246 



RUSSIA IN EUEOPE. 



Silesia and Poznania belongs to the "Warta basin — that is, to the Oder — while the 

 province of Suwalki, in the north-east, is comprised in the Niémen basin. All the 

 rest of the land is watered by the Vistula, the ]N"arev, the Bug-, and their affluents. 



On entering Poland the Vistula, or Visla, is already a noble stream, navigable 

 for craft of considerable draught, and from 820 to 1,300 feet wide. Enlarged by the 

 San, on the Austrian frontier, and farther down by the Wieprz, Pilica, and Bug, it 

 discharges a mean volume of at least 27,000 cubic feet per second before reaching 

 Prussian territory, beyond which it receives no further tributaries of any size. 

 Thanks to this water highway, the Poles are able to ship for Dantzic their timber, 

 cereals, and produce of all kinds. 



Poland abounds in prehistoric remains of the various stone, bronze, and iron 

 ages. The Bug and Vistula valleys w^ere naturally followed by the migratory 



Fig. 117. — The Lysa Gora Range. 

 Scale 1 : 445,000. 



Eof- P 





-^^mw 



r^-i0 





n- Sfupianowa 



50' %!/m;- 



'W 



I r.. -J 



i # of,. , 



twdt%iskaAi--i'^ 



E of Gr. 



5 Miles. 



tribes and traders passing from the Euxine to the Baltic. Pagan graves are very 

 numerous, some of vast size, and certain artificial mounds in the Vistula basin 

 dating from the neolithic period have a circuit of 570 yards. The numerous 

 lakelets, many of which have been drained, also preserve traces of old lacustrine 

 dwellings like those of Switzerland. Funeral urns containing ashes and charred 

 bones, bronze bodkins, rings, pearls, and other small articles have been found in 

 thousands, and the remains of pottery are so abundant in some districts that the 

 inhabitants fancied such ware were produced spontaneously in the ground. 

 Amongst the urns found in graves of much later date than the stone age, and 

 containing metal objects, several present the profile of a human head, and from 

 some Poman remains found in them, these have been referred to the first century 

 of the Christian era. 



