BAY 



50 



BAY 



are attached on the east to the Ficbtclgebirgc* ami on the 



\u--t border mi tlir Spessart ; they attain their hujlu-st ele- 

 vation in the Kreuiberg, which is -IIC'J foot alx 

 of the sen. The Fichtelgtbir^*, which is connected with 

 the Bohemian forest chain, lies in the north-eastern r. 

 the Upper Main : the chief component parts of this mass are 

 granite. :.'!i>-:--. quartz, and clayslato ; the highest summiu 

 are the Ochsonkopf. or Ox's Head (5280 feet) and some 

 points of the Schneekopf, or Snow-peak, (3502 feet). Of 

 the Thiiringerwald, or forest of Thuringen, an inconsider- 

 able portion lies within the circle of the Upper Main, where 

 it goes by the name of the forest of Franconia (Frankcn- 

 wald). On the west side of the Rhine, a branch of the Jura, 

 the ' Vosgesus lions,' which loses the name of the ' Y 

 on entering Rhenish Bavaria, where it is Germanized into 

 the Wasgau, stretches in a north-easterly lino deep into the 

 centre of that province, and terminates in the canton of 

 Kiivhhuim, in which is situated its loftiest summit, the Kii- 

 ni">stuhl, one of the group of the Donncrsberg (Mountain of 

 Thunder), 9148 feet nigfa. Th< oof this chain U 



chiefly old red sandstone, though in some parts, particularly 

 on the Donnersberg, which is crowned with a plateau above 

 100 acres in area, it contains hornblende and porphyry. 



In those masses of Bavarian highlands the most elevated 

 points, not before indicated, nrc, the Zugspitz of the Noric 

 Alps, in the circle of the Isar, 9689 feet, and the Wetler- 

 schroffen, 9387; the Hochvogel of the Allgau range, in the 

 circle of the Upper Danube, 8-I7G; and the TeufeL 

 in the same circle, 9283 feet. The only Bavarian heights 

 which rise into the region of perpetual snow belong to the 

 Noric Alps. The Bavarian mountains are generally raw 

 nnd inhospitable, but well wooded. The Sudetsh branch of 

 the great Hercynian range comprehends the Bohemian 

 forest mountains (Bohmcr-Wald-Gebirge) which run along 

 the eastern confines of Bavaria to the extreme eastern 

 point where Hohenstein, about twenty-three miles north of 

 the Danube, is situated, and, separating the kingdom from 

 the Austrian dominions east of them, throw out several 

 arms into the circles of the Lower Danube and llegen. 

 Their highest summits on the Bavarian side are the Arber, 

 4824 feet, the Rachel, 4720, and the Dreisesselberg, 4054 



Bavaria is, on the whole, a mountainous country ; not 

 only is it walled in by lofty mountains on the north and 

 south, but its interior is intersected in various directions by 

 elevated ranges. It contains, however, many wide and 

 fertile valleys, and numerous extensive plains, the face of 

 which is not nnfrequently disfigured by swamps and mo- 

 rasses, here called ' Moose' and ' Filze,' from their surface 

 being covered with a thick jungle of lichens (lic/ien-m 

 and reeds. Of these moors the largest are the Donaumoos, 

 eighty miles in area, between Schrobenhausen and lugol- 

 ' : tho Erdingermoos, in the circle of the Isar, up- 

 wards of 100 miles in area; the Isaraoos, between Isarock 

 and the banks of the Danube, thirty-five miles in length 

 and about three in breadth; the Eschenlohermoos, which 

 stretches from the banks of the Laisach to Mornau ; and 

 the Rosenheimermoos on the Inn. These moors, part of 

 which have latterly been drained, have hitherto been entirely 

 unprofitable. The greatest extent of plain stretches full 

 fifty miles in a south-eastern direction along the Danube 

 from Ratisbon to Osterhofen ; next to this in extent are the 

 Kfinigswiese (Royal Meadow), or Bockinger Heath, spread- 

 ing from Rocking to Scharding ; the Riefs, in the heart of 

 which lies Nonllingen : the Hats of the Regnitz which en- 

 circle Nuremberg ; and that portion of the valley of the 

 Rhine, on its west bank, which spreads into a dead plain 

 round Landau, in Rhenish Bavaria. The most romantic 

 parts of Bavaria are the regions on the south-eastern bor- 

 ders, where Alpine heights, mountain-torrent*, lakes, and 

 glaciers, combine to give them the characteristics of the 

 Swiss or Tyrolese landscape. 



Bivert, Lakes, SfC. The Rhine forms the eastern bound- 

 ary of the Rhenish subdivision of Bavaria, from a point 

 north-cast of Lauterbure to a point a little south of Worms ; 

 the principal streams which fall into it on the Bavarian side 

 are the Lautcr, below Lauterburg ; the Klingbach, south of 

 Sondemhcim ; the Queich, close to Gcrraenhcim ; the 

 Sneicr, near the town of Spcicr or Spires ; the Rehbach, &c. 

 The breadth of tho Rhine above Lautcrbiirg is 1400 feet : 

 .11 in this part of its course is estimated at four and a 

 half feet in every three miles and a quarter, and it flows at 

 the rate of about 395 feet per minute. 



The Danube enters the south west of Bavaria from the 



Wiirtemberg dominions about two mile* south of Ulm, and 



in its north-easterly a i . the heart 



of the kingdom as far as Regcns - past 



. i .rg, and 1: 



stadt, between which 1 has a fall 



of 110 feet. In its course (wlm-h U about K> 



on to Passau it has on its n-j'..t bank Straubing 

 and Yilshofen, and between Ratisbon and 

 a spot five miles below Dcckcndorf, not far frum !'.< 

 in the circle of the Lower Danube, a fall of lin 

 The course of this tortuous and impetuous river from 

 Ulna to Passau is stated by St. Bchlcn to be i 

 and a half German miles, or about 2*0 English : the prin- 

 cipal streams which arc tributary to it alt i:g this 1m 

 on its right bank, the Iller (after the latter h;. 

 the Blcibach), the Leiba, Miindel, Zusam, and I.< <!>. thu 

 I*ar bel.iw Dcgiicndorf (after it has been joined by the 

 Loisach, Amper, and Wiiini), and the Inn, near 1' 

 (after it has been increased by the inllux of the Alz, 

 ach, kc.). On its left bank the chief rivers which fall into 

 the Danube are the Wiirnitz near Donauworih, the Altmiihl 

 near Kehlheim, which rises not far from Hornau n. 

 Rctzat circle, the Rohrbach near Bubcnheim, the Sulz 

 near Beiliiiirrics. the Naab, winch Hows down from the 

 Bohmcrwald, is increased by the waters of the Hi 

 from tho region of the Pichtelzebirge, and joins the Danube 

 above Ratisbon : and lastly the Regen, which ; 

 from the Bi'dmienvald, and uniting with the black, while, 

 and lesser Regen, traverses the circle to which it gix 



. and discharges itself into the Danube near IStadh-am- 

 Hof, opposite Ratisbon. During its course through tl.. 

 varian territory the Danube receives no less than thirty- 

 eight rivers. 



The Main originates in two streams, the red and white 

 Main, the white springing from the vicinity of Neubau, and 

 the red from the Ochsenkopf, part of the Fichtelgebirge in 

 the circle of the Upper Danube ; these unite at Steinln 

 below Kulmbaeh, and flow in a general western 

 point a few miles west of Bam berg, Hamberg is 01 

 nitz, a larje stream which joins the Main on the left ! 

 a little below Bamberg. The Main continues a general 

 western course to Schweinfurth, Kitzingen, Wiirzburg, and 

 AschafTenhurg, whence it passes into the territory 

 It is navigable above Bamberg, and in iu course thronirh 

 the northern circles of the Upper and I^nvcr Main receives 

 the Rodach near Staflfelstein, the Franconian-Saale at 

 Gmiinden, the Regnitz (as already mentioned), below Bain- 

 berg, and many other smaller streams.' There are three 

 other rivers of note which rise in the Bavarian territory 

 the Eger and Saale, both come from the Fich:. 

 the former runs eastward in the circle of the Upper Main 

 into Bohemia, and the latter northward from the Zetier- 

 wald in the same circle into Saxony ; and the Fulda, which 

 flows immediately into Electoral Hesse, and after its junc- 

 tion with the Wcrra forms the Weser. 



Bavaria does not yet possess canals of any magnitude. 

 There is a canal in the neighbourhood of the Amnv 

 in the western part of the circle of the Isar, 13, COO 1 

 length, which enables timber-rafts to' avoid the hazardous 



ition of that lake as well as to save a distance ol i 

 than five miles. A cut was made in 1818 betweeen Worth 

 and Knitlingcn (both on the Rhine), lO.Gi-l feet long and 

 sixty-two feet broad, with sluice-gates upon the Rhine at 

 each extremity. Another canal was finished in l.so;. 

 Uvecn Rosenheim and Kufstcin, which is 7400 feet long and 

 thirty-six broad, and by which nearly tw ilesot 



highly fertile land have been brought under cultivation, 

 There is also a navigable, canal from Frankenthal to the 

 Rhine. In the year 793 the Emperor Chart. ,l\cd 



upon uniting the German Ocean with the Black S, ,, b\ t 

 canal which would have run from the Altmiihl to the Reg- 

 nitz, and thus have established a navigable line between the 

 Danube and the Rhine through the Main ; and there is every 

 prospect, from the active exertions of the Bavarian govern- 

 ment to forward this great object, that this undertaking will 

 now be accomplished.* 



The official protpectm upon which, well u upon a law pnunl in July 



1. ill (1834). company u forming for (In- imrpoic, iutrslli.it 'Hi, Junction 



Canal between tlir Danube mnl Ulmn-, t.\ inf. in- ..I' the M.-iiu. incliulini; tha 



;.Y.T AltriniM which in to lie made navigable, will 1 ic . ',92.543 



..r turn!) three and a half (icrm.in mile in length (about 



i 1"7 mflci). It i* to t:8M in the tlircct 



TirD*rcial town in are 



.ft al bottom, and a depth 

 of fi\ e feet. The width of the chamber! for the iluiccs is to be tuU L > . 



