SECRETARY'S REPORT. 329 



Augsburg possesses some objects of interest to a person ^7llo 

 has time to spend, but there "vverc so many more desirable 

 places and objects in prospect that I did not intend to remain 

 there any longer than was necessary. I arrived there a little 

 after dark, and as I made it a point not to travel by night, I 

 stopped over for the sake of seeing the country between there 

 and Munich. Its old cathedral is built in the Byzantine style, 

 curious enough. I visited that, as well as the old palace in 

 which the Emperor Charles the Fifth resided when the Augs- 

 burg Confession was presented to him in 1635, and the golden 

 chamber and confession hall, interesting for their connection 

 with the history of the Reformation. ' The hotel I stopped at, 

 called the Three Moors, is mentioned as early as 1364, and is 

 said to be the oldest in the world. 



The country between Augsburg and Munich is also level and 

 uninteresting, so far as its scenery is concerned, much of it 

 being nothing more than immense tracts of peat swamp. But 

 here I saw engines run by compressed peat, and had an oppor- 

 tunity to see the whole process of preparation at a large estab- 

 lishment near the railway, while the train was detained. 

 Immense quantities are got out in a fine, loose state, but after 

 being put through the machine, it comes out quite solid, and 

 burns well. There was no inconvenience from the smoke or 

 smell, as one would naturally expect. 



Immense herds of cattle are grazed on the plains, each herd 

 under the charge of a herdsman. The color was mostly brown, 

 inclining to black. 



The Board of Agriculture has had an exchange of docu- 

 ments with the Bavarian government for some ten years past. 

 I anticipated mucli pleasure, therefore, in mee ting those with 

 whom I had so long been in communication, and who were in 

 a position to give me all the information I could desire with 

 regard to the agricultural system of the country and the con- 

 dition of its schools and its societies. As for the rest, having 

 little difficulty with the language, which is here German, uni- 

 versally, I felt confident I could find my own way to the objects 

 of general interest in the beautiful city of Munich, its celebrated 

 collections of art, containing so many of the works of the grand 

 old masters, and its unrivalled cabinets of science and natural 

 history. Who does not know that it was here that Count 



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