236 



GERMANY. 



The Main is tlie principal river of Northern Bavaria. It is formed by the 

 junction of the Red and White Main, both rising in the Fichtelgebirge. Of aU 

 the rivers of Germany the Main has the most winding course, for from its source 

 to its mouth is only 155 miles in a straight line, whilst the development of the river 

 amounts to more than double that distance. The Main, being a gentle river, would 

 form a valuable water highway if its volume were more considerable, and its course 

 less circuitous. It is not navigable in summer, and its traffic is almost entirely 

 local. As an historical high-road, connecting the basin of the Danube with the 

 valley of the Ehine, the Main, with its principal tributary, the Eegnitz, is of 



Fig. 137.— The Swabian Eezat and the " Fossa Cakolixa." 

 Scale 1 : 204,000. 



2 Miles. 



paramount importance. Far from being separated by elevated mountains, two 

 rivulets — the one tributary to the Main, the other to the Danube — actually rise in 

 a swamp occupying a plain formed by the denuding action of water. One of 

 these, the Swabian Rezat, flows north into the Eegnitz, tbe other south into 

 the Altmuhl, a tributary of the Danube. Charlem;igne already conceived the 

 idea of connecting both river systems at that spot by a canal. A trench {Fossa 

 Carolina) and the village of Graben ("Canal") prove that the work of excavation 

 had actually been begun. The existing canal has been excavated farther to the 

 east. It follows the main valley of the Regnitz, crossing the watershed at 



