[54] For these railway lines, and other places mentioned in this chapter, see map, p. [311].
[55] Or Kurland, Baltic province of Russia between the Gulf of Riga on the north and the province of Kovno on the south. It has many small, scattered lakes, and almost one-third of the surface is covered with forest.
[56] Sacred pictures found in all Russian churches and houses.
[57] Shō-pan´. Frédéric François Chopin (1809-49), great Polish musical composer and the finest pianist of his time. No man has ever excelled him in writing music for the piano.
[58] Equivalent to our second lieutenant.
[59] In 1707, when Charles XII. of Sweden invaded Russia and bade fair to overrun the country, Peter the Great put himself at the head of his army, and on July 5, 1709, inflicted a great defeat on the Swedes and drove them out of the country.
[60] In 1812, when Napoleon invaded Russia and marched to Moscow (see Vol. I., p. 64), Alexander I. placed himself at the head of the army, and by wasting the country forced Napoleon to retreat.
[61] See chap. xxxi.
[62] South Tirol, on the north-east frontier land of Italy; part of Austria, but inhabited chiefly by Italian-speaking people, and therefore claimed by Italy, which also claims the coast-lands round the head of the Adriatic Sea.
[63] River rising at the junction of the Julian and Carnic Alps and flowing southwards in a winding course to the Gulf of Trieste. Its length is about seventy-five miles, of which but little is navigable.