CHAPTER XX. 

 GERMANY, SWITZERLAND, ITALY, FRANCE, SPAIN, AND PORTUGAL. 



GERMANY. 



THE Germanic or Teutonic stock forms the basis of the Scandinavian, Dutch, and to some 

 extent the British peoples. In the previous chapter we have already pointed out that a large 

 number of Germans are to be found in Austria-Hungary. The Teutons form one of the 

 principal branches of the Aryan family of nations. But in the every-day use of language 

 we generally mean by the word "German" a person who owes allegiance to the Kaiser, 

 or Emperor, of Germany. Its significance is therefore rather political than scientific. The 

 German Empire is a confederacy of five-and-twenty states, dating from the year 1871, with 

 more or less independence in their internal affairs, presided over by the King of Prussia, who 

 bears the title of Kaiser, or Emperor. The united provinces of Alsace-Lorraine, annexed 

 after the Franco-Prussian War, now form part of the empire, being administered as a kind 

 of Crown colony. 



In the year 1895 the German people 

 numbered 52,246,589, but at the present time 

 the population is probably not far short of 

 55,000,000. Eacially the Germans may be 

 divided into two great branches, corresponding 

 to the two very different physical divisions of 

 the land. To the south and west of the 

 Hartz Mountains Germany consists of high 

 tablelands and valleys; to the north and east, 

 of a vast tract of lowland country, in which 

 the only important elevation is the Teuto- 

 tourger Wald. 



The inhabitants of the southern portions 

 of the empire are generally known as the 

 High Germans, while those who dwell in 

 the low-lying regions of the north are called 

 the Low Germans. The former are also 

 known as Swabians, the latter as Saxons. 

 'There is a well-marked distinction in the 

 physical type of these two branches of the 

 race. The Swabians represent that portion 

 of the Teutons which, in its early migrations, 

 displaced a Celtic people at one time settled 

 in the mountainous part of the country. 

 They are darker than the Northern Germans, 

 .and perhaps this may be accounted for by 

 partial fusion with the conquered Celts, who 

 had in their turn already absorbed a dark 

 xace of the time of the New Stone Age 



[Berlin. 



A LITTLE GERMAN BOY. 



457 



