Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/464

Rh 448 Denmark. Older Tertiary formations are absent from Germany, save the portion of the Eocene Alps included within the territory of Bavaria. But Miocene deposits extend into numerous detached basins, including those of the Rhine below Bonn, and at Mainz, the country round .l-agdeburg, and the plains of Bavaria. These strata contain valuable seams of lignite. The vast plains of northern Germany are covered with glacial drift, which rises to heights of 1400 feet above the sea along the edges of the ﬂanking hills. Igneous rocks of different ages have been erupted in many districts, and further diversify the geology. The best known are the Tertiary and post-Tertiary lavas and cones of the Eifel and Sieheugebirge; others of more ancient date occur along the southern slopes of the Harz. .l[o2mtains and Plateaus.—Bava1‘ia is the only division of the countrythat includes within it any part of the Alps, the Austro-Bavarian frontier running along the ridge of the Northern Tyrolese or Bavarian Alps. The loftiest peak of this group, the Zugspitze (57 miles south of Munich), is 9702 feet in height, being the highest summit in the empire. The Upper German plain sloping northwards from the Bavarian Alps is watered by the Lech, the Isar, and the Inn, tributaries of the Danul-e, all three rising beyond the limits of German territory. This plain is separated on the west from the Swiss plain by the Lake of Constance (Bodensee, 1306 feet above sea-level), and on the east from the undulating grounds of Austria by the Inn. The average height of the plain may be estimated at about 1800 feet, the valley of the Danube on its north border being from 1540 feet (at Ulm) to 920 feet (at Passau). The plain is not very fertile. In the upper part of the plain, towards the Alps, there are several lakes, the largest being the Ammersee, the Wiirmsee or Starnberg Lake, and the Chiemsee. Many portions of the plain are covered by moors and swamps of large extent, there called Jloose. The left or northern bank of the Danube, from Ilegensburg (Ratisbon) downwards presents a series of granitic rocks called the Bavarian Forest (Bayerischer Vald), which must be regarded as a branch of the Bohemian Forest (Bi'»hmi- scher Wald). The latter is a range of wooded heights on the frontier of Bavaria and Bohemia, occupying the least known and least frequented regions of Germany. The summits of the Bayerischer Vald rise to the height of about 4000 feet, and those of the Bohemian Forest to 4800 feet, Hoher Arber, about 49° N. lat., being 4842 feet. The valley of the Danube above Batisbon is ﬂanked by Jurassic plateaus sloping gently to the Danube, but precipitous towards the valley of the Neckar. The centre of this ele- vated tract is the Bauhe Alp, so named on account of the harshness of the climate. The plateau continuing to the north-east and then to the north, under the name of the Franconian J ura, is crossed by the valley of the winding Altmiihl, and extends to the Main. To the west extensive undulating grounds or low plateaus occupy the area between the Main and the Neckar. The south-western corner of the empire contains a series of better deﬁned hill-ranges. Beginning with the Schwarzwald (Black Forest), we ﬁnd its southern heights decline to the valley of the Rhine, above Basel, and to the Jura The summits are rounded and covered with wood, the highest being the Feldberg (10 miles S.E. of Freiburg, 4902 feet). Nortl1vva1'ds the Black Forest passes into the plateau of the 1'ecka1-bergland (average height, 1000 feet). The heights between the lower Nerkar and the Main form the Odenwald (about 1700 feet); and the Spessart, which is watered by the Main on three sides, is nothing but a continuation of the Odenwald. West of this range of hills lies the valley of the upper I~‘.hine, extending about 180 miles from south to north, and with a width of only 20 to 2-3 miles. In the upper (‘rElt)lANY [MOUNTA1.'S, parts the Ilhine is rapid, and therefore navigable with ditllculty; this explains why the towns there are not along the banks of the river, but some 5 to 10 miles off. But from Speyer (Spires) town succeeds town as far down as Dusseldorf. The western boundary of this valley is formed in the first instance by the Vosges, where granite summits rise from under the surrounding red Triassic rocks (Sulzer lelchen, -1700 feet). To the south the range is not continuous with the Swiss J ura, the valley of the Rhine being connected here with the Ilhone system by low ground known as the Gate of Miilhauseu. The crest of the Vosges is pretty high and unbroken, the first con- venient pass being near Zabern, which has been taken ad- vantage of for the railway from Strasburg to Paris. On the northern side the Vosges are connected with the llaandt sandstone plateau (Kalmit, 2230 feet), which rises abruptly from the plain of the Rhine. The mountains south of Mainz (Mayence), which are mostly covered by vineyards, are lower, the Donnersberg, however, raising its head to 2262 feet. These hills are bordered on the west by the high plain of Lorraine and the coal-fields of S£1{1l‘l.)I'ilCl{€1), the former being traversed by the river Moselle. The larger half of Lorraine belongs to France, but the German part possesses great mineral wealth in its rich layers of ironstone (siderite), and in the coal-ﬁelds of the Saar. The Devonian tract of the Hundsruck, Taunus, and Eifel is an exten:led plateau, divided into separate sections by the river valleys. Among these the Rhine valley from Bin gen to Bonn, and that of the Moselle from Treves to Coblentz, are winding gorges excavated by the rivers. The Eifel presents a sterile, thinly-peopled plateau, covered by extensive moors in several places. It passes westwards imperceptibly into the Ardennes. The hills on the right bank of the Rhine also are in part of a like barren character, without wood ; the Westerwald (about 2000 feet), which separates the valleys of the Sieg and Lahn, is particularly so. The northern and southern limits of the Niederrheinisches Gebirge present a striking contrast to the central region In the south the declivities of the Taunus (2800 feet) are marked by the occurrence of mineral springs, as at Ems on the Lahn, Nauheim, Homburg, Soden, Wiesbaden, &c., and by the vineyards which produce the best Ilhine. wines. To the north of this Gebirge, on the other hand, lies the great coal basin of Westphalia (the largest in Germany). In the south of the hilly duchy of Hesse rise the isolated mountain groups of the Vogelsberg (2530 feet) and the I-lhijn (3117 feet), separated by the valley of the Fulda, which uniting further north with the Verra forms the Weser. To the east of Hesse lies T huri ngia, a province consisting of the far-strctching wooded ridge of the Tliiiringer Wald (with three peaks of upwards of 3000 feet high), and an extensive elevated plain to the north. lts rivers are the Saale and Unstrut-. This plateau is bounded on the north by the Harz, an isolated group of mountains, rich in minerals, with its highest elevation in the bare summit of the Brocken (3743 feet). To the west of the Harz a series of hilly tracts is comprised under the name of the Weser Mountains, out of which above Minden the river Veser bursts by the Porta Vestphalica. A narrow ridge, the Teutoburger Wald (l300 feet), extends between the Weser and the Ems as far as the neighbourhood of Osnabriiek. To the east theThiiringerWald is connected bythe plateau of the Frankenwald with the F ichtelgelrirge. This group of mountains, occupying what may be regarded as ethnologi- eally the centre of Germany, forms a hydrographical centre, whence the Nab ﬂows southward to the Danube, the Main westward to the Ilhine, the Eger eastward to the Elbe, and the Saale northward, also into the Ellie. In the north-east the Fichtelgebirge connects itsel_f directly with the _F.rzgo- liirge, which forms the northern boundary of Bohemia.