The most important article of export is tallow, which is sent in very large quantities chiefly to England. It also exports hemp and flax, iron and copper; grain, particularly wheat; timber, potashes, furs, leather, &c. The imports are, sugar, coffee, dye woods, cotton stuffs, and yarn, (the principal article sent from England,) wine, coal, &c.

The merchants of Russia are chiefly foreigners, the greatest part of whom are English. None but natives are permitted to engage in the internal commerce of the country.

PROVINCES.

Russia is divided into 50 governments, which are nearly all named after the chief town in the district. Finland, formerly a part of Sweden, is now united to Russia. Poland, once an independent nation, was attacked during a period of civil war by Russia, Prussia, and Austria, and eventually partitioned amongst them the largest portion fell to the share of Russia.

TOWNS.

St. Petersburg, situated at the confluence of the Neva with the Gulf of Finland; was founded by Peter the Great in 1703: its situation is favourable for commerce, but the ground it stands on is low and swampy, and subject to inundations of the Neva: in point of architectural beauty it is not unworthy of the capital of the largest empire in the world. Pop. 480,000.

Moscow, nearly in the centre of European Russia, is the second city in the empire, and was long the capital: burnt in 1812, to prevent its occupation by the French. Pop. 348,000.

Warsaw, the capital of Poland.

Cronstadt; situated about 20 miles below St. Petersburg, and is in some measure the port of that city, as large vessels cannot get up to the capital: the principal dépôt of the Russian navy.

Archangel; the most northern port of any consequence in Europe:

its trade has much declined since the founding of St. Petersburg. Odessa, is a new and rising port upon the Black Sea: supplies Constantinople and the Levant with wheat.

Riga, on the Dwina, nine miles from the sea; a port of extensive trade: Riga flax is esteemed the best in Europe.

Novogorod, to the south of St. Petersburg, was a town of great trade when the Hanseatic league was at its height.

Tcherkask, on the Don, near its mouth; the capital of the Don Cossacks; it is surrounded by water and marshes.

COLONIAL POSSESSIONS.

No colonies of importance belong to this empire. Spitzbergen, a group of rocky and mountainous islands in the Arctic Ocean, is claimed by Russia.

POPULATION.

European Russia contains 59 millions of inhabitants. Besides the Russians who form the great bulk of the population, numerous tribes are found throughout its extensive confines. The principal are the Fins and Laplanders, who occupy the northern parts of Russia and of Sweden; the Cossacks, a valiant and martial race, who occupy extensive regions on both sides of the Don; and the Tartars, with some other Asiatic nations, who dwell upon the eastern confines.

CHARACTER.

The Russians are hardy, vigorous, and patient of labour, cheerful in their disposition though not sprightly. The great mass of the people are but just beginning to emerge from a savage life, and are in a state of abject subjection to the nobility. The peasants are considered as the absolute property of the nobles, and are not permitted to marry or to remove from the soil without their consent. The Russians are not cleanly, and are much addicted to the use of spirituous liquors.

GOVERNMENT.

A despotic monarchy. The present emperor is Nicholas.

RELIGION.

The established religion is that of the Greek Church, which resembles in many points the Roman Catholic, but rejects the supremacy of the Pope and the use of images. Pictures are, however, made much use of in their worship, and their fasts are long and rigorous. The supremacy is vested in the emperor.

ANIMALS.

In so extensive a country animals with habits as different as the rein-deer and the camel are found. Bears and wolves are destructive in the north; wild boars fatten

upon the steppes of the Wolga; and buffaloes are numerous towards the south. The sturgeon, from whose air bladder and sound the finest kind of isinglass is prepared, abounds in the Wolga and some other rivers.

ANCIENT NAME,

Sarmatia; but it was almost unknown to the ancients.

FRANCE.

BOUNDARIES.

N. by the British Channel and Belgium.-E. by Germany, Switzerland and Italy.-S. by the Mediterranean and Spain.-W. by the Atlantic and Bay of Biscay.

France is well protected by natural boundaries on nearly all sides. It is most exposed on the N. E. to invasion, as a mere arbitrary line there separates it from Belgium and Rhine Prussia. The Rhine, between Strasburg and Bâle, separates it from Baden; the Jura mountains from Switzerland; and the mountains of Piedmont and Savoy from Sardinia.

EXTENT.

Between 42° and 51° N. lat., and 5o W. and 8o E. long. Its length is 600 miles, and its breadth 560. It contains 204,000 square miles.

The encroachments which the French, under Napoleon, made upon Holland, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, increased for the time the size of the kingdom to 300,000 square miles.

CAPES, BAYS, AND ISLANDS.

France is a compact country, little encroached upon by the sea. Cape La Hogue, and the promontory on the extremity of which Brest stands, are the most striking headlands. The Gulf of Lyons is on the south. The island of Ushant is off the coast of Finisterre; Bellisle is not far from the mouth of the Loire; the islands of Ré and Oleron are near the mouth of the Charente.

The large island of Corsica is in the Mediterranean, it forms one of the departments of the French empire. It is mountainous, a part of it is covered with forests, and it abounds in iron, copper, lead, and other metals. Napoleon was a native of this island.

MOUNTAINS.

France may be called a level country, though two ranges of mountains may be specified, the Cevennes and the Vosges.

The Cevennes branch off from the Pyrenees, exclude the springs of the Garonne from access to the Mediterranean, and strike northwards to join the Vosges, dividing the Rhone and the Saone on the one hand, from the Loire on the other.

A branch from this range extends itself between the Allier, a feeder of the Loire, and the source of the Dordogne; it rises in Mount d'Or to an elevation of 6,000 feet, a mountain which is capped with snow a great part of the year.

The Vosges may be traced from the N. E. extremity of France; they run for some distance parallel with the Rhine, and then strike off to meet the Cevennes, dividing the basin of the Saone from those of the Seine, Meuse, and Moselle.

RIVERS.

The four largest rivers in France are the Loire, the Rhone, the Seine, and the Garonne.

The Loire has its origin in the streams which fall from the Cevennes and the Mount d'Or range. For some distance it runs nearly north, but on passing Orleans, where it becomes navigable, it pursues a westerly direction; and flowing past Blois, Tours, and Nantes, it falls into the ocean at Painbœuf. Its course is 500 miles. The entrance into the Loire is much impeded by sand-banks, which accumulate daily.

The Rhone rises from the Alps in Switzerland, crosses the Lake of Geneva, and enters France; here, hemmed in by the Cevennes, it turns to the south and directs its course to the Mediterranean. It is one of the most rapid of the European rivers. The Saone, rising from the mountains of the Vosges, a slow and placid stream, joins the turbulent Rhone at Lyons. The united rivers pass Vienne, Valence, Avignon, and Arles, and enter the sea by four branches, the navigation of which is much impeded by accumulations of mud and sand.

The Seine rises near St. Seine, in the department of Côte d'Or. Near Paris it receives the Marne and the Oise, and then proceeds by a tortuous course to the British Channel, into which it falls at Havre de Grace. It passes by Troyes, Melun, Paris, and Rouen.

The Garonne derives its chief supplies from the Pyrenees. The Lot and the Dordogne, which join it from the north, rise in the Cevennes and Mount d'Or. It runs by Toulouse, Agen, and Bordeaux, and below that place falls into the sea. After being joined by the Dordogne it becomes an estuary and assumes the name of Gironde.

CANALS AND RAILWAYS.

There are several canals in France. The Canal de Briare connects the Seine with the Loire, and the Canal du Centre joins the Loire with the Saone. By this means the Mediterranean, the Ocean, and the British Channel are united. The Rhine and Rhone canal joins the Saone with the Rhine. The most noted canal in France is the Languedoc; commencing at the Bay of Languedoc, it enters the Garonne near Toulouse, and thus connects the Mediterranean with the Atlantic; it is 126 m. long.

The railway system has been introduced into France, and will soon become general. The principal lines already executed are the Paris and Rouen and the Paris and Orleans railways.

CLIMATE.

The climate of France is favourable to the growth of most of the vegetable products of the earth. The northern part resembles the climate of England, producing grain and the hardy fruits, but is not favourable to the growth of the vine. The middle, though warm enough for the vine, is unfavourable to maize. The southern yields wine in abundance, as well as maize, olives, and oranges. The summer is hotter at Paris than at London, but the winter is colder.

MINERALS.

France is not so rich in minerals as England. Iron abounds in all the northern provinces; lead, containing

F