PLAINS OF THE ELBE AND WESER, ETC. 285 



carefully cultivated. Nienhurg (5,655 inhabitants), on the Weser, is the fluviatile 

 r)ort of Hanover ; Bremen, lower down on the same river, its maritime port. 



Hildesheim (22,581 inhabitants), on a small tributary of the Leine, and at the 

 foot of the hills which extend to the north-westward of the Harz, was populous 

 and famous long before Hanover was heard of. Originally the seat of one of the 

 most powerful bishops of Northern Europe, it subsequently became a member of 

 the Hanse. The buildings surrounding the market-place, as well as several houses 

 with wood carvings, recall the Middle Ages. The cathedral, founded in the 

 eleventh century, is a mean building externally, but boasts of many treasures of 

 art, including brazen gates made in 1025, and curious sarcophagi. A column in 

 the choir is supposed to be the Irminsul of the Saxons, overthrown by Charle- 

 magne. The rose-tree in the close is traditionally stated to have been planted by 

 that emperor, and is certainly eight hundred years old. The ancient abbey of 

 St. Michael has been converted into a lunatic asylum. The old fortifications have 

 been razed and converted into public promenades. Beyond them lie the industrial 

 establishments of the city, including cotton-mills, machine shops, and breweries. 



Brunswick (Braunschweig, 65,938 inhabitants) is the capital of a duchy of the 

 same name. It is situate on the Ocker, a tributary of the Weser, and existed 

 already in the time of Charlemagne. Ikying at the point where the high-road from 

 Augsburg and Niirnberg to Hamburg intersects that following the northern base 

 of the hills of Central Germany, it early became a great centre of commerce. The 

 citizens were sufficiently wealthy and powerful to maintain their municipal 

 liberties. Many of the finest edifices still existing date back to that age of pros- 

 perity, and impart a character of originality to certain quarters of the city. The 

 cathedral contains the mausoleum of its founder, Henry the Lion. It is in the 

 Byzantine style, whilst the churches of St. Catherine and St. Andrew are remark- 

 able Gothic edifices. The town-hall is one of the finest in Germany. Modern 

 times have given Brunswick a ducal palace, a museum, and delightful public 

 walks. There are a few factories, but Brunswick is essentially a commercial town, 

 as in the time of the Hanse, exporting agricultural produce. Gauss, the mathe- 

 matician, was a native of Brunswick. 



Wolf enbilttel {11,105 in}iahita,nts,), higher up on the Ocker, is the old capital of 

 the duchy, and has much decreased in population since the dukes transferred 

 their residence to Brunswick. It is frequently visited by German scholars on 

 account of its famous library, containing 270,000 volumes and 10,000 manuscripts, 

 and of which Lessing was at one time the curator. Helmstedt (7,783 inhabitants), 

 another town of Lower Brunswick, was a holy city formerly. The " Liibben- 

 steine " — boulders of granite on a neighbouring hill — are believed to have been 

 altars upon which human sacrifices were brought to Wodan ; and at a spring rising 

 below, Ludger, the missionary, first baptized the converts from heathenism. 

 SehônÙKjen (6,116 inhabitants), to the south of Helmstedt, has an artesian brine 

 spring, yielding 6,000 tons of salt annually. In its neighbourhood is Sc/wppen- 

 stedt (2,833 inhabitants), a small town frequently mentioned with derision on 

 account of the inane simplicity of its citizens. 



