As  we  proceed  southward,  and  scenes  of
beauty  open  on  every  side,  we  need  to  keep  our
eyes  continually  turning  up  and  down  the  river,
and  sweeping  the  banks  and  hills  on  either
shore.  At  a  graceful  bend  of  the  river  we  pass
the  village  of  Unkel,  and  observe  the  Apollinaris-
kirche,  with  fine  fagade  and  four  towers,  crown-
ing a  hill  on  the  western  bank,  and  are  re-
minded of  one  of  the  most  notable  ecclesias-
tical legends  of  this  river.  Here,  they  say,
came  the  vessel  bearing  the  head  of  St.  Apol-
linaris,  Bishop  of  Ravenna,  on  its  way  to  Co-
logne ;  but  when  the  boat  reached  a  point  op-
posite the  vsite  of  this  church,  it  stopped  in  the
middle  of  the  stream,  and,  like  a  thing  of  life,
resisted  every  effort  to  move  it  down  the  cur-
rent until  the  holy  head  w^as  taken  on  shore,
and  deposited  on  the  mountain  where  the
church  now  stands  !

And  now  we  pass  the  basaltic  cliffs  of  Erpel,
and  see  ivy-clad  ruins  beyond ;  we  come  to
the  mouth  of  the  Ahr,  and  the  high  walls  of


UP  AND  DOWN  THE  RHINE.  243

Sinzig  heave  in  sight,  and  its  handsome  parish
church,  and  the  glimpse  up  the  valley  of  the
Ahr  as  far  as  the  castled  height  of  Lands-
kron.  Next  we  notice  on  the  east  the  Castle  of
Arenfels,  and  chateaus,  and  towers  and  ruined
piles  become  too  numerous  to  mention  in  de-
tail. At  Rheineck,  as  at  several  other  places,
a  fine  new  cavStle  has  taken  the  place  of  an
old  ruin  ;  but  usually  some  relics  of  the  more
ancient  structure  are  retained,  as  if  to  pre-
serve from  oblivion  the  memories  of  the  past.
