Revenue. The importance of the revenue might be inferred from what has been said of the industry that prevails in the country. It amounts in Lower Austria to 26,000,000 florins, but in Upper Austria it does not exceed 8,000,000. BOOK CXXVIII. EUROPE. Germany-Twelfth Section-County of Tyrol, and Dutchy of Styria. the Tyrol by the dukes of Austria. SNOW-COVERED 'mountains and arid rocks are the first objects that the traveller observes on entering Tyrol and Styria. The narrow and sinuous vallies in the Tyrol unite with the wildness of a natural, the riches of a cultivated country; in Styria the plains are much larger, particularly in the south and the east; in both the climate is most variable. Possession of Tyrol derives its name from an ancient castle near Meran, on a mountain that commands the Adige. The country passed by inheritance to the dukes of Austria in the year 1363. It is bounded on the north by Bavaria, on the west by Switzerland, on the south and the east by the Lombard-Venetian kingdom, Illyria, and Upper Austria. According to Blumenbach, its surface is equal to five hundred and twenty German, or six thousand two hundred and forty English square miles. Appearance of The two sides of the Rhetian Alps, which form the conthe country. tinuation of those in Switzerland, make up the greater part of the Tyrol. To have a notion of the country, one must imagine mountains apparently as high as Mont Blanc, that none have ever attempted to ascend, dismal precipices, lofty cataracts, glaciers of several leagues in extent; on one side the frozen north wind, on the other the sultry blast of the sirocco. If the traveller be placed near the sources of the Inn he may observe on the right a chain less extensive than the others, which bears the name of Arlberg, or the Eagle mountains; hence the north-west part of the province has been denominated Vorarlberg, or the country in front of the Eagle mountains. Another and higher chain extends from west to east, and forms what the ancients called the Rhetian Alps, its name was derived from the Roman province of Rhotia. The continuation of the chain in the same direction was styled the Norican Alps, because the lands on both sides made up the Roman Noricum; they terminate at the confines of Styria and Austria. A chain that extends from the sources of the Mur to the extremities of Styria, has received the name of the Styrian Alps. Tschernowand is next to Orteles, the highest summit in the Glaciers and | Rhetian Alps.P The most extensive glaciers are the Gebatsch and the Rofner. The rivers that rise from the Arlberg, are, the Isar, the Lech, the Iller, and the Inn. The Etsch, or the Adige, which throws itself into the Adriatic gulf, and the Drave, which unites with the Danube, after having traversed Illyria and part of Hungary, take their rise from the glaciers in the great chain. rivers. Rocks. Many primitive rocks are situated both on the southern sides of the Rhetian Alps, and in the valley of the Adige; a distinguished geologist has made important observations on the singular arrangement of the calcareous rocks. They are formed by the substance called > It is upwards of twelve thousand feet in height. dolomia, which consists of magnesia and carbonate of lime; but nothing, indeed, can be more surprising than the inaccessible heights and bold forms that these rocks assume near the valley of Tassa; they appear to surpass what the imagination can conceive. M. de Buch concludes that the white granular and almost friable limestone had been compact, coloured, stratified, and filled with organic bodies, before the porphyry which supports it had, by penetrating into the magnesia, destroyed the organic remains and changed its characters. The porphyry has experienced so great shocks as to have raised into the air the colossal masses that surmount it. It is unnecessary to enter into the original views of so great a geologist as M. de Buch, but it may be added that they appear to be very probable, for the volcanic substances which characterize the porphyry, seem to connect it with igneous products. M. de Buch, however, goes further, for he supposes all the mountainous chains in the country to have been modified by similar shocks; that opinion may be afterwards confirmed by other phenomena. Our limits prevent us from examining more minutely the geological formation of the Rhetian Alps. Their elevation, and the account already given of the country round Salzburg, prove that all the rocks which may be considered primitive, are contained in them. According to a geological professor whom we have had already occasion to quote, coal is found in the mountains of Styria, but the deposites in the valley of the Mur, which might be worked with profit, appear to be lignites rather than coal. They lie in the midst of sandstone, | Lignites. argil, and marl mixed with shells, and these substances encompass and support the intermediate mountains in the country. The large valley is filled with deposites of the third formation. The vegetable riches of the Tyrol mountains are well known | Plants. to botanists; they find on them many leguminous, cruciform, and composite plants, Archides labiates, Cylisi, Geniste, Euphorbia, and Loti. The air is embalmed by the fragrance diffused from the Silene nutans. The Lantsch, near Gratz, at the extremity of the calcareous heights in Styria, affords shelter to plants, which appear to be for ever removed from the reach of the botanist. The woods that cover its summits are the only places where the Delphinium intermedium grows, it reaches to the height of five feet, and charms the eye with its fine blue flowers. The only Peltaria alliacea that flourish in a wild state are found on the sides of the same mountain. Ferruginous waters have been discovered in different parts of Mineral the Tyrol, but no warm mineral springs. springs. | Animals. The oxen, cows and horses are small, but of a good kind; goats are more numerous than sheep, and different kinds of game are very common. Wolves, wild boars and bears haunt the forests, the clefts in the rocks afford shelter to marmots, and the chamois finds refuge on the highest summits, or in places where the hunter cannot approach. habitants. Little knowledge has been obtained concerning the people Ancient inthat inhabited Tyrol before the time of the Rhæti. They were composed of different tribes, the Vennonii or Vennones, whom Ptolemy and Strabo mention, and the Brixantes, whose chief town was probably built on the site of Brixen; Pliny informs us that they emigrated from Etruria. It may be concluded that they were obliged to leave their territory, as it is very improbable that a nation would renounce voluntarily so fine a country as Etruria, to settle in such a country as Tyrol. The Rhæti were subdued by the Romans in the time of Augustus, and their territory received the name of Rhotia Prima, the lands of the Vendelici were called Rhotia Secunda. M. de Buch, Memoirs of the royal academy of Berlin, January 1822, February 1823. Metals. Different metals are found in the Tyrol, but not in such quantities as to be of much value. Thus the gold collected annually does not exceed a hundred marks; silver is also scarce, what is obtained must be abstracted from lead. The copper is supposed to be more malleable, and, consequently, harder, than in other countries; but iron is more common than any of the metals. The other substances that may be mentioned are cobalt, zinc, arsenic, sulphur and salt. The salt mines are the continuation of those in Salzburg, and one of them near Hall yields every year twenty-five thousand quintals. Although the revenue which government derives from the Agriculture. mines may be inconsiderable, the people contrive to gain a subsistence by them. Agriculture has been brought to a great degree of perfection; the Tyrolians use their lands to the best advantage. Much labour and care are bestowed on the soil; vegetable mould is transported to high summits; the grass which grows on the sides of steep declivities, is collected for the cattle, even the atmospheric action by which rocks are decomposed, is rendered profitable to the husbandmen, who convey these remains to cultivated fields. The stranger observes not without amazement the Tyrolian peasant with a basket on his head, descending inaccessible rocks by means of a rope and a stick, to the bottom of a precipice, in order that he may gain a few feet of land, and devote it to agriculture. The hills favourable to the vine are covered with plants; it is Vineyards. true that the wine which they produce does not keep a long time, but although it may on that account be unfit for exportation, it forms the materials of an inland commerce. The vineyards are most numerous in the valley of the Adige; they cover the heights in the neighbourhood of Brixen and Tramin, those near the latter town are considered the most valuable. The Tyrolian cultivates fruit trees, but the forests are much more important, he exports timber for building to Venice. ture. But although the people be as industrious as possible, the Population. country cannot furnish the means of subsistence to seven hundred and sixty-two thousand inhabitants. The people must find employment elsewhere, they must have recourse to other pursuits besides agriculSome have no other wealth than their flocks, but it could hardly be imagined that the birds which have been transported from the Canaries to Europe, where they are prized both for their notes and their plumage, form by no means an insignificant branch of trade. The people are compelled to gain a livelihood in any way, and they do not disdain to wander in foreign countries, and to earn a subsistence by selling canaries. There are few manufactories in Tyrol, but almost every Tyrolian is a workman or manufacturer. Many for want of a better employment travel as pedlers through the most distant countries, and return in old age with enough to enable them to pass the rest of their days in their native land. At six years of age the Tyrolian quits his mountains, sets out for the fair of Kempten in Bavaria, and renders himself useful by herding geese or cattle; at a later period he migrates as a mason, carpenter or miner; thus more than thirty thousand individuals leave their country every year. Some preferring a hunter's life, traverse their mountains, endure all sorts of fatigue, and expose themselves to the greatest dangers to attain their prey; others wander in quest of medicinal plants, which they learn from their infancy, and know as correctly as the ablest botanists. Among those who remain at home, some execute different works in wood with great skill; the vast forests in the Vorarlberg supply them with the materials of making wooden shops, and even houses, of which the different pieces are numbered, and transported to the lake of Constance, and from thence to neighbouring countries. It seems as if the Tyrolians Such is the number of inhabitants according to the calculation of M. Thielen. See his Manual, Vienna, 1827. were naturally mechanics; ingenious instruments, such as may supply the want of hands, are moved by the streams that water their vallies; wheels fashioned for that purpose, are set in motion at different distances. Do they require flour, or stand in need of oil? as every individual provides in some respect for his own wants, there are neither millers nor oil mills, but at the neighbouring stream, corn is ground, and the oleaginous plants are pressed. A German traveller declares that he has seen a child rocked in his cradle by means of a wheel made to revolve by a stream." While the men are engaged in different branches of labour, the women are not idle, some knit stockings, others make goat skin gloves, embroider muslin, or plait straw, which is manufactured into hats. But manufacturing industry is confined to the making of a few articles; thus velvet is made in some places, and carpets in others, particularly in the burghs on the valley of Lientz. The transit trade between Germany and Italy forms a more important and extensive branch of commerce. Frankness, fidelity, loyalty and love of country are the virtues that distinguish the Tyrolians. Averse to the conscription, Character. | because friendly to independence and liberty, none fight with greater bravery in defence of their country. Not corrupted by the usages of large towns, sincere in their domestic relations, peace and gayety reign in their families. Devout, but also superstitious, they must have a religion that attracts by its ceremonies, that speaks to the imagination as well as to the heart; they people the summits of the mountains, and the gloomy forests which encompass them, with supernatural beings, spirits, demons and wizards. Such being the case, it is not wonderful that there are no protestants in Tyrol; all the inhabitants, with the exception of eight or ten Jewish families, are catholics. The Tyrolians enjoy more political liberty than the people in | Constitution. any other Austrian province. Government ratified their ancient privileges in 1816, and granted them a constitution better adapted for their wants. While the people in other countries subject to Austria, are represented by the clergy, nobility and deputies from a few towns, the Tyrolian states are not only composed of members belonging to these orders, but also of others elected by the peasantry. The people of Vorarlberg possess other prerogatives, in which the rest of the inhabitants do not participate. | Military force. The people The conscription has been abolished, but government has found that measure an additional security against a foreign invasion, for every Tyrolian becomes a soldier in time of war. are hardy, active, and accustomed to fatigue; few armies can have much chance of resisting them, when they rise simultaneously to defend their country. They furnish only to the government that protects them, four battalions of light armed troops. Although no custom-houses are erected on the frontiers, the revenue is considerable, it amounts to more than two millions five hundred thousand Austrian florins. There are in the county of Tyrol, twenty-two towns, thirty- Towns and six burghs and three thousand one hundred and fifty villages. Villages. Some of the villages are as populous as the towns, but the greater number are small and insignificant. Bregenz, situated in Vorarlberg, on the banks of the lake of Constance, contains three thousand five hundred inhabitants. It is a place of great antiquity; the remains of Roman buildings are still seen near its ancient castle. The village of Achenrein derives its wealth from its foundries and iron works; the laminated copper and white iron that are sent from these works, yield a clear profit of sixty-five thousand florins. Inst, a burgh of three thousand inhabitants, on the banks of the Inn, exports canaries to the remotest countries in Europe; the trade is said " M. Rohrer. See also Voyage dans le Tyrol by M. de Bray. to produce annually more than 4800l. Scharnitz, on the frontiers of Bavaria, is the ancient Roman town of Porta Claudia. Innspruck, or rather Innsbruck, which signifies a bridge on Capital. 1 the Inn, stands in the middle of a valley, formed by mountains from six to eight thousand feet in height, and covered with snow even in the months of May and June. It is the capital of Tyrol. Although the town be small and ill built, the suburbs consist of modern houses,-the residences of the nobles and the wealthy. The palace situated in a square adorned with a bronze equestrian statue of Leopold the Fifth, the court church containing the tombs of twenty-eight distinguished personages, and a monument to the memory of the emperor Maximilian, and lastly, the large and spacious townhouse, are the only public buildings that can be mentioned in the capital. The celebrated globe of Peter Anich, a Tyrolian shepherd, who became an eminent geographer, is preserved in the hall of the university. &c. Hall, Schwatz, Hall, which lies below Innspruck, is the chief town in the district of the salt mines; it contains four thousand two hundred inhabitants; its extensive salt works are five thousand feet above the level of the sea. Schwatz, one of the largest burghs in the province, is peopled by more than seven thousand four hundred inhabitants, two thousand of whom find employment in the mines within its territory, which produce a great quantity of iron, two thousand five hundred quintals of copper, and three thousand five hundred marks of silver. Zierl, another village on the Inn, is commanded by steep heights and rugged rocks, from which the emperor Maximilian the First made a narrow escape. The prince, ardent in the chase, advanced so far that he must have perished, had it not been for the coolness and intrepidity of an attendant. The people tell the story, and show the place where a cross forty feet in height, has been erected to commemorate the event; but superstitious, and fond of the miraculous, they believe that the emperor was saved by an angel. Sterzing, a town of two thousand inhabitants, was called Urbs Stiriacorum by the Romans; it carries on a considerable trade in iron and wines. Botzen on the Rienz, appears rather like an Italian than a German town; the valley on which it stands, is covered with vineyards and fruit trees, adorned with country houses, and bounded by lofty trees that rise in the form of an amphitheatre. But the interior of the town does not correspond with its appearance at a distance, for the streets are dirty, crooked and narrow. The population amounts to seven thousand individuals. Trente. Although the inhabitants give the name of fortifications to walls ten feet in height, Trente, or, as it is called in Germany, Trient, could hardly resist an attack in time of war. Broad and regular streets, well built houses, fine paintings in the churches, and a celebrated university, render it like an Italian town; indeed, the illusion would be complete, if its fifteen thousand inhabitants spoke the Italian language. Trente is well known on account of its council, which lasted from the year 1545 to 1563. The mountains that rise on both banks of the Adige, are not the lowest in the Alps. The climate is excessively warm in summer, and intensely cold in winter. Roveredo. T Roveredo, situated in the pleasant valley of Lagarina, carries on a considerable trade in fruits and silk. The town, originally small and ill built, was improved as the population increased; it contains at present more than twelve thousand inhabitants. Pieve, Castello and Cinte are villages of which the trade consists in pictures. Brentonico exports the greenish talc used by painters, and known by the name of terra di Verona. * See Handbuch fur reisende in dem Esterreichischen Kaiserstate, by M. R. Jenny. |