BOHEMIA, A kingdom in Europe, forming part of the Austrian dominions, and bounded on the west by part of the eledtorate of Saxony, the principality of Culembach, and the Upper Palatinate ; on the north by Misnia, Lusatia, and Silesia ; on the east by Moravia, Sile sia, and the county of Glatz ; and on the south by Austria and Bavaria. It stretches from 48° 30' to 51° 5' N. Lat. in an oval figure of about 951 geo graphical square miles.
The whole country resembles an immense bison or concavity, and its bottom forms a plain considerably elevated above the level of the sea. It is surrounded on every side by high mountains ; on the north-east by the Sudetes mountains, and the Riesengebiirge ; on the south-east and south, by the mountains of Moravia ; on the west, by the Bohmerwaldgebiirge, (Lat. Silva Gabreta, or Ilercynia,) ; and on the north, by the Erzgebiirge. A very considerable por tion of these mountains is composed of the first or oldest granite formation, on which rest gneiss, mica, slate, clay slate, various porphyries, and other primi tive rocks ; and these are covered with ficaz sand stone, limestone, and various rocks of the newer trap formation. Even the highest summits of the Boh snerwaldgebiirge are covered with a kind of brush wood ; but the elevated parts of the Riesengebiirge are almost bare, and, in sheltered hollows, snow re. mains during the whole year. The loftiest and most naked branch of this chain is called, in German, 'tie sengebUrge, the mountains of the giants. The Su: detes resemble an immense rampart, surmounted by a train of other ramparts, placed almost transversely. Their principal masses are composed of granite, round which, as a nucleus, are formed strata of pos. phyry, and mica and clay slate. On the south east the granite disappears, and the mountains dwin. dle. This intermediate chain, which connects the Sudetes with the Carpathian Alps, is called by a general name Moravian Hills, or Gezenkergeb. iirge, lowered mountains. The mountains of Carsle berg and Maunhast gird Bohemia on the south, and touch, on the west, the hills named the Forest of Bohemia, (Bolimer•Wald,) which are much less ele vated than the Sudetes, and are clothed with verdure almost to the summits. At the western extremity. of Bohemia, the Fichtelgebiirge, or mountain of pines, rises to the height of 3630 Rhenish feet, and forme a common centre to the three chains which separate Franconia from Saxony, as well as Bohemia from Saxony and Bavaria. The Fichtelberg is an assem blage of mountains, precipices, shelves, and ravines ; and on the summit there was formerly a lake, now. converted into a marsh. Between Saxony and Bohe mia, run the mountains named Erzgebiirge, or t allic mountains, which join the Sudetes in Lusatia.
On the side of Saxony, these mountains rise to the height of 3600 or 3700 feet above the level of the sea. On the side of they present a great 7 number of peaks composed of basalt, whose imposing aspect adds greatly to the beauty of this picturesque country.
Among the natural curiosities which here present themselves, none is more remarkable than the laby rinth of rocks, near Adersbach, in the circle of Koe nigingroetz. Innumerable rocks of freestone, placed perpendicularly, from 100 to 200 feet high, and of a circumference equal to half their height, forming thus great square towers, occupy a space of a league and i two thirds in length, by half a league in breadth. The entrance into this immense group resembles that of an amphitheatre ; the verdure of scattered trees and shrubs forms a striking contrast with the grey masses of rocks, the figures of which are fantastical ly varied. Through the midst of this singular scene winds a pleasant rivulet, which soon dashes into a grotto, where terror seems to reign. The echo of a thousand rocks reverberates the roar of this stupen dous cascade.
Bohemia is so much elevated above the level of the sea, that all its rivers take their rise either in it, or immediately on its borders. Its principal the Elbe, (Albe of the mountaineers, Labbe of the Bo hemians,) which rises from the western acclivity of the Weissen Wiese, meadow,) at the foot of the Schnee Koppe, snow cap,) near to the Silesian frontier. It flows hrst southwards, then makes a great turn westwards, when it reaches nearly the middle of Bohemia, and from thence it flows north west towards the Erzgebiirge, through which it forces its way into Saxony. The principal tributary rivers are the Aupa, Erlitz, Orlitz, Dabrowa, Iser, the Nloldau, which is the second principal river of the kingdom, and the Eger. The Elbe, with the accumulated waters of all these rivers, escapes from Bohemia at Winterberg, near Schandaw. As the opening through which the 'river forces its way is not only narrow, but bears evident marks of a great rent, and as the whole of Bohemia is surrounded by lofty ranges of mountains, it has been conjectured by the celebrated German mineralogist Werner, that this kingdom was formerly a great inland sea, or lake, in which was collected all the water from the surround ing mountains ; that the water of this vast lake, or sea, had forced its way through the bounding rocks at the lowest point at Winterberg; and thus emptied itself, and formed the narrow rocky ravine through which the Elbe now flows in passing out of Bohemia into Saxony.