A ReviarJcahle Stove. 241 



lake, the railroad running right before the house. As I did 

 not hke the accommodation at all, we looked out for some 

 other place and went in a boat to Arbon, situate on a project- 

 ing kind of peninsula. From the garden of the inn there we 

 had a splendid view of the Saentis mountain and its glaciers, 

 but the inn being rather too rustic for our taste, we did not 

 hke to stay there. 



Salm and Corvin went prospectmg about, and discovered a 

 little old castle about a quarter of an hour from Rorschach, 

 situate on the slope of the above-mentioned ridge, something 

 like two hundred feet above the surface of the lake. Its name 

 was Castle Wiggen. and it belonged to a former Landamann of 

 St. Gall, Mr. Hoftman von Leuchtenstern, who had resided 

 there several years, but who lived then, since he had become a 

 widower, in St. Gall. Hearing that the castle was in perfect 

 repair and furnished, we were desirous of renting it, and went 

 to St. Gall to speak to its owner, who was willing and we took 

 it. 



Salm and myself occupied a very large corner room, with an 

 adjoining bedroom. From the windows we had a most 

 splendid view over the Lake of Constance and its shores. The 

 Corvins took the opposite corner room, separated from ours 

 by a hall with a large window, in which were inserted in stained 

 glass the arms of former owners. Whilst our rooms were 

 modernized, that of our friends was left in its primitive state. 

 The walls were gaudily and curiously painted, and provided 

 with many cupboards. The furniture consisted of a large 

 oaken centenarian table and straight-backed cliairs, a narrow 

 bed in a recess, and another very large one standing free in 

 the room. The most remarkable object in that room was, 

 however^ the stove : it was the biggest and most respectable 

 stove I have seen in all my life ; a whole Indian family might 

 have lived in it, and it is worth a description. On four solid 

 iron feet, ^bout two feet high, rested a more than three inches 

 thick stone slab of six feet by three and a half, and on it stood, 

 built of green, glazed, curiously ornamented square tiles, the 

 main structure of the oven, capacious enough to hold a whole 

 cartload of wood. On this square compartment rose, built of 

 the same material, a round tower, reaching nearly up to the 

 high ceiling. In the ornamented battlement of this tower 

 were inserted the arms of the Schlabberitz, who once lived in 



o 



