There are numerous fortified posts on the Caucasian coast, the chief of which is Poti, at the mouth of the Rion. The Caucasus itself has numerous fortifications of varying importance: Yekaterinodar on the Kuban; Adagan, Krymskaya, and Bakar on affluents of the left bank of that river; Vladikavkaz on the Terek and Nalchik on one of its left affluents; Derbend on the Caspian; Gunib and Deshlagar in Daghestan; liflis; Akalchik, Alexandropol, Erivan, and the recent annexations Kars, Ardahan, and Batum. In the Asiatic dominions are Krasnovodsk and Chikishlar on the Caspian; Chat, Kizil-Arvat, Askabad, and Sarakhs, on the Persian frontier; Nukuss and Petro-Alexandrovsk on the Khiva frontier; on that of Bokhara, Katy-kurgan and Samarkand, Ura-tiube and Khojent; on that of Kashgar, Karakol and Naryn. In the interior of Russian Turkestan are several fortified places, as at Kazalinsk, Karamakchi, and Tashkent. All these latter are earthworks, of importance only against the Asiatic neighbours of Russia. On the Pacific coast there are fortifications at Nikolaievsk, at the mouth of the Amour, and Vladivostok. Area and Population. The Russian empire comprises one-seventh of the land surface of the globe, and about one twenty-sixth part of its entire surface. Owing to the vast extent of the Empire, and its social condition, no surveys that can lay claim to accuracy have yet been made, and the area is obtained in greater part from estimates. There has been likewise no general census of the population, but various enumerations, made by the government in recent years, mainly undertaken for purposes of finance or war, serve to furnish an approximately correct return of the numbers of the people. According to them, the total area of the Empire embraces, with interior seas, 8,644,100 English square miles, while the total population numbers 102,970,000, being, on the average, 12 individuals to the square mile. The density of population of European Russia is considerably greater than that of the Asiatic part of the Empire. Russia in Europe (including Poland and Finland), comprising an area of 2,095,500 English square miles, with 87,074,236 inhabitants, has, on the average, 40 individuals to the square mile, while Asiatic Russia, extending over 6,548,600 English square. miles, with less than 16,000,00 inhabitants, has not much more than two individuals to the square mile. The following table exhibits the details of official estimates,referring to the year 1882, as regards the whole of European Russia (1883 for Finland) and mostly to 1878-84, in respect to the Asiatic portion of the Empire-concerning the area and population of the various political and geographical divisions of the Empire of Russia: The internal waters (lakes and estuaries) occupy the following areas, in square miles :-In European Russia, 25,804; in Finland, 18,471; in Siberia, 18,863; and in Central Asia, 19,855. The Seas of Azov, Caspian and Lake Aral cover an aggregate surface of 213,874 square miles. The populations given in the above are approximate. The military are not included. Other estimates, by M. Seidlitz, Secretary to the Caucasus Statistical Committee, give the population as follows :-Aklal Tekke, 49 settlements, 8,392 kibitkas (tents) of Turcomans, with a population of some less than 40,000 Tekkes; the bulk belong to the Wekil stem (2686 tents), the Bek (1680 tents), and Sychmas (1570 tents). The immigrant population numbers 930 Armenians (with one single woman), 1,163 Persians and Tartars, 340 Russians, 28 Jews, and 4 Georgians. According to official returns the total numbers of births, deaths, and marriages in Russia in Europe (except Poland and Finland and Bessarabia) were as follows in each of the years from 1871 to 1878: On the average of these years about 3 per cent. of the births were illegitimate. The following are the statistics of births, deaths, and marriages for 1880-83: In 1882 the percentage of deaths in Russia in Europe was 390 (32.4 in 1881), and in the Asiatic dominions 28.4. The maximum mortality was in 1881 in Perm (42) and in Moscow (40); and the minimum in Astrakhan (18). Of boys only 48 per cent. reach 21 years, and of these 32 per cent. are too weak for military service. According to official statistics there was in Russia in Europe an excess of emigration over immigration in the case of Russians of 352,000 in ten years; but the statistics are incomplete. During the years 1872-81, no less than 406,180 Germans, and 255,600 Austrians immigrated into Russia. The great majority of the population of Russia are devoted to agricultural occupations, and dwell in villages, spread thinly over the vast area of the empire. The aggregate number of settlements reached, in 1882, 555,278 in the Russian provinces; of these 601 had municipal institutions. The following are the populations of the principal towns, mostly according to estimates of 1881-84 : Towns Russia in Europe St. Petersburg Population 41,098 23,083 40,536 Yaroslaff 23,032 40,124 Abo (1883) 24,619 39,969 Kertch. 22,449 39,926 Balta (1880) 22,440 Serpukhoff(1884) 22,418 37,981 Plock (1881). 22,092 37,091 Gomel For the ethnical elements of the population sce 1885 p. 416. According to a recent partial census, the Jews number 2,843,364 in the western and south-western provinces of Russia (2,261,863 in towns), that is 11.3 per cent. of the aggregate population; 77,275 Piotrkow (1884) 24,840 Tobolsk (1883) 20,132 21,500 |