But we might have been frankly told at the same time by those who knew, that better specimens were to be seen at Paris and Vienna, and that, beyond being a marchand de Gorilles in a large way, M. du Chaillu had nothing new to add to the researches of naturalists.

Had the wonderful "Adventures" been merely let off by the Gaboon hero after dinner, as occasion required, and to meet the demand for novelty to which our philosophers are not insensible, they might have passed for what they were worth without Professor Owen standing sponsor for them. But the traveller must write his book, and show pictures of all he saw; it would look so real. Alas for him, the voice of the inferior animal was recognised in spite of the lion's skin; he was found out in his dates, the critics proved an alibi for him, and the sportsmen couldn't see how he shot the eagle or the great Gorilla. For a "sensation" public the "Adventures" are just the thing; though we could fancy Messrs. Harper of New York "guessed" they were a trifle too wonderful, or Mr. Murray would not have become the fortunate possessor of the traveller's notes, which, properly dressed, and well introduced, have been received with so much favour. But there is a public who prefer truth to miracles, and it is for their sake that we have taken some trouble to come at a right estimate of M. du Chaillu and the Gorilla.

Little Switzerlands.

DOTTED Over the map of Europe, there are sundry districts more or less known which, from some picturesque features in their respective neighbourhoods, are fondly compared by their inhabitants with that grand combination of mountain, lake, and forest met with in Switzerland. The Saxon Switzerland, on the banks of the Elbe above Dresden, is one of these. The Franconian Switzerland is another, much less visited, but not at all less worthy of a visit. The former of these is well enough known; but, considering the extent to which Europe is now intersected by railways, it would be difficult to mention a corner of the Continent less resorted to by tourists than that part of Bavaria in which the other is situated. This is still more singular, since the district alluded to is coasted on two sides by railways, connecting the important cities of Frankfort, Leipzig, and Munich. The absence of English travellers is especially remarkable, since the well-known and interesting cities of Nuremberg and Augsburg are on the same lines of railway, and Dresden and Berlin may be reached by them. A trip from Frankfort to the east as far as the town of Bamberg, and then into the Franconian Switzerland, accomplished in a short time and at no very frightful expense, will introduce the traveller to more interesting towns and scenery than would be thought possible. Only one thing is wanting,-namely, a certain familiarity with the German language. Here and there, no doubt, in the larger towns, waiters and landlords may be met with who have learnt their art on the Rhine, and can practise their French and English on the usual terms, when occasion serves, in these outlying districts; but away from the great high-road such accomplished individuals are rare; and as we gradually increase our distance, and approach the hills and forests, they die out altogether, and their absence is sensibly felt in the bills. For the benefit, then, of the home-traveller, and also of those who would like to vary their route, and, at the same time, enlarge their Continental experience, we beg to offer a short account of an excursion made in the August of this year.

Starting from the fine old town of Frankfort, a short railway journey -short even at the steady German pace-conducts to the town of Aschaffenburg, where there is very decent hotel-accommodation, and a town and neighbourhood full of interest.

We are here already so far from the ordinary resorts of our fellowcountrymen, that an Englishman, or indeed any stranger, seems an object of some astonishment as he cautiously threads the narrow, winding, illpaved street. Aschaffenburg is one of the old fortified towns of Franconia, of which the gates and towers and part of the walls still remain, while the ramparts and the fosse have been long since allowed to pass into a kind of half garden, half wilderness, extremely pleasing, and even

romantic.

Frankfort and other towns have taken advantage of the space once occupied by the defences to form beautiful public walks. But in Aschaffenburg, besides the ramparts and ditch, there is also a steep rocky hill in the very centre of the town, crowned with a fine Romanesque church, built of red sandstone, and overhanging the market-place. This rock, no doubt, at one time contributed to the defence of the place as it now does to its picturesque beauty. It was the Acropolis before it became the sanctuary; but it must always have been an ornament to the town.

Immediately outside Aschaffenburg in one direction is a public garden, covered during the summer with a multitude of noble old orange and lemon trees, and a small ruined abbey buried in trees, and surrounded by a moat. Beyond this is a large piece of ground covered with brushwood and young trees, kept as cover for pheasants. All this forms a charming shady retreat, in which one may stroll about for hours.

There is an interesting palace within the old town-walls, where the late king of Bavaria occasionally resided, in apartments whose extreme simplicity is more remarkable than any other fact concerning them. This castle is itself a reminiscence of the old prince-bishops of this part of Germany, and a multitude of portraits, each more ugly than the last, adorns the principal corridor. The king with his family have frequently resided here, and in the grounds adjacent to the castle he has constructed an extremely interesting full-sized model of a house known as that of Castor and Pollux in Pompeii. This model is an exact reproduction of the original building, with the addition of an upper story, serving as a look-out. The lower floor is very similar to that in the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, but on a larger scale, and with the addition of a kitchen and kitchenutensils in bronze, imitated from those in the museum at Naples. The interior garden also is larger, and there is a fresco on the wall of considerable merit. On the upper floor, which is reached by an outside stair, is a very beautiful terrace, looking out upon the valley of the Maine on a scene of great interest. In this part are the sleeping-rooms, and the working apartment of the lady of the house. It is much to be regretted that the idea of representing the Roman furniture, attempted in the kitchen, has not been carried out in other apartments, which are quite bare. The whole of the lower floor is in real mosaic, prepared, at some cost, in Naples. The walls are decorated with frescoes, and with a Florentine mosaic of great value.

From Aschaffenburg, the railway runs for some distance through the ancient Hyrcinian forest, known in the Middle Ages as the Spessart, and celebrated in Germany as the scene of heroic robber exploits, recorded in song and story. Schinderhannes was one of the chief of these robbers. Little is now left of the ancient wood, and the general effect in passing through is poor; but the rich deep tints of the pines, oak, and beech, which all seem to abound in different parts, gives a considerable interest to the scenery. The ground is hilly, but nowhere rises into great elevation. The Maine is reached after crossing the Spessart; and the railroad

is carried along on the right bank, past a number of small towns, till we reach the noble city of Wurzburg.

Few cities in Germany are more striking, either from their position, the style of their construction, or the number of their handsome public buildings, than this ancient seat of government of a great ecclesiastical principality. For a thousand years grand stately bishops succeeded each other, till no less than eighty-two had exercised a quiet and not injurious sway over this retired part of Central Germany, when the system was overturned in the convulsion caused by the French Revolution. The episcopal palace is a square building, of great size and extreme magnificence, now fitted up in the style of Louis XIV. Behind it is a garden, with a great display of cut hedges and fountains. In front is a noble square, ornamented by a handsome column on one side; and close by is the railway-station, including the post-office. This station is in excellent taste, and exceedingly creditable in design and execution.

What with the cathedral,-the Marien-Kirche, whose exquisitely elaborate and beautiful exterior, like that of most of the churches in this part of Germany, is spoilt by a cold and poor interior,-the noble mass of buildings belonging to the university, and a very large hospital, there are few streets in Wurzburg without some object of interest. The hotels also are large, and some of them remarkably handsome; and there is every thing to induce the traveller to pause for a day or two. In the immediate neighbourhood of the city is grown that very costly and delicate wine the Stein, well known to all who are curious in the wines of the Rhine and Maine. It is not easy, however, to obtain samples of the best vintages; and to those not in some degree accustomed to them, the Maine wines seem inferior in flavour to those grown in the Rhine-gau.

The next stage brings us to Bamberg, passing by Schweinfurth, a prosperous city on the site of a very ancient Roman town. From Schweinfurth the railway runs along the right bank of the Maine, which gradually narrows, and at length near Bamberg, where the Regnitz enters it, ceases to have any importance as a stream, although its course may with advantage be followed for some distance to the east, into a very curious and picturesque district beyond the town of Baireuth.

Bamberg, although it has the advantage of being more primitive and less visited than either of the towns we have mentioned, does not contain a great deal to induce the traveller to pause. He may pass on with advantage to the quaint little university-town of Erlangen, where he will find a good specimen of the quieter and more clerical places of instruction, of which there are a few still left in Germany. Erlangen is essentially a Protestant university, and contains more theological students than are elsewhere to be met with. It contains also one or two of those earnest working men of science whose labours are carried on, without regard to the notice of the world at large, for the pure love of science itself.

As a town, there is nothing architecturally interesting in Erlangen;

but its extremely wide streets, numerous large squares, and green spaces, somewhat remind one of the towns in the United States, where space has been abundant, and the town has been laid out by rule and line. There is, indeed, in Erlangen a good cause for this, as the town was burnt down not long ago, and rebuilt with much regularity. There are tolerable natural-history collections in the university, and several new buildings.

Leaving Erlangen, a divergence from the railway brings us into the district alluded to at the beginning of this Article, and known as the Franconian Switzerland. Many years ago this district became familiar, at least by name, to all English geologists, owing to the discovery there of a number of large caverns, in which bones of extinct animals were found in great abundance. Still it has been very rarely visited, and till lately was not accessible without much trouble and the endurance of very poor accommodation. For many years the caverns have only been regarded as objects of curiosity, for which, indeed, they are well adapted; and the owners of them are still too little interested in their contents to attempt any of those explorations that might result in far more important discoveries than have hitherto been made.

The best point from which to start to visit the Franconian Switzerland is the station of Forcheim, sixteen miles south-east of Bamberg, and above twenty-two miles north of Nuremberg. At Forcheim, carriages are waiting to be hired at the arrival of every train; for the district is now exceedingly visited by the Germans, for the performance of one of those cures which seem as necessary to the Teutonic constitution as a visit to the Rhine is to the British. In these carriages, or in a post-omnibus or other public conveyance, the traveller is conducted, at the rate of about five miles an hour, up the little valley of the Wiesent, which gradually closes in as we advance, till after about twelve miles the village of Streitburg is reached, and the rocks are seen, in occasional cliffs, jutting out through the thick wood with which the hills are clothed. At Streitburg, there being no mineral water, a cure by means of whey has been invented; and the patients establish themselves in a few large houses, with a very small modicum of furniture and decoration, where they consult the doctor, drink their whey together at six o'clock in the morning, walking backwards and forwards on a terrace, cup in hand, till breakfast-time. At half-past twelve they dine; a cup of coffee succeeds about four; towards seven they are ready for supper; and by nine most of them are in bed. Judging by the multitudes who flock to each new place, and the large proportion of the visitors under treatment, one would fancy that the Germans must be either a very sickly or very hypochondriacal people; but, after all, this love of the water-cure is well exemplified, though in a somewhat different form, and at far greater cost, at Cheltenham, Malvern, and elsewhere in our own country. At any rate, whatever the cause, these are certainly the best places for the study of character; for while at Wiesbaden, Baden-Baden, Ems, Kissingen, Carlsbad, &c., there are princes, nobles, and millionaires, the smaller establishments, where there is neither