The spurs of this ridge, extending as far X. as the Neckar river, there meet with the Odenwald (grand duchy of Hesse), which, by the Spessart and Rhon (N. W. frontier of Bavaria), and again by the Thu-ringian and Franconian forests, is connected with the Fichtelgebirge. The territory enclosed by these different ridges, being those sections of Bavaria and Wurtemberg N. of the Danube, nearly the whole of Baden, part of the grand duchy of Hesse, and a few of the petty Saxon duchies, is intersected by a number of lesser hill chains. Between this Franconian and Swabian mountain system and the Rhaetian Alps of Austria extends a vast level plain (southern Bavaria), bounded X. by the Danube, W. by the Iller, E. by the Inn and Salzach. The X. W. section of central Germany (always taking the Fichtelgebirge as the centre) appears like a labyrinth of hill chains, few of which attain a considerable elevation. The more important of them are: the Werra mountains, the Habichtswald, the Westerwald, the Taunus (Prussian province of Hesse-Xas-sau), the Eder hills, Egge hills, Rothhaar hills, and the Haarstrang (Prussian Westphalia). These are all between the Rhine on the west, the Main and Kinzig rivers on the south, the Werra on the east, and the Lippe on the north.

The highest summit is the Astenberg in Westphalia, nearly 2,800 ft. high. X. of the Lippe only one other hill chain stretches in a X. W. direction nearly parallel to the Ems, viz., the Teutoburg forest, renowned in German history as the theatre of the conflict by which the rule of the Romans east of the Rhine was broken. E. of the Weser, the Weser hills run parallel to that river, while S. E. of them and X. of the Thuringian system the Hartz appears as an isolated mass of mountains, the highest summit of which (Brocken) reaches the height of 3,737 ft. On the left or western bank of the Rhine the Vosges, extending along the western frontier of Alsace, rise near Colmar to an altitude of about 4,700 ft., and their northern spurs in Rhenish Bavaria and Rhenish Prussia, called the Ilaardt, the Hunsruck, and the Hoch-wald, to about 2,700 ft. in the latter range. Further X. the Ardennes send into Rhenish Prussia the ridge of the Eifel (2,500 ft.) and the Hohe Venn. Northeastern offshoots of the Jura cross the southern frontier of Alsace. 3. The great plain of northern Germany extends over the entire breadth of the country X. of a line drawn from the Holland frontier to Osnabruck and Minden, thence E. S. E. to Leipsic, thence S. by E. to a point where the head waters of the Oder and Vistula approach one another.

This vast plain, which at some former geological period has undoubtedly formed the bottom of the sea, is traversed only by two ridges of hills, none of which rise above 400 ft. One of these ridges extends from the lower Vistula W. to the Oder above Stettin; the other from Tarnowitz in S. E. Silesia along the Oder to lat. 52° N., then a little to the north of that parallel through the Prussian provinces of Brandenburg and Saxony into Hanover.-Each of the seas by which Germany is bounded on the north has a peculiar coast configuration. While the coast of the North sea or German ocean is largely indented by deep bays (Dollart and Jahde bays) or wide embouchures (Weser and Elbe), and its marshes" are the richest and most fertile soil in all Germany, the shores of the Baltic form many extensive lagoons (Haffs), and are generally uninviting and sterile. The advantages which the formation of the shores of the North sea would seem to offer for the development of th*e maritime interests of Germany, are to a great extent neutralized by the fact that a series of sand banks, called Watten, stretch nearly all along the coast. Besides this, the island which commands the entrance of all German ports on the North sea (Helgoland) has been ceded to Great Britain.-Germany is intersected by many rivers.

The principal river systems are those of the Danube, Rhine, Weser, Elbe, and Oder. The Danube, flowing from W. to E., has within the empire a length of 400 m. Its principal tributaries in Germany are: on the left or N. bank, the Alt-miihl, Nab, and Regen; on the right bank, the Iller, Lech, Isar, and Inn. The North sea receives the river systems of the Rhine (469 m. within Germany), the Ems (about 200 m. long), the Weser (400 m. inclusive of the Werra), and the Elbe (500 m. within the empire). The principal tributaries of the Rhine are the 111, Nahe, and Moselle, on the left bank; the Kinzig, Murg, Neckar, Main, Tauber, Lahn, Sieg, Wipper, Ruhr, and Lippe, on the right. The Weser is formed by the confluence of the Werra and Fulda, and receives only a few tributaries (Werre, Aue, and Hunte on the left, Aller and Leine, Ocker, Wtimme, and Geeste on the right). The Elbe has, next to the Danube, the largest river system. Its affluents in the empire are the Mulde, Saale, Jetze, Ilmenau, Schwinge, and Oste, on the left bank; the Black Elster, Havel and Spree, Stecknitz, Elde, and Stor on the right bank.

Two thirds of the territory drained by rivers which flow into the Baltic sea belongs to the system of the Oder (about 500 m, within the empire), and its numerous tributaries, the Neisse, Weistritz, Katz-bach, Bober, Ucker, and Peene on the left, the Klodnitz, Malapane, Weide, Bartsch, Warthe, Plone, and Ihna on the right. Of the small river systems the following maybe mentioned: the Eider (boundary between Schleswig and Holstein), about 105 m. long; the Pomeranian rivers Rega, Persante, Wipper, Stolpe, Lupow, and Leba; and the Vistula, which in Germany has a length of about 150 m. A number of canals connect several of the large river systems, but only a few of them can compare with the American canals. The most important is the Ludwiirs canal, connecting the Danube with the Main (and through this with the Rhine), thus furnishing uninterrupted navigation from the North to the Black sea. The Rhone and Rhine canal connects the system of these two rivers by joining the Doubs and the 111. The Bremervorde canal connects the Oste and Schwinge, tributaries of the Elbe; the Kiel canal connects the North and Baltic seas by the Eider, and the Strecknitz canal furnishes an outlet from the Elbe into the Baltic by the Trave; by the Finow and Mull-rose canal the systems of the Elbe and Odor are connected.-The number of lakes in Germany is large, but most of them are inconsiderable.