V e, & ■ b-^- y% vV •/-. •^ ^ ^ c> ^ .0 ■ $ ^ <. ■'■/■ *G> ,0 fj 4> ,V * ,\ : ■\ V N A' A^ w 4,°°,* /.• \ ^ 4* v ^ >\ 4> * % an •^ p r. ,-0- v' A IV £ >* =. The voyage abouTW*De described was made in a small Canoe, with, a double paddle and sails, which the writer managed alone. The route led sometimes oyer mountains and through forests and plains, where the boat had to be carried or dragged. The waters navigated were as follows : — The Rivers Thames, Sambre, Meuse, Rhine,^ Main, Danube, Reuss, Aar, 111, Moselle, Meurthe, Marne, and Seine. The Lakes Titisee, Constance, Unter See, Zurich, Zug, and Lucerne, together with six canals in Belgium and France, and two expe- ditions in the open sea of the British Channel. Temple, London, May 19, 1867. IV THE AUTHOR'S PROFITS FROM THE FIRST AND SECOND EDITIONS, WERE GIVEN TO THE ROYAL NATIONAL LIFE-BOAT INSTITUTION AND TO THE SHIPWRECKED MARINERS' SOCIETY. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Rapids of the Reuss {Frontispiece). Sea Rollers in the Channel Swimming Heed on the Metjse Singers' Waggon on the Danube A Crowd in the Morning ... Haymakers amazed Night surprise at Gegglingen The Rob Rot in a Bustle Sailing upon Lake Zug ... Shirking a Waterfall A Critical Moment Astride the Stern The Rob Rot and the Cow Polite to the Ladies Group oe French Fishers... Passing a Dangerous Barrier A Choked Canal ... Rigging Ashore ... Route oe the Canoe (Map) Chart oe Currents and Rocks Page 19 28 49 65 80 93 110 134 152 168 186 213 230 246 263 281 290 291 302 CONTENTS. CHAPTEE I. Page Canoe Travelling — Other Modes — The Eob Eoy — Hints — Tourists — The Eivers — The Dress — I and We ... 1 CHAPTEE II. The Start— The Nore— Porpoises— A Gale— The Channel— Ostend Canal — Eiver Meuse — Earl of Aberdeen — Holland — The Ehine — The Premier's Son — Eiver Main — Heron Stalking — The Prince of Wales ... ... 12 CHAPTEE III. Hollenthal Pass — Ladies— Black Forest — Night Music — Beds — Lake Titisee — Pontius Pilate — Storm — Starers — Banket — Four in hand — Source of the Danube ... 38 CHAPTEE IV. Eiver Donau — Singers — Shady nooks — Geisingen — Mill Weirs— Eapids— Morning Crowd — Donkey's Stable — Islands — Monks — Spiders — Concert — Fish — A race ... 55 CHAPTEE V. Sigmaringen— Treacherous trees — Congress of herons — Flying Dutchman — Tub and shovel — Bottle race — Snags — Bridge Perils — Ja wohl — Ferry Eope — Be- nighted — Ten eggs ... ... ... ... 75 CHAPTEE VI. Day-dream — Eiver Iller — Ulm— A stiff king — Lake Con- stance—Seeing in the dark — Switzerland — Coloured Canvas — Sign talk — Synagogue — Amelia— Gibberish 96 CHAPTEE VII. Fog— Fancy pictures— Boy soldiers— Boat's billet — Eating —Lake Zurich — Crinoline — Hot walk— Staring — Lake Zug— Swiss shots— Fishing Britons— Talk-book ... 118 CHAPTEE VIII. Sailing on Lucerne — Seeburg — Eiver scenes— Night and snow — The Eeuss— A dear dinner — Seeing a rope — Passing a fall — Sullen roar— Bremgar ten rapids ... 142 Vlll CONTENTS. Page CHAPTEE IX. Hunger — Music at the mill — Sentiment and chops — River Limmat — Fixed on a fall — River Aar — Rhine again — Douaniers — Falls of Lauffenburg — The cow cart ... 159 CHAPTER X. Field of Foam — Precipice — Puzzled — Philosophy — Rhein- felden Rapids — Dazzled — Lower Rapids — Astride — Fate of the Four-oar — Very Salt — Ladies — Whirlpool — Funny English — Insulting a baby — Bride ... ]77 CHAPTER XI. Private concert — Thunderer — La Hardt Forest — Mulhouse Canal — River 111 — Reading Stories — Madame Nico — Night Noises — Pets — Ducking — The Vosges mountains — Admirers — Boat on wheels — New wine ... ... 196 CHAPTER XII. Bonfire — My wife — Matthews — Tunnel picture— Imposture — Fancy — Moselle — Cocher — Saturday Review Tracts — Gymnastics — The paddle — A spell — Overhead — Feminine forum — Public breakfast ... ... 216 CHAPTER XIII. River Moselle — The Tramp — Halcyon — Painted woman — Beating to quarters — Boat in a hedge — River Meurthe — Moving House — Tears of a mother — Five francs ... 234 CHAPTER XIV. Ladies in muslin — Chalons Camp — Officers shouting — Volunteers' umbrella — Reims — Leaks — Madame Clicquot — Heavy blow — The Elephant — First Cloud... 255 CHAPTER XV. Meaux on the Marne — Hammering — Popish forms — Wise dogs— - Blocked in a Tunnel — A dry voyage — Arbour and Garret — Odd fellows — Dream on the Seine — Almost over — No admittance — Charing-cross ... 276 APPENDIX. Hints for Canoeists — The Rob Roy's Stores — Chart of rocks and currents — The Canoe Club — The Kent — Danger — Exercise —Sun — Odds and ends — Future voyages ... 291 CHAPTER I. Canoe Travelling — Other Modes— The Bob Boy — Hints — Tourists — The Kivers — The Dress — I and We — The Election. The object of this book is to describe a new mode of travelling on the Continent, by which new people and things are met with, while healthy exercise is enjoyed, and an interest ever varied with excitement keeps fully alert the energies of the mind. Some years ago the Water Lily was rowed by four men on the Rhine and on the Danube, and its " log " delighted all readers. Afterwards, the boat Water Witch laboured up French rivers, and through a hundred tedious locks on the Bale canal. But these and other voyages of three or five men in an open boat were necessarily very limited. In the wildest parts of the best rivers the channel is too narrow for oars, or, if wide* it B 2 THE CANOEIST. is too shallow for a row-boat ; and the tortuous passages, the rocks and banks, the weeds and snags, the milldams, barriers, fallen trees, rapids, whirlpools, and waterfalls that constantly occur on a river winding among hills, make those very parts where the scenery is wildest and best to be quite unapproachable in an open boat, for it would be swamped by the sharp waves, or upset over the sunken rocks which it is utterly impossible for a steersman to see. But these very things, which are obstacles or dangers to the " pair oar," become interesting features to the voyager in a covered canoe. For now, as he sits in his little bark, he looks forward, and not backward. He sees all his course, and the scenery besides. With one powerful sweep of his paddle he can instantly turn the canoe, when only a foot distant from fatal destruction. He can steer within an inch in a narrow place, or pass through reeds and weeds, branches and grass; can hoist and lower his sail without changing his seat ; can shove with his paddle when aground, or jump out in good time to prevent a decided smash. He can wade and haul the light craft over shallows, or drag it on dry ground, through fields and hedges, over dykes, barriers, and walls ; can carry it by hand up ladders and stairs, and can transport his boat over high CANOE TRAVELLING. 3 mountains and broad plains in a cart drawn by a horse, a bullock, or a cow. Nay, more than this, the covered canoe is far stronger than an open boat, and may be fearlessly dropped headforemost into a deep pool, a lock, or a millrace, and yet, when the breakers are high, in the open sea or in fresh water rapids, they can only wash over the covered deck, while it is always dry within. Again, the canoe is safer than a rowing-boat, because you sit so low in it, and never require to shift your place or lose hold of the paddle ; while for comfort during long hours, for days and weeks of hard work, it is evidently the best, because you lean all the time against a swinging backboard, and the moment you rest the paddle on your lap you are as much at ease as in an arm-chair; so that, while drifting along with the current or the wind, you can gaze around, and eat or read or chat with the starers on the bank, and yet, in a moment of sudden danger, the hands are at once on the faithful paddle ready for action. Finally, you can lie at full length in the canoe, with the sail as an awning for the sun, or a shelter for rain, and you can sleep at night under cover of it upturned against a bank, with an opening for air to leeward, and at least as much room for turning in your bed as sufficed for the great Duke b 2 4 OTHER MODES. of Wellington ; or, if you are tired of the water for a time, you can leave your boat at an inn — it will not be " eating its head off," like a horse ; or you can send it home or sell it, and take to the road yourself, or sink into the dull old cushions of the " Premiere Classe," and dream you are seeing the world. 'With such advantages, then, and with good weather and good health, the canoe voyage about to be described was truly delightful, and I never enjoyed so much continuous pleasure in any other tour. But, before this deliberate assertion has weight with intending " canoeists," it may well be asked from one who thus praises the paddle, " Has he travelled in other ways, so as to know their several pleasures ? Has he climbed glaciers and volcanoes, dived into caves and catacombs, trotted in the Norway carriole, ambled on an Arab, and galloped on the Russian steppes ? Does he know the charms of a Nile boat, or a Trinity Eight, or a Yankee steamer, or a sail in the -ZEgean, or a mule in Spain? Has he swung upon a camel, or glided in a sleigh, or trundled in a Rantoone ? ' J Yes, he has most thoroughly enjoyed these and other modes of locomotion, fast and slow; but the pleasure in the canoe was far better than all. The weather during the summer was, indeed, THE ROB ROY. 5 exceptionally good; but then rain would have diminished some of the difficulties, though it might have been a bore to paddle ten hours in a downpour. Two inches more of water in the rivers would have saved many a grounding and wading, while, at worst, the rain could have wetted only the upper man, which a cape can cover ; so, even in bad weather, give me the canoe. Searle, of Lambeth, soon built, according to my plans, the very boat I wanted. The Rob Roy was built of oak, and covered fore and aft with cedar. She was made just short enough to go into the German railway waggons ; that is to say, fifteen feet in length, twenty-eight inches broad, nine inches deep, weighing eighty pounds, and drawing three inches of water, with an inch of keel. A paddle seven feet long, with a blade at each end, and a lug sail and jib, were the means of propulsion ; and a pretty blue silk Union Jack was the only ornament. The elliptic hole in which I sat was fifty-four inches long and twenty broad, with a macintosh cover fastened round the combing and to a button on my breast ; while between my knees was my baggage for three months, in a black bag one foot square and six inches deep.^ * Here it may be well to state that since the fourth edition of this book was published the author had another 6 HINTS. But, having got this little boat, the difficulty was to find where she could go to, or what rivers were at once feasible to paddle on, and pretty to see. Inquiries in London as to this had no result. Even the Paris Boat Club knew nothing of French rivers. The best German and Austrian maps were frequently wrong. They shewed villages on the banks which I found were a mile away in a wood, and so were useless to one who had made up his mind (a good resolve) never to leave his boat. It was soon, therefore, evident that, after quitting the Rhine, this was to be a voyage of discovery. And as I would most gladly have accepted any hints on the matter myself, so I venture to hope that this narrative will lessen the trouble, while it stimulates the desire of the and better canoe constructed (but with the same name), and in her he voyaged through Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, Holstein, and some German waters. The account of this voyage is given in u The Eob Eoy on the Baltic," (Low and Marston). The recent improve- ments of the canoe are described in that book ; while the establishment of the Canoe Club, of which the Prince of Wales is Commodore, with about ninety members all using canoes, has quite naturalized the paddler's art in England, and other similar clubs in America have diffused it among our western cousins. A list of the Canoe Club is given in the Appendix. TOURISTS. 7 numerous travellers who will spend their vacation in a canoe.* Not that I shall attempt to make a " handbook'' to any of the streams. The man who has a spark of enterprise would turn from a river of which every reach was mapped and its channels all lettered. Fancy the free traveller, equipped for a delicious summer of savage life, quietly sub- mitting to be cramped and tutored by a " Chart of the Upper Mosel," in the style of the following extract copied literally from a Guide-book ; — (1) " Turn to the r. (right), cross the brook, and ascend by a broad and steep forest track (in 40 min.) to the hamlet of Albersbach, situate in the midst of verdant meadows. In five min. more a cross is reached, where the path to the 1. must be taken; in 10 min. to the r., in the hollow, to the saw mill ; in 10 min. more through the gate to the r. ; in 3 min. the least trodden path to the 1. leading to the Gaschpels Hof ; after J hr. the stony track into the wood must be ascended," &c, &c. — From B 's Rhine, p. 94. This sort of guide-book is not to be ridiculed. It is useful for some travellers as a ruled copy- book is of use to some writers. For first tours it may be needful and pleasant to have all made * Special hints for those who intend to " canoe it " will usually be given in the footnotes, or in the Appendix. 8 THE RIVERS. easy, to be carried in steamers or railways like a parcel, to stop at hotels Anglified by the crowd of English guests, and to ride, walk, or drive among people who know already just what you will want to eat, and see, and do. Year after year it is enough of excitement to some tourists to be shifted in squads from town to town, according to the routine of an excursion ticket. Those who are a little more advanced will venture to devise a tour from the mazy pages of Bradshaw, and with portmanteau and bag, and hat-box and sticks, they find more than enough of judgment and tact is needed when they arrive in a night train, and must fix on an omnibus in a strange town. Safe at last in the bedroom of the hotel, they cannot but exclaim with satisfaction " Well, here we are all right at last!" But after mountains and caves, churches and galleries, ruins and battle-fields have been pretty well seen, and after tact and fortitude have been educated by experience, the tourist is ready for new lines of travel which might have given him at first more worry than pleasure, and these he will find in deeper searches among the natural scenery and national character of the very countries he has only skimmed before. The rivers and streams on the Continent are THE DRESS. 9 scarcely known to the English tourist, and all the beauty and life upon them no one has well seen. In his Guide-book route, indeed, from town to town, the tourist has crossed this and that stream — has admired a few yards of the water, and has then left it for ever. He is carried again on a noble river by night in a steamboat, or is whisked along its banks in a railway, and, between two tunnels, gets a moment's glimpse at the lovely water, and lo ! it is gone. But a mine of rich beauty remains there to be explored, and fresh gems of life and character are waiting there to be gathered. These are not mapped and labelled and ticketed in any handbook yet ; and far better so, for the enjoyment of such treasures is enhanced to the best traveller by the energy and pluck required to get at them. On this new world of waters, then, we are to launch the boat, the man, and his baggage, for we must describe all three, a Arma virumque canoe." So what sort of dress did he wear ? The clothes I took for this tour consisted of a complete suit of grey flannel for use in the boat, and another suit of light but ordinary dress for shore work and Sundays. The " Norfolk jacket " is a loose frock-coat, like 10 " I " AND " ME.' ? a blouse, with shoulder-straps, and belted at the waist, and garnished by six pocket s. # With this excellent new-fashioned coat, a something in each of its pockets, and a Cambridge straw hat, canvas wading shoes, blue spectacles, a waterproof over- coat, and my spare jib for a sun shawl, there was sure to be a full day's enjoyment in defiance of •rain or sun, deeps or shallows, hunger or ennui. Four hours' work to begin, and after them three of rest or floating, reading or sailing, and again, a three hours' heavy pull, and then with a swim in the river or a bath at the inn, a change of gar- ments and a pleasant walk, all was made quite fresh again for a lively evening, a hearty dinner, talk, books, pictures, letters, and bed. Now I foresee that in the description of this tour I shall have to write " I," and the word " me " must be used by me very often indeed ; but having the misfortune to be neither an Emperor, an editor, nor a married man, who can speak in the plural, I cannot help it if I am put down as a bachelor egotist, reserving the " we " for myself and my boat. The manner of working the double-bladed paddle was easily learned by a few days' practice * The same suit (made at Meyer and Mortimer's, Con- duit Street) went also through the second voyage without a button damaged. THE ELECTION. 11 on the Thames, and so excellent is the exercise for the muscles of the limbs and body that I have continued it at intervals, even during the winter, when a pretty sharp "look out " must be kept to pilot safely among the red and yellow lights of steamers, barges, embankments, and bridges in an evening's voyage from Putney to Westminster. All. being ready and the weather very hot at the end of July, when the country had caught the election fever, and M.P/s had run off to scramble for seats, and the lawyers had run after them to thicken the bustle, and the last bullet at Wimbledon had come " thud " on the target, it was time for the Rob Roy to start. CHAPTER II. THE STAET. The Thames — The Cornwall — Porpoises — A Gale— The Channel — Ostend Canal — The Meuse— Earl of Aber- deen — Holland — TheEhine— The Premier's Son — The Eiver Main — Heron stalking — The Prince of Wales. The Rob Roy bounded away joyously on the top of the tide through Westminster Bridge, and swiftly shooting the narrow piles at Blackfriars, danced along the waves of the Pool, which looked all golden in the morning sun, but were in fact of veritable pea-soup hue. A fine breeze at Greenwich enabled me to set the new white sail, and we skimmed along with a cheery hissing sound. At such times the river is a lively scene with steamers and sea-bound ships, bluff little tugs, and big looming barges. I had many a chat with the passing sailors, for it was well to begin this at once, seeing that every day afterwards I was to have talk with, the river folk in English, French, Dutch, German, or else some hotchpotch patois. BARGEES. 13 The bargee is not a bad fellow if you begin with good humour, but he will beat you at banter. Often they began the colloquy with, " Holloah you two !" or " Any room inside?" or " Got vour life insured, Gov'nor?" but I smiled and nodded to every one, and every one on every river and lake was friendly to me. Gravesend was to be the port for the night, but Purfleet looked so pretty that we made a tack or two to reconnoitre, and resolved to stop at the very nice hotel on the river, which I beg to recommend. While lolling about in my boat at anchor in the hot sun a fly stung my hand ; and although it was not remarked at once, the arm speedily swelled, and I had to poultice the hand at night and to go to church next day with a sling, which appendage excited a great deal of comment in the village Sunday-school. This little incident is mentioned because it was the only occasion on which any insect troubled me on the voyage, though several croakers had predicted that in rivers and marshes there would be hundreds of wasps, venomous flies, and gnats, not to mention other residents within doors. Just as I entered the door of the quiet little church at Purfleet, a very old gentleman about to go in fell down dead in the path. It was 14 H.M.S. CORNWALL. impossible not to be much impressed with this sudden death as a solemn warning, especially to one in vigorous health. The " Cornwall " Reformatory School-ship is moored at Purfleet. Some of the boys came ashore for a walk, neatly clad and very well behaved. Captain Burton, who commands this interesting vessel, received me on board very kindly, and the evening service between decks was a sight to remember for ever. About 100 boys sat in rows along the old frigate's main-deck, with the open ports looking on the river, now reddened by a setting sun, and the cool air pleasantly fanning us. The lads chanted the Psalms to the music of a harmonium, played with excellent feeling and good taste, and the Captain read a suitable portion from some selected book, and then prayer was offered ; and all this was by and for poor vagrant boys, whose claim on society is great indeed if measured by the wrong it has done them in neglect if not in precept, nay, even in example. Next morning the canoe was lowered down a ladder from the hay-loft, where it had been kept (it had to go up into many far more strange places in subsequent days), and the Cornwall boys bid me a pleasant voyage — a wish most fully realized indeed. UNDER SAIL. 15 After taking in supplies at Gravesend, I shoved off into the tide, and lit a cigar, and now I felt we had fairly started. Then there began a strange feeling of freedom and novelty which lasted to the end of the tour. Something like it is felt when you first march off with a knapsack ready to walk to some vague anywhere, or when you start alone in a sailing- boat for a long cruise. But then in walking you are bounded by every sea and river, and in a common sailing-boat you are bounded by every shallow and shore; whereas, I was in a canoe, which could be paddled or sailed, hauled, or carried over land or water to Rome, if I liked, or to Hong-Kong. The wind was fair again, and up went my sail. The reaches got wider and the water more salt, but I knew every part of the course, for I had once spent a fortnight about the mouth of the Thames in my pretty little sailing-boat, the Kent, alone, with only a dog, a chart, a compass, and a bachelor's kettle. The new steamer Alexandra, which plies from London daily, passed me here, its high- terraced American decks covered with people, and the crowd gave a fine loud cheer to the Rob Roy, for the newspapers had mentioned its departure. Presently the land seemed to fade 16 PORPOISES. away at each, side in pale distance, and the water was more sea than river, till near the Nore we entered a great shoal of porpoises. Often as I have seen these harmless and agile playfellows I had never been so close to them before, and in a boat so small as to be almost disregarded by them, wily though they be. The fcanoe rocked on the waves, and the porpoises frequently came near enough to be struck by my paddle, but I did not wage war, for a flap of a tail would have soon turned me upside down. After a pleasant sail to Southend and along the beach, the wind changed, and a storm of heavy rain had to be met in its teeth by taking to the paddle, until near Shoeburyness, where I meant to stop a day or two in the camp of the National Artillery Association, which was assembled here for its first Prize shooting. The Royal Artillery received us Volunteers on this occasion with the greatest kindness, and as they had appropriated the quarters of officers absent on leave for the use of members of the Council of the Association, I was soon comfortably ensconced. The camp, however, in a wet field was moist enough ; but the fine tall fellows who had come from Yorkshire, Somerset, or Aberdeen to handle the 68-pounders, trudged about in the mud with A NOREASTER. 17 good humour and thick boots, and sang round the camp-fire in a drizzle of rain, and then pounded away at the targets next day, for these were volunteers of the right sort. As the wind had then risen to a gale it seemed a good opportunity for a thorough trial of the canoe in rough water, so I paddled her to a corner where she would be least injured by being thrown ashore after an upset, and where she would be safe while I might run to change clothes after a swim. The buoyancy of the boat astonished me, and her stability was. in every way satisfactory. In the midst of the waves I even managed to rig up the mast and sail, and as we had then no baggage on board and so did not mind being perfectly wet through in the experiments, there was nothing left untried, and the confidence then gained for after times was invaluable. Early next morning we started directly in the teeth of the wind, and paddled against a very heavy sea to Southend, where a nice warm bath was enjoyed while my clothes were getting dried, and then the Rob Roy had its first railway journey in one of the little cars on the Southend pier to the steamboat. It was amusing to see how much interest and curiosity the canoe excited even on the Thames, c 18 ON A TENDER. where all kinds of new and old and wonderful boats may be seen. The reasons for this I never exactly made out. Some wondered to see so small a boat at sea, others had never seen a canoe before, the manner of rowing was new to most, and the sail made many smile. The graceful shape of the boat pleased others, the cedar cover- ing and the jaunty flag, and a good many stared at the captain's uniform, and they stared more after they had asked, "Where are you going to?" and were often told, "I really do not know." From Sheerness to Dover was the route, and the Rob Roy had to be carried on the coals in the engine-tender, with torrents of rain and plenty of hot sparks driven into her by the gale ; but after some delay at a junction the canoe was formally introduced to a baggage-waggon and ticketed like a portmanteau, the first of a series of transits in this way. The London Chatham and Dover Railway Com- pany took this new kind of " box " as passengers' luggage, so we had nothing to pay, and the steamer to Ostend was equally large-hearted, so I say, " Canoemen, choose this channel." But before crossing to Belgium we had a day at Dover, where I bought some stuff and had a jib made for the boat by deft and fair fingers, and paddled the Rob Roy on the green, SAILING ON THE SEA. 19 Rollers off the Digue. waves which toss about off the pier-head most delectably. The same performance was repeated on the top of the swell, tumbling and breaking on the " digue "* at Ostend, where, even with little * At Ostend I found an English gentleman preparing for a voyage on the Danube, for which he was to build a "centre board " boat. Although no doubt a sailing boat could reach the Danube by the Bamberg canal, yet, after four tours on that river from its source as far as Pest, I am convinced that to trust to sailing upon it would entail much tedious delay, useless trouble, and constant anxiety. If the wind is ahead you have all the labour of tacking, and are frequently in slack water near the banks, c 2 20 ON THE METJSE. wind, the rollers ran high on a strong ebb tide. Fat bathers wallowed in the shallows, and fair ones, dressed most bizarre, were swimming like ducks. All of these, and the babies squalling hysterically at each dip, were duly admired ; and then we had a quieter run under sail on their wide and straight canal. With just a little persuasion the railway people consented to put the canoe in the baggage-van, and to charge a franc or two for " extra luggage " to Brussels. Here she was carried on a cart through the town to another station, and in the evening we were at Namur, where the Rob Roy was housed for the night in the landlord's private parlour, resting gracefully upon two chairs. Two porters carried her through the streets next morning, and we tried a paddle on the Sambre, but very soon turned down stream and smoothly glided to the Meuse. Glancing water, brilliant sun, a light boat, and a light heart, all your baggage on board, and on a and often in channels where the only course would be dead to windward. If the wind is aft the danger of " running " is extreme where you have to " broach to " and stop suddenly near a shallow or a barrier. With a strong side wind, indeed, you can sail safely, but this must come from north or south, and the high banks sadly reduce its ieffect. BARRIERS AND SHALLOWS. 21 fast current, — who would exchange this for any diligence or railway, or steamboat, or horse ? A pleasant stream was enough to satisfy at this early period of the voyage, for the excitement of rocks and rapids had not yet become a charm. It is good policy, too, that a quiet, easy, re- spectable sort of river like the Meuse should be taken in the earlier stage of a water tour, when there is novelty enough in being on a river at all. The river-banks one would call tame if seen from shore are altogether new when you open up the vista from the middle of the stream. The picture that is rolled sideways to the common traveller now pours out upon you from the front, ever en- larging from a centre, and in the gentle sway of the stream the landscape seems to swell on this side and on that with new things ever advancing to meet you in succession. How careful I was at the first shallow ! getting out and wading as I lowered the boat. A month afterwards we would dash over these with a shove here and a stroke there in answer to a hoarse croak of the stones at the bottom grinding against my keel. And the first barrier — how anxious it made me, to think by what means shall we get over. A man appeared just in time (N.B. — They always do), and twopence made him happy for his share 22 HUY. of carrying the boat round by land, so I jumped in again as before. Sailing was easy, too, in a fine wide river, strong and deep, and with a favouring breeze, and when the little steamer passed I drew along- side and got my penny roll and penny glass of ,beer through the porthole, while the wondering passengers smiled, chattered, and then looked grave — for was it not indecorous to laugh at an Englishman evidently mad, poor fellow ? The voyage was chequered by innumerable little events, all perfectly different from those one meets on shore, and when we came to the forts at Huy and knew the first day's work was done, the persuasion was complete that quite a new order of sensations had been set going. Next morning the boat was found safe in the coach-house and the sails still drying on the harness-pegs, where we had left them, but the ostler and all his folks were nowhere to be seen. Everybody had gone to join the long funeral procession of a great musician, who lived fifty years at Huy, though we never heard of him before, or of Huy either ; yet you see it is in our Map at page 291. The pleasure of meandering with a new river is very peculiar and fascinating. Each few yards brings a novelty, or starts an excitement. A AWAKE. 23 crane jumps up here, a duck flutters there, splash leaps a gleaming trout by your side, the rushing sound of rocks warns you round that corner, or anon you come suddenly upon a millrace. All these, in addition to the scenery and the people and the weather, and the determination that you must get on, oyer, through, or under every diffi- culty, and cannot leave your boat in a desolate wold, and ought to arrive at a house before dark, and that your luncheon bag is long since empty ; all these, I say, keep the mind awake, which would per- chance dose away for 100 miles in a railway carriage. It is, as in the voyage of life, that each care and hardship is a very Mentor of living. Our minds would only vegetate if all life were like a straight canal, and we in a boat being towed along it. The afflictions that agitate the soul are as its shallows, rocks, and whirlpools, and the bark that has not been tossed on billows knows not half the sweetness of the harbour of rest. The river soon got fast and lively, and hour after hour of vigorous work prepared me well for breakfast. Trees seemed to spring up in front and grow tall, but it was only because I came rapidly towards them. Pleasant villages floated as it were to meet me, gently moving. All life got to be a smooth and gliding thing, of dreamy pictures and far-off sounds, without 24 GUN-BARRELS. fuss and without dust or anything sudden or loud, till at length the bustle and hammers of Liege neared the Rob Roy — for it was always the objects and not myself that seemed to move. Here I saw a fast steamer, the Seraing, propelled by water forced from its sides, and as my boat hopped and bobbed in the steamer's waves we .entered a dock together, and the canoe was soon hoisted into a garden for the night. Gun-barrels are the rage in Liege. Everybody there makes or carries or sells gun-barrels. Even women walk about with twenty stocked rifles on their backs, and each rifle, remember, weighs 10 lbs. They sell plenty of fruit in the market, and there are churches well worth a visit here, but gun-barrels, after all, are the prevailing idea of the place. However, it is not my purpose to describe the towns seen on this tour. I had seen Liege well, years before, and indeed almost every town men- tioned in these pages. The charm then of the voyage was not in going to strange lands, but in seeing old places in a new way. Here at length the Earl of Aberdeen met me, according to our plans arranged long before. He had got a canoe built for the trip, but a foot longer and two inches narrower than the Rob Roy, and, moreover, made of fir instead of strong EARL OF ABERDEEN. 25 oak. It was sent from London to Liege, and the " combing " round the edge of the deck was broken in the journey, so we spent some hours at a cabinet-maker's, where it was neatly mended. Launching our boats unobserved on the river, we soon left Liege in the distance and braved the hot sun. The pleasant companionship of two travellers, each quite free in his own boat, was very enjoy- able. Sometimes we sailed, then paddled a mile or two, or joined to help the boats over a weir, or towed them along as we walked on the bank for a change.^ Each of us took whichever side of the river pleased him best, and we talked across long acres of water between, to the evident surprise of sedate people on the banks, who often could see only one of the strange elocutionists, the other being * Frequent trials afterwards convinced me that towing is only useful if you feel very cramped from sitting. And this constraint is felt less and less as you get accustomed to sit ten or twelve hours at a time. Experience enables you to sit on the floor boards (never take a mat or cushion) with perfect comfort, and on the better rivers you have so frequently to get out that any additional change is quite needless. Towing is slower progress than paddling, even when your arms are tired, though my canoe was so light to tow that for miles I have drawn it by my little finger on a canal. 26 A DROWNING BOY. hidden by bushes or tall sedge. When talking thus aloud had amplified into somewhat uproarious singing, the chorus was far more energetic than harmonious, but then the Briton is at once the most timid and shy of mortal travellers, and the most outre and singular when he chooses to be free. The midday beams on a river in August are sure to conquer your fresh energies at last, and so we had to pull up at a village for bread and wine. The moment I got into my boat again a shrill whining cry in the river attracted my attention, and it came from a poor little boy, who had somehow fallen into the water, and was now making his last faint efforts to cling to a great barge in the stream. Naturally I rushed over to save him, and my boat went so fast and so straight that its sharp prow caught the hapless urchin in the rear, and with such a pointed reminder too that he screamed and struggled and so got safely on a barge. On most of the Belgian, German, and French rivers there are excellent floating baths, an ob- vious convenience which I do not recollect ob- serving on a single river in Britain, though in summer we have quite as many bathers as there are abroad. The floating baths consist of a wooden frame- SWIMMERS. 27 work, say 100 feet long, moored in the stream, and through which the water runs freely, while a set of strong bars and chains and iron network forms a false bottom, shallow at one end and deeper at the other, so that the bather cannot be carried away by the current. Round the sides there are bathing boxes and steps, ladders, and spring boards for the various degrees of aquatic proficiency. The youths and even the little boys on the Rhine are very good swimmers, and many of them dive well. Sometimes there is a ladies' bath of similar construction, from which a good deal of very lively noise may be heard when the fair bathers are in a talkative mood. The soldiers at military stations near the rivers are marched down regularly to bathe, and one day we found a large number of young recruits assembled for their general dip. While some were in the water others were firing at the targets for ball practice. There were three targets, each made of cardboard sheets, fastened upon wooden uprights. A marker safely protected in a ball-proof mantelet was placed so close to these targets that he could see all three at once. One man of the firing party opposite each target having fired, his bullet passed through the pasteboard and left a clear round hole in it, 28 BALL PRACTICE. while the ball itself was buried in the earth be- hind, and so could be recovered again, instead of being dashed into fragments as on our iron targets, and then spattered about on all sides, to the great danger of the marker and eyerybpdy else. When three men had thus fired, signals were made by drum, flag, and bugle, and the firing ceased. The marker then came out and pointed to the bullet-mark on each target, and having patched up the holes he returned within his mantelet, and the firing was resumed. This very safe and simple method of ball practice is much better than that used in our military shooting. Once as we rounded a point there was a large herd of cattle swimming across the stream in close column, and I went right into the middle of them to observe how they would welcome a stranger. In the Nile you see the black, oxen swim over the stream night and morning, re- minding you of Pharaoh's dream about the "kine" coming up out of the river, a notion that used to puzzle in boyhood days, but which is by no means incongruous when thus explained. The Bible is a book that bears full light to be cast upon it, for truth looks more true under more light. We had been delayed this morning in our start, A NIGHT CLIMB. 29 and so the evening fell sombre ere we came near the resting-place. This was the town of Maas- tricht, in Holland, and it is stated to be one of the most strongly fortified places in Europe; that is, of the old fashion, with straight high walls quite impervious to the Armstrong and Whitworth guns — of a century gone by. But all we knew as we came near it at night was, that the stream was deep and strong, and that no lights appeared. Emerging from trees we were right in the middle of the town, but where were the houses ? had they no windows, no lamps, not even a candle ? Two great high walls bounded the river, but not a gate or port could we find, though one of us care- fully scanned the right and the other cautiously scraped along the left of this very strange place. It appears that the commerce and boats all turn into a canal above the old tumble-down fortress, and so the blank brick sides bounded us thus inhospitably. At last we came to a bridge, looming overhead in the blackness, and our arrival there was greeted by a shower of stones from some Dutch lads upon it, pattering pitilessly upon the delicate cedar-covered canoes. Turning up stream, and after a closer scrutiny, we found a place where we could cling to the wall, which here sloped a little with debris, and 30 THE PREMIER'S SON. now there was nothing for it but to haul the boats up bodily over the impregnable fortification, and thus carry them into the sleepy town. No wonder the octroi guard stared as his lamp- light fell on two gaunt men in grey, carrying what seemed to him a pair of long coffins, but he was a sensible though surprised individual/ and he guided us well, stamping through the dark deserted streets to an hotel. Though the canoes in a cart made a decided impression at the railway-station next day, and arguments logically proved that the boats must go as baggage, the porters were dense to con- viction, and obdurate to persuasion, until all at once a sudden change took place; they rushed at us, caught up the two neglected " bateaux,'' ran with them to the luggage-van, pushed them in, and banged the door, piped the whistle, and as the train went off — " Do you know why they have yielded so suddenly?" said a Dutchman, who could speak English. " Not at all," said we. " Because I told them one of you was the son of the Prime Minister, and the other Lord Russell's son." But a change of railway had to be made at Aix-la-Chapelle, and after a hard struggle we had nearly surrendered the boats to the " mer- chandise train," to limp along the line at night and to arrive " perhaps to-morrow." Indeed the NOTHING TO PAY. 31 Superintendent of that department seemed to clutch the boats as his prize, but as he gloried a little too loudly, the " Chef" of the passengers' baggage came, listened, and with calm mien ordered for us a special covered truck, and on arriving at Cologne there was "nothing to pay."^ To be quiet we went to the Belle Vue, at Deutz, which is opposite Cologne, but a great Singing Society had its gala there, and sang and drank prodigiously. Next day (Sunday too) this same * This is an exceptional case, and I wrote from England to thank the officer. It would be unreasonable again to expect any baggage to be thus favoured. A canoe is at best a clumsy inconvenience in the luggage- van, and no one can wonder that it is objected to. In France the railway fourgons are shorter than in other countries, and the officials there insisted on treating my canoe as merchandise. The in- stances given above show what occurred in Belgium and Holland. In Germany little difficulty was made about the boat as luggage. In Switzerland there was no objec- tion raised, for was not I an English traveller ? As for the English railway guards, they have the good sense to see that a long light article like a canoe can be readily carried on the top of a passenger carriage, but the Di- rectors in England do not see that their dividends would be increased by charging only reasonably for canoes, which cause less trouble than ordinary luggage, for the canoeist will always help a porter to handle them. Probably some distinct rules will be instituted by the railways in each country, when they are found to be liable to a nautical incursion, but after all one can very well arrange to walk or see sights now and then, while the boat travels slower by a goods-train. 32 FIRE AND SONG. quiet Deutz had a " Schutzen Fest," where the man who had hit the target best was dragged about in an open carriage with his wife, both wearing brass crowns, and bowing royally to a screaming crowd, while blue lights glared ^nd rockets shot up in the serene darkness. At Cologne, while Lord A. went to take our •tickets at the steamer, the boats were put in a handcart, which I shoved from behind as a man pulled it in front. In our way to the river I was assailed by a poor vagrant sort of fellow, who insisted on being employed as a porter, and being enraged at a refusal he actually took up a large stone and ran after the cart in a threaten- ing passion. I could not take my hands from the boats, though in fear that his missile would smash them if he threw it, but I kicked up my legs behind as we trotted along. One of the sentries saw the man's conduct, and soon a policeman brought him to me as a prisoner, but as he trembled now with fear more than before with anger, I declined to give him in charge, though the police pressed this course, saying, " Travellers are sacred here." This incident is mentioned be- cause it was the sole occasion when any discourtesy happened to me during this tour. We took the canoes by steamer to a wide part of the Rhine at Bingen. Here the scenery is good, and we spent an active day on the river, a day's sail. 33 sailing in a splendid breeze, landing on islands, scudding about in steamers' waves, and, in fact, enjoying a combination of yacht voyage, pic-nic, and boat race. This was a fine long day of pleasure, though in one of the sudden squalls my canoe happened to ground on a bank just at the most critical time, and the bamboo mast broke short. The uncouth and ridiculous appearance of a sail falling over- board is like that of an umbrella turned inside out in a g^st of wind. But I got another stronger mast, ^ad maA^ the broken one into a boom. Lord^p^deen.went by train to inspect the river TsTahe, buVr^pprted unfavourably ; and I paddled up from its mouth, but the water was very low. Few arguments were needed to stop me from going against stream; for I have a profound respect for the universal principle of gravitation, and quite allow that in rowing it is well to have it with you by always going down stream, and so the good rule was to make steam, horse, or man take the canoe against the current, and to let gravity help the boat to carry me down. Time pressed for my fellow-paddler to return to England, so we went on to Mayence, and thence by rail to Asschaffenburg on the Main. The canoes again travelled in grand state, having a truck to themselves ; but instead of the stately D 34 CANOES AND CANNONS. philosopher superintendent of Aix-la-Chapelle, who managed this gratuitously, we had a fussy- little person to deal with, and to pay accordingly, — the only case of decided cheating I can recollect during the voyage. A fellow-passenger in the railway was deeply interested about our tour ; and we had spoken of its various details for some time to him before we found that he supposed we were travelling with "two small cannons," mistaking the word "canots" for "canons." He had even asked about their length and weight, and had heard with perfect placidity that our " canons " were fif- teen feet long, and weighed eighty pounds, and that we took them only for " plaisir," not to sell. Had we carried two pet camelopards, he probably would not have been astonished. The guests at the German inn of this long- named town amused us much by their respectful curiosity. Our dress in perfect unison, both alike in grey flannel, puzzled them exceedingly ; but this sort of perplexity about costume and whence why and whither was an everyday occurrence for months afterwards with me. A fine breeze enabled us to start on the river Main under sail, though we lost much time in forcing the boats to do yachts' work ; and I am convinced now that sailing on rivers is HERON STALKING. 35 rather a mistake unless with a favourable wind. The Main is an easy stream to follow, and the scenery only so-so. A storm of rain at length made it lunch-time, so we sheltered ourselves in a bleak sort of arbour attached to an inn, where they could give us only sour black bread and raw bacon. Eating this poor cheer in a wet, rustling breeze and pattering rain, half-chilled in our macin- toshes, was the only time I fared badly, so little of " roughing it " was there in this luxurious tour. Fine weather came soon again and pleasure, — nay, positive sporting; for there were wild ducks quite impudent in their familiarity, and herons wading about with that look of injured innocence they put on when you dare to disturb them. So my friend capped his revolver-pistol, and I acted as a pointer dog, stealing along the other side of the river, and indicating the position of the game with my paddle. Vast trouble was taken. Lord A. went ashore, and crawled on the bank a long way to a wily bird, but, though the sportsman had shown him- self at Wimbledon to be one of the best shots in the world, it was evidently not easy to shoot a heron with a pocket revolver. As the darker shades fell, even this rather stupid river became beautiful; and our evening bath was in a quiet pool, with pure yellow sand to d 2 36 ON THE MAIN. rest on if you tired in swimming. At Hanau we stopped for the night. The wanderings and turnings of the Main next day have really left no impression on my memory, except that we had a pleasant time, and at last came to a large Schloss, where we observed on the river a boat evidently English. While we 'examined this craft, a man told us it belonged to the Prince of Wales, " and he is looking at you now from the balconv." For this was the Duchess of Cambridge's Schloss at Eumpenheim, and presently a four-in- hand crossed the ferry, and the Prince and Princess of Wales drove in it by the river-side, while we plied a vigorous paddle against the powerful west wind until we reached Frankfort, where our wet jackets were soon dried at the Hussie, one of the best hotels in Europe. The Frankfort boatmen were much interested next day to see the two English canoes flitting about so lightly on their river ; sometimes skimming the surface with the wind, and despising the contrary stream; then wheeling about, and paddling hither and thither in shallows where it seemed as if the banks were only moist. On one occasion we both got into my canoe, and it supported the additional weight perfectly well, which seemed to prove that the dimensions THE PRINCE OF WALES. 37 of it were unnecessarily large for the displace- ment required. However, there was not room for both of us to use our paddles comfortably in the same canoe.* On the Sunday, the Royal personages came to the English church at Frankfort, and, with that quiet behaviour of good taste which wins more admiration that any pageantry, they walked from the place of worship like the rest of the hearers. There is a true grandeur in simplicity when the occasion is one of solemn things. Next day my active and -pleasant companion had to leave me on his return to England. Not satisfied with a fortnight's rifle practice at Wim- bledon, where the best prize of the year was won by his skill, he must return to the moors and coverts for more deadly sport;, and the calls of more important business, besides, required his presence at home. He paddled down the Rhine to Cologne, and on the way several times performed the difficult feat of hooking on his canoe to a steamer going at full speed. Meantime, my boat went along with me by railway to Freyburg, from whence the new voyage was really to begin, for as yet the Rob Roy had not paddled in parts unknown. * In the Canoe Club we have three "tandem" canoes, each for two paddlers, and they are very fast boats. CHAPTER III Hollenthal Pass — Ladies — Black Forest — Night Music — Beds — Lake Titisee — Pontius Pilate — Storm — Starers • — Singers — Source of the Danube. Planning your summer tour is one of the most agreeable of occupations. It is in June or July that the Foreign Bradshaw becomes suddenly of intense interest, and the well-known pages of " Steamers and Railways " — why, it is worth while being a bachelor to be able to read each of these as part of your sketched-out plan, and (oh, selfish thought!) to have only one mind to consult as to whither away. All this pleasure is a good deal influenced, how- ever, by true answers to these questions, — Have you worked hard in working time, so as to be entitled to play in these playhours ? Is this to be a vacation of refreshment, or an idle lounge and killing of time ? Are you going off to rest, and to recruit delicate health, or with vigour to enjoy a summer of active exertion ? But now the infallible Bradshaw could not help me with the canoe one iota, and Baedeker was LADY FRIENDS. 39 not written for a boat; so at Freyburg my plans resolved themselves into the simple direction, " Go at once to the source of the Danube." Next morning, therefore, found the Rob Roy in a cart, and the grey-clothed traveller walking beside it on the dusty Hollenthal road. The gay, light-hearted exultation of being strong and well, and on a right errand, and with unknown things to do and places to see and people to meet, who can describe this ? How easy it is at such times to be glad, and to think this is being " thankful." After moralizing for a few miles, a carriage full of English people overtook me, and soon we became companions. " The English are so dis- tant, so silent, such hauteur, and gloomy distrust," forsooth! A false verdict, say I. The ladies carried me off through the very pretty glen, and the canoe on its cart trundled slowly after us behind, through the Hollenthal Pass, which is too seldom visited by travellers, who so often admire the spire of Freyburg (from the railway perhaps), passing it on their route to Switzerland. This entrance to the Schwartzwald, or Black Forest, is a woody, rocky, and grim defile, with an excellent road, and good inns. The villages are of wood, and there is a saw-mill in every other house, giving a busy, wholesome sound, mellowed by the patter of the 40 HOLLENTHAL PASS. water-wheel. Further on, where tourists 5 scenery- stops, it is a grand, dark-coloured ocean of hills. The houses get larger and larger, and fewer and fewer, and nearly every one has a little chapel built alongside, with a wooden saint's image of life-size nailed on the gable end. One night I was in one of these huge domiciles, when all the servants and ploughboys came in, and half said, half sung, their prayers, in a whining but yet musical tone, and then retired for a hearty supper. Our carriage mounted still among crags, that bowed from each side to meet across the narrow gorge, and were crested on high by the grand trees that will be felled and floated down the Rhine on one of those huge rafts you meet at Strasbourg. But everybody must have seen a Rhine raft, so I need not describe it, with its acres of wood and its street of cabin dwellings, and its gay bannerets. A large raft needs 500 men to navigate it, and the timber will sell for 30,000/. At the top of this pass was the watershed of this first chain of hills, where my English friends took leave of me. The Rob Roy was safely housed in the Baar Inn, and I set off for a long walk to find if the tiny stream there would possibly be navigable. Alone on a hillside in a foreign land, and with NIGHT MUSIC. 41 an evening sun on the wild mountains, the play- ful breeze and the bleating sheep around you — there is a certain sense of independent delight that possesses the mind then with a buoyant gladness ; but how can I explain it in words, unless you have felt this sort of pleasure ? However, the rivulet was found to be eminently unsuited for a canoe; so now let me go to bed in my wooden room, where the washingbasin is oval, and the partitions are so thin that one hears all the noises of the place at midnight. Now, the long-drawn snore of the landlord ; then, the tittle-tattle of the servants not asleep yet, — a pussy's plaintive mew, and the scraping of a mouse ; the cows breathing in soft slumber ; and, again, the sharp rattle of a horse's chain. The elaborate construction of that edifice of housewifery called a " bett " here, and which we are expected to sleep upon, can only be understood when you have to undermine and dismantle it night after night to arrive at a reasonable flat surface on which to recline. First you take off a great fluff bag, at least two feet thick, then a counterpane, and then a brilliant scarlet blanket; next you extract one enormous pillow, another enormous pillow, and a huge wedge-shaped bolster, — all, it appears, requisite for the Teutonic race, who yet could surely put themselves to sleep at an angle of forty-five 42 FOREST MANNERS. degrees, without all tliis trouble, by merely tilting up the end of a flat bedstead. Simple but real courtesy have I found through- out. Every one says " Guten Tag ; " and, even in a hotel, on getting up from breakfast a guest who has not spoken a word will wish " Guten morgen " as he departs, and perhaps " Bon appetit " to those not satisfied like himself. About eight o'clock the light repast of tea or coffee, bread, butter, and honey begins the day; at noon is " mittagessen," the mid-day meal, leaving all proper excuse for another dining operation in the shape of a supper at seven. No fine manners here! My driver sat down to dinner with me, and the waiter along with him, smoking a cigar between whiles, as he waited on us both. But all this is just as one sees in Canada and in Norway, and wherever there are mountains, woods, and torrent streams, with a sparse population; and, as in Norway too, you see at once that all can read, and they do read. There is more reading in one day in a common house in Germany than in a month in the same sort of place in France.^ I had hired the cart and driver by the day, but he by no means admired my first directions next * The number of newspapers published in Europe in the German language is 3,241, of which 747 are political. (a.d. 1867.) PONTIUS PILATE. 43 morning — namely, to take the boat off the main road, so as to get to the Titisee, a pretty mountain lake about four miles long, and sur- rounded by wooded knolls. His arguments and objections were evidently superficial, and some- thing deeper than he said was in his mind. In fact, it appears that, by a superstition long cherished there, Pontius Pilate is supposed to be in that deep, still lake, and dark rumours were told that he would surely drag me down if I ventured upon it.* Of course, this decided the matter, and when I launched the Rob Roy from the pebbly shore in a fine foggy morning, and in full view of the inhabi- tants of the region (eight in number at last census), we had a most pleasant paddle for several miles. At a distance the boat was invisible being so low in the water, and they said that " only a man was seen, whirling a paddle about his head." There is nothing interesting about this lake, except that it is 3,000 feet above the sea and very lonely, in the middle of the Black Forest. Cer- tainly no English boat has been there before, and probably no other will visit the deserted water. After this, the Rob Roy is carted again still * The legend about Pilate extends over Germany and Italy. Even on the flanks of Stromboli there is a talus of the volcano which the people dare not approach, " because of Pontius Pilate." 44 A SCHWARTZWALD STORM. further into the forests. Lumbering vehicles meet us, all carrying wood. Some have joined three carts together, and have eight horses. Others have a bullock or two besides, and all the men are intelligent enough, for they stop and stare, and my driver deigns to tell them, in a patois wholly beyond me, as to what a strange fare he has got with a boat and no other luggage. However, they invariably conclude that the canoe is being carried about for sale, and it could have been well sold frequently already. About mid-day my sage driver began to mutter something at intervals, but I could only make out from his gestures and glances that it had to do with a storm overhead. The mixture of English, French, and German on the borders of the Rhine accustoms one to hear odd words. " Shall have you potty to ? " says a waiter, and he is asking if you will have potatoes. Another hands you a dish, saying, it is " sweetbone," and you must know it is " sweetbread." Yes, the storm came, and as it seldom does come except in such places. I once heard a thunder peal while standing on the crater of Mount Vesuvius, and I have seen the bright lightning, in cold and grand beauty, playing on the Falls of Niagara in a sombre night, but the vividness of the flashes to-day in the Black Forest, and the crashing, rolling, and booming of STARERS. 45 the terrible and majestic battery of heaven was astounding. Once a bolt fell so near and with such a blaze that the horse, albeit tired enough, started off down a hill and made me quite nervous lest he should overturn the cart and injure my precious boat, which naturally was more and more dear to me as it was longer my sole companion. As we toiled up the Rothenhaus Pass, down came the rain, whistling and rushing through the cold, dark forests of larch, and blackening the top of great Feldberg, the highest mountain here, and then pouring heavy and fast on the cart and horse, the man, the canoe, and myself. This was the last rain my boat got in the tour. All other days I spent in her were perfectly dry. People stared out of their windows to see a cart and a boat in this heavy shower — what ! a boat, up here in the hills ? Where can it be going, and whose is it ? Then they ran out to us, and forced the driver to harangue, and he tried to satisfy their curiosity, but his explanation never seemed to be quite exhaustive, for they turned homeward shaking their heads and looking grave, even though I nodded and laughed at them through the bars of the cart, lifting up my head among the wet straw. The weather dried up its tears at last, and the sun glittered on the road, still sparkling with its 46 KIRCH WASSER. rivulets of rain, but the boat was soon dried by a sponge, while a smart walk warmed its well-soaked captain. The horse too had got into a cheerful vein and actually trotted with excitement, for now it was down hill, and bright sun — a welcome change in ten minutes from our labouring up a steep forest road in a thunder-storm. The most rigid teetotaller (I am only a tem- perance man) would probably allow that just a very small glass of kirchwasser might be pre- scribed at this moment with advantage, and as there was no "faculty" there but myself, I administered the dose medicinally to the driver and to his employer, and gave a bran-mash and a rub down to the horse, which made all three of us better satisfied with ourselves and each other, and so we jogged on again. By dusk I marched into Donaueschingen, and on crossing the little bridge, saw at once I could begin the Danube from its very source, for there was at least three inches of water in the middle of the stream. In five minutes a crowd assembled round the boat, even before it could be removed from the cart. 5 * * After trying various modes of securing the canoe in springless cart for long journeys on rough and hilly THE SINGERS. 47 The ordinary idlers came first, then the more shy townspeople, and then a number of strange folk, whose exact position I could not make out, until it was explained that the great singing meeting for that part of Germany was to be held next day in the town, and so there were 600 visitors, all men of some means and intelligence, who were collected from a wide country round about. The town was in gala for this meeting of song. The inns were full, but still the good landlord of the "Poste" by the bridge gave me an excellent room, and the canoe was duly borne aloft in pro- cession to the coachhouse. "What a din these tenors and basses did make at the table d'hote ! Everything about the boat had to be told a dozen times over to them, while my driver had a separate lecture-room on the subject below. The town was well worth inspection next day, for it was in a violent fit of decoration. roads, I am convinced that the best way is to fasten two ropes across the top of a long cart and let the boat lie on these, which will bear it like springs and so modify the jolts. The painter is then made fast fore and aft, so as to keep the boat from moving back and forward. All plans for using trusses of straw, &c, fail after a few miles of rolling gravel and coarse ruts. 48 DONAUESCHINGEN. Every house was tidied up, and all the streets were swept clean. From the humbler windows hung green boughs and garlands, rugs, quilts, and blankets ; while banners, Venetian streamers, arches, mottoes, and wreaths of flowers announced the wealthier houses. Crowds of gaping peasants paraded the streets and jostled against bands drumming and tromboning (if there be such a word), and marching in a somewhat ricketty manner oyer the undoubtedly rough pavement. Every now and then the bustle had a fresh paroxysm when four horses rattled along, bring- ing in new visitors from some distant choir. They are coming you see in a long four-wheeled cart, covered with evergreens and bearing four pine trees in it erect among sacks which are used as seats — only the inmates do not sit but stand up in the cart, and shout, and sing, and wave banners aloft, while the hundreds of on-lookers roar out the "Hoch," the German Hurrah ! with only one note. As every window had its ornament or device, I made one for mine also, and my sails were fes- tooned (rather tastefully, I flatter myself) to support the little blue silk English jack of the canoe. This complimentary display was speedily recognized by the Germans, who greeted it with cheers, and sung glees below, and improvised ALLEGRO. 49 /-; Singers' Waggon. verses about England, and then sang round the boat itself, laughing, shouting, and hurraing boisterously with the vigour of youthful lungs. Never tell me again that the Germans are phlegmatic ! They had a " banket " in the evening at the Museum. It was " free for all," and so 400 came on these cheap terms, and all drank beer E 50 A BANKET. from long glass cylinders at a penny a glass, all smoked cigars at a farthing a piece, and all talked and all sang, though, a splendid brass band was playing beside them, and whenever it stopped a glee or chorus commenced. The whole affair was a scene of bewildering excitement, very curious to contemplate for one sitting in the midst. Next me I found a young bookseller who had sold me a French book in the morning. He said I must take a ticket for the Sunday concert; but I told him I was an Englishman, and had learned in my country that it was Grod's will and for man's good to keep Sunday for far better things, which are too much forgotten when one day in seven is not saved from the business, excitement, and giddiness of e very-day life. And is there not a feeling of dull sameness about the unmarked flight of time in those coun- tries and places where the week is not steadied and centred round a solid day on which lofty and deep things, pure and lasting things may have at least some hours of our attention ? So I left the merry singers to bang their drums and hoch! at each other in the great hall provided for their use by the Prince of Furstemburg. He had reared this near his stables, in which are many good horses, some of the best being Eng- THE PRINCE'S HORSES. 51 lish, and named on their stalls "Miss/ 5 "Pet," "Lady," or "Tom," &c. An English gentleman whom I met afterwards had been travelling through Germany with a four- in-hand drag, and he came to Donaueschingen, where the Prince soon heard of his arrival. Next day His Serene Highness was at his stables, and seeing an English visitor there, he politely con- ducted the stranger over the whole establishment, explaining every item with minute care. He found out afterwards that this visitor was not the English gentleman, but only his groom ! The intelligence, activity, and good temper of most of the German waiters in hotels will surely be observed by travellers whose daily enjoyment depends so much on that class. Here, for instance, is a little waiter at the Poste Inn. He is the size of a boy, but looks twenty years older. His face is flat, and broad, and brown, and so is his jacket. His shoulders are high, and he reminds you of those four everlasting German juveniles, with thick comforters about their necks, who stand in London streets blowing brass music, with their cheeks puffed out, and their cold grey eyes turning on all the passing objects while the music, or at any rate a noise, blurts out as if mechanically from the big, unpolished instruments held by red benumbed fingers. e 2 52 A WAITER. This waiter lad then is all the day at the beck of all, and never gets a night undisturbed, yet he is as obliging at ten o'clock in the dark as for the early coffee at sunrise, and he quite agrees with each guest, in the belief that Ms particular cutlet or cognac is the most important feature of the hour. I honour this sort of man. He fills a hard place well, and Bismarck or Mussurus cannot do more. Then again, there is Ulric, the other waiter, hired only for to-day as an " extra," to meet the crush of hungry vocalists who will soon fill the saal. He is timid yet, being young, and only used to a village inn where "The Poste at Donaues- chingen" is looked up to with solemn admiration as the pink of fashion. He was learning French too, and was sentimental, so I gave him a very matter-of-fact book, and then he asked me to let him sit in the canoe while I was to paddle it down the river to his home ! The naive simplicity of this request was truly refreshing, and if we had been sure of shallow water all the way, and yet not too shallow, it would perhaps have been amusing to admit such a passenger. The actual source of the Danube is by no means agreed upon any more than the source of the Nile. I had a day's exploration of the country, after SOURCE OF THE DANUBE. 53 seeking exact information on this point from the townspeople in vain. The land round Donaues- chingen is a spongy soil, with numerous rivulets and a few large streams. I went along one of these, the Brege, which rises twenty miles away, near St. Martin, and investigated about ten miles of another, the Brigach, a brook rising near St. Georgen, about a mile from the source of the Neckar, which river runs to the Rhine. These streams join near Donaueschingen, but in the town there bubbles up a clear spring of water in the gardens of the Prince near the church, and this, the infant* Danube, runs into the other water already wide enough for a boat, but which then for the first time has the name of Donau. The name, it is said, is never given to either of the two larger rivulets, because sometimes both have been known to fail in dry summers, while the bubbling spring has been perennial for ages. The Brege and another confluent are caused to fill an artificial pond close by the Brigach. This lake is wooded round, and has a pretty island, and swans, and gold fish. A waterwheel (in vain covered for concealment) pumps up water to flow from an inverted horn amid a group of statuary in this romantic pond, and the stream flowing from it also joins the others, now the Danube.* * The old Eoman Ister. The name Donau is pronounced 54 HOCH ! HOCH ! That there might be no mistake however in this matter about the various rivulets, I went up each stream until it would not float a canoe. Then from near the little bridge, on August 28, while the singers sol-faed excessively at the boat, and shouted "hochs " and farewells to the English "flagge," and the landlord bowed (his bill of thirteen francs for three full days being duly paid), and the populace stared, the Rob Roy shot off like an arrow on a river delightfully new. "Doanow." Hilpert says, "Donau allied to D6n and Duna (a river)." In Celtic Dune means " river," and Don means "brown," while "