BAVARIA. 



227 



Kônigsee occupies a much-admired site in the midst of the mountains. This latter 

 is the most beautiful lake of all Germany. Its grey-green waters reflect the snow- 

 capped summit of the Watzmann (8,987 feet), cascades sparkle amongst the 

 foliage, the forests descend in many places to the edge of the Avater, and villas 

 occupy every coin of vantage around it. The foaming rivulet which escapes 

 from this charming lake flows through the valley of Berchtesgaden towards Salz- 

 burg. There is no more delightful valley in all Bavaria than that of Berchtes- 

 gaden, with its brine springs and salt works, its watering-places and summer 



Fig. 130. — View of the Kônigsee. 



resorts. And yet man there is physically most wretched. Subjected for ages to 

 the hard rule of monks, the dwellers in this earthly paradise became so poor that 

 the peasants of the neighbourhood refused to give their daughters in marriage to 

 them. Consanguineous marriages and physical deterioration were the result, and 

 in the district of Berchtesgaden one amongst every fourteen inhabitants is afflicted 

 with goitre, and one in a hundred and fifty is a crétin ! Their occupation — 

 the carving of wooden images — necessitating much confinement, only increases 

 these evils. 



The mountainous region which bounds the plateau of Bavaria on the east, and 



