WWt Naturalists at Freybarg. 171 



the Society of ray intended visit, and I was received 

 with ^reat kindness, 



The largest hall in Freyburg had been elegantly 

 decorated for the occasion. Five hundred members 

 were present. 



The ladies were accommodated in the gallery, and 

 the other visitors had a place assigned them on the 

 ground-floor. It was a very orderly meeting. 



First, a long report was read by the Secretary in 

 German, followed by a lengthy Eulogy on a de- 

 ceased Officer of the Societ}^ Then several Essays 

 were read, viz : " T/ie Structure of the Earth ; " " Water 

 Falls ; "- with illustrations, etc. I was most pleased 

 with one from Professor Martin, of Munich, on "The 

 American Indian,'' intending to prove that the 

 mounds, and especially the traces of fortifications 

 and architecture found in Mexico and South 

 America, gave evidence that they were the work of 

 n different people and a former age. It was a sensi- 

 ble ])roduction and remarkably well delivered. 



A band of music from Berne, consisting of forty 

 musicians, played during the dinner, which lasted 

 from one P. M., to four in the afternoon. The din- 

 ner was excellent — the best that the country could 

 -jifford ; but it lasted entirely too long for me. Toasts 

 were drunk, first to the Grand Duke, and then to 

 the German Naturalists. A short speech evidently, 

 prepared before hand, preceded the toast, at the 

 •close of which all rose, and the "Lehe hoch'' (long- 

 live) was repeated three times, with great enthusi- 

 asm. 



The dinner, including wine, cost each member 

 the small sum of seventy -five cents — a vast difference 

 on similar occasions, in England and America. 

 After dinner, the Naturalists took a recess of an hour 

 or two. Repairing to a mountain on the borders of 

 the city, we ascended, by tortuous windings, till we 



