entirely, leave the schloss, a huge pile
of brickwork, behind him, and penetrate into the fells ere the
Trucktere-house becomes visible; but the first aspect of it will,
unless I much deceive myself, excite in his mind anticipations, not
only of good fare, but of clean apartments, and unpretending civility.
Nor will such anticipations be disappointed. A nicer country inn I
never inhabited, and I say this without excepting either the inn at
Dalmally, near Loch Awe, nor its rival in comfort, if not in elegance,
at Tyne-drom.

The Fells, or Felsen, at Aderspach, is justly accounted one of the most
extraordinary productions of nature's handiwork in all Bohemia. Masses
of rock, some of them two or three hundred feet in height, have, by
some strange convulsion, been so tossed about, that now they stand on
end like detached towers, or rather like the turreted walls of some
gigantic labyrinth, through which a narrow path twists and turns in the
most extraordinary manner possible. Very many of these rocks bear a
striking resemblance, some to beasts, some to men, some to musical
instruments, and others to different articles which we constantly meet
either in our walks through the populous city, or within the domestic
circle. As might be expected, the people of the country have called
each image after the name of the original which it represents. Not far
from the back door of the inn is an enormous inverted Sugar-loaf; a
little way removed from it is the Chimney, and it must be acknowledged
that the resemblance which both of them bear to the objects from which
their names are derived, is very striking.

But this is the least of the wonders attaching to the place, in order
to introduce which to the reader's acquaintance, it will be necessary
that I should take him, as it were, by the hand, and join him to our
little party as we make the tour of the labyrinth.

Suppose us, then, snugly housed in the Trucktere-house, well-fed, well
attended, supplied with clean, tidy beds, and greatly refreshed by a
sound night's sleep, such as monarchs might envy. We rise next morning
at seven, to find that here, even more keenly than at Troutenau, the
influence of an elevated situation is felt, and that over the long
inclined plane which stretches upwards from us in the direction of the
Riesengebirgen, a sharp, cold wind blows cuttingly. This circumstance,
however, interferes, in no respect, with our breakfast, which, as far
as the means furnis