JET. 28.] JOURNAL. 225 



window and pitched his hat into the road, to his great 

 astonishment and our infinite amusement. We passed 

 through Wels, and afterwards Lambach, a pretty place 

 and most beautifully situated upon the Traun. In this 

 part of the journey we had a fine view of the Salzburg 

 Alps, which rise to their greatest height just where 

 Austria proper and the provinces of Styria and Salz- 

 burg meet. From Lambach to the end of the journey, 

 the country appeared completely American: finely 

 wooded with fir and larch with here and there a clump 

 of beech. We reached Gmiinden just at twilight, a 

 neat village on the very bank of the Gmiindensee or 

 Traunsee, for it is called by both names. The situa- 

 tion, close down upon the water and in the bosom of 

 green undulating hills, is as lovely as can be conceived, 

 and is in fine contrast with the upper extremity of the 

 little lake, where the dark and lofty mountains rise ab- 

 ruptly from the very edge of the water, not leaving room 

 enough even for a footpath. Their summits were still 

 covered with patches of snow, but they are overtopped 

 by the peaks of the Dachstein and other portions of 

 these Alps which are crowned with perpetual snow. 

 I found at the Goldenes Schiff neat rooms, and a most 

 comfortable bed, which I was prepared fully to enjoy, 

 having first made a supper on nice trout from the lake, 

 with a few etceteras. At seven o'clock the next morn- 

 ins I was on board the little steamboat, commanded 



o 



by an Englishman, as most boats are in Austria, - 

 which affords the only means of communication with 

 the country beyond. The morning was pleasant, and 

 I had a good opportunity of seeing the finest scenery I 

 ever beheld ; indeed I do not expect ever to see it 

 surpassed. As we left the green slopes at Gmiinden 

 behind us, the mountains which inclose the upper por- 



