THE EHINE AND THE MOSELLE. 191 



16 inches lower than it had been in 1770. At Germersheim the average delivery 

 between 1840 and 1853 amounted to 45,630 cubic feet ; between 1854 and 1867 

 it was only 37,680 cubic feet.* 



Mou iN TAINS. 



Thk Black Forest (Schwarzwald), which bounds the valley of the Rhine in 



Southern Germany, is one geological fragment of an ancient mountain system, of 



which the Yosges are the other. The wide gap now separating the two originated 



during the miocène age, when it was scooped out by torrents flowing to the south, 



and the débris deposited at the foot of the Alps. After the glacial age the floods 



set in a contrary direction, carrying pebbles and loam into the valley of the 



Rhine. Notwithstanding these great geological revolutions, the formations of the 



two mountain ranges present singular analogies. Granite forms the nucleus of 



both, its pyramids and domes frequently rising for hundreds of feet above the 



surrounding beds of red sandstone. Rocks of the oolitic and triassic formations 



partly conceal the red sandstone, and porphyry has been erupted not only in the 



Vosges, but also in the Black Forest. 



The Black Forest is bounded in the south and west by the Rhine and its broad 



alluvial plain ; but in the east, towards Swabia, it would be difficult to indicate 



its precise boundary. We may, however, accept the beds of shell limestone as 



forming its natural eastern boundary, more especially as those dark forests of 



firs and pines to which the Schwarzwald is indebted for its name do not extend 



beyond them. The valley of the Kinzig separates the principal group of the Black 



Forest from the inferior heights to the north. A railway runs up this river and 



one of its tributaries, the Gutach, finally climbing the steep slopes which lead up 



to the hilly plateau bounding the valley of the Neckar. Farther north still, the 



valley of the Murg penetrates the Black Forest, which extends as far as the gap of 



Pforzheim (825 feet), where it terminates. 



The Black Forest presents a bold front towards the plain of the Rhine, but 



merges almost imperceptibly into the plateau of Swabia towards the east. Its 



highest summits rise above the region of forests, the most elevated amongst 



them being the Feldberg (4,901 feet). They belong to the same geological 



formation as the culminating summits of the Alps, and more than eighty species 



of Alpine plants have been gathered upon them. A wide bay, the centre of which 



is occupied by the city of Freiburg, penetrates the western face of the mountains ; 



whilst right out in the plain, and close to the Rhine, rises the detached basaltic 



cone of the Kaiserstuhl (Emperor's Chair, 1,875 feet), upon whose summit 



Rudolph of Habsburg is said to have held a court of justice. It commands one of 



the finest prospects on the Rhine, the surrounding country, with its woods and 



meadows, being bounded by distant mountains. The Black Forest is rich in 



savage and lovely scenery, but the great mass of its visitors are content to explore 



the immediate vicinity of Baden-Baden. 



* Total length of the Rhine, 699 miles ; area of its catchment basin, 97,218 square miles; average 

 delivery at Emmerich, 78,050 cubic feet. 



