Heidelberg was the last city in which I felt that I was hourly seeing the
cousins of the Pennsylvania Germans. Here still, I did occasionally see
one who not only favored some of our people in form and features, but
whose voice and accent also spoke of kinship. I had heard persons speak in
some parts of the Pfalz and particularly around Böchingen (about 10 miles
S.S.W. from Neustadt and 25 miles W.S.W. from Speyer) from 50 to 70 per
cent of whose words corresponded to the Pennsylvania German. Dürkheim,
Landau, (and some say, Kaiserslautern too), are good examples.

The old renowned university of Heidelberg has 800 students, and a library
of 200,000 volumes and 1,800 MSS.

The castle is the most magnificent ruin in Germany. The towers, turrets,
buttresses, balconies, and fine statues still stand there, proud and bold,
even in its ruins. And the portcullis of iron in one of its lofty gateways
gave me the first idea how the balance of the enemy could be shut off,
after a portion had been admitted into the yard of the fortifications with
a view of slaughtering them. The iron bars of this portcullis or sliding
gate are very thick and heavy, and have sharp points below. A tower stands
over the gate, into which the portcullis is drawn up. The defenders of
castles would sometimes conceal themselves and keep perfectly silent on
the approach of an enemy, as if the castle had been abandoned, but as soon
as as large a portion of them as they thought they could dispose of, had
entered, the portcullis was dropped, which, on account of its immense
weight, of course made its way to the ground even, if it had to pierce the
bodies of a dozen that stood under it! Hereupon the alarm was sounded and
all that were inside were barbarously slaughtered. In some castles there
were large pit-falls full of pointed spears standing upwards. As soon as a
large part of the enemy were upon this pit, they would be precipitated