Beaut if al Scenery. 243 



covered with beautiful flowers like a garden. Ever>-wliere 

 crystal springs are bubbling. Towards the top of the ridge are 

 pine-woods, It is a rather long and toilsome way up to them, 

 but it is worth the trouble to make it, for behind these woods 

 is the crest of the ridge, from where the enraptured eye looks 

 on the Saentis, which seems so close by that every little rock 

 on it can be seen. At the other end of the ridge the view is 

 even finer, for before us are the Rhine Valley, the mountains 

 near Ragatz and Chur, and the Tyrolean Alps.. 



The beauties of the site of Rorschach, though it does not 

 strike visitors on a first view, have been fully appreciated by 

 connoisseurs. The Queen Dowager of Wurtemburg, who is 

 now dead, had between Rorschach and Bad Horn a fine 

 country-house, where she resided every summer. At the op- 

 posite side, nearer to the entrance of the Rhine into the lake 

 is Castle Wartegg, the residence of the Duke of Parma. On 

 the same line, not on the lake but on the top of the ridge, 

 stands the very stately old Castle of Wartamsee, which has 

 been restored by an Englishman, who, however, lost his money 

 in Baden-Baden, and had to sell that fine place, Vvhich since 

 then has changed hands several times. Not far from Rors- 

 chach, in the Rhine Valley, is the Weinburg, a country seat 

 belonging to the Prince of Plohenzollern. 



Rorschach is built hard by the lake. It was a very flourish- 

 ing mercantile place, and many rich merchants dealing with 

 italy lived there. Several fine old houses, with curiously sculp- 

 tured windows and balconies, especially in the main street, 

 bear testimony to their taste and wealth. It is still an impor- 

 tant place, and one of the grain markets of Switzerland. Close 

 to the lake, on the haven, stands an extensive old corn-house. 



In summer Rorschach is very lively, for an immense num- 

 ber of travellers pass through, coming either from Lindau or 

 Friedrichshafen, on their way to the interior of Switzerland. 

 Steamers are going to and fro, the railroad whistle is heard in- 

 cessantly, and all these steamers and trains^are crowded, loaded 

 with travellers from every part of the world — or societies, 

 schools, colleges, &c. out on a pleasure excursion. Most of 

 these passengers pass only, but very many think it worth while to 

 stay a day or two in Rorschach, and in the several hotels of 

 the place company is always to be found, almost every day fre^h 

 faces. 



