Tobogganing has become not only a fashionable pastime amongst visitors, but also with the better class inhabitants of Innsbruck. And thus every evening when the snow is sufficient and in good condition, hundreds of tobogganers make their way of the heights of Igls and Mutters, where the best tracks are prepared. Sunday is, however, the great day; and then the long runs near Hall and Oberperfutz are crowded with hundreds of bob-sleighs and tobogganers. The Hall run is famous throughout Tyrol. A road extends from Salzberg far into the Karwendel mountains, passing through beautiful Alpine scenery to Hall itself, forming a natural run or track some five kilometres (just over three miles) in length, with a drop of nearly 3000 feet in that distance. The Innsbruck Club, by means of a snow plough, keeps a run about fifteen feet wide clear. This track is to be soon further lengthened to the extent of two kilometres by carrying it as far as Lafatscherjoch, where several important races are arranged and held every year. Winter sports are indulged in on all sides. Along the valley of the swiftly flowing Inn from Schwaz, past Jenbach and Brixlegg on to Kufstein, one finds facilities for those most invigorating of pastimes tobogganing, ski-ing, and skating. Even the children have their little home-made and often ornamented toboggans, and on the mountain roads and by-paths one meets with scores of youngsters emulating their elders and foreign visitors; whilst the frozen tributary streams which fall into the Inn provide fine skating grounds and curling links without stint set amid the delightful scenery, which had so much to do with the popularity of the valley of the Inn and Innsbruck as winter holiday resorts. It is not without reason that many who come to the capital of Tyrol return again and again, finding in its life and movement, its historic buildings, associations, and art treasures material for study; in its climate renewed health and vigour. The circle of snow-capped environing hills, upon which effects of cloud and sunlight ceaselessly pass, never palls; and in the ancient byways and secluded courtyards ears and minds attuned to the historic past seem to catch the echoes and see visions of stirring scenes, and the pageantry of long ago when knights and ladies and serving-men, and burghers in quaint old-time costumes trod the rough-paved streets. FOOTNOTES: [10] See Zoller's "Geschichte der Stadt Innsbruck." [11] By some authorities the work is stated to have been carried out by Andrea Crivelli of Trent. [12] See Klöppel's "Maximilian." [13] This is as stated in Baedeker, and is the view of several authorities, though by no means certain.-C. H. CHAPTER V THE ENVIRONS OF INNSBRUCK--CASTLE AMBRAS AND ITS TREASURES--IGLS: A QUAINT LEGEND CONCERNING ITS CHURCH--THE STUBAI VALLEY, AND SOME VILLAGES--HALL AND ITS SALT MINES--SPECKBACHER'S OLD HOME--ST. MICHAEL