RH1X. HAUT. 



UHINK. 



M 



16 milt by railway from Colmar, 



w Ike rfeht bank f the 111. was formerly the enpit.il <>f t'pp.-r Alsace. 

 ll U alMrtly fcrtMed, utd KM a erntral prison for right department* 



s*d SM Uabtaurt*. 

 aw. (roes OabDar. 

 oftlMMJti 



(fmttfilltr. situated on the Lauch, 15 mil.- 

 a bnd*ume church, erected in the middle 

 nwmen spin cotton-yarn, weave stocking., 

 calicoes, cotton-print*, printed shawls, and 



tar* Bella, currycombs, pota*h, and refined 



Mr. jseVJeM*. mile* a from Colmar by railway, is a walled town 

 whfc 1400 nhabttanta, who are enptged in spinning cotton-yarn and 

 wrevtast roUoaa. Hew UM town i the castle oTIsemburg, where 

 *ie of UM Frankiah kings of the Merovingian race raided, Jfeuf- 

 jHsex* ta email well-built fortified town between the 111 and the 

 Rhine, miles K. by a from Colmar, and has about 2500 inhabitants. 

 It we* built by Loots XIV. to wrve M a check to the fortress of Alt- 

 Brieacfc. on the Bsdea side of the Rhine, and was fortified by Vauban 

 on UM owet improved principle.. The streets sre straight, and the 

 boom low bat regularly built fvttlti. a wrll-built walled town with 

 5400 inhabitant*, south of Colmar on the I.nuch, hs manufactures of 

 Ok ribbon, woollens, paper, and leather. MtiaXer, a small town with 

 400 rababiUnta, IS miles RW. from Colmar, owe* H* origin to a 

 BssMdiottoe abbey, founded here in the 7th century. It was anciently 

 fortified, and soAred much in the Thirty Tears' War. The towns- 

 men ar engaged in the manufacture of cottons, muslins, and paper. 

 Cotton and woollen good* are manufactured at Wintzenheim, a small 

 Iowa west of Cohrar with 3500 inhabitants. Kniterbery, on the ' 

 6 mile* K.W. from Colmar, founded by the emperor Frederick II., 

 who surround-d it with walls, was formerly a free imperial city. The 

 town is well built, and ha* above 8000 inhabitants, who manufacture 

 cotton gooda, linen, canvass, and leather. At KtbrauriUr, a town of 

 7500 inhabitant*. 8 mile* N. from Colmar by railway, cotton handker- 

 chief* and other cotton goods) are manufactured : near the town are 

 UM ruins of the castle of Ribeaupierre. Saint e-Marie-aiu-- If inu is, 

 next to Colmar, the most important place in the arrondissement. It 

 is near on* of the passes of the Vosges, 18 miles N.W. from Colmar, 

 in an agreeable situation. The Liepvrette divides it into two part*. 

 It derives it* name from the copper and lead mines formerly worked 

 In the neighbourhood, but the working of these has been gradually 

 given up. The chief occupation of the townsmen is the mnmi- 

 Ucture of cotton- and woollen-yarn, of linens, woollens, and cottons, 

 including handkerchiefs and printed calicoes, and of leather and 

 per. There are also tan-yards, bleaching-grounds, dye-houses, and 

 tper-raills. The town has a chamb-r of manufacture?, 

 prud'hommes, and about 12,000 inhabitants in the 



paper. 



a council 



2. In the aeoond arrondissement the chief town is Altkirch, a small 

 town 84 mile* S. from Colmar, with a communal college, a tribunal of 

 firt iaatance, and 8500 inhabitants. Altkirch was built early in the 

 13th century 4>y one of the count* of Ferette. There are some 

 ancient towers yet standing. The townsmen manufacture leather, 

 and lbre U a monthly (air for cattle. The only other place worth 

 otic* in UM arrondiatement is the important manufacturing town 

 of JVWAaiura, which forms the subject of a separate article. 



3 In the third arrondiaaement the chief town is Brlfnrt, or Rffort, 

 which it situated in the south of the department, on the left bank of 

 UM Savourenae, a feeder of the Doubt, and has a commercial court, a 

 tribunal of Ant instance, a college, and 7400 inhabitants. The town 

 U fortified and well built. Outside the three gates are three important 

 taborbs. The chief industrial products of Belfort are watch- and 

 dock-works, leather, tin ware, hats, wax-candles, beer, ironmongery, 

 and iron wire, Ctntay, a station on the railway from Hulbausen to 

 Tbann, U situated on the Thur, and has a manufacturing population 

 of 3500. At Gvomogiy, a small town of 2800 inhabitants on the 

 aavoorease, cotton ninth, hosiery, and tiles are manufactured, and a 

 monthly fcir U held for corn and cattle. Mtutttaux, prettily situated 

 on UM Uollrr, 10 miles N.K. from Belfort, has manufactures of cotton- 

 yarn and cotton foods, copper-works and iron-furnaces, and a popu- 

 lation of 3300. Tkann, a well-built busy manufacturing town of 

 bout 6000 inhabitant*, situated on the Thur, 13 miles by railway 

 distent from Mnlhauam, has a fine old gothio church dedicated t 

 St. Theobald, remarkable for its spire, 328 feet high, which is an 

 imitation of that of Strasbourg. The ruins of the castle of Knpuel- 

 bert, on a hill above the town, are also deserving of notice. Cotton- 

 jrarn and cotton (roods, including printed calicoes, are manufactured ; 

 also machinery, sUrch, gunpowder, pig- and bar-iron, salt, and 



The department is included, with that of Baa-Rhin, in the diocese 

 of Mneboorg ; it is in the jurisdiction of the High Court of Colmsr, 

 aod within UM limit* of the University-Academy of Strasbourg. The 

 OalvinieU form a cottridorable element in the population of the 

 department The Catholics bare 32 parish churches and 820 chapels 

 of eaM. Tbt Calvinists have a consistorisl church at Mulhausen, and 

 7 BMetinf -booses in other towns of the department The Jews have 

 a /unue and grand rabbi at Colmar. and 18 communal rabbis 



pread over UM departcnent There are college* in Altkirch, Belfort, 

 Colmar, Mulhanara, auH Thann. Th* department it included in the 

 h Military Dirieiea, UM h*>d-qttarter* of which are at Strasbourg. 



It sends three members to the Legislative Chamber of the French 

 empire. 



(Didionnaire de la France ; Anauaire pour CAn 1853; Annuairedu 

 Commerce; Official Paper*. ) 



RHINE (ancient Rhenus), a large and important river in Europe, 

 rises in the Alps of Switzerland, in several parts of its course 

 separates that country from Germany, afterwards divides Germany 

 from France, traverses tho territories of several princes belonging to 

 the German Confederation, and lastly drains tho plains of Holland, 

 where it reaches the pea by several arms. That portion of the river 

 which lies within or along the boundary-line of Switzerland is called 

 the Upper Rhine ; from Basel to Cologne, it is denominated the 

 Middle Rhine ; and the remainder of the course, to its several mouths, 

 the Lower Rhine. 



Upper Shine. The river originates in three branches in that 

 elevated chain of the Alps which runs eastward from the mountain- 

 road of St.-Gothard through the Orisons. The most eastern of these 

 three branches, the Vorder-Rhein (Fore-Rhine), is considered tho 

 principal. It rises in two small lakes, situated on the eastern declivity 

 of Mount Bodns, belonging to the St.-Gothard group, about 7500 feet 

 above the sea-level. It runs in a ravine like a torrent, and about 

 12 miles from its source, at Dissentis, where it is met by the second 

 branch, the Mittel (Middle) Rhcin, it is hardly more than 3600 feet 

 above the sea. It continues its course for about 40 niilfs more in an 

 east by north direction, to Reichenau and Coire. At Reichenau the 

 waters are increased by the third branch, called the Hinter (Hinder) 

 Rhein, and at Coire it is nearly 250 feet wide, its waters having been 

 increased by numerous small tributaries. From Coire downwards it 

 is navigated by email flat river-boats, and it begins to run through a 

 valley from one to two miles wide, in a nearly northern direction 

 towards the Boden See, or Lake of Constant. This valley is nearly 

 50 miles long. About 20 miles north from Coire two mountains coine 

 close up to the banks of the river, so as not to leave even space for a 

 road. The eastern is called the Fiischerberg, and the western the 

 Schollberg. Their declivities along the river are extremely steep, and 

 there is reason to suppose that the two mountains at some remote 

 time formed one mass, and that the course of the river was different 

 from what it is at present. In fact a low tract of alluvial ground 

 extends south of the Schollberg westward to the small town of Sargans 

 in St-Gallen, and thence to the Lake of Wallenstadt. Between this 

 lake and that of Ziirich there is also a broad tract of level alluvial 

 ground, in which the Linth Canal has been made. As the ground 

 between the present course of the Rhine "and the Lake of Wallenstadt 

 is little more than 20 feet above the level of the river, it is supposed 

 that the Rhine formerly took its course through this low ground, and 

 passing through the lakes of Wallenstadt and Ziirich, followed the 

 course of the Limmat, which joins the Aar ft little below the mouth of 

 the Keuss. When the Rhine is unusually swollen there is some danger 

 of its returning to this its supposed ancient bed. In 1817 and 1821 

 the danger was only averted by the great efforts of the inhabitants of 

 the adjacent places. North of the narrow passage between tho 

 Schollberg and Fn'scherberg the valley is much wider, and here the 

 river constitutes the boundary-line between Austria and Switzerland. 

 Where the river enters the Boden-See it runs through a swampy tract 

 of small extent The river issues from the lake at Constanz, which 

 is 1344 feet above the sea-level, and flowing in a western direction 

 for a few miles, enters the Unter-See (Lower Lake), which is about 

 80 feet lower than the Boden-See. In this tract, and an far an Schaff- 

 hauscn, the Rhine is navigable for large boats, but below the last- 

 mentioned place its waters rush over a rock, which is between 65 and 

 70 feet high, and this waterfall is called the cataract of Schaffhausen 

 or Laufen. The lost name is derived from that of a castle which is 

 contiguous to the waterfall. At Schaffhausen the surface of the Rhine 

 is 1260 feet above the sea-level. Below this cataract the course of the 

 river is very tortuous, between mountains and high hills, but its 

 general direction is toward the west Nearly 50 miles below Schaff- 

 hausen the navigation is again interrupted by a cataract, at the town 

 of Latifenburg, where the bed is narrowed by projecting rocks to 

 about 50 feet. At this point goods must be unshipped, and the barges 

 descend the river by means of ropes. The last and least impediment 

 to navigation in the Upper Rhine occurs near Rheiufelden, about 

 10 miles below Laufenburg, where a rapid of some length occurs, 

 which does not stop the navigation, but is fatal to many boats which 

 navigate this part of the river. It is called the Hblleuhocken (Hook 

 of Hell). Below this rapid the river is only 850 feet above the sea ; 

 and at Basel only 800 feet 



Numerous tributaries join the Rhino in its upper course above 

 Basel, but none of them is navigable or otherwise important, with 

 the exception of the Aar, which with ita feeders the Keuss and tho 

 Limmat, brings into the Rhino the drainage of the greater part of 

 Switzerland. [AAROAU.] 



Middle Rhine. At Basel, where this division of the river begins, it 

 has entirely left the mountain region of the Alps and Jura Mountains, 

 and at the same timo it changes its western into a north-north-eastern 

 MUM northern course. It flows in a valley from 40 to 50 miles wide, 

 extending between the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) and the mountains 

 connected with it on the east, on the ono side, and the Vosges and 

 their northern prolongation the Hardt Mountains on the west, from 



