Europe and elsewhere, by Mark Twain [pseud.] [with an appreciation by Brander Matthews and an introduction by Albert Bigelow Paine]

EUROPE AND ELSEWHERE

very edge of it. In its near neighborhood a massive and picturesque fortification.
All this narrow gut from the bridge down to the
next bridge-a mile or two-is picturesque with its
frowning high walls of rock.
In the face of the precipice above the second bridge
sits a painted house on a rock bench-a chapel, we
think, but the Admiral says it is for the storage of
wine.
More fortifications at the corner where the river
turns-no cannon, but narrow slits for musketry
commanding the river. Also narrow slits in the
solid (hollowed-out) precipice. Perhaps there is no
need of cannon here where you can throw a biscuit
across from precipice to precipice.
2.45.-Below that second bridge. On top of the
bluffs more fortifications. Low banks on both sides
here.
2.50.-Now both sets of fortifications show up,
look huge and formidable, and are finely grouped.
Through the glass they seem deserted and falling to
ruin. Out of date, perhaps.
One will observe, by these paragraphs, that the
Rh6ne is swift enough to keep one's view changing
with a very pleasant alacrity.
At midafternoon we passed a steep and lofty
bluff-right bank-which was crowned with the
moldering ruins of a castle overgrown with trees.
A relic of Roman times, the Admiral said. Name?
No, he didn't know any name for it. Had it a history? Perhaps; he didn't know. Wasn't there even
a legend connected with it? He didn't know of any.
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