ALSACE AND GERMAN LORRAINE. I73 



Inhabitan^ts. 



Alsace is exceptionally rich in prehistoric monuments, including coarsely sculp- 

 tured rocks, tombs, and fortifications. One of the most interesting of these 

 witnesses of an unrecorded age is known as the Heidoimauer (Pagan's Wall). It 

 lies to the west of Strassburg, and consists of a triple wall about 6 miles in 

 length, and enclosing several mountains. This ancient fortress, to judge from the 

 varied character of the workmanship, would appear to have been put repeatedly 

 into repair. 



Alsace, before the arrival of the Romans, was held by German and Gallic 

 tribes, and its population, down to the present day, exhibits local differences 

 pointing to the preponderance of one of these ethnical elements. Nevertheless the 

 Alsatians and the inhabitants of many valleys of the eastern slope of the Vosges have 

 been completely Germanised, the Alemannic type preponderating, as in Switzer- 

 land. The linguistic boundary generally follows the crest of the Vosges, but at a 

 few places the French tongue has gained a footing on the eastern slope. French 

 is spoken in the valley of the Largue, and at Orbey, La Poutroye, and Les Baroches, 

 above Colmar. Even the town of Markirch (Ste. Marie- aux-Mines) was more 

 French formerly than German. In this part of Alsace the German tongue has 

 certainly lost ground in the course of the last two centuries. This is proved by 

 the German names of several villages on the Upper Meurthe, where only French 

 is heard now. 



German Lori-aine not only embraces the district known, up to 1751, as the 

 " German bailiwick," but also a considerable extent of purely French territory. 

 Metz is and always has been a French town, notwithstanding that many Germans 

 resided in it during the Middle Ages. The German Government is now making 

 strenuous efforts to Germanise the newly acquired French parishes.* 



The Alsatians are a powerful and tall race, and their services in the French 

 armies have at all times been highly appreciated. Several of the most famous 

 generals of the Republic and the Empire were Alsatians. The inhabitants of the 

 country do not, however, excel only as soldiers ; they are distinguished likewise for 

 their achievements in the arts of peace. Strassburg and Metz present great natural 

 facilities for an exchange of merchandise and ideas between France and Germany. 

 A majority of the inhabitants of the towns are able to express themselves in French 

 as well as in German, and 97 per cent, of the young men called out for military 

 service are able to read and write. 



Agriculture, Mining, and Industry. 



The population in the plains and hilly districts is dense. Nearly the whole of the 

 plains are under cultivation, most of the heaths and the inundated lands bordering 



* Professor H. Kicpert estimates the Frcncli at 250,000 ; M. H. Gaidoz, the persons " habitually speak- 

 ing French," at 350,000 souls. According to the former the number of French (exclusive of workmen in 

 the towns) is 58,000 in Alsace, 192,000 in German Lorraine. 



