532 



TIIF. STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



but although we meet with an almost complete 

 succession of all the stnuiiied and non-stratified 

 formations they are distributed with <:reat in- 

 equality. The best carpet < are made in Au- 

 busson, Abbey ville. and Amiens. Paris is the 

 seat of industry for some of the most costly 

 fabrics, as (iobelins. tapestry, shawls of Aren't 

 value, watches, clocks, articles of "vertu," car- 

 riages, philosophical instruments, etc. Sevres 

 stands unrivaled for its china and glass. St. 

 Gobain and St. Quirin manufacture looking- 

 glasses of the largest size. The great emporiums 

 of trade are Paris, Lyons, St. Etienne, Lille, 

 Rheims. Ximes, Toulouse, etc.: and the most 

 attractive maritime ports are .Marseilles, Cette. 

 Havre, Bordeaux, etc. 



Ganges, a river of Hindustan, one of the 

 greatest rivers of Asia, rising in the Himalaya 

 Mountains, in (larhwal State, and formed by 

 the junction of two head streams, the Bhagi- 

 rathi and the Alaknanda. which unite at Deo- 

 prag, ten miles below Srinagar, 1,500 feet above 

 sea-level. The Ganges is navigable for boats 

 of a large size nearly 1,500 miles from its mouth. 

 It is an imperative "duty of the Hindus to bathe 

 in the Ganges, or at least to wash themselves 

 with it ^ water, and to distribute alms, on certian 

 days. The Hindus believe that whoever dies on 

 its banks and drinks of its water before death is 

 exempted from the necessity of returning into 

 this world. Its water is a, considerable article 

 of commerce in the remoter parts of India. 



Genoa, a city of Italy, is beautifully situ- 

 ated on the Gulf of Genoa, which lies to the 

 south of Piedmont, and it stands at the foot 

 and on the slope of the Ligurian Alps. In the 

 old part of the city the streets are narrow and 

 steep, but in the newer parts there are several 

 spacious promenades; though generally the ir- 

 regular rising ground on which the city is built 

 has prevented any comprehensive plan of im- 

 provement, and it still retains much of that 

 quaintness of architectural character for which 

 it has long been celebrated. There are many 

 magnificent churches in Genoa, of which the 

 principal is the Duomo, or Cathedral, of St. 

 Lorenzo. It is one of the chief ports of the 

 Mediterranean, and there are local manufac- 

 tures of cotton, silk, jewelry, etc. Genoa was 

 the birthplace of Christopher Columbus, and of 

 many other famous men. Population, 234,710. 



German Empire, one of the great powers 

 of Europe, consisting of a federation of semi- 

 independent and other states, which occupy 

 the greater portion of North-Central Europe. 

 The following table shows the elements of which 

 the German Empire as now constituted is made 

 up: 



The small island of Heligoland, now forming 

 part of Prussia, was added to the empire in 

 1890. 



Among the Germans themselves their country 

 is known as " Deutschland " ; to the French as 

 " Allemagne"; while its Latin denomination 

 is "Germania," whence the English name. 

 Germany lies between the Baltic Sea, Denmark, 

 and the North Sea on the north, and Swit/er- 

 land and a part of Austria on the south, and be- 

 tween France, Belgium, and the Netherlands 

 on the west, and the rest of Austria and Russia 

 on the east. The northern part of Germany 

 forms part of the great European plain, and is 

 for the most part flat. Its soil is not very fertile, 

 and extensive forests alternate with heaths, 

 morasses, and small, shallow lakes. Central 

 Germany may be described as hilly; its soil is 

 fertile, and its scenery is often very picturesque. 

 The greater part of Southern Germany is oc- 

 cupied by the plateau of Bavaria, which rises 

 about 1,600 feet above the sea level, and in- 

 creases in elevation towards the west, where it 

 forms the Schwarz Wald, or Black Forest Range. 

 Some of the mountain chains of Germany, 

 especially the Harz Mountains and the Erzege- 

 birge, are very rich in minerals. . The chief 

 rivers are the Rhine, Elbe, Oder, Vistula, and 

 Upper Danube ; others of less note are the Ems, 

 Weser, Pregel, a.nd Niemen. The climate of 

 Germany is, on the whole, temperate and sa- 

 lubrious, though the winters are somewhat 

 severe, and the Rhine is occasionally frozen 

 as far south as Mannheim. Germany is rich 

 in mineral products; cobalt, arsenic, sulphur, 

 saltpeter, alum, gypsum, bismuth, pumice- 

 stone, slate, ocher, emery, vitriol, are among 

 the exports. Its vegetable products comprise 

 a large portion of the European flora. All tin- 

 ordinary cereals are extensively cultivated in 

 the north. Its best wine-producing districts 

 are the valleys of the Danube, Rhine, Main, 

 Necker, and Moselle, which are also noted for 

 the excellence of their fruits and vegetables. 

 The principal seaports are Hamburg, Bremen, 

 Lubeck, Altona, Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Stral- 

 sund, Stettin, Dantzig, Konigsberg, and Memel. 

 Inland, the chief commercial cities are Frank- 

 fort-on-the-Main, Breslau, Leipzig, Cologne, 

 Nuremberg, Elberfeld, Muhlhouse, Chemnitz, 

 Mentz, and Augsburg. 



