PLAINS OF THE ELBE, ODER, AND VISTULA. 



325 



Berlin* the capital of Prussia and all Germanj?-, has now only London and 

 Paris, and perhaps Vienna, for its superiors in population in Europe. On the 

 termination of the Thirty Years' War in 1648, Berlin had only 6,000 inha- 

 hitants, whilst now it is one of the great cities of the world. The causes which 

 conduced to this rapid growth do not at once strike us, and there have even been 

 some who spoke of Berlin as occupying a site fixed upon by chance or caprice. 

 Nothing could be less true, for Berlin is no artificial creation, but the spontaneous 

 product of its geographical surroundings. 



It is true that the environs of the great city are singularly unattractive. Sandy 

 plains, heaths, and swamps ; stunted trees overhanging muddy pools ; roads alter- 

 nately covered with dust or mire ; dilapidated houses, with storks perched on their 

 chimneys — these are the features of the country, except in the immediate vicinity 



Fiar. 187. — Comi-arative Growth of Vienna and Berlin. 



17 so 60 



20 60 UU USUO 10 20 30 



Voo 000 



50 fil) 10 72. 



Max. Reclus. 



of the great highways. Nature has her charms there too, but equally true it is 

 that Berlin owes nothing to the beauty or natural fertility of its environs. It 

 possesses not even the advantage of being seated upon a great navigable high- 

 way, or in the neighbourhood of coal mines. A huge agglomeration of vulgar 

 houses, placed in the centre of a sandy plain almost devoid of picturesque features, 

 Berlin, nevertheless, has not sprung into existence at the beck of a despot. The 

 fact of its having become the capital of a large state has no doubt contributed 

 towards its growth, but it does not suffice to account for it. There are, indeed, 

 geographical reasons, though they lie not on the surface, which have enabled 

 Berlin to increase rapidly. The site which it occupies is marked out by nature 



* In 1871, Berlin, including its suburbs, had 826,341 inhabitants; in 187Ô, 966,858 ; in 1878, probably 

 1,028,238 inhabitanta. Within a radius of 4 geographical miles of the castle there lived, in 1876, 

 1,009,519 souls, whilst Vienna, within a similar radius from St. Stephen's, numbered 1,061, "278. 



