STYEIA. 



25 



land and Northern France is still wanting. Its construction will necessitate the 

 boring of a tunnel through the Arlberg. 



No doubt this line would have been built long ago if it could prove of strate- 

 gical importance, but Switzerland excites no apprehensions. For works of defence 

 we must look on the Italian sloj)e of the Alps. In opening up the Alpine valleys 

 by means of railways, care was taken to render them inaccessible to a hostile invader. 

 Every road, every footpath, has its forts and batteries, the centre of defence being 



Fiff. 14. — EOADS OVEK THE AlPS. 



JUl'JUt O-a-iSOft. JSM-iJMOft, 6iUV-!JS43/l. 



The Map is shaded to express the height above the Sea-level. 



placed at the points where the Pusterthal joins the road over the Brenner. This 

 important strategical position is defended by the Franzensfeste and other works.* 



Topography. 



Styria. — The sites upon which important towns have been founded in the 

 Alpine regions are clearly marked out by nature. The largest city would naturally 

 arise beyond the most elevated mountain masses, in a plain affording scope for the 

 cultivation of the soil, and on one of the great high-roads radiating from the capital 

 of the empire. Gmts (Hradec, 80,732 inhabitants), the capital of Styria, and 



* Height of passes in the Austrian Alps (in feet) : — 



Carriage roads :-^ielvïo, 9,154; Malser Heide, 4,973; Arlberg, 5,896; Eadstadter Tauern, 5,700 

 Rottenmann Tauern, 4,004 ; Pontebba, 2,600. 



Eailroads :— Brenner, 4,421; Senimering, 3,260; Toblach Field, in the Pusterthal, 3,952. 



