296 GERMANY. 



and one of tliose which increase most rapidly, forms the centre of another manu- 

 facturing^ district. The " German Manchester " is a town of cotton-mills and 

 print works. More than 200,000 spindles are in operation in its factories, and 

 there are, in addition, important machine shops. As befits a town of commerce, 

 the railway station is its most prominent building. The neighbouring towns 

 engage likewise in the cotton industry, and consist of huge factories and work- 

 men's dwellings. The more important amongst them are Limhach (6,879 inha- 

 bitants), Hohemteui (9,844 inhabitants), Gahknz (6,800 inhabitants), SloUbercj 

 (6,326 inhabitants), Gelenau (5,284 inhabitants), Zschojxiu (8,045 inhabitants), 

 Frankenherg (10,462 inhabitants), Hainichen (8,468 inhabitants), Mittioeida (9,093 

 inhabitants), Oederau (5,836 inhabitants), Rossivein (6,968 inhabitants), Dobeln 

 (10,969 inhabitants), and Lcisnig (7,045 inhabitants). Higher up, in the upper 

 valley of the Zschopau, are the old mining towns oî Marienberg (5,956 inhabitants) 

 and Annaberg (11,726 inhabitants). In the same district are Zicoiiitz (5,279 

 inhabitants) and Schonheide (5,072 inhabitants), a fine village. Farther west, in 

 the mountains, lies Saida, where most of the toys are manufactui'ed. 



Freiberg (25,343 inhabitants), the famous mining town, lies likewise in the 

 basin of the Mulde. It is no longer a California, and the value of the silver won 

 there is but small, if compared with what is produced in Nevada or Mexico ; but 

 for skill these Saxon miners still hold their own, as they did in the Middle Ages, 

 when they were the instructors of all Europe. The Mining Academy attracts 

 students from every quarter of the world. In its museum is preserved the collec- 

 tion of Werner, the father of modern geology. The mines, which support 6,000 

 miners and their families, were recently threatened by an irruption of water. 

 They are drained now by a tunnel 8| miles in length.* 



The Elbe, on entering Saxony, flows past Schandau (3,111 inhabitants), the 

 tourist's head-quarters for Saxon Switzerland. It is then joined by a rivulet 

 rising above the manufacturing town of Scbtiifz (6,222 inhabitants), winds round 

 the foot of the fortress of Konigstein (.3,750 inhabitants), and leaves behind it the 

 quarries of Wehlen. On a scarped promontory on the left rises the huge castle of 

 Sonnstein, now a lunatic asylum, overtowering the town of Firna (10,581 

 inhabitants). AVe approach Dresden. Villas and gardens succeed each other at 

 the foot of the hills bounding the right bank of the river, amongst them being 

 PillnUz, the summer residence of the King of Saxony, at which was signed the 

 treaty by which the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia undertook to 

 reseat Louis XVI. upon the throne of France. 



Dresden (197,295 inhabitants) is the most pleasant town of Germany, owing to 

 its numerous museums and the gentle manners of its inhabitants. This, at all 

 events, is the opinion of foreigners, who settle in it by preference. A considerable 

 portion of the floating jjopulation of~the town consists of artists, poets, musicians, 

 and men of taste, who are attracted to this "German Florence," and whose very 



* In 1876 the mines of Freiberg yielded 2,015 tons of silver, 265 tons of coiiper, 344 tons of arsenic, 

 3,442 tons of lead, 153 tons of zinc, and 3,791 tons of sulphur. The silver extracted in the course of 

 three centuries is estimated at £34,000,000. 



