It would be no more than fair to stop here awhile, to give every hero of the bottle an opportunity to enjoy a sight of these palace-cellars, and to offer a libation to the twelve apostles; but the steamer passed on, and we were obliged to make the most of the descriptions furnished by those who were more at home in these parts, and had no doubt frequently emerged in an inspired state from the depths of the cellars in question.
The view now becomes more and more charming: the mountains appear to draw closer together, and shut in the bed of the stream; romantic groups of rocks, with summits crowned by rains yet more romantic, tower between.
The ancient but well-preserved castle of Schreckenstein, built on a rock rising boldly out of the Elbe, is particularly striking; the approaches to it are by serpentine walks hewn out of the rock.
Near the small town of Aussig we find the most considerable coal-mines in Bohemia.

In their neighbourhood is situated the little mountain estate Paschkal, which produces a kind of wine said to resemble champagne.
The mountains now become higher and higher, but above them all towers the gigantic Jungfernsprung (Maiden's Leap).

The beauty of this region is only surpassed by the situation of the town and castle of Tetschen.

The castle stands on a rock, between twenty and thirty feet high, which seems to rise out of the Elbe; it is surrounded by hot-houses and charming gardens, shelving downwards as far as the town, which lies in a blooming valley, near a little harbour.

The valley itself, encompassed by a chain of lofty mountains, seems quite shut out from the rest of the world.
The left bank of the river is here so crowded with masses and walls of rock, that there is only room at intervals for an isolated farm or hut.
Suddenly the tops of masts appear between the high rocks, a phenomenon which is soon explained; a large gap in one of the rocky walls forms a beautiful basin.
And now we come to Schandau, a place consisting only of a few houses; it is a frontier town of the Saxon dominions.