254 GEEMANY. 



the intercourse between the two slopes, but not a single railway yet crosses the 

 Thuringian Forest, and travellers pressed ftir time are still compelled to double 

 its extremities. The number of pleasure-seekers, however, who annually visit 

 the towns and villages of Thuringia is very large. Magnificent forests of beeches, 

 pines, and firs, sparkling rivulets, verdant valleys, and cavernous rocks abound, 

 and fairly entitle Thuringia to be called the "park " of Germany. 



The hills and limestone plateaux which stretch along the northern foot of 

 the main chain abound in caverns, through which the rain-water finds its way 

 to springs rising in distant valleys. The most famous of these caverns is that of 

 Venus, in the Horselberg, to the east of Eisenach. Formerly it was looked 

 upon as one of the entrances to purgatory, and the sounds produced by rushes 

 of air were much dreaded. Legend has converted this cavern into a dwelling 

 of Venus, and of her court of fascinated admirers. It is a remarkable feature of 

 the caverns of Thuringia and Westphalia that they do not present us with the 

 curious fauna of insects and other blind animals discovered in the caverns of 

 Carniola and the Pyrenees. 



The Werra, or Upper Weser, bounds the Thuringian Forest in the west, 

 and flows through the rich saliferoua basin which in the first century of our 

 era gave rise to the Salt War, when the Hermunduri defeated their neigh- 

 bours the Catti. The mountain group of the Hohe Rhon rises beyond. It 

 consists of numerous cones of basalt and other eruptive rocks, similar to the 

 volcanic hills of Bohemia, though more rounded in their outlines. Some of 

 the summits are even formed of horizontal sheets of basalt, now covered with 

 moss. Secondary volcanic cones surround the great central group of the Hhon, 

 erupted through the limestone overlying the sandstone plateau. The elevation 

 of the E.hon (3,120 feet) is nearly as great as that of the Thuringian Forest ; 

 but its aspect is altogether different, for instead of smiling valleys we meet with 

 Nature in her most deterrent mood. Tliere are few villages, and many old fields 

 have been converted into pasture-lands, for the inhabitants prefer to dwell in 

 the plain. 



The Vogelsberg — " Bird Mountain " — to the west of Fulda, is likewise of vol- 

 canic origin. Unlike the Hhon and its numerous peaks, the Vogelsberg consists 

 of one truncated cone, rising very regularly to a height of about 2,000 feet above 

 the surrounding plain.* For 10 or 20 miles around the country is covered 

 with lava. The huge cone is ribbed by a multitude of divergent valleys, 

 presenting us with a miniature image of the volcano of Semeru, on the island of 

 Java. The ancient craters have become obliterated in the course of ages, but 

 the remains of a number of lateral cones impart some variety to the scenery. 

 The soil resulting from a decomposition of the basaltic lava is of exceeding fer- 

 tility, and nowhere else in Germany are the fruit trees more vigorous or productive. 

 The avei'age elevation, however, and the paucity of running streams, have pre- 

 vented the whole of the mountain being cultivated, and it is very thinly inhabited. 



In the north of the Vogelsberg the hills of Hesse extend to the slate moun- 



* Its total height is 2,532 feet. 



