or Tyrol, a county of Germany in the circle of Austria, under which may be included the territories belonging to the bishops of Brixen, Trent, and Chur, the Teutonic Order, and the prince of Dietrichstein, the Austrian seigniories before the Allerberg, and the Austrian districts in Swabia. It is 150 miles in length, and 120 in breadth, and contains 28 large towns.

The face of the country is very mountainous. Of these mountains, some have their tops always buried in snow; others are covered with woods, abounding with a variety of game; and others are rich in metals, and marble of all colours. Of the lower, some yield plenty of corn, others wine, and woods of chestnut trees. The valleys are exceeding fertile also, and pleasant. In some places considerable quantities of flax are raised, in others there is a good breed of horses and horned cattle; and, among the mountains, abundance of chamois and wild goats. In this country are also found precious stones of several sorts; as garnets, rubies, amethysts, emeralds, and a species of diamonds, agates, carnelians, calcadoes, malachites, &c.; nor is it without hot baths, acid waters, salt pits, mines of silver, copper, and lead, mineral colours, alum, and vitriol. The principal river of Tirol is the Inn, which, after traversing the country, and receiving a number of lesser streams into it, enters Bavaria, in which, at Passau, it falls into the Danube. The men here are very tall, robust, and vigorous; the women also are stout, and generally fair; and both sexes have a mixture of the Italian and German in their tempers and characters. As there is little trade or manufacture in the country, except what is occasioned by the mines and salt works, many of the common people are obliged to seek a subsistence elsewhere. A particular kind of salutation is used all over Tirol. When a person comes into a house, he says, "Hail! Jesus Christ;" the answer is, "May Christ be praised, and the Holy Virgin his mother." Then the master of the house takes the visitor by the hand. This salutation is fixed up in print at all the doors, with an advertisement tacked to it, importing, that Pope Clement XI. granted 100 days indulgence, and a plenary abolution, to those who should pronounce the salutation and answer, as often as they did it. The emperor has forts and citadels so advantageously situated on rocks and mountains all over the country, that they command all the valleys, avenues, and passes that lead unto it. The inhabitants, however, to keep them in good humour, are more gently treated, and not so highly taxed as those of the other hereditary countries. As to the states, they are much the same in this country as in the other Austrian territories, except that the peasants here send deputies to the diets. Tirol came to the house of Austria in the year 1363, when Margaret, countess thereof, bequeathed it to her uncles the dukes of Austria. The arms of Tirol are an eagle gules, in a field argent. The counts of Trap are hereditary stewards; the lords of Glotz, chamberlains; the princes of Trautson, marshals; the counts of Wolfenstein, masters of the horse and carvers; the house of Spaur, cup-bearers; the counts of Kungl., sewers and rangers; the counts of Brandis, keepers of the jewels; the house of Welsberg, purveyors and staff-bearers; and the counts of Coalto, falconers. Besides the governor, there are three sovereign colleges, subordinate to the court at Vienna, which sit at Innspruck, and have their different departments. Towards the expenses of the military establishment of this country, the proportion is 100,000 florins yearly; but no more than one regiment of foot is generally quartered in it.

Tirol is divided into six quarters, as they are called; namely, those of the Lower and Upper Innthal, Vintfogow, Etch, Eifack, and Pufferthal.