<164 
G E R M A N Y, 
to, Neifien, whence tliey pafs by Hohenzollern to the 
Necker, then bend louth and._\vcft between that river 
and tire Danube, Biifching adds, tliat as this chain 
rifes infenfiblyat Konigfbronn north-eaft, fo itgradualLy 
termin ires at Ebingen fouth-v'eft. The principal futn- 
niits are in the north and weft of the ridge ; and the f-o- 
relts are chiefiy beech, while the open fpaces I'upply 
abundant pafturage for numerous fl-ocks'of flieep. Of 
tiiele two extenhve ridges of mountains, the Bia.clc Fo- 
reft and the All', a conliderable portion pervades the, 
country of \V irtcmburg ; and near Stutgard, the capital, 
are ihe mountains of Boyferfteig, Wein'fteig, and Hafen- 
ftcig. The conftituent parts of thefe extenfive ridges 
have not yet been much .examined ; but a great part is 
calcareous, as they fupply excellent marbles. . Near 
1 ' rudenftadt, )n. the Black Mountains, arC mines of fil- 
ver and co}!per. 
I The I'outh-eaft of this portion of Germany is bounded 
by the liigh mountains ot Bavaria and Salzia or Salz¬ 
burg ; being branches or continuations of the Swifs or 
Tyi olcle Alps, but witlioiit general appellations. Feiber 
lays that the high mountain> of Bavaria, bordering on 
the Tyrol, ate granite ; thence, as ufual, argillaceous 
and cxilcareous in the lower piarts. Large pieces of grafs- 
green quartz are found ftijdded with red tranfparent 
garnets, and at Munchen or Munich they are worked 
iiito elegant Inufl'-boxes. Some hills near Regenlburg, 
or Ratilbon, are calcareous ; but towards Bohemia they 
cGiilift ot giieils and granite. Of the Alps of Salzbuig 
an account lias been publilhed by Vierthaler, whencb it 
would leem that they exceed in height th.e Carpathian 
■chain, or the Pyrenees, and only yield to the Swifs and 
T yrolefe Alps. Tlie higheft fummitsarc laid to be the 
Sonnenbiic, the Aiikogel, the Wifbacher .Horn, and the 
Loftier in the Stillupe. Even the next to thefe in 
Iteight, the Fio-he Nan, or the Hockhorn, is computed 
at 10633 tcet above the fea ; and the Groffc Kogel in 
/Rauris, at 9100 ; while feveral others exceed 8000 feet. 
Tile mines of this country are higdily celebrated ; and 
in Zillarthal, or the vale of the river Ziller, bn the 
weif, is. found tlie fuliftance called zilUrt'iite by the 
French mineralogifts. The chief ridge of the Salzian 
Alps is on the louth and eaft of the country, being an 
elongation of the grand chain, reaching from Mount 
Blanc and Mount Rofa along the north of Italy tlirough 
Tyrol. 
Coiifiderable remains even yet exift of the ancient 
woods and forefts wliich pervaded, Germany. Tlie 
Germaii \y«rd wald, correfponding with the old Englifli 
weald, denotes a foreft ; and'fuch are found in the fouth 
ot Mecklenburg, continued eafterly in different parts 
of the'Prufiian dominions; but the timber of Danizic 
is fupplied by the navigation of the Viftula, The chief 
lorefts appear always to have extended aljjng the middle 
regions of Germany, from the north-weft towards the 
foulh-eaft. 'The Dromling-v»'ald is to tlie north of 
Magdeburg ; but tlie Soliinger-wald, the woody moun¬ 
tains of Hai'tz, the Lutten-wald, the wide foreft of Thu¬ 
ringia, may be laid to be connected with the ancient 
forefts ot Silella, hence extendiiig far to the eaft through 
the centre'of Poland and Rullia. More to the fouth, 
in this part of Germany, are the SpelTart foreft, and 
others. In the portion fouth of the Maine, the vaft 
Black Foreft, and the tyoods along the Alb, are conti- 
iuied_by others in various parts of Bavaria. In gene¬ 
ral, the pallion aitiong the grandeesfor the chaceof the 
wild boar, and other pleafures of liunling, has contri¬ 
buted greatly to the prefervation of the forefts-. 
As Spain is diftinguilhed by its groves of cork trees 
and ilex, and Scandinavia by its fir woods, fo is Ger¬ 
many remarkable for its deep and ahnoft impenetrable 
forefts of oak ; not indeed that this is the invariable 
charatferiftic of the country, for in an empire of Inch 
great extent, "and of fo v-aried a furface, it muft needs 
• happen' that tlie na.tive yegetable iwodiRtions on the 
fliore of the German Ocean lliould differ confiderably 
from thofe in the receffes of the Black Foreft, or on 
the frontiers of Tyrol. Tlierc is however on the whole 
more uniformity than might be-expected, and though 
perhaps few plants are abfolutely peculiar to Germany, 
yet the abundance of fome fpecies, and the abfence of 
others, forms a ftriking feature in the botanical hiftory 
of the empire. The woods are not to be dreaded, as 
iivAlia and Africa, for venomous and ferocious ani¬ 
mals ; the wild boar is indeed of fuperior fize ; and 
tliofe of Weftphaliaare in particular eftiraation as food. 
In the nortii of Germany tine lynx and bearare fometimes 
feen ; and the wolf is hot unfrequent in the fouth. 
PRIMITIVE HISTORY. 
The w'arbke nations of Germany, wlio firft reflfted, 
then invaded, and at length overturned, tlie weftern 
monarchy of Rome, occupy an important place in 
hiftory, and claim particular attention and regard. 
The wArntGcrman, of, asit wasformeriy written, Gar man, 
figntfies, in the Celtic, a warlike man. 
The moft civilized nations of modern Europe, appear 
to have ilfued from the v/oods of Germany ; and in the 
rude inrtitutions of thofe barbarians, wd may partly 
diftinguiih the original principles of our prefent laws 
and manners. In their primitive ftate of fimplicity and 
independence, tlie Germans are ftrikingly delineated by 
the mafterly pencil of Tacitus, the lirft of hiftorians 
who applied the fcience of philofophy to the ftudy of 
fd6ts. The expreffive concifenefs of his deferiptions 
has exercifed the diligence of innumerable antiquarians, 
and excited the genius and penetration of tlie hiftorians 
and geographers of our own times. ' ■ 
Ancient Germany, excluding from its independent li, 
mits tlie province weftvvard of tlie Rhine, whicli had 
very early fubmitted to the Roman yoke, extended it- 
felf over a third part of Europe. Almoft the wliole of 
modern Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, 
Livonia, Pruliia, and the greater part of Poland, were 
peopled by tlie various tribes of this great nation, 
whofe complexion, manners, and language, denoted a 
common origin, and -preferved a ftriking refemblailce. 
On the weft, ancient Germany was divided by the 
Rhine from the Gaulic, and on the fouth by the Da¬ 
nube from' the Illyrian, provinces of the empire. A 
ridge of hills, rifing from the Danube, called tlie Car¬ 
pathian mountains, covered Germany on the fide of 
Dacia or Hungary, I'lie eaftern frontier wasqiartially 
marked by the mutual fears of the Germans and the 
Sarniatians-, and was often confounded, by tlie niixture 
of warring and confederating tribes of the two nations. 
In the' remote darknefs of the north, the ancients 
faintly d'efcj'ied a frozen ocean that lay beyond the 
Baltic fea, and beyond the peiiinfula, or iOands, of 
Scandinavia. 
Some writers have fufpefted that Europe was much 
colder formerly than it-is at prei'ent ; and the moft an¬ 
cient deferiptions of the climate of Germany tend ex- 
ceedingly to confirm their theory. Tlie general com¬ 
plaints of inteiifv froft, and eternal winter, are perhaps 
iktle to be regarded, fince vve liave no method of re¬ 
ducing to the accurate ftandard of the theriuonieter, 
the feelings or tlie expreiiions of an orator born in tlie 
happier regions of Greece or Afia. But there are t-vvo 
remarkable circumftances of a lefs equivocal nature. 
I. The great rivers which covercd.tlie Roman provinces, 
the Rhine and tlie Danube, vtere frequently frozen 
over, and capable of fupporting the moft enormous 
weights. The Ijarbarians, who often.choi'e that levere 
feaion for their inroads, tranfported, without apprehen- 
fion or danger, their numerbus armies, their cavalry, 
and their heavy tvaggons, over a vuil: and folid bridge 
of ice. Modern ages have not prefented an inftance of 
a like phenomenon. ■“ a. Tlie rein-deer, trom v/liom the 
I'avage of the Nortli derives the beft coinforts of lus 
dreary 
