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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov 



church is almost filled with them All around the 

 \Talls, are large cases set in the walls, in which are 

 human bones of all descriptions necessary to make 

 up the skeleton, very picturesquely arranged in 

 squares and circles, like tools in a hardware show 

 bill. In the "Golden Chamber," besides some six 

 hundred skulls, all marked with the name of the 

 original proprietor and ornamented with beautiful 

 embroidered silk, are many relics, which, in New 

 England, would be looked upon with some suspi- 

 cion. 



There has been a doubt suggested whether an 

 old inscription does not signify eleven instead of 

 eleven thousand virgins, but the bones themselves 

 cry out against such an absurdity, for there are six- 

 teen hundred skulls counted up, and legs and arm 

 bones enough to make as many virgins as one 

 would expect to see in one company. My author- 

 ity is the Catholic priest who showed me the relics, 

 and a printed book, which I bought on his recom- 

 mendation, as the true account. Among the rel- 

 ics actually shown me there are the following : — 



"120 busts, each of which contains, enclosed in 

 its head, the skull of a martyr in a small velvet 

 case, embroidered with gold, with the name of the 

 martyr on it." 



"A crystal vessel, richly framed, with particles of 

 Christ's crown of thorns." The particles are two 

 large thorns. 



"A water-cruet, used at the wedding meal at Ca- 

 na, brought to Cologne by St. Bruno. An eye- 

 witness, who has been in Cana, assures us that 

 there are only five of these water-pots, and that the 

 sixth he has seen in our golden chamber is perfect- 

 ly like the five other pots." 



So much is copied from the book. This "cruet" 

 is a porphyry vase, of perhaps two gallons capacity. 

 There are in all sixty-three of these relics ; among 

 them, a piece of the cross. And all this, the Cath- 

 olics here devoutly believe. 



At 10 A. M. on the 30th of July, we embarked 

 in a light but beautiful steamer on the Rhine, the 

 celebrated river of classical and poetical associations, 

 which here flows in a placid and gentle broad 

 sheet. As we moved slowly up the stream, about 

 twenty miles above Cologne, the flat country on 

 the shores gives way to a more abrupt landscape. 

 Steep hills and precipitous rocks, frequently 

 crowned with castles, most of them but ruins now, 

 shut down sharply upon the river, which is thus 

 confined to narrower limits, and compelled to great- 

 er rapidity in its course. All along on the south- 

 erly side of the hills the vine covers the slopes, 

 sometimes spreading broadly down from the sum- 

 mit to the water, and again growing on terraces 

 built up by the hand of man, at incredible cost of 

 labor. Sometimes twenty of these terraces may 

 be seen on a single hill side, first a few rods of level 

 space planted with vines, then a wall of heavy 



stonework, some six or ten feet high, then another 

 level, and again a wall, and so on to the top like a 

 huge stairway. The vine seems to love the hill- 

 side and the sun, and to thrive best, where the 

 land, be it poor or rich, is dry and warm. 



An English gentleman on board to-day, who has 

 been on the Hudson from Albany to New York, com- 

 pared that river with the Rhine, and declared the 

 former far more grand and beautiful. Such com- 

 parisons, however, have no propriety. Such beauty 

 as is here, of the vine-clad hills, and the old cas- 

 tles on their summits, is nowhere to be seen in 

 the new world, and if we at home may show grand- 

 er rivers, and even bolder and more picturesque 

 shores, it is not the same beauty, whatever the de- 

 gree, and no comparison can satisfy or ever assist 

 one's conception of either. 



As we towards evening drew near to Coblentz, 

 the famous fortress of Ehrenbreitstein was seen 

 perched like an eagle on his towering crag, on the 

 left bank, as we ascended the stream. It is one of 

 the strongest positions in Prussia, as well as one of 

 the most picturesque views upon the Rhine. We 

 reached Coblentz at about six in the evening, but 

 there was enough of daylight left for a visit to 

 Ehrenbreitstein, so we made haste and crossed the 

 bridge of boats which connects the two cities, and 

 which is said to be about five hundred paces in 

 length, to the famous castle. These bridges of 

 boats seem to be the favorite style of the country. 

 They are built in this way. Large flat boats are 

 anchored in the stream, at short intervals of per- 

 haps the width of a boat between, with their heads 

 up the stream, and the planking and superstructure 

 are laid on like an ordinary bridge on piers or piles. 

 The current at Coblentz is very strong, and per- 

 haps this is the cheapest mode of bridging. It 

 has one manifest advantage over our usual mode, 

 which is, that the passage from the shore to the 

 bridge is nearly level, the bridge of course rising 

 and falling with the river, but there is not that ne- 

 cessity for erecting piers above highwater mark, 

 and thus building a hill, as we sometimes do. Pass- 

 ing hastily across the bridge, with a companion, we 

 had an excellent opportunity to see the operation 

 of a draw, for the passage of some large boats that 

 were ascending the river. Two of our company 

 who could not see the necessity of hurrying, were 

 just far enough behind to be stopped by the open- 

 ing draw, and so we all waited, not very patiently, 

 the opening, the passage of the boats, and the clos- 

 ing again, before we could unite to pursue our way. 

 The draw seemed very ingeniously arranged. A 

 floating platform on three of the boats, I think, 

 was detached at one end, and swung gently down 

 with the current, leaving a wide passage, and was 

 brought back into place again, by means of a wind- 

 lass and chain, wiih very little labor, and great dis- 

 patch, for an old, slow country like this continent. 



