A Visit to Iceland and the Scandinavian North | Page 8

minor
manoeuvres. I was particularly struck with the number of military men
to be seen here. Go where I would, I was sure to meet soldiers and
officers, frequently in large companies; in time of war it could scarcely
have been worse. This was an unmistakeable token that I was on
Prussian territory.
The open canals, which come from all the houses, and meander through
the streets, are a great disfigurement to the town.
Half-past three o'clock came only too quickly, and I betook myself on
board the steamer Magdeburg, of sixty-horse power, to proceed to
Hamburgh. Of the passage itself I can say nothing, except that a
journey on a river through execrable scenery is one of the most
miserable things that can well be imagined. When, in addition to this,
the weather is bad, the ship dirty, and one is obliged to pass a night on
board, the discomfort is increased. It was my lot to endure all this: the

weather was bad, the ship was dirty, the distance more than 100 miles,
so that we had the pleasant prospect of a delightful night on board the
ship. There were, moreover, so many passengers, that we were forced
to sit crowded together; so there we sat with exemplary patience, stared
at each other, and sighed bitterly. Order was entirely out of the question;
no one had time to think of such a thing. Smoking and card-playing
were perseveringly carried on all day and all night; it can easily be
imagined that things did not go so quietly as at an English whist-party.
The incessant rain rendered it impossible to leave the cabin even for a
short time. The only consolation I had was, that I made the
acquaintance of the amiable composer Lorzing, a circumstance which
delighted me the more, as I had always been an admirer of his beautiful
original music.
CHAPTER II
Morning dawned at length, and in a short time afterwards we reached
the great commercial city, which, half destroyed by the dreadful
conflagration of 1842, had risen grander and more majestic from its
ashes. {11} I took up my quarters with a cousin, who is married to the
Wurtemburg consul, the merchant Schmidt, in whose house I spent a
most agreeable and happy week. My cousin-in-law was polite enough
to escort me every where himself, and to shew me the lions of
Hamburgh.
First of all we visited the Exchange between the hours of one and two,
when it is at the fullest, and therefore best calculated to impress a
stranger with an idea of the extent and importance of the business
transacted there. The building contains a hall of great size, with arcades
and galleries, besides many large rooms, which are partly used for
consultations, partly for the sale of refreshments. The most interesting
thing of all is, however, to sit in the gallery, and looking downwards, to
observe the continually increasing crowd passing and repassing each
other in the immense hall and through the galleries and chambers, and
to listen to the hubbub and noise of the thousands of eager voices
talking at once. At half-past one o'clock the hall is at its fullest, and the
noise becomes absolutely deafening; for now they are marking up the

rates of exchange, by which the merchants regulate their monetary
transactions.
Leaving the Exchange, we bent our steps towards the great harbour,
and entering a small boat, cruised in and about it in all directions. I had
resolved to count only the three-masted ships; but soon gave it up, for
their number seemed overwhelming, even without reckoning the
splendid steamers, brigs, sloops, and craft. In short, I could only gaze
and wonder, for at least 900 ships lay before me.
Let any one fancy an excursion amidst 900 ships, great and small,
which lined both shores of the Elbe in tiers of three deep or more; the
passing to and fro of countless boats busily employed in loading or
unloading these vessels; these things, together with the shouting and
singing of the sailors, the rattling of anchors which are being weighed,
and the rush and swell of passing steamers, combine to constitute a
picture not to be surpassed in any city except in that metropolis of the
world, London. {12}
The reason of this unusual activity in the harbour lay in the severity of
the past winter. Such a winter had not been experienced for seventy
years: the Elbe and the Baltic lay for months in icy chains, and not a
ship could traverse the frozen river, not an anchor could be weighed or
lowered. It was only a short time before my arrival that the passage had
once more become free.
In the neighbourhood of the harbour are situated the greater number of
the so-called "yards."