The New International Encyclopædia/Main

MAIN, mīn. A river of Germany and the largest right affluent of the Rhine. It rises in two headstreams in the Fichtelgebirge in Northeastern Bavaria, and flows in a westerly direction through the northern part of Bavaria, and then on the borders of Hesse and the Prussian Province of Hesse-Nassau, joining the Rhine at Mainz (Map: Germany, C 4). The entire length of the Main is 307 miles, and it is navigable from its confluence with the Regnitz, a distance of about 205 miles. The principal towns on its banks are Würzburg and Frankfort. The Main, in spite of its length, is not very important from a commercial point of view, owing to frequently occurring shoals and the tortuousness of its course. It has, however, been canalized between Mainz and Frankfort, so as to admit vessels of 1000 tons, and its waters communicate with those of the Danube by means of the Ludwigs-Kanal.