498 LETTERS FROM A CONTINENTAL TOURIST. 



lie countries can fail to be struck with the close resemblance they 

 bear to the rites of paganism. For the saint substitute a heathen 

 deity, and the very forms seem almost the same. No doubt this 

 only applies to the worship of the lower orders ; but the same remark 

 might be true to the vulgar of antiquity. 



September \Qth. 



WE left Luzern yesterday morning, at eight o'clock, in the car- 

 riage which conveys the mail to Zurich, at the comfortable rate of 

 four miles per hour. This too is not the worst part of the matter ; for as 

 they travel only in the day time, the progress is miserably slow. I 

 have heard many encomiums passed on Zurich, but what little I saw 

 of it'gave me no sort of pleasure. The streets are very narrow and 

 very dirty. The sewerage, to judge by the smell given, is worse 

 than usual ; which is as much as to say that we were more than half 

 poisoned during our stay here. We went to the hotel de 1'Epee* 

 which is the best in the place, but which nevertheless abounds in fleas, 

 and under the window of the narrow double-bedded room into which 

 we were thrust was a vast dunghill, not to mention a still worse an- 

 noyance in the immediate vicinity of our chamber door, so that we 

 were unwillingly compelled to sleep with door and window both shut 

 with the comfortable prospect of being stewed into a fever, if not suf- 

 focated. However, a few hours patience carried us through our dif- 

 ficulties, and we were safely ensconsed in the diligence for Schaff- 

 hausen at nine this morning. The country between Luzern and 

 Zurich, though vaunted much in the guide books and by the natives, 

 is of a very ordinary character, and from Zurich to SchafFhausen, for 

 the greater part of the road, there is still less to attract the attention. 



At Eglisau we first saw the Rhine, and crossed it on one of the 

 covered bridges which are invariably found in this part of Switzer- 

 land. There is nothing remarkable in the appearance of the river 

 here, but the interest which is attached to the very name of the 

 Rhine made it a welcome sight to the eager eyes of pleasure hunting 

 travellers. We shortly after arrived in SchafFhausen, and after se- 

 curing our places in the diligence for Kehl that evening, off we set to 

 the famous Rhine- fall, which is about three miles from the town. 



Part of our road lay along the banks of the river, which here races 

 along in grand style, bounding down the rapids, pirouetting in eddies, 

 and foaming over the uneven surface of its bed so as to give you an 

 idea that something more than common is not far distant. The op- 

 posite bank too of the river is picturesque, which adds not a little to 

 the enchantment of the scene. At last we approached the object of* 

 our search, and for once were not doomed to be disappointed. In- 

 deed I think tourists generally lay far too little stress on the beauty 

 of the falls of SchafFhausen. I for my part have seen nothing more 

 sublime, more beautiful. The river, which is here of considerable 

 breadth, and of a clear greenish hue for some distance, rushes down 

 an inclined plane, and then pours its boiling but transparent waters 

 down a sheer precipice of sixty-feet, the whole mass of fluid being at 

 once converted into sparkling foam. The stream is broken in several 

 places by rocks, which thrust their dingy heads out of the white tor- 



