[ 7 ] 
FIFTH DAY. 
— 4 
Ir was about five o’clock in the morning when we left our 
cabins and went on deck. The sun was shining with its full 
vigour, warm and enlivening, the sky was cloudless, and the 
air combined the refreshing savour of spring with the 
coolness due to the rain of yesterday. How different one 
feels when the atmosphere is pure and invigorating, and not 
saturated with the fever-generating exhalations and heavy 
vapours of the marshes! We had now learnt to value every 
fresh clear morning in these districts, where the oppressive 
debilitating air which generally prevails exercises such an 
unpleasant effect on any one who lives either in the Alps or 
the lower mountains, the hilly country, or even on the 
elevated plains. 
Breakfast was quickly disposed of, our shooting-gear was 
packed, and we set out towards fresh adventures in high 
spirits, for this promised to be an exceedingly interesting and 
delightful day, as we were to quit the “auen” and shoot 
through a wood lying pretty far inland. 
Leaving the steamer, we all got into one boat and rowed 
along a canal-like arm of the river, which branched off from 
the right bank a little way above the fishing-settlement, and 
soon reached a bridge which sprang from high embankments 
and spanned the arm. There we stopped and went ashore, Herr 
Rampelt receiving us and accompanying us to the well-horsed 
private carriages which were standing on the embankment, 
and which had been put at our disposal for the entire day. 
Without mentioning it as anything exceptional, this great 
kindness and also the whole arrangements for the day showed 
