at Vienna, The _Floss_, or raft, on board of which we embarked,
is about as long as the main deck of an eighty-four gun ship and about
forty feet in breadth. It is constructed of strong spars lashed together.
On the spars is constructed a large platform and on the platform several
cabins, containing tables and chairs. Mr F----, the Poles and myself hired
a cabin to ourselves. On the raft was a great deal of merchandize going to
Vienna. At Vienna the _Flossmeister_, after landing his passengers and
merchandize, sells his raft and returns on horseback to Munich. A raft is
constructed weekly at Munich from wood felled in the Tyrol and floated on
the Isar down to Munich. We arrived the first evening at Freysingen, but it
was nearly dark when we arrived; it seemed however as far as we could
observe to be a neat village; at any rate, we met with a very comfortable
inn there with good fare and good beds. We met with a very pleasant family
on board the raft, bound to Landshut; M. and Mme S. were extremely
well-informed people and their two daughters very fine girls.

We arrived the following day at twelve o'clock at Landshut, which is a very
fine town. There is an immense Gothic tower or steeple to the Church of St
Martin, about 450 feet in height. At Deckendorf, where the Isar flows into
the Danube, I saluted for the first time that noble river. We stopped the
night at Pillshofen and arrived the following day at twelve o'clock at
Passau. Passau is a large, well built and handsome city, and is situated on
the confluent of three rivers, the Inn, the Illst and the Danube; for here
the two former flow into the latter, one on each side. Each of these rivers
just before the point of juncture seem to be of different colors; for
example the Danube appears blue, the Inn white, and the Illst black. At
Passau we put up at the Wild Man (_Zum Wilden Mann_), a favorite sign for
inns in these parts.

The Cathedral and _Residenz-Schloss_ are striking buildings, and the city
has a lively and grand appearance. The women appear to be in general
handsome and well dressed. We brought to the evening at Engelhardtzell,
where the barrier, painted black and yellow, announced our return to the
Austrian territory. We underwent at the Customs house a rigid search for
tobacco: they even took away the tobacco that some passengers had in their
pouches. They were likewise very rigid about our passports. The English
passports do not please them at all, on acco