Ramble in the Salzkammergut and Tyrol. 9 



mountain-tarns, like the Gosau See, to navig- 

 able waters, like the Lake of Gmunden. They 

 all add to the charms and variety of the scenery, 

 and they all afford more or less amusement to 

 the traveller who would fish from time to time. 

 At Heiligenblut the rod was quite laid aside 

 for the alpenstock; and at last to descend 

 from the snows of the Gross Glockner and the 

 ice-fields of the Pasterze Glacier to the glowing 

 valley and rich vineyards of Botzen and Meran, 

 was one of those changes which make up the 

 pleasures of travelling. The richness of the 

 valley of the Adige is such that to English 

 eyes it has something almost of unreality. 

 Take one step from the roadside, and you 

 may walk for miles beneath canopies of vines, 

 from which the ripe grapes are hanging ; and 

 these, with the variety and colouring of the 

 peasants' dresses, and the distant peaks of the 

 dolomite mountains, broken into sharp and 

 jutting points, create a scene of great fertility 

 and beauty. But my stay in this rich land was 

 short. Fifteen miles of dusty road, and Meran 

 is reached, lying completely underneath the 

 mountains, and greatly frequented in the 

 autumn by delicate persons, who sun them- 



