29-1 GEEMANY. 



are being inyaded by manufactories. In tbe Yoigtland, wliich lies in the extreme 

 south-west, the winding White Elster flows past several towns of importance, 

 including Oelsnitz (5,267 inhabitants) and Pkiiicn (28,756 inhabitants), the latter 

 enriched by its manufacture of muslin and by the coal mines abounding in its 

 environs. Amongst the manufacturing towns in valleys tributary to the Elster are 

 Falkenstein (5,146 inhabitants) ; Treuen (5,409 inhabitants) ; Auerhach (5,277 

 inhabitants), which carries on a large trade in hides ; and Reichenhach (14,620 

 inhabitants), which has cotton -mills. Near the latter the railway traverses the 

 Goltzsch on a bridge 285 feet in height. 



On re-entering Saxony after having passed through Western Thuringia, the 

 Elster irrigates the plain upon which rises the city of Leipzig (209,407 inhabit- 

 ants), one of the great towns of Germany. Placed at the point of intersection of 

 the natural highway which crosses the pass between the Thuringian Forest and 

 the Ore Mountains, and of the road which joins the valley of the Rhine to the 

 valleys of the Elbe, Oder, and Weser, Leipzig enjoys peculiar facilities for com- 

 merce. Railways converge upon it from all points of the compass, and its three 

 great fairs are amongst the most important held in Euroj^e.* Leipzig is the 

 centre of the German book trade ; its university, founded in the fifteenth century 

 by German professors expelled from Prague, is attended by 3,000 students ; and 

 its library is one of the richest in Europe. The Gcivandhaus (Linen Hall) con- 

 certs enjoy a European reputation, and the Academy of Art is much frequented. 

 Quite recently Leipzig has become the seat of the principal Court of Appeal for the 

 whole of Germany. The inhabitants of Leipzig, in their rivalry with those of 

 Dresden, exhibit a liberal German patriotism, whilst the dwellers in the capital 

 look with some regret upon the past. 



Including its suburbs, Reudnitz, Lindenau, Gohlis, and others, Leipzig sur- 

 passes Dresden in population, but the town proper had only 135,500 inhabitants 

 in 1877. These suburbs extend in all directions beyond the park which 

 encircles the town, and in which lie some of its public buildings, inclvid- 

 ing the theatre, the university, and the observatory of the Pleissenburg. A 

 portion of the battle-field of Leii^zig, where 500,000 men struggled for mastery 

 and 2,000 cannon thundered, is now covered with houses, and the spot where 

 Poniatowsky perished has become a quay. Prohstheyda, a village to the south- 

 east of the town, marks the centre of the field of battle. At Breitenfeld, to the 

 north, Gustavus Adolphus defeated Tilly in 1631. 



In the valley of the Mulde, which flows to the east of the Elster, manufactur- 

 ing towns are more numerous than in any other part of Saxony. Eihenstock 

 (6,773 inhabitants), near the head of the river, is the centre of the lace manu- 

 facture. Sc/meeherg (8,074 inhabitants), in a side valley farther north, has cobalt 

 and other mines : the old parish church contains Cranach's masterpiece. Lossiiifz 

 (5,725 inhabitants), a town to the east of the Mulde, is near it. Zwickau (31,491 

 inhabitants), on the Mulde itself, is one of those rare Saxon towns where mediaeval 

 buildings impart some picturesque features to the usual agglomeration of 

 * In 187Ô the nierchaudise brought to the fairs of Leipzig was valued at i;i>3,000,000. 



