PLAINS OF THE ELBE, ODEE, AND VISTULA. 



301 



and Sudetes project into the lowlands. The valley of the Upper Neisse is bounded 

 by steep heights, and on the right bank of the Oder, above Oppeln, the hills 

 attain a height of more than 1,000 feet. The mountains which form the 

 frontier towards Bohemia rise steeply above the plain. They remain covered with 

 snow much longer than the lowlands, and owing to their cold winds, fogs, and 



Fig. 171. — The Tempeiiature of January in Eastern Prussia. 

 According' to Putzger. Scale 1 : 2,095,000. 



. 2 Miles 



treacherous bogs, they were formerly an object of dread. They are supposed to 

 be the domain of Riibezahl, a capricious mountain spirit of the Robin Hood type, 

 which first made its appearance after the Thirty Years' War. 



A dreary plain stretches away from the foot of the mountains, its uniformity 

 only broken here and there by sand-hills and gentle swells. The Flaming, a low 



