500 LETTERS FROM A CONTINENTAL TOURIST. 



entire, over that a top-coat of a material resembling that which duf 

 butchers use for their blue jackets, but of a dirty brown colour, no 

 shirt, and the remains of a hat. He was of some service to us as an 

 interpreter, and afforded us continual amusement by his absurd re- 

 marks and grotesque ideas. 



Part of our route lay through the remains of the Black Forest, or 

 Schwartz Wald. The mountains on either side were thickly clad with 

 dark trees to their very summits, but these mountains are sad dwarfs 

 after those I have been lately accustomed to. However we must 

 take things as we find them, not excepting the loathsome collection 

 of filth and grease which is furnished you in some places under the 

 denomination of dinner. At ten o'clock at night we arrived at Kehl, 

 and forthwith retired to enjoy a sound sleep after thirty-six hours of 

 bustle and fatigue. 



September 12 th. 



OUR object in stopping at Kehl, instead of at once proceeding to 

 Strasburg, was to save the annoyance and inconvenience of an ex- 

 amination of passports and luggage by the French authorities, and a 

 second edition of the same on our return into the German territory. 

 As it was, after breakfasting and securing places by the diligence to 

 Carlsruhe, we marched over the bridge of boats, and entered the 

 French territory without let or hindrance. The bridge over the 

 Rhine here is curious enough. About seventy boats or lighters 

 are firmly moored up and down the stream, at short intervals from 

 each other. These serve as piers to support large beams which rest 

 on the gunwales of the barges, and athwart these beams are laid planks. 

 Smoking is forbidden on the bridge, and the carriages walk at a foot 

 pace, but for pedestrians it is convenient enough. The town of Stras- 

 bnrg is strongly fortified, and is defended by a numerous garrison. 

 Some soldiers of whom I enquired the way to the cathedral answered 

 me in good French, which was inconceivably refreshing to my 

 ears after the jargon to which I have been for some time accustomed 

 in Switzerland, and latterly in Germany. 



I think the prints I have seen give a very fair idea of the exterior 

 form of the cathedral. But of its beauty, independent of mere form, 

 none can judge without the benefit of ocular examination. We 

 were most struck with the transcendant brilliancy of the stained glass, 

 some of which dates from the building of the cathedral. At the west- 

 ern end is a beautiful circular window divided into compartments by 

 radii, and surpassing, if possible, even the splendour of this, in the 

 southern aisle. At the south eastern extremity are other circular win- 

 dows, subdivided into small circles. These are the most ancient in 

 the building. Among the other lions of the cathedral was a pulpit 

 carved in stone, and not only finely executed, but of considerable an- 

 tiquity, bearing the date 1487, in curious figures. Elsewhere was a 

 column adorned with statues which were cut out of the same block 

 as the pillar, but totally separated from it except as far as was neces- 

 sary to support the sculptured forms. We were more than usually 

 scandalized at the dresses of the images, which were carried to a 

 pitch of absurdity not readily imagined by those who are not accus- 

 tomed to the mummeries of Roman Catholic churches in a Roman 



