D A N 



574 



DAN 



Bauizic. the ground floor there is a kind of gallery called Beys- 

 c/ilag, which projects into the street, and in the middle 

 of ■which is the chief entrance. The principal puhlic 

 buildings are the cathedral ; the building which 5 was 

 formerly the college of the Jesuits; the Lutheran college; 

 the Hotel de Ville ; the Court of the Nobles ; the Junker- 

 Hof, or the Court of Artus ; the church of St Catherine 

 and the tomb of Hevelius ; the mill upon the Radaune ; 

 the gate of the Lang-gasse, and the green gate. The 

 chief curiosities in the cathedral, which is one of the 

 finest churches in Europe, are the organ, the baptistery, 

 and the picture of the last judgment : The hotel de ville 

 is a handsome building, and has a library and a cabi- 

 net of painting, in which are the original manuscripts 

 of the Selenographie, and the Mackina Celestis of Heve- 

 lius. The arsenal contains the marble monument which 

 Sigismond had carried to be sculptured in Italy in ho- 

 nour of his lather the king of Sweden ; and the Jun- 

 kerhof, which is the place of exchange, contains a 

 marble statue of Augustus III. 



The principal literary establishments are the Gym- 

 nasium, the Physical Society, and the Society for the 

 promotion^ of Commerce. The library of the Gym- 

 nasium possesses about 30,000 volumes. The Physical 

 Society has an excellent zoological and mineralogical 

 collection. The Cabinet of Curiosities belonging to 

 SchefHer, contains more than 4000 masses of yellow 

 amber. The library of the church of St John is also 

 worthy of notice. Besides the public buildings which 

 have been mentioned, Dantzic contains seven Lutheran 

 churches, two belonging to Calvinists, and one Roman 

 Catholic chapel. 



The public granaries, which consist of a great many 

 buildings four or five stories high, form a separate town, 

 called Speicher Island, encompassed by water, and com- 

 municating with the city by a draw-bridge. A number 

 of fierce mastiffs are kept for the defence of the gra- 

 naries, and are let loose at 1 or 11 o'clock at night. 



The harbour of Dantzic is very large, and there is a 

 good canal which communicates with the Motlau, and 

 is very convenient for the transportation of merchan- 

 dize. It is defended by a fortress at Weichselmunde, 

 and there is a lofty tower which serves for a light-house. 

 Ships which draw more than eight feet of water cannot 

 enter the canal which leads from the Vistula to the city ; 

 but their cargoes are conveyed in barks called bordings. 



Dantzic has long been regarded as one of the prin- 

 cipal granaries of Europe. The corn received from 

 Poland, which is annually exported from Dantzic, is 

 computed at 730,000 tons, or 365,000 lasts. It is 

 brought from Poland in sloops of from 30 to 60 tons, 

 which bring also the pther productions of Poland, 

 namely, potash, flax, wax, masts, wood for shipbuild- 

 ing, staves, superior to those of Hamburgh. Poland 

 in return draws from Dantzic about 2000 tons of Swe- 

 dish iron annually ; articles of Indian manufacture, linen 

 cloth, silks, brandy, and wines. The principal exports 

 from Dantzic are the masts of ships, cork wood, hemp 

 and flax, potash (called the alkali of Dantzic), honey, 

 wax, tallow, steel, iron, copper, lead, saltpetre, tar, am- 

 ber, skins, furs, wool, and salt from Poland. In the 

 year 1788, the following estimate was made of its com- 

 merce. The 60,000 lasts of corn which came from Po- 

 land amounted, at 18 ducats per last, to about 2,080,000 

 ducats. The other articles, as wood, potash, linens, 

 skins, honey, &c. which came from Poland, amounted 

 to nearly the same sum ; so that there was an annual 

 capital of 6,000, 000 rix-dollars vested in commerce. The 

 profit upon this sum amounted to about 1,200,000 rixi 

 3 



dollars, from which deducting 1 50,000 for taxes, custom- 

 house dues, and the interest of money, there is left 900,000 

 rix-dollars for the annual profit upon their commerce. 



In some particular years the trade of tills city was so 

 great that the barks and vessels which came down the 

 Vistula from Poland and Prussia, amounted to 1288, 

 and the ships which arrived and cleared out of its har- 

 bour were 1054.. In 1802, 1674 ships entered Dantzic, 

 and 19l6 cleared out. The following is a list of them. 



Arrived. 

 Engligh .... 505 

 Danish .... 336 

 East Friesland 274? 



Dutch 261 



Swedish .... 186 



Dantzic, 



Danube. 



Prussian 



86 



Cleared out. Arrived. ( 



Cleared 01 



. 526 Bremen '. 43 



. 14 



. 279 French . 22 . 



. 124 



Italy ... 2 . 



. 10 



. 474 Spain . . 2 



. 47 



. 129 America . 1 



1 





. . . 1 



In 1806, however, the number of ships that arrived was 

 only 377, and those that cleared out 408. 



The following are the principal articles which Were 

 manufactured in Dantzic, woollen stuffs, cloths, gold 

 and silver stuffs, lace, ribbands, white and black soap, 

 starch, gunpowder, paper, cutlery goods, tobacco, salt- 

 petre, Morocco leather of all colours, shoes and slippers ; 

 red and yellow boots for children ; tanned leather ; var- 

 nish made of amber, gum sandarach and oil ; musical in- 

 struments ; furs which are dyed in a very superior man- 

 ner; different liqueurs, and a kind of spruce beer known 

 in England by the name of black beer. The total amount 

 of the manufactures of Dantzic in 1804, was 774,569 

 German crowns, one of which is equal to 3 francs. 



Among the objects which are deserving of notice in 

 the environs of Dantzic, we may mention the Abbey of 

 Oliva, celebrated by the peace which was concluded 

 there in 1660. The apartment and the table -where 

 the act was signed are still to be seen ; and this great 

 event is recorded on a tablet of marble. The chapel of 

 the Virgin, and that of the Abbe Rybinsky, in the form 

 of an ancient round temple, are greatly admired. 



Although more than 40,000 of the inhabitants of 

 Dantzic were carried off by the plague in 1709, yet in 

 1730, the population was reckoned to be 200,000. In 

 1 7,52 the number of deaths are stated at 1846 by Busch- 

 ing, which calculating at 1 in 50, gives a population of 

 92,300. In 1774, the population was estimated at 

 50,000. In 1783, the number of births was 1118, and 

 the deaths 1683, which gives a population of 84,150, 

 reckoning at the rate of 1 in 50. In 1802, the popula- 

 tion was 47,000, exclusive of the garrison. In 1 804, it 

 was reckoned at 60,097, including the garrison. 



The various political revolutions which this city has 

 sustained will be related in another part of our work. 

 In 1806, when it was besieged by the French under 

 Marshal Lefebvre, the Avhole of the suburbs were burn- 

 ed down, and 3000 buildings considerably damaged. 

 The loss on this occasion was estimated at one million 

 and a half sterling. During the siege which it under- 

 went during the last year (1813) from the allied army, 

 it has also received very considerable injury ; and even 

 if the independence of Europe and the freedom of com- 

 merce are completely established, a series of years must 

 elapse before Dantzic recovers from the severe losses 

 which have been so cruelly inflicted upon her. East 

 Long, by astronomical observations, 18° 38' 30", North 

 Lat. 54° 20' 48". (*•) 



DANUBE, or Donau, is the greatest river in Ger- 

 many, whether we consider its length, its depth, or its 

 width, and is the largest of all the rivers in Europe ex- 

 cept the Wolga. Without counting its windings, the 



