The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

POLAND: TOWNS. 255grounds and suburban retreats, much frequented on feast-days. Sucli is the palaceof Lazienki, charmingly situated on an old bed of the river south of the city, andadorned with marble statues and artificial ruins, serving as the scene of an open-airtheatre. The Wola plain, stretching westwards, recalls those hotly contestedroyal elections, when as many as 200,000 nobles, with their retinues, would hereencamp, at times more like hostile factions than peaceful citizens. Farther onSobieski's castle of Wilanov contains a picture gallery, a collection of coins, andan historical library. Amongst the celebrities born in or near Warsaw may bementioned Chopin and Lelewel, historian, geographer, and patriot.Twenty-one miles below Warsaw the united Bug and Narev join the Vistulaat the town of Nowij Dwor, and both streams are commanded from the north bythe fortress of Noico Georgiewsk, or Modlin, which passes for a model of militaryengineering, with a fortified camp capable of accommodating 30,000 or 40,000troops." Nearly all the towns of the eastern provinces of Siedlce, Lomza, Warsaw,belong to the Narev and Bug basins. Between Warsaw and the fortress of Brestarc Kalaszyn, Siedlce, Micdzyrzecz, and Biala, or Bala, all surrounded by rich cornfields.Towards the Lithuanian frontier are Wlodawa, Ostron; Tykocin, Lomza,Ostroleka, scene of the decisive battle which opened Warsaw to the Russians in1831, and Pultmk, also the scene of memorable conflicts between Swedes andSaxons, French and Russians.West of Warsaw and of the Narev junction most of the towns lie far from themain stream in the lateral basins: amongst them are Rawa and Brzenziny, in theindustrial district of which Lodz is the centre ;Skientietriec, an important railwayjunction; Gabin and Gosfyniii, on a plateau south of the main stream. On theMazovian slopes north of it are Mlaica Plonsk and Lipno. But here the mostimportant places are Plod;, an episcopal town, founded in the tenth century on ahill overlooking the Vistula, long the residence of the Mazovian dukes, andWlochuvcl;, a busy fluvial mart.The province of Suwalki, in the Niemen basin, and almost completely cut offfrom the rest of Poland by extensive swamps, is peopled chiefly by Lithuanians,and formed part of Lithuania down to the last partition of the kingdom. Here isAugustowo, connected by water with both the Vistula and Niemen basins, andformerly capital of the government. The present capital is Suwalki, like Kalivarya,Wilkoicyski, and the other towns of this province largely peopled by Jews.Here are also some colonies of Great Russian Raskolniks, who numbered 11,000in 18G4, and have since been increased by immigrants from Prussia.