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 HAMBURG HAMELN 411 the inner Alster, the Alsterdamm, and the Wall are the fashionable promenades, and the envi- rons are places of resort. One of the finest buildings is the exchange, which contains a mercantile library of 40,000 volumes. Other important edifices are the government house, with its great hall for civic feasts; the new museum, with a collection of modern pictures ; the Johanneum college, containing the city library of 200,000 volumes and 5,000 manu- scripts ; the great hospital in the suburb of St. Georg, with accommodations for more than 4,000 patients ; the orphan asylum, educating and providing for 600 pupils ; the Jewish hos- pital, endowed by Salomon Heine in 1840, and now open to all denominations ; and the Eauhes Ham, at Horn, near the city, founded in 1833 by Johann Heinrich Wichern, for the care and training of depraved and abandoned children. There are numerous other charitable and ed- ucational institutions, and the botanic and zoological gardens are among the most exten- sive in Germany. The church of St. Catha- rine dates from the 14th century ; St. Nicholas and St. Peter are both modern Gothic edifices ; St. James has a tower 343 ft. high ; St. Michael is surmounted by a steeple 428 ft. high, one of the loftiest in Europe ; the new synagogue for the orthodox Jews was opened in 1859. Ham- burg communicates by railway with the lead- ing German cities, and by steamship with the principal ports of Europe, and with New York, New Orleans, Havana, and Brazil. The port is extensive; vessels drawing 14 ft. come up to the city, and their cargoes, discharged into barges, are distributed by the canals to the warehouses; larger ships discharge at Cux- haven. The emigration, mostly to the United States, amounted in 1870 to 32,556, in 1871 to 42,224, in 1872 to 74,406 ; and from 1846 to 1872 the total was 740,874. At the end of 1872 the merchant marine comprised 402 ves- sels, including 62 steamers, of an aggregate of upward of 200,000 tons; the entrances of sea-going vessels were 5,913, of which 728 were in ballast; the clearances were 5,872, of which 2,163 were in ballast; the number of steamers was 2,749. The imports in 1871 amounted to $442,000,000, and the maritime exports in 1872 (the official reports giving weights only) amounted to 13,448,000 cwt. The principal articles of import are cotton, wool, woollen and worsted stuffs, yarn, silk, hides, hardware, iron, coffee, sugar, wine, brandy, rum, tobacco, indigo, dye woods, tea, pepper, and coal. The exports consist of the same articles, except coal, Hamburg being mainly a centre of distribution. The manufac- turing industry is important, and comprises ship building, sugar refining, distilling, calico printing, dyeing, the preserving of provisions, and the manufacture of sail cloth, ropes, leather, woollen goods, cigars, cutlery, musical instruments, carriages, furniture, hats, soap, glue, &c. ; and the banking, insurance, and publishing interests are enormous. Hamburg is a very ancient city. Charlemagne built a castle here about 809. During its growth from a village into a town it was several times de- stroyed. The emperor Otho IV. (1215) made it an imperial city, and in 1241 a commercial treaty with Liibeck laid the foundation of the Hanseatic league. The reformation was for- mally introduced about 1529. During the ear- ly part of the 16th century, although recog- nized as a state of the empire, it was without a seat or vote in the diet, and was troubled by the kings of Denmark, who claimed sov- ereignty over it as counts of Holstein. By convention with Denmark in 1768 its rights were conceded, and in 1770 it was confirmed as a free city of the Germanic empire. In 1803 it fell under the power of the French, who after repeated exactions annexed it to the French empire as the capital of the department of Bouches d'Elbe. In 1813-'14 the French, un- der Marshal Davoust, sustained in it that ter- rible siege in which upward of 30,000 citizens were driven out in midwinter, and 1,100, whose monument is to be seen near Altona, perished of hunger. On June 8, 1815, it joined the Germanic confederation as a free Hanse town. On May 5, 1842, a conflagration broke out, and continued four days, destroying one third of the city ; the rebuilding of the burnt district after a general plan has added greatly to the beauty of many of its streets and public buildings. The city hall, which escaped from that casualty, was destroyed by fire in 1859, but has since been rebuilt. The constitution of the North German confederation, and likewise that of the German empire, left Hamburg at liberty to re- main outside of the Zollverein as long as it wished. When Schleswig-Holstein and Meck- lenburg had joined that league, Hamburg was on all sides surrounded by the territory of the Zollverein, and therefore found it to its advan- tage to join it for one portion of its rural dis- tricts, embracing 124 sq. m. and 32,792 inhabi- tants. The remainder, in union with the neighboring Prussian city Altona, continues a free port territory. HAMELN, a town of Prussia, in the province and 24 m. S. W. of the city of Hanover, on the Hamel and the Weser; pop. in 1871, 8,530. Over the Weser, which here forms an island, is a suspension bridge more than 800 ft. long. The town has a gymnasium, some manufac- tures of woollens and cottons, distilleries, and breweries. It was formerly fortified, and near it, in 1633, the Swedes obtained a victory over the imperial troops. It is famous as the scene of the legend of the piper of Hameln, who offered to clear the town of rats for a certain sum of money, which the authorities agreed to pay. The vermin followed him as he played on his pipe, and were all drowned in the Weser. The people, released from their torment, re- fused to pay the stipulated sum, and the piper vowed vengeance. On June 26, 1284, the feast of Saints John and Paul, he reappeared in the streets playing his pipe, and all the children,