our ship on the previous day because
he had had the misfortune to brush against an official on going to
see after his luggage.

At seven o'clock the tattoo is beaten, the grating is shut, and the
farce ends. We now repaired to the fourth and last steamer, the
Ferdinand. From first to last we changed vessels six times during a
journey from Vienna to Constantinople; we travelled by four steamers
and twice in boats; a circumstance which cannot be reckoned among
the pleasures of a trip down the Danube.

Though not a large boat, the Ferdinand is comfortable and well
built. Even the second-class cabin is neatly arranged, and a pretty
stove diffused a warmth which was peculiarly grateful to us all, as
the thermometer showed only six to eight degrees above zero.
Unfortunately even here the men and women are not separated in the
second-class cabin; but care is at least taken that third-class
passengers do not intrude. Twelve berths are arranged round the
walls, and in front of these are placed broad benches well
cushioned.

April 3d.

At five o'clock in the morning we steamed out of the harbour of
Galatz. Shortly afterwards basins and towels were handed to us; a
custom totally unknown upon former vessels. For provisions, which
are tolerably good, we are charged 1 fl. 40 kr. per diem.

Towards ten o'clock we reached Tehussa, a Bessarabian village of
most miserable appearance, where we stopped for a quarter of an
hour; after which we proceeded without further delay towards the
Black Sea.

I had long rejoiced in the expectation of reaching the Black Sea,
and imagined that near its mouth the Danube itself would appear like
a sea. But as it generally happens in life, "great expectations,
small realisations," so it was the case here also. At Galatz the
Danube is very broad; but some distance from its mouth it divides
itself into so many branches that not one of them can be termed
majestic.

Towards three o'clock in the afternoon we at length entered the
Black Sea.

Here the arms of the Danube rush forward from every quarter, driving
the sea tumultuously back, so that we can only distinguish in the
far distance a stripe of green. For above an hour we glide on over
the yellow, clayey, strongly agitated fresh water, until at length
the boundary is passed, and we are careering over the salt waves of
the sea. Unfortunately for us, equinoctial gales and heavy weather
still so powerfully maintained their sway, that the