Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-12-29
THE BLUE DANUBE.
AN INTERESTING VOYAGE ON THE
FAMOUS AND BEAUTIFUL RIVER.

.,
tributaries draining valley comprising an
urea of considerably over 100000 square
miles. A score of nations live along its banks
and those of the rivers which flow into its
mighty current, and nearly thirty tongues or
dialects are spoken between its source and its
mouth. 1t rises & little to the north of
Switzerland, in the Black Forest, and almost
/ light Of the French frontier, for from the
TOP Of the mountain in Baden from whose
Ease the Danube spring flows the hills of
france can be seen on the west Through
Bavaria and Austria lies its course: through
hungary. past Servia and Bulgaria, Rou-
mania and Roumelia, while tributaries Cow
IN from Bosnia and Macedonia on the south.
ana roland on the north, so that practically
the valley of the Danube comprises the most
important portions of eastern Europe. 1t
runs through country full of historic asso-
clatlons, the battle ground of civilization and
saVagery. Here the Romans contended with
the Scythlans and the Huns; here the Greek
empire strove to maintain its supremacy over
the horles of savage tribes which came down
irom the steppes of Russia; here, after the
empire Of the east had faded away, Charlie
imagine conTended with SAVAGE tribes of semi
AslaticS; here all Europe fought the Turks
Tor generation after generation, until by
great battle fought under the walls of Vienna.
the flood of the Mohammedan invasion was
rolled back towards Asia.
The route of the travellers lay past Ulm.
once the great imperial free city, and a fort
ress from the earliest times It's magnificent
cathedral, begun over 500 years ago, is still
unfinished, but even incomplete is one of the
finest church buildings to be found in
Europe, We need not, however, 60 back 10
the foundation of the cathedral TO find history
made IN and about Ulm, for IN sight of the
cathedral towers Marshal Nev gained the
great victory which gave Napoleon absolute
control over this part of Austria. The only
relic of Ulm's former strategic Importance is
seen IN the forts which still rise round the
city and protect it against possible future
invasion, but the victories now won at Ulm
are those OF commerce, for the pipes of Ulm
are famous all over Germany, and the repu-
tation of the Ulmer bread has extended as far
as that Of the wienerwurst.
Past Neuber- went tine travellers, and
Schonbuechel, and Durrenstein. the famous
castle where Richard was imprisoned. and
where his faithful servant after traversing
the Whole OF Europe, and visiting every castle
OF Importance, in the vain effort TO discover
his imprisoned king, at length found him hv
Singing under his window the Old chspson
which was the favorite Of Napoleon |, 20.
Richard, O mon Roi,N he singing one line
and the king answering with the next. Past
Passau they went, situated on the peninsula
where the Inn and the liz mix their waters
with those Of the Danube. Like Ulm, Passau
has Eppn IN Ia ~
Germans had fortress before the Romans
Invaded the land, and Fort Oberhaus, which |
crowns mountain on the left bank of the
Danube was once mediRval castle, now re-
modelled into a modern fortifcation and
forming one of the strongest citaiels in
South Europe
but Passau does not rely altogether on the |
Old Oberhaus castle for its protection. for |
castle, aHa a dozen other forts at variors
points In the neighborhood attest the vaIue |
placed upon it by the Austrian government |
In truth, 1t is a beautiful town, rising like an
amphItteater on the peninsula, well built in |
the modern style, its public buildino, |
churches and palaces doing credit to the |
situation on which they stand. Past In
goistadt went the travellers, a curious old |
town too big for the number of people it con-
talns, very much decayed, and bearing even
70 tne present day In its houses, churches and |
public buildings evidences of the destruction
wrought there IN the year 1900 by the French
army. Fifty years ago its Notifications were
all restored, and it is now among the hest
armed cities in Central Europe The plavinp
CARDS OF Austria are made here and some even
exported TO North Germany, but the ouear
o!d city derives the most of its fame from
the university, no longer there, but aces apo
removed to Munich, and the university itself
would have been forgotten hundreds of wears
since had it not been for one DR.. Rhegius a
poet and philosopher, known in the drama
and opera as DR.. Faustus His tomb stands
IN one of the churches and his memory has
beea embalmed by tine dramatists and
lbrettists
Fast AgGstein went they, where the fa-
nous ghost has haunted the castle for many
generations. Like the White Lady of Dub
IN the Aggstein ghost appears prior to the
death OF one of the family owning the castIe
and wanders about its halls, shrieking and
moaning In such way as to strike terror
into the hearts of all the survivors. Law.
ing the Aggstein castle and specter, the
went on past the Strudel. a nnaeni-
hcent gorge in the Upper Danube where the
stream, confined in a narrow channel ha-
tween precipitous banks, doubles the velocity
OF It's current and sweeps along with an over
force between two castle crovned
bills, hoary with historic associations
Next comes Ratisbon, in the Bayarian
province of Oberpfalz, at the mouth of the
tsagen, the most medieval city in Fr-ope.
Tor at every turn its ramparts, moats, gates,
drawbridges, crooked streets, overhanrtnp
houses, projecting windows, clusters of old
fashioned chimneys, doors with huge knock
ars, lack OF paving, narrow passways through
which it is impossible for a vehicle to ps5s.
dark passages under the houses, all remind
1ne OF cities of 800 years ago Now gone to
decay, Ratisbon was once the most flourish
ng city of southern Germany Its cathedral.
begun in the Eleventh century and finished
less than 100 years ago, is one of the finest
ipecimens of Gothic architecture in the
world Ratisbon is noted for nothing but its
antiquity, but it has any quantity Of that,
md to spare,
Then into Hungary flows the Danube, past
tresburg, the former capital Of Hungary
liter Bnda-Pesth had been taken by the
turks. As old as Ratisbon is Presburg, but ,
does rot show its age so plainly; still one
nay here revel in the associations of the past.
or hereis the cathedral where for hundreds .
II years the Hungarian kings were crowned :
md where the most Of them lie buried Z
iere, too, is the Hill Of Coronation, made of {
arth brought from every province Of the {
mpire, and after the ceremonies in the ca
hedral were concluded, up this hill rode t
iaria Theresa, the crown upon her head, the Z
rb OF empire in one hand and the royal i
word In the other, and pointing her weapon |
turn to the four points of the compass,
ade defiance to the whole world, for this
vas the practice of the Hungarian kings after