GERMANY. 431 



baron, or gentleman, having a chase or park, adorned with pleasure- 

 houses, and welt-stocked with game, viz. deer, of which there are 

 seven or eight sorts, as roebucks, stags, &c. of all sizes and colours, 

 and many of a vast growth ; plenty of hares, coneys, foxes, and boars. 

 They abound so much also with wild fowl, that in many places the 

 peasants have them, as well as venison, for their ordinary iood. 



L.AKEs.... r Bhe chief lakes of Germany, not to mention many inferior 

 ones, are those of Constance (called the Boden-see) and Bregentz. 

 Besides these, are the Chiem-see, or the lake of Bavaria ; and the 

 Zirnitzer-see, in the duchy of Carniola, whose waters often run off, 

 and return again, in an extraordinary manner. 



Rivers and lakes... No country can boast a greater variety of 

 noble large rivers than Germany. At their head stands the Danube 

 or Donau, so called from the swiftness of the current, and the course 

 of which, without reckoning its windings, is computed to be 1620 

 miles. The other principal rivers are the Rhine, the length of the 

 course of which is above 600 miles, the Elbe, Oder, Wesei*, and 

 Necker. 



Mineral waters and baths. ...Germany is said to contain more 

 of these than all Europe besides. The Spa waters, and those of 

 Seltzer and Pyrmont, are well known. Those of Aix-la-Chapelle 

 are still more noted. They are divided into the Emperor's Bath, 

 and the Little Bath ; and the springs of both are so hot, that they 

 let them cool ten or twelve hours before they use them. The baths 

 and medicinal waters of Embs, Wisbaden, Schwalbach, and Wildun- 

 gen, are reported to be extremely efficacious in almost all diseases, 

 The mineral springs at the last mentioned place are said to intoxi- 

 cate as soon as wine, and therefore they are inclosed. Carlsbad and 

 Baden baths have been described and recommended by many great 

 physicians, and used with great success by many royal personages. 

 It is, however, not improbable, that great part of the salutary virtues 

 ascribed to these waters is owing to the exercises and amusements of 

 the patrents, and numbers of the company which crowd to them from 

 all parts of the world ; many of whom do not repair thither for health, 

 but for amusement and conversation. 



Metals and minerals.. ..Germany abounds in both. Many places 

 in the circle of Austria, and other parts of Germany, contain mines 

 of silver, quicksilver, copper, tin, iron, lead, sulphur, nitre, and vitriol. 

 Saltpetre, salt mines, and salt pits, are found in Austria, Bavaria, 

 Silesia, and the Lower Saxony ; as are carbuncles, amethysts, jasper, 

 sapphire, agate, alabaster, several sorts of pearl, turquois stones, and 

 the finest ol rubies, which adorn the cabinets of the greatest princes 

 and virtuosi. In Bavaria and Tyrol, are quarries of curious marble, 

 slate, chalk, ochre, red lead, alum, and bitumen; besides other fossils, 

 Several of the German circles furnish coal-pits : and the terra sigillata 

 of Mentz, with white, yellow, and red veins, has been pretendcdj.o be 

 an antidote against poison. 



Climate, soil, agriculture. -.The climate of Germany, as in 

 all extensive countries, differs greatly, not only on account of the 

 situation to the north, or south, or east, or west, but according to the 

 improvement of the soil, which has a great effect on the climate. 

 The most rniid and settled weather is found in the middle of the 

 country, at an equal distance from the sea and the Alps. In the 

 north it is sharp ; towards the south it is more temperate. The sea- 

 sons vary as much as the soil : in the south and western parts they are 



