Upon the arrival of the fisherman we found the case to be as the Commissary had supposed, and the man pleaded in his defence that it was allowed to take away both rod and fish from any one so offending. The Commissary, however, told him he ought to have warned Sir Humphry of this. The poor man said he had done so, but they would not understand him, and in spite of his defence, the Commissary compelled him to deliver up the rod and basket, with which I returned to Ischl.
_21st._ Sir Humphry set out this morning in his little cabriolet on a fishing excursion up the valley of the Traun, to the lake of Hallstadt, and took me with him. This lake, about eight miles to the north east of Ischl, is of a very grand and imposing character, but still does not equal the Traun-See in the diversity and beauty of its banks. We drove over a wooden bridge at the end of the lake, where the Traun flows out of it, and then round its shores for a short distance to Obertraun, where the road terminated. We here took a boat and rowed for some miles up the lake, opposite to the small town of Hallstadt. The view from hence was superb; the nearer houses seemed built in the water, behind these the salt works are seen, extensive and noble buildings, more like the palace or seignoral chateau of the lord of the surrounding territory, than a manufactory; and beyond them rose the mountain which contains the salt-mine, a stupendous mass of rock capped with eternal snow, and to the left appeared the glaciers of the Schneeberg. Rather to the right of the saltworks, embosomed in wood, lay the rest of the town of Hallstadt, and one large house was situated some thousand feet above the lake, standing alone in the wood. Along the side of the mountain we saw what appeared to be a pathway, but the boatman told us this was the canal cut for the pipes which convey the salt-water from the mines of Hallstadt to the works of Ischl and Ebensee. This is a stupendous undertaking, for the pipes are conveyed a great distance over rivers and vallies and along mountains, where the passage for the pipes has been cut for many miles through the solid rock. Sir Humphry fished for some time but without success, when, not wishing to visit the town, we rowed back to the village of Obertraun, and on our way thither passed by the _Gosauzwang_, the most celebrated part of the saliduct or salt canal between Hallstadt and Ebensee. The three pipes are here carried across a very wild and romantic glen, the defile of the Gosau, a mountain stream which runs down through it. Four lofty columns of brick work, about two hundred feet in height, are built up from the bottom of the valley and from out of the waters of the Gosau, to a level with the pipes, which are thus carried over the valley, being laid from pier to pier; and they serve at the same time as a bridge to any foot passenger who may wish to pass, being railed in on each side. These pipes, after traversing one or two smaller streams, give part of their water to the salt works at Ischl, and are then carried on to Ebensee, where they fill the reservoirs which I saw when I visited the Commissary to procure the return of Sir Humphry's fishing rod.