SPECTRE OF THE BKOCKEN. 199 



The Brocken is the name of the loftiest of the Hartz 

 Mountains, a picturesque range which lies in the kingdom 

 of Hanover. It is elevated 3300 feet above the sea, and 

 commands the view of a plain seventy leagues in extent, 

 occupying nearly the two-hundredth part of the whole of 

 Europe, and animated with a population of above five mil- 

 lions of inhabitants. From the earliest periods of authentic 

 history, the Brocken has been the seat of the marvellous. 

 On its summits are still seen huge blocks of granite, 

 called the Sorcerer's Chair and the Altar. A spring of 

 pure water is known by the name of the Magic Fountain, 

 and the anemone of the Brocken is distinguished by the 

 title of the Sorcerer's Flower. These names are supposed 

 to have originated in the rites of the great Idol Cortho, 

 whom the Saxons worshipped in secret on the summit of 

 the Brocken, when Christianity was extending her 

 benignant sway over the subjacent plains. 



As the locality of these idolatrous rites, the Brocken 

 must have been much frequented, and we can scarcely 

 doubt that the spectre which now so often haunts it at 

 sunrise must have been observed from the earliest times ; 

 but it is nowhere mentioned that this phenomenon was in 

 any way associated with the objects of their idolatrous 

 worship. One of the best accounts of the spectre of the 

 Brocken is that which is given by M. Haue, who saw it on 

 the 23rd of May, 1797. After having been on the summit 

 of the mountain no less than thirty times, he had at last 

 the good fortune of witnessing the object of his curiosity. 

 The sun rose about four o'clock in the morning through 

 a serene atmosphere. In the south-west, towards Achter- 



doubt because this animal, Mriga, compelled by thirst, Trichua, 

 approaches those barren plains where, from the effect of unequal 

 refraction, he thinks he perceives the undulating surface of the 

 waters. Personal Narrative, vol. iii. p. 554. 



