HUNGARY owing to the great northern barrier of the Car- pathians. Often, when snow covers the north- ern mountain regions, the heat is considerable on the lowlands of the south, especially near the Maros. The climate of the great central plain resembles that of northern Italy; its sandy wastes, however, greatly contribute to the aridity of the summer winds. Blasts of wind and hailstorms are not unfreqaent in the Carpathians. The spring is the most agreeable season, but the autumn often partakes of the character of the Indian summer in the United States. The fertility of the soil, with the ex- ception of several mountainous and sandy regions, is almost extraordinary. Among the vegetable productions are : the different species of grain, especially wheat, maize, hemp, flax, rapeseed, melons, often of immense size, apples, pears, apricots, and plums ; cherries, mulber- ries, chestnuts, filberts, and walnuts ; tobacco, which is now monopolized by the crown ; wine of the most various kinds, including the Tokay of the Hegyalja ; almonds, figs, and olives, on the southern border; anise, Turkish pepper, sweet wood, safflower, madder, and other dye plants; oaks, which yield large quantities of galls, the beech, fir, pine, ash, alder, and nu- merous other forest trees, often covering ex- tensive tracts of land in the mountainous re- gions. Among the animals are the bear, wolf, lynx, wild cat, boar, chamois, marmot, deer, fox, hare ; many fine breeds of horses and cat- tle (including buffaloes), dogs, sheep, and swine, the last of which are fattened in the forests on acorns. The birds comprise the golden and stone eagle, hawk, kite, bustard, heron, par- tridge, woodcock, nightingale, and lark. Fish, bees, and leeches abound. Of minerals, there are gold, iron, and copper in large quantities; silver, zinc, lead, coal, cobalt, nitre, antimony, arsenic, sulphur, alum, soda, saltpetre, potas- sium, marble, crystal, chalk ; salt in immense mines, especially in M&rmaros ; jasper, chalce- dony, hyacinths, amethysts, agates, and beau- tiful varieties of opal (in Saros). There are more than 300 mineral springs, of which those of Buda, Trentschin, Post6ny, Bartfeld, Parad, and Szobrancz are among the most renown- ed. The chief articles of export are wheat, rapeseed, galls, honey, wax, wine, tobacco, copper, alum, potash, wood, cattle, sheep, swine, hides, wool, dried fruits, and brandies, especially Mvovitza or plum liquor. For im- ports and manufactures Hungary relies mainly on Austria, the chief home manufactures, be- sides metals, being linen and woollens, leather, paper, pottery and clay pipes, soap and can- dles, and tobacco. The means of communica- tion, formerly scanty, are now rapidly extend- ing. Steamers ply on the Danube and Theiss ; a network of railways connects the various parts of the country with each other and with the neighboring provinces. The principal seats of learning are at Pesth, which is also the lit- erary centre, Presburg, Kaschau, Debreczin, Patak, Papa, Erlau, Veszprem, Miskolcz, Sze- gedin, Stuhl-Weissenburg, and Grosswardein. The variety of nationalities and languages rivals that of productions. There are Magyars or Hungarians proper, the predominant race (according to the census of 1869, about 5,688,- 000 in the lands of the Hungarian crown, in- cluding the Szeklers of Transylvania ; 5,024,000 in Hungary proper), chiefly in the fertile re- gions of the centre and in the southwest; Slo- vaks (1,841,000) in the mountain regions of the northwest and north ; Ruthenians (448,000) in those of the northeast ; Croats and Serbs (Ras- cians) in the south and southwest (about 2,405,- 700, of whom about 800,000 are in Hungary proper) ; Roumans in the southeast (about 2,477,700, of whom about 1,270,000 are in Hungary proper) ; Germans(l, 894,800; in Hun- gary proper, 1,592,000) and Jews (552,000, mainly in Hungary proper), chiefly in the towns of all regions; gypsies (50,000), settled in towns and villages, or migratory ; besides Armenians, French, Bulgarians, &c. These various ele,- ments are distinguished not only by language, but also by peculiar costumes, manners, and moral characteristics. Of the inhabitants in 1869, 7,558,000 (in Hungary proper, 5,933,000) were Roman Catholics, 1,599,000 (in Hungary proper, 981,000) united Greeks, 2,589,000 (in Hungary proper, 1,414,000) non-united Greeks, 2,031,000 (in Hungary proper, 1,720,000) Calvinists (Reformed, popularly Hungarian church), 1,113,000 (in Hungary proper, 887,- 000) Lutherans, and 552,000 Jews. Public edu- cation was reorganized in 1868. The common schools are of two grades : elementary schools with from one to three classes (14,685 in 1869), and schools of a higher grade with as many as six classes (569 in 1869). Education is com- pulsory, and children are hound to attend school from their 6th to their 12th year, and after that until their 15th year a " school of review." The actual attendance, however, is as yet unsatisfactory, and in 1869 amounted to only 50 per cent, of the children of school age, the number of attendants being 1,226,000. In 1869 there were 152 gymnasia, 25 Real- schulen, and a university at Pesth. In 1872 a second university was opened at Klausenburg. The Hungarian diet consists of two houses, the table of magnates and the table of depu- ties. The former in 1873 was composed of the 3 archdukes who had landed estates in Hungary, 31 Roman Catholic and Greek arch- bishops, bishops, and high church dignitaries, 12 imperial banner bearers, 57 presidents of counties, 5 supreme royal judges, the count of the Saxons in Transylvania, the governor of Fiume, 3 princes, 218 counts, 80 barons, and 3 " regalists " of Transylvania. The table of deputies had 444 members, of whom 334 be- longed to Hungary proper, 75 to Transylvania, 1 to Fiume, and 34 to Croatia and Slavonia. The diet 'meets annually, and new elections must take place every three years. The right of voting belongs to all who have a regular business or pay a small amount of direct taxes,
