gives of the capital sport which he had in a stream of the same name;
but of this fact I am quite certain, that the hopes of discovering the
river behind every eminence, or coming suddenly upon it as I emerged
from each successive grove, served to render me, during this hour and a
half's progress, proof against the encroachments of weariness. And my
wishes were gratified at last. Just after we had obtained a glimpse of
what we knew to be the iron foundry at Eisenhammer, we beheld rolling
his waters beneath us, the Iser himself, not like the Elbe, in a
troubled and dingy stream, nor, after the fashion of most of its
tributaries, with a mere thread of silver, but roaring and chafing from
pool to pool, or else gathered in a black mass under some huge crag, as
if intervals of repose were necessary to the element itself, and it
could repose only in darkness. And then when we cast our eyes along the
banks,--the sides of magnificent mountains,--feathered from their bases
with ancient forests, out of which, from time to time, a bald rock
projected, truly we were forced to admit, that to obtain this
gratification alone, all our fatigues had been well endured, and that
here we might stand still without repining. But there was something
more to be done than to admire the fair river. Out came the
fishing-rods from their cases, down we hurried, loaded as we were, to
the river's brink, and flies being selected, such as we judged would
suit the state of the water, we set to work. Our sport was admirable.
Not a trout rose under three-quarters of a pound weight, and several
fell little short of three pounds, so that at the hour's end, all the
space which we ventured to allow ourselves, we had laid in an ample
stock of fresh fish for supper.

There was no resisting the temptation to which our excellent sport in
the Iser had subjected us. It was impossible to leave such a stream
behind; so we made up our minds to a halt at Eisenhammer for the night,
and after devoting the morrow exclusively to fishing, to add the lost
hour and a half to the march of the day following. With this view we
crossed the bridge, and entered the sort of hamlet, which consists
merely of the foundry, and of a long range of buildings, occupied
partly by the superintendents of the works, partly as a gasthof. In
this gasthof, however, no separate chamber was to be had, and, though
the reverse of fastidious, we could not quite make up our minds to
spend a second nigh