the most western of the three duchies, has an area of 339 square miles, and is divided into two separate duchies. The upper duchy lies on the side and at the foot of the Hartz Mountains, and though generally mountainous and woody, it has some fine valleys. The lower duchy, situated on the Saale and Elbe, is generally flat, and in some parts marshy. The climate of the lower duchy is temperate and mild, while that of the upper is cold and humid. The mines in the neighbourhood of the Hartz Mountains yield copper, silver, iron, lead, sulphur, and gypsum. It is divided into nine aunts or bailiwicks, each of which has a chief town of the same name, viz., Bernburg, Plötzkau, Mühlingen, and Koswick, in the lower duchy; and Bal-