The Cathedral And Residenz-Schloss Are Striking Buildings, And The City
Has A Lively And Grand Appearance.
The women appear to be in general
handsome and well dressed.
We brought to the evening at Engelhardtzell,
where the barrier, painted black and yellow, announced our return to the
Austrian territory. We underwent at the Customs house a rigid search for
tobacco: they even took away the tobacco that some passengers had in their
pouches. They were likewise very rigid about our passports. The English
passports do not please them at all, on account of the features of the
bearer not being specified therein, and as I answered their questions in
German, they supposed me to be a native of that country and asked me what
business I had with a British passport. I replied: Weil ich ein Englaender
bin. - Sie ein Englaender? Sie 'sind gewiss aus Nord Deutschland. Sie
sprechen recht gut Deutsch. - Meine Herren, ich bin ein Englaender: viele
Englaender studieren und sprechen Deutsch, und wenn Siemit mir eine
langeUnterredung gehalten haetten, so haetten Sie bald ausgefunden durch
meine Sprachfehler, dass ich kein geborner Deutscher bin. - Aber Sie haben
unsere Fragen vollkommen gut beantwortet. - Warum nicht? man hat mir die
nehmlichen Fragen so wiederholten Malen gestellt, dass ich die dazu
gehoerigen Antworte auswendig habe, wie em Katechismus.[123] The officer
laughed, took up a pen, vised and gave me back my passport.
The whole of the country on the banks of this noble river the Danube is
picturesque and presents much variety. There cannot be a more delightful
summer tour than a descent down this river. The next town of consequence
that we arrived at was Linz, a large, populous and beautifully built city
and capital of Upper Austria. The circumjacent country is in part
mountainous. The Danube is very broad here, and there is an immensely long
wooden bridge. We put up at the inn Zum goldenen Kreutz (golden cross).
Here it became indispensably necessary to change our money for Austrian
paper, for that sort of it called Wiener Waehrung (Vienna security), since
neither foreign coin nor another description of Austrian paper, called
Conventions-Muenze (conventional currency), are current for ordinary
purposes; and it is necessary to get them changed for the current paper
Wiener Waehrung.To explain this matter more fully and clearly: there are
two sorts of paper money in the Austrian Dominions. One is called
Conventions-Muenze (conventional currency), which is fully equivalent to
gold and sliver and cannot be refused as such throughout the whole of the
Austrian dominions; the other, called Wiener Waehrung (Vienna security) is
current and payable in Austria proper only, and bears a loss, out of the
Archduchy. The value of the Wiener Waehrung fluctuates considerably, but
the usual par of exchange is as 2 to 1: that means, two hundred florins
Wiener Waehrung are equal to one hundred Convenzions-Muenze or gold and
silver money. Even the Convenzions-Muenze bears a loss, tho' trifling, out
of the Imperial Dominions. The exchange has been known to have been at 400
per cent; that is, four hundred florins Wiener Waehrung were only worth
one hundred florins gold and silver; but just now it may be reckoned a
little beyond par, fluctuating from 200 to 220.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 251 of 291
Words from 130989 to 131531
of 151859
