Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/804

 784 BOHEMIA range touches the Bavarian Fichtelgebirge (Pine mountains) ; and from near this group stretches southeasterly to the extreme south of the country the range of the Bohemian Bohemian Peasants. Forest, wild and precipitous, and intersected with deep ravines. The slope of these moun- tains is abrupt toward Bohemia ; they are cov- ered with forests and swamps, infested with bears and wolves, and are a part of what was known to ancient geographers as the Hercy- nian forest. Their geological formation is the primitive granite and gneiss, and they furnish gold, silver, lead, iron, coal, zinc, black lead, cobalt, and antimony. The Moravian moun- tains run N. E. from the southern to the eastern portions of Bohemia, and form the watershed between the Elbe and Moldau flow- ing N., and the Danube and March flowing E. and S. The Riesengebirge, running from the E. extremity of Bohemia toward the Erzgebirge in the north, present their broken and abrupt descent toward Bohemia, and their higher sum- mits are bleak and naked. The interior is un- dulating with hills, sometimes steep, but rising gradually to no greater height than 600 ft. The river system comprises only the Elbe and its tributaries. The Elbe from the mountains in the northeast, the Sazawa from the southeast, the Moldau from the southern extremity of the Bohemian Forest and the pond and marsh dis- trict around Budweis in the south, and the Be- raun and Eger from the western mountains, converge toward the centre of Bohemia, and joining at no great distance from Prague flow north in one stream, the Elbe, which passes into Saxony through a channel which it has cut in the sandstone formation of the eastern Erzgebirge. The Elbe and the Moldau are to a great extent navigable. Bohemia has no large lakes, but has numerous ponds, accord- ing to some statements as many as 20,000, and as many as 160 mineral springs which are visited. Of these the saline chalybeate at Franzensbad and Marienbad, the warm alka- line at Carlsbad and at Teplitz, and the bitter and cathartic waters at Seidlitz, Saidschitz, and Pilllna, are the most celebrated. The whole mountain system which encircles Bo- hemia is of primitive formation, characterized by granite and gneiss, with the exception of a small section where the Elbe cuts through the Erzgebirge and a point on the north- west near Braunau. There are several sand- stone masses in the centre of the country, and in many parts hills of basalt. The mineral products are more varied than in any other country of the same size. The lead mines in 1870 produced 22,125 cwt. of lead and 30,780 Ibs. (Munzpfunde) of silver. The product of iron in 1870 was 1,277,943 cwt., and of coal 88,281,013 cwt. There are also mines of tin, copper, zinc, cinnabar, arsenic, and cobalt, and quarries of marble, alabaster, quartz, granite, freestone, and sandstone. A large variety of precious stones are found, of which the finest are the Bohemian garnets. The climate is healthy ; the atmosphere clear and salubrious, with a mean temperature of 48 F. at Prague, but much lower in the mountain districts, where the snow frequently lies 12 ft. deep, and often does not disappear until the middle of April, and in some localities stays through the year. The soil is mostly a clayey loam, and except on the high parts of the mountains, and in some sandy tracts of the Elbe valley, is generally very fer- tile. The productive land is estimated at 12,- 259,362 acres, of which nearly one half is under the plough, the remainder being vineyards, or- chards, meadows, pastures, and forests. Rye, oats, wheat, and barley are raised in large crops. Braunau, Bohemia. Flax is extensively cultivated, and hemp, tobac- co, and hops are also staple products. There is an annual manufacture of about 250,000 gal- lons of inferior wine, and an annual yield from