SERVIA (Syrp, Serbie), nominally an eyelet or province of European Turkey, in reality a tributary principality governed by an hereditary prince, was an integral part of European Turkey till the beginning of the present century. It is bounded N. by the Danube and the Save, which separate it from Austria, E. by 'Wallachia and Bulgaria, S. by Rumili and Albania, and W. by Bosnia, from which it is separated by the Driva, an affluent of the Save. The length of Servia from east to west is about 145 miles, from north to south about 150 miles. It lies entirely in the basin of the Dauube, which river is joined by the Save, and afterwards by the Morava, which crosses the centre of Servia from south to north, receiving numerous affluents; those on its western or left bank come from the Mounts Stalatz, an offset of the Dinaric Alps which divide the waters of the Morava from those of the Drina, and those on its eastern bank from the Bulgarian Moun tains which are offsets of the Balkan range. Servia is a country of mountains and valleys, in great part covered with ancient forests. Tho country has excellent pastures, in which are reared numerous herds of cattle. The population of Servia is about a million, mostly belonging to the Greek Church. The Servians, or Serbs, are a branch of the Slavonic race, and their language is one of the most polished dialects of the Slavonian.
The principal towns of Servia are—Semendria, situated at the con flnence of the Jessava with the Danube, a fortified town, with about 12,000 inhabitants : BLLGILADZ : Poaroratz, or Passerovitz, a regularly built town of 4000 inhabitants, in the lower part of the valley of the Morava, is celebrated for the treaty signed here by Prince Eugene in 1713, which deprived the Turks of Hungary, Little Wallachia, and part of Semi*: Zabot:, or ScAabatz, a fortified town with 12,000 inhabitants, near the month of the Dubrava in the Save : Ujiiza, near the borders of Bosnia, a town of 6000 inhabitants, carrying on a con siderable trade : L slldsrn, a neat little town, with 1500 inhabitants, on the Kolumbara, at the foot of the Medvedniak Mountains, nearly due south of Zabata : a small town in the south of Servia, near the junction of the two Moravas, where a diet of the representa tive, of Servia proclaimed, in 1830, Milesch and his heirs princes of Servia: G7adora, or Kladora, on the Danube, in the east of the principality population, 3000. The citadel of Gladova, called Feth
Islam, is garrisoned by the Turk'.
The soil in general is very fertile, but a large part of the country is in a state of nature, still unreclaimed, and covered with magnifi cent forests of oak and other timber-trees. The plains of the interior are in parts well cultivated, and yield fine crops of wheat, barley, maize, oats, rice, hemp, flax, tobacco, ko. The cleared parts of the valley of the Morava are especially productive of fine maize, and In proof of the natural fertility of the soil, It. is enough to my that wild sainfoin grows Inxuriantly along the road that ascends the valley. Cotton is grown in some of the valleys, and vineyards are planted in favourable situations. The beat wines are those grown in the valley of the Morava, and those of Semendria, in the valley of the Jesrava.
The face of the country is described as generally beautiful in the extreme; " Hills and woods, glades and streams, succeed in an endless chain, each link • perfect landscape," says the author of 'Frontier Lands of the Christian and Turk.' The population is for the moat part scattered over the country in hamlets and villager; and substantial farmhouses, with extensive offices, are sometimes seen apart from the villages. The country abounds with game. Horses and horned cattle are bred in great numbers. Swine are countless. They feed wild in the oak-foresta, and are exported In immense numbers to Hungary and Slavonia, where they are fatted and sent to Vienna and other towns of Germany. The fields in parts of the country are inclosed by hurdles to keep out the swine, which rove about half wild. Snakes and lizard. are in parts very numerous. Mosquitoes and marsh fever render the low grounds, which in parts skirt the Save, uninhabitable.