188 



GERMANY. 



and Northern Germany. The mountains which it traverses in this part of its 

 course form a connecting link between those of Bohemia and the Ardennes, 

 and have a width of 60 miles. It must not, however, be supposed that the 

 Rhine did not reach the North Sea until it had excavated the tortuous gorge 

 through which it flows at present. River terraces have been discovered at an 

 elevation of 550 feet above the present bed of the Rhine. Their occurrence is 

 explained by a gradual rise of the land, during the progress of which the Rhine 

 shaped out its present bed. 



Formerly the spot where the Rhine enters its narrow gorge was dreaded on 



Fis-. 109.— The "Moi-se" anu St. Goar. 



account of rapids and sunken rocks. The removal of these obstacles to naviga- 

 tion may have deprived the landscape of some picturesque featur^^s, but the 

 scenery is even now strikingly beautiful. The town of Bingen, embosomed in 

 trees, stretches along the river on the left, and climbs a hill, as if desirous of 

 peeping down into the valley of the Nahe ; the old " Mouse Tower " rises on 

 a rock in the centre of the river ; the castle of Ehrenfels hangs on the slopes of 

 the Niederwald, itself surmounted by a colossal statue intended to commemorate 

 the " Wacht am Rhein." 



