San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-01-08
THE BLUE DANUBE.
AN INTERESTING VOYAGE ON THE
FAMOUS AND BEAUTIFUL RIVER.

Few of the Towns Which Stand on IT.
Ranks-HistoricaI Associations-The VAL
Icy which Has Been the Scene of Many
Battles.
The Danube is the second river in Europe,
having length of over LOO miles, it and its
tributaries draining valley comprising an
area Of considerably over 10000 square
miles score of nations live along its banks
and those Of the rivers which how into its
mighty current, and nearly thirty tongue or
dialects are spoken between its source and It's
mouth Ii rises a little TO the north of
Switzerland, in the Black Forest, and almost
IN sight OF the French frontier, for from the
.op o. tne mountain in Baden from whose
base 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 fov
in from Bosnia and Macedonia on the south,
and Poland on the north, so that practically
tus valley Of the Danube comprises the most
important portions OF eastern Europe. 1t
runs through n country full Of historic assoc
ciations the battle ground Of civilization and
savagsry Here the Romans commended with
the Scythians and the Huns; here the Greek
empire strove to maintain its supremacy over
the hordes of savage tribes which came down
from the steppes of Russia; here, after the
empire Of the east had faded away, Charlie
r.asue contended with savage tribes Of semi
Asatics; here all Europe fought the Turks
for generation after generation, until by a
great battle fought under the walls Of Vienna,
the food Of the Mohammedan invasion was
rolled back towards Asia
The route Of the travellers lay past Ulm,
once the great imperial free city, and fort
ress from the earliest times. Its magnificent
cathedral, begun over 500 years ago, is still Z
unfinished, but even incomplete is ons Of the
finest church buildings to be found in
Europe We need not, however, so back to
the foundation of the cathedral TO find histoi
mado in and about Ulm, for in sight of Il }
cathedral towers Marshal Ney gained t, .
great victory which gave Napoleon absolu ,
control over this part of Austria. The on :
relic Of Ulm's former strategic importance IL
seen in the forts which still rise round tie
city and protect it against possible tutuE- !
invasion, but the victories now won at Ulm
are those Of commerce, for the pipes If Ulm
are famous all over Germany, and the repu-
tatiou Of the Ulmer bread las extended as lar
as that If the wienerwurst.
Fast NeubeTG went the travellers, and
Schonbuechel. and Durrensten, the famousl
castle where Richard was imprisoned, and
WhvYe his faithful servant, after traversing
the whole of Europe, and visiting every castle
of Importance, in the vain effort to discover
us imprisoned king, at length found him by
singing under his window the old chanson
which was the favoritR of Napoleon |, 20,
Richard, o mon Roi," he singing one line
and the king answering with the next Past
PCsSau they went, situated on the peninsula
where the Inn ard the liz mix their waters
with those of the Danube. Like Ulm, PaSsau
has been a fort for untold ages, for here the
Germans had fortress before the Romans
invaded the land and Fort Oberhaus, which
crowns mountain on the left bank of the
Danube, was once a medieval castle, now re-
modelled into "A modern fortifcation and
forming one of the strongest citadels in
South Europe.
Eut PaSsau does no: rely altogether on the
old Oberhaus castle for its protection, for
almost within tho city is the Niederhaus
castle, and dozen other forts at various
points in the ueighborhood attest the value
| placed upon it by the Austrian government.
In truth, it is q beautiful town, rising like an
! amptitheater ON the peninsula, well built in
| the modern style, its public buildings,
! churches and palaces doing credit to the
stua:ion on which they stand Past In
| golstadt went the travellers, a curious old
| town too big for the number of people it con-
tains very much decayed, and bearing even
| to the present day in its houses, churches and
| public buildings evidences of the destruction
wrought there in the year 1870 by the French
army. Fifty years ago its Notifications were
all restored, and it is now among the best
armed cities in Contra, Europe The playing
| cards OF Austria are made here, and some even
exported to North Germany, but the queer
old city derives the most Of its fame from
the university, 10 longer there, but ages ago
removed to Munich, and the university itself
would have been forgotten hundreds Of years
! since had it not been for one DR.. Rhegius, a
! poet and philosopher, known in the drama
and opera GS DR.. Fa'lstus. His tomb stands
in one of the churches, and MS memory has
been embalmed by the dramatists and
| lbrettistS
Past AggstGin went they, where the ia
| nous ghost has CaunCed tho castle for many
generations. Like the White Lady of Dub
lin, the Aggstein ghost appears prior to the
death of one of the family owning the castle,
and wanders about its halls shrielling and
| moaning IN such q "ay as 10 strike terror
into the hearts Of III, the su 'vivors Leav-
ing the AgSstein castle ard specter, the
travellers went on past the Strudel, magni-
tcent gorge in the . pper Danube, where the
stream, confined in a narrow channel be-
tween precipitor@ banks doubles the velocity
Of its current ana sweeps along with an over
| whelming force between wv castle crowned
| hills, hoery with historic associations