Morning journal and courier., 1894-06-05
BEAUTIFUL SAXON SCENES.

An Observ0nf Traveller Relates What
 He Has Seen-Grand Mountain
 Scenery-Old Sandstone Quarries
 That Have Furnished Building
 Material for Dresden for Centuries.
 DRESDEN, May IS, 1894. Tothe Editor of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
 In my last letter we had rested at the ia nous Prebischthor, and from there we took our departure for the little hamlet of Reinweise, over what Is known as the Ga- breilusteig; this is a path four or five miles in length, cut right in the face of the beetling preoipics, and follows the whole range of mountains; in some places We could crawl along looking down far below us; the trees looked like bushes, so far away were they, and above us the great pines seemed dwsrfed into email plants It was @ very long walk of three hours, but glorious one; and ss the foot path Is kept in splendid order. and being rallied in mary places, there is little danger os acci- dent
 The sun beat down pretty hot in the open places, but in the shsdo 1t was nice and cool.
 The views at various points into Bohe- mia were grand and very extensive.
 This path along the face of the moun- tain reminded me very forcibly of that great mountsiu pass extending from Pales tine into Phorecis, or the mountain be- yond Tyre, known ss the "Laider of Tyre;" only this German pass ia very much higher and longer. The ladder of Tyre, however, Is no mean climb, and un- der a glaring Syrian sun it Is very trying.
 Crossing the "Gabreilusteig" we noticed very many pines wrenched off, and scat tered up and down the face of the noun tain, as if 8 whirlwind had passed before us.
 A strange fact 1t Is that giant trees grow luxuriously right out of the solid stone, where there is not vestige of mould, re- minding one of the growth of ebony and other hard wood trees In the West Indies. In those islands I Iesrned the following in- teresting fact:
 It is that the beautiful curling in ebony and in other valuable woods is due to the fact that tp prolong their existence on the rocks where they thrive best, they must cling and twist and use all the pertinacity they can muster to maintain life, and clineing and twisting produces that varie. gated, curling appearance so desirable in hard wood.
 In the West Indies ebony trees are exu, bsrant till twelve or fifteen years of age, when growing in deep soil, then suddenly the blight comes and the trees die, and the wood is straight grained and brittle, but those ebonies growing on rocks live for q century or two, and from them comes the valuable ebony wood of commerce. In due time we arrived at Reinweise, 6 charming spot with superior hotel. Af ter leaving this delightful place we crossed 6 very broad plain for nearly two miles and followed the path which suddenly de scended into the beautiful "Edmundl Grund" At the commencement of tht grund is s large crucifx with 8 small shrine, and we psessd many similar onei | in Bohemia, where the state religion Is Ro | man Catholic. There are Rrunds and grunds in this country, but no two ar' alike, and all are equally charming, pos ssssing characteristics peculiar to them selves.
 We descended and kept descending t, lower depths, until we heard the rush of [ mighty torrent dashing and flashing itsel in great rage, and if Southsy had ever seei this cataract he might have given us a fine poetry as his "Falls of Lodors," al though Hawthorne, visiting Lodore 1T 1855, thought those fair waters deserved better poetry than Southey's verses.
 This torrent tore along in great mad ness, losing itself entirely in great rs vines, and again picking itself up ana flowing smoothly along in deep eddiss, ant threading the intricacies made by the grea bare ridges of rocks. resembling the rib of antediluvian fossils of the saurisn pc riod. This stream reminded us of tn Amoonoosuc river in New Hampshire; VI followed its windings for a very long dis tance, passing through long tunnels GU through perpendicular rocks, and agail walking across narrow shelves of cliffs til we came to 8 place where both sides of tn river were contained within steep, ston, hills, and for fully @ mile we continue, our walk through this picturesque and TO mantle gorge.
 The torrent foamed along with grea fery, and the sun shot Its bright beam I through the narrow opening above, msk ing a pefect fairy scene; at last we came | as it seemed to us, to the end of the world and were about to retrace our footsteps thinking we were lost, when just below .
 we noticed among the trees two or thre white skifs in pool of still water, an