Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/157

AUSTRIA 137 than any other European state. Platina ex- cepted, all metals abound. Gold is produced in Hungary and Transylvania ; silver and the best quality of European copper in Hungary ; quicksilver in Carniola (the mine at Idria used to yield 12,000 c'wt. per annum) ; tin in Bohe- mia; lead in Carinthia; iron almost , every- where (a single mine in Styria yields* over 15,000 tons annually). The following are pro- duced in smaller quantities : zinc (about 44,000 cwt. in 1869), arsenic (1,376 cwt.), antimony (11,786 cwt.), chrome, bismuth, and manganese. Black tourmaline, alabaster, serpentine, gyp- sum, black lead, slates, flint, and marble abound in many portions of the empire. The precious stones found in Austria are : the Bohemian car- buncle, the Hungarian opal, chalcedony, ruby, emerald, jasper, amethyst, topaz, carnelian, chrysolite, beryl. The coal beds of Austria are considered almost inexhaustible. Of rock salt there is a bed several hundred miles in length in Galicia, of which only a small portion is worked at the gigantic mine of Wieliczka, near Cra- cow, a perfect subterranean city, or rather four cities, one below the other, extending in a labyrinth of galleries, and hewn into the salt rock 9,000 ft. from N. to 8., and 4,000 ft. from E. to W. Of mineral springs Austria contains upward of 1,600, of which the most celebra- ted are at Carlsbad, Marienbad, Teplitz, and Franzensbad, in Bohemia; Ischl, in Upper Austria ; Baden, in Lower Austria ; Gastein, in Salzburg; Gleichenberg, in Styria; Bartfeld, Trentschin, and Parad, in Hungary ; Mehadia, in the Military Frontier district. The vegetable kingdom of Austria shows the same variety as the mineral. Wheat is the staple produce of the German provinces and of Hungary ; buck- wheat is raised in the sandy regions ; Indian corn, rice, and kidney beans are raised in Hungary; the finest varieties of apples and pears in Bohemia, Austria proper, and Tyrol ; of plums, in Hungary. Hungary produces im- mense quantities of cucumbers, melons, water- melons, pepper, anise, licorice, poppies, chic- cory, sweet-flag, ginger, flax, hemp, and tobac- co. Cotton is raised in Dalmatia, hops in Bo- hemia, saffron and woad in Lower Austria. The Hungarian wine (more than one half of the entire wine product of Austria) is an ex- cellent article, some brands being justly count- ed among the very best wines of the world (Tokay, Menes, &c.). About 68,000 sq. m. of the Austrian territory are covered with forests, mostly oak, pine, and hemlock, in the northern, and maple, stone pine, olive, laurel, myrtle, and chestnut trees, in the south- ern provinces. Horses are raised everywhere, but only those of the Bukovvina are of a supe- rior stock ; sheep and horned cattle in Hungary and Galicia (buffaloes in Croatia and Transylva- nia) ; goats and hogs in Hungary. The silkworm has been introduced in Tyrol, Croatia, Slavo- nia, Illyria, and Dalmatia. Game is plentiful, deer, wild boars, and hares being found almost everywhere ; black bears, chamois, lynxes, wolves, and beavers, only in some districts. Pearl mussels are frequently found in several rivers and creeks of Hungary. The increase of the population of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy from 1850 to 1869 has been on an average 0'84 per cent. According to the gen- eral census of 1857, the monarchy had 37,754,- 856 inhabitants. Since then it has lost two provinces, Lombardy and Venetia, with a pop- ulation of about 5,000,000; but the natural increase from 1857 to 1869 has nearly made up this loss. The inhabitants of the empire live in 927 cities, 2,039 boroughs, and 73,252 villages. Of the cities, one (Vienna) has up- ward of 600,000 inhabitants; two, Pesth and Prague, have more than 150,000; 12 above 40,000; 6 above 30,000; 35 above 20,000; and 97 above 10,000. In no country in the world has the nationality question at present so great a political importance as in Austria. No offi- cial census of the nationalities has been taken since 1850. The following estimates of the strength of all the important nationalities of the empire in 1869 is taken from Schmitt's Statistik des osterreichisch-unffarischen Kai- serstaates (4th ed., 1872) : NATIONALITIES. Totsl number in Cisleithania. Per cent. Cisleithania. Tot'l nnmb'r in Transleitha- nia. Per cent, in Tranilel- thania. Total number In Monarchy. Per cent, in Monarchy. 7,108,900 85-16 1,894,800 12-30 9.003.7110 25-27 Czechs and Slovaks 4,118,800 28-84 1,841,100 11-95 6,659.900 18-41 Poles 2.443,600 12-09 2,448,500 6-86 2,584,600 12-80 448,000 2-91 3,082.600 8-51 1,196,200 6-92 58,000 0-87 1,254,200 8-52 522.400 2-58 2,408,700 15-60 2,928,100 8-22 17,700 0-09 6,688,100 86-89 5,705,800 16-01 Italians B87.500 2-91 600 588,100 1-M 207,900 1-02 2,477,700 18-08 2,685.600 7-54 820,200 4-08 652,100 8-58 1,872,300 8-86 Of the Cisleithan provinces only Upper Austria and Salzburg are wholly German ; in the other provinces the numerical relation of the princi- pal nationalities, according to the same author- ity, was in 1869 as follows: Lower Austria Germans 90 per cent., Czechs 6 ; Styria Ger- mans 63, Slovens 36 ; Carinthia Germans 69, Slovens 31; Carniola Germans 6, Slovens 93; Littorale Germans 4, Slovens 42, Cro- ats 21, Italians 31; Tyrol Germans 60, Ital- ians 39; Bohemia Germans 38, Czechs 60; Moravia Germans 26, Czechs 71 ; Silesia Germans 51, Czechs 19, Poles 29 ; Galicia Germans 3, Poles 42, Ruthenians 44, Jews