PLAINS OF THE ELBE, ODER, AND VISTULA. 



345 



Danzig. Hundreds of barges convey to it the wheat from all parts of the basin of 

 the Vistula, the barges being broken up oa reaching Danzig, and the bargemen 

 returning on foot to their homes in Poland or Galicia. Railways have in a large 

 measure deprived Danzig of this branch of business,* but it is still the first city of 

 Europe for its timber trade. The manufacturing establishments of Danzig increase 

 from year to year. They include woollen and paper mills, chemical works, dis- 

 tilleries, machine shops, and ship-yards. 



Marienhtrg (8,526 inhabitants), on the Nogat, never attained the commercial 

 importance of its neighbour Danzig, although for a considerable time it was the 



Fis;. 199. — The Castle of Marienburg. 



capital of the Teutonic Order, which at the height of its prosperity, in 1440, 

 consisted of 3,000 knights, who reigned over 55 towns, 48 strong castles, and 

 18,368 villages. The old fortress of the order overtowers all other buildings of 

 the town, and some of its rooms are admired as favourable specimens of Gothic 

 architecture. A railway bridge, no less remarkable in its way than the old palace 

 of the knights, spans the Nogat. 



Elhing (35,878 inhabitants), the ancient Truso, was founded in 1237 by 

 colonists from Liibeck and Meissen, and two centuries afterwards placed itself 

 * In 1862 322,120 tons of wheat were exported by sea; in 1873 only 121,200 tons. 

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