YALLADOLID. 



VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. 



9 re 



wmra, and leather ; and alo a trade io white wines, olive-oil, ami ailk, 

 proJacvd in tb* vicinity. 



ValUdolid U the we of a bishop, suffragan to the Archbishop of 

 ToUdo ; and U the residence of a captain-general, a military iuteudant, 

 MM! other autkoritissv 



(Madoa, Diccwnano Otegmfico de Ew**a ; Ford, llandboot of Spain.) 

 VALLADOLID. [HONDURAS; Mxxico.] 

 YALI.EJO. [CAuroRXiA.] 

 VALLEllAUCQUK. [GARD.] 

 VALI.KT. [LoiHE Ijexfe 

 VALLETTA. [MALTA.] 

 VALLtEVO. [SiBvu.] 

 VALOONK8. [MAHCHE.] 



VALOIS, LE, a province of France, belonging originally to Pioardio, 

 but incorporated in the military government of the Ile-de-France. Its 

 capital wai CVpy : it ii now included in the department! of Uiae and 

 At-~ Philippe III., king of France, gave the county of Valoia 

 (A.D. 1284) a* an apanage to bit second son Charles, whose BOH became 

 king of France u Philippe VL, or Philippe of Valoia. Philippe VI. 

 bemowed the county of Valoii on hU fifth son Philippe ; from him it 

 came to hii wife Blanche, and on her death (1392) it came to Louis, 

 duke of Orleans, second ion of Charlei V. of France. The accession 

 of the Duke of Orleans to the crown as Louis XII. reunited the county 

 or duchy of Valoia to the crown domains. 

 VALoNA. [AVLOSA.] 



VALPARAISO, the principal port of Chili, w situated in 71" 45' 

 W. long., 88" V 8. lat, 55 miles a from Santiago, and 225 N. from 

 Concepcion. The town has been nearly rebuilt since the great earth- 

 quake in 1822. It consists of a long narrow street, built under a 

 cliff, following the sinuosities of the shore close to the sea-side. The 

 home* have all stories above the ground-floor, and they are not flat- 

 roofed. Painted piazzas are substituted for balconies almost at every 

 boon, and their different colours give the town a gay appearance. 

 The custom-houM and several of the churches and other public build- 

 ings are handsome edifices. The Protestant* have a cemetery and a 

 place of worship. Trade is in the hands of the English, Americans, 

 and French, and a handsome suburb on the heights above Valparaiso 

 U almost exclusively inhabited by them. The population numbers 

 about 30,000. In 1809 only nine vessels entered the harbour iu twelve 

 months ; the entries now number nearly 1 000 annually. The harbour 

 U good, with nine fathoms water close iu-shore, of easy entrance, and 

 sheltered from all winds except the north ; it is defended by three 

 fort* and a battery on a level with the water. The customs revenue 

 in 1849 exceeded two millions of dollars. The chief exports are 

 copper, gold, silver, wheat, tallow, Chides, timber, indigo, wool, sarsa- 

 panlla, fruiU, &c- The imports consist of foreign manufactures, tea, 

 chocolate, sugar, tobacco, hardware, 4c. The trade of the port has 

 greatly increased since the discovery of gold in California. Steamers 

 ply regularly to Callao and other Pacific ports, and a railway has been 

 constructed to Santiago. There are extensive bonding-warehouses and 

 large shipbuilding-yards. Besides the ships engaged in the import and 

 export trade of Chili, Valparaiso is much resorted to by vessels in the 

 Pacific for obtaining provi-ions. 

 VALPEROA. [IsTRiA.] 

 VALSESIA. [NOVARA.] 

 VALTELLI'NA, a longitudinal valley on the Italian side of the 

 Rhctian Alps, drained in its whole length by the river Adda. The 

 Adda rises at the foot of the Stilfser Joch, crosses the district of 

 lloruiio, which lie* east of Valtcllina, and then entering Valtel- 

 liua at the defile of La Serra, flows in a general direction from north- 

 ea*t to south-west until it enters the hike of Como at the western 

 extremity of the valley. Valtelliua Proper is about 45 miles in length, 

 but if we include Bormio, which is a continuation of the same valley, 

 the whole length is 65 miles. It is bounded N. by the Swiss canton 

 of the Orisons, the main ridge of the Hbtetiui Alps dividing the valley 

 of the Adda from that of the Inn, or Kngadin ; N.E. by the Tyrol, from 

 which it is separated by the lofty group of the Ortler and the Stilfser 

 Joch ; S. by the Austrian provinces of Brescia and Como ; and W. by 

 the lake of Como and by the district of Chiavenna, with which it is 

 politically united. Chiavenna consists mainly of the valley of the 

 Liro, a stream which rises at the foot of the Splugen, and flowing 

 from north to south joins the Maira, which comes from the Orisons 

 country. A few miles lower the united stream enters the Laghetto, or 

 Upper Lake of Como. From the Splugen to the lake is a distance ol 

 about twenty miles. The three districts of Valtellina, Bormio, aud 

 Cbiaveona have been for ages united under the same administration, 

 and now furm the Austrisn province of Sondrio. Valtelliua proper 

 U the Urgent and finest part of the whole : it has a genial climate and 

 a fertile toil. The hrat is very great in summer. All the fruit-trees 

 of Italy thrive there. It produces abundance of wine, Indian corn, 

 millet, and wheat. It has excellent pastures and meadow-land, and 

 iU cbeeoe rivals the but made in Lombardy. The slopes of the lower 

 bills along the northern tide of the valley are covered with vines 

 planted in terraces. The level land along the banks of the Adda is 

 not inora than a mile and a half in breadth, the mountains risin| 

 gradually on both sides and funning numerous transverse valleyi 

 between their offset*. The Val Poschiaro and the Val Bregaglia how- 

 ever belong to the canton of the Orisons. The southern ridge, which 



separates the Valtellina from the province of Brescia, U a lower oflsct 

 of the Kluctiau Alps, which detaches itself from the Ortler-Spitz, and 

 runs in a south-west direction towards the Lake of Como. Its prin- 

 cipal auuiuiit is Monte Legnone, about 8000 feet above the sea. The 

 district of Bormio, being more elevated than Valtelliua, U colder mid 

 less fertile. [BoRltlO.] The northern part of the district of Chiavenna 

 i likewise au alpine country, but there is a fine plain between the 

 town of Chiavenna and the Lake of Como, which is as productive as 

 any part of North Italy. 



The area of Sondrio U 1253 square miles; the population 98,550, 

 of whom more than seven-tenths live in the Valtellina. The spoken 

 language is an Italian dialect The province is divided into seven 

 districts. The principal towns are Sondrio, the head town of the 

 whole province, situated on the right bank of the Adda. Sondrio has 

 a handsome cathedral, a gymnasium, a college, a court of justice, a 

 theatre, au hospital, and about 4500 inhabitants. Chiavenna, a pretty 

 town on the river Maira, at the branching off of the two roada over 

 the Splugen and the Sep tinier, has six churches, a town-house, a 

 castle, an hospital; manufactures of silk, paper, cloth mode of amian- 

 thus, and pottery made of ' pietra ollario,' a soft stone found in the 

 neighbourhood ; and about 3600 inhabitants. 



VAN, LAKE. [ARMENIA.] 



VAX pIEMEN'S LAND, sometimes called Taimauia, is an island 

 and British colony situated iu the southern hemisphere, south of 

 Australia. It lies between 40 45' and 48 45' S. lat., 144 45' and 

 148 30' I-:, long. It is separated from Australia by Bass's Strait. On 

 the west of the island is the Indian Ocean, on the east the Pacific, aud 

 on the south the Southern Ocean. The greatest length is 230 miles ; 

 the greatest breadth is 190 miles. The area is about 22,630 square 

 miles. The population in December 1847 had increased to 70,164, of 

 whom 47,828 were males and 22,336 females. Of this total 33,173 were 

 either frea emigrants, or were born in the colony ; the rest were then 

 or had been convicts. Emigration to Victoria colony has combined 

 with other causes to prevent any material increase of the population 

 of Van Diemen's Land of late years. 



Coatt-line and Islands. The western coast is about 240 miles long. 

 It is ouly broken by the two large inlets which form Macqnarrie 

 Harbour and Port Davy. The shores elsewhere are steep, exposed to 

 a strong swell and surf, aud without anchorage or shelter. The 

 southern coast is about 50 miles long, and runs in a serpentine line, 

 forming several bays, of which a few have good anchorage. The 

 south-easteru coast extends about 60 miles in a straight line. It con- 

 tains a greater number of safe anchorages than probably any other 

 country of the same extent on the globe ; in fact there is hardly a 

 mile along this coast-line which does not offer a safe refuge to vessels. 

 This great advantage is owing partly to the Bize and form of the 

 island of Brune, which extends along the coast, and partly to two far- 

 projecting promontories, called Kalph's Peninsula and Tasman's 

 Peninsula. The strait which divides Brune Islaud from the maiuland 

 is called D'Entrecasteaux Channel, or Storm Bay Passage, aud extends 

 45 miles iu a straight line. The eastern coast extends more than 150 

 miles in a straight line. It has many good anchorages and inlets, of 

 which Oyster Bay is the largest. On this coast is Maria Island, which 

 is about 12 miles long, and consists of two large masses of rock con- 

 nected by a neck of laud. It is a convict establishment, and Smith 

 O'Brien was for a while confined upon it. North of Maria Island, and 

 near to Oyster Bay, is Schouten Island, which is about 6 miles long 

 and 3 miles wide. The northern coast extends about 160 miles in a 

 straight line. North of this coast is Bass's Strait, at the eastern 

 entrance of which is the group of the Furneaux Islands. The largest, 

 Qreat Islaud, extends 40 miles from north to south, and in on an 

 average 9 miles wide. South of Great Islaud is Cape Barren Island, 

 which extends east to west about 20 miles, with an average width of 

 about 5 miles. North of the Kuraeaux Islands is the Kent yroup. 

 The strait which divides Furneaux Islands from Von Diemen's Land 

 is called 1 tanks' s Strait, aud is 10 miles wide. Lighthouses have been 

 erected at various points on the islands. 



Surface and Soil. Tho soil is generally good and fertile, but Un- 

 cultivated land has been much exhausted. Above 4,000,000 ucres 

 have been appropriated or leased as pasture ; a large proportion of 

 the remaining land is not available even as pasture. The unoccupied 

 country lies west of the range of hills dividing the Derwent from 

 the Jordan. The mountain region, south of 42 S. lat., occupies the 

 southern and western districts of the island, and reaches north-east to 

 the banks of the river Derwent. This river, from its source in Lake 

 St. Clair to its mouth, separates the well-known part of the island 

 from that which is unknown except the coasts and the districts iu the 

 immediate vicinity of the river. These districts are occupied by an 

 apparently continuous mountain range, which extends along the 

 river at a short distance from its banks. Many of the summits are 

 from 8000 to 4000 feet high. The valley of the Lower Derwent 

 extends from Mount Nekton upwards to the confluence of the Derwent 

 with the puse, and is rather more than 50 miles long. It is a tract of 

 great fertility. A hilly region extends from this valley eastward to 

 the ihorusof the Pacific. North of this hilly region are elevated plains 

 crossed by woody tract*. Besides the Derweut, this region is watered 

 by the Nive, the Dee, the Ouse, the Clyde, the Jordan, the Ilium, Coal 

 Hiver, and Pitt's Water. There are several considerable lakes. 



