32 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 



and many towns and villages rise upon it. The northern plain, however, known 

 as the " Marchfeld," abounded until recently in sand-hills, swamps, and furze, but 

 has now likewise been brought under cultivation. This Marchfeld is one of the 

 great battle-grounds of Europe, and was allowed to remain a wilderness during 

 the Middle Ages as a protection to the eastern " marches" of Germany. 



Inhabitants and Towns. 



The population of Austria proper is not so purely German as might be sup- 

 posed from the language universally spoken. The Germans living here are more 

 gay and supple of mind than their kinsmen in the north ; their features are 

 more expressive, their gait freer, and their skulls rovmder ; and these differences 

 result from a mixture with other races. Originally the country was inhabited by 

 a non-Germanic race, and the names of many places are Celtic. After the down- 

 fall of the Roman Empire it was successively inhabited by Rugians, Huns, and 



Fiff. 19. — Geological Map of the Upper Valley of the Danube. 



fl»! T, o1 P.iri 



Mica schist, l'orpht/ry 



Granite, 

 Gneiss, etc. 



Jurassic Tiiassir CitMi,euiu> Tertian 



Qcatcrnary 



Avares. At the same time the Slavs founded numerous colonies, the names of 

 which survive to the present day. After the destruction of the Avares by Charle- 

 magne, only Slavs and Germans are mentioned, the former being kept in a state 

 of cruel servitude. 



The terrible devastations of the Hungarians finally led to the complete Ger- 

 manisation of the country, which was repeopled by the Boioarians and other 

 German colonists. The Bishops of Passau founded numerous monasteries, around 

 which sprang up villages of serfs, and their wealth became prodigious. Living in 

 the midst of these German priests and peasants, the Slavs forgot their origin and 

 language, and a peaceable mixture of the two nations was thus accomplished. 



The population is densest along the right bank of the Danube, and, as in 

 Bavaria, all the towns of importance rise on that side of the river. This, at first 

 sight, may appear strange, for the hills on the northern bank are exposed to the 

 beneficent influence of the sun, and the sites, with the distant Alps bounding the 



