THE TABLELAND AND COAL BASIN OF UPPER SILESIA.—Ill Upper Silesia the remnants of a Trias plateau extend eastward from the Oder into Poland, while further south lies a great coal basin which is exposed in some places, but in others is concealed by later deposits. Over the whole of this region there has been rapid economic development within recent years. The coalfield, which also underlies parts of Austrian Silesia and Russian Poland, is one of the most important, if not the most important, in Europe ; and, although the German part of it at present produces less than one-fourth of the coal mined in the Empire, its available content is believed to be two or three times as great as that of the Ruhr dis trict. The coal, though not so suitable for coking and steam-raising purposes as that from Westphalia, is well adapted to household requirements, and its market extends from Berlin to Vienna. The muschelkalk of the Tarnowitz Plateau contains much lead and the largest deposits of zinc in Europe, while iron ore is mined at Oppeln, not far distant. This combination of coal, zinc, lead, and iron has led to the growth of a considerable metallurgical industry, which is carried on at Tarnowitz, Beuthen, Konigshiltte, Gleiwitz, Kattowitz, Myslowitz, and elsewhere. Here are obtained five sixths of the zinc and over one-half of the lead produced in Germany, and here, also, are numerous iron works, which rely largely upon imported ore. In addition, steel, machinery, wire, and a variety of other articles are manufactured. The progress of this region was long retarded by the isolated position which it occupies in Germany, but, with the growth of railways, the improvement of the Oder as a waterway, and the development of its own natural resources, it is rapidly becoming one of the chief industrial areas of the Empire.
COMMUNICATIONS.—In the German Empire there are now over 37,000 miles of railway, of which 33,000 miles are owned or con trolled by the various States which constitute the Empire, while the remainder are in the hands of private companies. Berlin, upon which converge many of the most important lines in the country, may be regarded as the centre of the system. One line places it in direct communication with the great port of Hamburg, while another, which runs to Cologne by way of Hanover, Hamm, and Oberhausen, has connections with Bremen and Emden at Stendal, with the Hook of Holland, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam at Lohne, with Flushing at Oberhausen, and with Ostend at Cologne. The capital is also connected with Cologne by a line which passes through Magdeburg, Soest, and Dusseldorf. From Cologne the gorge and the rift valley of the Rhine open up a great highway to the south, and as far as Basel there are railroads on either side of the river from which important lines branch off. From Coblentz one follows
the course of the Moselle by Treves and Metz to Nancy, while another utilises the valley of the Lahn to cross the Rhine massif on its way to Hanover or Magdeburg by Cassel. The latter line also connects with one from Mainz which strikes up the valley of the Kinzig and down that of the Fulda to arrive at Gotha, whence it runs by Erfurt and Halle to Berlin. From Mainz, too, the Nahe opens up a route to the Saarbriicken coalfield and to Metz. At Strassburg the Orient Express route, which has crossed the Vosges from Nancy by the Gap of Saverne, joins the railway on the right bank of the Rhine, and passes north along it as far as Karlsruhe, where it branches off, turns the flank of the Black Forest, and goes by Stuttgart to Ulm on the Danube. From Ulm the main route is continued across the Alpine Foreland by Augsburg and Munich to Linz, where it rejoins the Danube, while another line of less importance does not depart from the valley of that river. These railways in the south of Germany are connected with those in the north in several ways. The line from Berlin to Halle con nects with one to Leipzig, which then runs southwards between the Fichtelgebirge and the Erzgebirge, and between the Franconian Jura and the Bavarian Forest, to Ratisbon, whence it is continued across the Alpine Foreland by Munich to the Brenner Pass. Another line runs from Frankfurt across the Spessart and along the Main to Wiirzburg, where one branch goes by Nuremberg and over the Franconian Jura to join the line from Berlin to Ratisbon, while the other runs in a south-easterly direction to Munich. Two important railway routes lead from the German capital into the countries of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy ; one goes south to Dresden and then follows the course of the Elbe and the Moldau on its way to Vienna, while the other goes by Breslau along the outer slope of the Sudetes to Cracow in Galicia. In the east and north-east of Germany railways are much less numerous than in the west. Two lines, which unite at Insterburg on the Pregel, leave Berlin for the Russian capital, the one going by Konigsberg, the other by Posen and Thorn. A railway from Schneidemiihl, on the first of these, to Thorn gives Berlin an alternate route to that town, which is in direct communication with Warsaw. In addition to Konigsberg, the ports on the Baltic, Danzig, Stettin, Stralsund, and Lubeck, are all connected by rail with Berlin.