96 Rambles with a Fishing-Rod. 



son will usually buy the shares of his brothers 

 and sisters if the farm is too small to be use- 

 fully subdivided. None of the evils which are 

 supposed to follow the compulsory subdivision 

 of property seem visible here. Poverty is un- 

 known ; every house is comfortable and roomy. 

 Here, too, there is no high farming, but thrift 

 and hard work have produced a contented and 

 flourishing agricultural population. 



But turning to the southward of the height 

 on which we stand, the summits of the Algauer 

 Alps are visible, whilst a hazy line to the west 

 shows where the Sentis and surrounding moun- 

 tains rise above the opposite shores of the 

 Boden See. The Argen flows into this lake, be- 

 tween Friedrichshafen and Lindau; some ten 

 miles higher it passes the little town of Wan- 

 gen, where it divides into the Upper and Lower 

 Argen. In its course from the mountains the 

 Upper Argen passes the large village of Isny, 

 which is but a few miles from the other branch. 

 Both Wangen and Isny can now be reached by 

 rail from Stuttgart or Ulm, and also by car- 

 riage from stations on the Munich and Lindau 

 line the Bavarian State Eailway Wangen 

 from Hergatz, and Isny from Kempten. Wan- 



