CHAPTER VIII. 



THE BASIN OF THE MIDDLE ELBE (SAXONY). 

 General Aspects. 



HE name of Saxony, which was formerly applied to so considerable 

 a portion of Germany, is restricted now to the smallest of the four 

 kingdoms forming part of the empire ; but this small countr}^ is 

 moie densely peopled than any other portion of Germany,* and its 

 inhabitants are distinguished by their intelligence and industry. 

 Saxon}^ curtailed as it has been by Prussia, has no natural frontiers. It 

 merely includes the northern slope of the Erzgebirge, and of the mountains which 

 form the continuation of this range to the east of the Elbe. Nearly all its rivers 

 flow to the Elbe, which they join only beyond the actual political boundaries of 

 Saxony, which thus depends mainly upon roads and railways for its internal 

 communications. 



The Saxon slope of the Erzgebirge differs strikingly from the precipitous 

 face which that mountain range presents towards Bohemia. It is gentle, and 

 in many p irts the mountains assume the character of plateaux, upon which rise 

 rounded summits. These plateaux, exposed as they are to the cold northerly 

 winds, form a Saxon Siberia. They abound in mineral wealth, which has 

 attracted a considerable population. Too frequently, however, the metallic lodes 

 prove deceptive, and, as the niggardly soil yields but poor harvests, the inhabitants 

 have been compelled to turn their attention to the manufacture of a variety of 

 articles likely to find purchasers amongst the dwellers in the plain. Such was 

 the humble beginning of the vast manufacturing industry which has converted the 

 whole of South-western Saxony into one huge workshop, and accounts for the 

 sterile mountain region being far more densely peopled than the fertile alluvial 

 plain. The latter, however, has its sterile tracts too, which are covered with 

 sand, and even with erratic blocks, carried thither from Scandinavia. The 

 " Swedes' Stone," on the battle-field of Liitzen, is one of these blocks. Moraines 

 have been traced at the openings of some of the valleys of the Erzgebirge. It 



* The kingdom of Saxony has an aroa of 6,777 square miles, and (1875) 2,760,586 inhabitants, or 

 407 to the square mile. 



