Elbingerode, Inn, Engel; where horses and carriages may be hired for the ascent of the Brocken; a Hanoverian town of 2500 inhabitants. In the vicinity are numerous iron mines, or rather quarries, for the ore occurs in such large masses that it is quarried out in the open air. It is smelted in the neighbourhood. N. B. The termination rode, so often occurring in the of places in the Hartz, signifies a spot where roots of trees have been grubbed up.

names

About 2 miles below Elbingerode, in the gorge of the Bode, close to the village of Rübeland (Inn: Golden Löwe), are the two caves of Baumanshöhle in the cliffs on the left bank, and Bielshöhle in the precipice on the right bank, opposite. The Baumanshöhle has the largest chambers, and is interesting to the geologist because bones of the Great Cave Bear, now extinct, have been found in it. The Bielshöhle has the finest and whitest

stalactites. They are both under the charge of guides residing in the village, who receive about 4 groschen from each person for showing them, with something extra for additional lights.

About six miles from Rübeland is Blankenburg. Inns: Krone;-Weisser Adler. A town of 3000 inhabitants, belonging to the Duke of Brunswick, who has a Palace here. It is an ungainly building, but the situation and view from it are beautiful. The best pictures have been removed, but there still remains one of the White Lady, who haunts this palace as well as that of Berlin, and other royal residences in Germany; and two portraits, painted by the father of Frederick the Great with the point of his finger!

It takes three quarters of an hour to walk up to the ruined castle of Reinstein, or Regenstein, built by the Emperor Henry the Fowler (919) to keep the Huns in subjection. It has many chambers excavated in the

solid rock. The view hence is admired.

Blankenburg is but four miles and a half distant from the Prussian village of Thale, at the foot of the ROSSTRAPPE. The Inn at Thale (Worfels) is not very good; there is a better one near the iron-works (Blechhütte), on the opposite side of the Bode. This river is here hemmed in between the Rosstrappe on its left bank, and the Devil's Tanzplatz (ballroom) on the right; two lofty mountains whose precipitous granite cliffs rising on each side, give a character of the utmost grandeur to this gorge or ravine. A steep foot-path leads from the river-side to the top of the Rosstrappe. A carriage may ascend half way, by a circuitous road, as far as the Bude (Boothie, Scotch), a station where refreshments may be had, including a peculiar liquor called Birken Wasser (birch water), extracted from the birch.

The Rosstrappe is a vast precipice of granite, isolated on three sides, rising to the height of 500 feet above the Bode, and projecting over the valley like a bastion. Its summit is a platform of rock, five or six feet square. Its name comes from a mark in the rock bearing a distant resem→ blance to a horse's hoofs. The view into the depths below is very grand. A different path leads in zigzags down to the river side. The defile here displays a scene of the most romantic and gloomy character. It is perhaps the wildest and most interesting spot in the whole district of the Hartz. After threading the gorge, by the water-side, back to the Blechhütte, some persons ascend by a steep path to the Tanzplatz, on the right side of the river, from which there is a view not inferior to that from the Rosstrappe, whose gigantic precipices appear to great advantage from this side.

A cross-road from Blechhütte leads to Gernrode, nine miles off, on the high road from Nordhausen to Magdeburg (p. 324). About nine

miles south of Gernrode, and about | two to the west of the post-station of Harzgerode, lies the watering-place of Alexisbad, which may be adopted as night quarters, if the traveller be going south. If he be on his way to Berlin, he will proceed to Quedlinburg and Magdeburg. If to Brunswick, he will shape his course by Blankenburg, to Halberstadt. If to Leipsig, he will find a tolerable crossroad from Gernrode to Ballenstadt (where the Inn, Zur Stadt Bernberg, is excellent), and by Mansfeld to Eisleben. If, on the other hand, he be bent on making the entire tour of the Hartz, he may proceed from Blankenburg, by Elbingerode, to Andreasberg, at the south. ern foot of the Brocken, a town of 4100 inhabitants, interesting only to miners and mineralogists. (Best Inns: Schützenhaus and Rathhaus.) The silver mines are situated in rocks of clay-slate. The shaft of the Samson mine is 2333 feet deep. The tilt-hammers, forges, and waterengines of Andreasberg are all put in motion by the supply of water from the great reservoir under the Brocken, called Oder Teich. The dam which collects the water is a construction of granite masonry. The distance from hence to Clausthal is 14 miles.

Alexisbad. Inns: Das Logirhaus, containing 60 apartments;Das Traiteurhaus, with about 30. Alexisbad consists of a small group of buildings, for the accommodation of visiters, erected in the romantic valley of the Selke, by the Duke of Anhalt Bernberg, after whom it is named. He has a smaller villa here. Besides the buildings enumerated above, there is a bath-house, and a saloon, in which the table-d'hôte takes place every day; also used as a ball-room, with adjoining apartments for gambling, &c.

Two mineral springs supply water for the baths, and for drinking. The water is a very strong chalybeate. Most of the resources of a German

watering-place (§ 38) are to be found here; but Alexisbad owes its great attraction to its agreeable situation, and the excursions, in its neighbourhood, to Magdesprung, Magdetreppe, Klostermuhle; the Victorshohe, &c.

ROUTE LXXIV.

THE HARTZ-NORDHAUSEN TO MAGDE

BURG.

14 Pruss. miles 69 Eng. miles.

The schnellpost from Berlin to Coblenz travels to and fro twice a week along this road, which nearly forms the boundary line of the Hartz to the eastward.

Nordhausen is included in Route LXIV. (page 298).

23 Stolberg. Inns: Weisses Ross;-Deutsches Haus. A town of 2000 inhabitants, belonging to the Count of Stolberg, a mediatized prince, whose territory is now included in that of Prussia. His castle, on the height above, contains a library, small armoury, and the statue of an idol (Krodo), dug up under the walls. Thomas Münzer, the fanatic leader of the rebel peasants in the sixteenth century, was born here, in a house still standing near the market-place.

2 Hartzgerode. Inns; Weisses Ross;-Drei Thurmen. A town of 2400 inhabitants, belonging to the Prince of Anhalt Bernberg. About

two miles to the west of Hartzgerode lies the watering-place Alexisbad, where a traveller, not pressed for time, may spend one or two days very agreeably, in exploring the beauties of its neighbourhood.

About three miles north of Hartzgerode, our road is joined on the left by that from Alexisbad to Magdeburg, and crosses the river Selke at the iron works of Mägdesprung, consisting of a number of iron forges, furnaces, and miners' houses scattered along the banks of the river, over a distance of nearly two miles. The situation is very romantic, and the dis

tance from hence to Alexisbad is about three miles. On a neighbouring height, a tall obelisk of cast-iron has been erected as a monument to a Duke of Anhalt. The hill called Mägdetreppe (Maid's foot-print) receives its name from the legend of a giantess who once haunted this district, and, in one of her wanderings, leapt over the valley from the opposite hill, called Ramberg, leaving the marks of her feet upon the spot where she alighted. In proof of this story, they are still visible in the rock! The summit commands a fine view. Leaving Mägdesprung, the road passes, on the left, the ruined castle of Heinrichsburg, built by the Counts of Stolberg.

Gernrode; about nine miles from this place is the Rosstrappe, one of the most interesting points in the Hartz (p. 322). A detour from the road of two days would suffice to enable a traveller to see it, and to ascend the Brocken. The latter part of the excursion is only advisable when the weather is settled.

2 Quedlinburg. Inns: Deutsches Haus;-Buntes Lamm. A Prussian town of 12,200 inhabitants, on the Bode. It was originally a free imperial city of much consequence. Many German emperors resided here, and several councils of the church were held in the town. It is still surrounded by turreted walls.

The Castle, on an eminence above the town, was the residence of the Abbesses of Quedlinburg, who were princesses of the empire, having a

seat on the bench of Rhenish bishops, and being generally members of royal or noble families. It is now falling to decay, stripped of its splendour, and in part converted into a school.

The once beautiful Aurora Maria, Countess of Königsmark, mistress of Augustus the Strong, King of Saxony, and mother of Marshal Saxe, is buried in a vault beneath the Stiftskirche. The sexton does not scruple to open her coffin at the demand of the curious, and to display a body now reduced to the condition of a brown mummy. The Emperor Henry the Fowler, his empress, and many abbesses of the monastery, were also buried here.

The poet Klopstock was born here, in a small house at the foot of the castle hill. A monument. has been erected to him in the garden called Bruhl. In the Rathhaus is preserved, among other musty curiosities, the oaken cage in which the citizens of Quedlinburg imprisoned a Count of Reinstein in 1336, for nearly two years, on account of numerous acts of tyranny, and oppressive exactions which he had committed against them. Not satisfied with this barbarous punishment, they were on the point of executing him, when the emperor demanded that his life should be spared, on condition of his paying a fine of 3000 dollars, and adding seven new towers to the town walls.

3 Egeln, } 3 Magdeburg, S

In R. LXVIII.,

p. 305.

In the next stage, the sequestered Cistercian Abbey Chorin, now a Government building, and several small lakes, are passed.

3 Angermünde, on a lake called the Munde, has 3000 inhabitants. A macadamized road goes from hence to Prenzlow. Our road reaches the banks of the Oder at

23 Schwedt. Inn Deutsches Haus. A town of 4600 inhabitants, many of them are descendants of French emigrants, and a portion are Jews. The Royal Palace was originally the residence of a branch of the family of Markgraves of Brandenburg, now extinct. Their summer palace Montplaisir lies at the termination of an avenue two miles from the town. One of the Markgraves and his wife are buried in granite coffins in the French Church.

The Oder is here split into two

branches; that which passes close to Schwedt is called the Mülitz, there is a bridge over it. The road continues along its left bank, over a heath, and enters the ancient province of Pomerania before reaching

23 Garz. Inn: Schwarzer Adler. On approaching Stettin, a good view is obtained of it and of the lake of Damm, formed by the Oder spreading out into a broad sheet of water behind it. The road is commanded by the guns of Fort Preussen at the entrance into

4 Stettin. Inns: H. de Prusse, in the Louisen Strasse ;-Drei Kronen. This town, the capital of Pomerania, lies upon the left bank of the Oder, but is connected by bridges with the suburb Lastadie on the right bank.

It has 32,000 inhabitants, and is remarkable as a strong fortress and place of considerable commerce, being the outlet for the manufactures of Silesia, and the depôt for foreign goods required to supply that province as well as the metropolis of Prussia. In 1814, 1534 vessels entered its port, and 1180 cleared out. The Churches are scarce worth notice except for their age; from the tower of St. Jacobi there is a fine view of the city and the river. In the Königsplatz is a marble statue of Frederick the Great, by Schadow. In the Marienplatz is the New Gymnasium, to which an observatory, library, and museum are attached. Two Empresses of Russia were born here: Catherine the Great, and Maria Feodorowna, wife of the Emperor Paul. There is a Theatre here. The chief Promenade is the Plantage,. outside the Anclam Gate.

The Oder is here divided into four branches. In order to reach the town and fortress of Alt Damm, on the right bank, the road is conducted along a dam of masonry, over three long, and twenty shorter bridges.

A capital macadamized post-road is just finished from Stettin to Danzig by Cöslin.

The Oder, after flowing past Stettin, discharges itself into a large lake called the Haff; this again communicates with the Baltic by three mouths, which form the two large islands, Usedom, on which lies Swinemünde, and Wollin.

A steam-boat runs three times aweek in summer, between Stettin and

Swinemünde. Inns: that kept by Olthoff;-Deutsches Haus ;-König von Preussen. This town, of 3500 inhabitants, has latterly acquired importance from the improvements made in its harbour, which have rendered it the port of Stettin. The entrance to it is unluckily very shallow, but extensive works have been erected to remedy this defect. Here vessels of large burthen now unload their cargoes, which are transported to Stettin in lighters. Swinemünde stands on the shores of the Baltic, and close to the Swine, one of the mouths or channels through which the Oder empties itself into the sea.

About 1 mile from the town, and separated from it by a wood, lie the Sea Baths of Swinemünde, consisting of a Bath-house and an Assemblyroom (Gesellschaftshaus), in which there is a daily table d'hôte dinner at one. Visiters usually lodge at the Inns in the town.

Distinct spots, separated by considerable intervals, are marked out on the seashore as bathing-places for ladies and gentlemen. At the one extremity men are allowed to bathe without bathing-machines or covered cabinets; at the opposite end the females enjoy the same privileges, and between these remote spots are ranged bathing-machines for either sex.

Jomsburg, the capital of a Pagan republic, and described by historians as the greatest city of Europe in the 11th century, stood on an island at the mouth of the Oder. Its exact site is not determined.

In the course of the summer, a steam-boat makes several excursions