Wends

a Slavic people related to the Poles and the Bohemians. They number about 120,000. Of these, one-tenth are Catholics, the remainder are chiefly Lutherans. They have quite a printed literature. They use the German alphabet in their publications. At one time they occupied a large district in eastern Germany, but they became surrounded by German people and were entirely cut off from their old Slavic neighbors. They now occupy a few isolated colonies and a territory of about 1,200 square miles in the upper valley of the Spree, islands, as it were, in the great sea of Germans. They still preserve their ancient language and customs, but they are Germanizing slowly. There is an ancient settlement of Wends, for instance, in the city of Halle. They are known as Hallorans. They retain their old customs and have a monopoly of making salt and of the undertaking business. Outside of their present settlements they have become assimilated with the German people, contributing the dark hair and features to be found so extensively in eastern Prussia and some parts of Saxony. See Halle; Poland; Slavs