Tertiary age and occurs indifferently in all the older rocks. The deposits are superficial, resulting from the opening out of veins at the surface, and consist chiefly of haematite. These ores were worked by the ancients, but so inefficiently that their spoil-heaps can be smelted again with profit. This process is now gone through on the island itself. The granite was also quarried by the Romans, but is not now much worked.
Parts of the island are fertile, and the cultivation of vines, and the tunny and sardine fishery, also give employment to a part of the population. The capital of the island is Portoferraio—pop. (1901) 5987—in the centre of the N. coast, enclosed by an amphitheatre of lofty mountains, the slopes of which are covered with villas and gardens. This is the best harbour, the ancient Portus Argous. The town was built and fortified by Cosimo I. in 1548, who called it Cosmopolis. Above the harbour, between the forts Stella and Falcone, is the palace of Napoleon I., and 4 m. to the S.W. is his villa; while on the N. slope of Monte Capanne is another of his country houses. The other villages in the island are Campo nell’ Elba, on the S. near the W. end, Marciana and Marciana Marina on the N. of the island near the W. extremity, Porto Longone, on the E. coast, with picturesque Spanish fortifications, constructed in 1602 by Philip III.; Rio dell’ Elba and Rio Marina, both on the E. side of the island, in the mining district. At Le Grotte, between Portoferraio and Rio dell’ Elba, and at Capo Castello, on the N.E. of the island, are ruins of Roman date.
Elba was famous for its mines in early times, and the smelting furnaces gave it its Greek name of Α᾽ θαλία (“soot island”). In Roman times, and until 1900, however, owing to lack of fuel, the smelting was done on the mainland. In 453 B.C. Elba was devastated by a Syracusan squadron. From the 11th to the 14th century it belonged to Pisa, and in 1399 came under the dukes of Piombino. In 1548 it was ceded by them to Cosimo I. of Florence. In 1596 Porto Longone was taken by Philip III. of Spain, and retained until 1709, when it was ceded to Naples. In 1802 the island was given to France by the peace of Amiens. On Napoleon’s deposition, the island was ceded to him with full sovereign rights, and he resided there from the 5th of May 1814 to the 26th of February 1815. After his fall it was restored to Tuscany, and passed with it to Italy in 1860.
See Sir R. Colt Hoare, A Tour through the Island of Elba (London, 1814).
ELBE (the Albis of the Romans and the Labe of the Czechs),
a river of Germany, which rises in Bohemia not far from the
frontiers of Silesia, on the southern side of the Riesengebirge,
at an altitude of about 4600 ft. Of the numerous small streams
(Seifen or Flessen as they are named in the district) whose confluent
waters compose the infant river, the most important are
the Weisswasser, or White Water, and the Elbseifen, which is
formed in the same neighbourhood, but at a little lower elevation.
After plunging down the 140 ft. of the Elbfall, the latter stream
unites with the steep torrential Weisswasser at Mädelstegbaude,
at an altitude of 2230 ft., and thereafter the united stream of
the Elbe pursues a southerly course, emerging from the mountain
glens at Hohenelbe (1495 ft.), and continuing on at a soberer pace
to Pardubitz, where it turns sharply to the west, and at Kolin
(730 ft.), some 27 m. farther on, bends gradually towards the
north-west. A little above Brandeis it picks up the Iser, which,
like itself, comes down from the Riesengebirge, and at Melnik
it has its stream more than doubled in volume by the Moldau,
a river which winds northwards through the heart of Bohemia
in a sinuous, trough-like channel carved through the plateaux.
Some miles lower down, at Leitmeritz (433 ft.), the waters of
the Elbe are tinted by the reddish Eger, a stream which drains
the southern slopes of the Erzgebirge. Thus augmented, and
swollen into a stream 140 yds. wide, the Elbe carves a path
through the basaltic mass of the Mittelgebirge, churning its
way through a deep, narrow rocky gorge. Then the river winds
through the fantastically sculptured sandstone mountains of the
“Saxon Switzerland,” washing successively the feet of the lofty
Lilienstein (932 ft. above the Elbe), the scene of one of Frederick
the Great’s military exploits in the Seven Years’ War, Königstein
(797 ft. above the Elbe), where in times of war Saxony has more
than once stored her national purse for security, and the pinnacled
rocky wall of the Bastei, towering 650 ft. above the surface of
the stream. Shortly after crossing the Bohemian-Saxon frontier,
and whilst still struggling through the sandstone defiles, the
stream assumes a north-westerly direction, which on the whole
it preserves right away to the North Sea. At Pirna the Elbe
leaves behind it the stress and turmoil of the Saxon Switzerland,
rolls through Dresden, with its noble river terraces, and finally,
beyond Meissen, enters on its long journey across the North
German plain, touching Torgau, Wittenberg, Magdeburg,
Wittenberge, Hamburg, Harburg and Altona on the way, and
gathering into itself the waters of the Mulde and Saale from the
left, and those of the Schwarze Elster, Havel and Elde from the
right. Eight miles above Hamburg the stream divides into the
Norder (or Hamburg) Elbe and the Süder (or Harburg) Elbe,
which are linked together by several cross-channels, and embrace
in their arms the large island of Wilhelmsburg and some smaller
ones. But by the time the river reaches Blankenese, 7 m. below
Hamburg, all these anastomosing branches have been reunited,
and the Elbe, with a width of 4 to 9 m. between bank and bank,
travels on between the green marshes of Holstein and Hanover
until it becomes merged in the North Sea off Cuxhaven. At
Kolin the width is about 100 ft., at the mouth of the Moldau
about 300, at Dresden 960, and at Magdeburg over 1000. From
Dresden to the sea the river has a total fall of only 280 ft., although
the distance is about 430 m. For the 75 m. between Hamburg
and the sea the fall is only 314 ft. One consequence of this is that
the bed of the river just below Hamburg is obstructed by a bar,
and still lower down is choked with sandbanks, so that navigation
is confined to a relatively narrow channel down the middle of
the stream. But unremitting efforts have been made to maintain
a sufficient fairway up to Hamburg (q.v.). The tide advances
as far as Geesthacht, a little more than 100 m. from the sea.
The river is navigable as far as Melnik, that is, the confluence of
the Moldau, a distance of 525 m., of which 67 are in Bohemia.
Its total length is 725 m., of which 190 are in Bohemia, 77 in the
kingdom of Saxony, and 350 in Prussia, the remaining 108 being
in Hamburg and other states of Germany. The area of the drainage
basin is estimated at 56,000 sq. m.
Navigation.—Since 1842, but more especially since 1871, improvements have been made in the navigability of the Elbe by all the states which border upon its banks. As a result of these labours there is now in the Bohemian portion of the river a minimum depth of 2 ft. 8 in., whilst from the Bohemian frontier down to Magdeburg the minimum depth is 3 ft., and from Magdeburg to Hamburg, 3 ft. 10 in. In 1896 and 1897 Prussia and Hamburg signed covenants whereby two channels are to be kept open to a depth of 934 ft., a width of 656 ft., and a length of 550 yds. between Bunthaus and Ortkathen, just above the bifurcation of the Norder Elbe and the Süder Elbe. In 1869 the maximum burden of the vessels which were able to ply on the upper Elbe was 250 tons; but in 1899 it was increased to 800 tons. The large towns through which the river flows have vied with one another in building harbours, providing shipping accommodation, and furnishing other facilities for the efficient navigation of the Elbe. In this respect the greatest efforts have naturally been made by Hamburg; but Magdeburg, Dresden, Meissen, Riesa, Tetschen, Aussig and other places have all done their relative shares, Magdeburg, for instance, providing a commercial harbour and a winter harbour. In spite, however, of all that has been done, the Elbe remains subject to serious inundations at periodic intervals. Among the worst floods were those of the years 1774, 1799, 1815, 1830, 1845, 1862, 1890 and 1909. The growth of traffic up and down the Elbe has of late years become very considerable. A towing chain, laid in the bed of the river, extends from Hamburg to Aussig, and by this means, as by paddle-tug haulage, large barges are brought from the port of Hamburg into the heart of Bohemia. The fleet of steamers and barges navigating the Elbe is in point of fact greater than on any other German river. In addition to goods thus conveyed, enormous quantities of timber are floated down the Elbe; the
