Journal of a Tour in the Years 1828-1829, through Styria, Carniola, and Italy, whilst Accompanying the Late Sir Humphry DavyTobin, J. J.
History
Journal of a Tour in the Years 1828-1829, through Styria, Carniola, and Italy, whilst Accompanying the Late Sir Humphry Davy
Tobin, J. J.
Davy, Humphry, Sir, 1778-1829; Europe -- Description and travel
Upon the arrival of the fisherman we found the case to be as the
Commissary had supposed, and the man pleaded in his defence that it was
allowed to take away both rod and fish from any one so offending. The
Commissary, however, told him he ought to have warned Sir Humphry of
this. The poor man said he had done so, but they would not understand
him, and in spite of his defence, the Commissary compelled him to
deliver up the rod and basket, with which I returned to Ischl.
_21st._ Sir Humphry set out this morning in his little cabriolet on a
fishing excursion up the valley of the Traun, to the lake of Hallstadt,
and took me with him. This lake, about eight miles to the north east
of Ischl, is of a very grand and imposing character, but still does
not equal the Traun-See in the diversity and beauty of its banks. We
drove over a wooden bridge at the end of the lake, where the Traun
flows out of it, and then round its shores for a short distance to
Obertraun, where the road terminated. We here took a boat and rowed
for some miles up the lake, opposite to the small town of Hallstadt.
The view from hence was superb; the nearer houses seemed built in
the water, behind these the salt works are seen, extensive and noble
buildings, more like the palace or seignoral chateau of the lord of
the surrounding territory, than a manufactory; and beyond them rose
the mountain which contains the salt-mine, a stupendous mass of rock
capped with eternal snow, and to the left appeared the glaciers of the
Schneeberg. Rather to the right of the saltworks, embosomed in wood,
lay the rest of the town of Hallstadt, and one large house was situated
some thousand feet above the lake, standing alone in the wood. Along
the side of the mountain we saw what appeared to be a pathway, but
the boatman told us this was the canal cut for the pipes which convey
the salt-water from the mines of Hallstadt to the works of Ischl and
Ebensee. This is a stupendous undertaking, for the pipes are conveyed a
great distance over rivers and vallies and along mountains, where the
passage for the pipes has been cut for many miles through the solid
rock. Sir Humphry fished for some time but without success, when, not
wishing to visit the town, we rowed back to the village of Obertraun,
and on our way thither passed by the _Gosauzwang_, the most celebrated
part of the saliduct or salt canal between Hallstadt and Ebensee. The
three pipes are here carried across a very wild and romantic glen, the
defile of the Gosau, a mountain stream which runs down through it. Four
lofty columns of brick work, about two hundred feet in height, are
built up from the bottom of the valley and from out of the waters of
the Gosau, to a level with the pipes, which are thus carried over the
valley, being laid from pier to pier; and they serve at the same time
as a bridge to any foot passenger who may wish to pass, being railed in
on each side. These pipes, after traversing one or two smaller streams,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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