Odenwald

ODENWALD, a wooded mountain region of Germany, al most entirely in Hesse, with small portions in Bavaria and Baden.

It stretches between the Neckar and the Main, and is 5o m. long by 20 to 3o broad. Its highest points are the Katzenbuckel (2,057 ft.), the Neunkircher Hohe (1,985 ft.) and the Krahenberg (1,965 ft.). The wooded heights overlooking the Bergstrasse are studded with castles and mediaeval ruins.

ODER

(Lat. Viaduct; Slavonic V jodr), a European river, 56o m. long, which rises in the Odergebirge (Lower Carbonifer ous rocks of the Bohemian massif). After flowing south-east it quickly turns north-east and after a short distance north-west enters upon the Silesian plain, which general direction it maintains across the recent deposits of the lowlands in a wide valley and with low banks. In its lower course it frequently bifurcates, forming many islands, and its main channel passes Stettin into the Grosses Haff, which is connected with the Baltic sea by three arms, the Peene, Swine and Dievenov forming the islands of Use dom and Wollin. The Swine in the middle, is the main channel for navigation.

Rising in Czechoslovakia it touches the Upper Silesian coalfield and enters Germany above Ratibor, after forming the frontier between Germany and Poland from Bohumin. It receives a num ber of left-bank tributaries from the gneisses and granites of the Bohemian massif, the chief being the Glatzer Neisse, Katz bach, Bober and Lausitzer Neisse, but the biggest affluents are those on the right-bank, the Warthe with its tributaries the Netze (Notec) and the Obra, the Malapane and Bartsch, all of which rise in Poland. The most important towns on the river banks are Ratibor, Oppeln, Brieg, Breslau, Glogau, Frankfort-on-Oder, Kiistrin, Stettin and Swinemlinde. The river forms an im portant highway into eastern Germany, Poland and Czecho slovakia. It is utilized by three main currents of traffic, traffic

between Stettin and Berlin, goods transported to or from the mining area of Upper Silesia (this traffic was reduced by the partition of Upper Silesia between Germany and Poland) and the traffic to and from Poland by the Warthe and its connections. The river begins to be navigable for barges at Ratibor, when it is about 1 oo ft. wide, and for larger vessels at Breslau where constant dredging is always necessary. Several parts of the main stream have been canalized, especially in the low-lying reaches, in its upper courses and between Stettin and the sea. It is now possible for sea-going vessels, drawing 24 ft. of water to reach Stettin. In addition navigation is possible on the Warthe, Netze and Obra, and the river is connected by canals with the Vistula, th- Havel and the Spree.

By the Treaty of Versailles (1919) Poland extended her terri tory westwards to include the province of Posen (Posnania) but, although the boundary nowhere touches the Oder, long portions of its right-bank are now in Poland. The treaty also declared international the Oder and all navigable portions of its system which provide natural access to the sea for more than one State, and also a commission consisting of three representa tives of Prussia, and one each of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Great Britain, France, Denmark and Sweden to prepare an Act of Navi gation. The work of this commission was by no means easy, for unforeseen difficulties arose upon the question of the right of the commission to legislate for the upper reaches of the Warthe, the Netze and the Old Netze.