But the anonymous author of _An Autumn near the Rhine_ gives a more detailed account of the timber-rafts of Germany, of which we will avail ourselves. A little below Andernach, on the banks of the Rhine, the small village of Namedy appears on the left bank, under a wooded mountain. The Rhine here forms a little bay, where the pilots are accustomed to unite together the lesser rafts of timber, floated down the tributary rivers into the Rhine, and to construct enormous floats, which are navigated to Dordrecht and sold. These machines have the appearance of a floating village, composed of twelve or fifteen huts, on a large platform of oak and deal timber. They are frequently eight or nine hundred feet long, and sixty or seventy in breadth. The rowers and workmen sometimes amount to seven or eight hundred, superintended by pilots and a proprietor, whose habitation is superior in size and elegance to the rest. The raft is composed of several layers of trees, placed one on the other, and tied together. A large raft draws not less than six or seven feet water. Several smaller ones are attached to it, by way of protection, besides a string of boats, loaded with anchors and cables, and used for the purpose of sounding the river, and going on shore. The domestic economy of an East Indiaman is hardly more complete. Poultry, pigs, and other animals, are to be found on board, and several butchers are attached to the suite. A well-supplied boiler is at work night and day in the kitchen. The dinner hour is announced by a basket stuck on a pole, at which signal the pilot gives the word of command, and the workmen run from their quarters to receive their allowances. The consumption of provisions in the voyage to Holland is almost incredible, sometimes amounting to forty or fifty thousand pounds of bread, eighteen or twenty thousand pounds of fresh meat, a considerable quantity of salt meat, and butter, vegetables, &c., in proportion. The expenses are so great, that a capital of three or four hundred thousand florins is considered necessary to undertake a raft. Their navigation is a matter of considerable skill, owing to the abrupt windings, the rocks and shallows of the river; and some years ago the secret was thought to be monopolized by a boatman of Rudesheim and his son.