The canal-boats, having only a very small hold, trunks, boxes, portmanteaus, &c.

are heaped up on the deck, not fastened at all, and very insufficiently protected against rain.

The consequence of this carelessness on a journey of five or six days was, that the rain and the high waves of the lakes frequently put the after-deck several inches under water, and then the luggage was wetted through.

It was worse still in a squall on the Wenner lake; for while the ship was rather roughly tossed about, many a trunk lost its equilibrium and fell from its high position, frequently endangering the safety of the passengers' heads.
The fares are, however, very cheap, which seemed doubly strange, as the many locks must cause considerable expense.
And now for the journey itself.

We started at five o'clock in the morning, and soon arrived in the river Gotha, whose shores for the first few miles are flat and bare.