The earth and its inhabitants .. . earthitsinhabita386recl Year: 1883 ALSACE AND GERMAN LOEEAINE. ' 169 The slope which the Vosges presents towards the Rhine is far bolder than the western one, which sinks down gently or merges into the plateau of the Faucilles. The broad vale of the Ilhine contrasts strikingly with the hills which bound it. Standing within it, at an elevation of some 500 feet above the sea, we see unrolled before us the entire chain of the Vosges, and are able to grasp at a glance the wealth of Alsace : the meadows, corn-fields, and hop gardens of the plain, the vine- yards
The earth and its inhabitants .. . earthitsinhabita386recl Year: 1883 ALSACE AND GERMAN LOEEAINE. ' 169 The slope which the Vosges presents towards the Rhine is far bolder than the western one, which sinks down gently or merges into the plateau of the Faucilles. The broad vale of the Ilhine contrasts strikingly with the hills which bound it. Standing within it, at an elevation of some 500 feet above the sea, we see unrolled before us the entire chain of the Vosges, and are able to grasp at a glance the wealth of Alsace : the meadows, corn-fields, and hop gardens of the plain, the vine- yards of the foot-hills, the forests and pasture-lands of the more distant moorlands. For a distance of 50 miles, from the Belcheu, or Bdlon, of Alsace (4,(377 feet) to the Don on, or Donner (3,313 feet), the Vosges form the boundary between France and Germany. Farther north Germany holds both slopes of the mountains, including the famous gap of Zabern (Saverne, 1,247 feet), which has from a remote age formed the principal military and commercial gateway between the two Fig. 98.—The Gap of Zadern (Saverne). Scale 1 : 115,000. 5° E ot f il-. 7° G - 2 Miles. countries. A canal, joining the Rhine with the Marne, and the railway from Strassburg to Paris, run through this gap, whilst a fine carriage road crosses the heights to the north of it. The ' Little ' Vosges extend northward into the Palatinate, where they are known as Hardt. Their average height does not exceed 1,300 feet ; yet, owing to the tortuous valleys, they form a serious strategical obstacle. Formerly, when the country was but thinly inhabited and rendered insecure by lordly highwaymen, the ruins of whose castles crown every summit, only a few roads ran across it, and they were little frequented. The road by the Lauter, passing along the old boundary of Germany, then afltbrded the only means of reaching the Rhine in the north of Alsace. The Vosges are famous throughout Europe on account of their lofty ti'ees,
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