The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

210 RUSSIA IX EUROPE.down from the interior. To the west, on the Kurland Aa, here a considerablestream, lies Mitau, capital of Kurland and former residence of the Duke, whosename was so familiar in Europe when Louis XVIII. held his court here inthe beginning of the century. The vast ducal palace, planned in the style ofVersailles, stands in the midst of groves and lakelets. Mitau itself, occupied bythe aristocracy, schools, and boarding-houses, is almost exclusively German,although the surrounding district is entirely peopled by Letts, here somewhatcontemptuously called " Easterns."The river "Windau flows by Goldingen to the Baltic at the little port ofWtndau, owing to its dangerous bar less frequented than Libau, farther south,whose harbour is formed by the lake known as " Little Sea," now connectedFig. 115.Libau.Scale 1 : 30,000.with the Baltic by a canal. Being the southernmost of all the Bussian Balticports, Libau is free of ice three weeks earlier than Riga, and six weeks earlier thanSt. Petersburg, and is now connected by rail with Vilna. Unfortunately the barat the mouth of the canal has little over 10 or 11 feet of water, and is constantlychanging its position and size. The yellow amber fishery south of Libau yieldsabout 5,000 lbs. yearly ; but amber is seldom found on the coast north of thisplace.