THE LAKE OF CONSTANZ, ETC.

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boats. But at the Constanz end its strength is spent; andthere it sweeps along most deliciously warm, and yet asbracingly fresh, as a spring-day. In Italy, 'however, the samebreeze produces great laziness, owing to its extreme heat;though by the time it reaches Constanz it is so cooled by theAlpine snows and lakes which it passes over by the way,that it is at once pleasant and refreshing as cows' breatli.

The Lake steamers, of which there are about a dozen,make Sunday excursions to the Island of Mainau,—or Meinau,as it is often called,—where there is usually a band and adance at the insular " Caffi u. Weinwirthschaft" for the delightof the folk from the surrounding shores.

There are, strictly speaking, threo islands in the Lakeof Constanz. The first of these is Lindau, which is rathera city built up in the middle of the water than a patch ofinsulated land, and is situate at the upper or eastern end ofthe Lake. The other islands, however, belong respectivelyto the lacustrine branches, termed the Ueberlinger and theUnter See — the island of Mainau being situate at a shortdistance from the mouth of the former, and that of Reichenauset in the middle of the latter.

The entire surface of Mainau is but 125 Square acres inextent; the island containing merely a palace, a tavern, and afarm. The name Main-au is said to signify, literally, finepasture-land; for in the 16th Century the island was called" Mayen-aue ;" that is to say, May-meadows or pleasure-fields.

According to tradition, the Lord of Bodmann originallypossessed the island, and Ins daughter, when it came to be herproperty, gave it to her lover, who was one of the Knightsof the Grerman Order. But the chronicles of Reichenauteil a different tale, showing that it forrnerly belonged tothe monks of that island, and that they assigned it to the

TOL. II, Z