330 



GEEMANY. 



announces that we are npproaching a large city, and soon after Hanihurg lies 

 spread out before us. 



That city, the most populous of the German Empire, after Berlin, the foremost 

 .'IS a place of commerce, lies 65 miles above the mouth of the Elbe. The tide enables 

 the largest vessels to ascend to the quays and docks of the town, and its commerce 

 is fed by the vast triangular region bounded in the south by a line drawn from 

 Cracow to Basel. On the continent it has no rival, not even Marseilles. 



Fifr- 190. — A "Fleet" ix Hamhurg. 



Hamburg owes its pre-eminence not merely to natural advantages, but more 

 especially to the spirit of enterprise which has ever distinguished its citizens. 

 Originally a " brook," or swamp, a mile in width, separated the city from the 

 Elbe; but this the citizens drained several centuries ago, and ever since that 

 time they have been unremitting in their endeavours to improve the navigation of 

 the Lower Elbe. Works of "regulation" now in progress are intended to 



