VORDER SEE AND HINTER SEE. 529 



at the embouchure of the Gosau, near an aqueduct 

 which conveys the brine from the mines to the salt 

 works at Ebensee. Here we entered a narrow, 

 wild-looking glen fringed with pines, and making 

 our way along the banks of the stream, passed 

 through the village of Gosau, and halted about two 

 miles beyond for lunch, at a Gast-haiis kept by a 

 smith. The landlord of this establishment was a 

 friend of our guide, and we proposed taking him 

 with us, but unfortunately he was away from 

 home, so we had to make the best of our way 

 without him. 



An hour's walk through pine forest brought us 

 to the Vorder See, a romantic-looking little lake, 

 at the south-east extremity of which towered the 

 Thorstein, a mountain over nine thousand feet 

 high, with glaciers rolling down ravines in its sides. 

 Continuing our route, after four hours' sharp up- 

 hill walking we came to the Hinter See, another 

 small alp-locked lake, the waters of which are of 

 a peculiar pale green colour, except under the sha- 

 dow of the overhanging cliffs, where they appear 

 almost black. Here we put up at a small Sen 

 2m 



