e. The
highest of these mountains is the celebrated Drachenfels, which has a
ruined castle on the top of it, and an inn for the accommodation of
travellers just below. The Seven Mountains and Drachenfels are on the
east bank of the river. Opposite to them on the left bank are some other
remarkable mountains, crowned also with celebrated ruins. The river
flows between these highlands as through a gateway. They form, in fact,
the commencement of the mountainous region of the Rhine, in ascending
the river from Cologne.[7]

[Footnote 6: The words are pronounced as they are spelled, except that
the _g_ in _Gebirgen_ is hard.]

[Footnote 7: The reader must be very careful to get the idea right in
his mind in respect to which way is _up_ on the Rhine. The river flows
north. Of course, in looking on the map, what is _down_ on the page is
_up_ in respect to the flow of the river.]

The large town next below where these mountains commence is Bonn, which
is, perhaps, thirty or forty miles above Cologne. The country up as far
as Bonn from Cologne is pretty level, and a railroad has been made
there. At Bonn the mountains begin, and the railroad has accordingly not
been yet carried any farther. Mr. George and Rollo went up to Bonn by
the railroad.

Mr. George wished to stop at Bonn for half a day to visit a celebrated
university that is there. The buildings of this university were formerly
a palace; but they were afterwards given up to the use of the
university, which subsequently became one of the most distinguished
seminaries of learning in Europe. Mr. George wished to visit this
university. He had letters of introduction to some of the professors. He
wished also to see the library and the cabinets of natural history that
were there. He invited Rollo to go with him, but Rollo concluded not to
go. He would have liked to have seen the library very well, and the
cabinets, but he was rather afraid of the professors.

So, while Mr. George went to visit the literary institution, Rollo
amused himself by rambling about the town, and looking at the quaint
old churches, and the houses, and the fortifications, and in strolling
along the quay, by the shore of the river, to see the steamers and tow
boats go up and down.

At length he went to the hotel. The hotel was just without the gates,
near the river. There was a garden between the hotel and the river, with
a terrace at the margin of it, overlooking the water, where there were
table