13,462; Pelvoux, 12,973. Next come the Graian Alps, 50 miles long, with extensive ramifications in Savoy and Piedmont; principal peaks: Aiguille de la Sassière, 12,326 feet; Grand Paradis, 13,300; Grande Casse, 12,780. To this group belongs Mont Cenis, 6,765 feet.
The Pennine Alps form the loftiest portion of the whole system, having Mont Blanc (in France) at one extremity, and Mont Rosa at the other (60 miles), and including the Alps of Savoy and the Valais. In the E. the valley of the upper Rhone separates the Pennine Alps from the great chasm of the Bernese Alps. The principal heights of the Pennine Alps are Mont Blanc, 15,781 feet; Monte Rosa, 15,217; Mischabelhörner (Dom), 14,935; Weisshorn, 14,804; Matterhorn, 14,780. In the Bernese Alps, the Finsteraarhorn, 14,026; Aletschhorn, 13,803; Jungfrau, 13,671. The pass of Great St. Bernard is celebrated for its hospice. The easternmost pass is the Simplon, 6,595 feet, with a carriage road made by Napoleon I. Further E. are the Lepontine Alps, divided into several groups. The principal pass is the St. Gothard (6,936 feet). Highest peaks: Tödi, 11,887 feet; Monte Leone, 11,696. The Rhætian Alps, extending E. to about lat. 12° 30´N., are the most easterly of the central Alps; principal peaks: Piz Bernina, 13,294 feet; Ortlerspitze, 12,814; Monte Adamello, 11,832. The Brenner Pass, 4,588 feet, from Verona to Innsbruck. The eastern Alps form the broadest and lowest portion of the system, and embrace the Noric Alps, the Carnic Alps, the Julian Alps, etc.; highest peak, the Grossglockner, 12,045 feet.
The Alps are very rich in lakes and streams. Among the chief of the former are Geneva, Constance, Zürich, Thun, Brienz, on the N. side; on the S. Maggiore, Gomo, Lugano, Garda, etc. The drainage is carried to the North Sea by the Rhine, to the Mediterranean by the Rhone, to the Adriatic by the Po, to the Black Sea by the Danube. In the lower valleys the mean temperature ranges from 50° to 60°. Half way up the Alps it averages about 32°—a height which, in the snowy regions, it never reaches. In respect to vegetation the Alps have been divided into six zones:
The first is the olive; the second, the vine; the third, the mountainous; the fourth, the sub-Alpine or coniferous: the fifth, the pasture; and the sixth, the region of perpetual snow. Among the minerals that are obtained are iron and lead, gold, silver, copper, zinc, alum, and coal.
ALSACE-LORRAINE (äl-säs-lō-rān´) A naturally rich and historically interesting region, with fertile soil and active industries. It was ceded by France to Germany in 1871, and awarded to France by the Treaty of Versailles, 1919. Its utmost length from N. to S. is 123 miles; its breadth varies between 22 and 105 miles; and its area is 5,580 square miles, of which 1,353 belong to Upper Alsace (in the S.), 1,844 to Lower Alsace (N. E.), and 2,383 to Lorraine (N. W.). Pop. about 2,000,000. The French speaking population is mainly in the larger towns and in Lorraine. The Rhine flows 115 miles north-by-eastward along all the eastern boundary, and receives, below Strasbourg, the Ill from Alsace, 127 miles long. Other rivers are the Moselle, flowing through Lorraine past Metz, and its affluent, the Saar. About 48.5 per cent. of the entire area is arable, 11.6 meadow and pasture, and 30.8 under wood. Alsace-Lorraine produces much wine, grain, and tobacco; it is rich in mines, iron and coal; and manufactures iron, cotton, wool, silks, chemicals, glass, and paper. It contains the important cities of Strasbourg (pop. about 200,000); Mulhouse (pop. about 115,000); Metz (pop. about 85,000). As a French province, Alsace was divided into the departments of Haut-Rhin and Bas-Rhin. Lorraine fell into the depart-
