WESER (O. Germ. Visuracha, Wisura; Lat. Visurgis), one of the chief rivers of Germany, formed by the union of the Werra and the Fulda at Münden, in the Prussian province of Hanover, flows to the north and north-northwest, and entere the North Sea below Bremerhafen, to the east of the Jade Bay. The mouth is 170 miles from Münden, but the winding course of the river is 279 miles long; if the measurement be made from the source of the Werra, in Thuringia, the total length of the stream is 439 miles. At Münden the river surface is 380 feet above sea-level; the most rapid fall in its course is between Carlshafen and Minden in Westphalia, where it descends 70 feet in 20 miles. Nearly the entire course of the Weser lies in Prussia, but it also touches part of Brunswick and Lippe, and after flowing through Bremen expands into an estuary separating the duchy of Oldenburg from the Prussian province of Hanover. Between Münden and Minden its course lies through a series of picturesque valleys flanked by the irregular and disjointed mountain system known as the Weser Hills; but after it emerges from these mountains by the narrow pass called the “Porta Westphalica,” to the north of Minden, its banks become flat and uninteresting. The breadth of the river varies from 110 yards at Münden to 220 yards at Minden, 250 yards at Bremen, 1¼ miles at Elsfleth, and 7½ miles at its entrance into the sea. The Weser on the whole is shallow; and navigation on the upper Weser, i.e., above Bremen, is sometimes interrupted for months by drought. Sea-going ships may ascend to Elsfleth, though Bremerhafen is the chief port for large vessels; smaller craft may reach Vegesack, and barges of 200 tons make their way to Münden. The stream discharges itself into the sea amid sandbanks, which ...