Pike-Fishing in the Black Forest. 23 



elberg or other German towns, university stu- 

 dents walking from place to place, are, on the 

 other hand, frequently met with. Thus the 

 absence of American and English travellers has 

 prevented the construction of large hotels, and 

 the tourist must be contented with the rough 

 accommodation of essentially country inns. 

 But it is the houses of the Black Forest which 

 give not a little the peculiar character to its 

 scenery ; for the upper storey of many of them 

 serves as the hayloft of ;the farm which lies 

 outside the village. The great black and wide- 

 spreading roofs are thoroughly in keeping with 

 the dark background formed by the neighbour- 

 ing pine-woods. 



But it is time to leave these generalities and 

 introduce the reader to our hotel at the village 

 of Schluch See. The Gasthaus zum Sternen is 

 a fair example of the half hotel, half beer-house 

 which serves the stranger for a resting-place in 

 the Black Forest. As the top storey is a hay- 

 loft, and as the smell of the hay pervades the 

 whole house, it is not surprising that the 

 stranger is continually under the impression 

 that he has got by mistake into a hay-bay. 

 Bedrooms fill the first floor of the long low 



