PERM, an extensive government of Russia, is situated partly in Europe and partly in Asia, between 56° 30' and 61° 30' N. let., 53° 20' and 64° 10' E. long. It is bounded N. by Wologde and Tobolsk, E. by Tobolsk, S. by Orenburg, and W. by Viatka. The arca is about 123,500 square miles, or more than double the area of England and Wales. The population in 1846 was 1,637,700.
This government is mountainous, and is divided by the Ural Moun tains, which traverse it from north to south, into two unequal parts, the smaller of which is in Asia. The loftiest summit of the Ural chain, the Pavdinakoi-Kamen, is upwards of 6000 feet above tho level of the sea, but the chain rises so gradually that travellers approaching it on the road from Perm to Ekaterinburg find themselves at the summit without perceiving that they were making an ascent. The mountainous parts are covered with forests, in some of which there are immense marshes. The southern parts of the government, on the European side, are fertile and well cultivated, but the other portions are more suitable to pasture than tillage. The course of the rivers is determined by the Ural chain. The principal river on the west aide is the Kama, among the numerous affluents of which is the Tchous 10Vilia, which flows from some lakes at the foot of the chain, and joins the Kama above the town of Perm. On the other-side of the mountains, the Sosva, the Tonra, and the Sceth flow eastward to join tho Tobol. There are above 600 lakes, most of them east of the mountains. There are also sulphnreous and other mineral springs. The climate h unequal, being very rigorous in the mountains and in the eastern part, but milder towards the south-west. It is however generally healthy. The government does not produce corn sufficient for the consumption of the inhabitants. Rye, barley, oats, potatoes, and flax are grown. The forests, of which a very large proportion belongs to the crown, consist of the pine, the larch, the birch, and the lime-tree; in the south-eastern part the oak, the ash, the birch, and the elm are found, and in the districts of Teherdyne and Werkho tourie, tho cedar. Game and fur-bearing animals abound. The government of Perm owes its riches to its minerals, and the working of the mines employs the greater part of the inhabitants. They pro duce iron, copper, platinum, a little lead, gold, silver, salt, marble, jasper, agates, amethysts, loadstone, and some diamonds. The richest gold mines are those of Beresoft The mines of the Ural Mountains yield annually about 300 ponds (ono pood=36 lbs.) of gold, 200,000 ponds of copper, and 5,500,000 ponds of iron. The greater part of these products belongs to the government of Perm, which also produces about seven million poods of salt annually.
Of domestic animals there are borsea, horned cattle, sheep, swine, and goats. The Baschkirs breed a great quantity of bees : formerly they bad camels, but the race appears to be extinct. The Woguls, in the north, have a few reindeer.
Three-fourths of the inhabitants are Russians. The remainder are Permian., descended from the ancient inhabitants of the country between the Ural Mountains and the White Sea, and various Tartar races. Most of the inhabitants profess Christianity ; there are s. few Tartars and Baschkirs of both sexes, who are Mohammedans; and some Tcheremisees and Woguls, who are still Parana.
There are some manufactures of cloth, loather, soap, candles, /cc. Trade is very brisk, partly in consequence of the facility for water carriage on the Kama and its tributaries, and partly owing to the 39 amount fairs, 18 of which are bald in the towns, the most considerable being that of Irbit. With respect to education, Perm is under the university of Kassa, but education I. confined to a very small portion of the inhabitants.
Pena, the capital of this government, is a modern town, having been built in obedience to a. ukase of Catharine II., issued in 1780. It is situated in 53' N. lat., 56' 30' E. long., at the conflux of the Isgouschika and the Kama. The streets are broad and regular, the houses almost all of wood, and the town is surrounded by a boulevard planted with trees. The population is about 10,000. Perm is a bishop's see. Ekaterinburg, with 11,000 inhabitants, is a place of much greater importance. (Exaatiusnuao.) Kreger, at the junction of the Iron and the Sylwa, a fortified town with 6000 inhabitants, has manufata tunas of leather and soap. Within a mile of the town, on the banks of the Sylwa, there are caverns in the rock, which appear to have been formerly inhabited by many thousand families. &Unmask, at the conflux of the Uffolka and the Kama, has 5000 inhabitants, five churches, and two 000vents. There are here extensive saitworks. Owing to the road to Siberia passing through this town, it has a con siderable trade. There is • botanic garden, in which the principal plant.. of Russia and Siberia are cultivated. Niaalosei-Newianal: has 12,000 inhabitants, who have considerable manufactures of laciqui'red or japanned ware. Irbil, or Irbizk, on the Neiwa, near its confluence with the Irbit, has 3500 inhabitants, and is celebrated for its annual fair, which is frequented by Bokharian, Persian, Armenian, Greek, &c., merchants. Irbit is a neat, regularly built, and rapidly improving town.
(Schmidtlin, La Ramie d la 'Worst: t Horschelmann, Ilandbuch; Erman, Reiss naeA Sit/trice; Russian Offteicd Journals.)