und sprechen Deutsch, und wenn Siemit mir eine langeUnterredung gehalten haetten, so haetten Sie bald ausgefunden durch meine Sprachfehler, dass ich kein geborner Deutscher bin.—­Aber Sie haben unsere Fragen vollkommen gut beantwortet.—­Warum nicht? man hat mir die nehmlichen Fragen so wiederholten Malen gestellt, dass ich die dazu gehoerigen Antworte auswendig habe, wie em Katechismus.[123] The officer laughed, took up a pen, vised and gave me back my passport.

The whole of the country on the banks of this noble river the Danube is picturesque and presents much variety.  There cannot be a more delightful summer tour than a descent down this river.  The next town of consequence that we arrived at was Linz, a large, populous and beautifully built city and capital of Upper Austria.  The circumjacent country is in part mountainous.  The Danube is very broad here, and there is an immensely long wooden bridge.  We put up at the inn Zum goldenen Kreutz (golden cross).  Here it became indispensably necessary to change our money for Austrian paper, for that sort of it called Wiener Waehrung (Vienna security), since neither foreign coin nor another description of Austrian paper, called Conventions-Muenze (conventional currency), are current for ordinary purposes; and it is necessary to get them changed for the current paper Wiener Waehrung.To explain this matter more fully and clearly:  there are two sorts of paper money in the Austrian Dominions.  One is called Conventions-Muenze (conventional currency), which is fully equivalent to gold and sliver and cannot be refused as such throughout the whole of the Austrian dominions; the other, called Wiener Waehrung (Vienna security) is current and payable in Austria proper only, and bears a loss, out of the Archduchy.  The value of the Wiener Waehrung fluctuates considerably, but the usual par of exchange is as 2 to 1:  that means, two hundred florins Wiener Waehrung are equal to one hundred Convenzions-Muenze or gold and silver money.  Even the Convenzions-Muenze bears a loss, tho’ trifling, out of the Imperial Dominions.  The exchange has been known to have been at 400 per cent; that is, four hundred florins Wiener Waehrung were only worth one hundred florins gold and silver; but just now it may be reckoned a little beyond par, fluctuating from 200 to 220.  In fact, the value of a florin Wiener Waehrung may be calculated at a frank in French money.  All this is exceedingly troublesome to travellers, particularly to those who do not understand the German language; for as they cannot read the inscription, it would be difficult for them to know the difference between one sort of paper money and the other and they might be seriously imposed upon.  I advise therefore all travellers, before they arrive at the Austrian frontier, whether coming from Bavaria, Saxony, or Italy, to buy up the Wiener Waehrung notes they may meet with, and which may be purchased at great profit, probably, beyond the frontier, whereas if they defer purchasing till they arrive within the Austrian frontier, they can only procure the Wiener Waehrung at the common rate of exchange current.