414 



GERMAN OCEAN GERMANY. 



retreated, and Germanicus A'as content to regain the 

 banks of the F.-us, ;md retired with honour from tin- 

 contest which his army could no longer sustain. After 

 having lost another part of his troops during his re- 

 treat, oy a violent storm, which wrecked the vessels in 

 which they were embarked, he reached the mouths of 

 the Rhine, with a feeble remnant of his army, and 

 employed the winter in making new preparations for 

 war against the Germans. He built a fleet of 1000 

 vessels, in order to avoid the difficult route by land 

 through forests and morasses, and landed at the 

 mouth of the Ems. Proceeding thence towards the 

 \\ eser, he found the Cherusci assembled on the oppo- 

 site bank, with the intention of contesting the pas- 

 sage. Nevertheless, he effected it, and fought a bat- 

 tle, which began at daybreak, and terminated to the 

 advantage of the Romans. On the succeeding day, the 

 Germans renewed the contest with fury, and carried 

 disorder into the ranks of the Romans, but German- 

 icus maintained possession of the field. The Ger- 

 mans returned into their forests. Germanicus re-em- 

 barked, and, after having experienced a terrible 

 storm, by which part of his fleet was dissipated, went 

 into winter quarters, but not until he had made an- 

 other incursion into the country of the Marsi. This 

 expedition was his last in Germany. Tiberius, jealous 

 of the glory of the young hero, called him home under 

 pretence of granting him a triumph. In order, how- 

 ever, to get rid of a man whose popularity appeared 

 dangerous to him, he sent him, invested with almost 

 absolute power, into the East, to compose the distur- 

 bances which had broken out there ; at the same 

 time he appointed Piso, whose proud, domineering 

 and inflexible character always thwarted the inten- 

 tions of Germanicus, governor of Syria. It was evi- 

 dent that they could not long continue to act together, 

 and Piso conceived such an inveterate hatred against 

 Germanicus, as to make it very probable, that the 

 latter was poisoned by him. Germanicus died in the 

 year of Rome 772, aged thirty- four years. Rome lost 

 in him one of her bravest and noblest citizens. 



GERMAN OCEAN, or NORTH SEA; between 

 Great Britain, Holland, Germany, Denmark, and Nor- 

 way. It is about 200,000 square miles in extent. 

 The tides are greatest on the coasts of Holland and 

 England, where it is confined within narrower limits. 

 The waters are salter than those of the Baltic, but 

 less so than those of the main ocean : they contain a 

 larger portion of unctuous matter and of marine plants, 

 and frequently present a luminous appearance. (See 

 Mollusca ) A description of the banks cf the North 

 sea, founded on numerous soundings, with an illus- 

 trative chart, is contained in the fifth number of the 

 Edinburgh Philosophical Journal. It opens into the 

 Atlantic on the north, and communicates with the 

 English channel by the straits of Dover, and with the 

 Baltic by the Scaggerac (q. v.) and Cattegat. (q. v.) 

 It may be considered as divided into two parts by the 

 Dogger bank, which traverses it in abnost all its 

 width (between 54 and 57 N. latitude, and 3 40 

 and 6 37' E. longitude). In general, the navigation 

 is dangerous, exposed to violent and variable winds : 

 a strong tide, running in the direction from north to 

 a.uth, is much increased by northerly and north- 

 westerly winds. The fisheries are extensive, both on 

 the Dogger bank and the coasts of Great Britain, 

 Holland, Denmark, and Norway ; they are still 

 greater at its northern extremity, in the direction ol 

 the Orkney and Shetland islands. No part of the 

 ocean is better fitted for forming able seamen. The 

 men, accustomed to the frequent changes and bois- 

 terous navigation of this sea, need not fear to encounter 

 the Atlantic ; and it has accordingly been the nursery 

 of the greatest maritime powers in Europe. The for- 

 mation of the Zuyder Zee (q. v.), iu the thirteenth 



century, by a great irruption, and the destruction of 

 in island on the coast of Sleswick, in 1634, are proof's 

 of its fury. The only island of much importance is 

 Heligoland, belonging to Great Britain. The princi- 

 pal ports on or connected with the Gennan ocean, are 

 Yarmouth, London, Kingston-upon-Hull, in England ; 

 Leith and Dundee, in Scotland ; Dunkirk, in France ; 

 Ostend, Flushing, Antwerp, Amsterdam and Rotter- 

 dam, in Holland ; Embden, Bremen, and Hamburg, in 

 Germany ; Christiansand and Bergen, in Norway. 



GERMANTOWN; a post-town in Philadelphia 

 county, Pennsylvania ; seven miles north of Philadel- 

 phia ; population, 4311. It contains a bank, an 

 academy, and several houses of worship, for Presby- 

 terians, for German Calvinists, for Lutherans, for 

 Friends, and for Mennonists. It is pleasantly situated, 

 and has considerable manufactures. A battle was 

 fought here on the 4th of October, 1777, between the 

 Americans, under general Washington, and the Brit- 

 ish. The Americans lost 200 killed, 500 wounded, 

 and four taken prisoners : the British lost seventy 

 killed, and 430 wounded and taken prisoners. 



GERMANY ; an extensive country, situated in 

 the centre of Europe, and divided into various states 

 of various dimensions. 



Geography and Statistics. Germany is bounded 

 east by Western Prussia and Posen, Poland, Cracow, 

 Galicia, Hungary, and Croatia ; south by the Adriatic 

 the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, and Switzerland ; 

 west by France and the kingdom of the Netherlands, 

 and north by the North sea, Denmark, and the Baltic. 

 It extends from 5 2(V to 20 20' E. Ion., and from 

 45 to 55 N. lat., with an area of 250,000 square 

 miles. It is watered by 500 rivers, among which 

 sixty are navigable. The principal are the Danube, 

 the Rhine, the Weser, the Elbe and the Oder (set 

 those articles). The principal lakes are that of Con- 

 stance, of Chiem, of Cirknitz,the Traunsee, the Wurai- 

 see, the Dummersee, the Plauensee, &c. The coun- 

 try is mountainous in the south ; in the north it is 

 principally level. Germany descends towards the 

 North sea and the Baltic from the south, and in the 

 north-west, is constantly encroached upon by the sea. 

 The most southern chain of German mountains is 

 formed by the Tyrolese Alps, the Alps of Allgau, the 

 Carnic and Julian Alps, running from east to west. 

 The most northerly mountain chain extends, in a 

 winding direction, from east to west. It begins near 

 the Carpathian mountains, with the Sudetic chain, 

 which gives out the Riesengebirge, between Silesia 

 and Bohemia ; to the south-west are the Moravian 

 mountains ; to the north-west, the Bohemian forest. 

 From the latter, the Saxon Erzgebirge goes off to the 

 north-east, the Fichtelgebirge to the north-west, and 

 north-west of this last lies the Thuringian forest. 

 The most northern mountains of Germany are the 

 Hartz, to the west of which, and crossing the Weser, 

 extend the Weser mountains, forming, near Mimlen, 

 the Westphalian Gates. Southwardly from this are 

 the Sauerland mountains, the Westerwald and the 

 Siebengebirge on the Rhine. From the Thuringian 

 forest, to the south-east, extend the Rhoen, the Vo- 

 gelsberg and the Taunus, the latter of which stretches 

 to the Rhine. From the Rhoen mountains, south- 

 wardly, run the Spessart, the Odemvald, the Schwartz- 

 wald (Black Forest, q. v.), which extends to the 

 Upper Rhine, and is connected towards the east with 

 the Rough or Suabian Alps, and approaches the Alps 

 of Allgau. Beyond the Rhine are the Donnersberg 

 and Hundsruck, which, with p-irtof the Ardennes, are 

 connected with the Vosges. In northern Germany, 

 there are sandy heaths and moors, and many districts 

 contain fertile strips only along the large rivers. On 

 the whole, the soil is fertile. The climate is temperate 

 and healthy; in the north more wet and severe, in 



