80 ARRIVAL AT MULHOUSE. [CHAP. in. 



ill the German, and it being late and dark, and our whole 

 party being somewhat fatigued, we allowed ourselves to be 

 carried to the nearest hotel, a large, uncomfortable, dirty-look- 

 ing place, where apparently they seldom see British gold, and 

 make an immense charge for bougies. Had we had the neces- 

 sary time to spare, my little party would have been interested 

 in seeing Mulhouse, which is a manufacturing town of con- 

 siderable size, where many of the operatives are the owners 

 of their own houses ; but being within scent of Switzerland, 

 having the feeling that we were in the shadow of its moun- 

 tains, and almost within hearing of the noise made by its many 

 waters, we hurried on by the first train to Bale. The distance 

 is short, and the conveyance quick. Almost before we had 

 time to view the passing landscape, which is exceedingly 

 beautiful, being rich in vineyards and orchards, and rapidly 

 turning Swiss in its scenery, we were stopped at St. Louis by 

 the custom-house authorities, who, it is but proper to say, are 

 exceedingly polite to all honest travellers. I would advise any 

 one in search of the etablissement de pisciculture at Huningue 

 to leave the train at this station. Not knowing its proximity 

 at the time of my visit, I went right on to Bale. 



Poets might go into raptures about Bale Bale the beauti- 

 ful with the flowing Rhine cutting it into two halves, its 

 waters green as the icefields which had given them birth, its 

 houses quaint, its streets so clean, its fountains so antique ; 

 but we had no time to go into raptures our business was to 

 get to Huningue, and curiously enough we had wandered into 

 the fishmarket before we knew where we were. Like various 

 other fishmarkets which we have visited, it contained no 

 fish that we could see, but it is so picturesque that I de- 

 termined to place a view of it in this work. Hailing a 

 voiture, our party had no end of difficulty to get the coachman 

 to understand where we wanted to be driven. I said, " To 

 Huningue ;" he then suggested that it must be " Euiniguen," 



