To all appearances this op

| Plain was covered formerly by the sea, per | alluvial deposits of great depth being q.m.|/ spread over almost every part of its 237 | surface, and generally with so large a 654 proportion of sand, as to make it a largely unfertile. Dykes are required in many places along the coast to pro- 293 | tect from inundation. The complicated mountain region with its ramifying - ranges, nowhere exceeding 5,000 feet in 35 height,-forms part of the great Euro- 116| pean watershed, and in it rise the Danube, the Rhine, the Elbe, the chief {river of Germany; the Oder, Weser, a Main, Neckar, Mosel, Ems, and Eider —all of which are navigable and im- 305 | portant. 245 Germany po e es numerous and varied mineral riches, the most important of which are common coal and 323| brown coal, iron, zinc, lead, and salt. The Pru ian monarchy takes a prom- 133 inent place among the States of Eu- 71 rope, especially in the production of 3151 zine. Gold and silver are obtained in 244| the Harz Mountains and in the kingdom of Saxony; gold to a limited ex- 235] tent also in Bavaria. Iron is chiefly 552! obtained in Pru ia, Alsace-Lorraine, 44 Bavaria, Brunswick, and also in Saxony.