The chief attraction of Ostende—after the great hotels—is its Digue, or Dyke, a great longdrawn-out breakwater against whose cemented walls pound the furies of the North Sea with such a virulence and force as to make one seasick even on land. "See our Digue and die," say the fisherfolk of Ostende,—those that have not been crowded out by the palace hotels,—"See our Digue and eat our oysters."

Ostende is attractive, save on the August bank holiday, when the trippers come from London; then it looks like Margate or Southend so far as its crowds are concerned, and accordingly is frightful.

One should not leave Belgium without visiting Ypres, that is if he wants to know what a highly respectable and thriving small city of Belgium is like.

Ypres is typical of the best, though unfortunately, by whichever road you approach, you still make your way over granite blocks, none too well laid or cared for. The best and almost only way to avoid them is to take to the by-roads and trust to finding your way about. This is not difficult with the excellent map of the Automobile Club de Belgique, but it requires some ingenuity to understand the native who answers your inquiry in bad French and worse Walloon or Flemish.

At Ypres the Hotel de la Chatellenie will care for you and your automobile very well, though its garage is nothing to boast of. Both meals and beds are good, and the rates are cheap, something less than nine francs a day for birds of passage. You must pay extra for wine, but beer is thrown in, thick, sticky, sugary beer, but it's better than England's "bitter," or the lager of Rotterdam.



Ypres is full of interesting buildings, but its Hotel de Ville and its Cloth Hall, with its lacelike facade, are easily the best. Ypres has a museum which, like most provincial museums, has some good things and some bad ones, a stuffed elephant, some few good pictures, sea-shells, the instruments which beheaded the Comte d'Egmont, and some wooden sculptures; variety enough to suit the most catholic tastes.

From Ypres we continued our zigzag through Belgium, following most of the time dirt roads which, though not of superlative excellence, were an improvement on stone blocks. It took us practically all day to reach Antwerp, a hundred and thirty kilometres away.

Belgium is everywhere quaint and curious, a sort of a cross between Holland and France, but more like the former than the latter in its mode of life, its food and drink and its industries, except perhaps in the country between Tournai and Liege.

The country between Antwerp and Brussels affords a good general idea of Belgium. Its level surface presents, in rapid succession, rich meadows, luxuriant corn-fields, and green hedgerows, with occasional patches of woodland. The smallness of the fields tells amongst how many hands the land is divided, and prepares one for the knowledge that East Flanders is the most thickly peopled corner of Europe. The exception to this general character of the scenery is found in the valley of the Meuse, where the fruitful serenity of fertile meadows and pastoral hamlets is varied by bolder, more irregular, and move striking natural features. Hills and rocks, bluff headlands and winding valleys, with beautiful stretches of river scenery, give a charm to the landscape which Belgium in general does not display.

The geographical description of Antwerp is as follows:

Antwerp, in Flemish Antwerpen, the chief town of the province of that name, is situated in a plain 51 deg. 13' 16" north latitude, and 2 deg. 3' 55" east longitude, twenty leagues from the sea, on the right bank of the Scheldt.

The Hotel du Grand-Laboureur was marked out for us as the automobile hotel of Antwerp. There was no doubt about this, when we saw the A. C. F., the A. C. B., and the M. C. B. signs on its facade. It is a very excellent establishment, but you pay extra for wine, or you drink beer instead.



The sights of Antwerp are too numerous to be covered in the short time that was at our disposal on this occasion, but we gave some time to the works and shrine of the master Rubens, and the wonderful cathedral spire, and the Hotel de Ville and the Guild Houses and all the rest, not forgetting Quentin Matsys's well. We were, however, a practical party, and the shipping of the great port, the gay cafes, and the busy life of Antwerp's marts of trade also appealed to us.

Antwerp is a wonderful storehouse of many things. "It is in the streets of Antwerp and Brussels," said Sir Walter Scott, "that the eye still rests upon the forms of architecture which appear in pictures of the Flemish school."

"This rich intermixture of towers and battlements and projecting windows highly sculptured produces an effect as superior to the tame uniformity of a modern street as the casque of the warrior exhibits over the slouch-brimmed beaver of a Quaker." This was true of Sir Walter Scott's time, and it is true to-day.

Chapter II By Dykes And Windmills



Holland for automobilists is a land of one hill and miles and miles of brick-paved roads, so well laid with tiny bricks, and so straight and so level that it is almost an automobilist's paradise.

We had come from Belgium to Holland, from Antwerp to Breda, a little short of fifty kilometres, to make a round of Dutch towns by automobile, as we had done in the old days by the humble bicycle.

Custom-house regulations are not onerous in Holland. The law says you must pay five per cent. duty on entering the country, or at the discretion of the authorities, bona-fide tourists will be given a temporary permit to "circulate" free. There are no speed limits in Holland, but you must not drive to the common danger. The first we were glad to know, the second we did not propose to do.

As we passed the frontier the douaniers returned to their fishing opposite the little cabaret where we had some needed refreshment. It is curious what satisfaction middle-class officialdom in Continental Europe gets out of fishing. It is their one passion, apparently, if their work lies near a well-stocked stream. The chef de bureau goes fishing, the commissionnaire goes fishing, and everybody goes fishing. A peaceful and innocent exercise for those who like it, but one which is inexplicable to an outsider.

Soon we are stopped at a toll-gate. The toll-gate keeper still exists in Holland, chiefly on private bridges. He loses a good deal of his monetary return, however, as he has a lazy habit of putting out a great wooden sabot to collect the fees, he, meanwhile, fishing or dozing some distance away.

If you are a bad shot your coin sometimes goes overboard, or being an automobilist, and therefore down on all impositions, you simply do not put any more coins in the sabots and think to depend on your speed to take you out of any brewing trouble. This old relic of the middle ages is sure to decrease in Holland with the progress of the automobile.



Holland is a beautiful country, one of Nature's daintiest creations, where the sun and the moon and the sky seem to take the greatest delight in revealing their manifold charms, where the green fields and the clear-cut trees and the rushing rivers and the sluggish canals all seem to have been put in their place to conform to an artistic landscape design—for, truly, Holland is a vast picture. Its cattle are picture cattle, its myriad windmills seem to stand as alluring models to attract the artist, its sunsets, the haze that rests over its fields, its farms, its spick and span houses, its costumes—all seem to belong to the paraphernalia of pictorial art. It is a paradise for motorists who behave themselves, and do not rouse the ire of the Dutchman. The regulations are exceedingly lenient, but the laws against fast speeding must not be disregarded, and the loud blowing of horns, on deserted streets in the middle of the night, is entirely forbidden.

When tourists have scaled every peak and trodden every pass, let them descend once again to the lowlands and see if they cannot find pleasurable profit in a land whose very proximity to the borders of the sea gives it a character all its own. This is Holland, and this is the attitude with which a party of four faced it, at Breda and planned the tour outlined in the following pages.

We stopped at Breda to take breath and to reconnoitre a little. Breda has a population of twenty thousand, and a good hotel, "Der Kroon," which knows well how to care for automobilists. Breda to Dordrecht is perhaps twenty-five kilometres in a straight line, but by the highroad, via Gorinchem it is sixty-eight. Since there are no amphibious automobiles as yet, and there are no facile means of crossing the Hollandsch Diep, the detour must be made.

A stroll round Breda, to brush up our history of the siege, a view of the chateau inside and out, including the reminders of Count Henry of Nassau and William III. of England, and we were on the road again by three in the afternoon.

Dordrecht and its Hotel Belle-Vue, on the Boomstraat saw us for dinner that night. The trip had been without incident, save for the eternal crossing of canals by high-peaked donkeytack bridges which demanded careful driving till you found out what was on the other side of the crest, and the continual dodging from one side of the road to the other to avoid running over children at play. Clearly Holland, in this respect, was not far different from other countries.

Dordrecht is delightful and is as nearly canal-surrounded as Amsterdam or Venice, only it is not so large, and automobilists, must look out or they will tumble overboard when taking a sharp corner.

You may eat, if you like, on the balcony of the Hotel Belle-Vue, and you may watch the throng of passers-by strolling through the courtyard of the hotel, from one street to another, as if it were a public thoroughfare. The only objection to it is that you fear for the safety of the loose things which you left in your automobile, but as you pay a franc for housing it the responsibility falls on the proprietor. No one ever heard of anything going astray, which argues well for the honesty of the people of Dordrecht.

The distant view of Dordrecht, with a few spotted cattle in the foreground, might well pass for a tableau of Cuyps, but as all Dutch landscapes look more or less alike, at least they all look Dutch, this description of Dordrecht perhaps does not define it very precisely.

Of course Dordrecht itself is typically Dutch; one would not expect anything else of a place with a name like that. The tree-covered wharves and the typical Dutch crowds, the dog-drawn little carts and the "morning waker," are all there. Above all, almost in Venetian splendour, looms the great lone tower of the church of St. Mary, the Groote Kerk of the town. For six hundred years it has been a faithful guardian of the spiritual welfare of the people, and the ruggedness of its fabric has well stood the test of time, built of brick though it is.

Dordrecht is vulgarly and colloquially known as Dordt, or Dort, and, as such, is referred to in history and literature in a manner, which often puzzles the stranger. It is one of the most ancient cities of Holland, and, in the middle ages, the most busy in its intercourse with the outside world.

We left Dordrecht in the early morning, expecting to cover quickly the twenty-seven kilometres to Rotterdam. Ever and ever the thin wisps of black smoke streaked into the sky from the flat directly ahead, but not until we had almost plumped down on the Boompjes itself did things take material shapes and forms.

There are many things to do and see at Rotterdam, but the great, ceaseless commerce of the great world-port is one of the marvels which is often sniffed at and ignored; yet nowhere in any port in Europe or America, unless it be at Antwerp, is there to be seen such a ship-filled river as at Rotterdam on the Maas.

The Hotel Weimar on the Spanishkade, and the Maas Hotel on the Boompjes, cater for the automobilist at rather high prices, but in an intelligent fashion, except that they charge a franc for garaging your machine overnight. We found the same thing at Dordrecht; and in general this is the custom all over Holland.

We left the automobile to rest a day at Rotterdam while we took a little trip by water, to Gouda, famed for its cheeses. It is an unworldly sleepy place, though its commerce in cheeses is enormous. Its population, when it does travel, goes mostly by boat on the Maas. You pay an astonishingly small sum, and you ride nearly half a day, from Rotterdam to Gouda, amid a mixed freight of lovable fat little Dutch women with gold spiral trinkets in their ears, little calves and cows, pigs, ducks, hens, and what not, and on the return trip amid a boat-load of pungent cheeses.

We got back to Rotterdam for the night, having spent a tranquil, enjoyable day on one of the chief waterways of Holland, a foretaste of a projected tour yet to come, to be made by automobile boat when the opportunity comes.

No one, not even the most naive unsophisticated and gushing of travellers, has ever had the temerity to signalize Rotterdam as a city of celebrated art. But it is a fondly interesting place nevertheless, far more so indeed than many a less lively mart of trade.

As we slowly drifted our way into the city at dusk of a long June evening, on board that little slow-going canal and river-craft from Gouda—known by so few casual travellers, but which are practically water stage-coaches to the native—it was very beautiful.

The brilliant crimson sun-streaks latticed the western sky, the masts, spars, and sails of the quay-side shipping silhouetted themselves stereoscopically against this gleaming background, and the roar and grime of the city's wheels of trade blended themselves into a melange which was as intoxicating to the artist and rhapsodist as would have been more hallowed ground.

We left Rotterdam at eight-thirty on a misty morning which augured that we should be deluged with rain forthwith; but all signs fail in Holland with regard to weather, for we hardly passed the Delftsche Poort, the great Renaissance gateway through which one passes to Delft, Schiedam, The Hague, and all the well-worn place names of Dutch history, before a rift of sunlight streaked through the clouds and framed a typical Holland landscape in as golden and yellow a light as one might see in Venice. It was remarkable, in every sense of the word, and we had good weather throughout a week of days when storm was all around and about us.

Schiedam, with its windmills, is well within sight of Rotterdam. We had all of us seen windmills before, but we never felt quite so intimately acquainted with any as with these. Don Quixote's was but a thing of the imagination, and Daudet's, in Provence, was but a dismantled, unlovely, and unromantic ruin. These windmills of Schiedam were very sturdy and practical things, broad of base and long of arm, and would work even in a fog, an ancient mariner-looking Dutchman with sabots and peg-top trousers told us.

The windmills of Holland pump water, grind corn, make cheese and butter, and have recently been adopted in some instances to the making of electricity. It has been found that with a four-winged mill, and the wind at a velocity of from twelve to thirty feet a second, four to five horsepower can be obtained with the loss of only fourteen per cent., caused by friction.

A plant has been constructed in Holland which lights 450 lamps, earning about twelve per cent. interest on the capital invested. Of course it is necessary to keep an oil-motor to provide for windless days or nights and also to keep a reserve of electrical power on hand, but this is but another evidence of the practicality and the extreme cleverness of the Dutch. The cows that browse around the windmills of Schiedam are of the same spotted black and white variety that one sees on the canvasses of the Dutch painters. If you are not fortunate enough to see Paul Potter's great Dutch bull in the gallery at The Hague, you may see the same sort of thing hereabouts at any glance of the eye—the real living thing.

From Rotterdam to Delft, all the way by the canal, allowing for the detour via Schiedam, is less than twenty kilometres, and the journey is short for any sort of an automobile that will go beyond a snail's pace.

Visions of blue and white delftware passed through our minds as we entered the old town, which hardly looks as though worldly automobilists would be well received. Delftware there is, in abundance, for the delectation of the tourist and the profit of the curio merchant, who will sell it unblushingly as a rare old piece, when it was made but a year ago. If you know delftware you will know from the delicate colouring of the blues and whites which is old and which is not.

Delft and Delftshaven, near Schiedam, in South Holland, have a sentimental interest for all descendants of the Puritans who fled to America in 1620. Delftshaven is an unattractive place enough to-day, but Delft itself is more dignified, and, in a way, takes on many of the attributes of a metropolis. Nearly destroyed by a fire in 1526, the present city has almost entirely been built up since the sixteenth century.

The old Gothic church of the fifteenth century, one of the few remains of so early a date, shelters the tomb of the redoubtable Van Tromp, the vanquisher of the English.

It was easy going along the road out of Delft and we reached The Hague in time for lunch at the Hotel des Indes, where, although it is the leading hotel of the Dutch capital, everything is as French as it would be in Lyons, or at any rate in Brussels. You pay the astonishingly outrageous sum of five francs for housing your machine over night, but nothing for the time you are eating lunch. We got away from the gay little capital, one of the daintiest of all the courts of Europe, as soon as we had made a round of the stock sights of which the guide-books tell, not omitting, of course, the paintings of the Hague Gallery, the Rubens, the Van Dycks and the Holbeins.

The Binnenhof drew the romanticist of our party to it by reason of the memories of the brothers De Witt. It is an irregular collection of buildings of all ages, most of them remodeled, but once the conglomerate residence of the Counts of Holland and the Stadtholders.

The Binnenhof will interest all readers of Dumas. It was here that there took place the culminating scenes in the lives of the brothers De Witt, Cornelius and John. Dumas unquestionably manufactured much of his historical detail, but in the "Black Tulip" there was no exaggeration of the bloody incidents of the murder of these two noble men, who really had the welfare of Holland so much at heart.

We headed down the road to the sea, by the Huis-ten-Bosch (the House in the Wood), the summer palace of Dutch royalty, for the Monte Carlo of Holland, Scheveningen. It has all the conventional marks of a Continental watering-place, a plage, a kursaale, bath houses, terraces, esplanades, chic hotels and restaurants, and a whole regiment of mushroom chairs and windshields dotting its wide expanse of North Sea sand.



In the season the inhabitants live off of the visitors, and out of season live on their fat like the ground-hog, and do a little fishing for profitable amusement. It is a thing to see, Scheveningen, but it is no place for a prolonged stay unless you are a gambler or a blase boulevardier who needs bracing up with sea air.

There are good hotels, if you want to linger and can stand the prices, the best of which is called the Palace Hotel, but we had another little black coffee on the gayest-looking terrace cafe we could find, and made wheel-tracks for Leyden, twenty kilometres distant.

The distances in Holland are mere bagatelles, but there is so much that is strange to see, and the towns of historical interest are so near together, that the automobilist who covers his hundred kilometres a day must be a scorcher indeed.

We passed the night at the Gouden-Leuw, which a Frenchman would call the Lion d'Or, and an Anglo-Saxon the Golden Lion. It was a most excellent hotel in the Breestraat, and it possessed what was called a garage, in reality a cubby-hole which, on a pinch, might accommodate two automobiles, if they were small ones.

Leyden is a city of something like fifty-five thousand people. It has grown since the days when they chained down Bibles in its churches, and books in the library of its university. The chief facts that stand out in Leyden's history, for the visitor, are those referring to the exile of the Puritans here, fleeing from persecution in England, and before they descended upon the New World.

The famous university was founded by the government as a reward for the splendid defence made by the city against the Spaniards in 1574. It was a question as to whether the city should be exempted from future taxation or should be endowed with a university. The citizens themselves chose the latter dignity.

Leaving Leyden and following the flat roadway by the glimmering canals, which chop the polders, and tulip gardens off into checker-board squares, one reaches Haarlem, less than thirty kilometres away.

The country was becoming more and more like what one imagines Holland ought to be; the whole country practically a vast, sandy, sea-girt land of dykes and canals, and dunes and sunken gardens.

Holland has an area of about twenty thousand square miles, and something over five million inhabitants, with the greatest density of population on the coast between Amsterdam, in the north, and Rotterdam, in the south, and the fewest in numbers in the region immediately to the northward of the Zuyder-Zee.

Wherever in Holland one strikes the brick roads, made from little red bricks standing on end, he is happy. There is no dust and there are no depressions in the surface which will upset the carburation and jar the bolts off your machine. It is an expensive way of road-building, one thinks, but it is highly satisfactory. Near Haarlem these brick roadways extend for miles into the open country in every direction.

Haarlem is the centre of the bulb country, the gardens where are grown the best varieties of tulips and hyacinths known over all the world as "Dutch bulbs." The tulip beds of the polders and sunken gardens of the neighbourhood of Haarlem are one of the great sights of Holland.

Besides bulbs, Haarlem is noted for its shiphung church, and the pictures by Franz Hals in the local gallery. There are other good Hals elsewhere, but the portraits of rotund, jolly men and women of his day, in the Haarlem Town Hall, are unapproached by those of any of his contemporaries. Fat, laughing burghers, roystering, knickerbockered Dutchmen and vrous gossiping, smoking, laughing, or drinking, are human documents of the time more graphic than whole volumes of fine writing or mere repetitions of historical fact. All these attributes has Haarlem's collection of paintings by Franz Hals.

There are all sorts of ways of getting from Haarlem to Amsterdam, by train, by boat, by electric tram, or by automobile over an idyllic road, tree-shaded, canal-bordered, and dustless. It is sixteen kilometres only, and it is like running over a causeway laid out between villas and gardens. Nothing quite like it exists elsewhere, in Holland or out of it. An automobile can be very high-geared, for there are no hills except the donkey-back bridges over the canals.

Amsterdam may properly enough be called the Venice of the North, and the automobilist will speedily find that an automobile boat will do him much better service in town than anything that runs on land.

There are half a million souls in Amsterdam, and hotels of all ranks and prices. The Bible Hotel is as good as any, but they have no garage, nor indeed have any of the others. There are half a dozen "Grands Garages" in the city (with their signs written in French—the universal language of automobilism), and the hotel porter will jump up on the seat beside you and pilot you on your way, around sharp corners, over bridges, and through arcades until finally you plump down in as up-to-date and conveniently arranged an establishment for housing your machine as you will find in any land.

Amsterdam's sights will occupy the visitor for a couple of days, and its art gallery for a day longer. We were taking only a bird's-eye view, or review, and stayed only over one night, not making even the classic excursion to those artists' haunts of Volendam, Monnikendam, and Marken, of which no book on Holland should fail to make mention.



These old Dutch towns of the Zuyder-Zee are unique in all the world, and Amsterdam is the gateway to them. An automobile is useless for reaching them. The best means are those offered by existing boat and tram lines.

For Utrecht one leaves Amsterdam via the Amstel Dyke and the Utrechtsche Zyde, and after forty kilometres of roadway, mostly brick-paved like that between Haarlem and Amsterdam, he reaches suburban Utrecht. Utrecht, with but a hundred thousand inhabitants, has suburbs, reaching out in every direction, that would do justice to a city five times it size. Most of Utrecht's population is apparently suburban, and is housed in little brick houses and villas with white trimmings and door-steps, a bulb garden, an iron fence, and a miniature canal flowing through the back yard. This is the formula for laying out a Utrecht suburban villa.

The Het Kasteel van Antwerpen, on the Oude Gracht, is a hotel which treats you very well for five or six florins a day, and allows you also to put your automobile under roof, charging nothing for the service. This is worth making a note of in a country where it usually costs from one to five francs a night for your automobile.

The chief sight of Utrecht is its cathedral, with a fine Gothic tower over a hundred metres in height. It is the proper thing to mount to its highest landing, whence one gets one of the most remarkable bird's-eye views imaginable. In a flat country like Holland, the wide-spread panoramas, taken from any artificial height, embrace an extent of the world's surface not elsewhere to be taken in by a glance of the eye. The Zuyder-Zee and the lowlands of the north stretch out to infinity on one side; to the east the silver-spreading streaks of the Waal and the Oude Rijn (later making the Rhine) lead off toward Germany. To the south are the green-grown prairies and windmill-outlined horizons of South Holland; and westward are the polders and dunes of the region between Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and even a glimpse, on a clear day, of the North Sea itself.

Our one long ride in Holland was from Utrecht to Nymegen, seventy-two kilometres. We left Utrecht after lunch and slowly made our way along the picture landscapes of the Holland countryside, through Hobbema avenues, and under the shadow of quaint Dutch church spires.

One does not go to a foreign land to enjoy only the things one sees in cities. Hotels, restaurants, and cafes are very similar all over Europe, and the great shops do not vary greatly in Rotterdam from those in Liverpool. It is with the small things of life, the doings of the butcher, the baker and the candlestick-maker that the change comes in. In Holland the housekeeper buys her milk from a little dog-drawn cart and can be waked at three in the morning, without fail, by leaving an order the night before with the "morning waker." If you do not have a fire going all the time, and want just enough to cook your dinner with, you go out and buy a few lumps of blazing coals. If it is boiling water you want for your coffee, you go out and buy it too. Holland must be a housekeeper's paradise.

Nymegen, on the Waal, cared for us for the night. On the morrow we were to cross the frontier and enter Germany and the road by the Rhine.

Nymegen and its Hotel Keizer Karel, on the Keizer Karel Plain, was a vivid memory of what a stopping-place for the night between two objective points should be.

The city was delightful, its tree-grown boulevards, its attractive cafes, the music playing in the park, and all the rest was an agreeable interlude, and the catering—if an echo of things Parisian—was good and bountiful. There was no fuss and feathers when we arrived or when we left, and not all the personnel of the hotel, from the boots to the manager, were hanging around for tips. The head waiter and the chambermaid were in evidence; that was all. The rest were discreetly in the background.

Chapter III On The Road By The Rhine



We had followed along the lower reaches of the Rhine, through the little land of dykes and windmills, when the idea occurred to us: why not make the Rhine tour en automobile? This, perhaps, was no new and unheard-of thing, but the Rhine tour is classic and should not be left out of any one's travelling education, even if it is old-fashioned.

At Nymegen we saw the last of Holland and soon crossed the frontier. There were no restrictions then in force against the entrance of foreign automobiles, though we were threatened with new and stringent regulations soon to be put in force. (1906. A full resume of these new regulations will be found in the appendix.) Legally Germany could demand eight marks a hundred kilos for the weight of our machine, but in practice all tourists were admitted free, provided one could convince the official that he intended to return across the frontier within a reasonable time.

As we crossed the railway line we made our obeisance to the German customs authorities, saluted the black and white barber's-pole stripes of the frontier post, and filled up our tanks with gasoline, which had now assumed the name of benzin, instead of benzine, as in Holland.

Emmerich, Cleves, Wesel, and Xanten are not tourist points, and in spite of the wealth of history and romance which surrounds their very names, they had little attraction for us. For once were going to make a tour of convention.

It is a fairly long step from Nymegen to Duesseldorf, one hundred and one kilometres, but we did it between breakfast and lunch, in spite of the difficulty of finding our way about by roads and regulations which were new to us.

The low, flat banks of the Rhine below Duesseldorf have much the same characteristics that they have in Holland, and, if the roadways are sometimes bad as to surface—and they are terrible in the neighbourhood of Crefield—they are at least flat and otherwise suited to speed, though legally you are held down to thirty kilometres an hour.

You may find anything you like in the way of hotel accommodation at Duesseldorf, from the Park Hotel on the Cornelius Platz, at Waldorf prices, to the modest and characteristic little German inn by the name of Prince Alexanders Hof, which is as cheap as a French hotel of its class, and about as good.



It is at Duesseldorf that one comes first into touch with the German institutions in all their completeness. Immediately one comes to the borders of the Rhine he comes into the sphere of world politics. The peace of Europe lies buried at the mouth of the Scheldt where the Rhine enters the sea, and not on the Bosphorus. "The Rhine is the King of Rivers," said a German politician, "and it is our fault if its mouth remains in the hands of foreigners." This is warlike talk, if you like, but if a German prince some day rises on the throne of Holland, there may be a new-made map of Europe which will upset all existing treaties and conventions.

Duesseldorf is a veritable big town, for, though it shelters two hundred and twenty-five thousand inhabitants, it is not "citified." It is one of the most lovely of Rhine towns, and is the headquarters of the Rhenish Westphalian Automobile Club.

To Cologne is thirty-seven kilometres, with the roads still bad,—shockingly so we found them, though we were assured that this is unusual and that even then they were in a state of repair. This was evident, and in truth they needed it.

The twin Gothic splendours of Cologne's cathedral rise high in air long before one reaches the confines of the city. Cologne is the metropolis of the Rhine country, and besides its four hundred thousand inhabitants possesses many institutions and industries which other Rhine cities lack.

Of hotels for automobilists at Cologne there are five, all of which will treat you in the real tourist fashion, and charge you accordingly,—overcharge you in fact. We did not have time to hunt up what the sentimentalist of the party always called "a quaint little inn," and so we put into one almost under the shadow of the cathedral (purposely nameless).

The sights of Cologne are legion. "Numerous churches, all very ancient" describes them well enough for an itinerary such as this; the guide-books must do the rest. The Kolner Automobile Club will supply the touring automobilist graciously and gratuitously with information. A good thing to know!

The beer and concert gardens of Cologne's waterside are famous, almost as famous as the relics of the "three kings" in the cathedral.

At Cologne the pictured, storied Rhine begins. A skeleton itinerary is given at the end of this chapter which allows some digression here for observations of a pertinent kind.

Let the traveller not be disappointed with the first glance at the river as he sees it at Cologne. He is yet a few miles below the banks which have gained for the stream its fame for surpassing beauty, but higher up it justifies the rhapsodies of the poet.

"A blending of all beauties; streams and dells, Fruit, foliage, crag, wood, corn-field, mountain, vine, And chiefless castles breathing stern farewells From gray but leafy walls, where Ruin greenly dwells.

"And there they stand, as stands a lofty mind, Worn, but unstooping to the baser crowd, All tenantless, save to the crannying wind, Or holding dark communion with the cloud. There was a day when they were young and proud, Banners on high, and battles passed below: But they who fought are in a bloody shroud, And those which wav'd are shredless dust ere now, And the bleak battlements shall bear no future blow.

"Beneath battlements, within those walls, Power dwelt amidst her passions: in proud state, Each robber chief upheld his armed halls, Doing his evil will, nor less elate Than mightier heroes of a longer date. What want these outlaws conquerors should have? But History's purchas'd page to call them great? A wider space, an ornamented grave? Their hopes were not less warm, their souls were full as brave."

The scenery, the history and legend, and the wines of the Rhine make up the complete list of the charms of the river for the enthusiastic voyager on its bosom or on its banks.

It is enjoyable enough when one is on the deck of a Rhine steamboat, or would be if one were not so fearfully crowded, but it is doubly so when one is travelling along its banks by roadways which, from here on, improve greatly.

The history and legend of the Rhine are too big a subject to handle here, but some facts about Rhine wine, picked up on the spot, may be of interest.

The true German is not only eloquent when speaking of the quality of the Rhine wines, but he claims for them also the honours of antiquity. One may be content to date their history back merely to the days of Probus, but others declare that Bacchus only could be the parent of such admirable liquor, and point to Bacharach as the resting-place of the deity when he came to taste the Rhine grapes, and set an example to all future tipplers. It would not have been out of place to call the Rhine the country of Bacchus. The Rhine, Moselle, Neckar, and Main are gardens of the vine; but the Germans have not been content with cultivating the banks of rivers alone, for the higher lands are planted as well. From Bonn to Coblenz, and from the latter city to Mayence, the country is covered with vineyards. The Johannisberger of "father" Rhine, the Gruenhauser or the Brauneberger of the Moselle, and the Hochheimer of the Main, each distinguish and hallow their respective rivers in the eyes of the connoisseur in wine.

The vineyards of the Rhine are a scene of surpassing beauty; Erbach, enthroned among its vines; Johannisberg, seated on a crescent hill of red soil, adorned with cheering vegetation; Mittelheim, Geisenheim, and Ruedesheim with its strong, fine-bodied wine, the grapes from which bask on their promontory of rock, in the summer sun, and imbibe its generous heat from dawn to setting; then again, on the other side, Bingen, delightful, sober, majestic, with its terraces of vines, topped by the chateau of Klopp. The river and its riches, the corn and fruit which the vicinity produces, all remind the stranger of a second Canaan. The Bingerloch, the ruins, and the never-failing vines scattered among them, like verdant youth revelling amid age and decay, give a picture nowhere else exhibited, uniting to the joyousness of wine the sober tinge of meditative feeling. The hills back the picture, covered with feudal relics or monastic remains, mingled with the purple grape. Landscapes of greater beauty, joined to the luxuriance of fruitful vine culture, can nowhere be seen.

The glorious season of fruition—the Vintage—is the time for the visit of a wine-lover to the Rhine. It does not take place until the grapes are perfectly mature; they are then carefully gathered, and the bad fruit picked out, and, with the stalks, put aside. The wine of the pressing is separated, most vom ersten druck, vom nachdruck. The more celebrated of the wines are all fermented in casks; and then, after being repeatedly racked, suffered to remain for years in large fudders of 250 gallons, to acquire perfection by time. The wines mellow best in large vessels; hence the celebrated Heidelberg tun, thirty-one feet long by twenty-one high, and holding one hundred and fifty fudders, or six hundred hogsheads. Tuebingen, Grueningen, and Koenigstein (the last 3,709 hogsheads) could all boast of their enormous tuns, in which the white wines of the country were thought to mellow better than in casks of less dimensions. These tuns were once kept carefully filled. The Germans always had the reputation of being good drinkers, and of taking care of the "liquor they loved." Misson says in his "Travels," that he formerly saw at Nuremberg the public cellar, two hundred and fifty paces long, and containing twenty thousand ahms of wine.

The names and birthplaces of the different German wines are interesting. The Liebfrauenmilch is a well-bodied wine, grown at Worms, and generally commands a good price. The same may be said of the wines of Koesterick, near Mayence; and those from Mount Scharlachberg are equally full-bodied and well-flavoured. Nierstein, Oppenheim, Laubenheim, and Gaubischeim are considered to yield first growths, but that of Deidesheim is held to be the best.

The river Main runs up to Frankfort close to Mayence; and on its banks the little town of Hochheim, once the property of General Kellerman, stands upon an elevated spot of ground, in the full blaze of the sun. From Hochheim is derived the name of Hock, too often applied by the unknowing to all German wines. There are no trees to obstruct the genial fire from the sky, which the Germans deem so needful to render their vintages propitious. The town stands in the midst of vineyards.

The vineyard which produces the Hochheimer of the first growth is about eight acres in extent, and situated on a spot well sheltered from the north winds. The other growths of this wine come from the surrounding vineyards. The whole eastern bank of the Rhine to Lorich, called the Rheingau, has been remarkable centuries past for its wines. It was once the property of the Church. Near this favoured spot grows the Schloss-Johannisberger, once the property of the Church, and also of the Prince of Orange. Johannisberg is a town, with its castle (schloss) on the right bank of the Rhine below Mentz. The Johannisberger takes the lead in the wines of the Rhine. The vines are grown over the vaults of the castle, and were very near being destroyed by General Hoche. The quantity is not large.

Ruedesheim produces wines of the first Rhine growths; but the Steinberger, belonging to the Duke of Nassau, takes rank after the Schloss Johannisberger among these wines. It has the greatest strength, and yet is one of the most delicate, and even sweetly flavoured. That called the "Cabinet" is the best. The quantity made is small, of the first growth. Graefenberg, which was once the property of the Church, produces very choice wines which carries a price equal to the Ruedesheim.

Marcobrunner is an excellent wine, of a fine flavour, especially when the vintage has taken place in a warm year. The vineyards of Roth and Koenigsbach grow excellent wines. The wine of Bacharach was formerly celebrated, but time produces revolutions in the history of wines, as well as in that of empires.

On the whole the wines of Bischeim, Asmannshaeusen, and Laubenheim are very pleasant wines; those of the most strength are Marcobrunner, Ruedesheimer, and Niersteiner, while those of Johannisberg, Geisenheim, and Hochheim give the most perfect delicacy and aroma. The Germans themselves say, "Rhein-wein, fein wein; Necker-wein, lecker wein; Franken-wein tranken wein; Mosel-wein, unnosel wein" (Rhine wine is good; Neckar pleasant; Frankfort bad; Moselle innocent).

The red wines of the Rhine are not of extraordinary quality. The Asmannshaeuser is the best, and resembles some of the growths of France. Near Lintz, at Neuwied, a good wine, called Blischert, is made. Keinigsbach, on the left bank of the Rhine, Altenahr, Rech, and Kesseling, yield ordinary red growths.

The Moselle wines are secondary to those of the Rhine and Main. The most celebrated is the Brauneberger. The varieties grown near Treves are numerous. A Dutch merchant is said to have paid the Abbey of Maximinus for a variety called Gruenhauser in 1793, no less than eleven hundred and forty-four florins for two hundred and ninety English gallons in the vat. This wine was formerly styled the "Nectar of the Moselle."

These wines are light, with a good flavour. They will not keep so long as the Rhine wines, but they are abundant and wholesome. Near Treves are grown the wines of Brauneberg, Wehlen, Graach, Zeitingen, and Piesport. The wines of Rinsport and Becherbach are considered of secondary rank. The wines of Cusel and Valdrach, near Treves, are thought to be possessed of diuretic properties. In about five years these wines reach the utmost point of perfection for drinking. They will not keep more than ten or twelve in prime condition.

The wines called "wines of the Ahr" resemble those of the Moselle, except that they will keep longer.

The "wines of the Neckar" are made from the best French, Hungarian, and even Cyprus vines. The most celebrated are those of Bessingheim. They are of a light red colour, not deep, and of tolerable flavour and bouquet.

Wiesbaden grows some good wines at Schierstein, and Epstein, near Frankfort. The best wines of Baden are produced in the seigniory of Badenweiler, near Fribourg. At Heidelberg, the great tun used to be filled with the wine of that neighbourhood, boasted to be a hundred and twenty years old, but it gave the wine no advantage over other Neckar growths. Some good wines are produced near Baden. The red wines of Wangen are much esteemed in the country of Bavaria, but they are very ordinary. Wuerzburg grows the Stein and Liesten wines. The first is produced upon a mountain so called, and is called "wine of the Holy Spirit" by the Hospital of Wuerzburg, to which it belongs. The Liesten wines are produced upon Mount St. Nicholas. Straw wines are made in Franconia. A vin de liqueur, called Calmus, like the sweet wines of Hungary, is made in the territory of Frankfort, at Aschaffenburg. The best vineyards are those of Bischofsheim. Some wines are made in Saxony, but they are of little worth. Meissen, near Dresden, and Guben, produce the best. Naumberg makes some small wines, like the inferior Burgundies.

With these pages as a general guide the touring automobilist must make his own itinerary. He will not always want to put up for the night in a large town, and will often prefer the quietness and the romantic picturesqueness of some little half-mountain-hidden townlet and its simple fare to a table d'hote meal, such as he gets at Cologne or Coblenz, which is simply a poor imitation of its Parisian namesake.

The following skeleton gives the leading points.

Cologne to Bonn (Hotel Rheinfeck) 27 Kilometres Bonn to Godesberg (Hotel Blinzer) 7 " Godesberg to Andernach (Hotel Schafer) 28 " Andernach to Coblenz (Hotel Metropole) 18 " Coblenz to St. Goar (Hotel Rheinfels) 46 " St. Goar to Bingen (Stakenburger Hof) 29 " Bingen to Mayence (Pfalzer Hof) 27 " Mayence to Frankfort (Savoy Hotel) 33 " Frankfort to Worms (Europaischer Hof) 52 " Worms to Mannheim (Pfalzer Hof) 41 " Mannheim to Heidelberg (Hotel Schrieder) 22 " Heidelberg to Spire (Pfalzer Hof) 28 " Spire to Carlsruhe (Hotel Erbprinz) 52 " Carlsruhe to Baden (Hotel Stephanie) 26 " Baden to Strasburg (Hotel de l'Europe) 60 "

Generally speaking, none of the hotels above mentioned include wine with meals. The trail of the tourist accounts for this. All have accommodation for the automobilist.



From Strasburg one may continue to Bagel, if he is bound Italyward through Switzerland, but the chief distinctive features of the Rhine tour end at Strasburg.

From Strasburg one may enter France by St. Die, in the Vosges, via the Col de Saales, the douane (custom-house) station for which is at Nouveau Saales.

The following are some of the signs and abbreviations met with in German hotels catering for stranger automobilists.

Ohne Wein Wine not included A. C. B. Automobile Club de Belgique M. C. B. Moto-Club de Belgique T. C. B. Touring Club de Belgique T. C. N. Touring Club Neerlandais A. C. F. Automobile Club de France T. C. F. Touring Club de France Bade-Raum Bathroom Grube Fosse or Inspection Pit

THE END.

Appendices

Appendix I



Appendix II

A SHORT ACCOUNT OF SOME FAMOUS EUROPEAN ROAD RACES AND TRIALS

In December, 1893, Le Petit Journal of Paris proposed a trial of self-propelled road-vehicles, to end with a run from Paris to Rouen. The distance was 133 kilometres and the first car to arrive at Rouen was a steam-tractor built by De Dion, Bouton et Cie, to-day perhaps the largest manufacturers of the ordinary gasoline-motor. A Peugot carriage, fitted with a Daimler engine, followed next, and then a Panhard. There were something like a hundred entries for this trial, of which one was from England and three from Germany, but most of them did not survive the run.

On the 11th of June, 1895, was started the now historic Paris-Bordeaux race. Sixteen gasoline and half a dozen steam cars started from the Arc de Triomphe, in Paris, for the journey to Bordeaux and back. It was a Panhard-Levassor that arrived back in Paris first, but the prize was given to a Peugot which carried four passengers, whereas the Panhard carried but two.

In the following year the new locomotion was evidently believed to have come to stay, for the first journal devoted to the industry and sport was founded in Paris, under the name of La Locomotion Automobile, soon to be followed by another called La France Automobile.

In 1896 was held the Paris-Marseilles race, divided into five stages for the outward journey, and five stages for the homeward. Twenty-four gasoline-cars started, and three propelled by steam, and there were five gasoline-tricycles. Bolee's tandem tricycle was the sensation during the first stage, averaging twenty miles an hour. The itinerary out and back, of something like sixteen hundred kilometres, was covered first by a Panhard-Levassor, in sixty-seven hours, forty-two minutes, and fifty-eight seconds. The average speed of the winner was something like twenty-two kilometres an hour.

In England a motor-car run was organized from London to Brighton in 1896, including many of the vehicles which had started in the Paris-Marseilles race in France. The first vehicles to arrive in Brighton were the two Bolee tricycles; a Duryea was third, and a Panhard fourth.

In 1897 there was a race in France, on a course laid out between Marseilles, Nice, and La Turbie. The struggle was principally between the Comte Chasseloup-Laubat in a steam-car, and M. Lemaitre in a Panhard, with a victory for the former, showing at least that there were possibilities in the steam-car which gasoline had not entirely surpassed.

Pneumatic tires were used on the Paris-Bordeaux race in 1895, but solid tires were used on the winning cars in 1894, 1895, and 1896.

Another affair which came off in 1897 was a race from Paris to Dieppe, organized by two Paris newspapers, the Figaro and Les Sports.

The event was won by a three-wheeled Bolee, with a De Dion second, and a six-horse-power Panhard third.

In 1898 there took place the Paris-Amsterdam race. It was won by a Panhard, driven by Charron, and the distance was approximately a thousand miles, something like sixteen hundred kilometres.

The "Tour de France" was organized by the Matin in 1898. The distance was practically two thousand kilometres. Panhards won the first, second, third, and fourth places, though they were severely pressed by Mors.



The first Gordon-Bennett cup race was held in 1900, between Paris and Lyons. The distance was not great, but the trial was in a measure under general road conditions, though it took on all the aspects of a race. It was won by Charron in a Panhard.

In 1901 the Gordon-Bennett race was run from Paris to Bordeaux, perhaps the most ideal course in all the world for such an event. It was won by Girardot in a forty-horse Panhard.

The Paris-Berlin race came in the same year, with Fournier as winner, in a Mors designed by Brazier.

In 1902 the Gordon-Bennett formed a part of the Paris-Vienna itinerary, the finish being at Innsbruck in the Tyrol. De Knyff in a Panhard had victory well within his grasp when, by a misfortune in the parting of his transmission gear, he was beaten by Edge in the English Napier. Luck had something to do with it, of course, but Edge was a capable and experienced driver and made the most of each and every opportunity.

Through to Vienna the race was won by Farman in a seventy-horse-power Panhard, though Marcel Renault in a Renault "Voiture Legere" was first to arrive.

It was in 1901 that the famous Mercedes first met with road victories. A thirty-five-horse power Mercedes won the Nice-Salon-Nice event in the south of France, and again in the following year the Nice-La Turbie event.

In the Circuit des Ardennes event in 1902, Jarrot, in a seventy-horse Panhard, and Gabriel in a Mors, were practically tied until the last round, when Jarrot finally won, having made the entire distance (approximately 450 kilometres) at an average speed of fifty-four and a half miles per hour. There were no controles.

In 1903 the Gordon-Bennett cup race was held in Ireland, over a course of 368 miles, twice around a figure-eight track. Germany won with a Mercedes with Jenatzy at the wheel, with De Knyff in a Panhard only ten minutes behind.

In 1903 was undertaken the disastrous Paris-Madrid road race. Between Versailles and Bordeaux the accidents were so numerous and terrible, due principally to reckless driving, that the affair was abandoned at Bordeaux. Gabriel in a Mors car made the astonishing average of sixty-two and a half miles per hour, hence may be considered the winner as far as Bordeaux.

In 1904 the Gordon-Bennett race was run over the Taunus course in Germany, with Thery the winner in a Richard-Brazier car.

In 1905 Thery again won on the Circuit d'Auvergne in the same make of car, making a sensational victory which—to the French at least—has apparently assured the automobile supremacy to France for all time.

The 1906 event was the Grand Prix of the Automobile Club de France on the Circuit de la Sarthe. The astonishing victories of the Renault car driven by Szisz, which made the round of 680 kilometres in two days at the average rate of speed of 108 kilometres an hour, has elated all connected with the French automobile industry. It was a victory for removable rims also, as had Szisz not been able to replace his tattered tires almost instanteously with others already blown up, he would certainly have been overtaken by one or more of the Brazier cars, which suffered greatly from tire troubles.

In 1906 another event was organized in France by the Matin. It was hardly in the nature of a race, but a trial of over six thousand kilometres, an extended tour de France.

Forty-two automobiles of all ranks left the Place de la Concorde at Paris on the 2d of August, and thirty-three arrived at Paris on the 28th of the same month, twenty of them without penalization of any sort. No such reliability trial was ever held previously, and it showed that the worth of the comparatively tiny eight and ten horse machines for the work was quite as great as that of the forty and sixty horse monsters.

The following tables show plainly the value of this great trial.

COUPE DU MATIN LIST OF AUTOMOBILES ENGAGED

CLASS "ROUES" (SPRING WHEELS AND ANTI-SKIDS) 1. Antiderapant Neron de Deitrich 2. " Vulcain I. de Dion-Bouton 3. " Vulcain II. Corre 33. Roues Elastiques Soleil Rochet-Schneider 38. " " Garchey I. de Dion-Bouton 39. " " Garchey II. Mieusset 42. " " E. L. Delauney-Belleville

CLASS ENDURANCE 1st Category Motocyclettes, vitesse maxima, 25 kilometres a l'heure 35. Motocycletto Lurquin-Coudert 64. " Albatross (Motor Buchet) 67. " Rene Gillet

2d Category Tri-cars, vitesse maxima, 25 kilometres a l'heure 4. Mototri Contal I. 5. Mototri Contal II.

3d Category Voiturette 1 cylindre, alesage maximum 110 millimetres 6. Fouillaron 34. Voiturette Darracq II. 8. De Dion-Bouton et Cie I. 47. Voiturette Lacoste & 9. Darracq et Cie Battmann I. 12. De Dion-Bouton et Cie II. 48. Voiturette Lacoste & 18. Cottereau I. Battmann II. 25. Voiturette Roy 49. Voiturette Lacoste & 30. Voiturette G. R. A. R. Battmanu III. 59. Voiturette Alcyon

4th Category Voitures 2 cylindres, alesage maximum 130 millimetres, ou 4 cylindres, alesage maximum 85 millimetres 10. Darracq II. 21. Cottereau IV. 11. Darracq 22. Kallista I. 13. De Dion-Bouton et Cie III. 23. Kallista II. 15. D. Thuault 44. Panhard et Levassor 19. Cottereau II. 46. Corre 20. Cottereau III. 51. X.

5th Category Voitures 4 cylindres, alesage maximum 105 millimetres 7. C. V. R. I. 43. Darracq V. 16. De Dion-Bouton et Cie IV. 50. Herald 17. De Dion-Bouton et Cie V. 57. Panhard 28. Renault Freres 60. De Dion-Bouton et Cie VI. 29. C. I. A. 61. Bayard Clement I. 31. C. V. R. II. 65. Corre 66. Berliet

6th Category Voitures 4 cylindres, alesage maximum 126 millimetres 14. Mercedes I. 52. Mors. 24. Scrive 53. Mercedes II. 26. Pilain I. 55. Clement 27. Pilain II. 58. Darracq IV. 32. C. V. R. III. 62. Bayard-Clement II. 45. Gobron 63. C. V. R. IV. 68. Mercedes III.

7th Category Voitures 4 cylindres, alesage maximum 140 millimetres 86. Siddely 37. Siddely 56. Fiat

Appendix III



Appendix IV



Appendix V

SOME FAMOUS HILL CLIMBS ABROAD

ENGLAND

Birdlip Hill.—Near Gloucester. Length, 2 miles; average gradient, 1 in 8; steepest gradient, 1 in 7

Dashwood Hill.—Near High Wycombe. Length, 1,180 yards; average gradient, 1 in 16; steepest gradient, 1 in 10.9.

Hindhead.—Near Guildford. Length, 2 3/4 miles, rise, 520 feet; average gradient, 1 in 24.4; steepest gradient, 1 in 13.

Porlock Hill.—North Devon. Length, 3 miles; rise, 1,365 feet; gradient, 1 in 6 to 1 in 8.

Shap Fell.—Near Penrith. Rise, 1,886 feet, gradients, 1 in 11, 1 in 15, 1 in 16, and 1 in 20.

Snowdon.—Mountain in Wales. Steepest gradient, 1 in 7.

Westerham.—Length, 2,940 feet; average gradient, 1 in 9.4.



FRANCE

Chateau Thierry.—Near Meaux. Length, 1,098 yards.

Cote de Gaillon.—Near Rouen. The scene of the most famous hill climbs in France. Length, 3 kilometres, rise, 10 per cent. for the greater part of the distance.

Cote de Laffray.—Near Grenoble. Length, 4.13 miles; gradients, 1 in 15, 1 in 11, 1 in 10, and 1 in 8; average, 9.3 per cent; many bad turns.

La Turbie.—A rude foot-hill climb in the Maritime Alps just back of Monte Carlo.

Mont Ventoux.—Near Avignon. Length, 20 kilometres; rise 1,600 metres.

Mont Cenis.—Near Turin. The "climb" begins at Susa, on the Italian side of the mountain, at the 596 metre level, and continues for 22 kilometres to the 2,087 metre level, a 100 h.p. Fiat climbed this in 1905 in 19 minutes, 18 3/5 seconds.

Appendix VI



Appendix VII

THE AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY IN FRANCE

Number Value of Cars Value Exported Year. Built. Fcs. Fcs. 1898 1,850 8,300,000 1,749,350 1899 2,200 11,000,000 4,259,330 1900 4,100 23,000,000 6,617,360 1901 6,300 39,000,000 15,782,290 1902 7,800 47,000,000 30,219,380 1903 11,500 81,000,000 50,837,140 1904 13,400 106,000,000 71,035,000 1905 20,500 140,000,000 100,265,000

Appendix VIII

HOURS OF MOONLIGHT Moon 5 days old shines till 11 PM (approx.) " 6 " " " " 12 PM " 7 " " " " 1 AM Moon 15 days old rises at 6 PM (approx.) " 16 " " " " 7 PM " 17 " " " " 8 PM " 18 " " " " 9-10 PM

Appendix IX



Appendix X

THE TOURING CLUB DE FRANCE

The Touring Club de France is the largest and most active national association for the promotion of touring. It is under the direct patronage of the President of the French Republic, and the interests and wants of its members are protected and provided for in a full and practical manner by an excellent organization, whose influence is felt in every part of France and the adjacent countries.

The membership is over 100,000 and is steadily growing. It includes a very considerable body of foreign members, those from the United Kingdom and America alone numbering 5,000, a circumstance which may be accepted, perhaps, as the best possible proofs of the value of the advantages which the club offers to tourists from abroad visiting France.

The annual subscription is 6 francs (5s.) for foreign members. There is no entrance fee and the election of candidates generally follows within a few days after the receipt of the application at the offices of the club in Paris.

The club issues a number of publications specially compiled for cyclists, comprising: a Yearbook (Annuaire) for France divided in two parts (North and South) with a list of over three thousand selected club hotels, at which members enjoy a privileged position as to charges; an admirable volume of skeleton tours covering the whole of France, from each large centre, and by regions, and supplemented by some three hundred card itineraries with sketch maps; a specially drawn cyclist's map of France, and a monthly club gazette, all designed to facilitate the planning and carrying out of interesting tours with comfort and economy.

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES Fill in the application form and enclose it with the subscription (6 francs) to M. le President du T. C. F., 65, Avenue de la Grande-Armee, Paris. The applications of lady candidates should be signed by a male relative—brother, father, husband—whether a member of the club or not.

Notice of resignation of membership must reach the Paris office of the club not later than November 30th, failing which the member is liable for the following year's subscription. Those who join after October 1st are entitled to the privileges of membership until the close of the following year for one subscription.

Post-office money orders should be made payable to M. le Tresorier du T. C. F., 65, Avenue de la Grande-Armee, Paris, France.

The addresses of the representatives of the Touring Club de France in England and America are as follows; further information concerning this admirable institution for all travellers whether by train, bicycle, or automobile will be gladly furnished. They can also supply forms for application for membership.

DELEGATES New York City Ch. Dien 38-40 West 33d St. Boston F. Hesseltine 10 Tremont St. Washington H. Lazard 1453 Massachusetts Ave. London C. F. Just 17 Victoria St. S. W. Edinburgh Dr. D. Turner 37 George Square. Dublin G. Fottereil 46 Fleet St.

Appendix XI

MOTOR-CAR REGULATIONS AND CUSTOMS DUTIES IN EUROPE

GREAT BRITAIN

Certain regulations are compulsory even for tourists. You may obtain a license to drive a motor-car in Britain if you are over seventeen years of age (renewable every twelve months) at a cost of five shillings.

You must register your motor-car at the County or Borough Council offices where you reside, fee L1.0.0. You must pay a yearly "male servant" tax of fifteen shillings for your chauffeur. In case of accident, en route, you must stop and, if required, give your name and address, also name and address of the owner of the car and the car number.

Every car must bear two number plates (the number is assigned you on registration), one front and one rear. The latter must be lighted at night.

Speed limit is twenty miles an hour except where notice is posted to the effect that ten miles an hour only is allowed, or that some particular road is forbidden to automobiles.

In England one's car can be registered at any port on arrival, or, by letter addressed to any licensing authority, before arrival. The regulation as to driving licenses is as follows:

"If any person applies to the Council of a county or county borough for the grant of a license and the Council are satisfied that he has no residence in the United Kingdom, the Council shall, if the applicant is otherwise entitled, grant him a license, notwithstanding that he is not resident within their county or county borough."

As regards the Inland Revenue Carriage License, however, it may be noted that twenty-one days' grace is allowed—in other words, that licenses must be obtained within twenty-one days after first becoming liable to the duty.

There are no customs duties on automobiles entering Great Britain.

FRANCE CERTIFICAT DE CAPACITe AND ReCePISSe DE DeCLARATION

Before taking an automobile upon the road in France all drivers must procure the Certificat de Capacite, commonly known as the "Carte Rouge."

The following letter should be addressed to the nearest prefecture, or sous-prefecture, written on stamped paper (papier timbre, 60 centimes) and accompanied by two miniature photographs.

"Monsieur:—J'ai l'honneur de vous demander de me faire convoquer pour subir l'examen necessaire a l'obtention d'un certificat de capacite pour la conduite d'une voiture... (indiquer la marque) mue par un moteur a petrole.

"Veuillez agreer, etc."



At the same time another letter should be addressed to the same authority requesting a Recepisse de Declaration. These applications must be quite separate and distinct; each on its own papier timbre, which you buy at any bureau de tabac.

"Monsieur Le Prefet:—Je soussigne ... (nom, prenom, domicile) proprietaire d'une voiture automobile actionnee par un moteur a petrole systeme (type et numero du type), ai l'honneur de vous demander un permis de circulation.

"Vous trouverez sons ce pli le proces-verbal de reception delivre par le constructeur.

"Veuillez agreer, etc."



NAMES OF ARRONDISSEMENTS AND DISTINGUISHING LETTERS BORNE BY AUTOMOBILES IN FRANCE

Alais, A Arras, R Bordeaux, B Chalon-sur-Saone, C Chambery, H Clermont-Ferrand, F Douai, D Le Mans, L Marseille, M Nancy, N Poitiers, P Rouen, Y ou Z Saint-Etienne, S Toulouse, T Paris, E, G, I, U, X

CUSTOMS DUTIES IN FRANCE.

Fifty francs per 100 kilos on all motor vehicles weighing more than 125 kilos. Automobiles (including motor-cycles) weighing less than 125 kilos pay a flat rate of 120 francs.

Members of most cycling touring clubs can arrange for the entry of motor-cycles free of duty.

All customs duties paid, in France may be reimbursed upon the exportation of the automobile. The formalities are very simple. Inquire at bureau of entry.

BELGIUM

Customs Dues. 12 1/2 per cent. ad valorem (owners' declaration as to value), but the authorities reserve the right to purchase at owners valuation if they think it undervalued. This is supposed to prevent fraud, and no doubt it does.

A driving certificate is not required of tourists, but a registered number must be carried. Plates and a permit are supplied at the frontier station by which one enters, or they may be obtained at Brussels from the chef de police.

Speed limit: 30 kilometres per hour in the open country and 10 kilometres per hour in the towns, except, generally speaking, the larger cities hold down the speed to that of a trotting horse.

HOLLAND

Customs Dues are five per cent, ad valorem, but in practice nothing is demanded of genuine tourists and a permit is now given (1906) for eight days with a right of extension for a similar period.

Foreign number plates, once recorded by the Dutch customs officials, will supplant the need of local number plates.

SWITZERLAND

Customs Dues are 60 francs per 100 kilos. This amount, deposited on entering the country, will be refunded upon leaving and complying with the formalities.

Legally a driving and "circulation" permit may be demanded, but often this is waived.

In the Canton Valais only the main road from St. Maurice to Brigue is open for automobile traffic. Many other roads are entirely closed.

N.B. Traffic regulations in many parts are exceedingly onerous and often unfair to foreigners.

A recent conference of the different cantons has been held at Berne to consider the question of automobile traffic in the country. It was decided to fix a blue sign on the roads where motorists must slacken speed, and a yellow sign where motoring is not allowed. The Department of the Interior was deputed to draw up a uniform code of rules for the guidance of police deputed to take charge of the roads. No decision was arrived at as regards uniformity in fines for infraction of the regulations, but steps are to be taken to put an end to the abuses to which it is alleged the police have subjected motorists. A resolution was furthermore adopted to the effect that no road is to be closed to motor-cars without an agreement between the authorities of all the cantons concerned, and that all foreign motorists shall be given a copy of the regulations on entering the country.

The above information is given here that no one may be unduly frightened, but there is no question but that Switzerland has not been so hospitable to automobile tourists as to other classes.

The Simplon Pass, under certain restrictions has recently been opened to automobiles. Open from June 1st to October 15th, except on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, but no departure can be made from either Brigue or Gondo after three P. M. Apply for pass at the Gendarmerie. Speed 10 kilometres on the open road, and 3 kilometres on curves and in tunnels.

ITALY

Customs Dues are according to weight. 500 kilos 200 fcs. 500-1000 kilos 400 fcs. above 1000 kilos 600 fcs. motor cycles 42 fcs.

A certificate for importation temporaire is given by the customs officers on entering, and the same must be given up on leaving the country, when the sum deposited will be reimbursed.

Since January 8, 1905, a driving certificate is compulsory, but the authorities will issue same readily to tourists against foreign certificates or licenses.

Speed during the day must be limited to 40 kilometres an hour in the open country and 12 kilometres in the towns.

At night the speed (legally) may not exceed 15 kilometres an hour. Lamps white on the right, green on the left. There are special regulations for Florence.

LUXEMBOURG

Customs Dues.—One hundred and fifty marks per automobile. A piece d'identite will be given the applicant on entering, and upon giving this up on leaving the duties will be reimbursed.

German, French, and Belgian coins all pass current (except bronze money).

GERMANY

Customs Dues.—Temporary importation by tourists 150 marks per auto. Oil and gasoline in the tanks also pay duty under certain rulings. A small matter, this, anyway.

According to recent regulations tourists are permitted to introduce motor-vehicles into Germany for a temporary visit, free of customs duty, but it has been left to the discretion of the official to give motorists the benefit of this arrangement, or to charge the ordinary duty, with the result that some have had to make a deposit, and others have succeeded in passing their cars into the country free.

Uniform driving or tax regulations are wanting in Germany, but something definite is evidently forthcoming from the authorities shortly (1906-7), with, the probability that even visitors will have to pay a revenue tax.

Rule of the road is keep to the right and pass on the left, as in most Continental countries.

Speed limits, during darkness, or in populous districts, vary from 9 to 15 kilometres per hour, but "driving to the common danger" is the only other cause which will prevent one making any speed he likes in the open country.

Foreigners should apply to the police authorities immediately on having entered the country for information as to new rules and regulations.

SPAIN

Customs Dues vary greatly on automobiles. The motor pays 18 francs, 50 centimes per hundred kilos., and the carrosserie according to its form or design. Ordinary tonneau type four places, 1,000 pesetas. For temporary importation receipts are given which will enable one to be reimbursed upon exportation of the vehicle. In general the road regulations of France apply to Spain.

Speed limit, 28 kilometres per hour in open country down to 12 kilometres in the towns.

A circulation permit and driving certificate should be obtained.

M. J. Lafitte, 8 Place de la Liberte, Biarritz, can "put one through" (at an appropriate fee), in a manner hardly possible for one to accomplish alone.

A special "free-entry" permit is sometimes given for short periods.

Appendix XII

Some Notes On Map—Making

The most fascinating maps for tried traveller are the wonderful Cartes d'Etat Major and of Ministre de l'Interieur in France. The Ordnance Survey maps in England are somewhat of an approach thereto, but they are in no way as interesting to study.

One must have a good eye for distances and the lay of the land, and a familiarity with the conventional signs of map-makers, in order to get full value from these excellent French maps, but the close contemplation of them will show many features which might well be incorporated into the ordinary maps of commerce.

The great national roads are distinctly marked with little dots beside the road, representing the tree-bordered "Routes Nationales," but often there is a cut-off of equally good road between two points on one's itinerary which of course is not indicated in any special manner. For this reason alone these excellent maps are not wholly to be recommended to the automobilist who is covering new ground. For him it is much better that he should stick to the maps issued by the Touring Club de France or the cheaper, more legible, and even more useful Cartes Taride.

In England, as an alternative to the Ordnance Survey maps, there are Bartholemew's coloured maps, two miles to the inch, and the Half Inch Map of England and Wales.

Belgium is well covered by the excellent "Carte de Belgique" of the Automobile Club de Belgique, Italy by the maps of the Italian Touring Club, and Germany by the ingenious profile map known as "Strassenprofilkarten," rather difficult to read by the uninitiated.

One of the great works of the omnific Touring Club de France is the preparation of what might be called pictorial inventories of the historical monuments and natural curiosities of France made on the large-scale maps of the Etat Major. Primarily these are intended to be filed away in their wonderful "Bibliotheque," that all and sundry who come may read, but it is also further planned that they shall be displayed locally in hotels, automobile clubs, and the like. The mode of procedure is astonishingly simple. These detailed maps of the War Department are simply cut into strips and mounted consecutively, and the "sights" marked on the margin (with appropriate notes) after the manner of the example here given.

There seems no reason why one could not make up his own maps beforehand in a similar fashion, of any particular region or itinerary that he proposed to "do" thoroughly. One misses a great deal en route that is not marked clearly on the map before his eyes.

Appendix XIII

A List Of European Map And Road Books

Great Britain and Ireland

The Contour Road Books

Vol. I. North England, including part of Wales. Vol. II. West England Vol. III. Southeastern England.

Very useful books, including about five hundred maps and plans, showing gradients and road profiles.

Bartholemew's Revised Map of England and Wales.—Complete in 87 sheets, 2 miles to the inch.

Half Inch Map of England, Wales, and Scotland.—Published by Gall and Inglis (Edinburgh). Complete in 47 sheets (England and Wales).

"Strip" Maps.—Published by Gall and Inglis (Edinburgh); 2 miles to the inch.

1. Edinburgh to Inverness. 2. Inverness to John O'Groat's. 3. "Brighton Road," London to Brighton; "Portsmouth Road," London to Portsmouth. 4. "Southampton Road," London to Bournemouth. 5. "Exeter Road," London to Exeter. 6. "Bath Road," London to Bristol. 10. "Great North Road," in two parts: London to York, Leeds, or Harrogate; York to Edinburgh. 15. "Land's End Road," Bristol to Land's End. 16. "Worcester Road," Bristol to Birmingham, Worcester to Lancashire. 18. The North Wales Road: Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham to Holyhead. 19. London to Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool. 20. "Great North Road," Edinburgh to York. 21. "Carlisle Road," Edinburgh to Lancashire. 28. "Highland Road," Edinburgh to Inverness. 28. "John O'Groat's Road," Inverness to Caithness. Excellent for tours over a straightaway itinerary.

The Cyclist's Touring Club Road Books Vol. I. deals with the Southern and Southwestern Counties south of the main road from London to Bath and Bristol. Vol. II. embraces the Eastern and Midland Counties, including the whole of Wales. Vol. III. covers the remainder of England to the Scottish Border. Vol. IV. includes the whole of Scotland. Vol. V. Southern Ireland, deals with the country south of the main road from Dublin to Galway. Vol. VI., Northern Ireland, deals with the country north of the main road froth Dublin to Galway.

Ordnance Survey Map of England and Wales.—New series, complete in 354 sheets, 21 x 16 inches. One mile to the inch. Bartholemew's Map of Scotland.—Complete in 29 sheets, 2 miles to the inch.

IRELAND Mecredy's Road Maps

1. Dublin and Wicklow. 2. Kerry. 3. Donegal. 4. Connemara. 5. Down. 6. East Central Ireland.

Mecredy's Road Book 2 Volumes

Vol. I. South of Dublin and Galway. Vol. II. North of Dublin and Galway.

The Continental Road Book for Great Britain—Published by the Continental Gutta-Percha Co. Excellent information on British roads, distances, hotels, etc., with a general map.

The Automobile Hand Book.—The official year book Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland. Contains all the "official" information concerning automobileism in Britain. Rules and regulations, statistics, a few routes and plans of the large towns, and a list of "official" hotels, repairers, etc.

Continental Maps and Road Books

FRANCE Cartes Taride.—Excellent road maps of all France in 25 sheets can be had everywhere, mounted on paper at 1 franc, cloth 2 fcs. 50 centimes. All good roads marked in red; dangerous hills are marked, also railways. Kilometres are also given between towns en route. The most useful and readable maps published of any country. A. Taride, 20 Boulevard St. Denis, Paris, also publishes The Rhine, North and South Italy, and Switzerland, each at the same price.

Guide Taride (Les Routes de France).—4,000 itineraries throughout France and 150 itineraries from Paris to foreign cities and towns. Contains notes as to nature of roads, kilometric distances, etc.

L'Annuaire de Route.—The year book of the Automobile Club de France contains hotel, garage, and mecanicien list, charging-stations for electric apparatus and vendors of gasoline.

C. T. C. Road Book of France (in English).—Two volumes of road itineraries and notes.

Cartes de l'Etat Major.—Published by the Service Geographique de l'Armee and sold or furnished by all booksellers. Can best be procured through the Touring Club de France, 65 Ave. de la Grande Armee, Paris. Scale 1-80,000, 30 centimes per sheet. Another scale 1-50,000.

Carte de la Ministre d'Interieur.—Scale 1-100,000 and 1-80,000. Printed in three colours.

Carte de France au 200,000 cq.—Published by the Service Geographique and reproduced from the 1-80,000 carte by photolithography. Useful, but not so clear as the original.

Cartes du Touring Club de France.—Scale 1-400,000. Indicating all routes with remarks as to their surfaces, hills, culverts, railway crossings, etc. Printed in five colours. 15 sheets, 63 x 90 cm. These cartes lap over somewhat into Germany, Belgium, Italy, and Spain, and are very good.

Le Guide-Michelin—Issued by Michelin et Cie, the tire manufacturers. The most handy and useful hotel and mecanicien list, with kilometric distances between French towns and cities. Many miniature plans of towns and large map of France.

Guide-Routiere Continental.—Issued by the manufacturers of Continental tires. Gives plans of towns and cities, detailed itineraries and hotel lists, etc., throughout France. Equally useful as the Guide-Michelin, but more bulky.

La Carte Becherel.—Reproduced from that of the Etat Major 1-200,000. Price 2 fcs., 50c.

Cartes de Dion—Excellent four-colour maps of certain sections environing the great cities. Published and sold by De Dion, Bouton et Cie.

Sur Route (Atlas-Guide de Poche pour Cyclistes et Automobilists). —Published by Hatchette & Cie, 3 fcs., 50c. A most useful condensed and abbreviated gazetteer of France, with a series of handy four-colour maps showing main roads sufficiently clearly for real use as an automobile route-book.

Annuaire General du Touring Club de France—Hotel list, mecaniciens, etc., and prices of same throughout France.

The Touring Club de France also issues an Annuaire pour l'Etranger, containing similar information of the neighbouring countries.

Guides-Joanne.—The most perfectly compiled series of guidebooks in any language. The late editions of Normandie, Bretagne, etc., have miniature profile road maps and much other information of interest and value to automobile tourists. Seventeen volumes, covering France, Algeria, and Corsica.

ITALY The Touring Club Italiano issues a series of five excellent maps covering the whole of Italy.

1. Lombardia, Piemonte, and Ligurie. 2. Veneto. 3. Central Italy. 4. Southern Italy. 5. Calabria and Sicily.

Strade di Grande-Comunicazione—Italia—(Main Roads of Italy). An excellent profile road book of all of Italy; miniature plans of all cities and large towns, with gradients of roads, population, etc.

Carte Taride—Italie, Section Nord.—Published by A. Taride, 20 Bvd. St. Denis, Paris. Comprises Aoste, Bologne, Come, Florence, Livourne, Milan, Nice, Padoua, Parma, Pise, Sienne, Trente, Turin, Venise. 1 fc. on paper, 2 fcs., 50c. cloth.

Carte Taride—Italie, Section Centrale.—Uniform with above.

SWITZERLAND Carte Routiere.—Published by the Touring Club de Suisse; is issued in four sheets.

L'Annuaire de Route.—Published by the Automobile Club de Suisse; contains a small-scale road map, hotel list, etc.

Cyclist's Touring Club (London) Road Book for South and Central Europe includes Switzerland.

Carte Taride pour la Suisse.—A continuation of the excellent series of Cartes Tarides (Paris, 30 Bvd. St. Denis) 1 fc., 50c. paper, 3 fcs. on cloth.

BELGIUM The Cartes Tarides (Paris, A. Taride, 20 Boulevard St. Denis) include Belgium under the Nos. 1 and 1 Bis.

Cyclist's Touring Club (London) Road Book for Northern and Central Europe includes Belgium.

Carte de Belgique, issued by the Touring Club de Belgique, covers all of Belgium in one sheet.

Guide-Michelin pour la Belgique, Hollande, et aux Bords du Rhin contains Belgian hotel-list, plans of towns, etc.

HOLLAND Road Atlas—Published by the Touring Club of Holland, which also issues many detailed road and route books for the Pays Bas.

Cyclists Touring Club (London) Road Book for North and Central Europe includes Holland.

Guide-Michelin pour La Belgique includes Holland, Luxembourg, and the Banks of the Rhine, with information after the same manner as in the "Guide-Michelin" for France.

Afstandskaart van Nederland.—An admirable road map of all Holland in two sheets, showing also all canals and waterway.

GERMANY

Ravenstein's Road Maps of Central Europe. Scale about 4 miles to the inch.

Taride's Bord du Rhin.—Excellent maps in three colours, main routes in red, with kilometric distances, towns, and picturesque sites clearly marked.

Ravenstein's Road Book for Germany.—Two vols., North and South Germany.

Cyclist's Touring Club (London) Road Book for Germany.

THE END