The earth and its inhabitants The earth and its inhabitants .. earthitsinhabita386recl Year: 1883 THUEINGIA AND THE HAEZ. 257 slopes and in its south-east portion, known as Untcr Ilarz. The cold northerly winds which blow on its higher slopes prevent the forests from recovering, and the vegetation is confined to mosses and lichens. In many parts the rocks are perfectly naked, and the inclemencies of the weather have split them up into grotesque masses. ' Seas of rocks,' similar to the ' lapiaz ' and ' Karrenfelder ' of the Alps, are met with; they are the 'cursed rocks,' in whose midst the wi
The earth and its inhabitants The earth and its inhabitants .. earthitsinhabita386recl Year: 1883 THUEINGIA AND THE HAEZ. 257 slopes and in its south-east portion, known as Untcr Ilarz. The cold northerly winds which blow on its higher slopes prevent the forests from recovering, and the vegetation is confined to mosses and lichens. In many parts the rocks are perfectly naked, and the inclemencies of the weather have split them up into grotesque masses. ' Seas of rocks,' similar to the ' lapiaz ' and ' Karrenfelder ' of the Alps, are met with; they are the 'cursed rocks,' in whose midst the witches executed their dances in the WaJpurgis Night. The Harz forms the first obstacles which the moisture-laden winds meet with in their passage across Germany. This accounts for the frequency of mists and torrential rains. But notwithstanding the great amount of precipitation, springs are rare in the Fig. 147.—The Brocken axd Wernigerode. Scale 1 : 135,000. ww^< 2 Miles. Harz, the water being sucked up by fissures. The elevated mosses fortunately retain a large quantity of moisture, and, like the glaciers of the Alps, they regulate the flow of the rivulets. The Harz abounds in mines. 'Whilst the hills bounding the Weser princi- pally yield salt, the more elevated mass of the Hercynian Forest has been famous for ages on account of its mines of silver, lead, and iron. The Harz is one of the oldest mining districts of Germany. The argentiferous ore of Rammelsberg, near Goslar, is said to have been discovered towards the close of the tenth century, and already enriched the neighbouring towns during the eleventh. It was the miners of the Harz who became the instructors of those of the Saxon Ore Mountains. In 90
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