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258 RIESBECK’S TRAVELS THROUGH GERMANY.
contain more than one hundred and twenty-five German miles fquare; whereas the
archbifhopric of Saltzburg contains two hundred and forty; but then Saltzburg has
only two hundred and fifty thoufand inhabitants; whereas Mentz has three hundred
and twenty thoufand. The natural riches of the territory of Mentz, and its advantageous
fituation, make a fubject of Mentz much richer than one of Saltzburg, the greateit part
of which is only inhabited by herdfmen. _ In the territory of Mentz there are forty cities;
in that of Salizburg only feven.
‘The tax on veflels which go down the Rhine of itfelf produces 60,000 guilders, or
6oocl. a year, which is nearly as much as all the mines of Saltzburg put together, ex-
cepting only the falt mine at Halle. ‘The tax on wine, here and in the country round,
produces the court above 100,000 guilders, or 10,c00l. a year, in which fum we do not
reckon the cuftoms of the countries which lie at a greater diftance. Upon the whole,
ihe income of the prefent archbifhop may be valued at 1,700,000 guilders, or 170, 0091.
At leaft I know fora certainty, that in the lal’years of the late archbithop, they brought
in 1,800,¢09 guilders; and though the prefent Eleétor gave up to his fubjects two out
of fifteen or fixteen poll taxes, which they were bound to pay; thefe do not amount
to above 160,000 guilders; and he has much improved feveral other fources of re-
venue.
If the lands of the elector lay all together, they would produce a fufficiency of corn
and all the prime neceflaries of life; Lut as feveral parts of them lie wide afunder, the
people are compelled to purchafe a great deal from foreigners. ‘The capital itfelf, as
well as the adjacent Rhinegau, depends on the Palatinate for its corn, notwithflanding
the great abundance of that and every other {pecies of grain in its own poffeffions in the
Wetterau. The nobleft produdtion of the EleGtor’s territory on the Rhine is the wine,
which is almoft the only true Rhenifh. Connoifleurs, indeed, allow the wines of Neir-
itein, Bacharach, and a very few other places out of this country to be true Rhenith.
But they do not give this name to the wines of the Palatinate, of Bardon, and of Al-
fatia.
There is a great deal of wine-made in the countries which lie.on the fouth and weft
of the Rhine, at Laubenheim, Bodenheim, Budefheim, and Bingen; but the true Rhe-
nifh, that which infpires fo many who are and fo many who’are not poets, comes only
from the Rhinegau, which lies on the northern banks of the Rhine.
A few days ago, I went with a company from this place on a party of pleafure to the
Rhinegau, and was prefent at one of the prettieft village feftivities I have ever beheld.
Our veffel had a much better appearance than the common fmacks you meet with in
Germany, and was very like a {mall Dutch boat. As foon as we had pafled the wind-
ing which the proud Rhine makes to the weftward, about three miles below Mentz,
we had a profpect before us which is feldom beheld in any country except Switzerland.
‘Lhe Rhine grows aftonifhingly wide, and forms a kind of fea, near a mile broad, in
which you fee feveral well wooded little iflands at your right. The Rhinegau forms
an amphitheatre, the beauties of which are beyond all defcription. At Walluf, the very
high hills come nearly down to the river fide; from thence they recede again into the.
country, forming a kind of half circle, the other end of which is fifteen miles off at Ru-
defheim-on the banks of the Rhine. ‘The banks of the river, the hills which form the
circles, and the flopes of the great mountain, are thick fown with villages and hamlets.
The white appearance of the buildings, and the fine blue flated roofs of the houfes play-
ing amidft the various green of the landfcape, have an admirable effect. In the {pace of
every mile as you fail down the river, you meet with a village which, in any other place,
would pals for a town, Many of the villages contain from three to four hundred fa-
inilies 5
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