ton of a saint decked with diamonds, rubies, and pearls. In the palace of the king is a bed of the fifteenth century which cost $400,000, and required forty persons ten years to make. In the museum is the faded purple coat, the saddle, pistols, and walking-cane of Frederick the Great.

These are a few of the curiosities of the Bavarian capital.

CHAPTER XVII.

IN A SALT - MINE. TWO THOUSAND FEET UNDER THE EARTH.TROUBLES OF A PEDESTRIAN IN AUSTRIA. I PERFORM IN THE OPERA BEFORE AUSTRIA'S EMPEROR.-A GRATIFYING SUCCESS.

THE finest church music I ever heard was in Salzburg, Austria. Strolling through the town early one Sunday morning, I passed the cathedral, heard music, and entered. It was grand. The choir contained fiddles, flutes, and harps; the volume of sound increased and swelled until the vast edifice was filled with melody from floor to vaulted roof and lofty dome. It was while listening to that grand music that I remembered that I was in the birth-town of Mozart. A statue of the great composer is in the square opposite the cathedral; elsewhere in the town the tourist is shown two houses in which he was born.

A charge is made for showing these houses. Mozart, while he was about it, should have been born in a dozen houses, and thus still further added to the revenues of his native Salzburg.

The Hallein salt-mines near Salzburg are among the most noted in Europe. The Romans once worked these mines, and from first to last it is probable they have yielded upward of a million tons of salt. The whole mountain is honeycombed with tunnels and passages, which every year are extended deeper and deeper. The visitor to the bottom of the mine must now go some two thousand feet below the level of the top of the mountain.

I walked there one day from Salzburg, and paid three florins to go through the mines. A curious costume was provided for the trip. First I was put into a baggy suit of sail-cloth; then a heavy fez was clapped on my head. A thick piece of sole

leather was next tied around my middle, and finally a pair of heavy leather gloves were fastened on my hands. The reason for this singular outfit was at first not apparent; it soon became so. After going about a mile through a horizontal passage five feet high by three wide, my conductor suddenly made a turn, and I found myself at the head of a steep, sloping shaft, the only means of descent down which was by a sliding skid. A rope lay along-side the skid. Grasping this rope serves as a brake, thus checking the rapidity of the descent. Like a pair of school-boys sliding down ballusters, we took our places, the guide going first. Soon we were whirling down that black and fearful shaft at a rate that almost made my hair stand on end. I griped the rope for dear life; the friction was too much even for the thick leather glove I wore: it burned my hand and I was compelled to relax my grasp. When finally

I shot on to the landing one thousand five hundred feet below, I thought I was going at a velocity of sixty miles an hour! Fortunately, no bones were broken; I was able to pick myself up and view the enchanting scene that surrounded me. It seemed like dreamland! A subterranean lake illuminated by a thousand lights! We were ferried across this lake; then came a short slide of only a few hundred feet, and we were at the very bottom of the mine, under the lake and under the mountain.

Notwithstanding the nature and astonishing rapidity of the descent, two thousand feet into the very bowels of the earth, I had time to wonder how the ascent was to be made. The greased pole of the country picnic would be easy compared with those slick, almost perpendicular slides. to get out?

How were we

After walking

The question was very pleasantly answered. around the bottom of the mine, looking at the way the men got out the salt, my guide conducted me to where two men were in waiting with a singular conveyance. It was a narrow board about ten feet long, raised a couple of feet above the ground and fixed to four small wheels. The guide straddled

this board, I did likewise. A lamp to serve as head-light was strapped on the guide's breast; then the two men, one in the rear, one in front, shoved and pushed the board-wagon along at a dangerous pace, considering the darkness and narrowness passage.

of the

Through miles of crooked galleries they ran. Fearful of losing my balance, I clasped my arms around the guide in front of me, almost afraid to breathe lest I might topple over and dash my brains out against the salty walls. At last a speck of light became faintly visible in the dim distance. It grew larger, still larger, until finally the speck of light became. an opening, and we emerged once again into the world and the light and day.

We had entered at the summit, we were now at the base of the mountain. The men slide down to their work in the morning, and when through, slide clear down to the bottom of the mine and leave by way of the horizontal shaft.

The mines are, of course, damp and dark. Indeed, the mere going and returning from work involves a considerable amount. of labor. The wages for such work should be good. I made inquiries, and found that an able-bodied miner averages only forty-five kreutzers (about twenty-one cents) a "turn" of six hours. The following extract from my note-book will show the condition of the average miner at Hallein:

Austrian Miner.

Family numbers three: parents and small child.

Condition.-Occupy one room in a tenement-house; the father works in six-hour shifts in salt-mines-six hours on and six off; the mother does a little work on hand-loom, most of time attends to house and baby.

Diet.-Breakfast: black bread and coffee. Dinner: black bread, beer, and potatoes; in winter, sauerkraut, and occasionally a bit of salt pork or bacon. Supper: black bread and coffee.

12 50

$203 34

Food costs three people..... 41 cents.

Rent at three florins per month...

Clothing (92 florins).....

Incidentals of all kinds, including fuel, light, religion, etc..

Total yearly cost of living..

I will give another itemized statement of the income and expenses of a working-man's family, this time for a family of nailworkers living in one of the Danube villages west of Vienna.

Austrian Nail-makers.

Family numbers eight: parents, boy aged fifteen, boy aged fourteen, four children from four to twelve years of age.

Condition.-Occupy one room in a miserable, ill-smelling house; room is close, no ventilation. Straw mattresses are spread on floor at night; in day-time are removed, and room converted into workshop. All the older members of family work at nail - making, averaging thirteen hours per day. General condition is one of abject poverty.