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G.G. has perhaps a little overrated the import of the passage he quotes from Schultz's travels. "Dass wir kaum 6 Stunden gefahren sind" even supposing there is no misprint of a 6 for an 8 or 9, which is quite possible will not, I apprehend, bear the meaning he collects from the words, viz. that the journey occupied no more than six hours, or less even than so much.
Then came the settling of the bill, which seemed to please him better, and we were once more en route. Our point to-day was Hayde, a town which our informants described as distant from Tetchen about seven stunden, that is to say, seven hours' good walking, in other words, from twenty-one to twenty-four English miles.
Then he says merely that they "kaum 6 Stunden gefahren sind," which may mean that the time actually spent in motion did not exceed the number of hours indicated, whatever that may be; and not that the journey itself, "including stoppages," took up no more.
As it was said, however, to be no more than three or four stunden distant, we did not think that we were required to make any extraordinary exertions, and the river looked so tempting, that, in spite of the landlord's advice to the contrary, we resolved to try it. We cannot boast much of our success.
My total outlay from Munich to Strassburg was twenty-one florins, ten kreutzers, or one pound five shillings; being at the rate of one shilling and sixpence a day. It may be right to mention, that a German mile is divided into two stunden, or hours, and the natural inference would be, that it would occupy two hours to walk a mile.
In the first place, I believe it will be allowed by those familiar with German idioms, that the phrase kaum 6 Stunden, is not to be rendered as though it meant no more or less than 6; but rather thus: "but little more than 6;" the "little more," in this indefinite form of expression, being a very uncertain quantity, it may be an hour or so.
In reckoning distances, the Germans count by “stunden”—i.e. hours—and two “stunden” make one German mile. From experience, I should say that five miles English were about equal to one mile German; but they vary considerably.
This is not the case, for a stunden can generally be traversed in three quarters of an hour; but the German miles are not uniform, and I well remember one terribly long one between Brünn and Vienna, which was more than two hours walk.
We accordingly proceeded to the post-office; where, on consulting the head of the department, we learned that about two stunden, that is, about six English miles further, on the way to Hoen Elbe, was a place called Marchovides, where we should find excellent quarters for the night.
But we did sleep in spite of that, for we had tramped more than thirty miles during the day. From Goldentraum there were still twenty English miles to Brünn, the capital of Moravia, and thence thirty-eight German stunden, or about eighty English miles, to Vienna. My funds were now reduced to about four shillings, and we had still one hundred miles before us.
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