Bohemia 867 Austrian Silesia 847 Lower Austria - 766 Moravia 748 Galicia 732 Croatia 657 Upper Austria 554 Styria 504 Hungary 495 Military frontiers of Sclavonia 470 Carinthia 453 Sciavonia 440 Transylvania, and its military frontiers 487 Military frontiers of Croatia 390 Bukowine 818 Military frontiers of Hungary 295 It is remarkable, that Lower Austria, though high ly fertile, is not so well peopled as the manufac turing countries of Bohemia and Silesia. It is still more remarkable, that the mountainous tracts of the latter are found to contain a denser population than the rich plains of Hungary. The average of the whole empire is 579 inhabitants square league, a proportion hardly more than the half of that of France and England. Can there be a more striking proof of the improreable powers of the empire, when we consider that, of the countries just mentioned, the latter is, in point of soil and climate, inferior, and the former by no means superior to Austria ? No country, with the exception of Russia, com prises such a diversity of distinct tribes or races as the Austrian empire. The German part of the po pulation does not extend in considerable numbers beyond the provinces of Upper and Lower Austria, a portion of Moravia, and particular parts of Styria and Carinthia. Bohemia, although surrounded by a German population, contains many districts inhabit ed only by its aboriginal tribes; while, in Hungary and Austrian Poland, individuals of German extrac tion are very 'thinly scattered. The most numerous of the varied races of this empire is the Sclavonian, a generic name now in a great measure lost in the subdivisions of Croats, Rascians, Carniolians, Bos niacs, &c. The Rascians, or Illyrian, are descend ants of the ancient inhabitants of the vast tract known to the ancients by the name of Scythia. The fate of war has placed them alternately under the Turk ish and Austrian dominion ; their language is a dialect of Sclavonian mixed with the Illyrian. Some of their .tribes lead a pastoral life, and follow the habits of plunder natural to wanderers ; while others are sta..' tionary, and have made some progress in the ruder kinds of manufactures. Jews are scattered in various directions throughout the Austrian dominions, parti cularly in Bohemia, Moravia, and Galicia. Without being numerous, they find means, especially in Gali cia, to transact most of the mercantile affairs of the country.
Hungary, the most extensive and most fertile of the great divisions of the Austrian Empire, is per haps the most backward in point of civilization and knowledge. Many a rich tract, capable of support ing a crowded population, is here allowed to remain. in pasture, in consequence, partly of the ignorance of the cultivators, and partly of that most absurd law which deprives the peasant of the right of hold ing landed property. The extent of the evil is most sensibly felt throughout Lower Hungary, the inha bitants of the northern part of the kingdom being accustomed to greater exertion, and being even to possess occasionally little properties of their own. Another cause of the ignorance and backward state of Hungary, is the difference in point of language, manners, and religion, of various portions of its population. These have settled in it at different times, and from different causes, without becoming blended with each other in the manner that takes place in an industrious and populous com munity. The majority of the Hungarian tribes are
of Sclavonian descent, but they are mixed with a variety of other nations, such as Armenians, Jews, Macedonians, and followers of the Greek Church. The few Germans settled in Hungary are originally from the south of the empire, particularly Suabia and Bavaria.
- Bohemia reckons above three millions of inhabit ants, the chief part differing, both in language and in national feeling, from their German neighbours. They have even a decided aversion to the latter, and confine their national predilection to the Hun garians, who are said, in return, to esteem them more •highly than their other fellow-subjects. The power of the Sovereign is much greater in Bohemia than in Hungary, for it comprises the legislative as well as the executive department, Notwithstanding this strange anomaly, Bohemia is the least backward of the Austrian provinces, whether we look to educa tion or the labours of productive industry. The effi cacy of regular habits, and of a compact population, in bringing aid to the executive power, is strikingly exemplified in the number of soldiers raised in Bo hemia,—a number almost equal to that which is sup plied by the far more extensive territory of Hungary.
2. The difference of elevation of soil causes as great a difference of temperature in the Austrian empire as in any country in Europe. At Vienna, situate less than 400 feet above the level of the sea, the medium of annual heat is about 51° of Fahrenheit ; at Gratz, a degree farther to the south, the medium is only the elevation being nearly 700 feet. Again, on the eastern frontier, Saltzburg, situate in the vicinity of an Alpine range, has an average temperature of only 47°, while at Prague, two de• grecs farther north, it is 48°.
Vienna, situate in a plain, intersected in a varie :y of directions by the Danube, the waters of which are here slow in their course, would be by no means healthy, were it not for the frequent breezes, which clear the air of unwholesome exhalations.
The Austrian dominions may be divided, in point of climate, into three regions, of which the southern comprises the provinces adjoining to Italy, with a part of Croatia, and extends from N. lat. 42° to 46°. We here find the olive, the myrtle, the vine, the fig tree, and even the pomegranate. The depth of win ter may be compared to the month of March in a northern climate. The middle range extends from the 46th to the 49th of north latitude, comprising Austria, properly so called, a great part of Hungary, and a portion of Moravia and Bohemia. The olive is no longer found to grow in this latitude, but vines and maize thrive in favourable situations. Winter lasts between three and four months ; the spring is mild, though rainy ; the summer warm but variable ; • the air is in general healthy, except in the neigh bourhood of the marshes of Hungary, which are proverbially fatal to German settlers. The northern region comprises Galicia, a part of Hungary, a great proportion of Bohemia and Moravia, with the whole of Austrian Silesia. Winter is here severe, and lasts fully five months ; vines and maize are no longer to be met with, and even wheat requires a choice of situation ; but the summer heats, particu larly in the valleys, are greater than we are accus tomed to in Britain.