PLAINS OF THE ELBE, ODER, AND VISTULA. 331 



suppress tlie conflict of the tidal streams wliicli now takes place at the point of 

 junction of the northern and southern arms of the Elbe. " Fleets," or Flethen, 

 traverse a portion of the town, giving access to the warehouses, whilst large 

 docks and basins, capable of accommodating hundreds of vessels, extend along the 

 river-side. Hamburg carries on commerce with every quarter of the world, and 

 more especially with England, and the number of emigrants passing through it is 

 almost as large as at Bremen.* 



The old Hanse town does not form part of the German ZoUvercin, and remains 

 the Ccij)ital of a small independent state, having a Budget almost as heavy as that of 

 Berlin.f Among the famous children of the town are Poggendorff, the physicist ; 

 Bode and Encke, the astronomers ;■ and Henry Barth, the traveller. 



The old city within the fortifications, now changed into a public walk, forms but 

 a small portion of the agglomeration of houses known as Hamburg, but it is the 

 busiest part, and most public buildings rise in it. The latter include the exchange, 

 a Palace of Arts, the Johanneum, with a library of 300,000 volumes, the church 

 of St. Michael, and that of St. Nicholas, the latter only lately completed from a 

 design by Sir Gilbert Scott, with a steeple rising to a height of 482 feet. The 

 finest quarter of the town lies around the huge sheet of water known as the 

 Binnen-Ahter, and has been rebuilt since the fearful conflagration of 1842. The 

 suburbs are full of manufactories and ship-yards. The Lake of the Grosse- Alster, 

 in the north, is almost completely surrounded by the suburbs of Uhlenhorst, 

 Eilbeck, Barmbeck, and others. St. George, in the east, extends to Hamm and 

 other outlying places ; the botanical and zoological gardens lie in the west ; 

 St. Paul's, the Wapping of Hamburg, joins the latter to Altona (84,097 inhabitants), 

 a town in Holstein, altogether overshadowed by its more powerful neighbour ; and 

 to the west Altona is continued by Neumiihlen and Ottensen (12,406 inhabitants). 

 Another suburb, Steinwarder, hus only recently been founded on the southern 

 bank of the Norder Elbe, on swampy soil, drained at vast expense. A magnificent 

 railway bridge connects Hamburg with the Hanoverian city of Harburg, whilst 

 Wandsheck (13,528 inhabitants), in Holstein, and several charming villages on the 

 Lower Elbe, are likewise dependencies of the great city. The islands of the Elbe, 

 or Elb-Werder, are rich in pastures, and contain the dairy farms which supply Ham- 

 bnrg with milk, whilst the Yierlande, or " Four Lands,'' to the south-east, around 

 Bergedorf (3,889 inhabitants), furnish it with vegetables and fruits. The Vier- 

 landers are a fine race of men, the descendants of Hollanders who settled in the 

 country in the twelfth century, and converted a swampy tract into most productive 

 market gardens. 



Cuxhnvcn (4,102 inhabitants), at the mouth of the Elbe, is the outlying port of 



* Hamburg, together with its fifteen suburbs, had 348,447 inhabitants in 1875, or, including Altona 

 and Ottensen, 444,950. In 1877 the city owned 450 sea-going vessels (inclusive of steamers), of 219,698 

 tons; 5,473 sea-gping vessels, of 2,223,596 tons, entered its port; 5,473 vessels, of 2,243,014 tons, 

 departed. The merchandise imported by sea had a value of £46,455,000, and that imported by land 

 of £38,750,000. Of the imports, £22,345,000 came from England, £12,160,000 from America, £740,000 

 from Asia, &c. 



t Eevenue (;877), £1,264,585 (Berlin, £2,112,160). Debt, £5,101,822 (Berlin, £1,216,080). 



