deck. Occasionally great frowning, overhanging ridges obstructed the path, formed by some obstacle having arrested the downward flow of the lava, causing it to pile up in huge irregular masses. The whole scene was wild and desolate-looking to a degree.

We soon, however, reached a little place called the Hermitage, where there is a small inn for the refreshment of travellers. Here we stopped to rest our ponies a little and to partake of refreshment. But we had begun to find the high, hard-seated saddles a little uncomfortable, and we consequently decided to leave the ponies at the inn and perform the rest of the journey on foot. On quitting the Hermitage we made our way along an undulating path to the Atrio del Cavallo, the valley which lies between the cone of Vesuvius and Monte Somma. On our way we branched off on to one of the great fields of lava to witness a small eruption from the mountain side near the base of the cone. The scene was extraordinary. The lava we were now traversing was quite fresh, and we could see through the crevices that, a few inches below the surface, it was red-hot. The surface itself was so hot that we could not stand still, and many of the nails came out of our thick-soled boots from the action of the heat. The scorching heat, too, as we neared the flowing lava, almost blistered the skin of our faces; while the exhalations from it affected our lungs most unpleasantly. The flow of the molten matter was at that time small to what it had been,-not more than ten or a dozen yards in width. It issued from the mountain side in a slow crimson stream about the consistency of half-boiled pitch, and went coiling slowly down, assuming all sorts of fantastic shapes as it gradually cooled. As we stood watching it we were only too glad to shade our faces with our hands, while at the same time we were obliged to keep our feet incessantly moving, like soldiers marking time when at drill.

A small boy who had followed us up from the Hermitage produced some eggs from a basket and placed them to roast on the lava at our feet, which had partially cooled. In three or four minutes they were thoroughly cooked.

But the heat thrown off from this liquid fiery mass was so great that it was impossible to remain near it long, and we reluctantly retraced our steps to the path leading to the Atrio del Cavallo, whence we were to ascend the cone. This ascent is very trying to the knees, and the muscles and sinews of the legs. The cone on this side is entirely covered with small, angular, broken pieces of lava of a reddish brown colour, which are so loose, and afford such a treacherous footing, that we slipped one step back for two forward,--sometimes, in fact, every yard or two, falling upon our hands and knees. For three quarters of an hour we laboured up this toilsome ascent, and were not a little proud when our guide told us, on reaching the summit, that it generally occupies an hour, or even more.

But the space at our disposal compels us to defer the recital of our attempted descent of the crater, and of the eruption by which we were overtaken, till the next number of this magazine.

Jottings from Germany.

By F. R. G. S.

CHAPTER I.

ERMANY is a country full of interest to the Englishman, whether he be a traveller or a stay-at home. Since the year 1870 the land and the people have attracted no small share of public notice; and I therefore feel no hesitation in contributing towards the knowledge of our readers on this subject, by giving short descriptions of German life, customs, and places. It is my intention to take you first to the metropolis of what was, when I visited it, the kingdom of Prussia, but is now the empire of Germany. I will not say anything of the journey as far as Dresden. During a short stay in that city I made myself acquainted with the picture gallery for which it is so famous, and then set off again with my face towards Berlin.

At the Dresden station I got my ticket, and before I had time to put away my change, was pounced upon by a woman and a man, both wishing me to buy for a trifle-the former some views of, the latter a guide to, Saxon Switzerland. As I was just leaving that neighbourhood I dispensed with the handbook as useless, but effected a compromise by purchasing the views. The man went away as happy as the woman, for they were doubtless in league.

We were kept half-an-hour waiting in the fine entrance-hall, whose cornice is enlivened by the arms of the towns through which the Company's rail passes. I occupied my time by watching the people, and they by staring at me. There was one lady who talked English, and must have been at least 6 ft. 2 in. tall. When at length we got on to the platform, I made a dash at a carriage just as a porter was unlocking it;-but, oh dear me! is it likely you would be allowed to get into any carriage you choose? No indeed! you must first fill up those in front, and then (and not till then) may any one use those behind. However, I managed to secure a very nice seat, which I rendered still more comfortable by blowing out my life-belt and sitting on it, to the intense amusement of the company, who doubtless thought I was mad. Our carriage was soon full, and we started off at three o'clock. We did not go at a very enormous speed,-they never do on the Continent. It is rarely more than twenty miles an hour, which accounts for the infrequency of railway accidents as compared with England. The country rapidly became as flat as it is in Holland, and I soon saw I should have no more hills (to say nothing of mountains) in that

neighbourhood. The land also did not appear particularly rich for cultivation, but was in many places covered with morass. I noticed one sort of vegetable or plant that has a very brilliant yellow flower, but I do not know its name. The corn was all cut, and they had ploughed most of the fields a second time.

At Röderau I got some café and fruit, and made on the platform the acquaintance of an American, whom I had observed reading an English novel next to me. He had been two years studying medicine (diseases of the eye), in Dresden, Berlin, Leipzig, and Vienna, and was now about to set up a practice in New York.

The journey passed very quickly. In fact, I had of late been so accustomed to journeys by rail of twelve or sixteen hours, that this of five-anda-half appeared quite short. Just before we got to Berlin, we had a beautiful sunset. It made the sky appear as though in the distance there were some huge fire, it was so red. When we stopped in the Anhaltische station, I got out, parted with the young American, and rushed off to my hotel. Having studied the plan of Berlin in Baedeker,* I was already as well acquainted with the city as any one who had been there some two or three days, and I walked straight to the hotel door (a mile from the terminus) without asking any one the way. These plans are capital things, and save an immense amount of time, trouble, and expense.

SECTION SHOWING THE PLAN ON WHICH UNTER DEN LINDEN AT BERLIN IS ARRANGED.

Having obtained a room, as it was still only nine o'clock, I went out to reconnoitre the city. I had a long walk under the Linden, and met there a great number of fashionable people. This is a most splendid street, -the finest I have ever seen. It is three or four times the width of Cheapside at Bow Church, and is divided into five partitions. The middle, A, is for foot passengers only, and is the favourite promenade of the good inhabitants of Berlin. On either side of it, and also outside the rows C, are thickly planted rows of elms (and chestnuts). Elms in German mean linden, and thus the term Unter den Linden.+ B B are roadways capable of holding three carriages abreast at least; C C are rides for horse

* A well-known German guide-book.

Under the Elms.

men and women; and D D are pavements for passengers, behind which lie the palaces, State houses, barracks, and great shops, of Berlin. All these

buildings are of white stone, and massively constructed, and you may imagine how fine a street this must be, a mile long, quite straight, with the trees all down the middle, the princely edifices on either side, a bronze equestrian statue of Frederick the Great, surrounded by numbers of his generals and statesmen, in the middle, and at the western end-the Brandenburger Thor.

I thoroughly enjoyed the little glimpse I had of this by the gaslight, and then had a cup of chocolate at a conditorei, and an ice in a café. The Continent is justly famous for four things in the way of eatables -their café, their chocolate, their ices, and their confectionery. The café weisz (or white coffee), composed of nearly equal quantities of milk and coffee, is excellent. The chocolate, very strong, with a cupful of cream on the top-real cream, and very filling -is also splendid. As for the ices, no words of mine can describe how infinitely superior they are to the English. Exquisitely cold, and accompanied by a glass of water equally cold (as you may see by the frosted appearance of the tumbler), they are at the same time more in quantity, and less in price than ours. For 3d. you get more than twice the amount of a better ice than would in England be obtainable at 6d. Then the confectionery is made with pure sugar, and is extremely good.