428 ANNUAL KEPOET SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1915. 



section of the mountain chain is twice as high.^ The area of plowed 

 land in the western region covers between 40 and 50 per cent of 

 the surface. In the east it barely varies between 5 and 10 per cent. 

 Again, the Polish section is practically clear of the forests which 

 cover in contrast from 50 to 60 per cent of the eastern Carpathians. 

 Similar differences can be noted in the valleys up to an altitude of 

 about 2,300 feet. Within them the proportion of plowed land con- 

 stitutes 88 per cent of the surface in the Polish section. In the 

 Euthenian areas they do not exceed 15 per cent. 



On the southwestern border the line attains the Oder in the vicinity 

 of Bohumin. Here a number of localities in the Teschen country are 

 claimed alike by Bohemians and Poles. The increasing use of Polish 

 and German, however, tends to invalidate the claims of Bohemians.- 

 A transition zone between Bohemian and Polish exists here and is 

 characterized by a local dialect of mixed language. 



The western linguistic boundary of Poland extends through the 

 German Provinces of Silesia and Posen. Here a gradual replace- 

 ment of the language by German since the sixteenth century is no- 

 ticeable. At that time the Oder constituted the dividing line. As 

 late. as 1790 the population of Breslau was largely Polish. To-day 

 over 75 per cent of the inhabitants of the city and of neighboring 

 towns and villages are Germans. The district north and south con- 

 stitutes in fact an area of linguistic reclamation. The westernmost 

 extension of Polish occurs in Posen at the base of the provincial 

 projection into Brandenburg. Around Bomst the percentage of 

 Polish inhabitants is as high as 75 per cent. The line extends north- 

 ward through Bentschen to Birnbaum, after which it assumes a 

 northeasterly direction. In spite of this western extension, however, 

 the area of Polish speech within German boundaries is broken in 

 numerous places by German enclaves of varying size.^ 



In western Prussia the Poles form linguistic islands in the German 

 mass and attain Baltic shores, where they occupy the entire western 

 coast of the Gulf of Danzig. From Oliva and Danzig the line 

 extends to Dirschau (Tezew) and crosses the Vistula about 6 miles 

 below this city. It then strikes east to Altmark, whence it turns 

 southward toward Marienwerder (Kwidzyn) and Graudenz (Grud- 

 ziadz). Proceeding due east from here the boundary passes through 

 Eylau, Osterode, the southern territory of the Masurian lakes and 



1 E. Romer, Esquisse Climatique de rAncienne Pologne. Bui. de la Soc. Vaud. des Sc. 

 Nat., oe Ser., vol. 4G, June, 1910, p. 231. 



- J. Zemmi-ich, Deutsche und Slaven in den osterroicliischen Sudetenliindern, Dout. Erde, 

 2, 1903, pp. 1-4. 



3 P. Laughans, Nationalitaten-Karte der Trovinz Schlesien, 1 : 500,000. Sonderkarte 

 No. 1 in Deut. Erde, 1906 ; id., Nationalitaten-Karte der Provinz Ostpreussen, 1 : 500,000. 

 Sonderkarte No. 1 in Deut. Erde, 1907. 



