KALISZ

kalisz, a government of russian poland, having prussia on the w., and the governments of warsaw and piotrkow on the e. its area is 4390 sq. m. its surface is a lowland, sloping towards the west, and is drained by the prosna and the warta and their tributaries, and also by the bzura. it was formerly covered with countless small lakes and thick forests; the latter are now mostly destroyed, but many lakes and marshes exist still. pop. (1897), 844,358 of whom 427,978 were women, and 113,609 lived in towns; estimated pop. (1906), 983,200. they are chiefly poles. roman catholics number 83%; jews and protestants each amount to 7%. agriculture is carried to perfection on a number of estates, as also livestock breeding. the crops principally raised are rye, wheat, oats, barley and potatoes. various domestic trades, including the weaving of linen and wool, are carried on in the villages. there are some factories, producing chiefly cloth and cottons. the government is divided into eight districts, the chief towns of which, with their populations in 1897, are: kalisz (21,680), kolo (9400), konin (8530), leczyca (8863), slupec (3758), sieradz (7019), turek (8141) and wielun (7442).