ELBE, the Albis of the Romans and the Labe of the Bohemians, a large river of Germany, with a total length of 705 miles, and a drainage area of about 55,000 square miles. It rises in Bohemia not far from the frontiers of Silesia, on the southern side of the Riesengebirge or Giants’ Mountains, in 50° 46' N. lat. and 15° 32' E. long. 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; the former rises to the S.W. of the Schneekuppe in the White Meadow, and the latter in a stone fountain in the Elb Meadow. Augmented successively by the Adler, the Iser, the Moldau, and the Eger, it cuts its way through the Mittelgebirge of Bohemia, traverses the sandstone mountains of Saxon Switzerland, and with a general N.W. direction continues to meander through Saxony, Anhalt, and Hanover, until at length it falls into the German Ocean about 53° 5' N. lat. and 8° 50' E. long. The principal towns on its banks are Leitmeritz, Pirna, Dresden, Meissen, Torgau, Wittenberg, Magdeburg, Wittenberge, Harburg, Hamburg, and Altona. A short distance above Hamburg the stream divides into a number of branches, but they all reunite before reaching the ocean. At its source the Elbe is about 4600 feet above the level of the sea; after the first 40 miles of its course it is still 658 feet; but at Dresden it is only 279, and at Arneburg in Brandenburg only 176. At Königgratz the width is about 100 feet, at the mouth of the Moldau about 300, at Dresden 960, and at Magdeburg over 1000. The tide is perceptible as far up as Geesthacht. Of the fifty and more tributaries belonging to the system the most important are the Moldau, the Eger, the Mulde, ...and the Saale,—the Moldau having a course of 267 miles, the Eger of 235, the Mulde of 185, and the Saale of 220. Though the channel in some places, and especially in the estuary, is encumbered with sandbanks and shallows, the Elbe is of great importance as a means of communication, steamboats being able to ascend the main stream as far as Melnick, and to reach Prague by means of the Moldau. Some idea of the extent of its traffic may be obtained from the statement that in 1870 at Schandau 489 passenger-steamers and 2658 vessels and barges of various kinds passed up the stream, and 489 passenger steamers, 2865 ships, and 1505 rafts down the stream. By one line of canal it communicates with Lübeck, by another with Bremen, and by others with the great network of Mecklenburg and Brandenburg; and several new lines are projected, by which a direct way will be opened up to Hanover, Leipsic, and various other important cities.—For details see Dr Th. H. Schunke’s “Die Schifffahrts-Kanäle im Deutschen Reiche,” in Petermann’s Mittheil., 1877.
Formerly 3 entrepots (Pirna, Dresden, and Magdeburg), 35 tolls, and numerous corporations of privileged watermen, opposed almost insurmountable obstacles to the navigation; the Austrians and the Saxons alone could navigate the Upper Elbe, that is, from Magdeburg to where it ceases to be navigable, and the Prussians and Hamburgers had the sole privilege of navigating the Lower Elbe. But new regulations were introduced by a convention concluded on the 13th June 1821 between all the bordering states, viz., Austria, Saxony, Prussia, Hanover, Denmark (for Holstein and Lauenburg), the grand duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and the three principalities of Anhalt. Every merchant, to whatever bordering state he might belong, was allowed with his own vessel and crew to navigate the whole course of the river without interruption; the 35 tolls were reduced to 14; the heavy dues which were levied upon goods of the first necessity were reduced to one for the cargo {Elbe Toll) and another for the ship {Recogni∙ tionsgebiihren) ; and each state was bound to watch over the portion of river which passed through their territories, and to preserve it from everything injurious to commerce or navigation. It was also arranged that a commission should meet from time to time for the revision of the tariff, &c., and the investigation of all matters connected with the utilization of the river. By the second of these commissions, which met at Dresden in 1842, an additional Navigation Act was published in 1844; in the third, at Magdeburg in 1850, it was proposed by Austria to remove the Elbe tolls altogether, but Hanover and some other states refused; in the fourth, at Hamburg, 1858, the same objections still carried the day; but in 1861 the fifth commission decided that only one common toll for all the riparian states should be left at Wittenberge; and after numerous difficulties, the federative council of the German empire succeeded in securing the complete freedom of the river in 1870. A compensation of 1,000,000 thalers was granted to Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and of 85,000 to Anhalt.
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