The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

TOPOGRAPHY. 61Topography.All the important towns of Jylland are situated on the shores of, or at least onthe slopes facing towards, the Baltic.The people were naturally attracted in thisdirection hy the threefold advantage of more fertile lands, hetter harbours, and theneighbourhood of the productive and populous islands of Fyen and Sjalland.when the Danes were casting eager eyes towards England and the other regionsof Western Europe, great numbers settled on the west coast, and at that timeRibe, on the present German frontier, was a very important place. Now it isscarcely able to keep open Its communications with the sea, and the winding RibeAa is completely blocked by shoals at low water. Eingkjobing, farther north, isa mere fishing village, though chosen as the chief town of the largest district inthe peninsula. No town occurs so far as the Skaw, and Tliistcd, chief town of theButFig. 27.—Vejle Bay.Scnle 1 : 85,000.district west of the Lim-fiord, is situated on this inland sea. Here was born thegreat geographer Malte-Brun, who, when banished from his native land, becameone of the glories of France.On the east coast of Jylland the nearest town to the territory annexed byGermany is Kolding, situated at the head of a deep fiord near the extensive ruinsof a castle dating from the sixteenth century, and burnt in 1808, when Bernadotteoccupied the country. Kolding is of less importance than Fredericia, which wasformerly fortified, and commanded the northern entrance of the Little Belt.Farther north the Vejle-fiord penetrates far inland between beech-clad hills, itswaters gradually diminishing in depth with remarkable uniformity from east towest. The town of Vejle occupies a sort of isthmus of solid ground between thefiord and the peat bogs which have displaced the waters of the dried-up estuary.