extra early start; but, if favoured with fine weather, even although the boats are not equal to those on the more frequented Rhine, we are sure the tourist’s opinion of the Elbe will be much enhanced. Leitmeritz, a town of some 10,000 people, is prettily situated on the east bank of the Elbe, with the mountains of the Saxon frontier behind, and the fertile plains of Bohemia stretching out in front. An island in the river, shaded by beautiful old trees, forms a peculiarly attractive pleasure-garden for the town’s-folk, but the river has sad memories here. The well-known tragic story of the Burgomeister’s Daughter recalls the martyrs of the Hussite times, who were thrown bound into the water.
It is unnecessary to remind our readers that Teplitz and Carlsbad are both in Bohemia. In connection with the latter place it is interesting to know that one of the pastors who now takes a leading part on the evangelical side in the Bohemian Church, traces the beginning of his spiritual life to conversation with Duncan Matheson while that earnest man visited Carlsbad to recruit his health after the fatigues of the Crimea.
The centre of Bohemia, rich agricultural land, presents comparatively little which, apart from historical associations, would tempt the mere tourist, but Moravia, in the south-east, affords endless pleasing combinations of river, wood, and hill, and is not destitute of either gory battlefield or picturesque castle.
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