on,
however incomplete, of external scenery. When, then, I have stated,
that our path carried us over hill and dale,--that we threaded deep
forests, and from time to time traversed an open plain, and that all
this while the snowy ridges of the Riesengebirgen stood up like a wall
upon our left hand, I have left myself nothing in the shape of
description to add, out of which the reader could hope to derive an
accession, either to his information or his amusement.

Of one occurrence that befel in the course of this day's pilgrimage, it
is, however, necessary that I should take notice. At the distance of
perhaps ten English miles from Starkenbach, we came upon the Elbe; how
unlike to the lordly river with which we formed our first acquaintance
at Hamburg, and which two months' residence at Schandau had latterly
made so familiar to us! A narrow mountain-stream,--so narrow, indeed,
and so shallow, that a mere rustic bridge sufficed to span it,--was all
that reminded us of that prodigious body of water, which serves as a
channel of communication between Dresden and the North Sea, and
fertilizes in its course the plains of Bohemia, Saxony, Prussia,
Mecklenburg, Hanover, and even Denmark. The fact is, as I need scarcely
pause to state, that we were now but a short day's march from its
source, which lies,--a mere fountain or well-head,--in the side of the
mountain that overhangs Hoen Elbe. As our friend the chancellor had
assured us, however, that at the well-head in question there was really
nothing to see, we determined to leave it unexplored, and to push on,
instead, as far as Aderspach, where we were given to understand that
nature had accomplished many freaks well deserving to be noted.

Though the Elbe was by no means so promising as the Iser, we yet felt
that to pass it by untried, while we had fishing-rods in our hands,
would be disgraceful to us as anglers. The implements were accordingly
screwed together, and for half-an-hour we threw our flies with all our
accustomed skill, and more than our usual patience; but we gathered
little by the exercise of these qualities. A few grayling, with a trout
or two of meagre dimensions, alone rewarded our care; and these, we
judiciously concluded, were not of sufficient value to compensate for
the loss of time that would be sustained in adding to their numbers.
Besides we found that our strange attire and gestures created much
alarm among the junior branches of one or two small comm