From Arkona Absalon proceeded by sea to Garz, in south Rugen, the political capital of the Wends, and an all but impregnable stronghold.
The whole population of Garz was then baptized, and Absalon laid the foundations of twelve churches in the isle of Rugen.
Long narrow alluvial strips called Nehrungen, lie between the last two haffs and the Baltic. The Baltic coast is further marked by large indentations, the Gulf of LUbeck, that of Pomerania, east of Rugen, and the semicircular Bay of Danzig between the promontories of Rixhoft and Brusterort.
The system which obtains in all the old Prussian provinces (with the exception of Rugen and Vorpommern or Hither Pomerania) and in Westphalia is that of Stein, modified by subsequent laws notably those of 1853 and 1856which gave the state a greater influence, while extending the powers of the Magistrat.
The original Germanic inhabitants of Rugen were dispossessed by Sla y s; and there are still various relics of the long reign of paganism that ensued.