is 26.095 square miles, or 59,185 square versts ; according to Schweizer, only 25,644 square miles, or 58,338 square versts. Its surface is a steppe-like plain, relieved here and there by considerable elevations, and traversed by deep ravines and river courses. The most important range of hills, or those forming the water-shed between the tribu taries of the Donetz and the independent affluents of the Sea of Azoff, attains no greater height than 530 feet above sea-level. A line drawn from near the mouth of the Orel parallel with the Dnieper as far as the town of EkaterinoslafF, and thence to the village of Karakub on the Kalmius, divides the government into two geological dis tricts, of which the south-western is distinguished by crystalline and the north-eastern by sedimentary rocks. Of the former the predominant variety is gneiss, inter rupted by numerous upheavals of granite, syenite, diorite, and serpentine. The latter belong to several different formations. Carboniferous strata occupy the greater part of the districts of Slavianoserbsk and Bakhmut and part of Pavlogradsk and Alexandrofsk ; Permian strata occur within a very limited area in Bakhmutsk; Cretaceous strata form a narrow strip along the northern boundary of the government from Bakhmutsk to the confluence of the Orelka and the Orel ; and Tertiary strata extend through nearly all the district of ISTovomoskoff and the southern part of Pavlogradsk. The mineral deposits of the govern ment are of great value. Anthracite and coal are dis tributed along the northern Donetz, the Lugan, the Miuschik, the Kalmius, and various other streams. The quantity of coal obtained in 1861 exceeded 1,200,100 puds. Iron ore is present in the same districts, and is successfully worked in several places, as at the Government establishments on the Lugau. Excellent whetstone is procured in the Slavianoserbsk district, and transported throughout Russia. Asbestos, millstones, gypsum, marl, and rock salt, as well as building materials, are among the minor products. There are altogether about 200 lakes in the government, the largest, which is called the Soleni Liman or Salt Lagoon, though the water is fresh, has an area of nearly three square miles ; and next in size is the Tememitz lake near Piostoff. The soil is for the most part very fertile, and agriculture is the principal occupation. Wheat is the staple cereal, and forms an important article of export; but rye, barley, and millet are cultivated for local consumption and distillation. Since about 1850 the culture of flax has attained considerable importance; wild rape-seed is also exported, and in small quantities hemp and the sunflower are grown. The sloe thorn is very abundant, and the fruit is manufactured into a wine called Terevka. The German colonists of Khorlitz and Alexandrovka and the Greeks of Mariupol cultivate tobacco the former principally a poor American variety for local consumption, the latter Turkish for export. Potatoes are grown only in gardens, as to plant them in the fields is regarded as prejudicial. Horticulture is poorly developed, but there are beautiful public gardens at Taganrog and Ekaterinoslaff, the Petrofski park in the former city being also the oldest in the government. About 7,209,000 acres, or 45 per cent, of the territory of the government, is devoted to pasturage; and in 1861 there vrere 2,670,000 sheep, 730,000 neat, 200,000 horses. Only about two per cent, of the surface is occupied by wood, and even that is almost exclusively confined to the river courses, especially of the Samara and the Dnieper. The trees are almost exclusively deciduous, oak pre dominating, and elm, larch, black poplar, poplar, and aspen occurring.