A  carious  old  custom ,  the  KHdnteln" ,  or  Initiation ,  which  prevailed
here  till  the  beginning  of  the  steamboat-traffic  in  1827,  is  said  to  have
dated  from  the  time  of  Charlemagne.  Every  traveller  who  visited  the
town  for  the  first  time  was  attached  to  a  ring  in  the  wall  of  the  Custom-
house, and  obliged  to  submit  to  the  water  or  the  wine -ordeal.  If  the
former  was  selected,  a  good  ducking  was  the  result  i  the  pleasanter  alter-
native consisted  in  drinking  a  goblet  of  wine  to  the  memory  of  Charle-
magne, the  sovereign  of  England ,  the  reigning  prince ,  and  the  members
of  the  society  which  enforced  obedience  to  the  custom.  The  traveller
was  then  crowned  and  invested  with  the  rights  of  a  citizen  and  member
of  the  society,  and  finally  had  to  present  a  donation  to  the  poor  and
enter  his  name  in  the  'Hansettrach'.
The  castle  of  ♦Rheinfels/ rising  at  the  back  of  the  town,  377  ft.
above  the  Rhine  \*fi  hr.  from  the  pier),  is  the  most  imposing  ruin
on  the  river.  It  was  founded  in  1245  by  Count  Diether  III.  of  Katzen-
ellenbogen, a  friend  of  the  Emp.  Frederick  II.,  and  a  new  Rhine-toll
was  established  here.  Ten  years  later  a  confederation  of  twenty-six
Rhenish  towns  (p.  138),  dissatisfied  with  the  newly  imposed  burden,
attacked  the  castle,  but  after  a  siege  of  fifteen  months  were  com-
pelled to  withdraw.  In  1692  it  was  bravely  and  successfully  defended
by  the  Hessian  General  von  Gorz  against  the  French  General  Count
Tallard  with  an  army  of  24,000  men.  In  1758  the  castle  was  sur-
prised and  taken  by  the  French,  who  kept  a  garrison  in  it  till  1763.
