weaving of linen and lace is
pursued as a household industry.

Carniola had in 1900 a population of 508,348, which corresponds to 132
inhabitants per sq. m. Nearly 95% were Slovenes and 5% Germans, while
99% of the population belonged to the Roman Catholic Church. The local
diet, of which the bishop of Laibach is a member _ex officio_, is
composed of thirty-seven members, and Carniola sends eleven deputies to
the Reichsrat at Vienna. For administrative purposes the province is
divided into eleven districts and one autonomous municipality, Laibach
(pop. 36,547), the capital. Other important places are Oberlaibach
(5882), Idria (5772), Gurkfeld (5294), Zirknitz (5266), Adelsberg
(3636), Neumarktl (2626), Krainburg (2484) and Gottschee (2421).

Carniola derives its modern name from the Slavonic word _Krajina_
(frontier). During the Roman Empire it formed part of Noricum and
Pannonia. The Slavonic population settled here during the end of the 6th
and the beginning of the 7th century. Conquered by Charlemagne, the most
of the district was bestowed on the duke of Friuli; but in the 10th
century the title of margrave of Carniola began to be borne by a family
resident in the castle of Kieselberg near Krainburg. Various parts of
the present territory were, however, held by other lords, such as the
duke of Carinthia and the bishop of Freising. Towards the close of the
14th century all the separate portions had come by inheritance or
bequest into the hands of Rudolph IV. of Austria, who took the title of
duke of Carniola; and since then the duchy has remained a part of the
Austrian possessions, except during the short period from 1809 to 1813,
when it was incorporated with the French Illyrian Provinces. In 1849 it
became a separate crown-land.

See Dimitz, _Geschichte Krains von der altesten Zeit his 1813_ (4
vols., Laibach, 1874-1876).

CARNIVAL (Med. Lat. _carnelevarium_, from _caro, carnis_, flesh, and
_levare_, to lighten or put aside; the derivation from _valere_, to say
farewell, is unsupported), the last three days preceding Lent, which in
Roman Catholic countries are given up to feasting and merry-making.
Anciently the carnival was held to begin on twelfth night (6th January)
and last till midnight of Shrove Tuesday. There is little doubt that
this period of licence represents a compromise which the church always
inclined to make with the pagan festivals and that the carnival really
represents the Roman Satu