%5À 



GERMANY. 



Princes and commoners, when they divided the land between them, always sought 

 to secure wooded mountains as well as plains fit for cultivation. Thus each of 

 the principalities of Schwarzburg consists of a " hill domain " and a " lowland 

 domain." Brunswick, similarly, has its "highlands" in the Harz Mountains, 

 and its lowlands along their foot. In several instances the divisions of landed 

 property are carried to an extreme length, and the soil, the forest which grows 

 upon it, and the game which roams over it belong each to different owners. 

 Politically, however, the frontiers of this congeries of small states are gradually 

 being obliterated. As far as courts of justice and superior schools are concerned. 



Fig. 144. — The States of Thukingia. 

 Scale 1 : 1,900,000. 



IO"l t: of G 



25 Miles. 



1. Saxe-Weimar. 



2. Saxe-Coburg-Qolha 



3. Saxe-Meiningen. 

 4 Saxo-Altenburg. 



5. Schwarzburg-Sondershansen. 



6. Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. 



7. Eeuss, senior branch. 



8. „ junior branch. 



9. Hesse- 



10. Prussian Saxony. 



11. Kingdom of Saxony. 



12. Bavaria. 



13. Bohemia. 



they exist no longer, and Prussia, which has secured a footing in Thuringia, 

 has largely contributed to that result. Hence, in considering this central region 

 of Germany, we shall discard arbitrary political divisions, and adhere to those 

 traced out bj'' nature. 



The geological formation of the Thuringian Forest is varied, but in their 

 contours the hills exhibit much uniformity. The back-bone of the range consists 

 of granite and porphyry, rising above the sedimentary strata, and extending in 

 a straight line from the banks of the AYerra, in the north-west, to the plateau 

 of the Franconian Forest, or Frankenw^ald, in the south-east, a distance of 1"J0 



