126 



AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 



than its less elevated northern extremity, but the latter attracts the larger number 

 of visitors, for the favourite watering-places of Marienbad and Franzensbad lie 

 within its valleys. The pass, or gateway, of Taus (1,473 feet) leads across the 

 very centre of the range. The Cerchov (3,500 feet) commands it in the north, the 

 Oser (4,066 feet) in the south. It was through this gap that the Germans most 

 frequently essayed to penetrate into the country of the Chechians ; and blood has 

 flown there in torrents from the days of Samo, the Slav champion, early in 

 the seventh century, to the war of the Hussites, in the fifteenth. A second 



Fig. 77. — The Mountains of Bohemia. 



14° E.ofP. 



16° E.ol'G. 



A ItitiuH ieAo-i.iiO 



to 20 30 40 50 MrLES 



Over i920 Feet 



pass, known as the Golden Path (Goldener Steig, 2,664 feet), leads across the 

 mountains farther north. These are the only passes which give ready access 

 to Bohemia, and railways now run through both of them. Everywhere else the 

 Bohemian Forest forms an excellent strategical frontier, the interior slopes being 

 gentle, Avhilst the outer ones, towards Bavaria, are steep and diffiicult of access. 

 The culminating summit of the range, the Arber (4,783 feet), rises within the 

 frontier of Bavaria.* 



* Total length of the Bohemian Forest, 137 miles; average width, 19 miles; average height, '2,300 

 feet in the north, 3,940 feet in the soath. 



