Silk, linen, cotton and woollen stuffs may be mentioned among Industry and I Commerce. the manufactures; the other articles are tobacco, playing cards, types, wax, and porcelain which is little inferior to that of Dresden. But its trade with Germany forms the principal source of its wealth. The continual commercial intercourse which it holds with that country, is facilitated by its position, and by two navigable rivers, the Rhine and the Maine. The two Frankfort fairs, the one at Easter, the other in September, bring together more than sixteen hundred merchants from different parts of Europe. The people boast that Charles the Bald was born in the town, that the diets of the confederation are still held there; but in the opinion of some it possesses better claims to celebrity, it gave birth to Goëthe, and the first German gazette was published within its walls. TABLES. Commerce of Bremen. Nine hundred and fourteen merchant vessels entered the port of Bremen. 336 Bremish vessels and others belonging to different states and principalities in the confederation. Five whale ships sailed from Bremen to Greenland in the same year. Tables of the Grain Exported from Hamburg, from the Year 1815 to 1825 inclusive. Years. 1816 By Sea. Into the Interior. Barley. Quarters. Wheat. Rye. Barley. Wheat. 1817 1820 68,468 1821 20,001 874 4,634 17,063 11,270 4,641 5,485 17,082 8,865 4,269 3,074 12,885 9,893 7,123 414 9,996 11,678) Total 482,629 104,499 291,326 157,218 222,212 74,468 Sugars imported from the year 1821 to 1825 inclusive. 1,176 101,794 10,514 Years. 1821, 1822, Variations in the price of Coffee from the year 1821 to 1825 inclusive.TM A great quantity of sugar arrives at Hamburg from Brazil and the Havannas; the same article is imported from the United States, England, France and Holland. It is principally refined sugar, that enters Hamburg, and notwithstanding the competition, which it has to maintain with England, it exports annually more than 65,000,000 pounds of refined sugar. The most of the Coffee imported into Hamburg, comes directly from Havanna, Saint Domingo and Brazil; the rest is brought from the United States. It may be seen from the above table, that the price of coffee has decreased every year from 1821 to 1825. Indigo is by no means an important article in the trade of Hamburg; indeed Hamburg and several other states are wholly dependent for their supply on the discretion of England. Indigo in cases comes from the East Indies, indigo in bags from the West Indies. Year. 1825, Year' 1824, 1825, Bales 16,600 or 6,640,000 pounds, Ships of different Nations that have entered Hamburg. To complete the description of Germany, some account. may be given of the different possessions of the Austrian monarchy, situated in that country. Hungary and its dependencies have already been described, it is unnecessary to mention them more fully, but care must be taken not to confound provinces which, from the manners, language, and origin of the inhabitants, should be considered separately; for, as to Austria, the geographer observes in a much smaller compass, the same confusion, the same heterogeneous parts as in the vast empire of Russia. Kingdom of Bohemia, which is now to be described, is a country, both Bohemia. in its physical and political geography, wholly distinct from the territories that surround it. It is equal in superficial extent to nearly nine hundred and fifty-three German, or eleven thousand four hundred and thirty-six English square miles. Ancient Limited by Bavaria, Saxony, and Prussian Silesia, it is encompassed by mountainous chains, that form a natural basin, once filled by a Caspian Sea, in the depths of which were deposited the Although a great quantity of cotton is consumed in Germany, very little is imported into Hamburg; it receives it from the United States, Colombia, and different ports in America, Egypt, the Levant, India, and also from different mercantile houses in Italy. P Most of the English vessels carry ballast to Hamburg, and return with cargoes to England, a proof that many articles from Hamburg, are destined for the English markets. The fact that all calcareous rocks that shall be afterwards mentioned. the mountains, or the contour of the basin, become gradually lower as they approach the centre of the country, serves at first view to strengthen the belief concerning the ancient existence of such a sea. The greatest declivities are situated in the most northern part of the basin; thus the Elbe, which crosses that portion of the country, is enlarged by all the streams that descend from the mountains, and throw themselves, either into its channel, or into the Moldau, which unites with it. The outlet through which the Elbe leaves Bohemia, and enters the North Sea, appears to be the same as the one, by which the ancient Caspian mingled its waters with the ocean. Part of the sands that now cover the Prussian provinces of Magdeburg, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, and Hanover, may probably be attributed to the irruptions of the same sea. These hypotheses, founded on facts, are intimately connected with the most interesting departments of physical geography. Four principal chains inclose the basin: the Boehmer-Wald, or | Mountains. Bohemian forest, stretches from south-east to north-west, and joins the Ertz-Gebirge; these extend from south-west to north-east, and meet the Riesen-Gebirge; the latter follow a contrary direction, and unite with the Mæhrisches-Gebirge, or Moravian mountains, which, passing from north-east to south-west, terminate at the extremity of the BoehmerWald. The chains, as some geographers have remarked, form an irregular four-sided figure. Bohemia, by being thus inclosed, is rendered an isolated country in the middle of Europe; the same circumstance, it may be readily inferred, has had some influence on the civilization and political constitution of its inhabitants. The lowest mountains are those which, extending from north-east to south-west and to south, separate Bohemia from Moravia and Lower Austria. The name of a small chain, the TeufelsGebirge, or Devil's mountains, at the southern extremity of the BoehmerWald, near the sources of the Moldau, seems to be connected with the tradition of an idolatrous worship. The Boehmer-Wald is a primitive chain, composed of gra- Rocks and I nite, gneiss, micaceous schistus, syenite, and lastly, of argil- Soil. laceous schistus and different rocks belonging to the same epoch. The same substances are observed on the south, near the town of Krumau, on the banks of the Moldau, and also along the Ertz-Gebirge, which have been already mentioned in the account of Saxony. The central mountains of Bohemia, that extend along the right bank of the Elbe, and join the Riesen-Gebirge, are less remarkable for their height than their rounded summits and sides, proofs that the rocks which compose them, are of igneous origin. The last declivities terminate at some leagues to the north of Bunzlau, and along the whole range are observed sandstone, basalts, and other substances that appear to have been modified by the action of subterranean fire. Volcanoes. They are encompassed by calcareous deposites, abounding with fossil shells; thus the basin has been filled by volcanoes, emitting torrents of lava in the depths of the sea. The same phenomena as those observed in the Boehmer-Wald are exhibited on the side of the Riesen-Gebirge towards Bohemia, but near their extremity, sandstone and calcareous rocks are more frequent, they are arranged in parallel strata. Sandstone of a very soft texture, and which decays easily, abounds in the Moravian mountains, particularly towards the north; it assumes the most singular forms, and at a distance deceives the stranger, who imagines he sees turrets and villages, where no habitations are to be found. If the traveller descends these mountains, the sides of which are covered with forests, he may observe throughout the whole basin of Bohemia, calcareous rocks, that were deposited at the time it was filled with the sea. The limestone is in many places covered with other deposites; rocks con sisting chiefly of amphibole, and which hold an intermediate place between the primitive and secondary formations, are situated in the western part of the basin, in the neighbourhood of Plan. Granite and argillaceous schistus are not less common near Tein; alluvial deposites containing fossil wood and iron ore, which yields nearly sixty-two parts of metal, may be observed in the vicinity of Pagrad, to the south of Eger. a These transition rocks rest on micaceous schistus, and similar arrangements are remarked near Prague, between Marienbaden and Ogerlochin. The Commerberg, a volcanic cone, not far from Eger, is covered with lava, and other heights of the same kind extend at different distances to Carlsbad. Traces of volcanoes are observable near Toeplitz, and a sort of red porphyry, from which many mineral springs take their rise. Horizontal layers of limestone mixed with marl rest on the porphyry, and its great inclination in some places may probably have been the effect of sudden and violent shocks. Lastly, the Mittel-Gebirge, or central chain of the country, which rises above the course of the Elbe, was, according to a German geologist,' the centre of the volcanic phenomena, that have left so many traces on the southern sides of the Ertz-Gebirge, where basalts and other rocks of an igneous origin are seen in every direction. Although the volcanoes in Bohemia belong to that class Earthquakes. which burned before the period that the earth was inhabited by man, the country is subject to shocks, occasioned by subterranean fires. Several took place in the month of January, 1824, on the Ertz-Gebirge, and in the districts of Eger and Ellbogen. Their direction was from north to south, south-west and south-east; they were accompanied in some places with a noise resembling thunder, in others many springs were dried. Mineral springs. A country in which the rocks are so various, and the volcanic remains so numerous, abounds generally with mineral springs, at least Bohemia forms no exception to the rule. Such as are most resorted to, are situated in the northern districts; it may suffice to give the reader some notion of their number and celebrity, to mention the springs of Seidlitz and Satzkamen, in the district of Kaurzin, those of Strobnitz in Bechin, the alkaline springs of Bilin, Carlsbad and Toeplitz, the sources in Bechin, near Trautnau, the baths of Kleinkuchel, and Tetschen in the districts of Beraun and Leitmeritz, and lastly, the ferruginous springs of Eger. Rivers. The two principal feeders of the Elbe are the Moldau and I the Eger; the first crosses Bohemia from its northern extremity to Melnik; the length of its course is more than a hundred and thirty-five miles. The declivity from the Teufel-Gebirge to Prague, a distance of nearly ninety miles, is about two hundred and sixty-nine feet. The Eger which rises in the Fichtel-Gebirge, near their junction with the BoehmerWald, and throws itself into the Elbe at Theresienstadt, has a less rapid course, for the declivity does not exceed a hundred and fifty-eight feet in a distance of seventy-nine miles.a Several extensive lakes are situated in the country, the largest Lakes and | Marshes. are those of Teschmitz in the district of Klattau, Polkenstein on the mountains of the same name, and Kummer in the district of Saatz. But the number of marshes is much greater, there were not fewer in 1786 than twenty thousand, and according to the calculations that were then made in order to regulate the contributions, their surface was not less than a hundred and thirty-two thousand seven hundred acres; draining, however, has since been generally practised, and the number has of consequence b Leonhard, Zeitschrift fur mineralogie. a Goethe, Natur-wiesenschaft. © See the observation published by M. Hallaschka. Archiv. fur die gesamte natur-lehre tome I. page 320. Umriss einer geographisch-statistischen Schilderung des Koenigreichs Boehmer, by J. M. Leichtenstern. |