Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 33.djvu/233

Rh Along here Baedeker has an unusual amount of geologic notes, and so we pass rapidly on, noting casually the imprints of leaves in the trass of the Brohlthal, and the Laacher See, latest worked upon by an American, L. L. Hubbard. At last we reach Coblentz, from which one division of the Devonian, through which we are passing across the strike, takes its name. Here the valley of the Moselle invites us to take a détour into the district of little extinct volcanoes called the Eifel. This is one of the standard geological excursions (16), and in the Whitsuntide vacation of 1886 there met in Gerolstein no less than thirty-five geologists, representing five different German universities, and I dare not guess how many nationalities.

The little inns that are sprinkled through the district are generally good, and well up on the customary mineral localities. This is one of the great regions for volcanic minerals, augite, hornblende, sanidin, olivin, apatite, sodalite, etc. In the neighborhood of Gerolstein abundant Devonian fossils are collected, calceola, gomphoceras, trilobites, and corals. At Gerolstein itself is a dealer in such things at reasonable prices (except for the trilobites). This village is prettily situated, and rejoices in an open fountain of soda-water. These are, in fact, common in the Eifel, the Apollinaris being the most famous, but many others, as Birresborn, are as good. Over against Gerolstein lies a bluff crowned with a massive limestone, once the bottom of a synclinal fold, which reminds one of the text of Isaiah, "Every valley shall be exalted." On our excursion we spent the first night in Wittlich; the village is not near the station, for Continental stations have a way of splitting the difference between two towns which must be well borne in mind by the walker. The next morning we rode on to the Mosenberg, an extinct volcano that has three crater rings very distinct. Coming down, after a détour to the Meerfelder Maar that I do not recommend (the meat at the inn was little, but lively), we went on to Manderscheid. Here we had a good dinner at the Hotel Zeus. No doubt our whetted appetites added sauce, but those trout were certainly good.

I know of no spot on earth so romantic as the situation of the twin-castles of Manderscheid. A stream flows in a huge S about two ridges of rock, on which the castles are built, so narrow in places that one could hold a thousand in check. Out along one of these rocks, then steeply down and up—a rough scramble not suited for skirts—we went to Gillenfeld, passing a couple more crater-lakes on the way. Here we stopped the second night. The inn was full, so that I went out to the "pastor's" to sleep. The next morning, in spite of lowering and later pouring weather, we took a détour to the Pulver Maar, another lake