Germany, Bohemia, and Hungary, Visited in 1837. Vol. II — John Shaqi
Germany, Bohemia, and Hungary, Visited in 1837. Vol. IIGleig, G. R. (George Robert)
History
Germany, Bohemia, and Hungary, Visited in 1837. Vol. II
Gleig, G. R. (George Robert)
Austria -- Description and travel; Bohemia (Czech Republic) -- Description and travel; Germany -- Description and travel
Kamnitz has at one period been a fortified town, though probably that
period is very remote,--for against modern artillery a place so
situated could not hold out a single day. Its gateways, and some
fragments of the old wall, remain,--objects at all times too
interesting to be wantonly removed. Beneath a couple of these venerable
arches we passed,--first on entering, then on leaving the town,--after
which we found ourselves traversing a long and irregular hamlet, which
in the form of a suburb lines one side of the road, and so faces a
pretty little stream that skirts the other. Crossing the rivulet by a
bridge with two arches, we began to climb the hill, on the brow of
which Stein Jena is situated, and from which our friend, the young
priest of Auffenberg, had given us to understand, that we should obtain
one of the most magnificent views in this part of Bohemia. Long and
toilsome was this ascent; for though the main road was still beneath
our feet, so perfectly had its fabricators set the rules of their art
at defiance, that it ran sheer and abrupt, with scarce a trifling
deflection, from the base to the summit. The sun, also, beat upon us
with a power which we found it extremely uncomfortable to sustain, and
our thirst was excessive. And here it may, perhaps, be worth while for
the benefit of other pedestrians, to remark, that we began our march,
in reference to the victualling department, on an utterly erroneous
principle. Breakfasting at half past five or six o'clock in the
morning, we made up our minds not to eat a solid meal again till our
day's work should be accomplished; in other words, to content ourselves
at noon with some slight refreshment, such as a morsel of bread, or a
sandwich and a little weak brandy and water, swallowed in the shade of
some grove, and to sup heartily when we should come in to our night's
quarters, at six or seven o'clock in the evening. The experience of
this day sufficed to convince me that in arranging this plan I had not
been so successful as the Duke of Wellington used to be with his
commissariat. Our bread had become hard and mouldy. Our brandy was as
hot as fire, and we could not find a spring of water sufficiently
sheltered to cool it. For consistency-sake, however, we twisted down a
few mouthfuls, but we could not manage more; and it was unanimously
voted, that thenceforth an hour's halt at mid-day in some house of
call, would be an arrangement alike conducive to the refreshment of our
limbs, and the well-being of our stomachs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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