Almost all the immense mass of mountains which extend from Bonn to Andernach, is composed of the basalt and slate; the former has a more artificial appearance than almost any other mineral production. In no form can it puzzle the philosopher more than at the Giant’s Causeway, in Ireland, where it assumes a columnar shape, which has every appearance of having been chisseled by the hand of a skilful mason, and of having been regular granite cooling after fusion, and formed into regular masses by crystallization. In the small cavities of these mountains the martins and swallows find refuge, and in a comfortable state of torpidity pass through the cold and cheerless weather of winter. The children of the peasantry amuse themselves in discovering their retreats, at an apparent exposure of their own lives. In an amphitheatre of vast dusky basalt mountains, the sombre gates, towers and pinnacles of Andernach appeared: in consequence of the river making a long sweep, I landed with an intention of rejoining the boat at a village named by the skipper; a more solemn scene of gloom and grandeur, I never contemplated: the ruins of this town towards Coblentz are of great antiquity. The inhabitants insist upon it, that the remains of the Emperor Valentine are deposited in one of their churches, and that Julius Cæsar when he so victoriously fought against the Suabians, passed over the Rhine at this spot, where Drusus the general of Augustus, built one of those fifty castles which are erected on the banks of the Rhine: but the French, who narrowly investigated every part of the river which their victorious arms enabled them to visit, with great acuteness, and with the assistance of history, believe that this celebrated landing was effected a little higher up the river, a short distance from Engers, at a place called the White Tower (der Weisse Thurm), the venerable front of which I saw as I afterwards advanced on our right, in the centre of a sudden recess of the river, where it has the appearance of having served the united purposes of a castle and a watch tower; at its base is a considerable village, which formerly belonged to the Elector of Treves: this situation is from a combination of local advantages, peculiarly favorable to the completion of such a passage, and in confirmation of the opinion, a great number of Roman antiquities have been found there. General Hoche, at the head of an immense army, aided by the obscurity of the night, crossed the Rhine at this place in 1797, and astonished the imperial troops the next morning by their presence.