hed will allow, is eaten with great relish. After
which, about nine o'clock, we sally forth in quest of adventures, under
the guidance of a ragged youth, who is to officiate as our cicerone.
From the inn-door we look abroad upon a mountain of basalts, covered on
its summit by a forest of pines, and beautifully feathered along its
face with birch-trees. That mountain, well nigh semicircular in the
front which is turned towards us, constitutes the Felsen; and along its
base we walk, following a narrow foot-path, which is bordered by a
little stream, and leads, serpent-fashion, towards the rocks. We pass,
in this brief progress, the Sugar-loaf; and observing the ravages which
time is making on its inverted cone, we anticipate the hour, probably
not very distant, when it will topple over, and fall flat upon the
earth. But this is nothing. Our ragged guide conducts us across a
wooden bridge, up a road, hollowed out by nature, through the rocks,
till suddenly we reach what resembles the mouth of a mine, across which
a door is drawn. The sum of four groschens, or sixpence a head, applies
a key to the lock of that door, and we are immediately introduced into
the giant's dwelling. For as the term Riesengebirgen signifies "The
Giant's Mountains," so these fells are represented by tradition to have
been the abode of the monster-man, after whom the range which separates
Bohemia from Silesia has been named. Of this giant's personal history
it is needless to say more, than that he is the same Number Nip with
whose mischievous exploits we have all, from our early childhood, been
familiar. His favourite haunts were here and in one of the ravines of
Schnee-Koppee; and I must say this much for him, that in his choice of
quarters, he exhibited not only a great deal of skill, but a very
commendable share of taste into the bargain.

The door being opened, we find ourselves in a narrow passage, open to
the heavens, perhaps a couple of hundred feet over-head, but walled in
on either hand by rocks, perpendicular as the drop of the plummet. The
passage being exceedingly tortuous, does not permit any extensive view
to the front; but at each new turn some new wonder presents itself,
either in the formation of some particular rock, or in the grotesque
and striking combinations of masses. Here the guide stops us to point
out a chimney most distinctly defined; by-and-by two enormous
kettle-drums are exhibited; then comes a barrel-organ on one hand, a