ARNOLD. 



ARNSBERG. 



630 



century it had already assumed its present channel. Still it approaches 

 very near Pisa on the north, and in times of inundations its waters 

 mi* with those of the Arno. 



The Arno, like all the rivers which descend from the Apennines, is 

 subject to sudden overflowings. The quantity of earth and stones 

 which it then carries down from the mountains has raised its bed in 

 many places nearly as high as the adjacent fields. Embankments 

 have been made along the greater part of its course, and are kept up 

 at a considerable expense. But in cases of extraordinary rains and 

 storms in the highlands where it has its source, the Arno rushes down 

 with such fury as to overcome all obstacles and inundate a great part 

 of the country. Among the more disastrous inundations that of 

 September 1537 is recorded, when the Valdarno and the whole plain 

 of Florence were overflowed, and trees, mills, cattle, and even houses 

 were carried away. Two-thirds of the city of Florence were inundated, 

 the water being in some places eight feet above the pavement, and 

 two of the bridges of Florence were carried away. It took several 

 months to clear the mud from the streets and houses. In November 

 1740 another great inundation occurred, owing to the prevailing 

 sirocco wind which melted the snows that had fallen on the Apen- 

 nines. The Sieve, which swells from the same causes and generally at 

 the same tune as the Arno, greatly contributes to these inundations. 



It appears that in ancient times the waters of the Arno divided near 

 Arezzo, and part of them flowed southward by the Clanis (Chiana) 

 into the Tiber. (Fossombroni, ' Memorie Idraulico-Storiche sopra la 

 Val di Chiana.') A communication by water existed between Arretium 

 and Rome. But the bed of the Chiana becoming raised by deposits 

 of earth, the declivity towards the south, which was already slight, 

 wag destroyed, and the whole waters of the Arno turned towards 

 Florence. The northern part of the Val di Chiana then became a 

 marsh, the streams that formerly ran into the Arno remaining stag- 

 nant in various places ; and it was only in the southern part of the 

 game valley that the waters continued to find their way into the Tiber, 

 after joining the river Paglia near Orvieto. At last the people of 

 Arezzo in the 14th century cut a canal, which carried part of the 

 waters of the northern Chiana into the Arno. This canal has been 

 since repeatedly enlarged and lengthened by the Tuscan government, 

 and has been the subject of many interesting hydraulic works and 

 experiments. [CHIANA, VAL DI.] 



The whole course of the Arno is about 140 miles. Its breadth 

 varies greatly : near Florence it is about 400 feet, but the waters are 

 very low in summer, and the river is then fordable. Within the city 

 of Florence the bed of the Arno is considerably narrower, being con- 

 fined by the walls of the quays. At Pisa however it continues to retain 

 the appearance of a considerable river. The tract of country watered 

 by the Arno, especially between Florence and Pisa, constitutes the 

 most populous, most productive, and most thriving part of Tuscany. 

 In the upper valleys of the Arno, between Arezzo and Florence, a 

 rast quantity of bones and whole skeletons of the largest quadrupeds 

 of other climates, the mastodon, elephant, rhinoceros, and hippo- 

 potamus are found, as well as beds of lignite. [APENNINES.] 



ARNOLD. [NOTTINCHAHSHIItE.] 



ARNSBERG, or ARENSBERG, a government or province of Prus- 

 sian Westphalia, is bounded N. by the governments of Mtinster and 

 Minden, E. by the principality of Waldeck and Hesse-Darmstadt, S. 

 by Nassau, and W. by the governments of Coblenz, Cologne, and 

 Duaseldorf. Its shape is nearly triangular, the base which is about 

 70 miles long from east to west resting on the Lippe, and the vertex 

 which is about 70 miles southward from the base resting on the 

 northern slope of the Westerwald, at a little distance from the left 

 bank of the Upper Sieg. The area is 2965 square miles. The popu- 

 lation at the end of 1849 was 579,757, of whom about 5700 were Jews 

 and the rest Evangelicals and Catholics, in the ratio of 127 to 100. 



Surface. With the exception of the immediate basin of the Lippe, 

 which is level, the surface is a rugged mountainous plateau, in parts 

 covered with forests or with coppice-wood, in parts stony and barren. 

 These highlands are the most elevated part of the Sauerland Moun- 

 tains which, extending between the Lippe and the Sieg, form part 

 of the watershed between the Rhine and the Weser, to which 

 respectively their western and eastern declivities extend. They are 

 distinguished in different parts by special names. The northern 

 part, stretching between the Lippe and the Ruhr, and extending 

 eastward to the hilly region of Brilon and the sources of the Diemel, 

 a feeder of the Weser, forms the Haarstrang Mountains, a portion of 

 which lying between the Mono and the Ruhr is called the Arnsberger- 

 Wald. At the sources of the Ruhr and the Lenne is the plateau of 

 Winterberg, the highest part of the Sauerland, the general level of 

 which is about 2000 feet above the sea, but several of the summits 

 rise more than 500 feet higher. The southern part, which contains 

 the sources of the Sieg and the Eder, another feeder of the Weser, 

 forms the ilothhaar or Rothlager Mountains, which reach their greatest 

 elevation in the Ederkopf, 2200 feet above the sea level It will thus 

 be Been that the crest of the Sauerland runs at a very little distance 

 from the eastern boundary, and that the government belongs almost 

 entirely to the Rhine slope of that system. In the west of the govern- 

 ment, between the left bank of the Lenne and the sources of the 

 Wupper, are the Ebbe Mountains, which reach the height of 2220 

 feet The surface is furrowed by several rivers and by a great number 



ozoo. DIV. vol.. i. 



of small streams, many of which run through narrow gorges and wild 

 mountain glens. The Lippe, flowing at its northern base towards the 

 west, passes the towns of Lippstadt and Hamm, and enters the Rhine 

 in the government of Diisseldorf at Wesel, after a course of about 100 

 miles. It is navigable from its mouth up to Lippstadt ; in that 

 I distance it traverses a rich agricultural lowland, the surplus produce 

 I of which is sent down the Lippe to the Rhine. Nearly parallel to the 

 Lippe flows the Ruhr, carrying down the drainage of all the central 

 part of the western slope of the Sauerland into the Rhine at Ruhrort. 

 The Ruhr is navigable for barges up to Witten, in the western part 

 of the province. The principal feeders of the Ruhr in the government 

 are the Miine, which enters it on the right bank below Arnsberg ; the 

 Lenne, which has a north-western course, and enters it on the left 

 bank ; and the Volme and the Empe, which flow northward, and 

 uniting their waters at Hagen join the Ruhr about two miles below 

 the mouth of the Leune. The Sieg drains the southern extremity of 

 the government. Its course is first to the south-south-west till it 

 reaches the western boundary below the town of Siegen, whence its 

 course is westward and very tortuous across the governments of 

 Coblenz and Cologne to its mouth in the Rhine, about a mile and a 

 half below Bonn. The water-power of the Ruhr and the Sieg and 

 most of their feeders is very considerable, and is turned to advantage 

 in driving the machinery of a vast number of mills and metallurgical 

 establishments. 



Agricultural Produce. In the plain of the Lippe and in the valleys 

 of the Ruhr, the Lenne, and most of the other rivers, farming is well 

 understood and carefully attended to. Farms vary in size from 100 

 to 200 acres, but many are smaller, and this is especially the case in 

 the southern districts. In the valleys the chief farm-products are 

 corn, flax, and fodder for fattening cattle. The soil of the province 

 yields enough for the home consumption. The farm-houses are shel- 

 tered by a patch of woodland, but there is an almost total absence of 

 grazing land and of hedge-rows between the fields. The bottom-land 

 along the Upper Sieg and in the numerous glens that open upon it 

 is all laid out in water-meadows, the system of irrigation having been 

 introduced here from Italy two or three centuries ago ; even the 

 slopes of the hills in many instances are made to produce good crops 

 of grass by means of irrigating rills. The adaptation of this system, 

 which is here carried out almost to perfection, allows of all manure 

 being applied to the arable land on the hill-sides, which is naturally 

 very poor, and yields only oats, rye, potatoes, and some flax. Foreet- 

 farming also in this district and in all the wooded parts of the sur- 

 face, is reduced almost to a science ; the aim for centuries having been 

 to produce not timber but wood suited for charcoal-burning, bark for 

 the tanner, and fuel for domestic use. A rotation of coppice or under- 

 wood, cut down every 16 years, affords these important articles ; and 

 rye is grown on the forest-land the year after the underwood is cut 

 down, the roots of which are left to throw out shoots for a new 

 growth. The system of forest-farming and water-meadowing are 

 carried out by companies of peasant-proprietors or by village commu- 

 nities, under the direction of woodrangers and overseers, elected by 

 their fellow-villagers for their tact and experience. These small pro- 

 prietors are also manufacturers, miners, or in some instances hand- 

 loom weavers. The number of horses, sheep, oxen, and cows is 

 considerable. The horned cattle are very generally used for draught. 

 Swine are numerous. 



Mineral and Industrial Products. The region of the Sauerland under 

 consideration in the present article is geologically isolated between 

 recent formations on the slopes toward the north and west, and the trap 

 formation and huge basaltic heavings of the Westerwald on the south. 

 It is con: posed chiefly of clay-slate and grauwacke-slate, quartz and 

 old limestone, which frequently appears on the surface, and contains 

 several remarkable caverns. The Ruhr district is still more remarkable 

 for its manufacturing and mining industry than for its agriculture. 

 Along the stream are numerous cotton-factories and iron-works, and 

 the hill sides are pierced by countless coal-mines, the principal 

 entrances to which are indicated by neat brick buildings and tall 

 chimneys. The neighbourhoods of Dortmund and Bochum yield coal 

 of excellent quality, and at Hoerde near the former town extensive 

 iron strata in connection with coal were discovered in July, 1852. 

 Bog-iron ore abounds in this district. The coal is conveyed to Witteu 

 where the Ruhr becomes navigable, and thence in light flat-bottomed 

 barges down the river to Miihlheim and Ruhrort, where it is shipped 

 in steam-tugs for conveyance along the Rhine. The introduction of 

 railways has given a great impetus to coal-mining in the basin of the 

 Upper Ruhr : the coal of this region is more bituminous than that 

 found lower down. 'Large quantities of it are conveyed by the Berg- 

 Mark railway through Elberfeld and Dusseldorf, and thence along the 

 Cologne-Minden line. The coal-mines on the Ruhr are all worked by 

 joint-stock companies. Every stream between the Ruhr and the Sieg 

 inclusive is occupied with small metallurgical works wherever a fall 

 creates power to drive machinery. In the neighbourhood of Iserlohn 

 and Altena, in the basin of the Lenne, the number of small works of 

 wire-drawers, copper-smiths, steel-hammerers, nail-makers, and others 

 is surprising to those accustomed to witness only the establishments 

 of large capitalists. But large establishments and steam-machinery 

 are gradually being introduced at Iserlohn, Wetten, and other places 

 against which the old-fashioned system cannot compete ; and this not 



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