HAMBURG: GENERAL IMPRESSIONS 55 



the world's commerce is enacted par excellence. The 

 border line between St. Pauli and the adjoining city of 

 Altona is marked by a ditch six to eight feet wide, the 

 odor of which suggested a change to the least sensitive. 

 Unless one pays special attention, the entry into Hostein 

 territory is scarcely noticeable; the streets run right 

 through, and the style of building seems to indicate no 

 special change, so that the aforementioned ditch and, per- 

 haps, the change of names of the thoroughfares, consti- 

 tute the only landmark. Altona, meaning " too-near-by, ' ' 

 is built in the same style as the old Hansatown. Its exist- 

 ence is the outcome of a bet between rival merchants of 

 Hamburg. The streets are mostly crooked and narrow, 

 the houses old-fashioned, tall, gloomy, each one of them 

 brings to my mind the ghost of some petrified mayor or 

 burgomaster, or senator, caused, I presume, by the abun- 

 dance of rare old sculpture and relief work which adorns 

 the facades. There are, of course, a few real nice streets 

 and places, the Pallmaille, being the most noteworthy on 

 accoimt of its width, which admits of four avenues, 

 adorned with linden trees. Magnificent residences at- 

 tract the eye on either side of this beautiful thoroughfare 

 and remind one of the celebrated "Unter den Linden" 

 in Berlin. The monument of Conrad von Bliicher, sec- 

 end cousin to the immortal General Blucher-Wahlstadt, 

 is another ornament of Pallmaille; in him the inhab- 

 itants have honored one of their noblest citizens. The 

 immense steam levers at the freight section of the large 

 station of the Altona-Kiel Kail road aroused my interest 

 greatly. The station is well located on the high bank of 

 the river Elbe and the aforementioned steam levers lift 

 from a hundred and fifty to two hundred weight with 

 an ease and a. rapidity that is truly astonishing. It takes 

 but two minutes to raise such loads and place them 

 wherever wanted. These levers are constantly at work 

 and well worth watching; they operate even at night 

 when business is brisk. Passing the railroad station, one 

 immediately enters the village of Ottensen, just as un- 

 suspectingly as is the crossing of the Hamburg-Altona 



