VYATKA, or VIATICA  , a government of N.E . Russia, with the government of Vologda on the N., Perm on the E., Ufa and Kazan on-the S. and Nizhniy-Novgorod and Kostroma on the W., having an area of 59,100 sq. m . It has on its northern boundary the flat water-parting which separates the basins of the Northern Dvina and the Volga, and its surface is an undulating plateau Boo to '400 ft. above sea-level, deeply grooved by rivers and assuming a hilly aspect on their banks . The Kama rises in the N.E., and, after making a wide sweep through Perm, flows along its S.E. boundary, while the rest of the government is drained by the Vyatka and its numerous tributaries . Both the Kama and the Vyatka are navigable, as also are several tributaries; the Izh and Votka, which flow into the Vyatka, have important ironworks on their banks . The only railway is one from Perm to Archangel, through the town of Vyatka; the government is traversed by the great highway to Siberia, and by two other roads by which goods from the south are transported to loading-places on the Vychegda and the Yug to be shipped to Archangel . Lakes are numerous, and vast marshes exist everywhere, especially in the north . The climate is very severe, the average yearly temperature being 36° F. at Vyatka (January, 8.2°; July, 67.0°) and 35° at Slobodsk (January, 3.5 July, 65.3°) The estimated pop. in 1906 was 3,532,600 . The bulk ofthe inhabitants (78 %) are Russians; Votyaks make 12.2 %, Cheremisses 5 %, and Tatars 34 %, the remainder being Bashkirs, Teptyars and Permyaks . The Votyaks (Otyaks), a Finnish tribe, call themselves Ot, Ut or Ud, and the Tatars call them Ar, so that they may possibly be akin to the Ars of the Yenisei . They are middle-sized, with fair hair and eyes, often red-haired; and the general structure of the face and skull is Finnish . By their dialect they belong to the same branch as the Permyaks .

The government is divided into eleven districts, the

chief towns of which are Vyatka, Elabuga, Glazov, Kotelnich, Malmyzh, Nolinsk, Orlov, Sarapul, Slobodsk, Urzhum and Yaransk . Izhevsk and Votkinsk, or Kamsko-Votkinsk, have important ironworks . Some 55 % of the surface is covered with forests, two-thirds of which belong to the crown, and hunting (especially squirrel-hunting) and fishing are of commercial importance . The peasants, who form 89% of the population, own 44% of the whole government, the crown 53 % and private persons 2 % . The soil is fertile, especially in the valleys of the south . Vyatka is one of the chief grain-producing governments of Russia . The principal crops are rye, wheat, oats, barley and potatoes . Flax and hemp are extensively cultivated, and large numbers of cattle are kept, but they are mostly of inferior breed . The government has a race of good ponies that are widely exported . Domestic industries occupy large numbers of the inhabitants . The principal manufacturing establishments are tanneries, distilleries, ironworks, chemical works, glass factories, cotton and steam flour-mills, and hardware, machinery, paper and fur-dressing works . (P .

A . K.; J . T .