. The earth and its inhabitants .. . OHEMIA is usually looked upon as occujDying the very ceutre of Europe. This is not in reality the case, for the geometrical centre of Europe lies farther to the east, and the Alps, which form the main watershed, rise to the south-west. Bohemia, nevertheless, occupies an intermediate position between Northern and Southern, Western and Eastern Europe. Like a huge quadrangular citadel, it advances into the heart of the plains of Northern Germany. Of its four ramparts, the Bohemian Forest and the Sudetes extend from the south-east to the north-west, whilst the
. The earth and its inhabitants .. . OHEMIA is usually looked upon as occujDying the very ceutre of Europe. This is not in reality the case, for the geometrical centre of Europe lies farther to the east, and the Alps, which form the main watershed, rise to the south-west. Bohemia, nevertheless, occupies an intermediate position between Northern and Southern, Western and Eastern Europe. Like a huge quadrangular citadel, it advances into the heart of the plains of Northern Germany. Of its four ramparts, the Bohemian Forest and the Sudetes extend from the south-east to the north-west, whilst the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge), which separate Bohemia from Saxony, and the plateau of Moravia, stretch from the south-west to the north-east. The general orographical features of no other country in Europe equal those of Bohemia in simplicity. But when we come to examine these mountains in detail we find that they vary exceedingly in their aspects. The Bohemian Forest is made up of an undulating plateau, a system of parallel ranges, and a cluster of curiously piled-up mountain summits. Only a few localities recall the Alps, for the average height does not quite reach 4,000 feet, and the dome-shaped masses of gneiss and schistose pyramids do not rise to any great height above the valleys. There are, however, a few summits crowned with dykes of white quartz, locally known as " Devil's ; The beauty of the Bohemian Forest must be sought for in its "running streams," its blue lakelets, and its magnificent trees. Nowhere else in Germany is the foliage of the beech denser, or the height of the fir or pine more considerable. Only a few of the highest summits pierce the region of forests, and reach into that of pastures. The woodman's axe has com- mitted the usual havoc in these forests, but there exist wide tracts in primeval luxuriance, with trees nearly a couple of hundred feet in height, and they are still the home of the boar and the bison, the latter as well
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade18, booksubjectgeography, bookyear1883
