Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/699

 BLACK GUM BLACK HAWK 679 of about 18. The Black Forest consists of ele- vated plains or table land, and describes itself upon the horizon in regular undulating lines. Its greatest elevation is near and to the east of Freiburg, in the region where the Wiesen takes its rise, and where is the famous defile called Holle, a narrow valley surrounded by lofty mountains, and celebrated in the retreat of Moreau in 1796. The highest summits of the range, the Feldberg, the Belchen, and the Kandel, are between 4,000 and 5,000 ft. above the level of the sea. The descent of the Black Forest toward the Rhine is very abrupt, caus- ing the rivers which take their rise on this side, the Murg, Kinzig, and Elz, to assume during the rains the character of torrents. The eastern slope is very gentle, and gives rise to the Neckar and the Danube, the for- mer soon changing its direction to the north and west, and joining the Rhine. The Black Forest is composed mainly of granite, though the surface is in some places covered with sandstone, and gneiss appears around its base. On some of the heights porphyry is found, and there are many mines of silver, copper, iron, lead, and cobalt. Its mineral waters too, es- pecially those of Baden and Wildbad, are very famous. The summits of the Black Forest are during eight months of the year covered with snow ; they are generally destitute of trees, and except during the greatest heats of summer display no verdure. Descending from the top, the first trees that appear are the pine, the beech, and the maple ; these are succeeded by the dense forests of fir with which all the mid- dle and lower parts of the mountains are cov- ered, and which furnish masts and timber for ships. Near the foot of the mountains are many picturesque valleys, of which that of the Murg, situated near the thermal waters of Baden, is particularly distinguished for its natural beauty. Villages and hamlets are in- terspersed, and the inhabitants are mainly en- gaged in rearing live stock, and in the manufac- ture of toys. The most famous of these articles is the wooden clock, of which it is estimated that 180,000 are annually produced. Agricul- ture is there of little importance, the soil be- ing unfruitful and the climate severe, yet the val- leys produce excellent fruit. The Black Forest abounds in historical remains and associations. BLACK GUM, the arbitrary name of a tree without gum, a species of nyssa, or tupelo (Ad- anson), which is the only genus of Endlicher's sub-order nyssaee<K of his order santalacea. Linneeus had it in polygamia, Aiwcia ; Elliot placed it in dioecia pentandrift, and Darlington in jtentandria monogynia. The black gum is the N. multiftora, and is known in New Eng- land as snag tree and hornpipe, in New York as pepperidge, and as the gum tree in the mid- dle states. It thrives in low, clayey soil, and in dense forests grows to a height of 40 ft. Its external habits are various, and it is often con- founded with other trees. It has very many branches, which are often crooked ; a dense pyramidal head ; leaves one to five inches long, and of a lustrous green, in tufts of four or more at the ends of the branches ; green- Black Gnm Tree (Nyssa multiflora). ish flowers in clusters, ripening to blue-black ; mouse-colored bark in longitudinal furrows. The wood is close and tough, and resists split- ting, though it decays sooner in the weather than that of the elm. It is used for water Black Gum, Leaves and Fruit. pipes in the salt works at Syracuse ; it is also good for hatters' blocks, wheel naves, and cog wheels. The tree is very vigorous. It was introduced into Europe as an ornamental tree in 1739 ; it thrives in the south of England, and even in Hanover. BLACK HAWK, an Indian chief of the Sac and Fox tribe, born about 1768, at the principal Sac village on the E. shore of the Mississippi, near the mouth of Rock river, died at the village of his tribe on the Des Moines river, in