f potentates compared to this principality. I inquired for
the abode of the prince, which could not well be far off, without being
out of his own dominions. It lay behind a wood a mile distant, and was
not visible from the inn where we stopped. Here was a capital mistake;
had the old castle, which was but half a mile from the village, been
kept up, and it seemed to be in good condition for a ruin, with the
title of Count of Hohenzollern and the war and state departments been
put in one of the towers, no one could have laughed at the pretension,
let him try as hard as he pleased; but--

We had a strong desire to visit the ruin, which puts that of Habsburg
altogether in the shade, but were prevented by a thunder-shower which
shook the principality to its centre. The Knight's Hall, the chapel and
the clock-tower are said to have been restored, and to be now in good
condition. We could do no more, however, than cast longing eyes upward
as we drove under the hill, the ground being still too wet for female
accoutrements to venture. We had a Hechingen postilion in a Hechingen
livery, and, although the man was sensible of his dignity and moved with
due deliberation, we were just one hour in crossing his master's
dominions.

Re-entering Wurtemberg, we slept that night at the village of Bahlingen.
The country next morning was particularly tame, though uneven, until
near noon, when it gradually took more interesting forms and spread
itself in pretty valleys and wooded hills. The day was pleasant; and, as
we trotted merrily through one of the vales, A---- pointed to a little
rivulet that meandered through the meadows on our right, and praised its
beauty. "I dare say it has a name; inquire of the postilion." "Wie ist
diesen fluschen?" "Mein Herr, der Donau." The Danube! There was
something startling in so unexpectedly meeting this mighty stream, which
we had seen rolling its dark flow through cities and kingdoms, a rivulet
that I could almost leap across. It was to us like meeting one we had
known a monarch, reduced to the condition of a private man. I was musing
on the particles of water that were gliding past us on their way to the
Black Sea, when we drove up to the door of the inn at Tuttlingen.

This was in the Black Forest, and what is more, there were some trees in
it. The wood was chiefly larches, whence I presume the name. Our host
discovered from the servants that we were Americans, and he immediately
introduced the subje