Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1874-09-12
The portion of the Rhine which
travellers most admired extends
EpOAr RON-N To RrN-orDDT

The portion of the Rhine which
travellers most admired extends
FROM BONN TO BINGEN,
a distance of 80 miles. Below Bonn
to the mouth of the river, it flows
through a generally level country,
with tame scenery, excellent for
grain-growing and cattle-grazing,
but presenting nothing grand or ro-
mantle; and, above Bingen the
hills are low, the valley wide-a
pleasant, fruitful land, flowing with
OIL and wine, but not soul-inspiring,
nor dotted with old castles and per
vaded with knlghtly traditions. The
scenery and romance of the river,
as before stated, are embraced in the
80 miles between Bonn and Bingen.
This is the part which Byron calls
'the majestic Rhine,"-
A blending of all beauties streams and
dells,
Fruit, foliage, crag wood, cornfeld,
mountain. vine,
And chiehess castles. breathing stern
farewells.
have had two views of this part
of the Rhine-oHe by rail, which
gives a-fylng glance or panoramic
view, but leaves no time for close
observation; the other from the,
steamers deck up stream from sun
rise to sunset, as the boat beat its
way against the strong current; with
good chart before me, there was
time and opportunity to notice eve
ry crag, precipice, peak, castle, vii
lage, vineyard and bend of the river.
The impression produced was this;
that it was very beautiful, charming,
poetical, and in places verging on
the grand in Nature, and actually
romantic in Art; but nothing was
awe-inspiring, OF hardly austere.
There was nothing in my view superb
or to what is seen on the Hudson,
among the Highlands, or Lake
George, and very few parts of the
river surpassed,
OR EVEN EQUALLED,
the Potomac at Harper's Ferry
The mountain-scenery commences
with the Seven Mountains (Seiben-
gebirge), Just above Bonn, where
the plain ceases, and the river-val-
ley suddenly contracts to narrow
space. They are the highest on its
banks, but look low and small for
mountains, being not more than l.
900 feet above the surface of the.
river. They stand as sentinels on
the entrance of the narrow, craggy
valley. The most noted one is call
ed the Draehenfels, dragon Rock,
which rises abruptly from the waters
edge, and is crowned with a ruined
castle, of which thirty or forty more
can be seen on the precipices and
crags along the river to Bingen. At
the latter place, the river suddenly
energies from wall of rock, and
winds about through a beautiful
plain, bounded by low, retiring hills,
and then divides into the Rhine and
Main. si.s
By looking at a good topograph-
ical map of the country, the reader
will perceive that low range of.
mountains crosses the Rhine, at
right angles with it, at the point
where the little River Nahe unites
its waters with those of the Rhine
that is, at Bingen. The range is
called the lq
be ssTAUNUs MOUNTAINS. y
In prehistoric times they formed a
wall or dam across the Rhine Val
ley, and backed its waters for 800
miles, as far as Basle, in Switzer-
land, causing a great lake, of irreg-
ular- outline and with several long
bays, covering as much space, how
ever, as does Lake Michigan. The
old shore line of this lake has been
traced by the geologists of Germa-
nv for hundreds of miles. Its exist
ence is further proved by finding
fresh water deposits and shells
along the Valley of the Rhine, Main
and Nahe, which were then cover
ed by the lake. Some volcanic OF
earthquake commissions must have
burst through this mountain-wall,
which is several miles wide, and Gre
lated for the river a passage to the
sea in. this direction, through which
it has torn and worn a gorge in the
course of age. The whole extent OF
the country from the. wall to the
''Seyen Mountains" at Bonn, in an
upIift of volcanic creation, which
has an elevation of 500 to 1000 feet
above the plain country to the north
and south of them. The Rhine
winds about among those hills or low
mountains, and has sunk itself a
channel several hundred feet lower
than the original bed of the river
after it broke through the Taunus
chain of Bingen. At a dozen places
where ridges of rocks crossed the
the pathway of the river the chan
mel is worn barely wide enough to
allow passage room for the rushing
water. 1t is at these points where
the
OLD FEUDAL CASTLES
are perched, like eagle-nests on top
of inaccessible rocks. And lndeed
thew were mere robbers nests, Plae-
ed there for aggressive and defen-
S;ve nnrposes and not for those of
romance. The Rhine in the Middle
.ll A. o,,l.r obannal nf