House and Garden 
FUNERALS ON THE WATER IN THE SPREEWALD E. Bruchmann. Lubbenau, Photographer 
and even nowadays a weaving-stool for utilizing the 
self-gained flax, forms a necessary part of the house¬ 
hold furniture. I have spoken elsewhere of the 
Wends of the Middle 
Mark of Brandenburg 
being treacherous and 
deceitful, not so the 
Wends of the Spreewald. 
These people are tradi¬ 
tionally hospitable, 
open and honest. Who¬ 
ever refused hospital¬ 
ity to a stranger, ran 
the risk of having his 
house burned during the 
night. The block-house 
of the Spreewalder gen¬ 
erally consists of three 
rooms only: living-room, 
bedroom and kitchen. 
The illustrations of the 
interiors show in some 
instances much comfort 
—and a strange ming¬ 
ling of the old and new. 
The rude block-houses 
of L e h d e, Leipe and 
Burg, as far as arrange¬ 
ment, form and con¬ 
struction are concerned, 
correspond almost 
exactly to the square, 
massive blockhouses de¬ 
scribed by Tacitus. 
The Wends never 
build semi-detached 
bouses. Each must be 
forming in its way a 
is in the warm season 
A WENDISH BRIDE 
surrounded by a free space, 
“castle” of itself. There 
a lively boat traffic between 
house and house, vil¬ 
lage and village, over 
the 300 small streams. It 
is sweet to hear the greet¬ 
ing of the rowers Pom- 
ogaj Bog warn as the 
boats glide noiselessly, 
save the plash of the 
oars, over these “Vene¬ 
tian streets.” Where¬ 
upon the greeting is ac¬ 
knowledged by Bog 
zekujschol — May God 
requite you. 
In addition to per¬ 
sonal study of the Spree¬ 
wald and its inhabitants, 
made on the spot, I 
have availed myself of 
the following literature: 
Die Landschaften der Prov- 
inz Brandenburg— 
Dr. Ed. Zache. 
Markische Streifziige— 
A. Trinius. 
Spreeland—Theodor Fontane. 
Der Spreewald — 
Albert Goldschmidt. 
Fine Friihlingsfahrt in den 
Spreewald—Dr. Muller. 
Die Wenden der Mittelmark— 
Friedrich Wienecke. 
Die Provinz Brandenburg in 
Wort und Bild. 
70 
