The Danube Steam Navigation Company, to say nothing of others, runs an excellent series of steamboats, with reasonable fares, for all who care to see something of the fine scenery through which the Danube passes in part of its course. In winter the higher reaches are often frozen and traffic is interrupted, but in summer the whole trip, from Passau to the Iron Gates, is a delightful one, giving an insight into the heart of the country. The danger from floods has been commented on, but this is caused by melting snow and is not to be feared in summer. At one time rapids made parts of the passage so dangerous that the sensation surpassed mere excitement and became something worse, but by a steady policy of clearing away difficulties and blowing up rocks much has been done to render the passage safe without spoiling its fine effects. Not the least interesting point of the trip is the strange medley of nationalities one is sure to meet on the boat; Austrians, Germans, Turks, Dalmatians, Jews, Slavs, and Hungarians are mingled in odd disorder, and the clamour of tongues produces a veritable Babel. This indeed gives a variety of life and colour often absent from other trips which may have as much to offer in the way of scenery. Passau itself, a quaint, old-fashioned, irregular place, is in Bavaria, but as it is only a short distance from the Austrian border, it is usually made the starting-place by those who wish particularly to traverse Austria-Hungary. The river Inn, which flows into the Danube at Passau, greatly increases its volume and gives another reason for starting here. Not far below Passau, in mid-stream, standing out more or less according to the state of the water, is the great rock which breaks the current in twain and marks the meeting-place of the two countries. This is called the Jochenstein, or Joachim’s stone. The respective Governments have been careful to impress their insignia on their own sides of it. There is something more impressive about an unusual barrier like this, with the fugitive water speeding past it from Bavaria into Austria at the rate of tons every second, than about the more prosaic landmarks usually found. The scenery, taken generally, is varied and beautiful; there are sometimes stern cliffs standing out at an angle, so that the current winds round to pass them, and sometimes they form a grand defile. Many are bare and rocky, others fir-clad, and constantly the grey ruins of an ancient castle may be seen perched on some boss, worn by age and weather to a likeness of the rock on which it stands, an unconscious manifestation that “protective” colouring is found elsewhere than in living species and an argument against the theory associated with it! Every castle has its own tradition, readily repeated and religiously believed, like that of Schneiderschlossel, where a bishop and a goat and a tailor are mixed in equal proportions, making up a capital story.