The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

LITHUANIA. 263If, on the oth->r band, a nation consisting almost entirely of shrewd, intelligentpersons, full of poetic fire, with a strong feeling of personal dignity, has neverproduced a single great poet or eminent genius in the intellectual world, itwas probably because a sense of self-reliance was wanting in a comparativelysmall race, beset, and at last overwhelmed, by enemies.They no longer retaineda feeling of national existence. Their ancient religious organization, survivingtill the close of the fourteenth century, betrays a remarkable spirit of submission.Although divided into numerous tribes, they bad a religious head, who regulatedthe observances and doctrines for all. This " pope," or hrite-kriveyto, dwelt inthe sacred grove of Bomove, in Prussian Lithuania, surrounded by a hierarchy ofvdidelots, or minstrel priests, and invisible to the profane, with whom he communicatedonly through messengers provided with insignia before which allprostrate.Expelled by the Teutonic Knights, this high priest took refuge first inthe district about the confluence of Xiemen and Dubissa, below where now standsKovno, and then in a place near Yilna, which has remained sacred even inChristian times. Even down to the last century certain households still cherisheddomestic snakes as sacred animals, sharing in the morning milk with the children.A nation of husbandmen, waggoners, and woodmen closely attached to thetraditional customs, the Lithuanians resign themselves readily to fate, withoutseeking to anticipate their destiny. They formerly gave a royal dynasty toPoland, but they ended by gradually accepting the supremacy of their allies.They welcomed the priests sent them by the Poles, and conformed to the Catholicbelief, although not without a show of opposition.fellIn the same way they receivedthe nobles and became serfs. The land passed entirely into the hands of asoutbern aristocracy, and amid the silence of an enslaved people it was longsupposed that Lithuania formed an integral part of Poland, both ethnically andpolitically. " Lithuanian phlegm " has become proverbial, nor has any other peopleso resignedly submitted to the vicissitudes of life. Many at the age of forty or fiftyshake off the cares of property, resigning their possessions to a son or son-in-law,and becoming guests where they had been masters.Besides the Lithuanians the country is occupied by some Germans and Lettsnear the Baltic and Dvina ; by Poles, especially in the province of Yilna ; byBlack, "White, and Little Russians ; in the towns by swarms of Jews ; lastly, bya few communities of Tatars, tanners and traders, now speaking Polish, butretaining their Mohammedan practices. But while the Tatars have lost theirnational speech, the Karai'tic Jews still speak the Tatar dialect of the Crimea.Tenure ofLand.An economical revolution similar to that of Poland has been effected since thelarge proprietors have been compelled to allow the peasantry to purchase aportion of their estates. After the insurrection of 1863 the Government enforcedthe redemption of the peasants' lands on conditions varying with the circumstancesof each district. In Kovno out of 318,800 peasants, 110.800 menials and dayt 2