236 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



heart of Europe, which is analogous to the selvas of the Amazon. Compared with the 

 north of Germany, the spring here begins late, and is short ; the summer is foggy and 

 stormy ; and the mean temperature lower than that of more northerly districts. 



Proceeding in a westerly direction, the flat land traverses the north of Germany, and 

 here forms a series of ascents and descents from the shores of the Baltic to the foot of the 

 Alps, in which however the ascent becomes more marked as the south is approached. A 

 line drawn from the island of Usedom at the mouth of the Oder, through New Strelitz, 

 Berlin, Leipsic, Greitz, Baireuth, Ratisbon, and Munich, to the Tegern Lake, divides 

 Germany into two parts, the east and west ; and along its whole extent, there is only a 

 single mountainous tract to pass over, which commences at Greitz about the middle 

 distance. Following this line from the north, the traveller gradually rises by a series of 

 terraces, the loftiest of which, at whose southern margin the Alps with their high masses 

 plunge into the depths beneath, stands about 1400 feet above the spot where he com- 

 menced his journey. The physiogonomy of the country through which he passes is of the 

 most varied kind. At its northern extremity are the gently undulating hills of Usedom, 

 with their beautiful and verdant forests, affording in open spots, on the one hand, a view of 

 that billowy sea which only terminates with the sky, and on the other the tranquil waters 

 of the mouth of the Oder are seen, with the coast of Pomerania, enlivened by numerous 

 sails which the active commerce of Stettin sends into distant lands beyond the ocean, into 

 other hemispheres and other climates. The coast of Pomerania is to a considerable extent 

 an open cornfield, without a tree or bush, a fruitful solitude, wearisome from its sameness. 

 Beyond, at the horizon, a sharp line arrests the eye, the heights of Mecklenburg, a 

 district where the scene alters, and the abodes of a rich population appear, enclosed in 

 fruitful gardens, around the capital of the beautiful country of New Strelitz. Farther 

 towards the south the soil changes ; sand becomes the prevailing element, and woods of 

 the gloomy pine and common fir intermingle with the meagre sand-fields on which man 

 can only obtain a scanty subsistence from the earth. This is the prevailing character of 

 the country through the Mark of Brandenburg, the whole of which is covered with erratic 

 blocks, many of enormous size, which some great -inundation has apparently borne hither 

 from their native Scandinavian bed. Reaching the Elbe, a new soil commences on its 

 southern bank ; luxuriant corn-fields appear, which only become more productive, till the 

 fruitful fields of Leipsic open before us. The great plain we have been following from 

 the Baltic, ends at Greitz, on the White Elster ; and, at the south bank of the river, the 

 traveller ascends the first terrace of the plateau of Southern Germany. It is not, how- 

 ever, a ridge which he attains, but a plain, reaching to Gera, where he beholds before 

 him plains again and again, which rise like terraces one above the other. Farther on, 

 he wanders through narrow valleys overshadowed by the powerful stems of the red and 

 white fir, leading to the foot of the mountain chain which abuts against the ramparts of 

 Bohemia. The valley plain of the Maine is now entered, presenting variegated meadows, 

 rich corn fields, the red roofs of innumerable villages ; and afterwards we proceed to the 

 plateau of the Upper Palatinate, which, by its barrenness, strikingly contrasts with the 

 region we have just left. The northern fir, here and there mixed with the pine, becomes 

 again the prevailing tree ; and the country has all the aspect of the plains of Branden- 

 burg, till we arrive, by a wood of pines passing over a mountain ridge, within sight of the 

 venerable Ratisbon. Wild and deep rushes the Danube past its walls, not so much 

 splashing as foaming against the pillars of the lofty bridge which conducts us across a 

 fertile plain, with wavy elevations, to the valley of the Isar. which forms only a moderate 

 depression in it. Here, standing on some heights near the small town of Freising, the 

 traveller sees on the southern horizon what he thinks at first a mere vapour in the air 

 a heap of clouds, the edges of which appear serrated. It is the Alps ! Over a plain more 



