254 SPORTING IN BOTH HEMISPHERES. 



as we ought to be; but as the day began to brighten up, the 

 mist cleared away, and more particularly when we had 

 passed the first little dorf our spirits began to rise in a 

 wonderful manner. It is no great matter to the reader to 

 be acquainted in what manner the little dorf contributed to 

 this change in our animal equilibrium, sufficient that it did 

 so, and we felt infinitely better after it, and trudged lip the 

 mountain sides like giants refreshed to the flat table land 

 that lay spread out before us for miles, with deep valleys and 

 ravines intervening, trending towards the Rhine, and marked 

 Out by the tops of the lofty beeches that grew on their sides. 

 The harvest was all cut, so that there was little to relieve 

 the monotony of our walk; now and then an old and 

 wrinkled dame might be seen pottering about some patch of 

 turnips or mangel-wurzel, but there were no men. What on 

 earth can become of them in this part of the world? No 

 one ever sees them in the fields after ploughing is over, and 

 not always then. It is useless looking for a young woman 

 no female being ever seen between fourteen and forty, when 

 they are withered crones. 



No farm-house was here visible no homestead with its 

 accompaniment of corn-ricks, cattle, and all the cheerful 

 elements of such an establishment at home no neat garden 

 arid well-trimmed hedges no sparkling alder-shadowed 

 brook, with the cows standing mid-leg in the clear water, 

 enjoying the cool green shade no farm-boys taking their 

 sleek and well-fed horses to the half ploughed stubbles - 

 nothing ! The harvest had been all got in ; not a sight, bird, 

 beast, or tree, to put me in mind of home all flat, bare, and 

 brown. 



It is true that the peaks of distant mountains and the well- 

 wooded heights of the Taunus before us gave some interest 

 to the landscape, but there was a deficiency of incident that 

 afforded little to relieve the eye. 



