268 GERMANY. 



Langensaha (9,855 inhabitants) and Sommerda (5,945 inhabitants) are other 

 manufacturing towns on the Unstrutt, the latter being famous as having given 

 birth to the needle-gun. Sondershausen (5,723 inhabitants), the capital of the 

 principality of the same name, lies in a side valley of the Unstrutt, as does also 

 Franlienhaiisen (5,500 inhabitants), a town of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. Nord- 

 hausen (23,570 inhabitants), a very ancient city, partly enclosed within walls, 

 lies likewise within the basin of the Unstrutt. It has distilleries, vinegar manu- 

 factories, and chemical works. Thousands of oxen and pigs are slaughtered there 

 every year and pickled, whence its epithet of " German Cincinnati." 



The towns in the valley of the Elster, close to the Saxon frontier, are populous 

 and the seats of industry. Greiz (12,657 inhabitants), an old town of the Slavs, 

 and its neighbour Zeulenroda (6,300 inhabitants), have numerous factories. Weida 

 (5,404 inhabitants) lies lower down on the Elster, which then flows through 

 Gem (20,810 inhabitants), the largest town of Eeuss, sometimes likened to 

 Leipzig, on account of its commerce and manufactories. Ronneherg (6,224 

 inhabitants) and Schmolln (5,173 inhabitants), in the east, and Eisenberg (5,509 

 inhabitants), in the north-west, are likewise manufacturing towns, whilst Alten- 

 biirg (22,263 inhabitants), on the Pleisse, being the capital of a duchy, boasts of 

 a'few fine edifices and scientific collections. 



