Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/132

Rh through. Silesia, Moravia, Galicia, Hungary, and Transyl vania. They have an extent of about 650 miles, and are divided into three principal groups the Hungarian Car pathians, the Carpathian Waldgebirge or Forest Moun tains, aud the Transylvanian Highlands. The Hungarian Carpathians stretch from west to east, through Hungary, Moravia, Silesia, and Galicia for about 200 miles, and comprise various smaller groups, among which are the Beskides, the Little Carpathians, and the Central Car pathians or the Tatra Mountains. This last group consti tutes the highest portion of the Carpathians, having an average elevation of over 6000 feet, and its two principal summits, the Eisthaler Thurm and the Lomnitzer Spitze, having a height of 8378 and 8222 feet respectively. In character it resembles the Alps more than the Carpathians, having rugged precipitous sides, deep chasms, snows, glaciers, cascades, &c. The Waldgebirge, or Forest Moun tains, are a series of moderate elevations, for the most part wooded, and stretching for about 160 miles through Hungary, Galicia, and Buckowina, with an average breadth of about 45 miles. They are in general from 3000 to 6000 feet in elevation, the highest point, Pietrozza, rising to 7086 feet. The Transylvanian Highlands extend over Transylvania, a part of Hungary, and the Military Frontier, into Moldavia and Wallachia. They have a length of about 350 miles, and breadth of from 30 to 90. Several of the summits rise to the height of 8000 feet. The sides of the Carpathian mountains are generally covered with forests to a considerable height. The Hercynian mountain system spreads itself over Bohemia, Silesia, Moravia, and the middle and northern portions of Upper and Lower Austria. It includes the lesser systems of the Bohemian Forest, the Erzgebirge, the Riesengebirge, and the Sudetes. The Bohemian Forest is a series of wooded heights on the confines of Bohemia and Bavaria, and extending south from the Eger to the Danube. Its highest point is 4610 feet above the sea. The Erzge birge, or Ore Mountains, commence on the left bank of the Elbe, run eastward between Bohemia and Saxony, and terminate near the sources of the White Elster. None of the summits rise to the height of 4000 feet. The Riesenge birge or Giant Mountains are on the confines of Bohemia towards Prussian Silesia, and have their highest point, Schneekoppe or Riesenkoppe, 5330 feet above the sea. The Sudetes is a name sometimes given to all the moun tains of Northern Bohemia, but it more properly belongs to that range which runs between Moravia and Prussian Silesia, from the March to the Oder. The highest summit, the Spieglitzer Schneeberg, is 4774 feet high.

Geology. The great central chain of the Alps consists of primitive rocks, principally gneiss, mica slate, and granite. Occa sionally clay-slate, greywacke, and limestone overlie these rocks. Iron ore is very abundant here, and gold and copper are found. The northern and southern ranges of the Alps are composed of limestone. In the southern range the limestone rests upon gneiss, which crops out in some parts. Iron, copper, lead, and zinc ores, and quick silver are found in some parts to a large extent. In the northern range the limestone is in some places covered with clay-slate, greywacke, and transition limestone. In the north the limestone is covered with sandstone, which extends in an almost continuous line from the Lake of Constance to the neighbourhood of Vienna. In this dis trict a number of beds of coal are found. The central range of the Carpathians is formed chiefly of gneiss, granite, clay-slate, greywacke, and transition limestone, frequently covered with extensive patches of Tertiary formations. North and south of this are ranges of sandstone mountains, on which diluvial and alluvial deposits are also found. The northern sandstone range is rich in salt; the central chain abounds in iron and copper ore ; and the gneiss and granitic mountains of Hungary and Transylvania are rich in ores of gold and silver. Numerous beds of coal are also found in the later formations. The Bohemian and Moravian mountain system is composed chiefly of gneiss and granite. Basalt, clinkstone, greenstone, and red sand stone are also common. Silver and lead mines are exten sively worked, also mines of zinc and iron. Coal is abundant here. The plain and hilly parts of the country belong chiefly to the middle or Miocene period of the Tertiary formation, and comprise sand, gravel, clay-marl, &c.

As the highlands of Austria form part of the great water- Rivers, shed of Europe which divides the waters flowing north ward into the North Sea or the Baltic, from those flowing southward or eastward into the Mediterranean or the Black Sea, its rivers flow in three different directions northward, southward, and eastward. With the exception of the small streams belonging to it which fall into the Adriatic, all its rivers have their mouths in other countries, and its principal river, the Danube, has also its source in another country. This, which after the Volga is the largest river of Europe, rises in the grand duchy of Baden, flows through Wurtemberg and Bavaria, and is already navigable when it enters Austria, on the borders of which it receives the Inn, a river which has as large a body of water aa itself. It has a course of about 820 miles within the country, which is about 48 per cent, of its entire length. Where it enters it is 898 feet above the level of the sea, and where it leaves only 132 feet. It has thus a fall within the country of 766 feet, and is at first a very rapid stream, but latterly a very slow one. Its affluents, after the Inn, are at first generally small, the principal being the Traun, the Enns, and the March. In Hungary it receives from the Carpathians the Waag, Neutra, Gran, and Eipelj and from the Alps the Drave, the Mur, and the Save. But the principal affluent of the Danube is the Theiss, which rises in the Carpathians, and drains nearly the whole of the eastern half of Hungary. The country drained by the Danube is formed into several basins by the mountains approaching its banks on either side. The principal of these are the Linz and Krems basins, the Vienna basin, and the little and great Hungarian basins. Between this last and the plains of Wallachia, it passes through the narrow rocky channels of Islach, Kasan, and the Iron Door, where the fall is about 41 feet in less than half a mile. The Dniester, which, like the Danube, flows into the Black Sea, has its source in the Carpathians in Eastern Galicia, and pursues a very winding course towards the south-east. It receives its principal affluents from the Carpathians, and drains in Austria a territory of upwards of 12,000 English square miles. It is navigable for about 300 miles. The Vistula and the Oder both fall into the Baltic. The former rises in Moravia, flows first north through Austrian Silesia, then takes an easterly direction along the borders of Prussian Silesia, and afterwards a north-easterly, separating Galicia from Russian Poland, and leaving Austria not far from Sandomir. Its course in Austria is 240 miles, draining an area of 15,500 square miles. It is navigable for nearly 200 miles, and its prin cipal affluents are the Save and the Bug. The Oder has also its source in Moravia, flows first east, and then north east through Austrian Silesia into Prussia. Its length within the Austrian territory is only about 55 miles, no part of which is navigable. The only river of this country which flows into the North Sea is the Elbe. It has its source in the Riesengebirge, not far from the Schneekoppe, flows first south, then east, and afterwards north-east through Bohemia, and then enters Saxony. Its principal affluents are the Adler, Iser, and Eger, and, most important of all, the Moldau. The last, from the length of its course,