. ., 



DANZIG. 



DANZin. 



(HI 



fore* of current causing the mud to accumulate very fast ThU oauaw 

 added to the neglect of Russia in dredging the channel, as ihe is bound 

 to do by treaty, hu left at times only a depth of nine feet water on 

 the bar. In uch oatea the com ship* on the Danube are obliged to 

 take in the greater part of their cargoes outside the bar by mean* of 

 lighten, at greatly increased cost and risk. In the present spring 

 (1864) the RuMJana, at war With Turkey, have blocked up the Suliim 

 mouth altogether. The Turks kept a depth of 16 feet water on the 

 bar of Bulina : of late yean the depth has seldom exceeded 19 feet 

 Russian steamers ply up the Kilia mouth to Ismail. The 8t Oeorge 

 mouth is almost entirely blocked up with mud ; in many parts it has 

 not orer 4 feat water, and its channel can be reached through the 

 mud banks round its embouchure only by constant sounding, so intri- 

 cate and shifting is the passage. To avoid the tedious and diflicult 

 navigation of the Danube below Rassova, it has been frequently pro- 

 posed to cut a navigable canal from Czernavoda to the harbour of 

 Kostenji on the Black Sea, a distance of little more than 80 miles, and 

 nearly parallel to the so-called Trajan's Wall j but It has been stated 

 that the nature of the ground presents very great if not insuperable 

 obstacle! to the execution of this project. 



Steam navigation was introduced on the Danube in 1830. Vessels 

 of 100 tons ply up to I'lm. The ' up ' navigation is very tedious on 

 account of the force of the current in many parts of its course. The 

 steam voyage between Vienna and Constantinople is now made. in 

 seven days. Beside* its connection with the Rhine by means of the 

 Ludwigs Oanal above mentioned, the Danube communicates with the 

 Elbe by the Moldau and canals. This river forms perhaps the greatest 

 natural highway for commerce in Europe ; but its advantages have 

 been vastly abridged by the vexatious tolls and still more vexatious 

 sanitary regulations imposed by the different states through which it 

 flows. 



The Danube is frozen over in winter in all its upper course, and 

 even in the plain of Hungary from December to March. The breaking 

 of the ice- in a moment of great anxiety to the inhabitant* of the towns 

 on its banks. If the snow melts and the rains fall gradually, the river 

 rites slowly and the ice breaks off by a few yards at a time j but if a 

 rapid thaw seta in, in the upper part of the stream before the ice has 

 begun to rtir lower down, the river becomes swollen suddenly, tosses 

 the ice into the air with a loud explosion like artillery, and sweeps 

 ashore icebergs many tons in weight. So sudden in some seasons is 

 Ike crash, that persons on the ice have not time to reach the shore, 

 and many lives are lost When this sudden thaw is apprehended, 

 watchmen are posted on every eminence along the banks of the river, 

 who give notice all along the line, by firing alarm-guns, that the ice is 

 broken. 



The Danube was known to the early Greek writers under the name 

 of Istros fT^po'X called by the Romans Ister, which was probably 

 the genuine name of this river in the lower part of ita course, perhaps 

 from the Iron Gate to the sea. The Romans learned the name Danu- 

 bius from the natives on the tipper course of the stream, with whom 

 they were brought into contact by commerce and by conquest. 

 Herodotus (book iv., chap. 48, Ac.) has transmitted to us all that was 

 known in his time of the Danube and ita tributaries in the middle 

 and lower part of its course. Strabo observes (p. 804), " the upper 

 part* of the river and the parts at ita source, as far aa the cataract*, 

 are called Danubius, and flow chiefly through the country of the 

 Dad | the lower parta, as far as the Pontus [the Black Sea], and in 

 the neighbourhood of the Get*, are called Istrus." 



DANZIG, one of the four administrative circles of the province of 

 West Prussia, extends nearly about 100 miles along the liultic, ami in 

 bounded N. by the Gulf of Danzig, E. by the circle of Kiroigsberg, 

 W. by Pomerania, and S. by the circle of Marienwerder. Its area is 

 8888 square mile*, and the population in 1849 was 409,087, almost 

 wholly composed of Catholics and Evangelical*, the ratio between 

 them being very nearly that of nine to ten. The Jew* nutnlwr about 

 000. The surface is mostly level, with a gradual slope from the 

 banks of the Vistula to the Baltic. The soil i* in many parts sandy 

 and swampy [ but in general it is productive, and along the Vistula 

 exuberantly fertile. The produce consist* of great quantities of 

 grain, vegetable., and fruit. The circle contains about 800,000 acres 

 * woods and forest.. The rearing of hones and cattle, and the 

 Oakeries along the coast afford profitable occupation to a lam 

 portion of the inhabitants. Amber is obtained on the shore in the 

 Tfcfaity of paadg. The principal riven are the Vistula, Schwente, 

 Bone rhieh take, the name of Elbing before it falls Into the Frische 

 H**\ Thiene, and Motlau. The semicircular inlet of the Baltic along 

 th coast of West and Baa* Prussia is called the 0*lf of Dt*u. 

 which betwn the Bnuterort light on the eaat and the KtlckshoZ 



> l 



line joining the., point- to the Frisch. Nehrung (a nJrow .pit 

 that separate, it from the friscoe Haff) fa about 80 miles. The 

 eitt. esUiu -art of the gulf is called l**t:i, Bag, which i. bounded 

 on the northeast by a apit of land 20 miles long, with a breadth of 

 one to two miles, stretching out in a wmth-eest direction from the 

 R.ickshofen light toward* the head of the gulf. 



The chief manufactures are woollens, linen, leather, beer, and 

 spirit., A very extensive trad* in corn is carried on with ft>rum 

 from the petti of Dmafe and Klbmg. from the Berlin, 



Stettm, and Poeen railway a branch runs eastward to Bromberg in tin 

 valley of the Vistula, whence a line runs up the left bank 

 river through Dirsohau to Danzig; from Pirschau a brand 

 eastward throngh Marienburc ami Killing to Koniirslwrg. 



The circle of Dnnsig is subdivided into .even district*, which are 

 named from tin- ehief town in each. These towns are DARSIO : 

 \fnn,li, 20 miles N.N.W. from Danzig, with about 2000 inhabitants : 

 A'nrMrtKj, a small place W. of Danzig : KI.BIKO. : Marifxiury, nn the 

 right bank of the Nogat arm of the Vistula, which is here ci'oased by a 

 pontoon bridge 546 feet long; the town in surrounded by a rampart, 

 and contains a fine palace (which was once the seat of the Grand Master 

 ; t!x Teutonic Order, and was restored by the present king of 

 Prussia), several breweries, distilleries, tan-yards, cotton and w. 

 factories, and about 6000 inhabitants, who export corn, fish, timber, 

 quills, bristles, Ac. : Stargard, a walled town 26 miles 8. by W. from 

 Danzig, on the Kerne, which has distilleries, breweries, tanyards, and 

 about 4000 inhabitants : nnd Rrhrrnrit, in the western part of the 

 circle, near the source of the Ferae, which has about 2000 inhabitants. 

 />irchav, on the left bank of the Vistula, 20 miles by railway 8. from 

 Danzig, has 3500 inhabitants, who manufacture leather and beer. 

 Piling, is a small manufacturing town, 28 miles N.N.VT. from Dancig, 

 and near the head of the Bay of Putzig, which is named fn<- 

 population about 2200 ; industrial products broadcloth and iron- 

 ware. 



DANZIG, or GDANSK, n fortified city and sen-port of Prussia, 

 capital of the administrative circle of Danzig, in t!n- province of \\Yt 

 Prussia, in situated in 54 21' N. lat, 18 39 J' E. long., on the left 

 bank of the jirinoljml arm of the Vistula, about 3J mile, from it- 

 mouth in the Baltic at \Vt i.-h-. Imumle. and lias a population of about 

 70,000 including it nine suburbs and the garrison. The ol 

 traversed by the Motlau and Radnunde, which flow by several 

 channels into the Vistula. The Motlau if deep enough within il- 

 town to float vessels of 8 or 9 feet draught, and between the I 

 part of it and the Vistula there in a harbour for larger vessels, liy 

 the mouth of the Vistula only small vessels can enter, as it is made 

 shallow by sandbars ; but by a canal cut across a neck of land 

 directly into the gulf, and having a breadth of 120 to 180 feet, with 

 a depth of 15 feet, large Teasels can go quite up to the town. The 

 entrance to the canal is protected by piers that run out for about 

 500 yards into the gulf, in which there is excellent anchorage, good 

 holding ground, and shelter against nil winds except the north-* 

 and east. Among the outworks is the intrenched camp on the i 

 of Neufahrwaiver, which covers the approach from the Baltic. 



The first mention of Danzig occurs in the 10th century, anil it 

 was long afterwards a bone of contention between the Danes, Swedes, 

 Pomeranian princes, and Teutonic knights. In 1454 it sought the 

 protection of the kings of Poland, who recognised its independence 

 to the fullest extent, and admitted its citizens to enjoy even 

 possessed by the Poles themselves. In 1783 it gave shelter to King 

 Stanislaus, but, after enduring a furious bombardment by the 

 Russians and Saxons, WM forced to acknowledge Augu- 

 rival, as legitimate sovereign of Poland. Prussia by her . 

 at last hemmed in this little state so completely, that, in 1772 ita 

 commerce with the interior was almost annihilated by heavy dues 

 laid on ita exports by that power. On the re-partition of Poland 

 in 179S, Danzig was compelled to admit a Prussian garrison, am! t-> 

 make its usages harmonise with the institutions of ita new masters. 

 From this time until the breaking out of the war between France 

 nml Prussia in 1806, the town again rose to affluence an.! 

 but it ex]MTii n'-<"l another reverse in 1807, on ita falling into tho 

 bands of the French, by whom it waa besieged for four weeks, 

 under the command of Lefevre, subsequently Duke of Danzig. In 

 the same year the treaty of Tilsit erected the town and a surrounding 

 tract of about 280 square miles into a free utiite umler ' 

 Danzig code of laws. Under the French ita trade waa again : 

 :,nii.l,il:,'.-.l. In December 1813 Danzig capitulated to the Russians 

 ami Prussians, after a sige of eight months. On the ::i 1 of Fi-bmory 

 following, thr king of Prussia was again recognised as its sovereign. 



Danzig is one of the strongest fortresses and most flourishing 



towns in Prussia. 



of it are in a fine ol.l , ivl,- of 



Many parta 



l.uil.ling, though not regularly laid out; but a great number of the 



are narrow and crooked. The fortification, consist of 

 rampart., wet-ditches, crossed by four drawbridge., lending to as 

 many gates, nineteen bastions and the citadel of Hagelsberp, nml 

 two strong forts on adjacent eminences. By means of giv 

 gate* the country around the town on three sides can be laid nmli-r 

 water. Within 'these defence* the town i* divided into 

 -the AltaUdt, Vontedt, Rechtatadt, Nlederstadt, UnggarU-n. mnl 

 Speicher-lBsel and is about 2) miles in circuit Without the walls 

 there are nine suburb*. The Langgarten, the finest quat 

 traversed by a broad hnnilwime street, planted with lime-trees ; the 

 Kechtatadt too has some spacious streets ami handsome honse ; 

 the Altatadt (old town) is close, dirty, nml ' . ,1. There 



are no spacious or regular squares. The Rpeicher-insol contains the 

 uses and magazines, which can contain half a million quarters 

 of com. There are above 1!" rhureliea in the rity Lutheran, 

 Reformed-Lutheran, and Roman Catholic. The cathedral or Marion 

 Kirch* is a remarkable vimtHMU edifice ; it WM commenced In 1343, 



