From this elevation the country slopes to the shores of the Bahia with an undulating surface, which is seldom varied by a hill. The soil improves to the northward; along the Friechea Ilaff and the banks of the Pregel and the Niemen there are extensive tracts of great fertility. The most productive parts occur along the banks of the Niemen and Vistula, where the low river-bottoms are of great extant, and are protected against inundations by ernbankmente. The embankments were erected along the Vistula, more than COO years ego, by the Teutouio knights: they are above 150 miles long. The country which is thus secured from inundations is by far the most fertile tract in Prussia.
The elevation is Interrupted by the wide valley of the Vistula, and on the west side of the river it does not rise opposite to the termi nation of the eastern portion, but much farther to the north. It begins about 25 miles south-west of Danzig, with a rather steep ascent, and attains its greatest elevation in the Thurznberg near Schonberg, which is nearly 1070 feet above the eta, and the highest hill between the Harz and the Ural mountains. From this place it extends in a south.western direction towards Behrendt, and thence to Markisch Friedland, which Is on the boundary-line between Frugal* proper and Pomerania. So far it resembles to all its features a mountain system of a diminutive size. It continues with a less elevation and more extended slopes along the boundary line between the province. of Pomerania and Brandenburg, and terminates in abrupt hills not far from the banks of the Oder opposite Schweilt and Otlerberg. The soil of this elevation is much better in this part than it is farther east, but it is only of very moderate fertility. To the south-east of the higher portion of the elevation extends the greatest waste in the Prussian monarchy, called the Tuchler Ileide (Heath of Tuchel), which is 50 miles in length and from 20 to 25 miles in width. The soil is sandy, and, with the excep tion of shrubs and stunted pines, it produces scarcely anything that is useful to man. The spots of cultivable ground are few and of email extent. Towards the south, where it approaches the river Netze, an affluent of the Warta, the soil improves, and it is still better between the two last-mentioned rivers, but even hero the fertility ia not great. Between the Warta, where that river runs north, and the
Vistula, there is a large tract of country which yields abundant crops of wheat and other grain. The tract which extends along the lower course of the Warta to the Oder, is much less fertile. Ou the northern side of the elevation the country is of moderate fertility, but it improves towards the shores of the Baltic. A few miles from the sea there is a tract several miles wide, which may be called fertile, but the shores consist of sand-hills which extend 2 or 3 miles inland, and occupy the whole coast from the eastern mouth of the Oder to the fertile delta of the Vistula near Danzig.
The Western portion of the elevation begins on the west of the Oder, between Schwedt and Oderberg, and runs west-north-west until it enters the duchy of Mecklenburg, through which it extends to Holstein and the banks of the Elbe. Its mean height is here probably less than 300 feet above the sea-level, and the surface is rather uneven, several bills rising from 100 to 200 feet above it. The soil of that part which is within Prussia is of moderate fertility ; but along its northern declivity, and as far as the shores of the Baltic, including the island of Rugen, it consists of very good land, which yields large crops of grain.
The Southern elevation of the Prussian plain is connected at its eastern extremity with the highlands of Sandomir in Poland. It runs in a west-north-west direction along the eastern boundary of Silesia, where it rises to about 1000 feet above the sea-level north of the town of Breslau. In this part it is called the Heights of Trebnitz. The elevation is interrrupted by the valley of the Oder betwecu Leubus and Great Ologau, and farther on by the Bober, Neisse, and Spree; but it appears south of Berlin, where it is called the Fleming, and is 400 feet above the sea, or 300 feet above the site of the Prussian capital. It terminates not far from the banks of the Elbe, between Magdeburg and Burg ; but a contiuuation of it appears on the western side of the Elbe, and after leaving the Prussian dominions it continues between the Elbe and the Weser to the vieiuity of the North Sea between the mouths of these two rivers. In these parts it is very wide and oomprehends the Heath of Luneburg, which belongs to the kingdom of Hanover.