342

DOMESTIC MANNEES OF TnE TRUSSIANS.

third, styled Mittelzeil (Middle Cell), numbering as manyas 1000 souls.

The earliest mention of this island is in the eiglith Cen-tury, when it belonged to an Austrian land-steward (" land-vogt ") of the name of Zintlas, after whom it was then called" Zintlas-au." At this period it seems to have been a wil-derness, and infested by lizards and snakes. Zintlas, however,persuaded the Bishop Pirminius to allow a Kloster to beestablished upon it; immediately after which, we are assured,the reptiles all disappeared frora its shores, and the desertbecame a garden—the island being then so highly cultivatedas to obtain for it the name of Reiche-Aue (rieh pasture-land).

The Kloster of Reichenau, up to the middle of the 14thCentury, was one of the wealthiest and most renowned, whileits schools and scholars ranked as the most learned, in allGermany. During 1350-1400, however, the monastery grewpoor, as the monks became depraved; and in the 16th Cen-tury it was assigned to the Bishop of Constanz.

The island at the present day displays little or no traces ofits former monastic greatness, or even superior eulture. It isapproached from the Baden side of the Rhine by a longnarrow shoal-bank, planted on either side with poplars, andhaving a small bridge (like the gangvvay over a moat) at theend near the island.

The island itself is a long oval in form, and rises to amound-like height in the centre. This part is called the" Hohenwart " (the high look-out), and has a belvidere builtupon it at the cost of Herr Plofrath von Seyfried, whoserondelled residence is seen close by.

The prineipal objeets worthy of notice on the island arethe old Münster Kirche in the Middle-zell, and the ruins ofthe Castle of " Schopf ein" (Scopula) in the Upper-zell.

The Münster was built in the year 806 by Abbot Hatto L,