986 



and peat-bogs, meadows and pastures, here and there interspersed 

 with fertile fields and belts of wood. Their Flora, like their geologi- 

 cal structure, greatly resembles that of Holstein ; the predominant 

 types of vegetation being marsh, meadow, heath, wood, and sand 

 plants. Among vegetables, cultivated to a considerable extent in the 

 more fertile parts of the country, besides the different cereals, pulse, 

 and potatoes, are tobacco, hops, rape-seed, flax, and chicory. Grain 

 is chiefly raised in the neighbourhood of Brunswick, the most fertile 

 part of the duchy of that name. The whole of Hanover and Bruns- 

 wick appears to have been long submerged by the German Ocean, 

 judging from their geological structure. Probably no tract of land in 

 Europe, of equal extent, can boast of a less degree of fertility ; and 

 we do not speak exaggeratingly when we say that, were it exposed to 

 a very hot and dry tropical climate, instead of a very humid, tempe- 

 rate one, it would more or less resemble in character the great African 

 ' Sahara.' Here, as in Britain, and, indeed, throughout Europe, there 

 is a large amount of waste land, i. e., flat land easily susceptible of 

 cultivation, which, instead of being devoted to agriculture and the 

 maintenance of man, is set apart exclusively for the purpose of har- 

 bouring and protecting game I Were such land placed upon the 

 same fooling, with regard to free cultivation, as the prairies of Texas 

 or Australia, — were it leased or sold, at moderate rates, to the peasant 

 farmer or artisan, — we cannot doubt that it would not only soon attain 

 a comparatively high state of cultivation, and consequently increase 

 materially in value, but would supply an honourable and profitable 

 field of labour to thousands of our surplus population, who are at pre- 

 sent compelled to emigrate beyond the seas. It must be very poor 

 land indeed which cannot be made, by the ingenuity of man, suitable 

 for the growth of vegetables immediately useful to him or the lower 

 animals. Is it not, therefore, unjust, as well as ungenerous, that the 

 noblest inhabitants of our earth should be set aside for the pleasures 

 or prejudices of the aristocrat ! As seen from the plains of Bruns- 

 wick, the Hartz range does not appear so striking as the Pentlands, 

 seen from Edinburgh. It being a part of the systematic plan of our 

 lour that on this evening we should sleep on the summit of the far- 

 famed Brocken, we resolved on making the ascent, notwithstanding 

 the very unfiavourable state of the weather; and accordingly, having 

 selected one of the numerous and importunate fraternity of guides 

 connected with our hotel, we set out on our expedition, about 5 or 6 

 p.m. After passing a short way up the Radau Valley, we struck off 

 the highway, entering the dark pine-woods which cover the whole of 



