1045 



BERESINA. 



EKRG, 



1028 



which the ancient Egyptians drew the principal supplies of that 

 metal. 



BERESI'NA, a river in Western Russia, rises near 54 55' N. 

 lat, 27 35' E. long., in the circle of Vileika and province of Minsk. 

 After receiving several small feeders its waters flow in a broad channel 

 and in a south-eastern direction, generally between low and swampy 

 banks fringed with reeds and rushes ; it becomes navigable in an 

 early part of its course. The only high ground along its banks is 

 in the vicinity of Borizov. After flowing past Beresna, and 

 Bobruisk, small towns in the province of Minsk, the Beresina falls 

 into the Dnieper, after a course of about 240 miles, at the point 

 where that river begins to form the boundary between Minsk and 

 Mohilev. During its course the Beresina receives many small rivers, 

 the most considerable of which are the Plissa, the Swislocz, which 

 runs through Minsk, and the Ola. The Beresina has become 

 memorable from the disasters which befel the French army when 

 Napoleon on his retreat from Moscow effected a passage .across it, 

 about 9 miles above Borizov, on the 26th and 27th November 1812. 

 A navigable communication between the Black Sea and the Baltic is 

 effected l.y the Dnieper, the Diina, and the Beresina or Lepel Canal. 

 This canal is about 5 miles long ; it unites the Diina with the Beresina 

 by connecting Lake Plavia, out of which the Sergutsh flows into the 

 Beresiua, with Lake Bereahta : this last lake makes its way into the 

 Kssa by the channel of the Bereshta River, and the Essa falls into 

 Lake Beloje, which is connected with the Diina through the river 

 Ulla. The whole line from the Beresina to the Ulla is about 65 

 miles in length ; from it there are several branch canals. There is 

 a small river also, called the Lesser Beresina, in the government of 

 Mohilev. 



BERESOFF, or BEREZOFF, an extensive circle in the province of 

 Tobolsk, in Siberia, traversed by the Ob, and according to Georgi 

 situated between 61 and 77 N. lat., 54 and 78 E. long. It is 

 bounded W. by the Carian arm of the Icy Sea, and the most northern 

 part of the Ural Mountains, which separate it from the province 

 of Archangel; S. by the circles of Turinsk and Surgutsh, and E. by 

 that of Turuchansk ; and N. by the Icy Sea. The larger portion of 

 this vast district lies within the Arctic circle. Its waters are the 

 Carian Sea (Karskaia Oulf), the Lower Ob, the Obskaia Gouba, 

 and Tazovskaia Gouba (gulfs of Ob and Taz), together with all their 

 tributaries. The chain of the Ural, which runs as far north as the 

 Carian Sea, is in this circle of moderate elevation, forming a humid, 

 and in many parts impassable barrier of rocks. The woods, which 

 terminate at 65 N. lat, gradually decline into insignificance ; from 

 that point they are succeeded by shrubs and bushes, which cease to 

 grow at 67 N. lat. The inhabitants are principally Ostiaks of the 

 Ob and Samoyedes : the former dwell in wretched hovels of wood or 

 earth, occasionally changing their place of residence, and existing 

 upon the produce of their fishing and hunting ; the latter wander 

 among the swamps of northern Russia, and depend on the same 

 pursuits as the Ostiak, but with the aid of their rein-deer. The 

 least numerous tribe in this remote region are the Voguls, a nomadic 

 face, who are only met with in the circles of Beresotf and Turiusk, 

 and whose whole property is a few hunting weapons, a lance, a couple 

 of hides, and one or two dogs. The Russians, consisting of Cossacks, 

 townsmen, and labourers, reside mostly in block-houses, but those 

 within the Arctic circle live together in groups of what are termed 

 ' simovie,' or winter-cabins, in the neighbourhood of which the Ostiaks 

 frequently erect their hovels. Where soil and climate admit they 

 keep a couple of cows, some sheep, and swine ; but no horses will 

 thrive, and instead of that valuable animal dogs are used as beasts of 

 draught for transporting wood, &c. The soil, which is in general 

 unsuited to the growth of grain, is however so productive in the 

 districts between Tobolsk and Beresoff, as frequently to yield forty- 

 fold. At Beresoff in particular the spring growth of vegetation is 

 said to be astonishingly rapid ; yet in summer the alternations of heat 

 and cold are so excessive that the natives never think it safe to lay 

 aside their furs. It is not unusual for a fine clear day to be succeeded 

 during the night by a heavy fall of snow ; and frosty nights generally 

 set in with the month of August. Indeed the earth near Beresoff 

 thaws only on the surface in summer when the sun is very hot. At 

 a little depth below the surface the ground is perpetually frozen. 



Btraoff, or Bere&ma, ' the Town of Birch-trees,' was founded in 1593, 

 and became the capital of the circle in 1772 : by the Ostiaks it was 

 formerly called ' Soungoutshe-Vacha," and by the Voguls ' Khal- 

 ,' or the Place of Happiness the terms Soungoutshe and Khnl 

 signifying ' happiness ' in their respective languages. It is built on 

 the ttteep left bank of the Sosva, or Lesser Ob, about 14 miles in a 

 north-eaiterly direction above the junction of that stream with the 

 Ob. The Vogulka, another stream coming from the south-west, flows 

 into the Sosva, about 2 miles to the east of Beresoff. Erman tells us 

 ('Voyage from Berlin to the Icy Sea') that "the town, on his first 

 walk through it, produced that impression upon his mind which might 

 be expected from the site of the remotest of human habitations ; the 

 sky waa overspread with a monotonous gloom of clouds, and the day 

 scarcely distingiii.-hMil'- from the twilight: it was veiled in that 

 semi-darkness which a Russian poet justly describes as producing a 

 talisrnanic effect on the heart of every northman, as one of those 

 blessings, over the loss of which the poor Samoyede, were he under 



oioo. CIV. VOL. 1. 



a Neapolitan sky, would pine, as over the deprivation of his dearest 

 treasure." The houses, about 200 in number, are built with planks 

 of immense size, are entered in general from a lofty flight of steps, 

 and connected by wooden walls with the ' bdnyi,' or baths, store- 

 houses, &c., which are of inferior height and form a courtyard. 

 Though there are wide intervals between them, they are ranged in 

 streets running towards the north and east. On the opposite side of 

 the Sosva, or Sosna (Pine-tree), which is with great propriety so called 

 from the handsome forest of pines that stretches along the precipitous 

 bunks of that stream, Erman describes " the whole expanse to the 

 horizon itself, as one uninterrupted plain of snow and ice ;" nor " was 

 there sound or object to break the cheerless gloom which pervaded the 

 streets of Beresoff, but columns of smoke ascending from the chim- 

 neys." It contains three churches and about 1500 inhabitants, including 

 Cossacks and exiles, who are banished to this distant and inhospitable 

 country for political or other offences. The people of the town earn 

 their livelihood by the chase and fishing : they barter furs, skins, &c., 

 for flour, meat, tobacco, ironware, and brandy brought by the Tobolsk 

 dealers, whose craft are floated down the Irtish into the Ob. Beresoft' 

 is the favourite place of resort for the Ostiaks and Voguls. and has a 

 very considerable annual fair. The imperial favourite Prince Men- 

 zikoff lived in a hut near the Spaska church in his banishment, and 

 died in this town in 1731. Near the same church is his grave. His 

 body was not long ago exhumed from the adjacent burial-ground and 

 again committed to the earth in its present resting-place ; it was found 

 clothed in the uniform of his time, frozen stiff, and quite fresh and 

 free from decay. Bsresoff is situated about 620 miles to the north 

 of Tobolsk, in 63 56' N. lat, 65 15' E. long. The pallisadcd spot, 

 Obidorak, which lies on the right bank of the Polui, not far from the 

 mouth of the Ob, and is the most northern possession of Russia in 

 this quarter of the globe, is a dependency of Beresoff. It is described 

 by Erman as containing a church of wood, some dark wooden-houses 

 inhabited by Cossacks, and several Ostiak cabins. Obsdorsk is about 

 792 miles to the north of Tobolsk. 



BERG, formerly a duchy in the west of Germany, bounded N. 

 by the duchy of Cleves, E. by the earldom of Mark and the 

 duchy of Westphalia, S. by the Nisterwald (a part of the Wester- 

 wald named from the Nister, a small river), and W. by the 

 Rhine. The duchy of Berg extended along the Rhine from 

 the Ruhr to the frontier of Nassau, and contained in 1802 an 

 area of 1134 square miles. The western portion of the duchy is level 

 and productive, but the eastern parts of it are covered with forests 

 and hills. It does not yield grain, or support cattle enough for the 

 use of the population, which is denser than in any other part of 

 Germany ; but it has been always famed for its richness in minerals, 

 and abounds in iron, of the finest quality produced iu Europe, copper, 

 lead, and zinc. The precious metals furnish employment to the 

 inhabitants as miners and founders. To these pursuits manufactures 

 of textile wares (cotton, woollen, linen, and silk) have been in modern 

 times superadded, so that the population is more generally employed 

 in manufacturing than in agricultural pursuits. Agriculture how- 

 ever is in a forward state. The duchy or county of Berg is now 

 comprised in the Pussiau llhein-Provinz : its teritory is divided into 

 the circles of Diisseldorf, Solingen, Elberfeld, Lennep, and Duisburg. 



[DUSSELDORF.] 



After the line of the first counts of Berg had become extinct, which 

 occurred in the year 1348, their possessions devolved on the then 

 prince of Juliers (Jiilich) ; in 1380 they were raised to the rank of a 

 duchy, and forty-three years afterwards the principality of Juliers 

 was inco.-porated with them. This line of princes becoming also 

 extinct in 1511, both Berg and Juliers fell to the dukes of Cleves ; 

 and again their line failing in 1 609, the elector of Brandenburg and 

 the elector-palatine both laid claim to the dukedom, which at that 

 period comprehended likewise the earldoms of Mark and Ravensberg. 

 After a long series of wars they agreed, in 1 624, to hold the entire 

 territory in joint possession ; and this state of things subsisted until 

 the year 16S6, when they divided it between them. Berg was 

 assigned to the electors-palatine (whose possessions subsequently 

 merged into the electorate of Bavaria, which was created a kingdom 

 at the beginning of the present century), and was ceded to France by 

 the Bavarian crown in the year 1806. It now became the chief 

 province of the grand-duchy of Berg, instituted by Napoleon on the 

 15th of March in that year, and in conjunction with this duchy com- 

 prised the bishoprick of Miinster, the earldoms of Mark, Lingen, 

 Tecklenburg, Bentheim, Dortmund, and other territories in those 

 quarters, extending altogether over a surface of about 6698 square 

 miles, and possessing a population of nearly 900,000 souls. Joachim 

 Murat, Napoleon's brothar-in-law, was constituted sovereign of this 

 new principality, and retained it until the year 1808, when Napoleon 

 placed him on the throne of Naples. On the 3rd of March in the 

 following year, Napoleon's nephew, then crown-prince of Holland, was 

 made grand-duke of Berg, with reservation of the governing power to 

 France until he became of age. Two years afterwards Napoleon 

 however stripped the grand-duchy of certain districts amounting to 

 1281 square miles in area, for the purpose of incorporating them with 

 the French empire. After a brief existence of eight years the grand- 

 duchy was extinguished altogether, and its component parts being 

 transferred to Prussia, under the settlement made by the Congress of 



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