illustrations in the
sweeping Rhine as in any of the humbler streams whose courses I had
watched and studied at home. These two principles afford perhaps the
strongest and most conclusive of all proofs, that the hills and valleys of
our planet are all the result of erosion.

The streets of Coblentz are mostly narrow, as are also its pavements, many
of the latter being only from one to two feet wide. There are several
remarkable churches, one, the Church of St. Castor dating from 1208, being
an example of the early "Lombard style."

In order to enjoy the Rhine scenery to the greatest advantage, I took
passage on a steamer to Bingen, and started out on Sunday morning at 10
o'clock. One of the steamers had been delayed about three hours that
morning on account of the fog, but the day turned out to be a most
beautiful one. I took a seat near the prow of the steamer, where I could
conveniently watch the views of both banks without interruption from any
source. I was now about to ascend the most romantic part of the
Rhine--the Rhine of history and of poetry, upon whose precipitous banks
the Germans erected their castles in the early and middle ages and
defended their "Fatherland" against the attacks of their warlike
neighbors. Only after one has seen the castled steam with its numerous
watch-towers crowning every towering peak, and the indescribable beauties
of this noble river, will the national air, "Die Wacht Am Rhein," (Watch
At The Rhine), seem so beautiful to him, as it does to the sons of
Germany, whose souls are stirred by its boundless historic associations.

I cannot stop to describe the scores of Schloesser, (castles), the charming
prospects, the beautiful valleys with their verdant hillsides peeping into
the Rhine, and the rich vineyards upon its sloping banks in some places,
or the romantic scenery of the bare rocky mountains that rise almost
perpendicularly at its sides to the height of 300 to 500 feet, in other
places. Several objects claim particular attention, however.

Some 35 or 40 miles up the river from Coblentz, on the left bank, rise the
imposing rocks of the Lurlei to the height of 433 feet above the Rhine.
The river is very narrow in this place, has much fall and makes a decided
turn, so that it is with considerable difficulty and some danger that
steamers make their ascent. The river is here 76 feet deep and its waters
form a whirlpool, (Gewirre). This place and every other one of interest
along