21st. Sir Humphry set out this morning in his little cabriolet on a fishing excursion up the valley of the Traun, to the lake of Hallstadt, and took me with him. This lake, about eight miles to the north east of Ischl, is of a very grand and imposing character, but still does not equal the Traun-See in the diversity and beauty of its banks. We drove over a wooden bridge at the end of the lake, where the Traun flows out of it, and then round its shores for a short distance to Obertraun, where the road terminated. We here took a boat and rowed for some miles up the lake, opposite to the small town of Hallstadt. The view from hence was superb; the nearer houses seemed built in the water, behind these the salt works are seen, extensive and noble buildings, more like the palace or seignoral chateau of the lord of the surrounding territory, than a manufactory; and beyond them rose the mountain which contains the salt-mine, a stupendous mass of rock capped with eternal snow, and to the left appeared the glaciers of the Schneeberg. Rather to the right of the saltworks, embosomed in wood, lay the rest of the town of Hallstadt, and one large house was situated some thousand feet above the lake, standing alone in the wood. Along the side of the mountain we saw what appeared to be a pathway, but the boatman told us this was the canal cut for the pipes which convey the salt-water from the mines of Hallstadt to the works of Ischl and Ebensee. This is a stupendous undertaking, for the pipes are conveyed a great distance over rivers and vallies and along mountains, where the passage for the pipes has been cut for many miles through the solid rock. Sir Humphry fished for some time but without success, when, not wishing to visit the town, we rowed back to the village of Obertraun, and on our way thither passed by the Gosauzwang, the most celebrated part of the saliduct or salt canal between Hallstadt and Ebensee. The three pipes are here carried across a very wild and romantic glen, the defile of the Gosau, a mountain stream which runs down through it. Four lofty columns of brick work, about two hundred feet in height, are built up from the bottom of the valley and from out of the waters of the Gosau, to a level with the pipes, which are thus carried over the valley, being laid from pier to pier; and they serve at the same time as a bridge to any foot passenger who may wish to pass, being railed in on each side. These pipes, after traversing one or two smaller streams, give part of their water to the salt works at Ischl, and are then carried on to Ebensee, where they fill the reservoirs which I saw when I visited the Commissary to procure the return of Sir Humphry's fishing rod.
23rd. Yesterday I went with a very large party, consisting of almost all the strangers in Ischl, to visit the Salzberg, the salt mountain or rather mine, which was to be illuminated for the visitors. We set out at about one o'clock, a long string of carriages, and after an hour's drive through a very pleasant valley, we arrived at the foot of the mountain which contains the mine. Here a number of miners were waiting with sedan chairs for the ladies, many of whom however preferred walking up the mountain, and in about three quarters of an hour we arrived at the Haupt Eingang, or chief entrance of the mine. We were now to be attired, as is usual on entering the mines, in a long white mantle or frock, and a large wide broad brim, the latter to hinder us from knocking our brains out, and the former to keep our clothes clean. Here was confusion dire; this frock was too small, this too long; this lady had no brimmer, this gentleman could find no stick. I laid hold of the first frock and hat I met with, but up came a lady and begged I would exchange with her, as her frock was so long she could not walk in it, and mine so short that it did not reach to my knees. La grande toilette at length finished, the ladies were placed in their carriages, that is two in each wheelbarrow, face to face, with a miner before to pull, who carried a lamp in his hand, and another to push behind, and between every two barrows went another miner bearing a paper lanthorn. The gentlemen were of course on foot, with the exception of one or two gouty invalids.
In this guise, with half-a-dozen miners going before carrying lamps, the whole train entered the passage, and in a few seconds lost sight of daylight. After a long, wet, and (in spite of our many lamps) dark journey through this narrow and low passage, where my head was continually coming in contact with the roof, we came to the Rutsch, or slide, which leads down into the salt-chamber. This Rutsch is formed of the trunks of two large fir-trees laid close together, rounded and polished, and placed in an oblique direction, in an angle of about forty degrees. A miner, with a lamp in one hand, places himself astride these trees, and holds with his other hand a cord which is fixed to the rock on the sides. The person who wishes to descend seats himself behind the miner, and holds him by the shoulders. The miner then lets the cord slip through his hands, and down they go like lightning into what seems an abyss of darkness: safe at the bottom, he gives a shout that the next couple may follow. When the Rutsch is very long, as in the mines at Hallein, near Salzburg, the miner always sits upon a thick leather apron, and when alone makes no use of the cord, but rushes down with a fearful impetus into the salt-cave below. When we arrived at the Rutsch, and the ladies had all got out of their barrows, after much discussion and many fears and doubts, they consented thus to descend, as the miners assured them it was more dangerous to do so by the steps cut in the rock at the side, which were exceedingly precipitous and very wet. Having reached the bottom of the Rutsch, which ends in a slight curve to break the impetus of the descent, we found ourselves in an immense cavern, or room, excavated in the rock, about twelve feet high, and from ten to twelve thousand in circumference, supported in the middle by a massive pillar of rock, and lighted up by some hundred lamps, which, however, only served to give the scene a more awful and gloomy appearance. The visitors, whose number was considerable, in their long white mantles and hats, looked like spectres wandering in the shades of a nether world. The roof and walls of this cavern were covered with minute crystals of salt, not, however, sufficiently large to give to it the glittering appearance which I had expected. The mountain contains a great many of these Salzkammern or salt-chambers, which at different periods are filled with fresh water, conducted into them by wooden pipes. When this has dissolved a sufficient quantity of salt, which operation occupies some months, it is drained off through a deep perpendicular shaft, near the middle of the cave, and is then conducted through wooden pipes, often for a very great distance, to the boiling-houses, where it undergoes the progress of evaporation.
Having wandered through these gloomy abodes of silence and night for some time, we ascended the stairs, the ladies resumed their seats in the barrows, and the procession returned as it had entered. To save my head from additional thumps to the many it had received on entering, I took the place of one of the pushers, and after a merry drive of about twenty minutes we again saw daylight, like a distant star, increasing in size till we reached the entrance of the mine. We here unspectred ourselves, and returned home in our usual terrestrial appearance, and a merry party we were.
24th. We left Ischl this morning in a little cabriolet for Aussee, leaving the travelling carriage packed and ready for starting at Ischl, for Sir Humphry wished, before he quitted this part of the country, to have a day or two's more fishing in the Gründtl-See; but the weather proving very warm, and a thunderstorm coming on in the evening, he determined not to remain at Aussee beyond to-morrow.
26th. We returned this morning to Ischl, and after an early dinner bade adieu to it, and set off for Ebensee. We here again crossed the magnificent Traun-See, and after a row of two hours and a half, and seeing Gmünden, as it were, rise out of the lake, we found ourselves in our old quarters at the Ship.
27th, 28th. These were wet days, and Sir Humphry chiefly occupied himself in dictating "The Vision," and reading. In the afternoon of the latter, his coachman arrived from Vienna, and brought with him "Salmonia," which had just been published, and was forwarded to him through the Embassy at Vienna. Sir Humphry had engaged this man, who is an Englishman, at Ischl, whilst in the service of the Polish Princess L——, which he left, not wishing to go to Poland. Sir Humphry now intends buying three additional horses, and thus rendering himself independent of the poste.
29th. Sir Humphry this morning finished his "Vision," which, he tells me, is really founded on a dream that he had some years ago, in which he found himself borne through the firmament from planet to planet. Of this dream, which he introduces as the consequence of a highly interesting and animated conversation that he holds with two friends in the Colosæum at Rome, on the grandeur and decay of nations, and the mutability of religions, the general outline, he says, has alone remained in his mind; but it has been his pleasure and delight during his mornings at Ischl, and when he was not engaged in his favourite pursuit of fishing, to work upon this foundation, and to build up a tale, alike redundant with highly beautiful imagery, fine thoughts, and philosophical ideas; and the hours thus passed with Sir Humphry have afforded me high mental gratification and advantage, for I have then marked his mind wandering, as it were, with the associates of his early days; those days, in which he was evidently, by the exercise of his extraordinary powers and quick perception, exciting not only his own mind to dive into, and to unfold to clearer view, the mysteries of creation, but that too of other congenial spirits; thus most naturally collecting around him a constellation of shining lights, the remembrance of whom often awakens vivid thoughts of the past, and rouses his whole soul to action.
In the afternoon I read to him "Salmonia," in which he immediately began to make corrections and additions in preparation for a second edition.
31st. Sir Humphry this morning went to look at a pair of horses which he thought of buying. The price demanded was 800 florins, (paper money,) about 32l.; but Sir Humphry thought them too dear, and did not buy them. In the afternoon we paid another and a last visit to the Falls of the Traun. This grand and striking scene appeared now even more beautiful than when I saw it for the first time. The body of water in the river was considerably less, thus rendering the different cascades more diversified and picturesque. Sir Humphry amused himself for an hour or two with fishing, and we afterwards returned to Gmünden, which we quitted on the 3rd of August, and drove over to Vocklabrück, where we remained the rest of the day, for Sir Humphry to fish in the Vöckla, and went on the next morning across the country for some leagues to Schörfling, a little village on the Atter, or Kammer-See. This lake, the largest of those in Upper Austria, is about fifteen miles in length; the shores on this side are low, but at the opposite end they are formed by the Zimitz Alp, the Schaafberg, and the chain of mountains which separate this lake on the one side from the Wolfgang-See, and on the other from Ischl and the valley of the Traun. Its depth is not very considerable, but the colour of the water is a beautiful green. On a promontory which stretches far out into the lake, stands the castle of Kammer, a fine large building, belonging to a noble family of the same name. The most striking view of the lake is from the little village of See-Walchen, about a mile from Schörfling. We remained at Schörfling in a miserable inn, without having one single fine day till the 9th. Sir Humphry did so, finding there were some quails in the neighbouring fields, and he went out shooting and fishing every day, in spite of the weather, with considerable success.