﻿813 



MILITARY FRONTIEK. 



MILTON. 



8U 



Thia tract is distinguished from the rest of the Austrian monarchy 

 by having its own purely military government. All the peasants are 

 soldiers, of whom, in time of peace, 45,000 men are constantly under 

 arms; but in 1815, before the peac?, there were 62,000. This force 

 was originally intended as a barrier aEiainst the inroads of the Turks. 

 By this tenure the peasants hold from the state the hereditary usuft-act 

 of their lands. This singular institution secures to the state the ser- 

 vices of a great military force (there being above 100,000 men capable 

 of bearins: arms), which in time of peace costs the state nothing. 

 These well-trained and disciplined soldiers defend their own frontier 

 both against hostile attacks and the plague without pay, and in time 

 of war serve the state in the same manner as the rest of the army, 

 and receive the usual pay. Thej* are dividetl into eighteen regiments, 

 the whole numbering 46,S42 in time of peace, and 84,720 in time 

 of war. There is besides a battalion of czaikists, or b<»tmen, num- 

 bering 1297 in peace, and 2049 in time of war, who cruise on the 

 Danube, the Save, and the Theiss, iu small goUeys carrying howitzers. 

 Each regiment consists (in time of peace) of two battalions or twelve 

 eompanies, which serve in turn, has its own staff, and is commanded 

 by a colonel, who exorcises both the civil and military authority. Two 

 regiments make a brigade. The military authority is divided among 

 what are called two general commanderies, the seats of which are at 

 Agram for the Croatian and Slavonian frontier, and at Temesvar for 

 the Banat and Servian frontier. The whole is under the supreme 

 direction of the Aulic Council of War at Vienna. According to 

 the military constitution, the generals superintend the civil affairs 

 and the administration of justice. Under the general are the regi- 

 mental commanders, who are in the place of district authorities ; iu 

 short, all civil officers hold military rank. 



A great part of the country is moimtainous, the western part being 

 travessed by the Julian Alps, and the eastern by branches of the 

 Carpathians. Many fine valleys, some of them rich in picturesque 

 beauty, lie between the branches of the mountains ; the remainder of 

 the country ia pretty flat The western part of the Banat is a sandy 

 plain covered with aand-bills from 60 to 180 feet high. On the banks 

 of the Danube, the Theias, and the Temes, there are extensive marshes. 

 In the mountainous parts the temperature is that of more northern 

 eoontries ; whereas the lower central parts enjoy a cUn^ate resembling 

 that of Italy. The soil is on the whole very fruitful, espedaUy in the 

 plaini, and m several valleys of the Banat. For the natural productions 

 ■ee Cboatia, and Huhqaby. 



There are no manufactures of any importance. The women, as well 

 la the men, show great akiU and ingenuity in manufacturing almoet 

 every article for their own consumption. There is a very great export 

 trade in the productions of the country. The extensive forests supply 

 great quantities of excellent timber. 



The population above given comprises only the military oolonists of 

 these frontiers ; in the towns^ and at various points along thia territory, 

 are besides numbers of people engaged in trade and commerce, who 

 swell the total population to 1,226,408. Of this number 514,545 are 

 Catholics, 62,743 United Greeks or Qreek Catholics, 598,603 Non- 

 United Greeks, 14,580 Protestants of the Augsburg CoufesaioD, 31,053 

 Calvinista, 434 1 Unitariana, and &37 Jews. The population is of many 

 different races, two-thirds however being of Slavonian origin, namely, 

 Croatians, in the Croatian Military Frontier, ami the Slavonians and 

 Servians in Slavonia and the Banat. The three other less nume- 

 rous nations are the Wallachians in the Transylvanian and Banat 

 Military Frontier, and the Hungarians and Szeklers in Transylvania, 

 Besides these there are Magyars, Qennans, Greeks, Jews, and Oipsiea, 

 The Clementines an of Albanian origin, so called from their leader 

 Thnr are not above 2000 ; they inhabit two villages in 

 I diatriet of Feterwardein, and have retained their mannera and 



The great variety of costume appears surprising to a stranger; 

 •aoh nation and tribe has its own costume. The people are described 

 M poas eise d of great lutuial talents, acute, docile, very patriotic, 

 devotedly attached to the Imperial house, hospitable, fond of music 

 and poetry, and possessing a great d^pree of national pride. All the 

 branches of a fiunily (oalled a house communion) live together, and 

 several generations are found at the same time iu one house. The 

 bead of the family, called the Uoszpodar (House-father), exercises a kind 

 of patriarchal authority, which all the members are bound to res(iect 

 and obey. The mother, who ia called Qoszpodaricza, presides over the 

 internal a&in, and superintends the female members of the family. 

 The property of the family is in common, and no one is exempt from 

 the duty of working. Each person who works haa an equal share in 

 the produce, but the Goaspodar and ht>i wife have each a double 

 portion. No member is allowed to have land or cattle of his own ; 

 but he may possess jmoney and furniture. Ue who leaves the house 

 without the consent of the eldera and the regiment is reputed a 

 deserter. Daughters who marry into another house have a smaller 

 portion. Such a family often oonaista of 30, 40, and even 80 members. 



The territory, now oalled the Military Frontier, has been subjected 

 to its peculiar organisation only since the 16th century. Before that 

 period long wars, pestilence, and famine had rendered this vast sweep 

 of country almost a desert waste. Even in time of peace the Turks 

 oaed to dash acroas the frontier in savage quest after Christian heads 

 •ad sars, for which they received a fixed sum from their pashas. The 



emperor Ferdinand I. in order to check thia inhuman barbarity, por- 

 tioned out a part of Croatia among military colonists, who were to cul- 

 tivate the hitherto neglected soil, and to repel the inroads of the Turks. 

 The system has been since gradually perfected and extended all along 

 the Turkish border of Austria ; and a chain of watch-posta stretches 

 all along the frontier. The system of outposts haa not only served to 

 protect the empire from Turkish invasion and from the inroads of the 

 plague (for it was a highly efficient sanitary cordon), but it is equally 

 useful as a preventive service to check smuggling. Guard-houses con- 

 structed of wood or stone, sometimes merely of boughs, at intervals of 

 about two miles, stretch away over mountams, through valleys, and 

 along the swampy banks of the rivers. In each are 6 or 8 men, 

 one of whom is constantly on the look-out in each by day, and at 

 night constant communication is kept up by patrols. By means of 

 beacon-fires, shots, and bella, the whole force of the military frontier 

 can be alarmed and assembled at the head-quarters of the regiments 

 in 12 hours. 



Of these frontier colonists (Oiunzer) every male from 18 to 60 years 

 of age is a soldier as well as n peasant ; only about one-third of the 

 year is at his own disposal Every border family according to its 

 numbers has its fief (about 50 acres), half-fief, or quarter-fief, which is 

 cultivated in the intervals of duty, the emperor (who, iu consequence 

 of the destruction of the original landowners by the Turks, is pro- 

 prietor of nearly the whole frontiers), receiving so many days of 

 military service instead of rent. Each fief is bound to maintain a 

 certain number of soldiers. To every company iu a regimeut an 

 agricultural offioer is attached, in order to promote the cultivation of 

 the land ; nevertheless so much of the men's time is occupied with 

 military duty that agriculture is in a very backward state. Education 

 is much more widely diffused among them than in the neighbouring 

 parte of Hungary ; two-thirds at least of all the children are taught in 

 the public schools. 



(Oater-niehitche National Enoyclopedie.) 



MILLBROOK. [Dekbysiiire ; Ddbham.] 



MILLEDGEVILLE. [Gkobou, U. S.] 



MILLOM. ICdmbbblasd.] 



MILLPORT. [CUMBBAB.] 



MILLSTREET, county of Cork, Ireland, a post- and market-town 

 and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, is picturesquely situated ia a valley 

 on the Finow, a tributary of the Blackwater, and on the road from 

 Dublin by Mallow to Killamey, in 52' 3' N. lat., 9" 4' VV. long., distant 

 374 ""'«» W.N.W. from Cork, and 190i| miles S.W. from DubUn. 

 The population iu 1851 was 1504, besides 2191 in the workhouse. 

 Millstreet Poor-Law Union oomprises 12 electoral divisions, with an 

 area of 74,905 acres, and a population in 1851 of 17,251. The town 

 contains a church, a Roman Catholic chapel. National schools, a bride- 

 well, a district dispensary, and infantry barracks. Petty sessions are 

 held monthly, and fairs on the 1st of March, June, September, and 

 Deoember. In the neighbourhood ia Drishane Castle, erected in 1436. 



MILLTOWN. [Clabe; Kebry.] 



MILNTHORP. [Westmoreland.] 



MILO', MELOS, one of the larger Cyclades in the JEgeaa Sea, about 

 70 miles N. of the coast of Crete, and 65 miles E. of the coast of the 

 Peloponnesua It is 14 miles long from east to west, and its breadth 

 is about 8 miles. Its northern ooaat is indented by a deep bay, which 

 forma a natural harbour, one of the best and safest iu the Levant. 

 The surface of the island is mountainous, and of volcanic formation ; 

 it has hot mineral springs, and mines of sulphur, vitriol, and alum. 

 The soil is fertile, and produces abundance of fruit, wine, oil, and 

 pasture for cattle. The population, which was above 20,000 in the 

 time of Tournefort, is now stattid to be only about 4000. 



The chief town, also called Milo, is iu the east part of the island, 

 near the port, where are extensive remains of the ancient capital of 

 the island. The lower grounds near the sea are marshy, and are said 

 to render the air unwholesome in summer. 



Meloa is said to have been colonised first by the Phoenicians, and 

 afterwards by the Lacedaemonians. During the Peloponnesian war 

 the Athenians sent an armament to reduce it, but the attempt failed. 

 .Some years later the Athenians, after a siege of several months, took 

 the town of Melos, and put to death all the adult males, and carried 

 away the women and children as slaves, after which a colony of Athe- 

 nians was sent to occupy the place. (Thucyd., iii. 91 ; v. 84, &c.) 

 Melos, like the other Greek islands, became subject successively to 

 Rome, the Byssantine emperors, the Venetians, and the Turks. It now 

 forms part of the new kingdom of Greece, and is included ui the 

 nomi; of the Cyclades, .of which Syra is the capital. 



North of Milo is the rocky island of Cimoloa, now called Cimoli 

 by the Greeks, and by the Italians Argentieba, from a silver-mine 

 which was formerly worked on the island. The channel between Milo 

 and Argentiera is only half a mile wide, and very dangerous in stormy 

 weather. Off the entrance of the strait to the east, and about five 

 miles from the eastern coast of Milo, is the littlu desert island of 

 Anti-MUo, the highest point of which is in 86° 47' 42" N. lat, 24° 

 14' 41' E. long. 



MILTON, sometimes distinguished as Milton-next-Sittingboume, 

 Kent, a small market-town, and the seat of a Poor-Law Union, in the 

 parish of Milton, is situated on the side of a hill sloping down to a 

 creek or arm of the river Swale, iu 61° 21' N. lat, 0° 43' E. long., 11 



