Rollo on the Rhine

From a seat on top of a coach, twelve-year-old Rollo watches for Cologne while his uncle studies a guidebook below. Jacob Abbott's children's travel story follows Rollo and Mr. George along the Rhine, placing their conversations beside explanations of rivers, cultivated plains and castle ruins. The opening describes how mountain streams feed the river and how vineyards occupy steep slopes before turning to the travellers' approach to the city.

Ordinary comforts and arrangements give the scenery a human scale. Rollo and his uncle share an inn breakfast, look out at passing boats and carriages, and accept their landlord's offer to cross to Nonnenwerth for church. During the boat ride, Rollo studies gardens, vineyards and winding paths on the hillsides. These small scenes make the book useful for readers interested in older children's fiction and the habits of travel, with geography explained through a boy's observations and exchanges with his uncle.