The Unterberg, however, is not the only mountain in Germany supposed to be the haunt of preternatural hunters.

The salt mines at Halleim, about four miles from Saltzburg, are deservedly celebrated. The entrance is near the summit of a mountain, and the ascent, though over a good road, long and tedious. Near the summit is a village with a handsome church. Seeing a crowd assembled round the door of a public house, we were informed, that they were celebrating a jubilee, on the fiftieth anniversary of the marriage of an old couple, and, at the same time, the wedding of a grandson. We were invited in as soon as observed, and treated with cake, wine, and beer. The dance was going on merrily, and some of our party joined in it, con spirito; a circumstance which seemed to give much satisfaction. The persons of the younger damsels were not uncomely, nor were their countenances without expression: but their dress was such as would have disfigured far more perfect forms, and turned beauty itself into deformity. To enliven the dance, they now and then clapped their hands and uttered a shriek very grating to ears unaccustomed to the tones of Alpine merriment. We departed, pleased with the novelty of the scene, and still more with the hospitality of the good people.

At length we reached the summit, and entered the mines by a long subterranean gallery, which terminated in the mouth of the first descent. We there accoutred ourselves in miners, dresses, and slid down five hundred feet, in a manner perfectly safe and commodious. It is managed thus. The shaft may be about four feet broad, and about five high, worked above into the form of an arch. The line may diverge about thirty feet in the hundred from the perpendicular. The space in the middle is hollowed and

worked into steps. On each side of these steps, at about a foot distance, runs a pole like the side of a ladder. On these poles a miner reclines with his feet extended, so that the poles pass under his knees and under his arms. A traveller places himself behind him in the same posture, but so close, as to rest the inside of his knees on the miner's shoulders. The others follow the example, and form a line, in such a manner, that the one above always rests gently on the shoulders of the one below. Another miner generally goes in the middle, and a third closes the rear. The first miner regulates the motion, and if he find it necessary to check or stop it entirely, he need only to put his foot backward, and touch one of the steps behind. The miners carry torches made of the fir tree. When the line is formed, upon a signal given, the miner undermost lets the ropes loose (for two ropes run parallel with the poles and nearly touch them) and glides down with great rapidity. We suddenly found ourselves in an immense hall, lighted up with a prodigious number of candles. This hall was very long and broad but extremely low, and as the ceiling was flat, unsupported either by pillars or props, and apparently of very crumbling materials, it was natural to feel some apprehension of its giving way. The miners, however, tranquillized us, by assuring us that such accidents never happened, however probable they might appear. The sides were adorned here and there with basso relievos of different bishops, rudely worked in the earth or rock. The lights, as I said above, were numerous; but instead of being reflected from a great variety of spars and shining minerals, which a traveller might naturally expect to find in a salt mine, the blaze falls sullen and dead from the walls, and serves only to shew the thickness of the surrounding gloom. From this hall we passed into a gallery, and thence descended, in the same manner as before, into a second, a third, and a fourth, of nearly the same form and dimensions. These halls are used for the following purpose: the salt is worked

from the sides and ceiling; then water is let in, and kept confined till it is impregnated with salt, after which it is drained away into the salt works, and the earthy particles remain deposited on the floor.

We quitted the mine with as much facility as we entered. We were placed astride a long bench; one miner moved before to guide, two others were placed behind to push this bench down a gently inclined plane. After some minutes of rapid motion, we perceived the appearance of a star, which gradually increased upon us, till we were launched once more into full day. The exit is as picturesque as the entrance is gloomy. It opens under a cliff, clad with brambles growing out of its crevices, and overhung with pines and firs, clinging to the sides, and bending from the brows of the precipice. On one side, a torrent bursting from the crag, tumbles from steep to steep, till it engulphs itself in a deep shaded dell; and on the other, far below, stretches the town of alleim, with its white houses and spire. On our exit, the miners presented each of us with a little box containing specimens of salt. They were very beautiful in colour and shape, but are not easily preserved, as they crumble into dust by the motion of the carriage, and are dissolved by the least humidity. On the whole, our visit to the mines of Halleim was a very pleasant, and not unimproving excursion,

Our stay at Saltzburg was much enlivened by the hospitality of Prince J. Schwartzenburg, a canon of the cathedral, to whom the Princess of Schwartzenburg had obligingly recommended us. This young nobleman entertained us with great splendour, pointed out to us the most interesting objects, introduced us to the best company at his dinners, concerts, and suppers, and rendered the place so agreeable, that we fixed the day of our departure with no small

reluctance. We must ever retain a grateful recollection of his attention and kindness.

February the 10th. About nine in the morning we set off from Saltzburg. A thick fog hung over the surrounding scenery. We could only perceive that the road ran over a plain, naked in general, but occasionally ornamented with villages, whose graceful spires at intervals attracted our attention. After having crossed the plain, we reached the skirts of a vast mountain, presenting at first a black indistinct mass, which cast a dark shade on the fog that enveloped it, and then just displayed its fir-clad summit so far above the mist, that it appeared to hang in the air, and to belong to some other region.

Reichenhall is a well-built little town, or rather village, remarkable for its salt works, and in a prosperous condition. We were now at the very foot of the Alps, and entered their defiles at a place called Unkin, about one mile from Reichenhall. The road first sweeps along the base of a noble eminence covered with firs; a church spire rises on the side of a hill; and on the summit of the same hill stands a castle in ruins. Proceeding onwards we come to the foot of the precipice, which with its castle overhangs the road in tremendous majesty. We then enter a dell, a sudden turn of which presents on one side a vast mountain clad with firs; while on the other the precipice, girded with a zone of forest trees, increases in height and grandeur, and, surmounted with the old rampart walls, looks like the battlemented dwelling of a race of giants. In front an immense mass, covered with a hundred woods, and half wrapped in fogs and clouds, obstructs the view, and forms an awful foreground to the picture. Still continuing to ascend, we wind along the dell, with a torrent murmuring by the road side,

VOL. I.

C

and all around mountains in various grotesque forms, increasing in height, in shagginess, and in horror.

The scene was here truly tremendous. The defile is very narrow, leaving space only for the road and for the torrent. The mountains rise on each side so nearly perpendicular, that the vast forests growing on their sides cast a dismal shade over the road, and loaded as they were with a weight of snow, seemed ready to fall, and bury the traveller as he passed below. Now and then, a chasm broke the uniformity of this gloomy scenery, and presented an object less dark, but equally terrific-a torrent arrested in its fall by the frost, hanging from the brow of a crag in solid masses, and terminating in immense pointed icicles. The least of these icicles, if detached from the sheet above, would have crushed the whole party; and, when contemplated thus suspended over our heads, jamjam lapsura cadentique adsimilis, could not fail to excite some emotions of terror. Whenever the mountains receded and sloped backwards, they only enabled us to discover forests rising above each other, and swelling into new regions, till they concealed their extent and elevation in the clouds. The snow lay deep on the road, and on the approach of night began to fall again in great quantities. We moved slowly on; and when night set in with all the darkness of the season, our situation appeared such as might have discouraged even experienced travellers. After some hours' exertion, and very little progress, our drivers were seriously alarmed, and entreated us to allow them to return with their horses, before the depth of the snow, which was every moment increasing, should render the roads impassable. They promised to come to our assistance early in the morning, with a sufficient number of persons to remove the snow, and enable us to proceed. This proposal, as may be supposed, was rejected, and the drivers were, partly by representations, and partly by