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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/17972-0.txt b/17972-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5852e32 --- /dev/null +++ b/17972-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8566 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Round About the Carpathians, by Andrew F. Crosse + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Round About the Carpathians + +Author: Andrew F. Crosse + +Release Date: March 12, 2006 [EBook #17972] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROUND ABOUT THE CARPATHIANS *** + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Taavi Kalju, and the Online +Distributed Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net. +(This file was made using scans of public domain works +from the University of Michigan Digital Libraries.) + + + + + +ROUND ABOUT THE +CARPATHIANS + + +BY + +ANDREW F. CROSSE + +FELLOW OF THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY + + +WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS + EDINBURGH AND LONDON + MDCCCLXXVIII + +_The Right of translation is reserved_ + + +MUIR AND PATERSON, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + +CHAPTER I. + +Down the Danube from Buda-Pest--Amusements on board the +steamer--Basiash--Drive to Oravicza by Weisskirchen--Ladies of +Oravicza--Gipsy music--Finding an old school-fellow--The +_czardas_. 1 + + +CHAPTER II. + +Consequences of trying to buy a horse--An expedition into +Servia--Fine scenery--The peasants of New Moldova--Szechenyi +road--Geology of the defile of Kasan--Crossing the +Danube--Milanovacz--Drive to Maidenpek--Fearful storm in the +mountains--Miserable quarters for the night--Extent of this +storm--The disastrous effects of the same storm at +Buda-Pest--Great loss of life. 15 + + +CHAPTER III. + +Maidenpek--Well-to-do condition of Servians--Lady Mary Wortley +Montague's journey through Servia--Troubles in +Bulgaria--Communists at Negotin--Copper mines--Forest +ride--Robbers on the road--Kucainia--Belo-breska--Across the +Danube--Detention at customhouse--Weisskirchen--Sleeping +Wallacks. 33 + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Variety of races in Hungary--Wallacks or +Roumains--Statistics--Savage outbreak of the Wallacks in former +years--Panslavic ideas--Roumanians and their origin--Priests of +the Greek Church--Destruction of forests--Spirit of +Communism--Incendiary fires. 46 + + +CHAPTER V. + +Paraffine-works in Oravicza--Gold mine--Coal mines at +Auima-Steirdorf--Geology--States Railway Company's +mines--Bribery 54 + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Mineral wealth of the Banat--Wild ride to Dognacska--Equipment +for a riding tour--An afternoon nap and its consequences--Copper +mines--Self-help--Rare insects--Moravicza--Rare +minerals--Deutsch Bogsan--Reschitza 58 + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Election at Oravicza--Officialism--Reforms--Society--Ride to +Szaszka--Fine views--Drenkova--Character of the +Serbs--Svenica--Rough night walk through the forest 70 + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Hospitable welcome at Uibanya--Excursion to the Servian side of +the Danube--Ascent of the Stierberg--Bivouac in the +woods--Magnificent views towards the Balkans--Fourteen eagles +disturbed--Wallack dance 83 + + +CHAPTER IX. + +A hunting expedition proposed--Drive from Uibanya to +Orsova--Oriental aspect of the market-place--Cserna +Valley--Hercules-Bad, Mehadia--Post-office mistakes--Drive to +Karansebes--Rough customers _en route_--Lawlessness--Fair at +Karansebes--Podolian cattle--Ferocious dogs 90 + + +CHAPTER X. + +Post-office at Karansebes--Good headquarters for a +sportsman--Preparations for a week in the mountains--The party +starting for the hunt--Adventures by the way--Fine +trees--Game--Hut in the forest--Beauty of the scenery in the +Southern Carpathians 104 + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Chamois and bear hunting--First battue--Luxurious dinner 5000 +feet above the sea-level--Storm in the night--Discomforts--The +bear's supper--The eagle's breakfast--Second and third day's +shooting--Baking a friend as a cure for fever--Striking +camp--View into Roumania 118 + + +CHAPTER XII. + +Back at Mehadia--Troubles about a carriage--An unexpected night +on the road--Return to Karansebes--On horseback through the Iron +Gate Pass--Varhely, the ancient capital of Dacia--Roman +remains--Beauty of the Hatszeg Valley 131 + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +Hungarian hospitality--Wallack laziness--Fishing--"Settled +gipsies"--Anecdote--Old _régime_--Fire--Old Roman bath--The +avifauna of Transylvania--Fly-fishing 140 + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +On horseback to Petrosèny--A new town--Valuable +coal-fields--Killing fish with dynamite and poison--Singular +manner of repairing roads--Hungarian patriotism--Story of +Hunyadi Janos--Intrusion of the Moslems into Europe 152 + + +CHAPTER XV. + +Hunting for a guide--School statistics--Old times--Over the +mountains to Herrmannstadt--Night in the open--Nearly setting +the forest on fire--Orlat 160 + +CHAPTER XVI. + +Herrmannstadt--Saxon immigrants--Museum--Places of interest in +the neighbourhood--The fortress-churches--Heltau--The Rothen +Thurm Pass--Turkish incursions 173 + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +Magyar intolerance of the German--Patriotic revival of the +Magyar language--Ride from Herrmannstadt to Kronstadt--The +village of Zeiden--Curious scene in church--Reformation in +Transylvania--Political bitterness between Saxons and Magyars in +1848 184 + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +Political difficulties--Impatient criticism of +foreigners--Hungary has everything to do--Tenant-farmers +wanted--Wages 195 + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +Want of progress amongst the Saxons--The +Burzenland--Kronstadt--Mixed character of its +inhabitants--Szeklers--General Bem's campaign 199 + + +CHAPTER XX. + +The Tomöscher Pass--Projected railway from Kronstadt to +Bucharest--Visit to the cavalry barracks at Rosenau--Terzburg +Pass--Dr Daubeny on the extinct volcanoes of Hungary--Professor +Judd on mineral deposits 209 + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +A ride through Szeklerland--Warnings about robbers--Büksad--A +look at the sulphur deposits on Mount Büdos--A lonely lake--An +invitation to Tusnad 219 + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +The baths of Tusnad--The state of affairs before +1848--Inequality of taxation--Reform--The existing land +laws--Communal property--Complete registration of titles to +estates--Question of entail 232 + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +Fine scenery in Szeklerland--Csik Szent Marton--Absence of +inns--The Szekler's love of lawsuits--Csik Szereda--Hospitality +along the road--Wallack atrocities in 1848--The Wallacks not +Panslavists 243 + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +Ride to Szent Domokos--Difficulty about quarters--Interesting +host--Jewish question in Hungary--Taxation--Financial matters 252 + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +Copper mine of Balanbanya--Miners in the wine-shop--Ride to St +Miklos--Visit to an Armenian family--Capture of a robber--Cold +ride to the baths of Borsék 260 + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +Moldavian frontier--Tölgyes--Excitement about robbers--Attempt +at extortion--A ride over the mountains--Return to St Miklos 275 + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +Toplicza--Armenian hospitality--A bear-hunt--A ride over to the +frontier of Bukovina--Destruction of timber--Maladministration +of State property--An unpleasant night on the +mountain--Snowstorm 282 + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +Visits at Transylvanian châteaux--Society--Dogs--Amusements at +Klausenburg--Magyar poets--Count Istvan Széchenyi--Baron +Eötvos--'The Village Notary'--Hungarian self-criticism--Literary +taste 291 + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +A visit at Schloss B------National characteristics--Robber +stories--Origin of the "poor lads"--Audacity of the +robbers--Anecdote of Deák and the housebreaker--Romantic story +of a robber chief 302 + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +Return to Buda-Pest--All-Souls' Day--The cemetery--Secret burial +of Count Louis Batthyanyi--High rate of mortality at Buda-Pest 315 + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +Skating--Death and funeral of Deák--Deák's policy--Uneasiness +about the rise of the Danube--Great excitement about +inundations--The capital in danger--Night scene on the +embankment--Firing the danger-signal--The great calamity averted 321 + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +Results of the Danube inundations--State of things at +Baja--Terrible condition of New Pest--Injuries sustained by the +island garden of St. Marguerite--Charity organisation 335 + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +Expedition to the Marmaros Mountains--Railways in Hungary--The +train stopping for a rest--The Alföld--Shepherds of the +plain--Wild appearance of the Rusniacks--Slavs of Northern +Hungary--Marmaros Szigeth--Difficulty in slinging a hammock--The +Jews of Karasconfalu--Soda manufactory at Boeska--Romantic +scenery--Salt mines--Subterranean lake 339 + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +The Tokay district--Visit at Schloss G------Wild-boar +hunting--Incidents of the chase 355 + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +Tokay vineyards--The vine-grower's difficulties--Geology of the +Hegyalia--The Pope's compliment to the wine of Tállya--Towns of +the Hegyalia--Farming--System of wages at harvest--The different +sorts of Tokay wine 364 + + +_Map of the Banat and Transylvania with Mr Crosse's route._ + + + + +ROUND ABOUT THE CARPATHIANS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + Down the Danube from Buda-Pest--Amusements on board the + steamer--Basiash--Drive to Oravicza by Weisskirchen--Ladies of + Oravicza--Gipsy music--Finding an old schoolfellow--The _czardas_. + + +One glorious morning in June 1875, I, with the true holiday feeling at +heart, for the world was all before me, stepped on board the Rustchuk +steamer at Buda-Pest, intending to go down the Danube as far as Basiash. + +Your express traveller, whose aim it is to get to the other end of +everywhere in the shortest possible time, will take the train instead of +the boat to Basiash, and there catch up the steamer, saving fully twelve +hours on the way. This time the man in a hurry is not so far wrong; the +Danube between Buda-Pest and the defile of Kasan is almost devoid of +what the regular tourist would call respectable scenery. There are few +objects of interest, except the mighty river itself. + +Now the steamer has its advantages over the train, for surely nowhere in +this locomotive world can a man more thoroughly enjoy "sweetly doing +nothing" than on board one of these river-boats. You are wafted swiftly +onward through pure air and sunshine; you have an armchair under the +awning; of course an amusing French novel; besides, truth to say, there +is plenty to amuse you on board. Once past Vienna, your moorings are cut +from the old familiar West; the costumes, the faces, the architecture, +and even the way of not doing things, have all a flavour of the East. + +What a hotch-potch of races, so to speak, all in one boat, but ready to +do anything rather than pull together; even here, between stem and stern +of our Danube steamer, are Magyars, Germans, Servians, Croats, +Roumanians, Jews, and gipsies. They are all unsatisfied people with +aspirations; no two are agreed--everybody wants something else down +here, and how Heaven is to grant all the prayers of those who have the +grace to pray, or how otherwise to settle the Eastern Question, I will +not pretend to say. + +Meanwhile the world amuses itself--I mean the microcosm on board the +steamer: people, ladies not excepted, play cards, drink coffee, and +smoke. There is a good opportunity of studying the latest Parisian +fashions, as worn by Roumanian belles; they know how to dress, do those +handsome girls from Bucharest. + +When steam navigation was first established on the Danube, as long ago +as 1830, Prince Demidoff remarked, that "in making the Danube one of the +great commercial highways of the world, steam had united the East with +the West." It was a smart saying, but it was not a thing accomplished +when the Prince wrote his Travels, nor is it now; for though the "Danube +Steam Navigation Company" have been running their boats for nearly half +a century, they are in difficulties, "chiefly," says Mr Révy,[1] "from +the neglect of all river improvements between Vienna and Buda-Pest, and +between Basiash and Turn-Severin." He goes on to say that the dearest +interests of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy are involved in the +rectification of the course of the Danube, recommending a Royal +Commission to be appointed. Those who follow the course of the river may +see for themselves how little has been done, and how much remains to be +done before it can be safely reckoned one of the great commercial +highways of the world. + +We had started from Buda-Pest on Monday morning at seven o'clock, and +arrived at Basiash at nine the following morning. We were fortunate in +not having been detained anywhere by shallow water, so often the cause +of delay by this route. + +Up to the present time Basiash is the terminus of the railway; it is a +depôt for coal brought from the interior, and though not out of its +teens, is a place fast growing into importance. + +As my object was to get to Oravicza in the Banat, I had done with the +steamboat, and intended taking the rail to my destination; but, in the +"general cussedness" of things, there turned out to be no train till the +evening. I did not at all enjoy the prospect of knocking about the whole +day amongst coal-sheds and unfinished houses, with the alternative +refuge of the inn, which was swarming with flies and redolent of many +evil smells; so I thought I would find some conveyance and drive over, +for the distance was not great. If there is anything I hate, it is +waiting the livelong day for a railway train. + +There chanced to be an intelligent native close by who divined my +thoughts, for I had certainly not uttered them; he came up, touched me +on the arm, and pointed round the corner. Notwithstanding the intense +heat of the day, the Wallack, for such he was, wore an enormous +sheepskin cloak with the wool outside, as though ready for an Arctic +winter. I followed him a few steps to see what he wanted me to look at; +the movement was quite enough, he regarded it evidently in the light of +ready assent, and in the twinkling of an eye he possessed himself of my +portmanteau and other belongings, motioned me to follow him, which I +did, and then found that my Heaven-sent friend had a machine for hire. + +I call it a machine, because it was not like anything on wheels I had +seen before: later on I became familiar enough with the carts of the +country; they are long-bodied, rough constructions, wonderfully adapted +to the uneven roads. In this case there were four horses abreast, which +sounds imposing, as any four-in-hand must always do. + +I now asked the Wallack in German if he could drive me to Oravicza, for +I saw he had made up his mind to drive me somewhere. To my relief I +found he could speak German, at all events a few words. He replied he +could drive the "high and nobly born Excellency" there in four hours. +The time was one thing, but the charge was quite another affair. His +demand was so outrageous that I supposed it was an implied compliment to +my exalted rank: certainly it had no adequate reference to the services +offered. The fellow asked enough to buy the whole concern outright--cart +and four horses! They were the smallest horses I almost ever saw, and +were further reduced by the nearest shave of being absolute skeletons; +the narrow line between sustaining life and actual starvation must have +been nicely calculated. + +We now entered upon the bargaining phase, a process which threatened to +last some time; all the stragglers in the place assisted at the +conference, taking a patriotic interest in their own countryman. The +matter was finally adjusted by the Wallack agreeing to take a sixth part +of the original sum. + +Seated on a bundle of hay, with my things around me, I was now quite +ready for the start, but the driver had a great many last words with the +public, which the interest in our proceedings had gathered about us. +Presently with an air of triumph he took his seat, gave a loud crack or +two with his whip, and off we started at a good swinging trot, just to +show what his team could accomplish. + +We took the road to Weisskirchen, leaving the Danube in the rear. The +country was fairly pretty, but nothing remarkable; fine scenery under +the circumstances would have been quite superfluous, for the dust was +two feet deep in the road, and the heels of four horses scampering along +raised such a cloud of it that we could see next to nothing. + +We had not proceeded far when the speed sensibly relaxed; I fancy the +horses went slower that they might listen to what the driver had to say, +he talked to them the whole time. He was not communicative to me; his +knowledge of German seemed limited to the bargaining process, a lesson +often repeated, I suspect. As time wore on the heat became almost +tropical; as for the dust, I felt as if I had swallowed a sandbank, and +was joyful at the near prospect of quenching my thirst at Weisskirchen, +now visible in the distance. + +Hungarian towns look like overgrown villages that have never made up +their minds seriously to become towns. The houses are mostly of one +story, standing each one alone, with the gable-end, blank and +windowless, towards the road. This is probably a relic of Orientalism. + +Getting up full speed as we approached the town, we clattered noisily +over the crown of the causeway, and suddenly making a sharp turn, found +ourselves in the courtyard of the inn. + +I inquired how long we were to remain here; "A small half-hour," was the +driver's answer. This was my first experience of a Wallack's idea of +time, if indeed they have any ideas on the subject beyond the rising and +the setting of the sun. + +I strolled about the place, but there was not much to be done in the +time, and I got very tired of waiting: the "half-hour" was anything but +"small;" however, one must be somewhere, and in Hungary waiting comes a +good deal into the day's work. I was rather afraid my Wallack was +indulging too freely in _slivovitz_--otherwise plum-brandy--a special +weakness of theirs; but after an intolerable delay we got off at last. + +Soon after leaving the town we came upon an encampment of gipsies; their +tents looked picturesque enough in the distance, but on nearer approach +the illusion was entirely dispelled. In appearance they were little +better than savages; children even of ten years of age, lean, mop-headed +creatures, were to be seen running about absolutely naked. As Mark Twain +said, "they wore nothing but a smile," but the smile was a grimace to +try to extract coppers from the traveller. Two miles farther on we came +upon fourteen carts of gipsies, as wild a crew as one could meet all the +world over. Some of the men struck me as handsome, but with a single +exception the women were terribly unkempt-looking creatures. + +It was fully six o'clock before we reached Oravicza; the drive of +twenty-five miles had taken eight hours instead of four, as the Wallack +had profanely promised. + +We entered the town with a feeble attempt at a trot, but the poor brutes +of horses were dead beat, and neither the pressure of public opinion nor +the suggestive cracking of the driver's whip could arouse them, to +becoming activity. + +Oravicza is very prettily situated on rising ground, and the long +winding street, extending more than two miles, turns with the valley. +Crawling along against collar the whole way, I thought the street would +never end. There are very few Magyar inhabitants in this place, which is +pretty equally divided between Germans and Wallacks; the lower part of +the town belongs to the latter, and is known as Roman Oravicza, in +distinction to Deutsch Oravicza. The population is altogether about +seven thousand. + +I fancy not many strangers pass this way, for never was a shy Englishman +so stared at as this dust-begrimmed traveller. I became painfully +self-conscious of the generally disreputable appearance of my cart and +horses, the driver and myself, when two remarkably pretty girls tripped +by, casting upon me well-bred but amused glances. All the womenkind of +Oravicza must have turned out at this particular hour, for I had hardly +passed the sisters with the arched eyebrows, when I came upon another +group of young ladies, who were laughing and talking together. I think +they grew merrier as I approached, and I am quite sure I was hotter than +I had been all day. "Confound the fellow! can't he turn into an +innyard--anywhere out of the main street?" thought I, giving my driver a +poke. He knew perfectly well where he was about to take me, and no +significant gestures of mine hastened him forward in the very least. +Presently, without any warning, we did turn into a side opening, but so +suddenly that the whole vehicle had a wrench, and the two hind wheels +jolted over a high kerbstone. Meanwhile the group of damsels were still +in close confab, and I could see took note that the stranger had +descended at the Krone. We were all in a heap in the courtyard, but we +had to extricate ourselves as best we could, for not a soul was to be +seen, though we had made noise enough certainly to announce our arrival. + +I pulled repeatedly at the bell before I could rouse the _hausknecht_, +and induce him to make an appearance. At length he deigned to emerge +from the recesses of the dirty interior. Having discharged the Wallack +in a satisfied frame of mind (he had the best of the bargain after all), +I was at leisure to follow mine host to inspect the accommodation he had +to offer me. A sanitary commissioner would have condemned it, but _en +voyage comme en voyage_. With some difficulty and delay I procured water +enough to fill the pie-dish that did duty for the washing apparatus. I +had an old relative of extremely Low Church proclivities who was always +repeating--for my edification, I suppose--that "man is but dust;" the +dear old lady would have said so in very truth if she had seen me on +this occasion. + +After supper I strolled into the summer theatre, a simple erection, +consisting of a stage at the end of a pretty, shady garden. Seats and +tables were placed under the lime-trees, and here the happy people of +Oravicza enjoy their amusements in the fresh air, drinking coffee and +eating ices. Think of the luxury of fresh air, O ye frequenters of +London theatres! + +The evening was already advanced, the tables were well filled; groups +gathered here and there, sauntering under the greenery, gay with +lanterns; and many a blue-eyed maiden was there, with looks coquettish +yet demure, as German maidens are wont to appear. + +A concert was going on, and I for the first time heard a gipsy band. +Music is an instinct with these Hungarian gipsies. They play by ear, and +with a marvellous precision, not surpassed by musicians who have been +subject to the most careful training. Their principal instruments are +the violin, the violoncello, and a sort of zither. The airs they play +are most frequently compositions of their own, and are in character +quite peculiar, though favourite pieces from Wagner and other composers +are also given by them with great effect. I heard on this occasion one +of the gipsy airs which made an indelible impression on my mind; it +seemed to me the thrilling utterance of a people's history. There was +the low wail of sorrow, of troubled passionate grief, stirring the heart +to restlessness, then the sense of turmoil and defeat; but upon this +breaks suddenly a wild burst of exultation, of rapturous joy--a triumph +achieved, which hurries you along with it in resistless sympathy. The +excitable Hungarians can literally become intoxicated with this +music--and no wonder. You cannot reason upon it, or explain it, but its +strains compel you to sensations of despair and joy, of exultation and +excitement, as though under the influence of some potent charm. + +I strolled leisurely back to the inn, beneath the starlit heavens. The +outline of the mountains was clearly marked in the distance, and in the +foreground quaint gable-ends mixed themselves up with the shadows and +the trees--a pretty picture, prettier than anything one can see by the +light of "common day." + +The following morning I set about making inquiries respecting the mines +which I knew existed in the neighbourhood of Oravicza. I found that an +English gentleman owned a gold mine in the immediate vicinity, and that +he was then living in the town. This induced me to go off at once to +call upon him, and I was immediately received in a very friendly manner. +This accidental meeting was rather curious, for on comparing notes we +found that we had been schoolfellows together at Westminster. H---- +being my senior, we had not known each other well; but meeting here in +the wilds, we were as old familiar friends. H---- kindly insisted on my +leaving the inn and taking up my quarters with him in his bachelor +residence, which was in fact big enough to accommodate a whole form of +Westminster boys. I was not at all sorry to avoid a second night at the +Krone, and gladly fell into my friend's hospitable arrangements. + +I was in great luck altogether, for that very evening a dance was to +come off at Oravicza, and my friend invited me to accompany him. Dancing +is one of the sins I compound for; moreover, I had a lively recollection +of the bright eyes I had encountered yesterday. + +Oravicza is a central place, in a way the chief town of the Banat. It +has a pleasant little society, composed of the families of the +officials, and of the military stationed there; they are mostly German +by origin. Amongst the belles of the evening I soon discovered my merry +critics of yesterday. I was duly presented, and we laughed together over +my "first appearance." It was one of the pleasantest evenings I ever +remember. I hate long invitations to anything agreeable; this party, for +instance, had the charm of unexpectedness. If unfortunately I should +prove not quite good enough to go to heaven, I think it would be very +pleasant to stop at Oravicza--supposing, of course, that my friends all +stopped there as well. + +Here I first danced the _czardas_; it is an epoch in a man's life, but +you must see it, feel it, dance it, and, above all, hear the gipsy music +that inspires it. This is the national dance of the Hungarians, favoured +by prince and peasant alike. The figures are very varied, and represent +the progress of a courtship where the lady is coy, and now retreats and +now advances; her partner manifests his despair, she yields her hand, +and then the couple whirl off together to the most entrancing tones of +wild music, such as St. Anthony himself could not have resisted. + +[Footnote 1: The Danube at Buda-Pest. Report addressed to Count Andrassy +by J.J. Révy, C.E. 1876.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + Consequences of trying to buy a horse--An expedition into + Servia--Fine scenery--The peasants of New Moldova--Szechenyi + road--Geology of the defile of Kasan--Crossing the + Danube--Milanovacz-Drive to Maidenpek--Fearful storm in the + mountains--Miserable quarters for the night--Extent of this + storm--The disastrous effects of the same storm at Buda-Pest--Great + loss of life. + + +My friend H---- is the very impersonation of sound practical sense. The +next morning he coolly broke in upon my raptures over the beauty of the +Oravicza ladies by saying, "You want to buy a horse, don't you?" + +Of course I did, but my thoughts were elsewhere at the moment, and with +some reluctance I took my hat and followed my friend to interview a +Wallack who had heard that I was a likely purchaser, and brought an +animal to show me. It would not do at all, and we dismissed him. + +A little later we went out into the town, and I thought there was a +horse-fair; I should think we met a dozen people at least who came up to +accost me on the subject of buying a horse. And such a collection of +animals!--wild colts from the Pustza that had never been ridden at all, +and other ancient specimens from I know not where, which could never be +ridden again--old, worn-out roadsters. There were two or three good +horses, but they were only fit for harness. I was so bothered every time +I put my nose out of doors by applications from persons anxious to part +with their property in horse-flesh, that I wished I had kept my +intentions locked in my own breast. I was pestered for days about this +business. There was an old Jew who came regularly to the house three +times a-day to tell me of some other paragon that he had found. When he +saw that it was really of no use, he then complained loudly that I had +wasted his precious time, that he had given up every other occupation +for the sake of finding me a horse. I dismissed this Jew, telling him +pretty sharply to go about his own business for once, adding that +nothing should induce me to buy a horse in Oravicza. + +One day H---- informed me that he was going over to Servia on a matter +of business, and if I liked to accompany him, I should see something of +the country, and perhaps I might find there a horse to suit me. The +Servian horses are said to be a useful breed, strong though small, and +very enduring for a long march. + +I was very ready for the expedition, so we hired a _leiterwagen_, which +is in fact a long cart with sides like a ladder, peculiarly suitable for +rough work. I was much surprised to find the Hungarians far less often +in the saddle than I expected; it is true, nobody walks, not even the +poorest peasant, but they drive, as a rule. + +We started one fine July morning in our machine for Moldova on the +Danube. The first place we came to was Szaszka, a mining village. Close +by are copper mines and smelting-works belonging to the States Railway +Company. I was told that they do not pay as well as formerly, owing to +the fact that the ore now being worked is poorer than before; it yields +only two per cent. of copper, a very low average. Nothing could well +exceed the dirt of Szaszka; we merely stopped long enough to feed the +horses, and were glad to get off again. + +On leaving this place the road immediately begins to ascend the +mountain, and may be described as a sort of pass over a spur of the +Carpathians. It was a very beautiful drive, favoured as we were, too, +with fine weather. The road on the northern side is even well made, +ascending in regular zigzags. After gaining the summit, we left the +post-road that we had hitherto traversed, and took our way to the right, +descending through a forest. The varied foliage was very lovely, and +the shade afforded us most grateful. It was an original notion driving +through such a place, for, according to my ideas, there was no road at +all; but H----, more accustomed to the country, declared it was not so +bad, at least he averred that there were other roads much worse. The +jolting we got over the ruts and stones exceeded anything in my previous +experience. How the cart kept itself together was a marvel to me, but it +accommodated itself by a kind of snakelike movement, not characteristic +of wheeled vehicles in general. Except for the honour and glory of +driving, I would as lief have walked, and I think have done the journey +nearly as soon; but my friend observed, "It was no good giving into bad +roads down in this part of the world." + +At one of the worst turnings we met several bullock-carts filled with +iron pyrites from the copper-smelting. The custom of the drivers of +these carts is to stop at the bottom of a steep bit of hill, and then +put five or six pairs of oxen to draw up one cart. The process is a slow +one, but is better for the oxen. We had great difficulty in passing in +safety, for unluckily at the spot we met them the trees were so thick +that they literally walled up the road, and on the other side there +chanced to be a very uninviting precipice, and of course we had the +place of honour. + +Soon after this little excitement was over we came upon a fine view of +the Danube, with a long stretch of Servian forests beyond. On we jolted, +till at length New Moldova was reached: this place has +smelting-furnaces, and in the neighbourhood are extensive copper mines. +The district is known as the Banat of Temesvar, an extensive area of the +most fertile land in Europe; rich black soil, capable of growing any +number of crops in succession without dressing. This part of Hungary +supplies the finest white flour, so much esteemed by the Vienna bakers, +and now sought after by the pastrycooks in England. + +There was a fair going on at New Moldova, which afforded me an +opportunity of seeing the peasants in their gala dresses. The place is +renowned for its pretty Wallack girls, and I certainly can bear witness +that I saw not a few handsome faces. But what struck me most was the +graceful movements of these damsels: their manner of walking was the +very poetry of motion. I daresay it was the more striking to me because +I had recently come from England, where fashion condemns the wearers of +high-heeled shoes to a rickety waddle! Even here, in these wilds, +fashion maintains a despotic rule. I understand black hair is the thing +at present, so every Wallack maiden dyes her hair to the regulation +colour, though Nature, who never makes a mistake, may have matched her +complexion with auburn locks. + +The costume is very pretty and peculiar; it consists of a loose chemise, +a short skirt of homespun, with a double apron front and back, formed of +a very deep thick fringe of various colours. This peculiar garment is +called an _obreska_; I think it has no counterpart in female fashions +elsewhere. When the under-garment is white and fresh the effect is very +good; but in the case of the very poor, if there are but scanty rags +beneath, then, to speak mildly, the fringe is an inefficient covering. +But to-day every damsel is in her best; and how jauntily she wears the +coloured scarf twisted round her head, which falls in graceful folds! +The Wallacks generally have their bare feet covered, not with boots, but +with thongs of leather, something in the form of a sandal. The Servian +women dress quite differently, wear tight-fitting garments, richly +embroidered when their means permit. The men also figure largely in +embroidery. + +In the evening the peasants had a dance on the open space in front of +the _czarda_, or village inn. Of course we were there to look on. I +should observe that we had arranged to stay the night at Moldova, for +the afternoon had been taken up in visiting a large manufactory for +sulphuric acid in the neighbourhood. The dance which wound up the day's +amusements can be easily described. "Many a youth and many a maid" form +a wide circle with arms interlaced, they move round and round in a +marzurka step to the sound of music. It appeared to me rather slow and +monotonous. I do not know whether the figure breaks up, leaving each +couple more to their own devices; but we left them still revolving in a +circle. + +The following morning we were off on our travels again. A short drive +took us to Old Moldova, a village within the Military Frontier, +regularly constructed, with guardhouse and other Government buildings, +facing the Danube. At this point begins the splendid road by the side of +the river, made by the Hungarian Government in 1840. It reaches as far +as Orsova, taking the left bank of the Danube. It would have been easier +to have followed Trajan's lead, and have made the road on the right +bank; but there were political reasons for deciding otherwise. The +Hungarian Government, as a matter of course, would only construct this +great work within their own territory: the other side of the river is +Servian. The engineering difficulties in making this road were very +great, but they have been everywhere overcome, and the result is a +splendid piece of work. + +Arriving at the Danube, we took a steamboat that would land us in +Milanovacz in Servia. The scenery here is magnificent; we were now in +the defile of Kasan. The waters of the mighty river are contracted +within a narrow gorge, which in fact cleaves asunder the Carpathian +range for a space of more than fifty miles. The limestone rock forms a +precipitous wall on either side, rising in some places to an altitude of +more than two thousand feet sheer from the water's edge. The scenery of +this wonderful pass is very varied; the bare rock with its vertical +precipice gives place to a disturbed broken mass of cliff and scaur, +flung about in every sort of fantastic form, or towering aloft like the +ruined ramparts of some Titan's castle. Over all this a luxuriant +vegetation has thrown a veil of exceeding beauty. + +The fact of the Danube forcing its way through the Carpathian chain in +this remarkable manner is a very interesting problem to the geologists, +and deserves more careful investigation at their hands than perhaps it +has yet received. They seem pretty well agreed in saying that there +must have been a time when the waters were bayed back, and when the vast +Hungarian plain was an inland sea or great lake. + +Professor Hull, in a recent paper on the subject,[2] states the fact of +the plains of Hungary being "overspread by sands, gravels, and a kind of +mud called _loess_, or by alluvial deposits underlaid by fresh-water +limestones, which may be considered as having been formed beneath an +inland lake, during different periods of repletion or partial +exhaustion, dating downwards from the Miocene period." + +The Professor goes on to say that "at intervals along the skirts of the +Carpathians, and in more central detached situations, volcanoes seem to +have been in active operation, vomiting forth masses of trachytic and +basaltic lava, which were sometimes mingled with the deposits forming +under the waters of the lakes. The connection of these great sheets of +water with these active volcanic eruptions in Hungary has been pointed +out by the late Dr. Daubeny. The gorge of Kasan, and the ridge about 700 +feet above the present surface of the stream, appear to have once barred +the passage of the river. At this time the waters must have been pent +up several hundred feet above the present surface, and thus have been +thrown back on the plains of Hungary. It was only necessary that the +barrier should be cut through in order to lay dry these plains by +draining the lakes. This was probably effected by the ordinary process +of river excavation, and partly by the formation of underground channels +scooped out amongst the limestone rocks of the gorge. These two modes of +excavation acting together may have hastened the lowering of the channel +and the drainage of the plains above considerably; nevertheless the time +required for such a work must have been extended, and it would appear +that while the great inland lakes were being drained, the volcanic fires +were languishing, and ultimately became extinct. Hungary thus presents +us with phenomena analogous to those which are to be found in the +volcanic district of Central France." It is a significant fact that even +at the present day the waters of the Platten See and other lakes and +swamps are diminishing, showing that the draining process is still going +on. + +The extent of the great lake of prehistoric times is forcibly brought +before us by the fact that the Alföld, or great plain of Hungary, +comprises an area of 37,400 square miles! Here is found the _Tiefland_, +or deep land, so wonderfully fertile that the cultivator need only +scratch the soil to prepare it for his crop. + +As it only took us four hours by steamer to go from Alt Moldova to +Milanovacz, we calculated that we might reach Maidenpek, our destination +in Servia, the same day by borrowing a few hours from the night, as an +Irishman would say. However, it turned out that there was so much +bargaining and dawdling about at Milanovacz before we could settle on a +conveyance that we did not get away till six o'clock--too late a great +deal, considering the rough drive we had before us. Immediately after +starting we began to wind our way up the mountain. The views were +splendid. The Danube at this part again spreads out, having the +appearance of a lake something like the Rhine near Bingen. We looked +right over into Transylvania and Roumania from the commanding position +afforded by the terraced road up which we slowly toiled. + +We had hardly gained the highest point when we remarked that the sky was +becoming rapidly overcast by clouds from the west. Our Servian driver +swore it would not rain; he knew the signs of the weather, he said, but +as he applied the whip and galloped his horses at every available +opportunity, it was clear he had an inner consciousness of coming +trouble. The road now led through a forest. Here and there a gap in the +thick foliage gave us a glimpse of the distant landscape, and of the +curious atmospheric effects produced by the coming storm. The clouds +rolled up behind us in dense masses, throwing the near mountains into +deep shadow, while the plain far beneath was flooded with bright +sunshine. + +The effect, however, was transitory, for the dark shadow soon engulfed +the distant plain, blurring the fair scene even while we looked upon it. +The change was something marvellous, so sudden and so complete. Up to +this time the air had been still, and very hot; but suddenly a fierce +wind came upon us with a hoarse roar--almost like the waves of the +sea--up the valley and over the hill-top it came, right down upon us, +tearing at the forest-trees. The branches, in all the full foliage of +leafy June, swayed to and fro as the wind went roaring and shrieking +down the hillside; the next moment the earth shook with the clap of a +terrific burst of thunder. + +The horses stood still and shuddered in their harness, and it was with +difficulty they were made to go on. It was evident the storm was right +over us, for now succeeded flash upon flash of forked lightning, with +thunder-claps that were instantaneous and unceasing. + +At the same time the windows of heaven were opened upon us, or rather +the sluices of heaven it seemed to me; for the rain descended in sheets, +not streams, of water. Without any adventitious difficulties, the road +was as objectionable as a road could be; deep ruts alternated with now a +bare bit of rock strewn with treacherous loose stones, and now a sharp +curve with an ugly slant towards the precipice. + +About half an hour after the storm first broke upon us it had become +night, indeed it was so dark that we could hardly see a pace in advance. +The repeated flashes of lightning helped us to make out our position +from time to time, and we trusted to the horses mainly to get us along +in the safe middle course. At moments when the heavens were lit up, I +could see the swaying branches of the fir-trees high above us battling +with the wind, for we were still in the forest. The sound of many waters +around on every side forcibly impressed us with the notion that we must +be washed away--a result not by any means improbable, for the road we +traversed was little better than a watercourse. + +I have experienced storms in Norway, and in the Swiss and Austrian Alps, +but I never remember anything to equal this outburst of the elements. + +To stop still or to go forward was almost equally difficult, but we +struggled on somehow at the rate, I should think, of a mile and a half +in the hour. The horses were thoroughly demoralised, as one says of +defeated troops, and stumbled recklessly at every obstacle. The driver +was a stupid fellow, without an ounce of pluck in his composition, and +declared more than once that he would not go on, preferring to stop +under such shelter as the trees afforded. We were of another mind, and +insisted on his pushing on. One of us walked at the horses' heads, and +thus we splashed and blundered on for three mortal hours, wishing all +the time that we had slept at Milanovacz. The route became so much worse +that I declared we must have missed the track. We were apparently in a +deep gully, traversed by a mountain torrent hardly a foot below the +level of our road; but the Servian said he knew we were "all right," and +that we should come directly to a house where we could get shelter. + +He had hardly spoken when H---- descried some lights not very far ahead, +and in less than ten minutes we came alongside a good-sized hut, which +turned out to be the welcome wine-shop the driver had promised us. Here +was a roof anyhow, so we entered, hoping for supper and beds in the +wayside inn. All our host could produce was a very good bottle of +Servian "black" wine and some coarse bread of the country, so stale +that we could hardly break it. This wine, which is almost as black as +ink, comes from Negotin, lower down the Danube, and is rather a +celebrated vintage I was informed. + +It was only in my untravelled mind that the idea of "beds" existed at +all. H---- knew better than to expect anything of the kind. All we could +do was to examine the place we were in with reference to passing the +night. The floor of the room consisted of hard stamped clay, which from +the drippings of our garments had become damp and slightly adhesive to +the tread. The furniture consisted of a few rough stools and three +tables. There was no question of any other apartment, there being only a +dark hole in the rear sacred to the family, into which every sense we +possessed forbade us to intrude. In peering about with the candles we +found that the floor was perfectly alive with insects--such strange +forms, awful in their strangeness--interesting, I daresay, to the +entomologist, but simply disgusting to one not given to collecting +specimens. + +If I were dying I could not have laid myself down on that floor, so we +dragged the three tables together. They were provokingly uneven, but +with the aid of a sheepskin _bunda_, and our carpet-bags for pillows, +we contrived something upon which to rest our tired limbs. I should +observe we had partially dried ourselves by a miserable fire fed with +wet wood; in fact, everything was wet--our plaids were soaked, and were +useless as coverlets. + +We had agreed to keep one candle burning, with the further precaution +that we should sleep and tie through the night; for it was a +cut-throat-looking place, and the countenance of the ordinary Servian is +not reassuring. It fell to my lot to have the first watch, and I lay +awake staring at the roof, no great height above us. Its dirt-stained +rafters were lit up by the candle, and I soon became aware that the +mainbody of the insects was performing a strategic movement highly +creditable to the attacking party--they dropped down upon us from the +beams! I will not pursue the subject farther, but as long as the candle +burned I did not sleep a wink. I suppose I must have dozed off towards +morning, for H---- roused me from a state of semi-unconsciousness, and +"up we got and shook our lugs." + +The first thing I saw on pushing open the door was the steaming carcass +of a sheep hung just outside, with a pool of blood on the very +threshold! In many places in Eastern Europe they have the disgusting +habit of slaughtering the animals in the middle of the street. + +As soon as we had swallowed a cup of hot coffee, which is always good in +this part of the world, we lost no time in clearing out of the wretched +hovel where we had passed the night. On every side there were traces of +last night's tempest--trees uprooted and lying across the road, walls +blown down, and watercourses overflowing. It came to my knowledge later +that we got part of the same storm that had fallen with such devastating +fury on Buda-Pest just twenty-four hours earlier.[3] + +It is a fact worth noting that this storm affected a large area of +Europe, travelling north-west to south-east. A friend writing from the +neighbourhood of Dresden made mention of a severe storm on the 24th of +June; it broke upon Buda on the 26th, reaching us down in Servia on the +27th. + +[Footnote 2: Hungary and the Lower Danube, by Professor Hull, F.R.S., in +Dublin University Magazine, March 1874.] + +[Footnote 3: Extract of a private letter, dated Buda-Pest, June 28th, +from Mr Landor Crosse, which appeared in the 'Daily News,' July 6, 1875: +"We have had one of the most dreadful storms that has happened here in +the memory of man. I must tell you that on Saturday evening I was taking +my coffee and cigar in the beautiful gardens of the Isle St Marguerite, +opposite Buda-Pest, when a little after six o'clock a fearful hurricane +arose very suddenly, sweeping over us with terrific force. Branches of +trees were carried along like feathers. After this came a dreadful +thunderstorm, accompanied by rain and hail, the hail breaking windows +right and left, even those that were made of plate-glass. The hailstones +were on an average the size of walnuts, and some very much larger. Two +trees were struck by lightning within thirty yards of me. I had a narrow +escape, for these large trees were shattered, and the fragments +dispersed by the hurricane; it was an awful moment, and I shall never +forget it as long as I live. + +"Yesterday I went over to the Buda side, where twenty houses have been +entirely washed away. Nearly the whole of the town is flooded, and every +street converted into a river five or six feet in depth. It is estimated +that more than two hundred people have been drowned.... On Sunday +morning I saw the Danube bearing swiftly away the terrible wreckage of +the storm. There were large articles of furniture, the bodies of men, +women, and children, together with horses and cows, all floating on the +whirling waters.... It rained a waterspout for nearly five hours, and in +consequence the small valleys leading down from the mountain were in +some places thirty feet deep, for a time, in rushing water.... The +tramways in some places are destroyed; the mountain railway wrecked; the +vineyards on the hillside simply ruined.... You will scarcely credit me +when I tell you that a house situated at the bottom of the valley and +near the railway station was literally battered in by a _drift_ of +hailstones. The doors and windows were burst in before the inmates could +escape, and they were actually buried alive in ice. When I saw the house +twenty-two hours afterwards it was still four feet deep in hailstones, +though they had been clearing them away with spades. Just as I got there +they recovered the body of a poor woman who had perished. From this +spot, and for about a mile up the valley, no less than fifty-seven +bodies were found."] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + Maidenpek--Well-to-do condition of Servians--Lady Mary Wortley + Montague's journey through Servia--Troubles in Bulgaria--Communists + at Negotin--Copper mines--Forest ride--Robbers on the + road--Kucainia--Belo-breska--Across the Danube--Detention at + customhouse--Weisskirchen--Sleeping Wallacks. + + +We reached Maidenpek without further mishap, and here I began to make +inquiries again about a horse. I was informed that in some of the +villages farther up I should be sure to find the sort of horse I wanted, +and not sorry for an excuse for exploring the country, I agreed to go, +at the same time getting my friend to join me. + +We hired some horses for the expedition, and set off, a party of four: +three Englishmen (for we had picked up a friend at Maidenpek) and a Serb +attendant, who was to act as our guide. He rode a small plucky horse, +being armed with a long Turkish gun slung over his shoulder, while his +belt was stuck full of strange-looking weapons, worthy of an +old-curiosity shop. We were mounted on serviceable little nags, and had +also our revolvers. + +The ride was truly enjoyable. We soon left the road, and took our way +along a forest path in Indian file, our picturesque guide leading the +way. The path came to an end before long, and we then followed the +course of a little stream; but as it wound about in a most tortuous +manner we were obliged to be continually crossing and recrossing. +Sometimes we rode through a jungle of reeds, at least eight feet high; +then we had to scramble up a sandy bank. The horses were like cats, and +did their scrambling well; and at rare intervals we found ourselves on a +fair stretch of open lawn which fringes the dense forest. There were +bits here and there which reminded one of Devonshire, where the +luxuriant ferns dipped their waving plumes into the cool waters of the +rocky stream. In the forest, too, there were exquisite fairy-spots, +where, as Spenser says, is found "beauty enregistered in every nook." + +After a time the way grew more wild in the character of the scenery, and +at length the route we took was so rough that we had to dismount and +lead our horses up the side of a steep hill. It was tiresome work, for +the heat was intense; but gaining the top, we were rewarded by a grand +view of the Balkan Mountains rising directly south. We ought to have +made out Widdin and a stretch of the Danube at Palanka; but the middle +of the day is the worst time for the details of a distant view. + +Shortly after this we arrived at a small uncivilised-looking village. +The men were powerfully built in point of figure, and the women rather +handsome. Both sexes wear picturesque garments. This village, like many +others of the same kind, we found encircled by plum-orchards. Thousands +of barrels of dried plums are sent from Servia every year, not only to +Western Europe, but to America. Besides the consumption of the fruit in +its innocent form of prunes, it is made into the spirit called +_slivovitz_, the curse of Hungary and Roumania. + +We made a halt at this village, and sent out a man to look up some +horses. He brought in several, but none of them were strong enough for +my purpose. It was then proposed that we should ride on to the next +village. Here we got dinner but no horses. The meal was very simple but +not unpalatable, finishing up with excellent Turkish coffee. + +I am writing now of the _status quo ante bellum_, and I must say I was +struck with the well-to-do aspect of the peasants in Servia. By peasants +I mean the class answering to the German _bauer_. It is true they lack +many things that Western civilisation regards as necessaries; but have +they not had the Turks for their masters far into this century? Turning +over Lady Mary Wortley Montague's Letters,[4] there occurs the +following paragraph in her account of a journey through Servia in +1717:-- + +"We crossed the deserts of Servia, almost quite overgrown with wood, +through a country naturally fertile. The inhabitants are industrious; +but the oppression of the peasants is so great, they are forced to +abandon their houses, and neglect their tillage, all they have being a +prey to janissaries whenever they please to seize upon it. We had a +guard of five hundred of them, and I was almost in fears every day to +see their insolencies in the poor villages through which we passed.... I +was assured that the quantity of wine last vintage was so prodigious +that they were forced to dig holes in the earth to put it in. The +happiness of this plenty is scarcely perceived by the oppressed people. +I saw here [Nissa] a new occasion for my compassion. The wretches that +had provided twenty waggons for our baggage from Belgrade hither for a +certain hire being all sent back without payment, some of their horses +lamed, and others killed, without any satisfaction made for them. The +poor fellows came round the house weeping and tearing their hair and +beards in a most pitiable manner, without getting anything but drubs +from the insolent soldiers. I would have paid them the money out of my +own pocket with all my heart, but it would only have been giving so much +to the aga, who would have taken it from them without any remorse.... +The villagers are so poor that only force would extort from them +necessary provisions. Indeed the janissaries had no mercy on their +poverty, killing all the poultry and sheep they could find, without +asking to whom they belonged, while the wretched owners durst not put in +their claim for fear of being beaten. When the pashas travel it is yet +worse. These oppressors are not content with eating all that is to be +eaten belonging to the peasants; after they have crammed themselves and +their numerous retinue, they have the impudence to exact what they call +_teeth-money_, a contribution for the use of their teeth, worn with +doing them the honour of devouring their meat." + +This is a lively picture of Turkish rule a century and a half ago; it +helps us to understand the saying, "Where the Turk treads, no grass +grows." + +The insurrection in Bulgaria had just broken out when I was in Servia: I +cannot say I heard it much talked of; we, none of us, knew then the +significance of the movement. But great uneasiness was felt in reference +to the wide spread of certain communistic doctrines. A disturbance was +stated to have taken place a few days before at Negotin. The foreign +owners of property expressed themselves very seriously alarmed about the +communistic propagandists who were going round the country. No one +seemed certain as to the course events would take. + +However--to resume my own simple narrative--after dining in the little +village aforesaid, we set our faces again towards Maidenpek, returning +by another route, which afforded us some very romantic scenery. I +finished the difficulty about the horse by purchasing the one I had +ridden that day. He was smaller than I liked, but he had proved himself +strong and sure footed. I cannot say he was a beauty, but what can one +expect for seventeen ducats--about eight pounds English? + +The second day of our stay at Maidenpek was principally devoted to +inspecting some copper mines belonging to an English company. They +appeared to be doing pretty well. We next arranged to ride over to +Kucainia, a place some twenty-five miles off. It was settled that we +were to start at seven o'clock in the morning, but a dense white fog +obliterated the outer world--we might have been on the verge of Nowhere. +It was more than two hours before the fog lifted sufficiently to enable +us to proceed. We went on our way some three miles when a drenching +shower came on, and we took shelter in the cavernous interior of an +enormous, half-ruined oak-tree. Natural decay and the pickaxes of the +woodman seeking fuel for his camp-fire had hollowed out a comfortable +retreat from the storm. Surrounding the tree was a bed of wild +strawberries, which helped to beguile the time. When at length the +clouds cleared away, we resumed our saddles with dry jackets. But, as it +turned out, the half-hour we spent under the tree lost us the chance of +some fun. + +I must remark that our road lay the whole way through a majestic forest. +We were actually on the highroad to Belgrade, yet in many places it was +nothing more than a grass-drive with trees on either side. Looking some +way ahead when we found ourselves on a track of this kind, we observed +in the distance two men on horseback standing their horses in the middle +of the road, apparently waiting for some one to pass. One of the +fellows, armed with the usual long Turkish gun, seeing our approach, +came forward as if to meet us. We instinctively looked to our revolvers, +but as he came up we saw that the stranger on the black horse (he must +have been _once_ a splendid roadster) had no sinister intentions upon +us. It turned out that he was the pope from a neighbouring village. He +was in a great state of excitement, but shook hands with us all round +before uttering a word. He then told us that the diligence from Belgrade +had been stopped only half an hour ago by five brigands at the bottom of +the very hill we had just passed. The booty was by no means +insignificant. The robbers had made off with 7000 florins in gold; but +what seemed rather significant was the statement that though the driver +and the conductor of the diligence were both well armed, they had +offered but little or no resistance. They declared they were overpowered +by numbers. If there had been a shot fired we certainly must have heard +it. + +Later we ascertained that the money belonged to the copper-mining +company at Maidenpek; the loss was not theirs, however, as the +Government would have to reimburse it. It was just like our ill-luck to +wait out of the shower; but for that delay we should have come in for +the affray. I have my doubts as to whether our assistance would have +been particularly welcome to the driver of the diligence. Robbery on the +highroad is a capital offence in Servia.[5] + +Arriving at the next village, we found the whole place in a hubbub and +commotion. The men were arming and collecting horses. We went straight +to the post-office to hear the rights of the story; the facts were +mainly as I have related them. The excitement appeared to increase as +the crowd flocked in from the fields. Horses were being saddled, powder +served out, and arrangements made for a systematic battue of the +robbers. After amusing ourselves by watching the warlike preparations, +we rode on to Kucainia. + +We were hospitably received by a fellow-countryman who is working the +mines there. We did justice to his capital dinner, and told our robber +story, which our host capped with the rumours of a communistic rising +down south. + +After a short stay at Kucainia, we made arrangements for returning over +the Danube; but this time we proposed to strike the river at +Belo-breska, higher up than Milanovacz. We had dropped our other friend, +so H---- and I hired a light cart for the thirty miles to Belo-breska, +my new horse meanwhile being tied on behind, and so we jogged along. The +road was good, but, like the good people in Thackeray's novels, totally +uninteresting. We drove continually through fields of maize--I say +_through_ the fields, for there was no hedge or fence anywhere. The soil +appeared to be splendidly fertile and well cultivated. + +Arrived at Belo-breska, our object was to get across the Danube, and +luckily we found a large flat-bottomed boat used for cattle. The owner +demanded a ducat (about nine shillings) for taking us across. I thought +it a monstrous charge, but the fellow had us in his power. I do not +think the Servians are much liked by those who have to do business with +them. From all I heard, Canning's lines about the sharp practice of some +nearer neighbours would apply very well to the Servians:-- + + "In matters of commerce the fault of the Dutch + Is giving too little, and asking too much." + +No sooner had we landed on the Hungarian side of the river than up came +a customhouse official, who informed me that I must pay duty for my +horse. Of course, as a law-respecting Briton, I was ready enough to +comply; but the fellow could not tell me what the charge was, saying his +chief was absent, and might not be back for some hours. + +This was exasperating to the last degree; the more so that it seemed so +stupid that the man left in charge could not consult a tariff of taxes, +or elicit from the villagers some information. He was stolidly +obstinate, and refused to let my horse go at any price, though I offered +him what H---- and I both thought a reasonable number of florins for the +horse-duty. In less than ten minutes I had worked myself into a rage--a +foolish thing to do with the thermometer at 96° in the shade; but H---- +was provokingly calm, which irritated me still more. There is an old +French verse which, rendered into English, says-- + + "Some of your griefs you have cured, + And the sharpest you still have survived; + But what torments of pain you endured + From evils that never arrived!" + +Now, a little patience would have saved me a useless ebullition of +temper. While I was still at white-heat up came the head official; +removing the cigar from his lips with Oriental dignity and deliberation, +he calmly answered my question, and having paid the money we went our +way. + +Our design was now to get to Weisskirchen, and sleep there, that place +being the only decent quarters within reach. Our road was over the +mountains--a lonely pass of ill repute. Several persons had been stopped +and robbed in these parts quite recently. The Government had formerly a +small guardhouse at the top of the pass; but it has been deserted since +1867, when the district ceased to be maintained as the Military +Frontier. Since that time crime has been very much on the increase all +along the border-country. The lawlessness that is rampant at the +extremities of the kingdom shows a weakness in the Central Government +which is very reprehensible. But for this laxity on the borders, the +recent Szeckler conspiracy for making a raid on the Russian railway +could never have been projected. + +We arrived all right at Weisskirchen, which was good-luck considering +the chances of an upset in the darkness, for night had overtaken us long +before our drive was half over. Thoroughly tired, we were glad enough to +draw up in the innyard, the same I had visited some weeks before; but +great was our disgust at being told that there was not a bed to be +had--every room was taken. We drove on to inn No. 2, where they had beds +but no supper. We were nearly starving, for we had had nothing to eat +since the morning, so back we had to go to No. 1 to procure supper. When +this important meal was finished, we had to make the return journey once +more. The streets were perfectly dark, and it was an affair of no small +difficulty to find our way. It happened to me that I stepped into +something soft and bumpy. I could not conceive what it was. I made a +long step forward, thinking to clear the obstacle, but I only stumbled +into another soft and bumpy thing. Was it a flock of sheep lying packed +together? The skins of the sheep were there, it is true, but as covering +for the forms of prostrate Wallacks. A lot of these fellows, wrapped in +their cloaks, were sleeping huddled together at the side of the street. +I found afterwards that this is a common practice with these people. The +wonderful _bunda_ is a cloak by day and a house by night. + +[Footnote 4: Letters and Works, edited by Lord Wharncliffe, 1837, p. +351, 359.] + +[Footnote 5: The robbers were subsequently taken and executed.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + Variety of races in Hungary--Wallacks or + Roumains--Statistics--Savage outbreak of the Wallacks in former + years--Panslavic ideas--Roumanians and their origin--Priests of the + Greek Church--Destruction of forests--Spirit of + Communism--Incendiary fires. + + +The mixture of races in Hungary is a puzzle to any outsider. There is +the original substratum of Slavs, overlaid by Szeklers, Magyars, German +immigrants, Wallacks, Rusniacks, Jews, and gipsies. An old German writer +has quaintly described the characteristics of these various peoples in +the following manner:-- + +"To the great national kitchen the Magyar contributes bread, meat, and +wine; the Rusniack and Wallack, salt from the salt pits of Marmaros; the +Slavonian, bacon, for Slavonia furnishes the greatest number of fattened +pigs; the German gives potatoes and vegetables; the Italian, rice; the +Slovack, milk, cheese, and butter, besides table-linen, kitchen +utensils, and crockery ware; the Jew supplies the Hungarian with money; +and the gipsy furnishes the entertainment with music." + +Coming to hard facts, the latest statistics of M. Keleti give 15,417,327 +as the total population of Hungary. Of these 2,470,000 are Wallacks, who +since the nationality fever has set in desire to be called Roumains; and +if you say Roman at once, they will be still better pleased. They were +in old time the overflow of Wallachia, now forming part of the Roumanian +Principality. The first historical irruption of the Wallacks was about +the end of the fourteenth century, when they became a terrible pest to +the German settlers in Transylvania, dreaded by them as much as Turk or +Tartar. They burned and pillaged the lands and villages of the peaceful +dwellers in the Saxon settlement; but at length they had become so +numerous that the law took cognisance of their existence and reduced +them to a state of serfdom, from which they were not relieved till 1848. + +A subject race has always its wrongs, and there is no doubt the haughty +Magyar nobles treated the Wallacks with great harshness and indignity. +It was the old story--good masters were kind to their serfs, but those +less fortunate had a bad time of it, what with forced labour and other +burdens. "A lord is a lord even in hell" is the saying of the peasants. + +Mr Paget[6] tells the story of an old countess he met in Transylvania, +who used to lament that "times were sadly changed, peasants were no +longer so respectful as they used to be; she could remember walking to +church on the backs of the peasants, who knelt down in the mud to allow +her to pass over them without soiling her shoes. She could also +remember, though less partial to the recollection, a rising of the +peasantry, when nothing but the kindness with which her mother had +generally treated them saved her from the cruel death which many of her +neighbours met with." + +The rising here mentioned took place in 1784, when two Wallacks named +Hora and Kloska were the leaders of a terrible onslaught upon the Magyar +nobles. The Vienna Government was accused on this occasion of being very +tardy in sending troops to quell the insurrection. It was the time when +the unpopular reforms of Joseph II. were so ill received by the Magyars, +and no good feeling subsisted between Hungary and the Central +Government. + +But the most frightful outbreak of the Wallacks was, as we all know, +within living memory. You can hear from the lips of witnesses +descriptions of horrors committed not thirty years ago in Transylvania. +Entire villages were destroyed, whole families slaughtered, down to the +new-born infant. + +The arms of the Wallacks were supplied by Austria, for whom they were +acting as a sort of militia at the time of Hungary's war of +independence. The Vienna Government has been very fond of playing off +the Wallacks and the Slavs against the Magyars: they have kept the pot +always simmering; if some fine day it boils over, they will have the fat +in the fire. + +Of course in Southern Hungary one hears enough about the Panslavic +movement, and Panslavic ideas. "The idea of Panslavism had a purely +literary origin," observes Sir Gardiner Wilkinson in his book on +Dalmatia. "It was started by Kolla, a Protestant clergyman of the +Slavonic congregation at Pesth, who wished to establish a national +literature by circulating all works written in the various Slavonic +dialects.... The idea of an intellectual union of all these nations +naturally led to that of a political one; and the Slavonians seeing that +their numbers amounted to about one-third of the whole population of +Europe, and occupied more than half its territory, began to be sensible +that they might claim for themselves a position to which they had not +hitherto aspired." + +But the Wallacks, or, as we will now call them, Roumains, are not Slavs +at all; they are utterly distinct in race, though they are +co-religionists with the Southern Slavs. "The Roumanians," says Mr +Freeman,[7] "speak neither Greek nor Turkish, neither Slave nor +Skipetar, but a dialect of Latin, a tongue akin not to any of their +neighbours, but to the tongues of Gaul, Italy, and Spain." He is +inclined to think these so-called Dacians are the surviving +representatives of the great Thracian race. + +Who they were is, after all, not so important a question as what they +are, these two millions and a half of Roumains in Hungary. To put the +statistical figures in another way, Mr. Boner,[8] writing in 1865, +calculates that the Roumains, naturalised in Southern Hungary, number +596 out of every 1000 souls in Transylvania. The fecundity of the race +is remarkable, they threaten to overwhelm the Saxons, whose numbers, on +the other hand, are seriously on the decrease. They are also supplanting +the Magyars in _Southern_ Hungary. + +I have myself seen villages which I was told had been exclusively +Magyar, but which are now as exclusively Roumain. It is even possible to +find churches where the service conducted in the Magyar tongue has +ceased to be understood by the congregation. + +To meet a Roumain possessed even of the first rudiments of education is +an exception to the rule: even their priests are deplorably ignorant; +but when we find them in receipt of such a miserable stipend as 100 +florins, indeed in some cases 30 florins a-year, it speaks for itself +that they belong to the poorest class. The Wallacks lead their lives +outside the pale of civilisation; they are without the wants and desires +of a settled life. Very naturally the manumission of the serfs in 1848 +found them utterly unprepared for their political freedom. Neither by +nature or by tradition are they law-respecting; in fact, they are very +much the reverse. + +The Roumain is a Communist pure and simple; the uneducated among them +know no other political creed. It is not that of the advanced school of +Communism, which deals with social theories, but a simple consistent +belief that, as they themselves express it, "what God makes grow belongs +to one and all alike." In this spirit he helps himself to the fruit in +his neighbour's garden when too lazy to cultivate the ground for +himself. + +This child of nature is by instinct a nomadic shepherd and herdsman; he +hates forests, and will ruthlessly burn down the finest trees to make a +clearing for sheep-pastures. It is impossible to travel twenty miles in +the Southern Carpathians without encountering the terrible ravages +committed by these people in the beautiful woods that adorn the sides of +the mountains. + +"The Wallacks find it too much trouble to fell the trees," says Mr +Boner. "They destroy systematically: one year the bark is stripped off, +the wood dries, and the year after it is fired.... In 1862, near +Toplitza, 23,000 _joch_ of forest were burned by the peasantry." + +Judging from what I saw during my travels in Hungary in 1875-76, I +should say the evil described by Mr Boner ten years before has in no way +abated. The Wallacks pursue their ruthless destruction of the forests, +and the law seems powerless to arrest the mischief. At present there is +wood and enough, but the time will come when the country at large must +suffer from this reckless waste. There are about twenty-three million +acres of forest in Hungary, including almost the only oak-woods left in +Europe. The great proportion of the forest-land belongs to the State, +hence the supervision is less keen, and the depredations more readily +winked at. Riding one day with a Hungarian friend, I asked what would be +the probable cost of a wooden house then building on the verge of the +forest. My friend replied, laughing, "That depends on whether the +builder stole the wood himself, or only bought it of some one else who +had stolen it; he might possibly have purchased the wood from the real +owner, but that is not very probable. So you see I really cannot tell +you what the house will cost." + +Incendiary fires are very common in Hungary. Here, again, the Wallacks +do their share of mischief. If they have a grudge against an active +magistrate or a thriving neighbour, his farmstead is set on fire, not +once, but many times probably. Added to this, the Wallack takes an +actual pleasure in wanton destruction. As an instance, an English +company who are working coal mines in the neighbourhood of Orsova have +been obliged within the last two years to relay their railway from the +mines to the Danube no less than three times, in consequence of the +Wallacks persistently destroying the permanent way and stealing the +rails. + +Notwithstanding all this the Wallacks are not without their good points. +They become capital workmen under certain circumstances, and they +possess an amount of natural intelligence which promises better things +as the result of education. "Barring his weakness for tobacco and +spirits, the much-abused Wallack is a useful fellow to the sportsman and +the traveller," said a sporting friend of mine who visits Transylvania +nearly every autumn. + +[Footnote 6: Hungary and Transylvania, 1839.] + +[Footnote 7: 'Geographical Aspect of the Eastern Question,' Fortnightly +Review, January 1877.] + +[Footnote 8: Transylvania: its Products and People.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + Paraffine-works in Oravicza--Gold mine--Coal mines at + Auima-Steirdorf--Geology--States Railway Company's mines--Bribery. + + +The old copper and silver mines of Oravicza are now abandoned, but the +industrial activity of the place is kept up by the working of coal +mines, which have their depôt here. The States Railway Company are the +great owners of mines in this district. They confine their attention to +iron and coal. There are extensive paraffine-works in Oravicza; the +crude oil is distilled from the black shale of the Steirdorf coal, +yielding five per cent of petroleum. At Moldova, where we were recently, +the same company have large sulphuric acid works, employing as material +the iron pyrites of the old mines. Moldova had formerly the reputation +of producing the best copper in Europe, but the mines fell out of work, +I believe, in 1848. + +An English gentleman is working a gold mine near Oravicza with some +success. Subsequent to my visit his people came upon what I think the +miners call a "pocket" of free gold. Bismuth is also raised, though not +in large quantities. + +Wishing to see the coal mines at Steirdorf, I rode over the hills in +about four hours. As I left Oravicza in the early morning the view +appeared very striking. Looking back, I could see the little town +straggling along in the shadow of the deeply-cleft valley, while beyond +stretched the sunlit plain, level as a sea, rich with fields of ripe +corn. The mists still lingered around me in the mountains, rolling about +in the form of soft white masses of vapour, with here and there a +fringed edge of iridescence. The cool freshness of the morning and the +beauty of the varied scenery made the ride most enjoyable. + +Arriving at Steirdorf, I spent some hours in visiting the ironworks, +blast-furnaces, coke-ovens, &c. The coal produced here is said to be the +best in Hungary. The output, I am told, is 150,000 tons; but only +one-third of this is sold, the rest being used by the States Railway +Company for their own ironworks, and for the locomotive engines of their +line. + +Professor Ansted,[9] who made a professional visit to this part of the +country in 1862, remarks that "the iron is mined by horizontal drifts or +kennels into the side of the hills. The coal is mined by vertical +shafts. The ironstone is of the kind common to some parts of Scotland, +and known as blackband. There are as many as eight principal seams." + +I had sent a man in advance from Oravicza to take my horse back, as I +intended returning by rail. This mountain railway between Oravicza and +Auima-Steirdorf is a remarkable piece of engineering work. In a distance +of about twenty miles it ascends 1100 feet, in some parts as much as one +foot in five. They have very powerful engines and a cogwheel +arrangement, the line making a zigzag up the mountain-side. The effect +is very curious in descending to see another train below you creeping +uphill, now at one angle, now at another. + +Considering the expensive nature of the works, and the paucity of +passengers, I almost wonder that the States Railway Company did more +than construct a narrow gauge for the mineral traffic. This company, I +believe, is of Austrian origin, assisted by French capital--in fact, its +head office is in Paris. It obtained large concessions in the Banat +during the Austrian rule in Hungary, acquiring a considerable amount of +property at very much below its real value; in consequence the company +is looked upon with some degree of jealousy by the Hungarians. Of +forest-land alone it owns about 360 square miles. It has a large staff +of officials, mostly Germans, who manage the woods and forests on a +very complicated system, which pays well, but would probably pay better +if simplified. It has also a monopoly of certain things in its own +district, such as salt, &c. + +The prevalence of bribery is one of the causes seriously retarding +progress in Hungary. There is as yet no wholesome feeling against this +corruption, even amongst those who ought to show an example to the +community. They have also a droll way of cooking accounts down in these +parts, but there is a vast deal of human nature everywhere, so "let no +more be said." + +[Footnote 9: A Short Trip in Hungary and Transylvania.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + Mineral wealth of the Banat--Wild ride to Dognacska--Equipment for + a riding tour--An afternoon nap and its consequences--Copper + mines--Self-help--Bare insects--Moravicza--Rare minerals--Deutsch + Bogsan--Reschitza. + + +The neighbourhood of Oravicza is well worth exploring, especially by +those who like knocking about with a geological hammer. The mines in the +Banat were perhaps worked earlier than any other in this part of Europe. +The minerals of the district present a very remarkable variety. Von +Cotta, I imagine, is the best authority upon the Banat ore deposits. + +I had heard a good deal of the silver and copper mines of Dognacska, and +wishing to visit them, I induced my friend H---- to accompany me. We +arranged to go on horseback. I was very glad to escape the "carts of the +country," which, notwithstanding the atrocious roads, are the usual mode +of conveyance. It had always been my intention to ride about the +country, and with this view I brought my saddle and travelling apparatus +from London--English-made articles bear knocking about so much better +than similar things purchased on the Continent. + +I had an ordinary pigskin saddle, furnished with plenty of metal rings. +I had four saddle-bags in all, made of a material known as waterproof +flax cloth. It has some advantages over leather, but is too apt to wear +into holes. It is of importance to have the straps of your saddle-bags +very strongly attached. It is not enough that they are sewn an inch into +the bag, they should extend down the sides; for want of this I had to +repair mine several times. Attached to my bridle I had a very convenient +arrangement for picketing my horse. It consisted of a rope about twelve +feet long, neatly rolled round itself; this was kept strapped on the +left side of the horse's head. + +The chief pride of my outfit was a cooking-apparatus, the last thing +out, which merits a few words of description. It consisted of a round +tin box, eight inches in diameter, capable of boiling three pints of +water in two minutes and a half; of its own self-consciousness, the +sauce-pan could evolve into a frying-pan, besides other adaptations, +including space for a Russian lamp--a vessel holding spirit--with +cellular cavities for salt, pepper, matches, not forgetting cup, spoon, +and plate. The Russian lamp is a very useful contrivance, in case of +open-air cooking; it gives a flame six or seven inches long, which is +not easily affected by wind or draught. + +Amongst the stores I took out from England was some "compressed tea," +which is very portable. In riding, all powdery substances should be +avoided; I had on one occasion practical experience of this. I had +procured some horse-medicine, and giving my animal one dose, I packed +the rest very carefully, as I thought; on opening my saddle-bag after a +ride of twenty miles, I found, to my disgust, that this wretched white +powder had mixed itself up with everything. I wished I had made the +horse his own medicine-chest, and given him his three doses at once. + +Let the weather be ever so warm in Hungary, it is not wise to take even +a day's ride without a good warm plaid; the changes of temperature are +often very sudden, and herein is the danger of fever. The peasant says, +"In summer take thy _bunda_ (fur cloak)." + +To complete the catalogue of my travelling appendages, I may mention a +revolver, a bowie-knife, a compass, good maps of the country, and a +flask. My flask held exactly a bottle of wine; it was covered with thick +felt, which on being soaked in water has the effect of keeping the wine +quite cool for an incredibly long time, even in the hottest weather. I +have been told that the Arabs in the desert have long been up to this +dodge with respect to their water-bottles, which are suffered to leak a +little to keep up the evaporation. The food I carried was of course +renewed from time to time, according to circumstances. Naturally I +economised the lamp spirit whenever I could obtain sticks for boiling +the water, as the spirit could not always be procured in the Hungarian +villages. + +In starting for Dognacska and Reschitza, we had before us a ride of more +than thirty miles through a very rough country, and with uncertain +prospects of accommodation, so I took with me all my travelling +"contraptions," as they say in the west of England. The weather was +excessively hot the morning H---- and I started on our expedition. About +noon, after we had ridden some two hours, the sun's rays beat down upon +us with such force that we made an unintentional halt on coming to a +well by the wayside. It was one of those picturesque wells so familiar +in Eastern landscape--a beam balanced on a lofty pole, with a rod +hanging from one end, to which is attached the bucket for drawing +water. + +Not far from the well was one of those curious tree hay-stacks to be +seen in some parts of Hungary. It is the practice to clear away a +certain number of the middle branches of a tree, then a wooden platform +is constructed, on which a quantity of hay is placed in store for winter +use. This mushroom-shaped hay-rick receives a cover of thatch, out of +the centre of which comes the tree-top. + +The shade afforded by this wigwam on stilts looked most inviting just +then, and we yielded to the seduction. We got off, and throwing +ourselves at full length on the grass, allowed our horses to graze close +to us, without taking the trouble to picket them. + +The heat of the noonday was perfectly overpowering. The momentary shade +was an intense relief, for we had been in the unmitigated glare of the +sun the whole morning. Of course we quickly had out our cigar-cases, and +puffing the grateful weed, we were soon in full enjoyment of dignified +ease. We were in that idle mood when, one says with the lotus-eaters, +"taking no care"-- + + "There is no joy but calm! + Why should we only _toil_, the roof and crown of things." + +"Why, indeed, should we toil?" I repeated languidly, at the same time +gently and slowly breaking off the end of my cigar-ash. + +"Why, indeed?" echoed my friend in a sleepy tone; and, unlike his usual +wont, he was quite disinclined to argue the point, being too lazy for +anything. + +In another moment we had both sprung to our feet, most thoroughly roused +from our apathy; the fact was, a big brute of a sheep-dog suddenly +jumped in upon us, barking loud and fiercely. We very soon found means +to rid ourselves of the dog, but that was the least part of the +incident. It appeared that the noise and suddenness of the outburst had +so frightened our horses that they took to their heels and galloped off +as hard as they could tear. Of course we were after them like a shot, +but they had gone all manner of ways. I spotted my little Servian nag +breasting the hill to our right in grand style; the saddle-bags were +beating his flanks. A pretty race we had after those brutes of horses! +We had to jump ditches, and struggle up sandbanks, tear through +undercover, and finally H---- got "stogged" in a treacherous green +marsh. Was there ever anything so exasperating and ridiculous? + +After running more or less for three-quarters of an hour in a sweltering +heat, we came upon the horses in an open glade in the wood, where they +were calmly regaling in green pastures, like lotus-eaters themselves. +Never from that day forward have I forgotten the necessary duty of +picketing my horse. + +It was well on in the afternoon before we got to Dognacska, a mere +mining village, but prettily situated in a narrow valley. On +approaching, we found it to be a more uncivilised place than we had +expected, and we had not expected much. The children ran away screaming +at the sight of two horsemen, so travellers, I expect, are unknown in +these parts. We found out a little inn, indicated by a wisp of straw +hanging above the door, and here we asked to be accommodated; they were +profuse in promises, but as there was no one to look after the horses, +we had to attend to them ourselves. The woman of the house said the men +were all out, but would be back presently. We only took a little bread +and cheese, but ordered a substantial supper to be ready for us on our +return later in the evening. The fact was, we were in a hurry to be off +to look at the works. Lead, silver, iron, and copper are found at +Dognacska, but the working at present is a dead-alive operation. The +blast-furnaces for making pig-iron are of recent construction, but the +smelting-furnaces were very antiquated. + +It was the same answer everywhere, "All belongs to the Marquis of +Carrabas;" in other words, the States Railway Company owns both mines +and forests in all directions throughout the Banat, though at the same +time I was told that they do not undertake metallic mining. + +From what I gathered it would seem that the mines round here are not +really very rich. You cannot depend on the working as in Cornwall, for +they are without regular lodes. A rich "pocket" occurs here and there, +but then is lost, the deposit not holding on to any depth. + +We made a considerable round, and returned with appetites very sharp +set, and counted on the chicken with _paprika_ that we had ordered to be +ready for us. On arriving at the little inn, great was our disgust to +find it utterly silent and deserted; neither man, woman, nor child was +to be found in or about the place. With some difficulty we caught some +children, who were peering at us behind the wall of a neighbour's house, +and from these blubbering little animals, who I believe thought we were +going to make mince meat of them, we at length extracted the fact that +the people of the inn were gone off haymaking. This was really too bad, +for if they had only told us, we could have made our arrangements +accordingly, but here we were starving and not the remotest prospect of +supper. There was no use wasting unparliamentary language, so I began +foraging in all directions, while H---- busied himself in cutting up +wood to make a fire, a process not too easy with an uncommonly blunt +axe. My researches into the interior of the dwelling were not +encouraging; the fowl was not there, neither was the _paprika_. At +length I discovered some eggs and a chunk of stale bread stowed away in +a corner; there were a great many things in that corner, but "they were +not of my search"--ignorance is bliss. + +H---- had done his duty by the fire; he had even persuaded the water to +boil, which I looked upon as the beginning of soup. Happily for us I had +my co-operative stores with me. From the depths of one of my saddle-bags +I drew out a small jar of Liebig's meat--a spoonful or two of this gave +quality to the soup. I added ten eggs and some small squares of bread, +flavouring the whole mess with a pinch of dried herbs, salt, and +pepper--all from "the stores." The result was a capital compound: in +fact I never tasted a better soup of its kind; we enjoyed it immensely. +We had barely finished when in came the woman of the house; she looked +very much surprised, grumbled at our making such a large fire, and made +no apology for her absence. + +No one came in to clean and feed our horses, and though I offered a +liberal _trinkgeld_ to any man or boy who would attend to them, not a +soul could I get, they all slunk away. I believe they are afraid of +horses at Dognacska. Self-help was the order of the day, and we just had +to look after the poor brutes ourselves. + +We slept in the inn. My bed was made up in the place where I had found +the eggs and bread. I imagine it was the "guest-corner." I do not wish +to be sensational, and I am no entomologist, therefore I will not +narrate my experiences that night; but I thought of the Irishman who +said, "if the fleas had all been of one mind, they could have pulled him +out of bed." Fortunately the summer nights are short; we were up with +the early birds, and started before the heat of the day for Moravicza, +another mining village. + +It was a pretty ride. We went for some way alongside a mineral tramway, +which followed the bend of a charming valley. Then we came upon a new +piece of road, made entirely of the whitest marble; it looked almost +like snow. Afterwards our track lay through a dense forest of majestic +trees. We could not have found our way unassisted, but one of the mine +inspectors from Dognacska had been sent with us. It was a delicious +ride, the air still cool and fresh. Sometimes we were in the forest, +and later, skirting a rocky ravine, we followed for a while a mountain +stream. It was rough work for the horses, and once, when leading my +horse over a narrow foot-bridge, he slipped off and rolled right over in +the bed of the stream. Luckily he was none the worse for the accident: +these small Servian horses bear a great deal of knocking about. It was +surprising that the baggage did not suffer, but except getting a little +wet, there was no harm done. + +This district is famous, I believe, for several kinds of rare beetles +and butterflies. I saw some beautiful butterflies myself during our +ride. + +Before reaching Moravicza we passed some large iron mines, but they were +not in full swing. In the last century the copper mines of this district +yielded extraordinary returns. Baron Born, in his "Travels in the +Banat," mentions a deposit of copper ore reaching to the amazing depth +of 240 feet. Some very fine syenite occurs in large blocks close to +Moravicza, which might be very valuable if made more accessible. The +village is half hidden in a narrow valley. Here we were most hospitably +received by Herr W----. In his collection of minerals he has many rare +specimens from this locality, which is peculiarly rich in regard to +variety. This gentleman kindly gave me some good specimens of magnetite, +greenockite (sulphate of cadmium), aurichalcite, Ludwigite, and garnet. +Leaving Moravicza, we rode on to Deutsch Bogsan, then to Reschitza, +where we arrived in the evening. Here we found a tolerable inn, for it +is a place of some size. We remained two days here; it is a flourishing +little place, the centre of the States Railway Works. They make a large +quantity of steel rails, any number of which will be wanted if half of +the projected lines are carried out, which are only waiting the +settlement of the Eastern Question. + +In Reschitza there are large blast-furnaces and Bessemer converters. +Enormous quantities of charcoal are produced; in short, on all sides +there is evidence of mining activity. Narrow-gauge lines run in every +direction, serving the coal mines; there is besides a railway for the +public from Reschitza to Deutsch Bogsan, and from the latter place a +branch communicates with the main line between Buda-Pest and Basiash. + +The country round Reschitza is rather pretty, but more tame than what we +had seen in other parts. We returned to Oravicza by a shorter route, +riding the whole distance in one day, which we did easily, for the roads +were not so bad, and it was not much over thirty miles. In Hungary it is +frequently more a question of roads than of actual distance. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + Election at Oravicza--Officialism--Reforms--Society--Ride to + Szaszka--Fine views--Drenkova--Character of the + Serbs--Svenica--Rough night walk through the forest. + + +We got back to Oravicza just in time to witness an election, which had +been a good deal talked about as likely to result in a row. There were +two candidates in the field: one a representative of the Wallachian +party; the other a director of the States Railway Company. In +consequence of a serious disturbance which took place some years ago, +the elections are now always held outside the town. The voting was in a +warehouse adjoining the railway station. A detachment of troops was +there to keep order, in fact the two parties were divided from each +other by a line of soldiers with fixed bayonets. It was extremely +ridiculous. The whole affair was as tame as possible; no more show of +fighting than at a Quakers' meeting. Of course the States Railway +representative had it all his own way, the officials, whose name is +legion, voting for him to a man. A trainful of Wallacks arrived from +some distant place, but their ardour for their own candidate was drowned +in the unlimited beer provided for them by their opponents. + +From what I heard about politics, or rather about the Parliament, it +seems to me that their House of Commons, like our own, suffers from too +many talkers. The Hungarian is at all times a great talker, and when +politics open the sluices of his mind, his speech is a perfect avalanche +of words. His conversation is never of that kind that puts you in a +state of antagonism, as a North German has so eminently the power of +doing; on the contrary, the listener sympathises whether he will or no, +but on calmer reflection one's judgment is apt to veer round again. + +The members of the House of Commons number 441, and of these 39 are +Croats, who are allowed to use their own language by special privilege. +The members are paid five florins a-day when the House is sitting, and a +grant of four hundred florins a-year is made for lodgings. There is this +peculiarity about the Hungarian Parliament: hereditary members of the +Upper House can if they choose offer themselves for election in the +Lower House. Many of the hereditary peers do so, meanwhile resigning as +a matter of course their seat in the Upper Chamber. + +The reform of 1848 extended the franchise so far that in point of fact +it only stops short of manhood suffrage. The property qualification of a +voter is in some cases as low as a hundred florins yearly income. +Religious and political liberty was granted to all denominations. The +disabilities of the Jews were suffered to remain a few years later; but +in 1867 they were entirely removed, and at the present moment several of +the most active members of Parliament are of the Jewish persuasion. +Elections are triennial, an arrangement not approved by many true +patriots, who complain that members think more of what will be popular +with the constituents, whom they must so soon meet again, than of the +effect of their votes on measures that concern the larger interests of +the State. + +Oravicza was so seductive--with its pleasant society; its "land +parties," as they call picnics; its evening dances, enlivened by gipsy +music--that I remained on and on from want of moral courage to tear +myself away. I had thoughts of changing my plans altogether, and of +devoting myself to a serious study of the minerals of the Banat, making +gay little Oravicza my head-centre. Looking back after the lapse of +sober time, I doubt if science would have gained much. Well, well, I +made up my mind to go. "The world was all before me," but I--left my +paradise alone. I had no fair Eve "hand in hand" to help my wandering +steps. + +I do think that packing one's portmanteau is the most prosaic thing in +life. Shirts and coats must be folded, and one's possessions have a way +of increasing which makes packing a progressive difficulty. However, at +last I did persuade my portmanteau to shut, and forthwith despatched it, +with some other heavy things, to Hatszeg, a small town in Transylvania, +where I intended to be in the course of ten days. + +I was now bound for Uibanya, in the Valea Tissovitza, a few miles from +Orsova on the Danube. There is an English firm down there engaged in +working the coal mines, and I had an introduction to one of the +partners. I rode from Oravicza to Szaszka--the place had become quite +familiar to me by this time--and I slept there. The night was not long, +for I left before sunrise. It is the only way to enjoy the ride; for the +middle of the day in July is really too hot for exertion in this part of +the world, and I found it was best to rest during the great heat of the +day. From Szaszka I pushed on to Moldova, and judging from my former +experience of driving the same road, I must say I prefer the saddle +infinitely. I should observe that on leaving Szaszka I got into a dense +mist on the top of the mountain. Fortunately I knew my bearings. When +it cleared off I had a magnificent view all the way, reaching the Danube +about nine o'clock. Here I spent the day and night at the house of Mr +G----, with whom I was slightly acquainted, and who received me +hospitably. The next morning very early I started for Svenica, a lovely +ride along the Szechenyi road. I had been in the saddle from five to +eleven A.M., and reaching Drenkova, I was not sorry to stop on +account of the great heat. It has only a wretched inn, where myself and +horse fared very badly. The Danube steamers are not unfrequently obliged +to stop at Drenkova and reship their passengers into smaller boats. This +happens when the water is low, and sometimes when the season is very dry +the river has to be abandoned for the road. When the Eastern Question is +settled a vast number of improvements are to be carried out on the +Danube it is said. The first ought to be the deepening of the channel in +this particular part of the river. There would surely be no great +difficulty in removing the obstructions caused by the rocks. But there +are always political difficulties creeping up in this part of the world +to prevent the carrying out of useful works. + +My siesta over, I was off again, soon after three P.M., on my +way to Svenica. I had a splendid view of the river, and stopped my +horse more than once to watch the boatmen at their perilous work of +shooting the rapids. Getting to Svenica soon after six o'clock, I made +inquiries about the distance to Uibanya. No two people agreed, but the +chief spokesman declared it was a couple of hours' walk, and he +volunteered to show me the way. The inn was horribly dirty, as one might +expect from the appearance of the village, which is inhabited entirely +by Serbs, otherwise Rascians. It appears that a vast number of Slavs +from Servia took refuge in Hungary at the end of the seventeenth +century. Some were Roman Catholics, but they were mostly of the Greek +Church. A colony settled at Buda. Lady Mary Wortley Montague, writing +from that town in 1717, says that the Governor of Buda assured her that +the Rascian colony without the walls would furnish him with 12,000 +fighting men at any moment. They were always a card in the hands of the +Austrians against the Magyars. + +Leopold I. granted the Servian refugees very considerable privileges and +immunities, causing thereby great jealousy among the Hungarians. Always +favoured by the Government of Vienna, these people have invariably shown +themselves pro-Austrian; and in 1848 they were destined to be a thorn in +the side of the proud Magyars, who despised them, and took no pains to +disguise the feeling, even at a moment so singularly unpropitious as the +eve of their own rupture with Austria. It seems that in the month of May +in that eventful year the Rascians sent a deputation to Pesth, to the +Diet, setting forth certain grievances and demanding redress. The +Magyars rejected their petition with haughty contempt, "a grievous +fault," says General Klapka in his history. The result was that the +Rascian deputies returned home in a state of great disgust at their +reception, and immediately took up arms against the Hungarians. This was +before the Government of Vienna had thrown off the mask. These facts are +not without significance at the present time. The Rascians are strongly +imbued with ideas of Panslavism, and now disdain any other name than +that of Servians; it would be a great offence to call the humblest +individual of the race by the old appellation of Rascian or Ratzen. +These so-called Servian subjects of the crown of St. Stephen number +about 800,000! + +The subject is worth mentioning at some length, because a good deal of +confusion exists respecting this particular division of the great Slav +family. + +Judging from what I saw of the inhabitants of Svenica, I think they have +not progressed very far in the ways of civilisation. I could get nothing +in the whole place but a piece of bread; but I was not to be balked of +my tea, so I entered the principal room in the wretched little inn, and +proceeded to take out my cooking apparatus. I was obliged to content +myself with a thick fluid, which they called water; no better was to be +procured. Now it happens that my spirit-lamp, when it begins to boil up, +makes a tremendous row for two or three minutes, as if it meant to burst +up with a general explosion. This circumstance, and my other novel +proceedings, had attracted a lot of idlers round the door, and before +the tea-making was over a number of Serbs and Wallacks crowded into the +room in a state of excited curiosity, and it was with difficulty that I +defended my tea-machine from absolute dismemberment. Though my horse and +I had done a good day's work, I determined to push on to Uibanya, for it +seemed to be not much more than a two hours' walk; moreover, I had been +warned of the bad reputation of the people in the village. I had heard +it was not an uncommon trick with them to steal a traveller's horse in +the night, and quietly ship him over the Danube into Servia. I had no +fancy for losing my possessions in this way, so altogether it seemed +better to go on. + +When I started with the guide I had hired from Svenica, there was still +a good half-hour before sunset. We commenced at once climbing a very +steep and stony path, where I had to lead my horse; indeed at times it +was very much like getting my horse over the top of a high-pitched roof, +if such an exploit were possible. We shortly lost all trace of a path. I +turned several times to look at the fine glimpses of the Danube far +below us. Arriving at a fringe of wood, I was not a little surprised to +see emerge from thence a sturdy Wallack, carrying the usual long staff, +armed with an axe at one end. I say surprised, because he at once joined +in with us, and though I had not seen him during our climb, I had my +strong suspicions that he had followed us all the way. My guide spoke a +little German, and I demanded of him in a sharp tone what the other +fellow meant by joining us. My guide answered that he was afraid to +return alone, for that presently we should get into "the forest, where +it would be as dark as a cave," and he had asked the other man to come +with us from Svenica. As according to his own account he had traversed +the forest for nineteen years, I thought he might very well have gone +back alone; besides, if there was any truth in what he said, why should +he have made a mystery about his companion till we were some way on our +journey? + +We were now on the outskirts of a thick forest, the sun had set in +great beauty, but every hue of colour had now faded from "the trailing +clouds of glory;" faded, indeed, so quickly that before the fact of +twilight could be realised, it was already night! It was literally dark +as a cave when we penetrated into the forest. My guide had a lantern, +which he lighted; for it would, indeed, have been impossible to make any +progress without the light. Though we were again in a path, the way was +frequently barred by the trunks of fallen trees. We were still +ascending, occasionally coming upon a steep rough bit, difficult for the +horse on account of the loose stones. I think we must have looked very +much like a party of smugglers. The ex-forester walked first, swinging +his lantern as he moved; then came the Wallack volunteer, stumping along +with axe-headed staff. He wanted very much to fall into the rear, but +this I would not allow, and in a resolute tone ordered him forward. I +followed with my little grey horse close upon the heels of my +companions, keeping all the time a keen and suspicious eye upon their +movements. They spoke together occasionally, but I was profoundly +ignorant of what they said, not understanding a word of Wallachian. + +Where it was anyhow possible we went at a good pace, but the underwood +and fallen trees hindered us a good deal. My guide told me to look out +for wolves. These forests are said to be full of them in summer, and he +added that a lot of pigs belonging to a neighbour of his had been +carried off by the wolves only the night before. I took this opportunity +of telling him that I was a dead shot, pointing to my revolver, which +was handy; adding a piece of information that I made much of, namely, +that I was expected at Uibanya. + +The doubts I felt about the honesty of the guide and the other fellow +were increased by a suspicion that they were leading me the wrong way. +We had been three hours in the forest, always ascending. Now I knew that +my destination was situated in a valley. I asked repeatedly when we +should get there, and invariably came the same short answer, "Gleich" +(directly). I noticed that we were steadily walking in the same +direction, for the trees being less thick I could keep my eye on the +Polar star: this was so far satisfactory. Presently I saw a light or two +in the distance, and before long we came to a cottage, the first in what +turned out to be the little village of Eibenthal. Here we came upon a +party of miners, who gave me the pleasant information that we were still +an hour's walk from Uibanya! There was nothing for it but to go on. I +confess I breathed more freely in the open; we were quite clear of the +forest now. On we went, a regular tramp, tramp, through a long valley +skirted with woods on either side. This last part of the walk seemed +interminable. It was eighteen hours since I had started in the morning. +I was physically weary, and I really believe I went off to sleep for a +second or two, though my legs kept up their automatic motion. I am sure +I must have slept, for I had a notion, like one has sometimes in sleep, +of extraordinary extension of time. It seemed to me that for years of my +life I had done nothing else than walk under the starlit sky into a vast +cave of black darkness, which only receded farther and farther as the +swinging of the lamp advanced with its monotonous vibration of light. + +It was just midnight when I descried a faint light in the distance. It +grew as we tramped on. I knew therefore it was no deceptive star setting +in the horizon, but the welcome firelight of a human habitation. This +time it was my goal--Uibanya! I stopped for a moment and fired off a +couple of shots to announce our approach, whereupon some of the people +in the house rushed out to see what was up, and I made myself known by +an English "halloo," and out of the darkness came a voice saying, "All +right." + +"All's well that ends well," I said to myself as I paid my guide for +his night's work. I looked round for the Wallack, but the fellow had +sloped off! + +I was most kindly and hospitably received, and, O ye gods, with what an +appetite I ate the excellent supper quickly prepared for me! + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + Hospitable welcome at Uibanya--Excursion to the Servian side of the + Danube--Ascent of the Stierberg--Bivouac in the woods--Magnificent + views towards the Balkans--Fourteen eagles disturbed--Wallack + dance. + + +A couple of days after my arrival at Uibanya, my friend F---- kindly +arranged a little expedition into Servia, with the object of making the +ascent of the Stierberg, a mountain of respectable elevation, commanding +very fine views. Our guide was the postmaster of Plavishovitza, who +professed a knowledge of the country round about. We drove down to the +Danube, and there crossed the river in a primitive "dug-out," and almost +immediately commenced the ascent of the Stierberg. It became quite dark +by the time we got half-way up the mountain; this we were prepared for, +having made arrangements for camping out the night. We had brought with +us an ample store of provisions, not forgetting our plaids. The heat was +so great when we started that we dispensed with coats, and even +waistcoats, and went on rejoicing in the cool freedom of our +shirt-sleeves. Each wore a broad leather waist-belt, stuck round with +revolvers and bowie-knives. I believe we looked like a couple of the +veriest brigands. Had we only been spotted by a "correspondent," I make +little doubt that we should have been telegraphed as "atrocities" to the +London evening papers. + +The more civilisation closes round one, the more enjoyable is an +occasional "try back" into barbarism. This feeling made the mere fact of +camping out seem delightful. Our first care was to select a suitable +spot; we found a clearing that promised well, and here we made a halt. +We deposited our _batterie de cuisine_, arranged our plaids, and then +proceeded to make a fire with a great lot of dried sticks and logs of +wood. The fire was soon crackling and blazing away in grand style, +throwing out mighty tongues of flame, which lit up the dark recesses of +the forest. + +Now came the supper, which consisted of robber-steak and tea. I always +stuck to my tea as the most refreshing beverage after a long walk or +ride. I like coffee in the morning before starting--good coffee, mind; +but in the evening there is nothing like tea. The robber-steak is +capital, and deserves an "honourable mention" at least: it is composed +of small bits of beef, bacon, and onion strung alternately on a piece of +stick; it is seasoned with pinches of _paprika_ and salt, and then +roasted over the fire, the lower end of the stick being rolled backwards +and forwards between your two palms as you hold it over the hot embers. +It makes a delicious relish with a hunch of bread. + +Our camp-fire and its surroundings formed a romantic scene. We had three +Serbs with us as attendants, and there was F---- and myself, all seated +in a semicircle to windward of the smoke. The boles of the majestic +beech-trees surrounding us rose like stately columns to support the +green canopy above our heads, and in the interstices of the leafy roof +were visible spaces of sky, so deeply blue that the hue was almost lost +in darkness; but out of the depths shone many a bright star in infinite +brilliancy. The scene was picturesque in the highest degree. The +flickering firelight, our Serbians in their quaint dresses moving about +the gnarled roots and antlered branches of the trees, upon which the +light played fitfully, and the mystery of that outer rim of darkness, +all helped to impress the fancy with the charm of novelty. + +After supper was finished, and duly cleared away, we all disposed +ourselves for sleep, taking care to have the guns ready at hand, for we +might be disturbed by a wolf or a bear on his nightly rounds. Our +attendants had previously collected some large logs of wood, large +almost as railway-sleepers, to keep up a good fire through the night. +Wrapping my plaid round me, I laid myself down, confident that I should +sleep better than in the softest feather bed. I gave one more look at +the romantic scene, and then turned on my side to yield to the +drowsiness of honest fatigue. + +But, alas! there was no sleep for me. I had hardly closed my eyes when I +was attacked by a regiment of mosquitoes. I was so tormented by these +brutes that I never slept a wink. I sat up the greater part of the night +battling with them; and what provoked me more was the tranquillity of +F----'s slumbers. I could bear it no longer, so at three A.M. I +woke him up, saying it was time for us to be stirring if we wanted to +get to the top of the mountain to see the sun rise. I believe he thought +I need not have called him so early, and grumbled a little, which was +very unreasonable, for the fellow had been sleeping for hours to my +knowledge. Rousing our Serbs, we set them about making preparations for +breakfast; but when the water was boiled and the tea made, it turned out +to be utterly undrinkable. The water-cask had had sour wine in it, and +the water was spoiled. We consoled ourselves with the hope that we might +get some sheep's milk on the mountain. + +We reached the summit of the Stierberg before five o'clock; it has no +great elevation, but the position commands magnificent views of all the +surrounding country. Advancing to the verge of the precipice overlooking +the Danube, a sheer wall of rock 2000 feet in depth, we signalled our +arrival by discharging our rifles simultaneously. This "set the wild +echoes flying." Each cliff and scaur of the narrow gorge flung back the +ringing sound till the sharp reverberations stirred the whole defile. +Before the fusillade had ceased we beheld a sight I shall never forget. +The sound had disturbed a colony of eagles, who make their nests in +these rocky fissures. They flew out in every direction from the face of +the cliff, and went soaring round and round, evidently in much alarm at +the unwonted noise. We counted fourteen of these magnificent birds. I +wanted to get a shot at one, but they never came near enough. After +circling round for several minutes they flew with one accord to the +opposite woods, and were no more seen. + +The view from the Stierberg is splendid. On every side were stretches of +primeval forest. Bounding the horizon on the north-east we made out the +Transylvanian Alps; to the south lay Servia, and more distant still the +Balkan Mountains. As the sun rose higher, lighting up in a marvellous +way all the details of this fair landscape, we could see far eastward a +strip of the Danube flashing in the sunbeams. + +We turned reluctantly from the grand panorama, but we began to feel the +distressing effects of thirst. We had failed to procure any sheep's +milk, but the postmaster declared that when we got back to our +camping-place we should be able to find some fresh water. Arrived at +this pleasant spot, we rested under the beech-trees, and sent off two of +the Serbs to look for water. After waiting some time one of them brought +us some, but it was from a stagnant pool, alive with animalculæ, quite +unfit to drink. I never remember suffering so much from thirst. The heat +was excessive, but happily before reaching the Danube we found a +delicious spring gushing out from the limestone rock. It was an +indescribable refreshment for thirsty souls. We further regaled +ourselves with a good meal at the village on the Hungarian side of the +Danube, after crossing again in the "dug-out." + +The pope of the village entered into conversation with us, and finding I +was a stranger he ordered a Wallack dance for our amusement. The +costumes of the women were picturesque, but the dance itself was a slow +affair, very unlike the lively _czardas_ of the Magyar peasant. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + A hunting expedition proposed--Drive from Uibanya to + Orsova--Oriental aspect of the market-place--Cserna + Valley--Hercules-Bad, Mehadia--Post-office mistakes--Drive to + Karansebes--Rough customers _en route_--Lawlessness--Fair at + Karansebes--Podolian cattle--Ferocious dogs. + + +During my stay at Uibanya the _Förstmeister_ (head of the forest +department) from Karansebes came over on business, and he told us there +was to be a shooting expedition on the Alps in his district. He further +invited us to take part in it, and I gladly accepted, as it fitted in +very well indeed with my plans. Karansebes is directly on the route to +Transylvania, whither I was bound. The district we were to shoot over is +the rocky border-land between Hungary and Roumania. My friend +F----agreed to accompany me, and on our way we proposed visiting the +celebrated baths of Mehadia. Early one morning we started for Orsova, a +drive of thirty miles, splendid scenery all the way. The latter part of +our journey was by the side of the Danube, on the Szechenyi road again. + +We passed a number of hay-ricks in trees, which I have before described. +Some of them were built up in the form of an inverted cone. The +luxuriance of the foliage is very striking. Nothing can exceed the +beauty of the wild vines so frequent on the banks of the Danube. They +fall in graceful festoons from the trees; sometimes they reach across to +the trees on the other side of the road, forming a complete arch of +greenery. In the autumn the vine leaves turn to a glowing red, like the +Virginian creeper, and then the effect of this mass of rich colouring is +indeed glorious. Meanwhile gay butterflies of rare form fluttered about +among the trailing vines, and bright green lizards darted in and out of +the stone wall. Then an eagle or a vulture would swoop down from the +heights, and settle himself on some pinnacle of rock, where he remained, +motionless as a stuffed bird. + +When we reached Orsova we only stopped long enough to get some dinner +and take the usual siesta. This place is on the frontier; three miles +farther down you pass out of Hungary into Roumanian territory. Had we +stayed any time we should certainly have gone to see Trajan's bridge, +about eighteen miles hence. The so-called "Iron Gates" are just below +Orsova. The designation is a misnomer, for the river ceases to be pent +up between a defile, the hills recede from the shore, and the "Gates" +are merely ledges of rock peculiarly difficult for navigation. Orsova is +celebrated as the place where the regalia of Hungary were concealed by +Kossuth and his friends from 1849 to 1853. The iron chest which held the +palladium of the kingdom, the sacred crown of St Stephen, was buried in +a waste spot, covered with willows, not far from the road. There is a +somewhat Oriental look about Orsova. In the market-place there is a +profusion of bright-coloured stuffs, prayer-carpets, and Turkish +slippers. A narrow island of no great length, just below Orsova, is +still held by the Turks. There is a small mosque with minarets visible +amongst a group of the funeral cypress-tree, so characteristic of the +presence of the Turk. + +Our road to Mehadia was away from the river, following instead the lead +of a lateral valley. As we drove out of Orsova we passed a lot of +Wallack huts forming a kind of suburb. These huts are built of wattles +stuccoed with mud, always having on one side of the dwelling a space +enclosed by stockades some ten feet high; this is a necessary protection +for their animals against the depredations of wolves and bears, which +abound here. + +Leaving this village we continued our way through the Cserna Valley, +which has few signs of cultivation beyond the orchards and vineyards +that climb up the hillsides of the narrow ravine. On our left we passed +a ruined aqueduct of Turkish origin, eleven arches still remaining. As +we proceeded, the valley narrowed considerably, and the scenery became +more wild and striking. Here vegetation is in its richest profusion; the +parasitical plants are surpassingly graceful, wreathing themselves over +rocks and trees. + +Mehadia, or more strictly, Hercules-Bad, is the most fashionable bath in +Hungary. The village of Mehedia must not be confounded with it, for it +lies at a distance of six miles thence. The situation of Hercules-Bad is +extremely romantic. Above the narrow rocky valley rise bare limestone +peaks, girdled with rich forests of every variety of foliage. There are +two kinds of springs, the sulphurous and the saline. The Hercules source +bursts out from a cleft of the rock in such an immense volume that it is +said to yield 5000 cubic feet in an hour. The water has to be cooled +before it is used, the natural heat being as much as 131° Fahrenheit. +Its efficacy is said to be so great that the patient while in the bath +"feels the evil being boiled out of him"! Some of the visitors had not +yet had their turn of cooking, I suppose, or if they had been boiled, +were rather underdone, for I met a good many gouty and rheumatic +patients still in the hobbling condition. + +The country round Mehadia is so wild, both in regard to the scenery and +to the native population, that the contrast of dropping suddenly into a +fashionable watering-place is very curious. This bath is much frequented +for pleasure and health by the luxury-loving Roumanians, who invariably +display the latest extravagance of Parisian fashion. Men in +patent-leather boots devoted to cards and billiards, while in the +immediate neighbourhood of glorious scenery, with bear and chamois +shooting to be had for the asking, seem to me "an unknown species," as +Voltaire said of the English. From what I learned of the ways of the +place it seems that the Magyar and Transylvanian visitors keep quite +aloof from the Roumanian coterie; they have never anything pleasant to +say of one another. At Boseg, a bath in the Eastern Carpathians which I +visited later, the separation is so complete that the Roumanians go at +one period of the season and the Hungarian visitors at another. + +It had always been my intention to stay a few days at the Hercules-Bad, +and I had given the place as an address for English letters. Accordingly +I presented myself at the _poste restante_. Seeing that I was a +Britisher, the postmaster gave me all the letters he possessed with +English postmarks. Many of them were of considerable antiquity. Out of +the goodly pile I selected some half-dozen that bore my name; but I was +greatly surprised to come across one that had made a very bad shot for +its destination. It bore the simple name of some poor Jacktar, with the +address "H.M.S. Hercules." + +The Romans had their _établissement_ here. The present name comes from +the "Thermæ Herculis" of classic times. There are many interesting +remains here--fragments of altars, sculptured capitals, and stones with +inscriptions, all telling the same story--the story of Roman dominion +and greatness. + +Just then we had no time for archæology, for we wanted to push on to +Karansebes, and we stayed only a day and a half at Mehadia. As it was +more than we could comfortably manage to do the whole distance in a day, +we arranged to drive as far as Terregova and sleep there. We left +Mehadia early in the afternoon, F----'s groom riding my horse. The road +was excellent--all the roads are in the districts of the Military +Frontier. As an example of the quick temper of the Wallacks, I will +mention a little incident which happened on the road. We met some of +these people, and one of them, who was looking another way, stumbled +most awkwardly against the groom's horse, and very nearly met with an +accident. Though it was so clearly his own fault, he had hardly +recovered himself when, raising his axe, he was about to strike our +servant on the head. Meanwhile another fellow seized a big stone, which +I believe was going to make a target of the same head. Luckily I turned, +and seeing the scuffle, I was out with my revolver in a moment, pointing +it at the man with the axe. He understood my language, and made a hasty +retreat. F---- said he had no doubt it would have gone badly with the +groom if the distance between us had been greater. + +We were in for adventures in a small way that evening. Just after +sunset, when it was already rather dark in the valley, we found +ourselves suddenly stopped by a man, who leaped out from behind a rock, +seized the horses, and with a powerful grasp brought them down on their +haunches. F---- had the reins, so I jumped down and made straight at the +fellow, revolver in hand. I imagine he did not expect to find us armed, +or he found us literally too many for him, but diving into the bushes, +he was gone even quicker than he came. + +We had hardly got the horses into full trot again, when we noticed two +cartloads of Wallacks driving side by side on in front of us. When we +came up they would not let us pass, and continued this little game for +more than ten minutes, notwithstanding all our expostulations. They were +driving much slower than ourselves, and F---- began to lose patience; so +holding the horses well in hand, he told me to fire off my revolver in +the air. After this they thought proper to draw aside, but even then +leaving us so little room that we risked our necks in passing them in a +very awkward corner. I was told afterwards by the postmaster of +Karansebes that a diligence had fallen over the precipice at this very +place, only a very short time before, owing to the Wallack drivers +purposely obstructing the road. Such are the Wallacks--I beg their +pardon, Roumanians! + +When we got to Terregova, we were glad to find quite a decent inn, the +Wilder Mann, kept by civil people. After supper we had a chat with our +hostess, who being a regular gossip, was very pleased to tell us a lot +of stories about the wild character of the country-people. She was very +sorry that the frontier was no longer under the Austrian military rule, +for, she said, having been accustomed to the strict military system so +long, the Wallacks, now they have more liberty, have become utterly +lawless, and exceedingly troublesome to their German neighbours. She +added that the _gendarmes_, who were supposed to keep order in the +district, were far too few to be of any real use. She complained +bitterly against the Wallacks for firing the forests, and they had +become much worse since '48. "In fact the time will come," she said, +"when wood will be scarce, and then everybody will suffer; but they +don't think, and they don't care, and just lay their hands on anything." + +The Government certainly ought to look to the preservation of the +forests, and above all they ought to make the law respected amongst a +population which is so little advanced in civilisation as to be +indifferent to the first principles of order. The Wallacks want +education, and above all they want a decent priesthood, before they can +make any sound progress. With all their ignorance and lawlessness, it is +curious that they pride themselves on being descendants of the ancient +Romans, ignoring their "Dacian sires." + +The next day we went on to Karansebes--a good road and charming scenery. +This is the highroad into Transylvania, called the Eisenthor Pass; but +it hardly merits the name of pass, inasmuch as it only crosses the spur +of the hills. The distance from Orsova on the Danube to Hatszeg in +Transylvania is 110 miles: the district is known as the "Romanen +Banat," and, as the name imports, is principally inhabited by Wallacks, +otherwise Roumanians. + +We arrived at Karansebes in the afternoon, and by good-luck it chanced +to be fair-day. This is a central market for a considerable extent of +country, so that there is always a great gathering of people. In driving +into the town we passed a long bridge which crosses a low-lying meadow, +the central arch being sufficient to span the stream, at least in +summer. From this elevation we had a capital view of the fair, which was +being held in these meadows, and could look down leisurely on the whole +scene; and a very novel and amusing sight it was. + +There were hundreds of people; and what a variety of races and diversity +of costumes! The Wallack women, in their holiday suits, were the most +picturesque. Many of them were handsome, and they have generally a very +superior air to the men; they are better dressed and more civilised +looking. There were a sprinkling of Magyars in braided coats, or with +white felt cloaks richly embroidered in divers colours. But the +blue-eyed, fair-complexioned German was far more numerous. The Magyar +element is very much in the minority in this particular part of Hungary. +The Jews and the gipsies were there in great numbers--they always are +at fairs--in the quality of horse-dealers and vendors of wooden articles +for the kitchen. The Jew is easily distinguished by his black corkscrew +ringlets, and his brown dressing-gown coat reaching to his heels. This +ancient garment suits him "down to the ground;" in fact his yellow +visage and greasy hat would not easily match with anything more cleanly. +These Jewish frequenters of fairs are, as a rule, of the lowest class, +hailing either from the Marmaros Mountains in North-Eastern Hungary, or +from Galicia. + +The fair is really a very important exhibition of the products and +manufactures of the country, and it is well worth the attention of the +stranger, who may pass on with the motley crowd through streets of +stalls and booths. One _annexe_ is devoted to furniture, from a winged +wardrobe down to a wooden spoon. In another part you see piles of +Servian rugs, coarse carpets, sheepskin _bundas_, hairy caps of a +strange peaked form, broad hats made of reed or rush, and the delightful +white felt garments before mentioned, which are always embroidered with +great taste and skill. Horses, cows, and pigs are also brought here in +great numbers to exchange owners. The long-horned cattle are perhaps the +most striking feature in the whole fair. They are white, with a little +grey on the necks, flanks, and buttocks. Oxen are much used for hauling +purposes as well as for the plough. A pair of oxen, it is considered, +will do the work of four horses. + +Professor Wrightson says: "The Podolian is an aboriginal race, descended +from the wild urox (_Bos primigenius_). The race is remarkable for its +capability of resisting influences of climate, and its contentedness +with poor diet.... The Hungarian oxen are considered by naturalists as +the best living representative of the original progenitors of our +domestic cattle." Of the buffalo the same writer says: "It was +introduced into Hungary by Attila; it is found in the lowlands, on both +sides of the Danube and the Theiss, Lower Hungary, and Transylvania. In +1870 there were upwards of 58,000 in Transylvania, and more than 14,000 +in Hungary."[10] + +Later in my tour, when at Klausenburg, I had an opportunity of seeing an +extensive dairy where upwards of a hundred buffalo cows were kept. The +farm alluded to is admirably managed, and, I am told, yields very +profitable returns. + +It is the opinion of Professor Wrightson that cattle are diminishing in +Hungary owing to the breaking up of pastures and the recurrence of +rinderpest. He says he does not think that the English market can look +to Hungary for a supply of cattle at present. This gentleman did not, I +believe, visit Transylvania, and I am inclined to think the supply from +_that_ part of the kingdom is greatly on the increase; there the +pastures are _not_ in process of being turned into arable land, and the +rise in prices has given an impetus to the profitable employment of +capital in raising stock. + +In walking round the fair, we took notice of the horses. I could have +made a better bargain than I did in Servia. A useful cart-horse could be +bought, I found, for about six or seven pounds. I daresay I could have +picked out a few from the lot fit for riding, but of course they were +rough animals, mere peasant horses. Some of the colts, brought in a +string fresh from the mountains, were wild, untamed-looking creatures; +but hardly as wild as the Wallacks who led them, dressed in sheepskin, +and followed each by his savage wolf-like dog. The dogs are very +formidable in Hungary. It is never safe to take a walk, even in the +environs of a town, without a revolver, on account of these savage +brutes, who, faithful to their masters, are liable to make the most +ferocious attacks on strangers. This special kind of dog is in fact most +useful--to the shepherd on the lonely _puszta_, to the keeper of the +vineyard through the night-watches, when the wild boar threatens his +ravages--and in short he acts the part of rural police generally. + +In Hungary, as elsewhere, there are dogs of kindly nature and gentle +culture. I can record a curious instance of reasoning power in a dog +named "Jockey," who is well known at Buda Pest. He has the habit of +crossing over from Pest to Buda every morning of his life in one or +another of the little steamboats that ply backwards and forwards. He +regularly takes his walk over there, and then returns as before by +steamer. This is his practice in summer; but when winter arrives, and +the ice on the Danube stops the traffic of the steamboats, then Jockey +has recourse to the bridge. I believe there is no doubt of this +anecdote. Another instance of sagacity is attributed to him. His master +lost a lawsuit through the rascality of his attorney; Jockey feels so +strongly on the subject that he snarls and growls whenever a lawyer +enters his master's house. Here, of course, the instinct is stronger +than the powers of discrimination. + +[Footnote 10: 'Report on the Agriculture of the Austro-Hungarian +Empire,' Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, vol. x. Part xi. No. +xx.] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + Post-office at Karansebes--Good headquarters for a + sportsman--Preparations for a week in the mountain--The party + starting for the hunt--Adventures by the way--Fine trees--Game--Hut + in the forest--Beauty of the scenery in the Southern Carpathians. + + +We put up at the Grünen Baum, the principal inn at Karansebes. My first +business was to worry everybody about my guns, which I had telegraphed +should be sent from Buda Pest to this place. I am afraid the postmaster +will never hear the name of an Englishman without associating the idea +of a fussy, irritable, impatient being, such as I was, about my guns. Of +course it was very provoking that they had not arrived. This postmaster +was a pattern official, an honour to his calling; he not only bore with +me, but he offered to lend me a gun if mine did not come. In Germany +there is a saying, "_So grob wie ein postbeamter_." The postmaster of +Karansebes was a glorious exception to the rule. + +On one occasion, while I was waiting in the office for an answer to one +of the many telegrams that I had despatched, a peasant woman came in +with a letter without an address. The postmaster seeing this, and +thinking she could not write, asked her to whom he should address the +letter. She was dreadfully indignant with him for his well-meant offer, +and said, "My son knows all about it--it is no business of yours." + +"But I can't forward it without an address," objected the postmaster. + +"Yes, you must," she rejoined, getting more and more angry--"you must; +that's what you are paid for doing." + +Here some other people came to the rescue, and by dint of all talking at +once for full twenty minutes, they induced her to give her son's +address; but it was a clear case of "convinced against her will," for as +she quitted the office she turned round and said, with a shake of the +head, "It's all very well to put that; but my son will know who it is +from." + +Karansebes is not at all a bad place as headquarters for the sportsman. +In the neighbourhood there is very good snipe-shooting in spring and +autumn. The fishing too is excellent for trout and grayling. The bear, +the wolf, and the chamois are to be met with on the heights, which form +this portion of the great horseshoe of the Carpathians. + +The day before our expedition we were occupied with a few necessary +preparations. When these matters were settled to our satisfaction, we +went off in good time to secure a few hours' sleep, as we were to start +at four A.M. + +F---- and I were up in capital time, eager for the day's work, and +anxious, moreover, not to keep the rest of the party waiting. There was +an Austrian general, however, amongst the number, and therefore we might +safely have slept another hour. The morning was very unpromising, the +rain descended in a dull persistent downpour. We tried to hope it was +the pride of the morning. The prospect was dreary enough to damp the +spirits of some of our party. One man found that urgent private affairs +called him hence; another averred he had an inflammatory sore throat. I +expected a third would say he had married a wife and could not come. +Happily, however, the weather cleared a little as the morning advanced, +and further desertions were arrested. + +At length the whole party got off in sundry _leiterwagen_, a vehicle +which has no counterpart in England, and the literal rendering of a +ladder-waggon hardly conveys the proper notion of the thing itself. This +long cart, it is needless to say, is without springs; but it has the +faculty of accommodating itself to the inequalities of the road in a +marvellous manner. It has, moreover, a snake-like vertebræ, and even +twists itself when necessary. + +My guns never came after all, and I was obliged to borrow. The one lent +me had one barrel smooth-bore, the other rifled. + +We drove for some distance along the Hatszeg highroad, then turned off +to the right. Continuing our course for some time, we came to the pretty +little village of Mörül, where we breakfasted. It was quite the cleanest +and neatest Wallack settlement that I had seen at all. It is celebrated +for the beauty of its women. Several very pretty girls in their +picturesque costume were gathered round the village well, engaged in +filling their classical-shaped pitchers. Every movement of their arms +was grace itself. The action was not from the elbow, but from the +shoulder, whereby one sees the arm extended in the curved line of +beauty, instead of sticking out at a sharp angle, as with us Western +races. + +The weather had improved considerably. Our breakfast, for which we +halted on the further outskirts of the village, was very agreeably +discussed amidst much general good-humour. The peasants regarded us with +frank undisguised curiosity, coming round to watch our proceedings. + +After leaving Mörül we got really into the wilds. A very bad road led +up through a magnificent valley, the scenery most romantic; indeed every +turn brought to view some new aspect, calling forth admiration. On our +right was a fine trout-stream of that delicious brown tint welcome to +the eye of the fisherman. At times the water was seen breaking over a +rocky bed with much foam and fret, and then would find for itself a +tranquil pool beneath the shadow of some mighty beech-tree. + +The foliage of the forest, which closed down upon the valley, was simply +magnificent. The trees in the Southern Carpathians are far finer than +those of the Austrian Alps; they attain a greater average height. The +variety, too, was very striking in many places. The strip of green +pasturage that bordered our road was fringed with weeping birch-trees, +which gave a singular charm to the woodland scene. + +A turn in the direction of the valley brought us within sight of the +high range of mountains forming the frontier between Hungary and +Roumania. Some of the higher summits were ominously covered with dirty +clouds. It was observed that they were lifting, at least some of the +most sanguine thought so. However, judging from my former experiences in +Upper Austria and Styria, I could not say that I thought it was a good +sign, supposing even they were lifting. I think myself there is better +chance of fine weather in high regions when the clouds descend and +disappear in the valleys. + +Coming shortly to the foot of the mountain, the Sarka, which is upwards +of 6000 feet in height, we made a temporary halt. We had now to change +our _leiterwagen_ for horses. All signs of a road had long ceased. On +the green knoll in front were a herd of shaggy mountain horses with +their Wallack drivers--as wild a scene as could well be imagined. Here +we unpacked our various stores of provisions, fortified ourselves with a +good dinner, and made necessary arrangements for the change of +locomotion. There was some trouble in properly distributing the things +for the pack-horses. Care had to be taken to give each horse his proper +weight and no more. It was also very important to see that the packages +were rightly balanced to avoid shifting. + +I had left my own horse at Karansebes, because he was in need of rest; +so F---- and I had to select horses from amongst the promiscuous lot +brought up by the "hunt." We chose out a couple of decent-looking +animals--indeed I rather prided myself on my selection, drew attention +to his good points, and rallied F---- on his less successful choice. + +At length everything was ready. Judging from the amount of baggage, the +commissariat department was all right. The order of march was this: ten +gentlemen, like so many knights on horseback with lances in rest, rode +on in front, in Indian file: our long alpen-stocks really somewhat +resembled lances. Each man had his gun slung behind. In the rear of +these gallant knights came a dozen pack-horses heavily laden, each with +his burden well covered up with sheepskins; behind again followed a lot +of Wallacks--these irregulars were to act as beaters. + +On we went in this order for seven hours. The pace was so slow that I +confess it made me impatient, but our path through the forest was too +narrow and too steep to do more than walk our horses in single file. The +character of the vegetation visibly changed as we ascended. We left the +oak and beech, and came upon a forest of pine-trees, and I thought of +the lines-- + + "This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, + Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight." + +The grey moss which hangs in such abundant festoons from the fir-trees +has a most singular effect, almost weird at times. These ancients of the +forest, with their long grey beards and hoary tresses, look very solemn +indeed in the gloaming. + +What unheeded wealth in these majestic trees, which grow but to decay! +Enormous trunks lay on every side: some had passed into the rottenness +which gives new life; and here fungi of bright and varied hues, grey +lichen, and green moss preserved together the contour of the gigantic +stem, which, prostrate and decayed now, had once held its head high +amongst the lordlings of the forest. + +In the last century these woods were tenanted by wild aurochs and the +ibex, but both are extinct now in Hungary. Red-deer and the roe are +still common enough. "The wild-cat, fox, badger, otter, marten, and +other smaller carnivora are pretty numerous." Mr Danford[11] goes on to +say that "feathered game is certainly not abundant. There are a good +many capercailzie in the quiet pine-woods, pretty high up, but they are +only to be got at during the pairing season. Hazel-grouse too are common +in the lower woods, but are not easily found unless the call-system be +adopted. Black game are scarcely worth mentioning as far as sport is +concerned. Partridges scarce, not preserved, and the hooded crows and +birds of prey making life rather hard for them." Mr Danford further +speaks of the chamois-eagle as "not rare in the higher mountains." The +fisher-eagle "generally distributed." The king-eagle also "not rare." +The carrion-vulture "common throughout the country," also the red-footed +falcon. At one time and another I have myself seen most of these birds +in the Carpathians, which form the frontier between Transylvania and +Roumania. + +Meanwhile I must resume the description of our march, which was a very +slow affair. As we ascended, the trees decreased in size. We had long +ago left the deciduous foliage behind us; but the pines themselves were +smaller, interspersed with what is called "crooked timber," which grows +in grotesque dwarf-like forms. The forest at last diminished into mere +sparse shrubs, and finally we reached the treeless region, called in +German the _Alpen_, where there is rich pasturage for cattle and sheep +during the summer. We were now on tolerably level ground, and I thought +we should get a trot out of our wretched horses, but no, not a step +faster would they go. I believe we went at the rate of about two miles +and a half an hour. We tried everything--I mean F----and I--to get the +animals to stretch out over the turf; but they set to kicking +vigorously, backing and rearing, so that to avoid giving annoyance to +our companions, we were obliged to give in, and let the brutes go their +own pace. + +We had gone but a very little way on the Alpen before we found ourselves +enveloped in a thick mist, added to which the track itself became +uncertain. We went on: if the saying "slow but sure" has any truth in +it, we ought to have been sure enough. My horse reminded me of the reply +of the Somersetshire farmer, who, when he was asked if his horse was +steady, answered, "He be so steady that if he were a bit steadier he +would not go at all." Notwithstanding that we moved like hay-stacks, and +the cavalcade seemed to be treading on one another's heels, yet, +ridiculous to say, we got separated from our baggage. Darkness set in, +and with it a cold drizzling rain--not an animated storm that braces +your nerves, but a quiet soaking rain, the sort of thing that takes the +starch out of one's moral nature. + +All at once I was aroused from my apathy by a shout from the front +calling out to the cavalcade to halt. I must observe a fellow on foot +was leading the way in quality of guide. A pretty sort of a guide he +turned out to be. He had led us quite wrong, and in fact found all of a +sudden that he was on the verge of a precipice! + +There was a good deal of unparliamentary language, expressed in tones +both loud and deep. It was an act of unwisdom, however, to stop there in +a heap on the grassy slope of a precipice, swearing in chorus at the +poor devil of a Wallack. I turned my horse up the incline, resolved to +try back, hoping to regain the lost track. It was next to impossible to +halt, for we had not even got our plaids with us--everything was with +the baggage-horses. Of course "some one had blundered." We all knew +that! The guide stuck to it to the last that "he had not exactly lost +his way." The fellow was incapable of a suggestion, and would have stood +there arguing till doomsday if we had not sent him off with a sharp +injunction to find some shepherds, and that quickly, who could take us +to the rendezvous. Being summer time, there would be many shepherds +about in different places on the Alpen, and the Wallack could hardly +fail to encounter some herdkeeper before long. + +We waited, as agreed, on the same spot nearly an hour, and then we heard +a great shouting to the right of us. This was the guide, who I believe +must have been born utterly without the organ of locality. He had found +some shepherds, he told us subsequently, not long after he had left us, +but then the fool of a fellow could not find his way back to us, to the +spot where we agreed to wait for him. There was a great deal of shouting +before we could bring him to our bearings: the fog muffled the sound, +adding to the perplexity. + +The shepherds now took us in tow. We had to go back some distance, and +then make a sharp descent to the right, which brought us to the +rendezvous, and we effected at last a junction with our lost luggage. +Arriving at the hut, which had been previously built for us, we were +delighted to find a meal already prepared; it was in fact a very +elaborate supper, but I think we were all too exhausted to appreciate +the details. I know I was very glad to wrap my plaid round me and +stretch myself on the floor. + +The next morning we were up with the first streak of dawn. It was with +some curiosity that I looked round at our impromptu dwelling and its +surroundings, upon which we had descended in total obscurity the night +before. The position of our camping-place was not badly chosen; we were +just within the girdle of forest above which rises the grassy Alpen. +About forty yards to the left or north-east of us was a small stream, +the boundary, it seems, between the Banat and Transylvania. We were +provided with two necessaries of life, wood and water, close at hand. + +The hut, however, was more picturesque than practical, as subsequent +events proved. The Wallacks had constructed it by driving two strong +posts into the ground about ten yards apart. A tree was placed across, +with a couple of smaller supports, and on this was made on a rough +framework a sloping roof to the windward side. The roofing consisted +entirely of leaves: it is called in German _laubhütte_, but is in fact +more of a parasol than an umbrella. I should have preferred a hut made +of bark, such as I have seen used by shepherds and sportsmen in Styria. + +The interior of the hut had a droll appearance. Bacon, sausages, +meal-bags, and various other things were hanging from pegs fastened into +the supports of the roof; and the gear belonging to ten sportsmen were +stowed away somehow. The place might have passed for the head-centre of +a band of brigands. + +The mountain on which we were encamped forms part of the western side of +a long valley, at the bottom of which, quite 2000 feet below us, is a +magnificent trout-stream. The sides of this valley are clothed with +dense forests, with broken cliffs obtruding in places. The height of the +Carpathians in this part of the range must not be taken as a gauge of +the scenery, which quite equals in grandeur the higher Alps in many +parts of Switzerland and the Tyrol. Comparisons are dangerous, for the +lovers of Switzerland will silence me with glaciers and eternal snow; +these advantages I must concede, still contending, however, for the +extreme beauty and wildness of the Southern Carpathians. The +characteristics of the scenery are due to the broken forms of the +crystalline rocks, the singular occurrence of sharp limestone ridges, +and the deep forest-clad valleys, traversed by mountain torrents, which +everywhere diversify the scene. + +[Footnote 11: The Ibis, vol. v., 1875. The Birds of Transylvania. By +Messrs. Danford and Brown.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + Chamois and bear hunting--First battue--Luxurious dinner 5000 feet + above the sea-level--Storm in the night--Discomforts--The bear's + supper--The eagle's breakfast--Second and third day's + shooting--Baking a friend as a cure for fever--Striking camp--View + into Roumania. + + +We started for our first battue in capital time, taking with us a crowd +of Wallack beaters. Our places were appointed to us by the director of +the hunt, and some of us had a stiffish climb before reaching the spot +indicated. At a right angle to this valley there protrudes one of those +characteristic limestone ridges; it terminates in an abrupt precipice or +declivity above the stream. My place was some half-way up, a good +position; for while I could see the course of the stream, I could +command a fair range of ground above me. + +It was impossible not to take note of the exquisite beauty of the whole +scene, particularly as it then appeared. The sun breaking through the +clouds, threw his sharply-defined rays of light into the depths of the +misty defile, playing upon the foam of the water, and giving life and +colour to the hanging woods. I hardly took it in at the time, but rather +remembered the details afterwards; for my thoughts were occupied in +trying to judge the distance up to which I might fire with any chance of +success--distances are always very deceptive on the mountains. + +I must observe that we hoped to get a shot at some bears, but the +chamois were the legitimate object of the hunt. The late autumn or early +winter is the best time for bear-hunting. + +I had not been long at my post when I heard two shots in quick +succession fired below me. I found a chamois had been shot. + +For our next battue we turned right-about face, the beaters coming from +the other side; but we had bad luck. One of our party saw a bear at some +distance, fired, and--missed it. The fact of a bear having been sighted +encouraged us in keeping up our battues pretty late, but nothing more +was shot that day. It was very disappointing, because if the bear was +thereabouts our numerous staff of beaters ought to have turned him up +again. Some of the party were altogether sceptical about a bear having +been seen at all. Of course the man who had fired held to the bear as if +it was the first article in his creed. The dissentients remarked that +"believing is seeing," as some one cleverly said of spiritualism. I +don't know whether it was better to think you had missed your bear or +had no bear to miss. + +When we returned to the hut in the evening we found that a couple of men +left in charge had made some great improvements. The Wallacks, who are +sharp ready-handed fellows, to do them justice, had in our absence cut +down some trees, split them with wooden pegs, and constructed out of the +rough timber a long table and a couple of benches. These were placed in +front of our hut; the supper was spread, the table being lighted with +some four lanterns, supplemented by torches of resinous pine-wood. + +The weather had been fair, though sport had been bad, so with a feeling +not "altogether sorrow-like" we sat down to a hearty good meal. One of +the dishes was chamois-liver, which is considered a great delicacy. We +had, indeed, several capital dishes, well dressed and served hot--a most +successful feast at 5000 feet above the sea-level. A vote of thanks was +proposed for the cook, and carried unanimously. The wines were +excellent. We had golden Mediasch, one of the best wines grown in +Transylvania, Roszamáber from Karlsburg and Bakatar. The peculiarity +about the first-named wine is that it produces an agreeable pricking on +the tongue, called in German _tschirpsen_. + +Before turning in we had a smoke, accompanied by tea with rum, the +invariable substitute for milk in Hungary. + +As there were four big fires burning in the clearing outside the hut, +the whole scene was very bright and cheerful. The wood crackled briskly, +the flames lit up the green foliage, and the moving figures of our +attendants gave animation to the picture. Amongst ourselves there were a +few snatches of song, and from up the hill where the Wallacks were +camped came a chorus of not unmusical voices. One after another of our +party dropped off, betaking himself to his natural rest. I was not the +last, and must have slept as soon as I pulled the plaid over my ears, +for I remembered nothing more. + +I daresay I slept two or three hours; it may have been more or less, I +don't know, but the next moment of consciousness, or semi-consciousness, +was an uneasy feeling that a thief was trying to carry off a large tin +bath that belonged to me, in my dream. As he dragged it away it seemed +to me that he bumped it with all his might, making a horrible row. +Meanwhile, oppressed by nightmare, I could not budge an inch nor utter a +cry, though I would have given the world to stop the thief. I daresay +this nonsense of my dream occupied but an instant of time. I woke to the +consciousness of a loud peal of thunder. "We are in for a storm," +thought I, turning drowsily on my other side, not yet much awake to the +probable consequences. + +There was no sleep for me, however. The rest of the party were, one and +all, up and moving about; and the noise of the storm also increased--the +flashes of lightning were blinding, and the crash of the thunder was +almost simultaneous. Through the open side of our hut I could see and +hear the rain descending in torrents; fortunately it did not beat in, +but it was not long before the wet penetrated the roof--that roof of +leaves that I had mentally condemned the day before. After the rain once +came through, the ground was soon soaking. + +It was a dismal scene. I sat up with the others, "the lanterns dimly +burning," and occupied myself for some time contriving gurgoyles at +different angles of my body, but the wet would trickle down my neck. + +We made a small fire inside the hut, essaying thereby to dry some of our +things. My socks were soaking; my boots, I found, had a considerable +storage of water; the only dry thing was my throat, made dry by +swallowing the wood-smoke. A more complete transformation scene could +hardly be imagined than our present woeful guise compared with the +merriment of the supper-table, where all was song and jollity. + +A German, who was sitting on the same log with myself, looking the +picture of misery, had been one of the most jovial songsters of the +evening. + +"Thousand devils!" said he, "you could wring me like a rag. This +abominable hut is a sponge--a mere reservoir of water." + +"Oh, well, it is all part of the fun," said I, turning the water out of +my boots, and proceeding to toast my socks by the fire on the thorns of +a twig. "Suppose we sing a song. What shall it be?--'The meeting of the +waters'?" + +I had intended a mild joke, but the Teuton relapsed into grim silence. + +The storm after a while appeared to be rolling off. The thunder-claps +were not so immediately over our heads, and the flashes of lightning +were less frequent; in fact a perfect lull existed for a short space of +time, marking the passage probably to an oppositely electrified zone of +the thunder-cloud. During this brief lull we were startled by hearing +all at once a frightful yelling from the quarter where the Wallacks were +camping, a little higher up than our hut. + +Amidst the general hullabaloo of dogs barking and men shouting we at +last distinguished the cry of "Ursa, ursa!" which is Wallachian for +bear. Our camp became the scene of the most tremendous excitement; +everybody rushed out, but in the thick darkness it was impossible to +pursue the bear. The more experienced sportsmen were not so eager to +sally out after the bear, as they were anxious to prevent a stampede of +the horses. When the latter were secured as well as circumstances would +permit, a few guns were fired off to warn the bear, and then there was +nothing for it but to watch and wait. The dogs went on barking for more +than an hour, but otherwise the camp relapsed into stillness. I spent +the remainder of the night sitting on a log before the fire, smoking my +pipe with the bowl downwards, for the rain had never ceased, and clouds +of steam rose from our camp-fires. The fear was that the powder would +get wet. I must have dropped off my perch asleep, for I picked myself up +the next morning out of a pool of water. It was already dawn, and +looking eastward I saw a streak of light beneath a dark curtain of +cloud, like the gleam on the edge of a sword, so sharp and defined was +it. This was hopeful; it had ceased raining too, and a brisk wind came +up the valley. + +There was plenty to be done, in drying our clothes and preparing +breakfast under difficulties. In the midst of this bustle a Wallack came +in to tell us that the bear had really got into the camp in the night, +and that he had killed and partly eaten one of the horses. This +confirmed the fact that the bear had been sighted by one of our party +the day before; though we missed him, he had had his supper, and we were +minus a horse. + +I followed the Wallack a few steps up the hill, and there, not far off, +on a knoll to the left, lay the carcass of the horse. It was a strange +sight! Crowds of eagles, vultures, and carrion-crows were already +feasting on the remains. Every moment almost, fresh birds came swooping +down to their savage breakfast. Bears do not always eat flesh; but it +seems when once tasted, they have a liking for it, and cease to be +vegetarians. A simple-minded bear delights in maize, honey, wild apples +and raspberries. + +Our guns required a good deal of cleaning before we were ready to start +for the second day's sport. + +The result of the battues were not satisfactory. A fine buck was shot, +and two or three chamois were bagged. We sighted no less than three +bears, but they all broke through the line, and got off into the lower +valleys. The provoking thing was that the bear or bears came again to +our camp the second night; but they were able to do no mischief this +time. The horses were kept better together, and the dogs scared the +intruders from close quarters I imagine. Fires certainly do not frighten +the bear in districts where they get accustomed to the shepherds' +fires. + +The third day of our shooting the weather was good, but we had no sport +at all. I believe we should have done better with a different set of +beaters, and this opinion was shared by several of our party. The +_Förstmeister_ had made a mistake in choosing men from the villages in +the plain, instead of getting some of the hill shepherds, who know the +mountains thoroughly well, and are not afraid of a bear when they see +one. Some of our beaters were funky, I believe, and gave the bear a wide +berth I feel sure, otherwise we must have had better sport. + +During the evening of the third day F---- got a bad attack of fever, the +intermittent fever common in all the Danubian Provinces. After supper +the rain came on again, not violently, but enough to make everything +very damp. I felt that under the circumstances the hut was a very bad +place for him, so I cast about to see what I could do. As good-luck +would have it, not very far off I discovered a horizontal fissure in the +cliff, a sort of wide slit caused by one rock overhanging another ledge. +It was fortunately sheltered from the wind, and promised to suit my +purpose very well. + +I collected a pile of sticks and firewood, thrust them blazing into the +cavity, and fed the fire till the rocks were fit to crack with the heat. +I remembered having seen cottagers heat their ovens in this way in +Somersetshire. I now raked out the fire and all the mortuary remains of +insects, and then laid down a plaid thrice doubled for softness. Having +done this, I seized upon my friend, weak and prostrate as he was, and +shoved him into his oven like a batch of bread. I had previously given +him a big dose of quinine (without which medicine I never travel in +these parts), and now I set to work rubbing him, for he was really very +bad indeed. In ten minutes or so F----became warm as a toast. The +terrible shivering was stopped, so my plan of baking was succeeding +capitally. It is true he complained a little of one shoulder being +rather overdone, but that was nothing. The vigorous rubbing was of great +service also. I remembered the saying, "Whatever is worth doing at all +is worth doing well," so I rubbed my patient with a will. He objected +rather, but he was too weak to make any resistance, so I rubbed on. I +knew it would do him good in the end; so it did--I cured him. I think, +however, the cure was mainly due to the baking! + +After I had satisfied myself that my friend was going on well, I +arranged our waterproofs in front of the opening like curtains; and then +I turned in myself, for there was room for me too in the oven. The rain +descended pretty heavily in the night, but we slept well; and my patient +presented a most creditable appearance in the morning. + +On the fourth day some of our party bagged a few chamois, but the +incidents of the day were in no way remarkable. At night F---- and I +returned to our cave. The others had dubbed it the "Hôtel d'Angleterre." +Considering the capability we had of warming-up, our quarters were not +half bad. + +The succeeding morning it was settled that we should strike our camp and +move on to a fresh place. The beaters were sent back, for they were not +a bit of good. Some of the party also left, amongst them my German +friend. I do not think he will ever join a bear-hunt again, and his +departure did not surprise us. After leaving our late quarters we rode +for some hours along a singular ridge, so narrow at places as to leave +little more than the width of the sheep-track on the actual summit. This +ridge, more or less precipitous, rises above the zone of forest, and is +covered with short thick grass. We passed, I should think, thirty flocks +of sheep at different times, attended by the wild-looking Wallacks and +their fierce dogs. + +We made a halt in the middle of the day, but the rain was coming down, +and we were glad to be soon off again. + +In the afternoon we got over into the Roumanian side of the frontier. +The lofty limestone ridge of which I have spoken is in fact the +boundary-line at this part. We were at an elevation of about 6000 feet, +judging from the heights above us, when suddenly, or almost suddenly, +the clouds were lifted which hitherto had enveloped us. It was like +drawing up the curtain of a theatre. I never remember to have seen +anything so striking as this sudden revealing of the fair world at our +feet, bathed in glowing sunlight. We beheld the plains of Roumania far +away stretched as a map beneath us; there, though one cannot discern it, +the swift Aluta joins the Danube opposite Nicopolis; and there, within +range of the glass, are the white mosques of Widdin in Bulgaria. We +looked right down into Little Wallachia, where woods, rocks, and streams +are tumbled about pellmell in a picturesque but unsettled sort of way. +The very locality we were traversing is the part where the +salt-smugglers used to carry on their trade, and many a sharp encounter +has been fought here between them and the soldiers. This is now a thing +of the past, since Roumania has also introduced a salt monopoly. + +We were treated to this glorious view for little more than half an hour; +the clouds then enveloped us again, and blotted out that fair world, +with all its brightness, as if it were not. A strong wind blew up from +the north, bringing with it a storm of rain and sleet which chilled us +to the bones. The horses went slower and slower. Including the noonday +halt, we had been ten hours in the saddle, and men and horses had had +pretty well enough. I never recollect a colder ride. + +We encamped that night in the forest. I looked out for another rock +oven, and found one not otherwise unsuitable for shelter; but +unfortunately this time the opening was to the windward side, so it was +useless for our purpose. It was a good thing F---- did not have a return +of his fever here, for we had to pass the night very indifferently. + +The next morning the weather continued so persistently bad in the +mountains that we voted the "hunt" at an end, and made the best of our +way towards Mehadia, from which place we were in fact not so very +distant. The descent was very rapid; at first through a thick forest, +then into the open valley, where the heat became intense. The change of +temperature was very striking. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + Back at Mehadia--Troubles about a carriage--An unexpected night on + the road--Return to Karansebes--On horseback through the Iron Gate + Pass--Varhely, the ancient capital of Dacia--Roman remains--Beauty + of the Hatszeg Valley. + + +After a week of such weather as we had had in the mountains, a +water-tight roof over one's head was in itself a luxury; so we were not +inclined to quarrel with our quarters at the hotel at Mehadia, had they +been even less good than they were. + +F---- and I wished the next day to get back to Karansebes; he had left +his carriage, and I my Servian horse. A Hungarian gentleman, one of the +late expedition, said he would arrange to have a _vorspann_, if we would +join him, as he also wanted to go there. This well-understood plan +insures to the traveller relays of horses, and we were only too glad to +acquiesce in the prospect of making the journey pleasantly and quickly. + +The driver who was to take us the first stage came in and asked for a +florin to get some oats for his horses. Very foolishly I gave him the +money, nothing doubting; and off he went to spend it on _slivovitz_, +the result being that he was soon drunk and incapable. If we had +realised the fact at once it might have been better, but we waited and +waited, not knowing for a long time what had happened. This upset all +our _vorspann_ arrangements, and to our great disgust the best part of +the day was wasted in seeking another vehicle and horses to take us to +Karansebes. At last we succeeded in obtaining a lumbering sort of +covered conveyance, whose speed we doubted from the first; but the +owner, who was to drive us, declared he would get us to our journey's +end in an incredibly short space of time. + +We took care to give no _pourboire_ in advance; but what with the +inevitable dilatoriness of the people down in these parts, it was after +seven o'clock before we left the Hercules-Bad, and we had fifty miles to +drive. + +Not even the ten hours of undisturbed consecutive repose in the downy +bed at the Mehadia hotel had made up the deficiency of sleep during the +foregoing week, and drowsiness overcame us. I think we must have had a +couple of hours of monotonous jog-trot on the fairly level road when I +fell asleep, and I suppose my companions did the same. + +I must have slept long and profoundly, for when I woke, pulling myself +together with some difficulty, having slept in the form of a doubled-up +zigzag, I found it was daylight. I was surprised that we were not +moving; I rubbed my eyes, and looked out at the back of the cart, and +there I saw a round tower on a slight eminence, encircled by a belt of +fir-wood, the very counterpart of a pretty bit of scenery I had noticed +in the twilight. I looked again, and sure enough it was just the tower +itself and no other, and the very same belt of wood. The explanation was +not far to seek. I was the first to wake up in our "fast coach." Every +mortal soul--and there were five of us, besides the four horses--had, it +seems, gone to sleep much about the same time that I did. The magic +sleep of eld must have fallen upon us. The simple fact was, we had +passed the night in the middle of the highroad. Was there ever anything +so ridiculous? + +We were about seven miles from Mehadia; I knew the country perfectly +well. Of course we made a confounded row with the idiot of a driver, who +certainly had been hired--not to go to sleep. I have known these +Wallacks drive for miles in a state of somnolency, the horses generally +keeping in the "safe middle course" of their own accord. As there were +some awkward turns not far ahead of us, it was perhaps just as well that +the horses stopped on this occasion. + +Well, we jogged on all that day, reaching Karansebes between one and two +o'clock. We had been some eighteen hours on the road! + +Here F---- and I parted, my friend returning to Uibanya, while I pursued +my way to Transylvania. + +I slept the night at Karansebes, rising very early; indeed I started +soon after four o'clock. I was again on my little Servian horse, who was +quite fresh after his long rest, and I saw no reason why I should not +reach Hatszeg the same evening, as the distance is not more than +forty-five miles. About two miles from Karansebes I passed a hill +crowned with a picturesque ruin, locally called Ovid's Tower. Tradition +fondly believes that Ovid spent the last years of his banishment, not on +the shores of the stormy Euxine, but in the tranquillity of these lovely +valleys. Certain it is that the name and fame of many of the great +Romans are still known to the Wallacks; and the story is told by Mr +Boner, that they have a catechism which teaches the children to say that +they have Ovid and Virgil for their ancestors, and that they are +descended from demigods! + +On my way I passed the villages of Ohaba, Marga, and Bukova. On arriving +at Varhely, or Gradischtie, as it is called in Wallack language, I found +that it was worth while to stay the night, for the sake of having the +afternoon to examine the Roman remains scattered about the +neighbourhood. + +The Wallack villages I had passed through were very miserable-looking +places: they are generally in the south of Transylvania. The houses are +mostly mere wattled wigwams, without chimneys; a patch of garden, rudely +hurdled in, with the addition of a high stockaded enclosure for cattle. +Some of the women are extremely pretty, and, as I have said before, the +costume can be very picturesque; but they are often seen extremely +dirty, in which case the filthy fringe garment gives them the appearance +of savages. + +Varhely is conspicuous for its dirt even among Wallachian villages, yet +once it was a royal town. It is built on the site of the famous +Sarmisegethusa, the capital of ancient Dacia. In Trajan's second +expedition against Decebalus, King of the Dacians, he came from Orsova +on the Danube by the same route that forms the highroad of this day--the +same I had traversed in my way hither. It is curious to reflect how +nation succeeding nation tread in each other's footsteps, through the +self-same valley, beneath the shadow of the old hills. Here they have +trudged, old Dacian gold-seekers, returning from the daily labours of +washing the auriferous sands of the mountain streams; here, too, have +tramped victorious Roman soldiers--Avars, Tartars, Turks, and other +intruders. A long and motley cavalcade has history marshalled along this +route for two thousand years and more! + +The old Dacians were strong enough we know to exact a yearly tribute +from Domitian: it was for this insult that Trajan marched upon Dacia, +defeating Decebalus at Klausenburg, in the heart of Transylvania, which +was at the time their greatest strong-hold. It was after this that the +Dacian king retreated upon Sarmisegethusa, and there Trajan came down +upon them through the Iron Gate Pass. Unable to defend themselves, the +Dacians set fire to their royal city and fled to the mountains. On these +ruins the Romans, ever ready to appropriate a good site, erected the +city of Ulpia Trajana, connecting it by good roads with the existing +Roman colonies at Karlsburg and Klausenburg. + +Unless the traveller had brought historic facts with him to Gradischtie, +he would hardly be induced to search for tesselated pavements and relics +of royalty amongst the piggeries of this dirty Wallack village. It is a +literal fact that a very fine specimen of Roman pavement exists here in +an unsavoury outhouse, not unknown to pigs and their congeners. + +This Hatszeg Valley, in the county of Hunyad, has long been celebrated +for the richness of its Dacian and Roman antiquities. These treasures +have unfortunately been dispersed about amongst various general +collections of antiquity, instead of being well kept together as +illustrative of local facts and history. The archæologist must seek for +these remains specially in the Ambras collection of the Archæological +Museum at Vienna, the National Museum at Buda Pest, in the Bruckenthal +Museum at Herrmannstadt, also in the Klausenburg Museum. Dr H. Finály, +Professor of Archæology at the University of Klausenburg, is the great +living authority on this interesting subject. To him I am indebted for +some information, conveyed in a letter to a private friend.[12] The +professor alludes to the fact of the treasures being all carried away, +adding that on the spot very little is to be found except the remains of +Roman encampments (_castra stativa_), Roman military roads, together +with the foundations of buildings, the materials of which however are +usually carried away by the peasants. Nor are the records of former +interesting discoveries to be found in one volume, but are dispersed +about in the various publications of learned societies, such as the +'Archælogiæi Közlemények' of the Hungarian Academy, the 'Year-Book of +the Transylvanian Museum,' and 'Verhandlungen und Mittheilungen' of the +Verein fur Siebenbürgische Landeskunde of Herrmannstadt. + +That the materials of the old Roman buildings are now used for baser +purposes, one has abundant proof; even in my hurried inspection I saw +many a sculptured stone and fragment of fluted column doing duty as the +support of a wretched Wallack shanty. Another evidence of the Roman +occupation of the country occurs in the case of certain plants now found +growing wild, which are exotic to the soil. This, I am told, occurs in a +marked manner at Thorda, which was known to be a Roman colony. The +plants, it may be presumed, were brought thither by the Roman +legionaries. The most picturesque bit of Roman antiquity is the Temple +at Demsus, within a short drive of Varhely. It is on a small eminence +overlooking a cluster of Wallack dwellings, and has long been used as a +church by these people. + +The Hatszeg Valley, which comprehends the district I am now describing, +is the pride of Transylvania, not less for its fertility than for its +beauty. It has the appearance of having been filled in former geological +ages by the waters of a widespread lake. + +It was a lovely afternoon, but very hot, when I rode into the little +town of Hatszeg. Everywhere is to be seen evidence of the careful +cultivation of the maize and other crops. Numerous villages dot the +plain and cluster amidst the thickly-wooded hillsides. And now we come +upon the railway system again, which has stretched out its feelers into +the wilds of the Southern Carpathians. The railroad enters Transylvania +by two routes. The main line is from Buda-Pest to Grosswardein, and so +on by Klausenburg--the Magyar capital--to the present terminus of +Kronstadt, one of the chief towns of the Saxon immigrants. This includes +a branch to Maros Vásárhely. It is proposed to carry this line over a +pass in the Carpathians to Bucharest. The second line of railway +entering Transylvania starts from Arad, and terminates at Herrmannstadt, +the Saxon capital, having a branch to the mineral district of Petrosèny. + +It will be seen from the above that this "odd corner of Europe," as +Transylvania has been called, is fairly well off for iron roads; and +considering how short a time some portions of them have been opened, +they have already borne good fruit in developing the resources of the +country. + +[Footnote 12: Martin Diosy, Esq.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + Hungarian hospitality--Wallack laziness--Fishing--"Settled + gipsies"--Anecdote--Old _régime_--Fire--Old Roman bath--The + avifauna of Transylvania--Fly-fishing. + + +I had brought with me from London a letter of introduction to a +Hungarian gentleman residing near Hatszeg, and finding his place was not +far off, I rode over to see him the evening of my arrival. + +I had merely intended to make a call, but Herr von B----, with true +Hungarian hospitality, insisted that I should stay at his house as long +as I remained in the neighbourhood. + +"What! allow a stranger to remain at the inn?--impossible!" he said with +resolute kindness. + +It was in vain that I made any attempt to plead that I felt it was +trespassing too much on his hospitality. His answer was very decided. He +put the key of the stable which held my horse in his pocket, and turning +to one of his people he gave orders that my things should be brought +hither from the Hatszeg inn. + +I was soon quite at home with my new friends, a young married couple, +whose _ménage_, though very simple, was thoroughly refined and +agreeable. As it was my first visit to a Hungarian house, I found many +things to interest me. Several of the dishes at table were novelties, +the variety consisting more in the cooking than in the materials; for +instance, we had maize dressed in a dozen different ways. It was +generally eaten as a sort of pudding at breakfast, at which meal there +was also an unfailing dish of water-melons. Of course we had _paprika +handl_ (chicken with red pepper), and _gulyas_, a sort of improved Irish +stew; and gipsy's meat, also very good, besides excellent soups and many +nameless delicacies in the way of sweets. + +All Hungarian men are great smokers, but as a rule the ladies do not +smoke; there are some exceptions, but it is considered "fast" to do so. + +The peasants in the Hatszeg Valley are all Wallacks, and as lazy a set +as can well be imagined; in fact, judging by their homes, they are in a +lower condition than those of the Banat. So much is laziness the normal +state with these people that I think they must regard hard work as a +sort of recreation. Their wants are so limited that there is no +inducement to work for gain. What have they to work for beyond the +necessary quantity of maize, _slivovitz_, and tobacco? Their women make +nearly all the clothes. Wages of course are high--that is the trouble +throughout the country. If the Wallack could be raised out of the moral +swamp of his present existence he might do something, but he must first +feel the need of what civilisation has to offer him. + +The village of Rea, where I was staying, is about the wildest-looking +place one can well imagine in Europe. The habitations of the peasants +are made of reed and straw; the hay-ricks are mere slovenly heaps, +partially thatched; the fences are made up of odds and ends. As for +order, the whole place might have been strewn with the _débris_ of a +whirlwind and not have looked worse. As a natural consequence of all +this slatternly disorder, fire is no uncommon occurrence; and when a +fire begins, it seldom stops till it has licked the whole place clean--a +condition not attainable by any other process. + +Fishing was a very favourite amusement with us, and Herr von B---- +several times organised some pleasant excursions with that object. One +day we went up the Lepusnik, a magnificent trout-stream. + +We drove across the valley, and then followed a narrow gorge near the +village of Klopotiva. The scenery was enchanting, but our fishing was +only moderately successful; for the trout were very much larger than in +the valley nearer home, and they bothered us sadly by carrying away our +lines. + +Some way up the valley we came upon a little colony of gipsies, who were +settled there. Their dwellings were more primitive than the Wallacks +even. The huts are formed of plaited sticks, with mud plastered into the +interstices; this earth in time becomes overgrown with grass, and as the +erection is only some seven feet high, it has very much the appearance +of an exaggerated mound or anthill, and would never suggest a human +habitation. + +A fire was burning in the open, with a tripod to support the iron +pot--just as we see in England in a gipsy's camp; and the people had a +remarkable resemblance in complexion and feature, only that here they +were far less civilised than with us. + +I entered one of the huts, in which by the way I could scarcely stand +upright, and found there a man employed in making a variety of simple +wooden articles for household use. The gipsies are remarkably clever +with their hands; many of these wooden utensils are fashioned very +dexterously, and even display some taste. The gipsy, moreover, is always +the best blacksmith in all the country round; and as for their music, I +have before spoken of the strange power these people possess of stirring +the hearts of their hearers with their pathetic strains. It has often +seemed to me that this marvellous gift of music is, as it were, a +language brought with them in their exile from another and a higher +state of existence. + +That these poor outcasts are capable of noble self-sacrifice, the story +I am about to relate will testify. Not far from this very gipsy +settlement, in a wild romantic glen, is a steep overhanging rock, which +is known throughout the country as the "Gipsy's Rock," and came to be so +called from the following tragical occurrence. It seems that many years +ago--about the middle of the last century, I believe--there was a famine +in the land, and the poor gipsies, poorer than all the rest, were +reduced to great straits. Some of them came to the neighbouring village +and begged hard for food. The selfish people turned them away, or at +least tried to do so; but one poor fellow would not cease his +importunities, and said that his children were literally starving. +"Then," said one of the villagers in a mocking tone, "I will give your +family a side of bacon if you will jump that rock." + +"You hear his promise?" cried the gipsy, appealing to the idle crowd. He +said not another word, but rushing from their midst, clambered up the +rock, and in another instant took the fatal leap! + +I see no reason to discredit the story, generally believed as it is in +the district; and, happily for the honour of human nature, it has many a +parallel, in another way perhaps, but equal in self-sacrifice and +devotion. + +The gipsies in Hungary are supposed to number at least 150,000. The +Czigany, as they are called, made their appearance early in the +fifteenth century, having fled, it is believed, from the cruelty of the +Mongol rulers. They were allowed by King Sigismund to settle in Hungary, +and were called in law the "new peasants." Before the reforms of 1848 +they were in a state of absolute serfdom, and could not legally take +service away from the place where they were born. The case of the gipsy +was the only instance in Hungary, even in the Hungary of the old +_régime_, of absolute serfdom; for oppressive as were the obligations of +the land-holding peasant to his lord, yet the relation between them was +never that of master and slave. As a matter of fact, if the Hungarian +peasant gave up his _session_--that is to say, the land he occupied in +hereditary use--he was free to go wheresoever he pleased, and was not +forced to serve any master. In practice the serf would not readily +relinquish the means of subsistence for himself and family, and +generally preferred the burden, odious though it was, of the _robot_, or +forced labour. This personal liberty, which the Hungarian peasant in the +worst of times has preserved, is deep-rooted in the growth of the +nation, and accounts for their characteristic love of freedom in the +present day. It was this that made the freedom-loving peasant detest the +military conscription imposed by the Austrians in 1849, an innovation +the more obnoxious because enforced with every species of official +brutality. + +The poor Czigany had not been so fortunate as to preserve even the +Hungarian serf's modicum of liberty. Mr Paget mentions that forty years +ago he saw gipsies exposed for sale in the neighbouring province of +Wallachia. + +There are a great many "settled gipsies" in Transylvania. Of course they +are legally free, but they attach themselves peculiarly to the Magyars, +from a profound respect they have for everything that is aristocratic; +and in Transylvania the name Magyar holds almost as a distinctive term +for class as well as race. The gipsies do not assimilate with the +thrifty Saxon, but prefer to be hangers-on at the castle of the +Hungarian noble: they call themselves by his name, and profess to hold +the same faith, be it Catholic or Protestant. Notwithstanding that, the +gipsy has an incurable habit of pilfering here as elsewhere; yet they +can be trusted as messengers and carriers--indeed I do not know what +people would do without them, for they are as good as a general +"parcels-delivery company" any day; and certainly they are ubiquitous, +for never is a door left unlocked but a gipsy will steal in, to your +cost. + +The gipsy is sometimes accused of having a hand in incendiary fires; but +I believe the general testimony is in his favour, and against the +Wallack, whose love of revenge is the ugliest feature in his character. +These people seem to forget the saying that "curses, like chickens, come +home to roost," for they will set fire to places under circumstances +that not unfrequently involve themselves in ruin. + +We were calmly sitting one day at dinner when we heard a great row all +at once; looking out of the window, we saw dense clouds of smoke and +flame not a hundred yards from the house. We rushed out immediately to +render assistance, but without water or engines of any kind it was +difficult to do much. However, Herr von B---- and myself got on the top +of the outhouse that was in flames, and stripped off the wooden tiles, +removing out of the way everything that was likely to feed the fire. +There stood close by a crowd of Wallacks, utterly panic-stricken it +seemed: they did nothing but scream and howl as if possessed. The +building belonged to one of them, but he only screamed louder than the +rest, and was not a bit of use, though he was repeatedly called on to +help. If the wind had set the other way, it would have been just a +chance if the whole village had not been burned down. In this instance +the fire was caused by mere carelessness. + +The number of excursions to be made in the Hatszeg Valley is endless. On +one occasion I took my horse and rode off alone to inspect mines and +mining works in the mountains. While looking over the ironworks at +Kalan, I was told of the existence of some Roman remains in the +neighbourhood, so taking a boy from the works with me to act as guide, I +set off, walking, to examine the spot. He led me into the middle of a +field, not far off the main road; and here I found the remains of a +Roman bath of a very interesting character. + +It was singularly constructed. I must observe first that there was a +protruding mass of rock rising about fifteen feet above the surrounding +ground, and of considerable circumference. In the middle of this there +was a circular excavation ten feet in diameter and ten feet deep. At the +bottom I discovered a spring of tepid mineral water, which flowed away +through a small section cut perpendicularly out of the wall of the great +bath; judging from other incisions in the stone, a wooden slide may have +been used to bay back the water. On the face of the rock I noticed a +Roman inscription, but too much mutilated for me to make anything of it. +An attempt had been evidently made to utilise this mineral water, for in +the field were some primitive wooden bathing-houses, and not far off +there was actually a little inn, but I fear the public had not +encouraged the revival of the Roman bath. + +In poking about after game or minerals, one frequently comes upon +evidence of the former occupation of the country. Speaking of game, the +partridges are not preserved, and they are scarce; of course I was too +early, but in autumn the woodcock-shooting, I understand, is first-rate. +Quails and snipes are also common in the Hatszeg Valley. + +Herr von Adam Buda, or, as one should say in Hungarian, Buda Adam (for +the Christian name always comes last), has devoted much time to the +avifauna of Transylvania. He has a fine collection of stuffed birds at +his residence at Rea, near Hatszeg. These are birds which he has himself +shot, and he is quite the local authority upon the subject. + +I have alluded to the trout-fishing in the district. I went out +frequently, and had generally very fair sport indeed. Mr Danford, in his +paper in 'The Ibis,'[13] in speaking of fishing, says: "Perhaps the best +stream in the country is the Sebes, which joins the Strell near Hatszeg. +The trout are not bad, one to two lbs. in weight; and the +grayling-fishing is really good--almost any number may be taken in +autumn, when weather and water are in good order. The Sil also, near +Petrosèny, is a fine-looking river, and used to be celebrated for its +so-called 'salmon-trout;' but these had quite disappeared when we saw +it, having been blown up with dynamite, a method of fishing very +commonly practised in the country, but now forbidden by law. Indeed +fly-fishing is gaining ground, and English tackle in great demand." + +This practice of the wholesale destruction of fish by the use of +dynamite has not been stopped a moment too soon; and some time must now +elapse in certain waters before they can become properly stocked again. + +It was now time for me to quit the happy valley, and I bade adieu to my +kind friends near Hatszeg. I believe if I had remained to this day, I +should not have outstayed my welcome. I had come to pay a morning visit, +and I stopped on more than a fortnight. + +The Hungarian has a particularly pleasant way of greeting a stranger +under his own roof. He gives you the idea that he has been expecting +you, though in reality your existence and name were unknown to him till +he read the letter or the visiting-card with which you have just +presented him. + +I now sent my portmanteau, &c., on to Herrmannstadt, packed my +saddle-bags to take with me, and once more rode off into the wilds. My +destination this time was Petrosèny. + +[Footnote 13: Vol. v., The Birds of Transylvania.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + On horseback to Petrosèny--A new town--Valuable + coal-fields--Killing fish with dynamite and poison--Singular manner + of repairing roads--Hungarian patriotism--Story of Hunyadi + Janos--Intrusion of the Moslems into Europe. + + +The history of the town of Petrosèny is as short as that of some of the +western cities of America. It began life in 1868, and is now the +terminus of a branch railway. + +Before the wicked days of dynamite, and as long ago as the year 1834, a +fisherman was leisurely catching salmon-trout up the Sil; he had time to +look about him, and he noticed that in many places the rocks had a black +appearance. He broke off some pieces and carried them home, when he +found that they burned like coal; in fact he had discovered a coal mine! +Those were simple-minded days, for instead of running off with these +valuable cinders under his arm, fixing on an influential chairman and a +board of directors for his new company, this good man did nothing but +talk occasionally of the black rock that he had seen when fishing. Many +years elapsed before any advantage was taken of this valuable discovery. +At length a more careful search was made, and it proved that coal +existed there in abundance! In 1867 mining was commenced on a large +scale by the Kronstäder Company. The next year a town was already +growing up in the neighbourhood of the mines, and increased in a most +surprising manner. In 1870 the railway was opened from Petrosèny to +Piski, on the main line from Arad. The growth of the place, however, +received a check in the financial crisis of 1873. + +The town itself is in no way remarkable, being a mere collection of +dwellings for the accommodation of the miners and the employés; but the +scenery in the neighbourhood is simply magnificent. In approaching +Petrosèny the railway rises one foot in forty, no inconsiderable +gradient. + +The coal-fields are partly in the hands of Government, and partly owned +by the before-named Kronstäder Company. Between these separate interests +there is not much accord. The Kronstäders say that Government has not +behaved fairly or openly, but has secured to itself so many "claims" as +to damage considerably the prospects of the private speculators. + +While at Petrosèny, I heard great complaints against the Government for +selling coal at such a low price that they must actually work at a +loss. The Kronstäder Verein say they are prevented in this way from +making their fair profits, as they are obliged to sell down to the +others. It would appear to be a suicidal policy for the pockets of the +tax-payers to be mulcted for the sake of securing a prospective monopoly +and the ruin of a private enterprise. As it stands it is a pretty +quarrel. + +Writing in 1862, Professor Ansted says: "The coal of Hungary is of +almost all geological ages, and though none is first-rate in point of +quality, a large proportion is excellent fuel. The coals most valued at +the present moment in Hungary are those of the _Secondary_ and _not_ of +the _Palæozoic_ period. But the great body of coal is very much newer; +it is _Tertiary_, and till lately was regarded as of comparatively +modern date. In the Ysil Valley there is a splendid deposit of _true_ +coal."[14] Since the time when the above was written the resources of +the Ysil or Sil Valley--viz., Petrosèny--have been abundantly developed, +as we see, and it has been pronounced to be "one of the finest coal +mines in Europe." One of the seams of coal is ninety feet in thickness; +but up to the present time it has been found impossible to make it into +coke. + +The miners at Petrosèny are great offenders in regard to the abominable +practice of killing fish by means of dynamite. It is very well to say +that the law forbids it; but the administrators of the law are not +always a terror to evil-doers, and perhaps the timely present of a dish +of fine trout does not sharpen the energies of the officials. Another +mode of destroying fish is practised by the Wallacks. There grows in +this locality a poisonous plant, of which they make a decoction and +throw it into the river, thereby killing great numbers of fish at a +time. + +While driving round Petrosèny I had an opportunity of seeing the +Hungarian manner of making roads. The peasants have to work on the roads +a certain number of days in the year, and if they possess a pair of +oxen, these must also be brought for a specified time. An inspector is +supposed to watch over them. One afternoon we came upon a score of +peasants, men and women, who were engaged in mending a bridge. Their +proceedings were just an instance of how "not to do a thing." They were +placing trees across the gap, and the interstices they were filling up +with leafy branches, over which was thrown a quantity of loose earth and +stones well patted down to give the appearance of a substantial and even +surface. Of course the first rain would wash away the earth and leave as +nice a hole as you could wish your enemy to put his foot into. For all +purposes of traffic the bridge was safer with the honest gap yawning in +the traveller's face. + +It is said that the magistrates make matters easy and convenient for the +peasants, if the latter, by being let off public work, attend +gratuitously to the more pressing wants of the individual magistrate. + +"You see, nobody suffers but the Government," says the man of easy +conscience, not seeing that, after all, the good condition of the roads +concerns themselves more than the officials in the capital. + +In many things the Hungarians are like children, and they have not yet +grown out of the idea that it is patriotic to be unruly. The fact is, +the Central Government was so long in the hands of the Vienna Cabinet, +who were obnoxious in the highest degree to the Hungarians, that the +latter cannot get the habit of antagonism out of their minds, though the +reconciliation carried through by Deák in 1867 entirely restored +self-government to Hungary. "What do we want with money?" said a +gentleman of the old school. "Money is only useful for paying taxes, and +if we have not got it for that purpose, never mind!" + +On leaving Petrosèny the route I proposed to myself was to take the +bridle-path over the mountains to Herrmannstadt. But in following this +out, I omitted to visit the Castle of Hunyad--a great mistake, for +castles are rare in this part of Europe, and the romantic and singular +position of Schloss Hunyad renders it quite unique in a way. It is +situated, I am told, on a lofty spur of rock, washed on three sides by +two rivers which unite at its base, a draw-bridge connecting the +building with a fortified eminence high above the stream. + +The place is associated with the name of Hungary's greatest hero, John +Hunyadi, who was born near by, and who subsequently built the castle. +The story of his birth, which took place somewhere about 1400, is +romantic enough. His mother was said to be a beautiful Wallack girl +called Elizabeth Marsinai, who was beloved by King Sigismund. When he +left her he gave her his signet ring, which she was to bring to him in +Buda if she gave birth to a son. + +Showing all proper respect to the wishes of its parents, a child of the +"male persuasion" made its appearance in due course of time; and the +joyful mother, accompanied by her brother, set off walking to Buda, with +the small boy and the ring for credentials. When resting by the way in a +forest the child began playing with the ring, and a jackdaw, who in all +ancient story has a weakness for this sort of ornament, pounced upon the +shining jewel and carried it off to a tree. The brother with commendable +quickness took up his bow and shot the bird; thus the ring was +recovered, and the story duly related to the king, who evolved out of +the incident a prophetic omen of the boy's future greatness. His majesty +had the child brought up at the Court, and bestowed upon him the town of +Hunyad and sixty surrounding villages. + +It was in the reign of Sigismund that the Turks first regularly invaded +Hungary; and the young Hunyadi soon distinguished himself by a series of +victories over the Moslems. To him Europe is indebted for the check he +gave the Turks. He forced them to relinquish Servia and Bosnia, and in +his time both provinces were placed under the vassalage of Hungary. We +may go further and say that had Hunyadi's plans for hurling back the +Moslem invaders been seconded by the other Christian powers, we should +not have the Eastern Question upon our hands in this our day. But, alas! +all the solicitations of this great patriot were met with short-sighted +indifference by the Courts of Europe. It is true that the Diet of +Ratisbon, summoned by the Emperor Frederick, voted 10,000 men-at-arms +and 30,000 infantry to assist in repelling the Turks; and it is true +that the Pope in those days was anti-Turkish, and vowed on the Gospels +to use every effort, even to the shedding of his blood, to recover +Constantinople from the infidels. The old chronicles give a curious +account of the monk Capestrano, who, bearing the cross that the Pope had +blessed, traversed Hungary, Transylvania, and Wallachia, to rouse the +people to the danger that threatened them from the intrusion of the +Moslem into Europe. Special church services were instituted; and at noon +the "Turks' bell" was daily sounded in every parish throughout these +border-lands, when prayers were offered up to arrest the progress of the +common enemy of Christendom. + +Hunyadi's son, Matthias Corvinus, rivalled his father as a champion +against the Turks. He was elected King of Hungary, and after reigning +forty-two years, passed away; and the people still say, "King Matthias +is dead, and justice with him." + +[Footnote 14: A Short Trip in Hungary and Transylvania, p. 242.] + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + Hunting for a guide--School statistics--Old times--Over the + mountains to Herrmannstadt--Night in the open--Nearly setting the + forest on fire--Orlat. + + +I found some difficulty while at Petrosèny in getting a guide to convoy +me over the mountains to Orlat, near Herrmannstadt. My Hungarian friend +proposed that, choosing a saint's day, we should ride over to the +neighbouring village of Pétrilla, where I would certainly find some +peasant able and willing amongst the numbers who crowd into the village +on these occasions. + +Accordingly we went over, and I was very pleased I had gone, for the +rural gathering was a very pretty and characteristic sight. The people +from all the country round were collected together in the churchyard, +dressed of course in their bravery, and a very goodly show they made. +They were the finest Wallacks I had seen anywhere; they were superior +looking in physique, and many of them must really have been well off, if +one may judge a man's wealth by the richness of the wife's dress. + +Some of the young girls were very pretty, and wore their silver-coin +decorations with quite a fashionable coquettish air. The Wallack women, +whether walking or standing, never have the spindle out of their hands: +the attitude is very graceful, added to which the thread must be held +daintily in the fingers. They are very industrious, making nearly all +the articles of clothing for the family. + +After a great deal of palavering--I think we must have spoken to every +able-bodied man in the churchyard--I at last induced a young Wallachian +to say he would accompany me. He spoke a little German, which was a +great advantage. I told him to procure himself a good horse, and to take +care that all his arrangements were completed before night, as I wished +to start very early the following morning. + +To this he replied that it would be quite necessary to start early, and +begged to know if five o'clock would be too soon; adding that as I must +pass through Pétrilla, would I meet him at the corner of the churchyard? + +To this I agreed, repeating that we were to meet not a moment later than +five o'clock. My friend and I returned to Petrosèny, and the afternoon +was occupied in making preparations for two days on the mountains. I +supplied myself with a good amount of _slivovitz_, as a medium of +exchange for milk and cheese with the shepherds, who understand this +kind of barter much better than any money transactions. + +The next day, when it came, brought a continuance of good weather, and I +was up betimes, looking forward with pleasure to the mountain ride. I +reached Pétrilla a few minutes after five o'clock; but my man was not at +the churchyard corner, whereupon I rode all round the churchyard, +thinking he might by mistake have pitched on some odd corner, and be out +of sight under the trees. However, I looked in vain--a man on horseback +is not hidden like a lizard between two stones! Verily he was not there. + +I waited half an hour all to no purpose. I now resolved to try and find +out where he lived. I had understood that he belonged to the village. +After a great deal of trouble and bother, and poking of my nose into +various interiors where the families were still _en déshabillé_, I +unearthed my guide. He coolly said that he was waiting for the horse, +which was to be brought to him by some other lazy fellow not yet up. + +I could not speak Wallachian, and he pretended not to understand a word +of my wrathful tirade in German, which was all nonsense, because I +found later that he spoke that language fairly well. I insisted that he +should come with me to find the horse, and so he did at last, in a +dilatory sort of way, and then it turned out that the animal was waiting +at the other end of the village for his rider. + +Well, thought I, we shall start now; but no, there were two to that +bargain. The Wallack calmly informed me that he must return to his hut, +for he had not breakfasted. Not to lose sight of him, I returned too. He +then with Oriental deliberation set about making a fire, and proceeded +to cook his _polenta_ of maize. I had got hungry again by this time, +though I had breakfasted at Petrosèny before starting, so I partook of +some of his mess, which was exceedingly good, much better than oatmeal +porridge. + +In consequence of all these delays it was after eight o'clock before we +really started. The horse which my guide had procured for himself was a +wretched animal--a tantalising object for vultures and +carrion-crows--instead of being a good strong horse, as I had stipulated +he should be; but there was no help for it now, so on we went. + +My companion soon gave me to understand in good German that he was a +superior sort of fellow. He had been to school at Hatszeg, and knew a +thing or two. I have heard it stated that the Wallacks are so quick +that they make great and rapid progress at first, distancing the German +children; but that they seem to stop after a while, and even fall back +into ignorance and their old slovenly ways of life. + +On referring to the statistics of Messrs Keleti and Beöthy, I see that +only eleven per cent of Roumains (Wallacks) attend the primary schools, +and this percentage had not increased between the years 1867 and 1874. +The percentage of the Magyars attending the primary schools is +forty-nine per cent, while the Slavs, again, are twenty-one. + +"The world is only saved by the breath of the school-children," says the +Talmud. A conviction of this truth makes every inquiry into educational +progress extremely interesting. According to M. Keleti's tables, +fifty-three per cent of the males and sixty-two per cent of the females +in Hungary generally are still illiterates. This excludes from the +calculation children under six years of age. On comparing notes, other +countries do not come out so very much better. It is calculated that 30 +per cent of French conscripts are unable to read; moreover, in _our_ +"returns" of marriages in England in 1845, a percentage of forty-one +signed the register with _marks_. In 1874 the number of illiterates was +reduced to twenty-one per cent. + +I elicited a good many interesting facts from my Wallack guide, several +that were confirmatory of the terrible ignorance existing amongst the +priesthood of the Greek Church. The popes do not commend themselves to +the good opinion of the male part of the community, whatever hold they +may have on the superstition of the women. I cannot see myself how +things are to be mended till the position and education of the +priesthood are improved. It is said that, in the old days before '48, +when the peasants had to render forced labour to the lord of the land, +the Transylvanian nobles would have the village pope up to the castle, +and keep him there for a fortnight in a state of intoxication, thus +preventing his giving out the saints' days at the altar on Sunday. This +was done that their own harvest-work should proceed without the +inconvenience of suspending operations at a critical time on _fête_ +days, the people themselves being too ignorant to consult the calendar! + +The Magyar nobles are improved, and do not play these pranks now; but +very little progress, I imagine, has been made on the side of the +priests. Chatting with my Wallack guide helped to beguile the tedious +nature of the ride, an ascent over roughish ground all the way. Arriving +at the summit, we made a noonday halt. + +A fire was soon burning, whereat our dinner of robber-steak was +roasted; but the halt was shorter than usual, for I was anxious to push +on, remembering how much time had been lost at starting. + +We now gained the other side of the mountain-chain, passing the remains +of an old Turkish camp, the outlines of which were quite visible. From +this point there is a magnificent view, interminable forests to the +eastward clothing the deep ravines that score the hillsides. The +accidents of light and shade were particularly happy on this occasion, +bringing out various details in the picture in a very striking manner. +As a general rule, there is no time so unpropitious for scenic effect as +noonday. + +We passed from the grassy Alpen down into the thick of the forest, +losing very soon any glimpse of the distant view, or any help from +conspicuous landmarks. It was a labyrinth of trees, with tracks crossing +each other in a most perplexing manner. I could not have got on without +a guide. + +When the evening approached I thought it was time to look out for +quarters for the night. Our first necessity was water, but we went on +and on without coming upon a stream. It was provoking, for we had passed +so many springs and rivulets earlier in the day, and now darkness +threatened to wrap us round with the mantle of night before we had +arranged our bivouac. When the sun sets in the East, it is like turning +off the gas; you are left in darkness suddenly, without any intervening +twilight. As a fact one knows this perfectly well; but habit is stronger +than reason, and day after day I went on being perplexed, and often +unready for the "early-closing" system. + +"Water we must have," said I to the Wallack. "Let us strike off from the +direct route and follow the lead of this valley, we shall find water in +the bottom for a certainty." + +We hurried forward, leading our horses through the thick undercover, +always diving deeper into the ravine. At length I discovered a trickling +amongst the stones, and a little farther on we came upon a grassy spot +beneath some enormous pine-trees. It was an ideal place for a bivouac! + +When the horses had been carefully picketed, we proceeded to make a fire +and cook our supper, which consisted of gipsy-meat and tea. + +The meal finished to my perfect satisfaction, (how good everything +tastes under such circumstances!) I then stretched myself on a sloping +bank overspread by a thick covering of dry _needle-wood_, as the Germans +call the leaves of the fir-tree. How soft and clean it felt, and how +sweet the aromatic perfume that pervaded the whole place! Lighting my +pipe, I gave myself up to the perfect enjoyment of repose amidst this +romantic scene. The Wallack, covered by his fur _bunda_, was already +asleep, and save the bubbling of the water in the little stream, and the +crackling of the fire, there was absolutely not a sound or a breath. +Through the tasselled pine branches, festooned with streamers of grey +moss, I could see the stars shining in the blue depths of ether. One can +realise in these regions the intense _depth_ of the heavens when seen at +night; we never get the same effect in our "weeping skies." + +Before wrapping my plaid round me for the night, I threw some fresh wood +on the fire, which, crushing down upon the hot embers, sent up a +scintillating shower of sparks that ran a mad race in and out of the +greenery. I saw that the horses were all right, I put my gun handy, and +then I gave myself up to sleep. + +I do not know how long I had slept, but I was conscious of being +bothered, and could not rouse myself at once. I dreamed that a bear was +sniffing at me, but instead of being the least surprised or frightened, +I said to myself in my dream, as if it was quite a common occurrence, +"That's the bear again, he always comes when I am asleep." The next +moment, however, I was very effectually awakened by a tug that half +lifted me off the ground. I must mention that I had tied my horse's +halter to my waist-belt in case of any alarm in the night, for I sleep +so soundly always that no ordinary noise or movement ever wakes me. I +sprang up of course, calling the Wallack at the same time. Something had +frightened the horses, and they had attempted to bolt. We found them +trembling from head to foot, but we could not discover the cause of +their fright. I fired off my revolver twice; the Wallack in the meantime +had lighted a bundle of resinous fir branches as a torch. He had +carefully arranged it before he slept; it is a capital thing, as it +gives a good light on an emergency. + +After making an examination of the place all round, and finding nothing, +we made up a bright fire, and again laid ourselves down to rest. I had +my saddle for a pillow, and it was not half bad. Before giving myself +over to sleep I listened and listened again, but I heard nothing except +the hooting of the owls answering each other in the distance. The night +had grown very cold, and a heavy dew was falling, but notwithstanding +these discomforts I had another good nap. + +Next morning, after a hearty breakfast, we were off early. Instead of +going uphill again to recover our former route, we followed the stream, +which gradually increased in size, and we came at last to a place where +a dam had been thrown across the valley with the object of floating the +wood cut in the forest. This small lake was very pretty; the water was +as clear as crystal. Farther on we came upon another dam of larger +dimensions; but though it had evidently been quite recently constructed, +there was no one about, and no signs of wood-cutting. Here we began to +ascend again, and about mid-day got to a place called La Durs, a +customhouse for cattle coming from Roumania; it is not absolutely on the +frontier, but very near it. I heard later that this district has a bad +reputation for smugglers and robbers, the latter being on the increase, +it is said; always the same story of unrepressed lawlessness on the +frontier. + +We made no stay at the customhouse, but rode on a couple of miles +farther, where, coming upon a nice spring, we dined. Not a single +shepherd had we met, so there had been no chance of bartering for milk; +it was not surprising, because our track had been almost entirely in the +forests, and of course the shepherds are higher up on the Alpen. At this +last halting-place we nearly set the forest on fire. The grass was very +dry all round, and before I was aware of it, the fire ran along the +ground and caught the trees. It blazed up in an inconceivably short +time. I rushed up directly, to cut off what branches I could with my +bowie-knife; but though calling loudly to the Wallack to assist me, he +never concerned himself in the least. This exasperated me beyond +measure, seeing what mischief was likely to accrue from the +misadventure. Luckily a man came up, riding on one horse and leading +another, and he readily gave me a helping hand, and between us we put +out the fire. The Wallack never raised a finger! + +Getting into conversation with the new-comer, I found that he was going +to Orlat, whereupon I arranged to go on with him. Accordingly I paid my +guide, and was not sorry to have done with him, he had so disgusted me +about the fire, and I was especially glad to get quit of his wretched +horse, which had greatly retarded our progress. I transferred my +saddle-bags to the spare horse, and we got on much faster, reaching +Orlat by sunset. + +Before descending into the plain we had a magnificent view. +Herrmannstadt seemed almost at our feet, though in reality it was still +a long way off; the Fogaraser Mountains stretching away towards +Kronstadt, appeared in all their picturesque irregularity, and along the +plain at their base were scattered the villages of the Saxonland, each +with its fortress-church, a relic of the old time, when the brave +burghers had to hold their own against Turk and Tartar. + +At Orlat I found a small inn, but they had no travellers' room in it; +however some of the family were good enough to turn out, and I was very +glad to turn in, and that rather early. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + Herrmannstadt--Saxon immigrants--Museum--Places of interest in the + neighbourhood--The fortress-churches--Heltau--The Rothen Thurm + Pass--Turkish incursions. + + +The following morning a ride of ten miles brought me to Herrmannstadt. +Here I put up at the Hotel Neurikrer, a comfortable house; it was a new +sensation getting into the land of inns. The fact is, the Saxons are not +indifferent to the existence of inns; it relieves them of the necessity +of hospitality. The Hungarian will take the wheels off his guest's +carriage and hide them to prevent his departure, whereas the Saxon would +be more inclined to speed the parting guest with amiable alacrity. There +is an old-world look about Herrmannstadt that gives one the sensation of +being landed in another age; it is a case of Rip Van Winkle, only +"t'other way round," as the saying is: one has awakened from the sleep +in the hills to walk down into a mediæval town, finding the speech and +fashions of old Germany--Luther's Germany! + +The Saxon immigrants in Hungary number nearly two millions. The greater +proportion of these is found in Transylvania; the rest, some forty +thousand, have a compact colony under the shadow of the Tatra Mountains, +in the north of Hungary, called from time immemorable the "Free +District." But it was to the slopes of the Southern Carpathians, to the +"land beyond the forest," where the first Saxons came and settled. It is +still called "Altland," being the oldest of their possessions in +Hungary. In fact this appellation of the "Oldland" belongs, strictly +speaking, to the Herrmannstadt district. Formerly no Hungarian was +allowed to settle in the town, so jealous were the burghers of their +privileges. I believe the earliest date of the Saxon immigration is +1143. The country had been wasted by the incursions of the Tartars, and +in consequence the Servian Princess Helena, widow of the blind King Bela +of Hungary, invited them hither during the minority of her son, Geysa +II. They appear to have come from Flanders, and from the neighbourhood +of Cologne. They were tempted to this strange land by certain privileges +and special rights secured to them by the rulers of Hungary, and +faithfully preserved through many difficulties; as a fact the Saxons of +Transylvania retained their self-government down to the middle of this +century. + +These people have played no unimportant part in European history; for +Herrmannstadt and Kronstadt, the sister towns of Saxon Transylvania, +were called the bulwarks of Christianity all through the evil days of +Moslem invasion. Herrmannstadt was called by the Turks the "Red Town" on +account of the colour of its brick walls. It was besieged in 1438 with a +force of 70,000 men headed by the Sultan Amurad himself, and great were +the rejoicings amongst the brave burghers when it became known that an +arrow directed from one of the towers had rid them of their foe! Trade +and commerce must have prospered, by all accounts, in those days; and +the burghers made themselves of importance, for King Andrew II., a man +far in advance of his time, summoned them to assist in consultation at +the Imperial Parliament. The wealth of Herrmannstadt is a thing of the +past; the place has now the appearance of a dead level of competence, +where riches and poverty are equally absent. There were no new houses +building to supply an increasing population, nor, I should say, had any +been built for many years. + +The town is prettily situated on a slight elevation above the +surrounding plain; it has the fine range of the Fogaraser Mountains as a +background. The old moat, where Amurad fell pierced by the well-directed +arrow, has been turned into a promenade; parts of the fortifications +remain in a state of picturesque ruin. Herrmannstadt is the seat of the +Protestant Bishop of Transylvania, and there is a fine old church, +which, however, has suffered severely in the process of restoration. + +The interior of the church is in that unhappy condition which bespeaks +the churchwarden's period--whitewash plastered over everything, +obliterating lights and shades and rare carvings beneath a glare of +uncouth cleanliness. In their desire to remove every object that could +harbour dust or obstruct the besom of reform, they have bodily removed +from the church many rich monuments and interesting effigies, and these +are to be seen huddled away in an obscure corner of the churchyard. The +church has a large collection of richly-embroidered vestments belonging +to the pre-Reformation days. + +Herrmannstadt is decidedly rich in collections. The Bruckenthal Library +contains an illuminated missal of great beauty; the execution is +singularly fine, and the designs very artistic. The curious thing is +that the history of this rare volume is unknown; by some it is believed +to have come from Bohemia during the time of the troubles in that +country, however nothing is positively known. The book is of the finest +vellum, containing 630 pages in small quarto. The pictures of +architecture and scenery are extremely interesting; the first represent +buildings familiar to us in old German towns, and the rural scenes +depict a variety of agricultural instruments, together with many details +of home life in the olden time. The colours of the birds and flowers are +as bright as if only finished yesterday. The ingenuity of the design is +very striking; no two objects are alike. It would have taken hours to +have looked over the volume thoroughly. + +In the palace, of which the museum forms a part, there is a gallery of +pictures, collected by the Baron Bruckenthal, formerly governor of +Transylvania. The history of these pictures is very curious, they were +mostly purchased from French refugees at the time of the first +revolution. It appears that both at that period, and at the revocation +of the Edict of Nantes, many French families had sought an asylum in +Hungary and Transylvania. In the Banat I am told there are two or three +villages inhabited entirely by people who came originally from France; +they retain only their Gallic names, having adopted the Magyar tongue +and utterly lost their own. This little colony of the Banat belonged of +course to the Huguenot exodus. I had now an opportunity of examining a +collection of the Roman antiquities obtained from the Hatszeg Valley. + +I remained several days at Herrmannstadt, principally for the sake of +resting my horse, which unfortunately had been rubbed by the saddle-bags +on my ride from Petrosèny. I spent the time agreeably enough, exploring +the neighbourhood and making chance acquaintances. I bought here Bishop +Teusch's 'History of Transylvanian Saxons,' a handy-book in two volumes. +It interested me very much, especially reading it in the country itself +where so many stirring scenes had been enacted. + +Wishing to see some of the neighbouring villages, I set off one fine day +on a walking expedition. I chose Sunday, because on that day one can see +to best advantage the costume of the peasants. Hammersdorf is a pretty +enough village, "fair with orchard lawns," but not so charming as +Heltau, which, standing on high ground, commands an extensive view of +the whole plain, with the old "Red Town" in the foreground of the +picture. The church in this village is a very fine specimen of the +fortified churches, which are a unique feature of the Transylvanian +border-land. The origin of this form of architecture is very obvious; it +was necessary to have a defence against the incursions of the Tartars +and Turks, who for centuries troubled the peace of this fair land. In +every village of the Saxons in the south and east of Transylvania the +church is also a fortified place, fitted to maintain a siege if +necessary. The construction of these buildings varies according to +circumstances: the general character is that the sacred edifice is +surrounded, or forms part of a strong wall with its watch-towers; not +unfrequently a second and even a third wall surround the place. In every +case a considerable space of ground is enclosed around the church, +sufficient to provide accommodation for the villagers; in fact every +family with a house outside had a corresponding hut within the fortified +walls. Here, too, was a granary, and some of the larger places had also +their school-tower attached to the church. It happened not unfrequently +that the villagers were obliged to remain for some weeks in their +sanctuary. + +Heltau is an industrious little place. Here is manufactured the peculiar +white frieze so much worn by the Wallacks. Nearly every house has its +loom, but I was told the trade is less flourishing than formerly. The +woollen-cloth manufacturers of Transylvania have suffered very much from +the introduction of foreign goods; but, on the other hand, if they would +bestir themselves they might enormously increase their exports. Heltau +is a market-place, and reserves many old privileges very jealously. Its +inhabitants were often in dispute with the burghers of Herrmannstadt, +and on one occasion they had the audacity, in rebuilding their +church-tower, to place four turrets upon it. Their neighbours regarded +this with great indignation, for are not four turrets the sign and +symbol of _civic_ authority? The burghers of Herrmannstadt hereupon +obliged the men of Heltau to sign a bond, saying that "they were but +humble villagers," and promising to treat their haughty neighbours with +all due "honour, fear, and friendship." + +From Heltau I went on to Michaelsburg, an extremely curious place. In +the centre of a lovely valley rises a conical rock of gneiss, protruding +to the height of 200 feet or more. This is crowned by the ruins of a +Romanesque church. There are, I believe, only two other specimens of +this kind of architecture in the country. The time of the building of +Michaelsburg is stated to be between 1173 and 1223. Before the use of +artillery this fortified church on the rock must have been really +impregnable. Inside the walls I found a quantity of large round +stones--the shot and shell of those days; these stones were capable of +making considerable havoc amongst a besieging party I should say. The +custom was in the old time that no young man should be allowed to take +unto himself a wife till he had carried one such stone from the bed of +the river where they are found, to the summit of the rock within the +church walls. As these stones weigh between two and three hundredweight, +and the ascent is very steep, it was a test of strength. The villagers +were anxious to prevent the weaklings from marrying lest they should +spoil the hardy race. + +The view from the village itself is very pretty, home-like, and with a +more familiar look about the vegetation than I had seen elsewhere. There +were orchards of cherry-trees, and hedges, as in our west country, +festooned with wild hops and dog-roses. Every girl I met was busily +engaged plaiting straw as she walked. This straw is for hats of a +particular kind for which the place is famed. Besides this industry, the +people are great bee-keepers, and make a good trade by selling the +honey. The produce of the hives in the Southern Carpathians is the very +poetry of honey; it is perfectly delicious, not surpassed by that of +Hymettus or Hybla, so famed in ancient story. This "mountain honey" +sometimes reaches the London market, but, unfortunately, not with any +regularity. It is most difficult to make these people practical in their +trade dealings; and as for _time_, they must have come into the world +before it was talked about. + +I made a short excursion into the Rothen Thurm Pass, the principal road +across the Southern Carpathians, if we except the Tomöscher Pass from +Kronstadt, which, owing to local circumstances, has become more +important. The Rothen Thurm or Red Tower Pass is extremely picturesque. +It is traversed by the Aluta, which though rising in the Szeklerland in +the north-east, finds its way through the Carpathian range, flowing at +length into the Lower Danube. The red tower stands at the narrowest part +of the defile, an important position of defence; and not far from this +spot signal victory was gained by the Christians over the infidels. In +the year 1493 the Turks made one of their frequent raids into +Transylvania. They had succeeded in collecting a vast amount of booty, +including many fair young maidens and tender youths, and were returning +in long cavalcade through the Red Tower Pass. Here, however, they fell +into an ambuscade arranged by the men of Herrmannstadt, headed by their +burgomaster, the brave George Hecht. At a concerted signal the Saxons +rushed upon the despoilers with such a fierce and sudden onslaught, that +though the Turks far exceeded them in number, they were completely +overpowered. Many a turbaned corpse lay that day on the green margin of +the classical Aluta, and few, very few, of the hated Turks, it is said, +escaped over the frontier to tell the tale of their disaster. How many a +home must have been gladdened by the sight of the rescued children after +that happy victory! + +These abductions are not altogether a thing of the past. In the autumn +of 1875, the very date of my tour, a paragraph appeared in a Pest +newspaper stating that a young girl of great beauty in the neighbourhood +of Temesvar, in the Banat of Hungary, had been secretly carried off into +Turkey without the knowledge or consent of her parents. It was further +stated that these scandalous proceedings were of very frequent +occurrence in the border provinces. For some years past the supply of +beautiful Circassians has been deficient, it is said, so doubtless the +harems of Constantinople are supplied with Christian maidens to make up +the numbers. The late Sultan--I mean the one who committed suicide--was +considered a moderate man, and he had eight hundred women in his harem, +at least so a relative of mine was credibly informed at Constantinople. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + Magyar intolerance of the German--Patriotic revival of the Magyar + language--Ride from Herrmannstadt to Kronstadt--The village of + Zeiden--Curious scene in church--Reformation in + Transylvania--Political bitterness between Saxons and Magyars in + 1848. + + +My horse being all right again, I thought it high time to push on to +Kronstadt, which is nearly ninety miles from Herrmannstadt by road. +There is railway communication, but not direct; you have to get on the +main line at the junction of Klein Köpisch--in Hungarian, Kis Kapus--and +hence to Kronstadt, called Brasso by the non-Germans. This confusion of +names is very difficult for a foreigner when consulting the railway +tables. I have often seen the names of stations put up in three +languages. Herrmannstadt is Nagy Szeben. The confusion of tongues in +Hungary is one of the greatest stumbling-blocks to progress; and +unfortunately it is considered patriotic by the Magyar to speak his own +language and ignore that of his neighbour. + +It happened to me once that I entered an inn in a Hungarian town, and +addressing the waiter, I gave my orders in German, whereupon an elderly +gentleman turned sharply upon me, saying--also in German, observe--"It +is the custom to speak Hungarian here." + +"I am not acquainted with the language, sir," I replied. "German is not +to be spoken here--Hungarian or nothing," he retorted. I simply turned +on my heel with a gesture of impatience. It was rather too much for any +old fellow, however venerable and patriotic, to condemn me to silence +and starvation because I could not speak the national lingo, so in the +irritation of the moment I rapped out an English expletive, meant as an +aside. Enough! No sooner did the testy old gentleman hear the familiar +sound, invariably associated with the travelling Britisher in old days, +than he turned to me with the utmost urbanity, saying in French, "Pardon +a thousand times, I thought you were a German from the fluency of your +speech; I had no idea you were an Englishman. Why did you not tell me at +once? What orders shall I give for you? How can I help you?" It ended in +our dining together and becoming the best friends; in fact he invited me +to spend a week with him at his château in the neighbourhood. In the +course of conversation I could not help asking him why, as he spoke +German himself and the people in the inn also understood it--in fact I +am not sure but what it was their mother-tongue--why he would not allow +the language to be spoken? + +"We are Hungarians here," he replied, going off into testiness again, +"and we do not want that cursed German spoken on all sides. I, for one, +will move heaven and earth to get my own language used in my own +country. Ha, ha! the Austrians wanted us to have their officials +everywhere on the railway. We have put a stop to that; now every +man-jack of them must speak Hungarian. It gave an immensity of trouble, +and they did not like it at all, I can tell you." + +I did not attempt to argue with the old gentleman, for his views were +inextricably mixed up with feelings and patriotism. + +As a matter of fact, in the early part of this century the Magyar +language was hardly spoken by the upper classes except in communicating +with their inferiors; but when the patriotic Count Stephen Széchenyi +first roused his fellow-countrymen to nobler impulses and more +enlightened views, he held forth the restoration of the national +language as the first necessity of their position. In his time it meant +breaking down the barrier which separated classes. He was the first in +the Chamber of Magnates who spoke in the tongue understood by the +people; hitherto Latin had been the language of the Chambers. With the +exception of a group of poets--Varósmazty, Petoefy, Kolcsey, and the +brothers Kisfaludy--there were hardly any writers who employed their +native language in literature or science. Count Széchenyi set the +fashion, he wrote his political works in Hungarian, and what was more, +assisted in establishing a national theatre. + +There is perhaps no place where Shakespeare is so often given as at the +Hungarian theatre at Buda-Pest, and it is said by competent judges that +their translation of our great poet is unequalled in any language, +German not excepted. + +To a foreigner the Hungarian tongue appears very difficult, because of +its isolated character and its striking difference from any other +European language. In Cox's 'Travels in Sweden,' published in the last +century, he mentions that Sainovits, a learned Jesuit, a native of +Hungary, who had gone to Lapland to observe the transit of Venus in +1775, remarked that the Hungarian and Lapland idioms were the same; and +he further stated that many words were identical. As a Turanian +language, Hungarian has also an alliance with the Turkish as well as the +Finnish; but there are only six and a half millions of Magyars who speak +the language, and by no possibility can it be adopted by any other +peoples. + +For their men of letters it is an undeniable misfortune to have so +restricted a public; a translated work is never quite the same. The +question of language must also limit the choice of professors in the +higher schools and at the university. But political grievances are mixed +up with the language question, and of those I will not speak now, while +I am still in Saxonland, where they do not love the Magyar or anything +belonging to him. + +Returning to the itinerary of my route, I left Herrmannstadt very early +one morning, getting to Fogaras by four o'clock; it was about +forty-seven miles of good road. This little town is celebrated for the +cultivation of tobacco. There is a large inn here, which looked +promising from the outside, but that was all; it had no _inside_ to +speak of--no food, no stable-boy, nothing. After foraging about I got +something to eat with great difficulty, and feeling much disgusted with +my quarters, I sallied forth to find the clergyman of the place, to whom +I introduced myself. + +I spent the evening at his house, and found him a very jolly old fellow; +he entertained me with a variety of good stories, some of them relating +to the tobacco-smuggling. The peasants are allowed to grow the precious +weed on condition that they sell it all to the State at a fixed rate. +Naturally, if they otherwise disposed of it, they would be able to make +a much larger profit, as it is a monopoly of the State. They have a +peculiar way of mystifying the exciseman as to the number of leaves on a +string, for this is the regulation way of reckoning; besides which, +wholesale smuggling goes on at times, and waggon-loads are got away. +Occasionally there is a fight between the officials and the peasants. + +I had intended getting on to Kronstadt the next day, but I stopped at +the Saxon village of Zeiden. The clergyman, on hearing that there was a +stranger in the place, hastened to the inn, where he found me calmly +discussing my mid-day meal. He would not hear of my going on to +Kronstadt, but kindly invited me to be his guest. I heard a great deal +later of his unvarying hospitality to strangers. + +The next day being Sunday, of course I went to church with my host. The +congregation, including their pastor, wore the costume of the middle +ages; it was a most curious and interesting sight. I am never a good +hand at describing the details of dress, but I know my impression was +that the pastor--wearing a ruff, I think, or something like it--might +just have walked out of a picture, such as one knows so well of the old +Puritans in Cromwell's time. The dress of the peasants, though unlike +the English fashion of any period, had an old-world look. The married +women wore white kerchiefs twisted round the head, sleeveless jackets, +with a mystery of lace adornments. The marriageable girls sat together +in one part of the church, which I thought very funny; they wore +drum-shaped hats poised on the head in a droll sort of way. Some of them +had a kind of white leather pelisse beautifully wrought with embroidery. +Each girl carried a large bouquet of flowers. These blue-eyed German +maidens were many of them very pretty, and all were fresh looking and +exquisitely neat. It was an impressive moment when the whole +congregation joined in singing-- + + _"Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott;"_ + +"the Marseillaise of the Reformation," as Heine calls Luther's hymn, +"that defiant strain that up to our time has preserved its inspiring +power." + +The Reformation spread with wonderful rapidity throughout the length and +breadth of Hungary, more especially in Transylvania. It appears that the +merchants of Herrmannstadt, who were in the habit of attending the great +fair at Leipsic, brought back Luther's writings, which had the effect of +setting fire to men's minds. At one time more than half Hungary had +declared for the new doctrines, but terrible persecutions thinned their +ranks. According to the latest statistics there are 1,109,154 Lutherans +and 2,024,332 Calvinists in Hungary. The Saxons of Transylvania belong +almost exclusively to the Reformed faith; they had always preserved in a +remarkable degree their love for civil and political freedom, hence +their minds were prepared to receive Protestantism. Three monks from +Silesia, converts to Luther's views, came into these parts to preach, +passing from one village to another, and in the towns they "held +catechisings and preachings in the public squares and market-places," +where crowds came from all the country round to hear them. The peasants +went back to their mountain homes with Bibles in their hands; and since +that time the simple folk, through wars and persecutions, have held +steadfast to their faith. + +Herrmannstadt became a second Wittenberg: the new doctrine was not more +powerful in the town where Luther lived. Several bishops joined the +party of the seceders, and already the towns throughout Hungary had +generally declared for the Reformation; in many the "Catholic priests +were left, as shepherds without flocks."[15] When Popish ceremonies +aroused the ridicule of the people, and when even in country districts +the priests who came to demand their tithes were dismissed without their +"fat ducks and geese," there was a general outcry against the new +heresy. The Romish party knew their strength at the Court of Vienna. At +the instigation of the Papal legate Cajetan, Louis II. issued the +terrible edict of 1523, which ran as follows: "All Lutherans, and those +who favour them, as well as all adherents to their sect, shall have +their property confiscated and themselves be punished with death as +heretics and foes of the most holy Virgin Mary." + +While the monks were stirring up their partisans to have the Lutherans +put to death, a national misfortune happened which saved Protestantism, +at least in Transylvania. Soliman the Magnificent set out from +Constantinople in the spring of 1526 with a mighty host, which came +nearer and nearer to Hungary like the "wasting levin." King Louis lost +his army and his life at the battle of Mohacks, leaving the Turks to +pursue their way into the heart of the country, slaughtering upwards of +200,000 of its inhabitants. To this calamity, as we all know, succeeded +an internal civil war, resulting from the rival claims of John Zapolya +and the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria for the crown of Hungary. +Transylvania took advantage of this critical time to achieve her +independence under Zapolya, consenting to pay tribute to the Porte on +condition of _receiving assistance against the tyranny of Austria_. Thus +it came about that the infidel Turks helped to preserve the Reformation +in this part of Europe: they became the defenders of Protestant +Transylvania against the tyranny of Roman Catholic Austria. "Sell what +thou hast and depart into Transylvania, where thou wilt have liberty to +profess the truth," were the words spoken by King Ferdinand himself to +Stephen Szantai, a zealous preacher of the gospel in Upper Hungary, whom +he desired to defend. + +It is said that the first printing-press set up in Hungary was the gift +of Count Nadasdy to Matthias Devay, who was devoted to the education of +youth; and the first work that was issued from the press was a book for +children, teaching the rudiments of the gospel in the language of the +country. The same Protestant nobleman aided the publication in 1541 of +an edition of the New Testament in the Magyar tongue. "It is a +remarkable fact," says Mr Patterson,[16] "connected with the history of +Protestantism, that all its converts were made within the pale of +_Latin_ Christianity. In the nationalities of Hungary there belonged to +Latin Christianity the Magyars, the Slovacks, and the Germans." + +In Transylvania the progress of Protestantism was secured. In 1553 the +Diet declared in favour of the Reformation by a majority of votes, and +while the province was governed by Petrovich, during the minority of +Zapolya's infant son, he freed the whole of Transylvania from the +jurisdiction of the Roman hierarchy. + +When the Turks were finally expelled from Hungary by the second battle +of Mohacks in 1686, Protestantism had grown strong enough in +Transylvania to extract from the house of Hapsburg the celebrated +_Diploma Leopoldium_ (their Magna Charta), which secured to them +religious liberty once and for ever. + +[Footnote 15: See The History of Protestantism, by Rev. J.A. Wylie, Part +29.] + +[Footnote 16: The Magyars; their Country and Institutions.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + Political difficulties--Impatient criticism of foreigners--Hungary + has everything to do--Tenant-farmers wanted--Wages. + + +It is remarkable that the Saxons in Transylvania, who had suffered so +much tribulation from the religious persecutions of the house of +Hapsburg, preferring even to shelter themselves under the protection of +the Turk, should be the first to support the tyranny of Austria against +the Magyars in 1848. + +I visited at the house of a village pastor, who told me he had himself +led four hundred Saxons against the Hungarians at that time. The +remembrance of that era is not yet effaced; so many people not much +beyond middle age had taken part in the war that the bitterness has not +passed out of the personal stage. Pacification and reconciliation, and +all the Christian virtues, have been evoked; but underlying the calm +surface, all the old hatreds of race still exist. Nothing assimilates +socially or politically in Hungary. The troubled history of the past +reappears in the political difficulty of the present. And what can be +done when the Magyar will not hold with the Saxon, and the Saxon cannot +away with the Szekler? Are not the ever-increasing Wallacks getting +numerically ahead of the rest, while the Southern Slavs threaten the +integrity of the empire? + +Prosperity is the best solvent for disaffection. When the resources of +Hungary are properly developed, and wealth results to the many, bringing +education and general enlightenment in its train, there will be a common +ground of interest, even amongst those who differ in race, religion, and +language. It was a saying of the patriotic Count Széchenyi, and the +saying has passed into a proverb, "Make money, and enrich the country; +an empty sack will topple over, but if you fill it, it will stand by its +own weight." + +"You call yourselves 'the English of the East,'" I said one day to a +Hungarian friend of mine; "but how is it you are not more practical, +since you pay us the compliment of following our lead in many things?" + +"You do not see that in many respects we are children, the Hungarians +are children," replied my friend. "'We are not, but we shall be,' said +one of our patriots. You Britishers are rash in your impatient +criticism of a state which has not come to its full growth. It is hardly +thirty years since we emerged from the middle ages, so to speak; and you +expect our civilisation to have the well-worn polish of Western States. +Think how recently we have emancipated our serfs, and reformed our +constitution and our laws. Take into account, too, that just as we were +setting our house in order, the enemy was at the gate--progress was +arrested, and our national life paralysed; but let that pass, we don't +want to look back, we want to look forward. We have still to build up +the structure that with you is finished; we are deficient in everything +that a state wants in these days, and in our haste to make railways, +roads, and bridges, to erect public buildings, and to promote industrial +enterprises, we make certain financial blunders. You must not forget +that we in Hungary are much in the same state that you were in England +in the thirteenth century, before tenant-holdings had become general. We +shall gradually learn to see the advantages to be derived from letting +land on your farm system. There is nothing we desire so much as the +creation of the tenant-farmer class, which hardly exists yet. Large +estates would be far better divided and let as farms on your system. We +are in a transition state as regards many things in agricultural +matters. English or Scotch farmers would be welcomed over here by the +great landowners. Your countryman, Professor Wrightson, convinced +himself of this when he was here in 1873. If they could command some +capital, the produce of the land in many instances could be doubled." + +I asked my friend about labourers' wages, but he said it was difficult +to give any fixed rate. A mere agricultural day-labourer would get from +1s. 3d. to 1s. 6d.; sometimes the evil practice of paying wages in kind +obtained--viz., a man receives so much Indian corn (_kukoricz_). And not +unfrequently a peasant undertakes to plough the fields twice, to hoe +them three times, and to see the crop housed, for which he receives the +half of the yield provided he has furnished the seed. The peasants' own +lands, as a rule, are very badly managed; their ploughing is shallow, +and they do nothing or next to nothing in the way of drainage. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + Want of progress amongst the Saxons--The + Burzenland--Kronstadt--Mixed character of its + inhabitants--Szeklers--General Bem's campaign. + +It was a glorious morning when I left the comfortable village of Zeiden. +Before me were the rich pastures of the Burzenland, a tract which +tradition says was once filled up by the waters of a great lake, till +some Saxon hero hewed a passage through the mountains in the Geisterwald +for the river Aluta, thus draining this fertile region. + +The mountainous wall to the rear of Zeiden is clothed by magnificent +hanging woods, which at the time I describe were just tinged with the +first rich touches of autumn. It was a lovely ride through this fertile +vale. On every side I saw myself surrounded by the lofty Carpathians, or +the lesser spurs of that grand range of mountains; the higher peaks to +the south and south-east were already capped with snow. The village in +which I had so agreeably sojourned for a couple of days almost rises to +the dignity of a little town, for it has nearly 4000 inhabitants. +Considering its situation, on the verge of this rich plain, and many +other local circumstances, it is, I suppose, a very favourable example +of a German settlement in Transylvania. I had been struck by the extreme +neatness of the dwellings and the generally well-to-do air of the +people, but there is nothing progressive about these Saxons. I saw +plainly that what their fathers did before them they do themselves, and +expect their sons to follow in the same groove. There is amongst them +generally a dead level of content incomprehensible to a restless +Englishman. + +When I asked why they did not try to turn this or that natural advantage +to account, I was met with the reply, "Our fathers have done very well +without it, why should not we?" I could never discover any inclination +amongst the Saxons to initiate any fresh commercial enterprise either at +home or abroad, nor would they respond with any interest to the most +tempting suggestions as to ways and means of increasing their +possessions. It is all very well to draw the moral picture of a +contented people. Contentment under some circumstances is the first +stage of rottenness. The inevitable law of change works the +deterioration of a race which does not progress. This fact admits of +practical proof here. For instance, the cloth manufactures of +Transylvania are falling into decay, and there is nothing else of an +industrial kind substituted. The result is a decrease of the general +prosperity, and a marked diminution in the population of the towns. Nor +is this the case in populous places only. The Saxon villager desires to +transmit the small estate he derived from his father intact to his +_only_ son. He does not desire a large family; it would tax his energies +too much to provide for that. It is deeply to be lamented that a +superior race like the educated Saxons of Transylvania, who held their +own so bravely against Turk and Tartar, and, what was more difficult +still, preserved their religious liberty in spite of Austrian Jesuits, +should _now_ be losing their political ascendancy, owing mainly to their +displacement by the Wallacks. According to the last census, the German +immigrants in Hungary are estimated at 1,820,922. I have no means of +making an accurate comparison, but I hear on all hands that the numbers +are diminished. There are, besides, proofs of it in the case of villages +which were exclusively Saxon having now become partly, even wholly, +Wallachian. + +There are wonderfully few châteaux in this picturesque land. In my +frequent rides over the Burzenland I rarely saw any dwellings above what +we should attribute to a yeoman farmer. As a matter of fact there are +fewer aristocrats in this part of Hungary, or perhaps I should say this +part of Transylvania, than in any other. + +After my pleasant morning's ride I found myself at Kronstadt, and put up +at Hotel "No. 1"--an odd name for a fairly good inn. There is another +farther in town--the Hotel Bucharest--also a place of some pretension. +The charges for rooms generally in the country are out of all proportion +to the accommodation given. Travellers are rare, at least they used to +be before the present war; but Kronstadt is the terminus of the direct +railway from Buda-Pest, which, communicating with the Tomöscher Pass +over the Carpathians, is the shortest route to Bucharest. + +As far as the buildings are concerned, Kronstadt has much the air of an +old-fashioned German town. As you pass along the streets you get a peep +now and then of picturesque interior courtyards, seen through the +wide-arched doorways. These courts are mostly surrounded by an open +arcade. Generally in the centre of each is set a large green tub holding +an oleander-tree. This gives rather an Oriental appearance to these +interiors. The East and West are here mixed up together most curiously. +Amongst the fair-haired, blue-eyed Saxons are dusky Armenians and +black-ringleted Jews, wearing strange garments. By the way, the +merchants of these two races have ousted the Saxon trader from the +field; commerce is almost completely in their hands. + +The market-day at Kronstadt is a most curious and interesting sight. The +country-people come in, sitting in their long waggons, drawn by four +horses abreast, they themselves dressed in cloaks of snow-white +sheepskins, or richly-embroidered white leather coats lined with black +fur. The head-gear too is very comely, and very dissimilar; for there +are flat fur caps--like an exaggerated Glengarry--and peaked hats, and +drum-shaped hats for the girls, while the close-twisted white kerchief +denotes the matron. The Wallack maiden is adorned by her dowry of coins +hanging over head and shoulders, and with braids of plaited black +hair--mingled, I am afraid, with tow, if the truth must be spoken. + +Kronstadt is rather a considerable place; the population is stated to be +27,766, composed of Saxons, Szeklers, and Wallacks, who have each their +separate quarter. It is most beautifully situated, quite amongst the +mountains; in fact it is 2000 feet above the sea-level. The Saxon part +of the town is built in the opening of a richly-wooded valley. The +approach from the vale beyond--the Burzenland, of which I have spoken +before--is guarded by a singular isolated rock, a spur of the +mountain-chain. This natural defence is crowned by a fortress, which +forms a very picturesque feature in the landscape. Formerly the town was +completely surrounded by walls, curtained on the hillside, reminding one +of Lucern's "coronal of towers." In the "brave days of old" the +trade-guilds were severally allotted their forts for the defence of the +town--no holiday task for volunteers, as in our "right little, tight +little island." + +Though the dangers of the frontier are by no means a thing of the past, +the town walls and the towers are mainly in ruins, overgrown with wild +vines and other luxuriant vegetation. As no guidebook exists to tell one +what one ought to see, and where one ought to go, I had all the pleasure +of poking about and coming upon surprises. I was not aware that the +church at Kronstadt is about the finest specimen of fourteenth-century +Gothic in Transylvania, ranking second only to the Cathedral of Kashau +in Upper Hungary. + +My first walk was to the Kapellenburg, a hill which rises abruptly from +the very walls of the town. An hour's climb through a shady zigzag +brought me to the summit. From thence I could see the "seven villages" +which, according to some persons, gave the German name to the province, +Siebenbürgen, "seven towns." The level Burzenland looked almost like a +green lake; beyond it the chain of the Carpathian takes a bend, forming +the frontier of Roumania. The highest point seen from thence is the +Schülerberg, upwards of 8000 feet, and a little farther off the +Königstein, and the Butschrtsch, the latter reaching 9526 feet. Hardly +less picturesque is the view from the Castle Hill. Quite separated from +the rest of the town is the quarter inhabited by the Szeklers. This +people constitute one of four principal races inhabiting Transylvania. +They are of Turanian origin, like the Magyars, but apparently an older +branch of the family. When the Magyars overran Pannonia in the tenth +century, under the headship of the great Arpad, they appear to have +found the Szeklers already in possession of part of the vast Carpathian +horseshoe--that part known to us as the Transylvanian frontier of +Moldavia. They claim to have come hither as early as the fourth century. +It is known that an earlier wave of the Turanians had swept over Europe +before the incoming of the Magyars, and the so-called Szeklers were +probably a tribe or remnant of this invasion, the date of which, +however, is wrapped in no little obscurity. + +This is certain, that they have preserved their independence throughout +all these ages in a very remarkable manner. "They are all 'noble,'" says +Mr Boner, "and proudly and steadfastly adhere to and uphold their old +rights and privileges, such as right of limiting and of pasture. They +had their own judges, and acknowledged the authority of none beside. +Like their ancestors the Huns, they loved fighting, and were the best +soldiers that Bem had in his army. They guarded the frontier, and +guarded it well, of their own free-will; but they would not be compelled +to do so, and the very circumstance that Austria, when the border system +was established, obliged them to furnish a contingent of one infantry +and two hussar regiments sufficed to alienate their regard."[17] In +another place Mr Boner says, "The Szekler soldier, I was told, was +'excessive,' which means extreme, in all he did." + +In the view of recent events, it may be worth while to recall to mind a +few particulars of General Bem's campaign in Transylvania. In no part of +Hungary was the war of independence waged with so much bitterness as +down here on these border-lands. The Saxons and the Wallacks were +bitterly opposed to the Magyars; and on the 12th of May, in the eventful +'48, a popular meeting was held at Kronstadt, where they protested +vehemently against union with Hungary, and swore allegiance to the +Emperor of Austria. Upon this the Szeklers flew to arms--on the side of +the Magyars, of course; throughout their history they have always made +common cause with them. In the autumn of the same year, Joseph Bem, a +native of Galicia, who had fought under Marshal Davoust, later with +Macdonald at the siege of Hamburg, and had also taken part in the +Polish insurrection of 1830, attached himself to the Hungarian cause. He +had formed a body of troops from the wrecks and remnants of other corps, +and soon by his admirable tactics succeeded on two occasions in beating +the Austrians at the very outset of his campaign; the latter of these +victories was near Dées, to the north of Klausenburg, where he defeated +General Wardener. The winter of that terrible year wore on. In +Transylvania it was not merely keeping back the common enemy, the +invader of the soil, but it was a case where the foes were of the same +township, and the nearest neighbours confronted each other on opposite +ranks. + +The Austrians meanwhile had called in the Russians to aid them in +crushing the Hungarians; and at the time it was believed that the Saxons +of Transylvania had instigated this measure. It is easy to understand +how the Russians would be hated along with their allies; it was a +desperate struggle, and well fought out by Magyars and Szeklers, ably +handled by General Bem. Herrmannstadt and Kronstadt both fell into his +hands, after a vigorous defence by the Austro-Russian garrisons; in +fact, by the middle of March '49, the whole of Transylvania, with the +exception of Karlsburg and Dèva, was held by the troops of this +fortunate general. But, as we all know, the Hungarian arms were not so +successful elsewhere, and the end of that struggle was approaching, +which was to find its saddest hour at Villagos on the 13th of August, +when the Hungarians were cajoled into laying down their arms before the +Russians! + +The rest of the miserable story had better not be dwelt upon. Much has +changed in these few years. Now a Hapsburg recognises the privilege of +mercy amongst his kingly attributes. The last words of Maximilian, the +ill-fated Emperor of Mexico, were, "Let my blood be the last shed as an +offering for my country." Since then capital punishment has become of +rare occurrence in Austria; and remembering his brother's death, the +Emperor, it is said, can hardly be induced to sign a death-warrant! + +[Footnote 17: Boner's Transylvania, p. 624.] + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + The Tomöscher Pass--Projected railway from Kronstadt to + Bucharest--Visit to the cavalry barracks at Rosenau--Terzburg + Pass--Dr Daubeny on the extinct volcanoes of Hungary--Professor + Judd on mineral deposits. + + +Kronstadt is a capital place as headquarters for any one who desires to +explore the neighbouring country. One of my first expeditions was to +Sinia, a small bath-place in the Tomöscher Pass, just over the +borders--in fact in Roumania. Here Prince Charles has a charming +château, and there are besides several ambitious Swiss cottages +belonging to the wealthy grandees of Roumania. My object was not so much +to see the little place, as it was to explore this pass of the +Carpathians, now so familiar to newspaper correspondents and others +since the Russo-Turkish war began. + +As I mentioned before, a railway is projected from Kronstadt through +this pass, which will meet the Lemberg and Bucharest line at Ployesti, +that station being less than two hours from the Roumanian capital. Up to +the present hour not a sod of this railway has been turned; but +curiously enough, with only two or three exceptions, all the "war maps" +have made the capital mistake of marking it down as a _completed_ line. +In the autumn of 1875, when I was there, the levels had been taken and +the course marked down; if it is ever really carried out, it will be one +of the most beautiful railway drives in Europe. It is a most important +link in the railway system of Eastern Europe. The Danube route is +frequently, indeed periodically, closed by the winter's ice, and +sometimes by the drought of summer, in which case the traveller who +wants to get to Roumania must take the train from Buda-Pest to +Kronstadt, and thence by road through the Tomöscher Pass to Ployesti. + +There is a diligence service twice daily, occupying fourteen hours or +thereabouts, dependent, of course, on the state of the roads, which can +be very bad--inconceivably bad. For the sake of the excursion I took a +place in the _postwagen_ one day as far as Sinia, where there is a +modern hotel and very tolerable quarters. The scenery of the pass is +very romantic. In places the road winds round the face of the precipice, +and far below is a deep sunless glen, through which the mountain torrent +rushes noisily over its rocky bed; at other times you skirt the stream +with its green margin of meadow--a pastoral oasis amidst the wild +grandeur of bare limestone peaks and snowy summits. The autumnal +colouring on the hanging woods of oak and beech was something more +brilliant than I ever remember to have seen; the effect of being oneself +in shadow and seeing the glory of the sunlight on the foliage of the +other side of the defile, was most striking. Above this ruby mountain +rose other heights with a girdle of dark fir, and higher still were +visible yet loftier peaks, clothed in the dazzling whiteness of +fresh-fallen snow. In the Southern Carpathians there is no region of +perpetual snow, but the higher summits are generally snow-clad late in +the spring and very early in the autumn. I was told there is good +bear-hunting in this district. + +While at Kronstadt I made the acquaintance of some Austrian officers +quartered in the neighbourhood. They kindly invited me to the cavalry +barracks at Rosenau, and accordingly I went over for a few days. The +barracks were built by the people of the village, or rather small town, +of Rosenau; for they were obliged by law to quarter the military, and to +avoid the inconvenience of having soldiers billeted upon them they +constructed a suitable building. The cavalry horses were nearly all in a +bad plight when I was there, for they had an epidemic of influenza +amongst them; but we found a couple of nags to scramble about with, and +made some pleasant excursions. One of our rides was to a place called +"The Desolate Path," a singularly wild bit of scenery, and curiously in +contrast to the rich fertility of Rosenau and its immediate +neighbourhood. This pretty little market town lies at the foot of a +hill, which is crowned with a romantic ruin, one of the seven burgher +fortresses built by the Saxon immigrants. There is a remarkably pretty +walk from the village to the "Odenweg," a romantic ravine, with +beautiful hanging woods and castellated rocks disposed about in every +sort of fantastic form. It reminded me somewhat of some parts of the +Odenwald near Heidelberg. Very likely the wild and mysterious character +of the spot led the German settlers to associate with it the name of +Oden. + +We also rode over the Terzburg Pass. The picturesque castle which gives +its name to this pass is situated on an isolated rock, admirably +calculated for defence in the old days. It belonged once upon a time to +the Teutonic Knights, who held it on condition of defending the +frontier; but they became so intolerable to the burghers of Kronstadt, +that these informed their sovereign that they preferred being their own +defenders, and thus the castle and nine villages were given over to the +town. The Germans who had left their own Rhine country for the sake of +getting away from the robber knights were not anxious for that special +mediæval institution to accompany them in their flitting, we may be +sure. The democratic character of the laws and customs of the Germans of +Transylvania is a very curious and interesting study; in not a few +instances these people have anticipated by some centuries the liberal +ideas of Western Europe in our own day. + +After returning from the visit to my military friends at Rosenau, I was +told I must not omit to make some excursions to the celebrated mineral +watering-places of Transylvania. The chief baths in this locality are +Elopatak and Tusnad. The first named is four hours' drive from +Kronstadt. The waters contain a great deal of protoxide of iron, +stronger even than those of Schwalbach, which they resemble. Tusnad, I +was told, is pleasantly situated on the river Aluta, an excellent stream +for fishing. The post goes daily in eight hours from Kronstadt. The +season is very short, being over in August. Tusnad is said to contain +one hundred springs of different kinds of water. I am not a +water-totaller, so I did not taste all of them when I visited the place +later on; but undoubtedly alum, iodine, and iron do severally impregnate +the various springs. + +I remembered reading long ago Dr Daubeny's work on "Volcanoes," in which +he says that Hungary is one of the most remarkable countries in Europe +for the scale on which volcanic operation has taken place. There are, it +is stated, seven well-marked mountain groups of volcanic rocks, and two +of these are in Transylvania. The most interesting in many respects is +the chain of hills separating Szeklerland from Transylvania Proper. It +is within this district that most of the mineral springs are found. + +These volcanic rocks are of undoubted Tertiary origin, say the +geologists. The whole range is for the most part composed of various +kinds of trachytic conglomerate. "From the midst of these vast tufaceous +deposits, the tops of the hills, composed of trachyte, a rock which +forms all the loftiest eminences, here and there emerge.... The trachyte +is ordinarily reddish, greyish, or blackish; it mostly contains mica. In +the southern parts, as near Csik Szereda, the trachyte encloses large +masses, sometimes forming even small hillocks, of that variety of which +millstones are made, having quartz crystals disseminated through it, and +in general indurated by silicious matter in so fine a state of division +that the parts are nearly invisible. The latter substance seems to be +the result of a kind of sublimation which took place at the moment of +the formation of the trachyte.... Distinct craters are only seen at the +southern extremity of the chain. One of the finest observed by Dr Boné +was to the south of Tusnad. It was of great size and well characterised, +surrounded by pretty steep and lofty hills composed of trachyte. The +bottom of the hollow was full of water. The ground near has a very +strong sulphureous odour. A mile to the SSE. direction from this point +there are on the tableland two large and distinct _maars_ like those of +the Eifel--that is to say, old craters, which have been lakes, and are +now covered with a thick coat of marsh plants. The cattle dare not graze +upon them for fear of sinking in. Some miles farther in the same +direction is the well-known hill of Budoshegy (or hill of bad smell), a +trachytic mountain, near the summit of which is a distinct rent, +exhaling very hot sulphureous vapours.... The craters here described +have thrown out a vast quantity of pumice, which now forms a deposit of +greater or less thickness along the Aluta and the Marosch from Tusnad to +Toplitza. Impressions of plants and some silicious wood are likewise to +be found in it."[18] + +Since Dr Daubeny's time there have been many observers over the same +ground, the most distinguished being the Hungarian geologist Szabó, +professor at the University of Buda-Pest. A countryman of our own has +also taken up the subject of the ancient volcanoes of Hungary, and has +recently published a paper on the subject. Professor Judd has confined +his remarks principally to the Schemnitz district in the north of +Hungary. But the following passage refers to the general character of +the formation. Professor Judd says:[19] "The most interesting fact with +regard to the constitution of these Hungarian lavas, which in the +central parts of their masses are often found to assume a very coarsely +crystalline and almost granitic character, while their outer portions +present a strikingly scoriaceous or slaggy appearance, remains to be +noticed. It is, that though the predominant felspar in them is always of +the basic type, yet they not unfrequently contain _free quartz_, +sometimes in very large proportion. This free quartz is in some cases +found to constitute large irregular crystalline grains in the mass, just +like those of the ordinary orthoclase quartz-trachytes; but at other +times its presence can only be detected by the microscope in thin +sections. These quartziferous andesites were by Stache, who first +clearly pointed out their true character, styled 'Dacites,' from the +circumstance of their prevalence in Transylvania (the ancient Dacia)." + +In concluding this highly instructive and interesting memoir of the +volcanic rocks of Hungary, Professor Judd says: "The mineral veins of +Hungary and Transylvania, with their rich deposits of gold and silver, +cannot be of older date than the Miocene, while some of them are +certainly more recent than the Pliocene. Hence these deposits of ore +must all have been formed at a later period than the clays and sands on +which London stands; while in some cases they appear to be of even +younger date than the gravelly beds of our crags!" + +For any one who desires to geologise in Hungary and Transylvania there +is abundant assistance to be obtained in the maps which have been issued +by the Imperial Geological Institute of Vienna, under the successive +direction of Haidinger and Von Hauer. "These are geologically-coloured +copies of the whole of the 165 sheets of the military map of the empire; +and these have been accompanied by most valuable memoirs on the +different districts, published in the well-known 'Jahrbuch' of the +Institute. Franz von Hauer has further completed a reduction of these +large-scale maps to a general map consisting of twelve sheets, with a +memoir descriptive of each, and has finally in his most valuable and +useful work, 'Die Geologie und ihre Anwendung auf die Kenntniss der +Bodenbeschaffenheit der Osterrungar. Monarchie,' which is accompanied by +a single-sheet map of the whole country, summarised in a most able +manner the entire mass of information hitherto obtained concerning the +geology of the empire." + +I have given this passage from Mr Judd's paper because there exists a +good deal of misapprehension amongst English travellers as to what has +really been done with regard to the geological survey of Austro-Hungary. + +[Footnote 18: A Description of Active and Extinct Volcanoes, by C. +Daubeny, p. 133. 1848.] + +[Footnote 19: 'On the Ancient Volcano of the District of Schemnitz, +Hungary,' Quarterly Journal, Geo. Soc., August 1876.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + A ride through Szeklerland--Warnings about robbers--Büksad--A look + at the sulphur deposits on Mount Büdos--A lonely lake--An + invitation to Tusnad. + + +Feeling curious not only about the geology of the Szeklerland, but +interested also in the inhabitants, I resolved to pursue my journey by +going through what is called the Csik. I made all my arrangements to +start, but wet weather set in, and I remained against my inclination at +Kronstadt, for I was impatient now to be moving onwards. + +When I was in Hungary Proper they told me that travelling in +Transylvania was very dangerous, and that it was a mad notion to think +of going about there alone. Now that I was in Transylvania, I was amused +at finding myself most seriously warned against the risk of riding alone +through the Szeklerland. Every one told some fresh story of the +insecurity of the roads. Curiously enough, foreigners get off better +than the natives themselves; people of indifferent honesty have been +known to say, "One would not rob a stranger." It happened to me that +one day when riding along--in this very Szeklerland of ill-repute--I +dropped my Scotch plaid, and did not discover my loss till I arrived at +the next village, where I was going to sleep. I was much vexed, not +thinking for a moment that I should ever see my useful plaid again. +However, before the evening was over, a peasant brought it into the inn, +saying he had found it on the road, and it must belong to the Englishman +who was travelling about the country. The finder would not accept any +reward! + +There was a fair in the town the day I left Kronstadt. The field where +it is held is right opposite Hotel "No. 1," and the whole place was +crowded with country-folks in quaint costumes--spruce, gaily-dressed +people mixed up with Wallack cattle-drivers and other picturesque +rascals, such as gipsies and Jews, and here and there a Turk, and, more +ragged than all, a sprinkling of refugee Bulgarians. Though it was a +scene of strange incongruities--a very jumble of races--yet it was by no +means a crowd of roughs; on the contrary, the well-dressed, well-to-do +element prevailed. The thrifty Saxon was very much there, intent on +making a good bargain; the neatly-dressed Szekler walked about holding +his head on his shoulders with an air of resolute self-respect--they +are unmistakable, are these proud rustics. Many a fair-haired Saxon +maiden too tripped along, eyeing askance the peculiar "get-up" of the +Englishman as he was about to mount his noble steed and ride forth into +the wilds. If I was amused by the crowd, I believe the crowd was greatly +amused at my proceedings. Mine own familiar friend, I verily believe, +would have passed me by on the other side, I cut so queer a figure. As +usual on these occasions, I had sent forward my portmanteau, this time +to Maros Vásárhely; but everything else I possessed I carried round +about me and my horse somehow, and I am not a man "who wants but little +here below." + +Besides my _toilette de voyage_, I had my cooking apparatus, a small jar +of Liebig's meat, and some compressed tea, and other little odds and +ends of comforts. I had also provided myself with some bacon and +_slivovitz_ for barter, a couple of bottles of the spirit being turned +into a big flask slung alongside of my lesser flask for wine. Nor was +this all, for having duly secured my saddle-bags, I had the plaid and +mackintosh rolled up neatly and strapped in front of the saddle; then my +gun, field-glass, and roll of three maps were slung across my shoulders. +_Nota bene_ my pockets were full to repletion. In my leathern belt was +stuck a revolver, handy, and a bowie-knife not far off. + +But the portrait of this Englishman as he appeared to the Kronstadt +people on that day is not yet complete. His legs were encased in Hessian +boots; his shooting-jacket was somewhat the worse for wear; and his hat, +which had been eminently respectable at first starting, had acquired a +sort of brigandish air; and to add to the drollery of his general +appearance, the excellent little Servian horse he rode was not high +enough for a man of his inches. + +With my weapons of offence and defence I must have appeared a "caution" +to robbers, and it seems that the business of the fair was suspended to +witness my departure. I was profoundly unconscious at the time of the +public interest taken in my humble self, but later I heard a very +humorous account of the whole proceeding from some relatives who visited +Kronstadt about three weeks afterwards. I believe I am held in +remembrance in the town as a typical Englishman! + +Well, to take up the thread of my narrative--like Don Quixote, "I +travelled _all_ that day." If any reader can remember Gustave Doré's +illustration of the good knight on that occasion, he will have some idea +of how the sky looked on this very ride of mine. As evening approached, +the settled grey clouds, which had hung overhead like a pall all the +afternoon, were driven about by a rough wind, which went on rising +steadily. The grim phantom-haunted clouds came closer and closer round +about me as darkness grew apace, and now and then the gust brought with +it a vicious "spate" of rain. With no immediate prospect of shelter, my +position became less and less lively. I had not bargained for a night on +the highroad, or lodgings in a dry ditch or under a tree. Indeed those +luxuries were not at hand; for trees there were none bordering the road, +or in the open fields which stretched away on either side; and as for a +_dry_ ditch, I heard the streams gurgling along the watercourses, which +were full to overflowing, as well they might be, seeing that it had +rained for three days. + +My object was to reach the village of Büksad, but where was Büksad now +in reference to myself? I had no idea it was such a devil of a way off +when I started. I had foolishly omitted to consult the map for myself, +and had just relied on what I was told, though I might have remembered +how loosely country-people all the world over speak of time and space. + +When at length the darkness had become perplexing--_entre chien et +loup_, as the saying is--I met a peasant with a fierce-looking +sheep-dog by his side. The brute barked savagely round me as if he meant +mischief, and I soon told the peasant if he did not call off his dog +directly I would shoot him. He called his dog back, which proved he +understood German, so I then asked if I was anywhere near Büksad. To my +dismay he informed me that it was a long way off; how long he would not +say, for without further parley he strode on, and he and his dog were +soon lost to view in the thick misty darkness. + +Not a furlong farther, I came suddenly upon a house by the roadside, and +a man coming out of the door with a light at the same moment enabled me +to see "Vendéglo" on a small signboard. Good-luck: here, then, was an +inn, where at least shelter was possible; and shelter was much to be +desired, seeing that the rain was now a steady downpour. On making +inquiries, I found that I was already in Büksad. The peasant had played +off a joke at my expense, or perhaps dealt me a Roland for an Oliver, +for threatening to shoot his dog. A _paprika handl_ was soon prepared +for me. In all parts of the country where travellers are possible, the +invariable reply to a demand for something to eat is the query, "Would +the gentleman like _paprika handl_?" and he had better like it, for his +chances are small of getting anything else. While I was seeing after my +horse, the woman of the inn caught a miserable chicken, which I am sure +could have had nothing to regret in this life; and in a marvellously +short time the bird was stewed in red pepper, and called _paprika +handl_. + +I was aware that Count M---- owned a good deal of property in the +neighbourhood of Büksad, and as I had a letter of introduction to his +bailiff, I set off the next morning to find him. My object in coming to +this particular part of the country was principally to explore that +curious place Mount Büdos, mentioned by Dr Daubeny and others. I wanted +to see for myself what amount of sulphur deposits were really to be +found there. Count M----'s bailiff was very ready to be obliging, and he +provided me with a guide, and further provided the guide with a horse, +so that I had no difficulty in arranging an expedition to the mount of +evil smell. + +Having arranged the commissariat as usual, I started one fine morning +with my guide. We rode for about two hours through a forest of majestic +beech-trees, and then came almost suddenly, without any preparation, +upon a beautiful mountain lake, called St Anna's Lake. It lies in a +hollow; the hills around, forming cup-like sides, are clothed with +thick woods down to its very edge. Looking down from above, I saw the +green reflection of the foliage penetrating the pellucid water till it +met the other heaven reflected below. The effect was very singular, and +gave one the idea of a lovely bit of world and sky turned upside down; +it produced, moreover, a sort of fascination, as if one must dive down +into its luring depths. No human sight or sound disturbed the weird +beauty of this lonely spot. I longed at last to break the oppressive +silence, and I fired off my revolver. This brought down a perfect volley +of echoes, and at the same time, from the highest crags, out flew some +half-dozen vultures; they wheeled round for a few moments, then +disappeared behind the nearest crest of wood. + +My guide soon set about making a fire; and while dinner was being +cooked, I bethought me I would have a bath. I took a header from a +projecting rock, but I very soon made the best of my way out of the +water again. It was icy cold; I hardly ever recollect feeling any water +so cold--I suppose because the lake is so much in shadow. After the meal +we pushed on to Büdos, another two hours of riding; this time through a +forest so dense that we could scarcely make our way. At last we reached +a path, and this brought us before long to a roughly-constructed +log-hut. This, I was told, was the "summer hotel." Further on there +were a few more log-huts, the "dependence" of the hotel itself. The +bathing season was over, so hosts and guests had alike departed. This +must be "roughing it" with a vengeance, I should say; but my guide told +me that very "high-born" people came here to be cured. + +It is a favourite place, too, for some who desire the last cure of all +for life's ills; a single breath of the gaseous exhalations is death. +One cleft in the hill is called the "Murderer;" so fatal are the fumes +that even birds flying over it are often known to drop dead! The +elevation of Mount Büdos is only 3800 feet; there are several caves +immediately below the highest point. The principal cave is ten feet high +and forty feet long, the interior being lower than the opening. A +mixture of gases is exhaled, which, being heavier than the atmosphere, +fills it up to the level of the entrance; and when the sun is shining +into the cave, one can see the gaseous fumes swaying to and fro, owing +to the difference of refraction. + +I experienced a sensation which has often been noticed here before. On +entering the cave, and standing for some minutes immersed in the gas, +but with my head above it, I had the feeling of warmth pervading the +lower limbs. I might have believed myself to be in a warm bath up to +the chest. This is a delusion, however, for the gaseous exhalation is +pronounced by experimenters to be cooler, if anything, than the air; I +suppose they mean the air of an ordinary summer day. The walls of the +cave arc covered with a deposit of sulphur, and at the extreme end drops +of liquid are continually falling. This moisture is esteemed very highly +for disease of the eyes; it is collected by the peasants. The gas-baths +are resorted to by persons suffering from gout or rheumatism. They are +taken in this manner: The patient wears a loose dress over nothing else, +and arriving at the mouth of the cave, he must take one long breath. +Instantly he runs into the dread cavern, remaining only as long as he +can hold his breath; he then rushes back again. One single inhalation, +and he would be as dead as a door-nail! How the halt and lame folk +manage I don't know, but my guide was eloquent about the wonderful cures +that are made here every year. + +There are a variety of mineral springs in different parts of the +mountain. At the source some have the appearance of boiling, from the +quantity of carbonic acid gas given off; but it is only in appearance, +for the water is very cold. + +The springs which yield iron and carbonic acid are much used for +drinking. There are also some primitive arrangements for bathing near +by. A square hole is cut in the ground; this is boarded round, and a +simple wooden shed, like a gigantic dish-cover, is put over it. Here +again my guide said that miraculous cures are wrought annually. It is a +wonder that anybody is left with an ache or a pain in a country which +has such wonderful waters. I think my guide thought I was a doctor, who +was searching for a new health-resort, and he was quite ready to do his +share of the puffing. + +On Mount Büdos itself, in other parts than the cave, there occurs a good +deal of sulphur; specimens are often found distributed which are very +rich indeed. The place certainly deserves a thorough exploration, with a +view to utilising the sulphur deposits; but it is so overgrown with +vegetation that the search would involve considerable trouble and +expense. + +There is a fine view from Mount Büdos towards Moldavia. I was fortunate +in having good lights and shades, and therefore enjoyed the prospect +most thoroughly. I should like to have remained longer on the summit, +but not being prepared for camping out it was not possible; so very +reluctantly we set about returning. + +My guide led me back to Büksad by another route, a rough road, with +deep ruts and big stones that must make driving in any vehicle, except +for the honour and glory of it, a very doubtful blessing. But bad roads +never do seem to matter in Hungary. Everybody drives everywhere; they +would drive over a glacier if they had one. Occasionally we came upon +some charming bits of forest scenery. The trees were grand, especially +the beech; they were of greater girth than any I had yet seen in +Transylvania. I noticed many mineral springs by the roadside; one could +distinguish them by the deposit of oxide of iron on the stones near by. + +When I got back to Büksad, I found the bailiff waiting to tell me that +Count M---- and Baron A---- desired their compliments, and would be +pleased to see me at Tusnad, if I would go over there. I had no +introduction to these noblemen, and mention the invitation as an +instance of Hungarian hospitality. They had simply heard that an +Englishman was travelling about the country. + +I rode over to Tusnad the following day, and found it, as I had been led +to expect, a very picturesque little place, a number of Swiss cottages +dropped down in the clearing of the forest, with a good "restauration," +built by Count M---- himself. When I was there the season was over; but +I am told that it is full of fashionables in June and July, and that the +waters have an increasing reputation. My attention was drawn to the +singular fact of two springs bubbling up within six feet of each other, +which are proved by chemical analysis to be distinctly different in +composition. I fancy Count M---- was much amused at the fact of an +English gentleman travelling about alone on horseback, without any +servants or other impedimenta. I remember a friend of mine telling me +that once in Italy, when he declined to hire a carriage from a peasant +at a perfectly exorbitant price, and said he preferred walking, the +fellow called after him, saying, "We all know you English are mad enough +for anything!" + +I don't know whether the Hungarian Count drew the same conclusion in my +case, but I could see he was very much amused; I don't think any other +people understand the Englishman's love of adventure. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + The baths of Tusnad--The state of affairs before 1848--Inequality + of taxation--Reform--The existing land laws--Communal + property--Complete registration of titles to estates--Question of + entail. + + +I mixed exclusively in Hungarian society during my stay at the baths of +Tusnad. With Baron ---- and Herr von ---- I talked politics by the hour. +The Hungarians have the natural gift of eloquence. They pour forth their +words like the waters of a mill-race, no matter in what language. My +principal companion at Tusnad spoke French. The true Magyar will always +employ that language in preference to German when speaking with a +foreigner; but as often as not the Hungarians of good society speak +English perfectly well. The younger generation, almost without +exception, understand our language, and are extremely well read in +English literature. + +I had so recently left Saxonland, where public opinion is opposed to +everything that has the faintest shade of Magyarism, that I felt in the +state of Victor Hugo's hero, of whom he said, "Son orientation était +changée, ce qui avait été le couchant était le levant. Il s'était +retourné." The transition was certainly curious, but I confess to +getting rather tired of the mutual recriminations of political parties; +respecting each other's good qualities, they are simply colour-blind. + +After the Saxons had been allowed to drop out of the conversation, I led +my Magyar friend to talk of the state of things before 1848, and to +enlighten me as to the existing condition of laws of property. My +Hungarian--who, by the way, is a man well qualified to speak about legal +matters--showered down upon me a perfect avalanche of facts. Leaving out +a few patriotic flashes, the substance of what he told me was much as +follows. I had especially asked about the recent legislation on the land +question. + +"In the old time, before '48, the State, the Church, and the Nobles were +the _sole_ landowners. The holding of land was strictly prohibited to +all who were not noble; but to the peasants were allotted certain +tracts, called for distinction 'session-lands.' For this privilege the +peasant had to give up a tenth part of the produce to the lord, and +besides he had to work for him two, and in some cases even _three_, days +in the week. The _robot_, or forced labour, varied in different +localities. The lord was judge over his tenants, and even his bailiff +had the right of administering twenty-five lashes to insubordinate +peasants. The _time_ of the forced labour was at the option of the lord, +who might oblige his tenant to give his term of labour consecutively +during seed-sowing or harvest, at the very time that the peasant's own +land required his attendance. It may easily be imagined that this was a +fruitful cause of dispute between the lord and his serfs. + +"But the most glaring act of injustice under the old system was that +_all the taxes_ were paid by the session-holding peasantry, while the +nobles were privileged and tax-free. They absolutely contributed nothing +to the revenue of the country in the way of direct taxes! + +"This peculiarity of the Constitution made it the interest of the Crown +to _preserve_ the area of the tax-paying peasant-land against the +encroachments of the tax-free landlord. It often happened that on the +death or removal of a peasant-holder the lord would choose to absorb the +session-land into the _allodium_, which, being tax-free, resulted in a +loss to the imperial revenue. To prevent this absorption of +session-lands by the landlord, and also to accommodate the burdens of +the peasantry, which had become almost intolerable in the last century, +owing to the tyranny of the feudal superiors--to prevent this, I repeat, +a general memorial survey with a view to readjustment took place in 1767 +by command of Maria Theresa. + +"This very important settlement, which came to be known as the +'URBARIAL CONSCRIPTION,' laid down and defined the rights and +services of the peasants, and the amount of land to be held by them. The +nobles henceforth were obliged to find new tenants of the peasant class +in the event of the 'session-lands' becoming vacant. Likewise their +unjust impositions on the serfs were restricted, and the _rights_ of the +latter, in respect to wood-cutting and pasturage on the lord's lands, +were established by law. + +"This was all very well as far as it went," said my friend; "but the +inequality of taxation and the forced labour were crying evils not to be +endured in the nineteenth century. Our people who travelled in England +and elsewhere came back imbued with new ideas. We in Transylvania assume +the credit of taking the lead in liberal politics. Baron Wesselényi was +one of the first to advise a radical reform, and others--Count Bethlen, +Baron Kemeny, and Count Teleki--were all agreed as to the necessity of +bringing about the manumission of the serfs. It is an old story now. I +am speaking of the third and fourth decades of the century, and +political excitement was at white-heat. The extreme views of Wesselényi +raised a host of opponents among his own class, who regarded the +prospect of reform as nothing short of class suicide. Everything else +might go to the devil as long as they retained their privileges; the +devil, however, is apt to make a clean sweep of the board when he has +got the game in his own hands, but these noble wiseacres could not see +that. In other parts of the country good men and true were working up +the leaven of reform. The great patriot Széchenyi, as long ago as 1830, +when he published his work on 'Credit,' had shown his countrymen their +shortcomings. He had proved to them that their laws and their +institutions were not marching with the spirit of the age; that, in +short, the 'rights of humanity' called for justice. What this truly +great man did for the material improvement of his country could hardly +be told between sunrise and sundown. You practical English were our +teachers and our helpers in those days, when bridges had to be built, +roads to be made, and steam navigation set up in our rivers. English +horses were brought over to improve the breed in Hungary, and English +agricultural machinery still turns out treasure-trove from our fields. +But beyond all this, what we saw and admired in England's history was +her constitutional struggles for liberty; the efforts made by freedom +within the pale of the law; her capacity, in short, for self-reform. You +see how it is, my dear sir, that everything English is so popular with +us in Hungary." + +I bowed my acknowledgments, and begged my friend to proceed with his +narrative of events. + +"Well, to go back to our own history," he continued, in a tone which had +in it a shade of melancholy, "you see from 1823 to the eve of 1848 the +Diet had been tinkering at reform in a half-hearted sort of way, but the +Paris revolution let loose the whirlwind, and events were precipitated. +I need not tell you there was a standing quarrel between us and the +reactionary rulers in Vienna. It was the deceitful policy of Austria to +bring about a temporary show of agreement between us. The Archduke +Stephen was appointed Viceroy, assisted by a council composed entirely +of Hungarians. Now mark this turning-point in our history. The first Act +of this Diet, presided over by Count Batthyanyi, was to abolish at one +sweep the class privileges of the nobility. Roundly speaking, eight +millions of serfs received their freedom by that Act! Nor was this all, +the important part remains to be told--and I do not think foreigners +always realise it--the Act further enforced that the session-lands held +by the peasants became henceforth _their freehold property_. Half, or +nearly half, the kingdom thus, by the voluntary concession of the +nobles, became converted from a feudal tenure, burdened with duties, +into an absolute freehold. + +"Like every sudden change, the result was not unmixed good. The Wallacks +especially were not prepared for their emancipation; they thought +equality before the law meant equality of goods." + +I now inquired how the working of the land laws was carried out, and to +this my friend replied:-- + +"As a lawyer I can give you an exact statement in a few words. The +disturbed state of the country after the war of independence, which +followed immediately upon the emancipation of the serfs, prevented for a +while the effective realisation of the great reform of '48. However, in +1853 several imperial decrees were promulgated, by means of which the +changed system was worked out in detail. 'Urbarial courts' were +instituted to inquire into the amount of compensation due to the lords +of the manors who had lost the tithes and the 'forced labour' of the +former serfs. To meet this compensation 'State urbarial bonds' were +created and apportioned; they bear five per cent. interest, and are +redeemable within eighty years, with two drawings annually. The fund for +this compensation is raised by a special tax on every Hungarian subject; +not only the freed peasant pays towards the fund, but the lord himself, +and those who never had any feudal tenants. + +"The peasants had also to receive their compensation for the loss of +pasturage and the right of cutting wood on the lord's demesne. In lieu +of these privileges they received allotments of forest and pasturage as +absolute property. The land thus acquired by the peasants is in fact +_parish property_, or in other words, communal property. This is the +only instance in which the parish appears as landowner, for all other +peasant property, with the exception of the parish buildings, such as +the school, is the property of the respective peasants. The parish +authorities regulate the usage of the common pasturage and common +forest. The sale or cutting down of the latter is subject to the +permission of the county authorities." + +I now proceeded to question my friend about the laws respecting the +transfer of land, and especially about the registration of titles of +estate. To these inquiries he replied as follows:-- + +"Land in Hungary is the absolute property of that person, or corporate +body, who appears as owner in the registry. A limitation of claim to +ownership does not exist with us; indeed it is contrary to the law. The +_Avitische Patent_ of 1854 prescribed further that every one should be +regarded as the rightful owner who actually held the property in +1848--_i.e._, the _status quo_ of 1848 to be accepted as the basis. The +_Urbarium_ of Maria Theresa was, in short, the stand-point in all these +arrangements, whether it was the sessional lands of tenants formerly +held in hereditary use, now freehold, or the _allodium_ of the noble. +Immediately succeeding the _Avitische Patent_, the _registration of +land_ was made law, in conformity with which all estates had been +surveyed and entered on the registry as belonging to those owners who +possessed the same in consequence of the above-named patent." + +"But how about disputed inheritance-lands held by mortgagees, and other +contingencies always arising in regard to estates?" I asked. + +"I am sorry to say that dreadful cases of injustice were caused by this +enactment. Whole families were reduced to beggary, and the greatest +rascals obtained possession by this law of enormous estates, simply +because they happened to hold the land in 1848, and the rightful owner +did not advance his claim within the prescribed time. The evil could +not be redressed, and in 1861, when the Hungarian Constitution was +reinstated, the Diet of that year was obliged to accept and confirm the +_Avitische Patent_, and the registration of land as directly following +it. The grievances are past, but the benefit remains to us and our +children. In Hungary at the present time the transfer of land is as +simple as buying or selling the registered shares of a railway company. +The registry forms the basis of every transaction connected with landed +property, and, as we lawyers say, what is not entered there _non est in +mundo_. Mortgages must be set down against the registered title. +Contracts of leases are also entered, and in the case of farms being +taken, caution-money, amounting generally to a quarter's rent, must be +deposited with the authorities." + +"One more question. Are there no entailed estates amongst your +aristocracy?" + +"Very few, indeed, even among the richest aristocracy. An Act of +entailment can, it is true, be founded, but it is rarely permitted, +being looked upon with disfavour for reasons of political economy. Such +an Act would require in any case the special permission of the sovereign +and of Government; and then the estate is placed under a special court. +Without special permission from this court neither an alteration of the +Act can take place, nor is sale or mortgage allowed. Hungarian law also +interposes some restrictions in the case of a testator, who must leave +by will at least half his property to his children. And with regard to +women, the law with us is specially careful to preserve a woman's legal +existence after marriage." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + Fine scenery in Szeklerland--Csik Szent Marton--Absence of + inns--The Szekler's love of lawsuits--Csik Szereda--Hospitality + along the, road--Wallack atrocities in 1848--The Wallacks not + Panslavists. + + +The charming scenery of the Szeklerland, and the kindly hospitality of +the people, induced me to linger on. I had many a ride through those +glorious primeval forests, where the girth of the grand old oak-trees +and their widespreading branches are in themselves a sight to see: the +beech, too, are very fine. Climbing farther, the deciduous woods give +place to sombre pine-trees--the greybeards of the mountain. A great +charm in this part of the country, at least from a picturesque point of +view, is the affluence of water. Every rocky glen has its gurgling rill, +every ravine its stream, which, at an hour's notice almost, may become a +mountain torrent, should a storm break over the watershed. A plague of +waters is no unfrequent occurrence, as the farmer in the valley knows to +his cost. Fields are laid under water, and the turbulent streams often +bring down great masses of earth and rock in a way that becomes +"monotonous" for the man who has to clear his land or his roads of the +_débris_. Mr Judd remarks that the volcanic rocks of Hungary have +"suffered enormously from denuding causes." Every fresh storm reminds +one that the process is in active operation. + +After finally leaving Tusnad, I rode on to Csik Szent Marton, where, as +there was no inn, I had to present myself at the best house in the place +and crave their hospitality. My request was taken as a matter of course, +and they received me with the greatest kindness; in fact it was with +great difficulty that I could get away the next day. My host entreated +me to remain longer, and when he found that I was really bent on +departing, he gave me several letters of introduction to friends of his +along the road I was likely to travel. It was a very acceptable act of +kindness, for there are hardly any inns in this part of the country. "If +Transylvania is an odd corner of Europe," then is the Csik or +Szeklerland a still more odd corner; by no possibility can it ever be +the highroad to anywhere else. I am not surprised that my lawyer friend +said that there were still some lawsuits pending in connection with the +allotments of forest and pasturage in this part of Hungary, though +everything was definitely settled elsewhere. The Szekler is as +troublesome and turbulent in some respects as his own mountain streams; +added to which he dearly loves a lawsuit: it is in the eyes of the +peasant a patent of respectability, as keeping a gig formerly was in +England. + +"Why do you go to law about such a trifle?" observed a friend of mine to +his neighbour. + +"Well, you see I have never had a lawsuit, as all my neighbours have had +about something or another; so, now there is the chance, I had better +have one myself!" + +It is well for the lawyers that there is "a good deal of human nature" +everywhere, especially in Hungary, otherwise they would have a bad time +of it, where the legal expenses of "transfer" are a few florins, whether +it be for an acre of vineyard or for half a _comitat_. I must observe, +however, that in the sale of lands or houses, Government intervenes with +a heavy tax on the transaction. + +Leaving my hospitable entertainers at Csik Szent Marton, I went on to +Csik Szereda, where I was kindly taken in by the postmaster. In this +case I was provided with a letter; but a stranger would naturally go to +the postmaster or the clergyman to ask for a night's lodging. At first I +felt diffident on this score; but I soon got over my shyness, for in +Szeklerland they make a stranger so heartily welcome that he ceases to +regard himself as an intruder. In out-of-the-way places one is looked +upon as a sort of heaven-sent "special correspondent." There is a story +told of Baron ----, one of the nearly extinct old-fashioned people, who +regularly, an hour or so before the dinner-hour, rides along the nearest +highroad to try and catch a guest. It has even been whispered that on +one occasion a couple of intelligent-looking travellers, who declined to +be "retained" for dinner, were severely beaten for their recalcitrant +behaviour, by order of the hospitable Baron. The story is well founded, +and I daresay took place before '48, when anything might have happened. + +I can bear witness that I have never myself been ill-treated for +declining Hungarian hospitality, but when in Saxonland something very +much the reverse occurred to me. I once entered a village at the end of +a long day's ride, and stopping at the first house, asked for a night's +lodging, whereupon I was told to ask at the next house. They said they +could not take me in, excusing themselves on the score of an important +domestic event being expected. I went on a little farther, though the +"shades of night were falling fast," and repeated my request at the next +house. I give you my word, there were _more_ domestic events--always +the same excuse. I began to calculate that the population must be +rapidly on the increase in that place. It was too much. I entered the +last house of that straggling village with a stern resolve that not even +new-born twins should bar my claim to hospitality! + +I found the postmaster at Csik Szereda a very intelligent man, with a +fund of anecdotes and recollections, which generally centred in the +troubles of '48. As I mentioned before, the Szeklers rose _en masse_ +against the Austrians. One of their officers, Colonel Alexander Gál, +proved himself a very distinguished leader. Corps after corps were +organised and sent to aid General Bem. "It was a terrible time; the men +had to fight the enemy in the plain while our old men and women defended +their homesteads against the jealous Saxons and the brutal Wallacks." + +It was not in one place, or from one person, but from every one with +whom I spoke on the subject, that I heard frightful stories of Wallack +atrocities. In one instance a noble family--in all, thirteen persons, +including a new-born infant--were slaughtered under circumstances of +horrible barbarity within the walls of their castle. The name I think +was Bardi; it is matter of history. + +Amongst other horrors, the Wallacks on several occasions buried their +victims alive, except the head, which they left above ground; they +would then hurl stones at the unfortunate creatures, or cut off the +heads with a scythe. It was not a war of classes but of race, for the +poor peasants amongst the Magyars and Szeklers fared just as badly at +the hands of the infuriated Wallacks as the nobles. + +The belief is still held that the Vienna Government instigated the +outbreak. Certainly arms had been put into the hands of these +uncivilised hordes under the pretence of organising a sort of militia. +Metternich knew the character of these irregulars, as he had known and +proved the character of the Slovacks in Galicia in the terrible rising +of the serfs in 1846. His complicity on that occasion has never been +disproved. + +The winter of 1848-49 must have been a time of unexampled misery to the +Magyars of Transylvania. The nobles generally dared not remain in their +lonely châteaux; it was not a question of bravery, for how could the +feeble members who remained home from the war guard the castle from the +torches of a hundred frantic, yelling wretches, who, with arms in their +hands, spared neither age nor sex? For the time they were mad--these +Eastern people are subject to terrible epidemics of frenzy! + +The Szekler town of Maros Vásárhely, which was strong enough to keep the +Wallacks at bay, was the sanctuary of the noble ladies and children of +that part of Transylvania. It was so full of fugitives that the +overcrowding was most distressing. A lady, the bearer of an historic +name, told me herself that she and seven of her family passed the whole +winter in one small room in Maros Yásárhely. Added to the discomfort and +insalubrity of this crowding, they were almost penniless, having nothing +but "Kossuth money." For the time the sources of their income were +entirely arrested. In this instance one of the children died--succumbed +to bad air and privation. Another patrician dame kept her family through +the winter by selling the vegetables from her garden; this together with +seventeen florins in silver was all they had to depend upon. Add to this +the misery of not hearing for weeks, perhaps even for months, from their +husbands or sons, who were with the armies of Görgey or Bem. + +The Magyars were not always safe in the towns, for at Nagy Enyed, a +rather considerable place, the Wallacks succeeded in setting fire to it, +and butchered all the inhabitants who were not fortunate enough to +escape their fury. In the neighbourhood of Reps the castles of the +nobility suffered very severely. Grim incidents were told me, things +that were too horrible not to be true--infants spiked and women +tortured. One cannot dwell upon the details! What struck me as very +remarkable was the fact that Magyars and Wallacks are now dwelling +together again in peace side by side. It reminds one of the people who +plant their vines again on Vesuvius directly an eruption is over. In the +last century, in 1784, there was a dreadful outbreak of the Wallacks. +Individually they are really not bad fellows--so it seemed to me--and +one hears of fewer murders among them than perhaps in Ireland. The +danger exists of leaders arising who may stir up the nationality +fever--the idea of the great _Roumain_ nation that looms big in their +imagination! + +They love neither Croatians, Slavonians, nor Austrians, and they are no +longer a safe card to play off against the Magyars; but indeed I would +fain believe that better and wiser counsels now prevail. Austria is not +the Austria of '48, any more than the England of to-day is the same as +England before the Reform Bill. + +The autumn evenings were getting long, and after supper, as I sat +smoking my pipe by the stove in the simple but scrupulously neat +apartment of my host, he, in his turn, asked me about England. It is +very touching the warmth with which these people in the far-off "land +beyond the forest" speak of us. "We never can forget how kindly England +received our patriots." This, or words like it, were said to me many +times, and always the name of Palmerston came to the fore. "He cordially +hated the Austrians." What better ground of sympathy? + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + Ride to Szent Domokos--Difficulty about quarters--Interesting + host--Jewish question in Hungary--Taxation--Financial matters. + + +From Szereda I went to Szent Domokos. It was a long ride, and I was +again nearly benighted. However, I reached my destination this time just +as the last streak of daylight had departed. + +I had some difficulty in making the people I met understand that I +wanted the postmaster's house. No one, it appeared, could speak a word +of German. At length I found the place; but a new difficulty arose. The +postmaster, it seemed, was away, as far as I could make out from his +wife. She seemed greatly puzzled, not to say alarmed, at seeing an armed +horseman ride up, who demanded hospitality; and I daresay she was the +more puzzled at not being able "to place me," as the Yankees say, for +she asked me if I was a Saxon, an Austrian, or a Turk? My appearance, I +suppose, was rather uncouth and alarming. She was young and very +pretty--an Armenian, I learned afterwards. These women are apt to have +Oriental notions about men, and she was evidently afraid to ask me in. + +There was I, with my tired horse, completely up a tree. I thought to +myself, I cannot stay in the street, so pushing my way through a sort of +courtyard, I found out what appeared to be the stable. This I took +possession of, all the time making the most polite bows and gestures, +for we hardly understood a word of each other's language. There was no +help for it, I must make myself at home. I put the horse up, I relieved +him of his saddle and saddle-bags, and seeing a bucket and a well not +far off, I fetched some water. By this time the young woman had called +in some neighbours, and I could see them watching me from behind the +half-closed doors and windows. I must observe I had lighted my own +lantern that I always carried with me, so that my proceedings were made +quite visible to the cautious spectators. They never attempted to +interfere with me, and I went on doing my work quietly and +unostentatiously. The position was ludicrous in the highest degree! + +While I was yet foraging for my horse's supper, by good-luck in came the +postmaster. He spoke German, and I was soon able to make all square. He +was as civil as possible, offering me at once the hospitality of his +roof, which in fact I had already assumed. I saw he was very anxious to +remove the unpleasant impression of his wife's mistake. He bade me +welcome many times over, he thanked me for the honour I did him in +offering to sleep under his humble roof, and further persisted in +calling me "Herr Lord." It was in vain that I corrected him on this +point. "I was an Englishman, therefore I must be a 'Herr Lord,' and +there was an end of it." + +When Mr Boner was travelling in Szeklerland he was also, _nolens +volens_, raised to the peerage, so I suppose it is a settled conviction +of the people that we are all lords in Great Britain. + +We had for supper a capital _filet d'ours_ from a bear that had been +shot only two days before. I enjoyed my supper immensely; the wine was +as good as the food. My pretty hostess laughed a good deal over the +false alarm my appearance had created. Her husband interpreted between +us, but I promised to learn Hungarian before I paid them another visit. +My host proved himself to be a very intelligent man; I had an +exceedingly interesting conversation with him after supper. He +complained bitterly of the heavy pressure of taxation, saying that +Government ought to manage things more economically, for that every year +now there was a deficit. + +"Yet your country is rich in natural resources, as rich almost as +France, barring her advantages of seaboard." + +"Yes, we have wealth under the soil," he replied, "and what we want is +capital to develop our resources. Herein Austria has stood in our way; +you know the old policy of Austria, as far back as Maria Theresa's time, +which was to make Hungary Catholic, to make her poor, and to turn her +people into Germans. This last they will never do; but they have +succeeded in their second project only too well. They have made us poor +enough, they have discouraged manufactures and industries of every kind. +We wish for free trade, but Austria is opposed to it. The manufactures +of Bohemia must be nursed, and accordingly we are made to suffer. We +want to be brought into contact with our customers in Western Europe; we +want, in fact, to get our trade out of the hands of the Jews." + +"I wish to ask you your candid opinion about the Jews. Some people say +they are the curse of the country; others again, that Hungarian commerce +would be nowhere without them." + +"I will tell you what happens," replied my friend, evading a direct +answer to my latter observation. "A wretched Jew comes into this +village, or some other place--it does not matter, it is always the same +story. He comes probably from Galicia as poor as a rat, he settles +himself in the village, and sells _slivovitz_ on credit to the foolish +peasant, who, besotted with drink and debt, gets into his meshes; in the +end, the Jew having sucked the blood of his victims, possesses himself +of their little property, finds himself the object of universal hatred, +and then he moves on. He makes a fresh start in some other place, +beginning on a higher rung of the ladder; and you will find him sitting +in the highest seats before he has done." + +"If your people were less of spendthrifts and managed their affairs +themselves, then the Jews would cease to find a harvest amongst you." + +"Yes, that is true," he answered; "but we are not practical; we do not +organise well. The Jew always manages to be the middle-man between +ourselves and the consumers." + +"But without the Jew you would perhaps not even get so near to the +consumer," I observed quietly. + +My host puffed out a volume of smoke, and after a pause observed, before +he placed his pipe again between his lips, "In this part of the country, +in the Szeklerland, the better class of merchants are nearly all +Armenians." + +Apropos of the tax question, I have looked into the matter since, and I +am rather surprised to find the proportion not so heavy as I thought; on +the whole population it is about £1 a-head--certainly less than is borne +by many other states. In England, I believe, we are taxed at over £2 +a-head. Then, again, it is true that since 1870 there has been an annual +deficit, and the equilibrium of income and expenditure can hardly be +counted upon just yet; still things are moving in the right direction. +The Hungarians have been reproached for managing their finances badly +since the compromise with Austria in 1867, when the revenue came +exclusively under their own control. But in answer they say, that having +so lately entered the community of states, they found themselves in the +position of a minor who comes into house and lands that have need of +every sort of radical repair and improvement. Hungary has had to spend +heavily upon road-making, bridges, railroads, sanatory and other +economic improvements, and very heavily for rectification of the course +of the Danube; in fact they have ambitiously set themselves too much to +do in the time. They have rendered Buda-Pest, with its magnificent river +embankments, one of the finest capitals in Europe. The Magyar does +everything with a degree of splendour that savours of the Oriental. +They know not the meaning of the homely adage which tells a man to "cut +his coat according to his cloth." + +Added to the pressure of accumulated expenses, Hungary has had a +succession of bad harvests--she has been passing through the seven lean +years. The last season has shown, however, a decided improvement, so we +may hope the bad corner is turned. I am informed that this year the +schedule for unpaid--viz., arrears of--taxes is completely wiped off. +Then, again, the income-tax in the space of five years ending 1874 +increased from 5,684,000 florins to 27,650,000 florins! + +The financial account of the current year is reassuring. At the sitting +of the Hungarian Diet on the 30th October,[20] the minister, in +presenting the estimates for 1878, said that in 1876 and 1877 the +expenditure had been reduced by £1,250,000. It was not possible to +continue at the same rate, and the net reduction next year would be +£360,000. It is true the deficit of 1877 is £1,600,000, a sufficiently +grave sum; but to judge the position fairly it is necessary to look at +the budgets of former years. In 1874, "in consequence of rather too +hasty investment of money in railways and other public works," the +deficit was £6,000,700; in 1876 it had fallen to £3,100,000. The present +year, therefore, shows a steady reduction of those ugly figures at the +wrong side of the national account. + +[Footnote 20: 'Hungarian Finances,' the Times, October 31, 1877.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + Copper mine of Balanbanya--Miners in the wine-shop--Ride to St + Miklos--Visit to an Armenian family--Capture of a robber--Cold ride + to the baths of Borsék. + + +Having expressed a wish to see the copper mine at Balanbanya, which is +some five miles from Szent Domokos, my host proposed to drive me over +the next morning. When the morning came the weather looked most +unpromising; there was a steady downpour, without any perceptible break +in the clouds in any quarter. I had made up my mind to go, and as after +the noonday meal it cleared slightly, we started. The mud was nearly up +to the axletree of our cart. After driving some time we reached a wild +and rather picturesque valley, in which rises the Alt, or, as it is +called when it reaches Roumania, the Aluta. The course of this stream is +singularly tortuous, winding about through rocks and defiles, often +changing its direction, and finally making a way for itself through the +Carpathian range. + +As we approached the copper mine it had all the appearance of a volcano, +for a heavy cloud of smoke hung over the spot like a canopy. This mine +has been worked for many years; formerly it paid well, but now it is in +the hands of a company, who are working at a loss, if I could believe +what I was told. + +I have repeatedly noticed in Hungary that people commit themselves to +works of this kind without the technical knowledge necessary to carry +them on successfully. The necessary capital, too, is generally wanting +to bring these mining operations to a successful issue; added to this +the managers are often not conspicuous for their honesty. + +I went over these works, and gave particular attention to the refinery. +Some of the processes for collecting the metal are ingeniously simple +and effective. The copper-ore is remarkably pure, being, it is said, +free from arsenic and antimony. The concern ought to pay, for the copper +is so well esteemed that it obtains the best price in the market. + +After inspecting the place, we went into the inn to have some supper, +and while there, several miners came in. I had heard that they were +renowned for their mining songs down in these parts, so I made friends +with the men and begged them to sing. After a little persuasion and a +refilling of glasses they began. + +The music of their songs was very mournful, and the words equally so, +descriptive of the dangers the poor miner had to encounter in searching +for ore in the gloomy depths of the earth. I believe my companion, the +postmaster, was very puzzled to understand what could interest me in +these rough miners. The scene was exceedingly picturesque; for some six +or eight of these stalwart fellows, with skin and clothes reddened by +the earth, sat by a long table, each with his flask of wine before him, +while the flicker of an oil-lamp threw its yellow light over the group. +One of the men spoke German, and with him I talked. He had elicited from +me the fact of my being an Englishman, whereupon he asked me a variety +of questions about our mines and our forests. Finally he inquired +whether our bears were as large as theirs. When I told him we had none +he could not credit it, saying, "But you must have bears on the +frontier?" When I explained that we lived upon an island he seemed much +surprised. I saw that his natural politeness prevented his saying what +was in his mind, but it was evident he thought that if the English lived +in an island they could not be such a great people after all. + +Not wishing to put my host to expense, more especially as the expedition +was undertaken solely for my benefit and at my suggestion, I paid the +score at the Balanbanya Inn without saying anything. I was very vexed to +find, however, that by doing so I had offended my companion very much. +He reminded me that I was a stranger in Szeklerland and his guest, and +it was contrary to all his ideas of hospitality that I should be the +paymaster. Instead of starting homewards, as we were ready to do, he +ordered more wine and some sardines, being the greatest delicacy the +house afforded. I was obliged to make a show of partaking of something +more, though I had amply supped. For these extras of course my friend +paid, but he was only half appeased, and was never quite the same again. + +The following morning I left the house of my too-hospitable +entertainers. My destination now was St Miklos. My road thither lay +through a pine-forest, as lonely a tract as could well be imagined, for +there were no signs whatever of human habitations. Certainly the weird +solitude of a pine-wood is more impressive than any other kind of forest +scenery. Under the impervious shade and the long grey vistas, one moves +forward with something of a superstitious feeling, as though one were +intruding into the sanctuary of unseen spirits. I cannot say that I was +a prey to such idle fancies, for the spirits I was likely to meet would +be very tangible enemies. This district had a bad reputation, owing to +several robberies having been committed in the neighbourhood; in fact +the whole country was just then under martial law. I was well armed, and +being alone I kept my weather-eye open; but I saw not even the ghost of +a brigand, and reached St Miklos in safety. + +It is usual when incendiary fires or robberies have been rife in any +district to place that part of the country under the _Statorium_, so +that if any person or persons are caught in _flagrante delicto_, they +are summarily tried and hung before a week is over. When I was in +Transylvania in the autumn of '75, the whole of the north-eastern corner +was under the _Statorium_. + +At St Miklos I put up at the house of an Armenian, who received me with +a most frank and kindly welcome, conducting me to the guest-chamber +himself after giving orders to the servants to attend to my horse. St +Miklos is charmingly situated in the valley of Gyergyó, at an elevation +of nearly 3000 feet above the sea-level. Here one is right in amongst +the mountains, the higher summits rising grandly around. The scenery is +very fine. There are interminable forests on every side, broken by +ravines and valleys, with strips of green pasture-land. In former times +these primeval woods were tenanted by the wild aurochs, but now one sees +only the long-horned white cattle and the wiry little horses belonging +to the villages that nestle about in unexpected places. St Miklos is +almost entirely inhabited by Armenians. There is a market here, and it +is considered the central place of the district. The year before my +visit the town was nearly destroyed by fire. Upwards of three hundred +houses were burned down in less than three hours. The loss of property +was considerable, including stores of hay and _kukoricz_ (Indian corn). +Since this conflagration, which caused such widespread distress in the +place, they have established a volunteer fire brigade. This ought to +exist in every village. Prompt action would often arrest the serious +proportions of a fire. It would be a good thing if some substitute could +be found for the wooden tiles used for roofing; in course of time they +become like tinder, and a spark will fire the roof. The houses in +Hungary are not, as a rule, constructed of wood, as in Upper Austria and +Styria, nor are they nearly so picturesque as in that part of the world. +In some Hungarian villages the cottages are painted partly blue and +partly yellow, which has a very odd effect; and throughout the country +they are built with the gable-end to the road. + +When I was at St Miklos there was great excitement over the recent +capture of a famous robber chief, whose band had kept the country-side +in a state of alarm for some months past. I was asked if I would like to +go and see him, and of course I was glad to get a sight at last of one +of the robbers of whom I had heard so much in my travels. I was never +more surprised than, on arriving in front of a very shaky wooden +building, to be told that this was the prison. A few resolute fellows +might have easily broken in and effected the rescue of their chief. + +There was no romance about the appearance of the miserable wretch that +we found within, stretched on a rough bed with wrists and feet heavily +ironed. These manacles were hardly needed, for he was severely wounded, +and seemed incapable of rising from his pallet. I never saw so repulsive +a countenance; and the flatness of the head was quite remarkable. His +eyes were very prominent, and had the restless look of a hunted animal, +which was painful in the extreme; but there was absolutely no redeeming +expression of human feeling in the dark coarse face. Well, there was +something human about him though. I was told he had been photographed +that morning, and that he had expressed considerable satisfaction at the +idea of his portrait being preserved. He was under sentence of death! +There were various stories told of his capture, but I think the +following is the true account. It appears that he and his gang made +their appearance from time to time in the forest round the well-known +watering-place of Borsék. When visitors were on their way to the baths, +they were frequently stopped by the robbers in a mountain pass, in the +immediate neighbourhood of a dense forest that stretches far away for +miles and miles over the frontier. It was the custom of the robbers to +demand all the money, and they would relieve the travellers of their fur +cloaks and overcoats, and other useful articles; but if they did not +offer any resistance, they were permitted to go on uninjured, to take +their cure at the baths. I should doubt, however, that anybody would be +welcome there without a well-filled purse; at least I judge so from what +I heard of the eminently commercial character of the place. + +The robbers had the game in their own hands for a long while, but they +made a mistake one fine day. They stopped a handsome equipage, which +seemed to promise a good haul; but lo, behold, it was the +_Obergespannirz_, the lord-lieutenant of the county! He had four good +horses, and so saved himself by flight. But the authorities now really +bestirred themselves, and the soldiers were called out to exterminate +this troublesome brood. They were accompanied by a renowned bear-slayer +who knew the forest well. It was with great difficulty that they +succeeded at last in tracking the robbers, or rather robber, for it was +only the chief who was trapped after all. It appears that the soldiers +and their guide came upon a small hut surrounded by almost impenetrable +thickets. The hunter crept on in advance of the rest, and looking into +the interior through the chinks of timbers, he saw a man drying his +clothes by a small fire. He quietly said, "Good-day." The robber started +up, and seizing his gun, flung open the door and fired his fowling-piece +at once at his visitor. Fortunately the powder proved to be damp, or he +must have received the full charge. The bear-slayer was now in close +quarters, and fired off his revolver within a short distance of the +other's head. The shot took effect, and he fell in a heap stunned and +senseless. At first they thought he was dead, and it is marvellous that +the well-aimed discharge did not kill him. His skull must have been +uncommonly thick. This fellow was known to be the leader. The rest of +the gang had probably escaped into Moldavia, from whence they came. + +My friends at St Miklos were kind enough to promise to get up a +bear-hunt for me, and it was arranged that I should go and see the +baths of Borsék, and return on Saturday night, so as to be ready for the +bear-hunt on Sunday. The "better observance of the Sabbath" is always +associated with bear-hunting in these parts. + +I left St Miklos in a snowstorm, though it was only the 16th of +September--very early for such signs of winter. I was not prepared for +wintry weather. It frustrated my plans and expectations a good deal. I +was disappointed, too, in the climate, for I had always heard that the +late autumn is about the finest time for Transylvania. + +I have invariably remarked that whenever I go to a new country it is the +signal for "abnormal meteorological disturbances," as they call bad +weather in the newspapers. My own notion is that weather is a very mixed +affair everywhere. + +For three mortal hours I rode on through a blinding snowstorm. At length +I espied the ruin of an unfinished cottage by the wayside, and here I +bethought me I would take shelter and see after my dinner; for whatever +happens, I can be hungry directly afterwards--I think an earthquake +would give me an appetite. + +My unfurnished lodgings were in as wild a spot as imagination could +picture. No wonder that the builder had abandoned the construction of +this solitary dwelling; why it had ever been commenced passes my +comprehension. It was just at the entrance of a mountain valley, +treeless, stony, and rugged, through which there were at intervals the +semblance of a track--a desolate, God-forgotten-looking place. On +consulting the map I found that the "road" led to Moldavia. I resolved +it should not lead me there. Here then, in this dreary spot, with its +gable-end to the road, and turning away from the prospect--and no +wonder--stood the carcass of a cottage. My horse and I scrambled over +the breach in the wall, where a garden never had smiled, and got into +the roofless house. It was with considerable difficulty that I found +sticks enough for my kitchen fire. I had to try back on the route I had +passed, for I remembered not far in the rear a group of firs standing +sentinels in the pass. I always took care to have an end of rope in my +pocket; with this I tied up my fagot, shouldered it, and returned to the +house of entertainment. The result of my trouble was a blazing fire, +whereat I cooked an excellent robber-steak. I made myself some tea, and +afterwards enjoyed--yes, actually enjoyed--my pipe. There is a pleasure +in battling with circumstances, even in such a small affair as getting +one's dinner under difficulties. + +After washing-up (by good-luck there was a stream near by), I packed up +my belongings, and giving a last look around to see that I had left +nothing, I departed without as much as a _pourboire_ for "service," one +of the advantages of self-help. + +The prospect for the rest of my ride was not lively, a good ten miles +yet to be done on a bad road. It had ceased to snow, but the clouds kept +driving down into the valley as if the very heavens themselves were in a +state of mobilisation. It is curious to notice sometimes in the higher +Carpathians how the clouds march continuously through the winding +valleys; always moving and driving on, these compact masses of vapour +are impelled by the currents of air in the defiles which seam the +mountains. + +My way was now through an interminable pine-forest, the road stretching +in a perfectly straight line and at a perceptible rise. Indeed it was +uphill work altogether. The ceaseless dripping of the rain made the +whole scene as cheerless as it well could be. The snow had turned to +cold dull rain, which was far more depressing. I wished the mineral +springs at Borsék had never been discovered. It was too late to turn +back to St Miklos, where I devoutly wished myself, so I had nothing to +do but plod on with my waterproof tight round me. It was impossible to +go fast, for in places the mud was very deep and the road was beset +with big stones. + +It was dark when I reached Borsék, and again I wished I had never come. +The inn was very uncomfortable; there was no fireplace in any of the +rooms. The baths are only used in the height of summer, and if it turns +cold, as it does sometimes at this elevation, people I suppose must +freeze till it gets warm again. I had come a fortnight too late; the +world of fashion departs from Borsék at the end of August. Ten or twelve +springs rise within a short area, and vary curiously in quality and +temperature. The source which is principally used for exportation is +remarkable for the quantity of carbonic acid it contains. About 12,000 +bottles are filled every day; some 1500 on an average break soon after +corking, owing partly to the bad quality of the bottles. There is a +glass manufactory in the place, and though they have good material they +turn out the work badly. + +The export trade in the mineral waters is very large. They are much +valued for long sea voyages, as the water keeps for years without losing +its gaseous qualities.[21] + +The baths of Borsék belong to two different parishes, and they are by no +means agreed as to the management. Some years ago the principal spring +was struck by lightning and entirely lost for a time, but after much +digging it was found again. The situation of Borsék is extremely +romantic, and in the height of summer it must be very delightful; but in +summer only--let no one follow my example and go there out of season. Of +course the place is surrounded by magnificent forests, but it is a +crying shame to see how they have been treated. In every direction there +is evidence of the ravages of fire. You may see in a morning's walk the +blackened stems of thousands of trees, the results of Wallack +incendiarism. If the Wallacks go on destroying the forests in this way, +they will end in injuring the value of the place as a health resort; for +the efficacy of the perfumed air of the pine-woods is well known, +especially for all nervous diseases. + +The houses are badly built at Borsék, and the arrangements for comfort +are very incomplete. Most of the habitations appear to have been run up +with green wood; the result may be pleasant and airy in summer, when the +balmy breeze comes in from cracks in the doors and window-frames, but +except in great heat, a perforated house is a mistake. People have to +bring their own servants and other effects. I should say a portable +stove would not be a bad item amongst the luggage. + +The Borsék waters are very much drunk throughout Hungary, especially +mixed with wine. Everywhere I noticed that eight people out of ten would +take water with their wine at meals. In the district round there is +splendid pasturage for cattle. Large numbers of cattle fed in these +parts are now sent to Buda-Pest and Vienna. The serious drawback to +Borsék is its great distance from a railway. The nearest station is +Maros Vásárhely, which is nearly ninety miles away. The drive between +the two places is very fine--that is, the scenery is fine, but the road +itself is execrable. A telegraph wire connects Borsék with the outside +world, but the post only comes twice a-week. + +[Footnote 21: The waters of Borsék are much taken as an "after-cure."] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + Moldavian frontier--Tölgyes--Excitement about robbers--Attempt at + extortion--A ride over the mountains--Return to St Miklos. + + +Instead of going back to St Miklos by the same route, I resolved to +diverge a little if the weather permitted. I wanted to visit Tölgyes, a +village on the frontier of Moldavia, which is said to be very pretty. +The weather decidedly improved, so I rode off in that direction. The +road, owing to the late rains, was in a dreadful state. All the mountain +summits were covered with fresh snow; it was a lovely sight. The +dazzling whiteness of these peaks rising above the zone of dark +fir-trees was singularly striking and beautiful. The effect of sunshine +was exhilarating in the highest degree, and the contrast with my recent +experience gave it a keener relish. + +At Tölgyes there is a considerable trade with Moldavia in wood. Quite a +fresh human interest was imparted to the scene by this industry. By the +side of the stream small rafts were in course of construction, and the +trunks of the trees were being placed in position to make the descent of +the stream. The woodman's axe was heard in the forest, and many a +picturesque hut or group of huts were to be seen by the roadside, where +the woodmen and their families live, to be near their work. The labour +of getting the timber along these tortuous mountain streams is very +great. A ready market is found at Galatz, where a great deal of this +wood is sent. + +I remained the night at Tölgyes. The whole place was in a state of +excitement about brigands; every one had some fresh rumour to help swell +the general panic. A company of soldiers were kept constantly patrolling +the roads in the neighbourhood. I should say they were pretty safe not +to encounter the robbers, who are always well informed under those +circumstances. + +In studying my pocket-map, I found that there was clearly a short cut +over the mountains to St Miklos. On inquiry I extracted the confirmation +of the fact with difficulty, and I had still more difficulty in inducing +anybody to go with me as a guide. At length I secured the services of a +fellow who was willing to go for a tolerably substantial +"consideration." I was afraid to work my way entirely by the map, for +roads are apt to be vague in these parts. Ten chances to one whether +you know a road when you see it; it might be a green sward, or the +rubbly dry bed of a mountain torrent, or a cattle-track; it may lead +somewhere or nowhere. Unassisted you may wander all manner of ways. + +I made my start very early in the morning, for I had a long way to go, +and my guide was on foot; there was not much use in being mounted, +considering the pace that the roughness of the road forced us to take. +Before leaving Tölgyes I had a row with the innkeeper. He made a most +exorbitant demand upon me, at least three times over what was properly +due. I told him at once that I declined to pay the full amount he asked. +I knew perfectly well what the charge ought to be, and I said I should +pay that and no more. Hereupon he got very angry, and informed me that +he should not saddle my horse or let me go till I had paid him in full. +I immediately went into the stable and saddled the horse myself; I then +put down on the window-seat the money which I considered was due to him, +giving a fair and liberal margin, but I was not going to be "done" +because I was a foreigner. I ordered my guide to proceed, and I myself +quickly rode out of the place. The innkeeper worked himself up into a +tremendous rage, and declared he would have me back, or at least he +would have his cold meat and bread back that I had ordered for the +journey. I gave my horse the rein, and left the fellow uttering his +blessings both loud and deep. + +We had ten miles of as bad a road as any I had yet seen in my travels. +The mud in some places was two feet deep. We followed the windings of a +stream called the Putna Patak, and came presently to a wayside inn +frequented by foresters. Here we made a short halt, got a bottle of +decent wine and a crust of bread. Immediately on quitting this place we +turned into a less frequented path, and began a stiffish ascent. It was +a superb day, and I enjoyed it immensely, not having been much favoured +by weather lately. Our route was through a thick forest, the trees, as +usual in these, magnificent, with their gigantic girth, and +widespreading branches. At times I got a glimpse of the snowy mountain +summits standing out against the intensely blue sky. + +At mid-day I told the guide to look out for the next spring, for there +we would dine. We did not find a spring for some time, at least not by +the wayside, and I was reluctant to lose time by wandering about. At +length when we had secured a water-tap--viz., a little trickling rill +flowing between some stones and spongy moss--we found ourselves in a +difficulty about the fire. There was plenty of wood, but it was all +soaking wet and would not burn. Luckily a fir-tree was spied out, which +provided us with a good quantity of turpentine, and with this we +persuaded the fire to blaze up a bit. We cooked the dinner, had a smoke, +a short rest, and then _en avant_--always through the forest. + +Later in the afternoon, emerging from the wood, we came upon a grassy +plateau which commanded a glorious view of the Transylvanian side of the +Carpathians. I was glad to see the familiar valley of Gyergyó away +westward, with its numerous villages and green pasturage. The same +physical peculiarity pervades the whole of Hungary. Whenever you get a +vale of any extent, it is as flat as if it were a bit of the great +plain. Everywhere you have the impression that formerly the waters of a +lake must have covered the level verdure of the valley. As soon as I +caught sight of St Miklos I dismissed my guide, for his services were no +longer required, and I could get on quicker without him. I had still a +long distance to go, for I was not far below the summit. I was extremely +anxious to get into safe quarters before dark, so I made the best of the +way, leading my horse down the steep bits, and mounting again for a +short trot where it was possible. + +On arriving at the house of my Armenian friends at St Miklos, happily +before sundown, I was greatly disappointed to find that there would be +no bear-hunt the next day. Those detestable robbers had turned up again, +and the people who were to have formed part of the sporting expedition +were obliged to go robber-hunting, a sport not much to their taste I +fancy. + +It appeared that the fellows had entered an out-of-the-way inn, or +rather wine-shop, and boldly ordered the owner to procure for them a +certain amount of gunpowder, which they required should be ready for +them the next day, and failing to carry out their orders, they +threatened to shoot him. He was obliged to promise, for there were five +of them, and except women he was alone in the house. They drank a +quantity of his wine, and asked for no reckoning, saying they would pay +for it the next day along with the gunpowder. + +Directly they had left the premises, the innkeeper set off as fast as +his legs could carry him to St Miklos to ask for help. The robbers +seemed to be such bunglers that one would judge them to be new to the +business; but the innkeeper's terror knew no bounds, and he declared +they were awful-looking cut-throats. Two of the men were caught the +next day. I saw them brought into the village heavily manacled; they +were harmless-looking Wallacks, not very different in appearance from my +guide over the mountain. Though armed with guns, they made no +resistance; and when they were discovered they had called out lustily to +the soldiers not to fire, for they would give themselves up. I expect +they were let off with imprisonment, but I never heard the end of the +story. I owed them a grudge for spoiling my bear-hunt, which I missed +altogether, for I could not wait until the following Sunday. + +I left St Miklos with an introduction to some rich Armenians at +Toplicza, where I intended making my next halt. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + Toplicza--Armenian hospitality--A bear-hunt--A ride over to the + frontier of Bukovina--Destruction of timber--Maladministration of + State property--An unpleasant night on the mountain--Snowstorm. + + +At Toplicza I was very hospitably received by the family to whom I took +the letter of introduction from my friends at the last place. +Unfortunately I could not converse with the elders of the family, for +they spoke no German, and my Hungarian was limited. However, there was a +charming young lady with whom I found no difficulty in getting on; she +understood not only the language but the literature of Germany. + +A bear-hunt was soon proposed in my honour. The headman of the village +was brought into our council, and he quickly sent round orders that +everybody was to appear the following day--which conveniently happened +to be _fête_ day--for a hunt. Those who had guns would be placed at +different "stands," and those who had no guns were expected to act as +beaters. + +The _Richter_, or headman, was a fine specimen of a Wallack; he was six +feet three, broad chested, with flowing black hair--a handsome fellow of +that type. I told him I should not like to fight him if he knew how to +use his fists. He was pleased at the little compliment. The next day the +Wallacks came pouring in from all the outlying parts of the village. It +was really a very picturesque sight. The men wore thongs of leather +round their feet in place of boots; and those who had no guns were armed +with the usual long staff surmounted by the formidable axe-head. + +A great deal of time was wasted in preparations. The Wallacks are the +most dilatory people in the whole world. It was nearly three o'clock +before we got to the forests where we hoped to give Bruin a rendezvous. +The guns that some of the party carried were "a caution"--more fit for a +museum of armoury than for anything else. The Wallacks try to remedy the +inefficiency of their guns by cramming in very large charges of powder, +at least two bullets, and some buckshot besides. I often thought the +danger was greater to themselves than to the bear. They never fire over +twenty-five yards, and in fact generally allow the bear to come within +twelve yards, when they pepper away at him. + +At last we were in position. It is usual to have a second gun, but I +had only my rifle and revolver; unfortunately my gun was with my baggage +at Maros Vásárhely. After waiting for some time without hearing anything +but the creaking of the pine-trees in the wind, the advance of the +beaters was at length audible. You hear repeated thuds with their axes +on the trees, and you know that they are beating up your way. All at +once I heard the unmistakable tread of some heavy four-footed beast. I +held my breath, fearing to betray my presence. Nearer and nearer came +the heavy tread, the branches cracking as the animal broke its way +through the thicket. It must be a bear of the largest size, thought I, +with a glow of delight warming up my whole frame at this supreme moment. +I had just raised the rifle to my shoulder, when--judge my disgust--when +emerging from the thicket I saw a stray ox make his appearance! I could +hardly resist putting a bullet into the stupid brute's carcass, but I +remembered that I should have to pay for that little game. + +We moved on to another part of the forest, and the same programme of +taking our positions and arranging the course of the beaters was gone +through; but we met with no success. This was the more provoking, +because on our return we found the fresh slot of a bear. He had +evidently just saved himself in time; the marks of his claws were quite +visible in the soft mud. + +These footprints were all we were destined to see, for evening was +drawing on, and it was impossible to pursue the sport any farther. Of +course we commenced operations far too late in the day; it was simply +ridiculous to begin at such a late hour in the autumn afternoon. It was +very disappointing; but there is so much of mere chance in bear-hunting, +that where one man has the luck to kill four or five in a season, +another may go on for two years following without getting as much as a +shot. + +The sportsman will be glad to hear, though the farmer is of quite +another mind, that bears, wolves, and wild-boar are increasing very much +in the Carpathians generally. I have mentioned this fact before, but I +allude to it again because it was everywhere corroborated. On all sides +this increase is attributed to the tax on firearms, which deters the +peasants from keeping them down. They are often too poor to pay for a +shooting licence and the gun-tax. + +Toplicza has some warm mineral springs. Warm water seems to be turned on +everywhere in Hungary. One of these springs is situated close to the +river, where a simple kind of bath-house has been constructed. The water +contains iodine. While at Toplicza I heard that somewhere up in the +mountains on the Bukovina side there is a large deposit of sulphur. The +accounts were very vague, but I thought I should like to have a look at +the place. The district was pronounced to be so unsafe, and so many +robbers had appeared on the scene lately, that I thought proper to take +two men with me; one as a guide, for he had been there before, and a +forester armed with a gun. + +My friends the Armenians kindly insisted on providing me with everything +necessary in the shape of food; and one day, the weather being fine, I +started at noon on this expedition along with my attendants. We soon got +into the forest again. The size of the trees was almost beyond belief; +but, alas! many of them had been destroyed in the same ruthless manner +that I have so often alluded to in my travels. Here were half-burned +trunks of splendid oak-trees lying rotting on the ground in every +direction, showing clearly that the forest had been fired. The attempt +at a clearing, if that was the object, was utterly abortive; for when +the trees are down a thick undercover grows up, more impervious by far, +and there is less chance of obtaining pasturage than ever, but the +Wallack never reasons upon this. The State reckons the value of its +"forests" at something like 27,000,000 florins, and yet there is no +efficient supervision of this property, which, from the increasing +scarcity of wood in Europe, must become in time more and more valuable. +The mines of Hungary are estimated in round numbers at 210,000,000 +florins, and here again there is a lamentable absence of wise +administration. The mining laws, I understand, are at present under +revision. Foreign enterprise is not discouraged, but I cannot go so far +as to say that the adventure would not meet with difficulties from local +obstructions of an official or semi-official nature. + +We had started from Toplicza in beautiful weather, but before sunset a +complete change came on, and heavy rain set in. This was a very +uncomfortable look-out, for we could see nothing that offered us +anything like a decent shelter for the night. The guide urged us to go +on, for he said there was a hut at the top of the mountain; so we beat +our way along through the driving rain, and eventually came to the top. +We soon found the hut, but it was a mere ruin; it might have been in +Chancery for any number of years, indeed one end had tumbled in. It was +as uninviting a place to spend a night in as could well be imagined. +Fortunately one corner was still weather-proof, the fir bark of the roof +yet remaining intact. We had to be careful, however, about the roof, +which consisted of stems of trees supported longitudinally. It was easy +to see that a very little incautious vivacity on our part would bring +the whole structure down on our heads. Water was found not far off, and +we soon had a fire, which blazed up cheerfully. Its warmth was very +necessary, for it was bitterly cold and damp. I had brought with me a +hammock made of twine; this I slung in the driest corner, and after +supper I turned in and was soon asleep. The faculty of sleep is an +immense comfort. A man may put it high up on the credit side in striking +the balance of good and evil in his lot. + +When I awoke the next morning, I found that the weather was worse than +ever. The mist was so dense that the Wallack guide said it was perfectly +impossible to go on, in fact we might consider ourselves lucky if we +were able to get back without mischance. Not to be daunted, I waited +till nearly noon, thinking it was possible that the mist might rise, and +restore to us the bright skies of yesterday. A change came, but not the +one we hoped for. The cold rain turned into snow, so it would have been +sheer madness to think of going on. + +We were in a wretched plight, crowded together in the corner of the +ruined hut, and snow as well as "light" came in "through the chinks that +time had made." Owing to a change in the wind, the smoke of the fire +outside drifted in; and there was evidence of a worse drift--that of the +snow, which before nightfall I daresay may have buried the cottage out +of sight. + +I now gave orders for returning, and just as I stepped out of the hut, +or was in the act of leaving, one of the heavy beams from the roof fell +upon me; it caught me on the back of my head--a pretty close shave! The +ride back, with the consciousness of having failed to attain the object +I had in view, was depressing. Nothing could be more unlovely than these +once glorious forests. In parts we had to pass through a mere morass, +into which my horse kept sinking. + +At last we got back to Toplicza. The forester and the Wallack thought +themselves amply compensated by a few paper florins. I daresay they kept +off the rheumatism by extra potations of _slivovitz_. As for myself, +having been dipped, yea, having even undergone total immersion in the +morass, I felt like those extinct animals who have left their +interesting bones nice and dry in the blue lias, but who in daily life +must have been "mud all over." I presented such a spectacle on my +return, that I consider it was an instance of the greatest +kindness--indeed it must have been a severe strain on the hospitality +of my friends to give me house-room. + +As my garments had not the durability of those of the Israelites in the +wilderness, it became a very desirable object to effect a junction with +my portmanteau, which was sitting all this time at Maros Vásárhely. The +weather, too, had calmed my ardour for the mountains, and I resolved to +strike into the interior of Transylvania, and see something of the +towns. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + Visits at Transylvanian châteaux--Society--Dogs--Amusements at + Klausenburg--Magyar poets--Count Istvan Széchenyi--Baron + Eötvos--'The Village Notary'--Hungarian self-criticism--Literary + taste. + + +I must now drop the itinerary of my journey and speak more in +generalities; for after leaving the wilder districts of the Szeklerland, +I took the opportunity of presenting some of the letters of introduction +that I brought with me from England. + +For the succeeding six weeks or more I spent my time most agreeably in +the châteaux of some of the well-known Transylvanian nobles. For the +time my wild rovings were over. The bivouac in the glorious forest and +robber-steak cooked by the camp fire--the pleasures of "roughing +it"--were exchanged for the charms of society. + +And society is _very_ charming in Transylvania. Nearly all the ladies +speak English well, and are extremely well read in our literature. To +speak French is a matter of course everywhere; but they infinitely +prefer our literature, and speak our language always in preference when +they can. + +The works of such men as Darwin, Lyell, and Tyndall are read. I remember +seeing these, and many other leading authors, in a bookseller's shop in +Klausenburg. It is true this last-named place is the capital--viz., the +Magyar capital--of Transylvania, but in most respects it is a mere +provincial town. + +A friend and myself happened to be lunching one day in the principal +inn--it was in the _salle à manger_--and we were talking together in +English. Presently I noticed a remarkably little man at the next table, +who looked towards us several times; finally he got up from his chair, +or rather I should say got down, and making a sign to us equivalent to +touching his hat, he said, "Gentlemen, I am an Englishman; I thought it +right to tell you in case you should think there was no one present who +understood what you were talking!" It was very civil of the little +fellow, for we were talking rather unguardedly about some well-known +personages. I then asked him how he came to be in this part of the +world, and he told me he was a jockey, and had been over several times +to ride at the Klausenburg races; but he added he was very sorry that +they always took place on a Sunday! There is certainly no "_bitter_ +observance of the Sabbath" in Hungary generally. Offices are open, and +business is conducted as usual--certainly in the morning. + +There is some good coursing in the neighbourhood of Klausenburg, which +is kept up closely on the pattern of English sport. I had two or three +good runs with the harriers, and on one occasion got a spill that was a +close shave of breaking my neck. Count T---- had given me a mount. The +horse was all right, but not knowing the nature of the country, I was +not aware that the ground drops suddenly in many places. Coming to +something of this kind without preparation, the horse threw me, and I +was pitched down an embankment upwards of twelve feet in depth. Several +people who saw the mishap thought it was all up with me, but, curiously +enough, I was absolutely unhurt. A pull at my flask set me all right, +and I walked back the five miles to Klausenburg. The horse unfortunately +galloped away, and was not brought back till the next day, and then +minus his saddle; however, it was recovered subsequently. + +In the present scare about hydrophobia the following is worth notice. +One day when walking in the principal street of Klausenburg I heard a +great barking amongst the dogs, of which there were some dozen following +a closed van. On inquiry I found that once a-week the authorities send +round to see if there are any dogs at large without the regulation +tax-collar. If any such vagabonds are found they are consigned to the +covered cart, and are forthwith shot. This excellent arrangement has the +effect of keeping down the number of dogs; besides, there is the +safeguard attendant upon the responsibility of ownership. The funny part +of the matter is that the tax-paying dogs are not the least alarmed at +the appearance of the whipper-in, but join with great show of public +spirit in denouncing the collarless vagrants. + +Klausenburg has not the picturesque situation of Kronstadt, but it is a +pleasant clean-looking town, with wide streets diverging from the Platz, +where stands the Cathedral, completed by Matthias Corvinus, son of +Hunyadi. This famous king, always called "the Just," was born at +Klausenburg in 1443. + +As Herrmannstadt and Kronstadt are chiefly inhabited by Saxon +immigrants, and Maros Vásárhely is the central place of the Szeklers, so +may Klausenburg, or rather Kolozsvár, as it is rightly named, be +considered the Magyar capital of Transylvania. + +The gaieties of the winter season had not commenced when I was there, +but I understand the world amuses itself immensely. The nobles come in +from their remote châteaux to their houses, or apartments, as it may be, +in town, and then the ball is set going. + +There is a good theatre in Klausenburg. I found the acting decidedly +above the average of the provincial stage generally. I saw a piece of +Moliere's given, and though I could only understand the Hungarian very +imperfectly, I was enabled to follow it well enough to judge of the +acting. + +Shakespeare is so great a favourite with the Hungarians that his plays +are certainly more often represented on the stage at Buda-Pest than in +London. The Hungarian translation of our great poet, as I observed +before, is most excellent. + +It was a band of patriotic poets who first employed the language of the +Magyars in their compositions. Hitherto all literary utterance had been +confined to Latin, or to the foreign tongues spoken at courts. The rash +attempt of Joseph II. to denationalise the Magyar and to Germanise +Hungary by imperial edicts had a violent reactionary result. The +strongest and the most enduring expression is to be found in the popular +literature which was inaugurated by such men as Csokonai and the two +brothers Kisfaludy, who were all three born in the last century. The +songs of Csokonai have retained their hold on the people's hearts +because, and here is the keynote--"because they breathe the true +Hungarian feeling." The insistent themes of the Magyar poets were the +love of country, the joys of home, the duty of patriotism. Such was the +soul-stirring 'Appeal' ('Szózat') of Varósmazty, the chief of all the +tuneful brethren, the Schiller of Hungary. Born with the nineteenth +century, and at once its child and its teacher, he died in 1855--too +soon, alas! to see the benefits accruing to his beloved country from the +wise reconciliatory policy of his dear friend Deák. His funeral was +attended by more than 20,000 people, and the country provided for his +family. + +Whenever the poets of Hungary are mentioned the name of Petoefy will +occur, and he was second to none in originality of thought and poetic +utterance. An intense love of his native scenery, not excepting even the +dreary boundless Alföld, afforded inspiration for his genius. His poetic +temperament and pathetic story give him a certain likeness to the brave +young Körner, dear to every German heart. Petoefy was engaged in editing +a Hungarian translation of Shakespeare when he was interrupted by the +political events of 1848. His pen and sword were alike devoted to the +cause of patriotism, and entering the army under General Bern, he +became his adjutant and secretary. During the memorable winter campaign +in Transylvania he wrote proclamations and warlike songs. We all know +the story of the Russian invasion of Transylvania at Austria's appeal, +and how the brave Hungarians fought and fell at the battle of +Schässburg. This engagement took place on the 31st of July '49. Petoefy +was present, and indeed had been seen in the thick of the fight; but in +the evening he was missing from the roll-call, and, strange to say, his +remains, though searched for, were never identified. The mystery which +hung over his fate caused many romantic stories to be circulated, and +not a few claimants to his name and fame have arisen. Even within the +last three months a report has reached his native village that he had +been seen in the mines of Siberia, where he has been kept a prisoner all +these years by the Russians! + +The language of the Magyars was heard not in poetry alone, but in the +sternest prose. "Hungary is not, but Hungary shall be," said Count +Széchcnyi. The men who worked out this problem were politicians, +writers, and orators. Foremost among them may be reckoned Baron Eötvos, +one of the most liberal-minded and enlightened thinkers of the day. His +efforts were specially directed to improving the education of all +classes of the community. With this end and aim he worked unceasingly. +He held the post of Minister of Cultus and Education in the first +independent Hungarian Ministry in 1848, but withdrew in consequence of +political differences with his colleagues. Again in 1867 he held the +same _porte-feuille_ under Count Andrassy, but died in 1870 universally +regretted. His best known literary productions arc two novels, 'The +Carthusian' and 'The Village Notary,' The latter highly-interesting, +indeed dramatic story, may be recommended to any one who desires to know +what really were the sufferings entailed upon the peasantry under the +old system of forced labour. It is one of those fictions which, as old +Walter Savage Landor used to say, "are more true than fact." It was the +'Uncle Tom's Cabin' of that day, and of the cause he had at heart--the +abolition of serfdom. In reading this most thrilling story, one can +understand the evil times that gave birth to the terrible saying of the +peasant, "that a lord is a lord, even in hell." + +Yet it was the nobles themselves who abolished at one sweep all the +privileges of their order. It was by their unanimous consent that the +manumission of nearly eight millions of serfs was granted, at the same +time converting the feudal holdings of some 500,000 families into +absolute freeholds. + +In Hungary it would appear that public opinion is generously receptive +of new impulses, and in this particular the Hungarians resemble us, as +they claim to do in many things, calling themselves "the English of the +East." + +"It is curious," said Baroness B---- to me one day, "that with all our +respect for British institutions, and everything that is English, that +we fail to copy their straight good sense. We have too many talkers, too +few workers. We are not yet a money-making nation; we have no idea of +serious work, and our spirit for business is not yet developed. Almost +all industrial or commercial enterprises are in the hands of Jews, +Armenians, Greeks, who are great scoundrels generally." + +"The Armenians are instinctive traders," I remarked. + +"Yes, true; just as we are the very reverse. But this change has come +over us. Taking again our cue from England, we see that trade can be +respectable, and those who follow it are respected--with you at least. +We try to _Englishify_ ourselves, and some of the younger members of the +community make a funny hash of it. For instance, a rich young country +swell in our neighbourhood went over to England and came back in +raptures with everything, and tried to turn everything upside down at +home without accommodating his new ideas to the circumstances that were +firmly rooted here. You may see him now sit down to dinner with an +English dresscoat over his red Hungarian waistcoat. His freaks went far +beyond this, and he came to be known as the 'savage Englishman.'" + +I asked my hostess if our English novels were much read. + +"Everybody likes your English fiction," replied Baroness B----. "It is +immensely read, and has helped to promote the knowledge of the language +more perhaps than anything else. We, too, have our writers of fiction. +Jokai is the most prolific, but he has got to be too much an imitator of +the French school. One of his earlier novels, 'The New Landlord,' has +been translated into English, and gives a good picture of Hungarian life +in the transition state of things. For elegance of style he is not to be +compared to Gzulai Paul and Baron Eötvos." + +"There seems to be a growing interest in natural history and +literature," I remarked, "judging from the enormous increase of +newspapers and journals which pass through the post, both foreign and +local." + +"With regard to local journals," replied the Baroness, "we have the +'Osszehasonlitó irodalomtörténelmi Lapok' ('Comparative Literary +Journal'), which is published at Klausenburg, at Herrmannstadt, and at +Kesmark in Upper Hungary. There are Natural History Societies, who +publish their reports annually. Added to this, there are few towns of +any size that have not their public libraries. I speak specially of +Transylvania, where we affect a higher degree of culture than in Hungary +Proper." + +Baroness B---- was very anxious to impress upon me that certainly in +Transylvania the ladies of good society do not affect "fast" manners or +style. "Very few amongst us," she said, "adopt the nasty habit of +smoking cigarettes. I am very sorry that Countess A---- has attempted to +introduce this fashion from Pest." + +Buda-Pest, though the capital, is not the place to find the best +Hungarian society. Many of the old families prefer Pressburg; and +Klausenburg is to Transylvania what Edinburgh was to Scotland, socially +speaking, before the days of railroads. In the season good society may +be met with at the various baths, but every year the facilities of +travel enable people to go farther a-field health-seeking and for +pleasure. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + A visit at Schloss B------National characteristics--Robber + stories--Origin of the "poor lads"--Audacity of the + robbers--Anecdote of Deák and the housebreaker--Romantic story of a + robber chief. + + +The three weeks I remained at Schloss B---- were amongst the most +agreeable days I spent in Transylvania. There were a great many visitors +coming and going, affording me an excellent opportunity of seeing the +society of that part of Hungary. With regard to the younger generation, +the Transylvanians are like well-bred people all the world over. The +ladies have something of the frankness of superior Americans--the sort +of Americans that Lord Lytton describes in 'The Parisians'--and in +consequence conversation has more vivacity than with us. + +In the elder generation you may detect far more of national peculiarity; +in some cases they retain the national dress, and with it the Magyar +pride and ostentation, so strongly dashed with Orientalism. Then again, +in the houses of the old nobility, one is struck by many curious +incongruities. For example, Count T---- has a large retinue of +servants--five cooks are hardly able at times to supply his hospitable +board, so numerous are the guests--yet the walls of his rooms are simply +whitewashed, and the furniture is a mixture of costly articles from +Vienna and the handiwork of the village carpenter. A whole array of +servants, who are in gorgeous liveries at dinner, may be seen barefooted +in the morning. + +In talking with some of the elderly members of the family, I heard many +curious anecdotes of old Hungarian customs; but "the old order changeth" +here as elsewhere, and a monotonous uniformity threatens the social +world. Even as it is, everybody who entertains his friends at dinner is +much the same as everybody else, be he in Monmouth or Macedon. +Distinctive characteristics of race are found more easily in the common +people, who are less amenable to the change of fashion than their +superiors. Baroness B---- had a complete repertory of robber stories, +some of which are so characteristic that I will repeat them here. + +I have before alluded to the peculiarity which existed in the old system +preserving to the peasant his personal freedom, though the land was +burdened with duties. It was not till 1838 that the Austrians +introduced the conscription, and subsequently they carried out the law +with a brutality that made the innovation thoroughly detested by the +peasantry. Accustomed to their tradition of personal freedom, the forced +military service in itself was regarded with intense dislike. The richer +classes were enabled to pay a certain sum of money for exemption, but +the poor were helpless; they were dragged from their houses and sent to +distant parts of the empire, to serve for a long period of years. As +cases had not unfrequently occurred of the recruits running away, they +were subjected to the ignominy of being chained together in gangs; and +as if this was not enough, many superfluous brutalities were inflicted +by the Austrian officials. + +To escape from this hated service, many a young man fled from his home +in anticipation of the next levy of the conscription, and hid himself in +the shepherds' _tanya_ in the plain. These remote dwellings in the +distant _puszta_ were no bad hiding--places, and the fugitives were +freely harboured by the shepherds, who shared the animosity of the "poor +lads" against the Austrian conscription. In course of time these outlaws +found honest work difficult to procure; they became, in short, vagabonds +on the face of the earth, and ended by forming themselves into robber +bands. They had also their class grievance against the rich, who had +been enabled to buy themselves off from serving in the army. The numbers +of the original fugitives were soon increased by evil-doers from all +sides--ruffians who had a natural bent for rapine--and a plague of +robbers was the result, threatening all parts of Hungary. The mischief +grew to such serious proportions, and it transpired that the robbers had +everywhere accomplices in the towns and villages. Persons of apparently +respectable position were suspected of favouring them; they were called +"poor lads," and a glamour of patriotism was flung over the fugitives +from Austrian tyranny. + +During the war of independence these robber bands rallied round their +elected chief, Shandor Bozsa, and actually offered their services to the +Hungarian Government, as they desired to take part in the great national +struggle. The Provisional Government accepted their services, and they +came pouring in from every part of the country. At first they behaved +very well, and in fact many of these "irregulars" distinguished +themselves by acts of great valour. In the end it was the old story; +they soon showed a degree of insubordination that rendered them worse +than useless to the regular army. By the time the struggle for +independence had found its melancholy ending at Villagos, these fellows +were again at their old tricks of horse-stealing and cattle-lifting, and +they went so far as to waylay even the _honved_, the national Hungarian +militia. The well-disposed part of the community was powerless to resist +the robbers, for after the disastrous events of 1849 the Austrian +Government prohibited the possession of firearms, even for hunting +purposes, so that villages and towns, one might almost say, were at the +mercy of a band of well-armed robbers. The Government were so busy +hunting down political conspirators, and hanging, shooting, and +imprisoning patriots, that they were indifferent to the increase of +brigandage. The statistics of the political persecutions which Hungary +suffered at the hands of Austria during the ten years that followed +Villagos were significant. Upwards of two thousand persons were +sentenced to death, nearly ten times that number were thrown into +prison, and almost five thousand Hungarian patriots were driven into +exile--amongst the number Deák, the yet-to-be saviour of his country. + +But to return to the robbers. They had spread themselves over the whole +land; from the forests of Bakony to Transylvania, from the Carpathians +to the Danube, no place was free from these desperate marauders. They +committed incredible deeds of boldness. On one occasion seven or eight +robbers attacked a caravan of thirty waggons in the neighbourhood of +Szegedin, the cavalcade being on its way to the fair in that town. The +traders were without a single firearm amongst them, so that the +fully--armed brigands effected their purpose, though it was broad +daylight. Another time they entered a market town in Transylvania and +coolly demanded that the broken wheel of their waggon should be mended, +threatening to shoot down anybody who offered the slightest opposition. +The post was frequently stopped, but it came to be remarked, that though +the passengers were generally killed, the drivers escaped. This, +together with the fact that the post was always stopped when there were +large sums of money in course of transit, led the authorities to suspect +that their employés were in collusion with the robbers, and subsequent +events proved this to be the case. + +When the hostility of Austria had somewhat cooled down, the dangerous +up-growth of these robber bands attracted the serious attention of the +Government, and not only _gendarmerie_ but military force were employed +against them. The officials to a man were Germans and Bohemians, +indifferently honest, and hated by the peasantry, who, after all, +preferred a Hungarian robber to an Austrian official. The consequence +was that they were not by any means very ready to depose against the +"poor lads," and the Government found themselves unequal to cope with +the difficulty, so things went from bad to worse. + +In 1867, when at last the reconciliation policy of Deák had effected a +substantial peace with Austria, the Hungarian Constitution being +reestablished, and the towns and _comitats_ (counties) having got back +their prerogatives and self-government, the intolerable evil of +brigandage was at once brought before the attention of the Parliament +assembled at Buda-Pest. There were a great many speeches made upon the +subject, and Count Forgács with a considerable military force was +despatched to Zala and the adjoining country against the robbers. He +simply drove them out of one part of the country to carry on their +devastations in another, and dreadful robberies and murders were +reported from Szegedin. On several occasions the post was stopped, and +the passengers were invariably killed. They even stopped the railway +train one day at Péteri. + +Government were now obliged to take stronger measures. They recalled +Count Forgács, and despatched Count Rádaz as Royal Commissary with +augmented powers, Parliament in the mean time voting a grant of 60,000 +florins for the purpose. + +The energetic measures taken by Count Rádaz led to some remarkable +disclosures. He discovered that tradesmen, magistrates, and other +employés in towns and villages were in communication with the brigands, +and in fact shared the booty. It came to be remarked that certain +persons returned suddenly to their homes after a mysterious absence, +which corresponded with the commission of some desperate outrage in +another part of the country. + +In the space of fifteen months Count Rádaz had to deal with nearly six +hundred cases of capital offences, and no less than two hundred of the +malefactors were condemned to the gallows. + +"Wherever they can the peasants will shelter the 'poor lads' from the +law," said my friend. "It happened only last spring in our neighbourhood +that a robber had been tracked to a village, but though this had +happened on several occasions, yet the authorities failed to find him. +It was known that he had a sweetheart there, a handsome peasant girl, +who was herself a favourite with everybody. One day, however, the +soldiers discovered him hidden in a hay-loft. There was a terrible +struggle; the robber, discharging his revolver, killed one man and +wounded another. At length he was secured, strongly bound, and placed in +a waggon to be conveyed to the nearest fortress. When passing through a +wood the convoy was set upon by a lot of women, who flung flowers into +the waggon, and a little farther on a rescue was attempted; but the +military were in strong force, and the villagers had to content +themselves with loud expressions of sympathy for the 'poor lad.' He was, +in truth, a handsome, gallant young fellow--open-handed, generous to the +poor, and with the courage of a lion--just the sort of hero for a +mischievous romance." + +The following story, related by my friend Baroness B----, proves that +there were men amongst these outlaws who were not destitute of patriotic +feeling. In the year 1867 a band of "poor lads" surprised a country +gentleman's house by night. It was their habit to ask for money and +valuables, and woe betide those who refused, unless they were strong +enough to resist the demand. Horrible atrocities were committed by these +miscreants, who have been known to torture the inhabitants of lonely +dwellings, finishing their brutal work by setting fire to house and +homestead. + +On the occasion above named the robber band consisted of more than a +dozen well-armed men, and as the household was but small, resistance +was out of the question. They made a forcible entrance, and were going +the round of every room in the house, collecting all valuables of a +portable nature, when it chanced that they entered the guest-chamber, +that had for its occupant no less a person than the great patriot +Francis Deák. The intruders instantly pounced on a very handsome gold +watch lying on a table near the bedside. Mr Deák, thus rudely disturbed, +awoke to the unpleasant fact that his much-prized watch was in the hands +of the robbers. Giving them credit for some feelings of patriotism, he +simply told them who he was, adding that the watch was the keepsake of a +dear departed friend, and begged they would restore it to him. On +hearing his name the chief immediately handed the watch back, +apologising "very much for breaking in on the repose of honoured Mr +Deák, whom they held in so much respect," adding "that the nature of +their occupation obliged them to make use of the hours of the night for +their work." + +The chance of interviewing Mr Deák was not to be neglected, so the +robber chief sat down by the bedside of the statesman and had a chat +about political affairs, and finally took his leave with many +expressions of respect. Not an article of Mr Deák's was touched; they +even contented themselves with a very moderate amount of black-mail +from the master of the house, and no one was personally injured in any +way. + +My next story is a very romantic one; it was related to me by an English +friend who was travelling in Hungary as long ago as 1846, when the +circumstance had recently occurred. It seems that in those days a +certain lady, the widow of a wealthy magnate, inhabited a lonely castle +not far from the principal route between Buda and Vienna. She received +one morning a polite note requesting her to provide supper at ten +o'clock that night for twelve gentlemen! She knew at once the character +of her self-invited guests, and devised a novel mode of defence. Some +people would have sent post-haste to the nearest town for help, but the +_châtelaine_ could easily divine that every road from the castle would +be watched to prevent communication, so she made her own plans. + +At ten o'clock up rode an armed band, twelve men in all; immediately the +gate of the outer court and the entrance door were thrown open, as if +for the most honoured and welcome guests. The lady of the castle herself +stood in the entrance to receive them, richly dressed as if for an +entertainment. She at once selected the chief, bade him welcome, gave +orders that their horses should be well cared for, and then taking the +arm of her guest, she led him into the dining-hall. Here a goodly feast +was spread, the tables and sideboard being covered with a magnificent +display of gold and silver plate, the accumulation of many generations. + +The leader of the robber band started back surprised, but immediately +recovering his presence of mind, he seated himself calmly by the side of +his charming hostess, who soon engaged him in conversation about the gay +world of Vienna, whose doings were perfectly familiar to them both. At +length, when the feast was nearly ended, the chief took out his watch +and said, "Madame, the happiest moments of my life have always been the +shortest. I have another engagement this night, but before I leave allow +me to tell you that in appealing to my honour, as you have done +to-night, you have saved me from the commission of a crime. Bad as I am, +none ever appealed to my honour in vain. As for you, my men," he said, +looking sternly round with his hand on his pistol, "I charge you to take +nothing from this house; he who disobeys me dies that instant." + +The chief then asked for pen and paper, and writing some sentences in a +strange character, handed it to his hostess, saying, "If you or your +retainers should at any time lose anything of value, let that paper be +displayed in the nearest town, and I pledge you my word the missing +articles shall be returned." After this he took his leave, the troop +mounted their horses and departed. + +My friend told me that he was enabled to verify the story; and he +subsequently discovered the real name of the robber chief. He was an +impoverished cadet of one of the noblest families in Hungary. His fate +was sad enough; lie was captured a few months after this incident, and +ended his life under the hands of the common hangman. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + Return to Buda-Pest--All-Souls' Day--The cemetery--Secret burial of + Count Louis Batthyanyi--High rate of mortality at Buda-Pest. + + +Some matters of business recalled me to Buda-Pest in the midst of a +round of visits in Transylvania. The great hospitality of my new friends +would have rendered a winter in that delightful country most agreeable, +but the holiday part of my tour was over, and circumstances led me to +pass some months in the capital. + +I got back just in time for All-Souls' Day. The _Fête des Morts_ is +observed with great ceremony throughout Hungary, especially at +Buda-Pest. In the afternoon of this day a friend and myself joined the +throng, who were with one accord making their way eastward along the +Radial Strasse, the great thoroughfare of Pest. It appeared as if the +whole population of the town had turned out; private carriages, +tramways, droskies alike were all crammed, driving in the same direction +with the ceaseless stream of pedestrians. It was the day for the living +to visit their dead! Attired in black, almost every one carried a +funeral wreath; even the poorest and the humblest were taking some +floral offering to their beloved ones who sleep for evermore in the +great cemetery. + +There is a dynamic force in the sympathy of a crowd. I had the sensation +of being carried along with the moving masses, without the exercise of +my own will, I hardly know how one could have turned back. And on we +went, the light of the short winter day meanwhile fading quickly into +the gloom of night. Once beyond the gaslighted streets, the sense of +darkness in the midst of the surging multitude was oppressive and +unnatural. We were borne on towards the principal gate of the cemetery, +and here the effect was most striking. We left the outer darkness, and +stepped into an area of light; beyond the belt of cypress and of yew +there was so brilliant an illumination that it threw its glowing +reflection on the clouds that hung pall-like over the whole city. + +In all that crowded cemetery--and it is crowded--there was not a single +grave without its lights. The most ordinary had rows of candles marking +the simple form of the gravestone; but there were costlier tombs, with +an array of lamps in banks of flowers beautifully arranged; and in the +mausoleum of Batthyanyi the illuminations were effected by gas in the +form of architectural lines of light. At this point the crowd was +greatest. To visit the tomb of the martyred statesman is deemed a +patriotic duty. The particulars relating to the disposal of Count +Batthyanyi's body after his judicial murder in 1849 are not very +generally known; the facts are as follows. + +At the close of hostilities in 1849, Haynau, commissioned by the Vienna +Government, condemned people to death with unsparing barbarity--it was a +way the Austrians had of stamping out insurrections. Amongst their +victims was Count Louis Batthyanyi, some time President of the Hungarian +Diet. Haynau wanted to have him hung at the gallows, but he was +mercifully shot, at Pest on the 6th October 1849. It is said that the +infamous Haynau was nearly mad with rage that his noble victim escaped +the last indignity of hanging. His remains were ordered to be buried in +a nameless coffin in the burial-ground of the common criminals,.and for +many years it was supposed that he had received no other sepulchre. This +was not so, however, for two priests who were greatly attached to the +magnate's family procured possession of his body, and secretly conveyed +it to the church in the Serviten Gasse, where they built up the coffin +in the wall, and carefully preserved it for years. When the +reconciliation with Austria took place, concealment being no longer +necessary, they revealed their secret. The coffin was then opened, and +it was found that the features of the unfortunate Batthyanyi had been +singularly well preserved. Several who had fought for freedom by his +side in 1848 looked once more on the face of their leader. The +subsequent funeral in the new cemetery was made the occasion of a very +marked display of patriotic feeling. Later an imposing monument was +erected, but Count Batthyanyi's best and most enduring monument is the +part he took in the emancipation of the serfs. + +Turning aside from the public demonstrations around the tombs of poets +and patriots, we wandered down the more secluded alleys of the cemetery. +In a lonely spot, quite away from the crowd and the glare, we came upon +an exquisite little plot of garden with growing flowers, shrubs, and +cypress-trees, tended, one could see, with loving care, "and in the +garden there is a sepulchre." I shall not easily forget the look of +ineffable grief visible on the face of an elderly man who was arranging +and rearranging the lights round and about the family grave. We noticed +that the names on the slab were those of a wife and mother, followed by +her children, several of them, sons and daughters, the dates of their +decease being terribly close one upon another. I had a conviction that +the lonely man we saw there was the only survivor of his family; I feel +sure it must have been so. It was very touching the way in which he +(aimlessly, it seemed to me) moved first this light and then the other, +or grouped them together around the vases of sweet flowers that decked +the graves. It was all that remained for him to do for his beloved ones; +and we could see the poor man was vainly occupying himself, lingering +on, unwilling to leave the spot! + +We had not much fancy for returning amongst the patriotic crowd gathered +about the gaslighted Valhalla, so we made our way out. + +We English must have our say about statistics whenever there is a +wedding or a funeral, and as a fact Buda-Pest comes out very badly in +its death-rate. It is only within the last two or three years that they +have taken to publish the comparative returns of the capital cities of +Europe, and now it appears that Buda-Pest is in the unenviable position +of having on an average the highest death-rate of any European town! By +some this is attributed to the great excess of infant +mortality--consolatory for the grown-up people, as reducing their risk; +but the children, who die like flies before they are twelve months old, +may say with the epitaph in the country churchyard-- + + "If then we so soon were done for, + What the deuce were we begun for?" + +I do not speak as one with authority, but duly-qualified persons tell me +that nursery reform is much needed in Hungary. I know not what it is +they do with the children, only it seems the system is wrong somewhere, +as the bills of mortality clearly testify. + +Then, again, the position of Pest is not healthy; it lies low, indeed +some part of the city is built on the old bed of the Danube. The +drainage, however, is very much improved of late years, and the +magnificent river embankments have done much to obviate the malaria +arising from mud-banks. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + Skating--Death and funeral of Deák--Deák's policy--Uneasiness about + the rise of the Danube--Great excitement about inundations--The + capital in danger--Night scene on the embankment--Firing the + danger-signal--The great calamity averted. + + +The winter is usually a very pleasant season at Buda-Pest. There is +plenty of amusement; in fact, during the carnival, parties, balls, and +concerts succeed one another without cessation. The Hungarians dance as +though it were an exercise of patriotism; with them it is no languid +movement half deprecated by the utilitarian soul--it is a passion +whirling them into ecstasy. But dancing was not the only diversion. The +winter I was at Buda-Pest a long spell of enduring frost gave us some +capital skating. The fashionable society meet for this amusement in the +park, where there is a piece of ornamental water about five acres in +extent. Here the Skating Club have established themselves, having +erected a handsome pavilion at the side of the lake to serve as a +clubhouse. + +From time to time _fêtes_ are given on the ice. I was present on more +than one occasion, and I must say it would be difficult to imagine a +more animated or a prettier scene. The Hungarians always display great +taste in their arrangements for festive gatherings. During the gay +carnival of 1876 "all went merry as a marriage-bell" till the sad news +spread that the great patriot Deák was sick unto death. Then we heard +that he had passed away from our midst--I say "our midst," for Hungary +throws a glamour over the stranger that is within her gates, and, moved +by irresistible sympathy, you are led to rejoice in her joy and mourn +with her in her sorrow. + +Buda-Pest presented on the day of Deák's funeral a scene never to be +forgotten. It was a whole people mourning for their friend--their safe +guide in time of trouble, the statesman who of all others had planted a +firm basis of future prosperity. + +Francis Deák was endowed with that rare gift of persuasion which can +appeal to hostile parties, and in the end unite them in common patriotic +action. Any one who has attentively considered the state of parties in +Hungary during the last decade will know with what irreconcilable +elements the great statesman had to deal. To the Magyars he said, "He +who will be free himself must be just to others;" while to the Slavs he +said, "Labour with us, that we may labour for you." "Reconciliation" +and "compromise" with Austria were the most unpopular words that could +be uttered at that time, yet Deák bravely spoke them in his famous open +letter on Easter day 1865. He continued his calm and steady appeal to +public opinion till his patriotic efforts were rewarded by the close of +that long-standing strife between the Hungarian people and their king. + +On the day of the funeral the ground was white with snow, the cold was +intense, but a vast concourse of people followed Deák to his grave. On +the road to the cemetery every house was hung with black, the city was +really and truly in mourning; and well it might be, for their great +peace-maker was dead, the man who beyond all others of his generation +had the power to restrain the impatient enthusiasm of his countrymen by +wise counsels that had grown almost paternal in their gentle influence. + +While we were still thinking and talking of Deáks political career, a +very present cause for anxiety arose in reference to the state of the +Danube. The annual breaking up of the ice is always anticipated with +uneasiness, for during this century no less than thirteen serious +inundations have occurred. This year there was reason for alarm, for +early in January the level of the river was unusually high, and a +further rise had taken place, unprecedented at that season. + +The greatest disaster of the kind on record took place in 1838, when the +greater part of Pest was inundated, and something like four thousand +houses were churned up in the flood; nor was this all, for the loss of +life had been very considerable, owing to the sudden nature of the +calamity on that occasion. The recollection of this terrible disaster +within the living memory of many persons kept the inhabitants of +Buda-Pest very keenly alive to any abnormal rise of the Danube waters. +There were, besides, additional circumstances which created uneasiness +and led to very acrimonious discussions. In recent years certain +"rectifications" had been effected in the course of the Danube, which +one-half of the community averred would for ever prevent the chance of +any recurrence of the catastrophe of 1838. But there are always two +parties in every question--"Little-endians" and "Big-endians"--and a +great many people were of opinion that these very "rectifications" were, +in fact, an additional source of peril to the capital. + +The case stands thus: the river, left to its own devices, separates +below Pest into two branches, called respectively the Soroksár and the +Promontar; these branches continue their course independently of each +other for a distance of about fifty-seven kilometres, forming the great +island of Csepel, which has an average width of about five kilometres. +By certain embankments on the Soroksár branch the _régime_ of the river +has been disturbed, and according to the opinion of M. Révy, a French +engineer,[22] this has been a grave mistake, and he thinks that the +Danube misses her former channel of Soroksár more and more. He further +remarks in the very strongest terms upon an engineering operation "which +proposes the amputation of a vital limb, conveying about one-third of +the power and life of a giant river when in flood--a step which has no +parallel in the magnitude of its consequences in any river with which I +am acquainted." + +Now let us see which side the Danube took in the controversy in the +spring of 1876. On the 17th of February the public mind had been almost +tranquillised by the gradual fall of the water-level, but appearances +changed very rapidly on the morning of the 18th, for alarming +intelligence came to Buda-Pest from the Upper Danube. It seems that a +sudden rise of temperature had melted the vast deposits of snow in the +mountains of the Tyrol and other high ranges which send down their +tributary waters to the Danube. A telegram from Passau announced the +startling news that the waters of the Inn had risen eleven feet since +the afternoon of the previous day, and further news came that the Danube +had risen twelve and a half feet in the same time. Following close upon +this came intelligence of a disastrous inundation at Vienna which had +caused loss of life and property. The boats and barges in the winter +harbour of the Austrian capital had been dragged from their anchorage, +covering the river with the _débris_ of wreckage; in short, widespread +mischief was reported generally from the Upper Danube. + +There was a prevalent idea that Buda-Pest had been saved by the flood +breaking bounds at Vienna, but events proved that our troubles were yet +to come. There was a peculiarity in the thaw of this spring which told +tremendously against us. It came westward--viz., down stream instead of +up stream, as it usually does. This state of things greatly increased +the chances of flood in the middle Danube, as the descending volume of +water and ice-blocks found the lower part of the river still frozen and +inert. Even up to the 21st the daily rise in the river was only six +inches, and if the large floes of ice which passed the town had only +gone on their course without interruption all might still have been +well. Unfortunately, however, this was far from being the case. It seems +that at Eresi, a few miles below Buda-Pest, where the water is shallow, +the ice had formed into a compact mass for the space of six miles, and +at this point the down-drifting ice-blocks got regularly stacked, rising +higher and higher, till the whole vast volume of water was bayed back +upon the twin cities of Buda and Pest, the latter place being specially +endangered by its site on the edge of the great plain. + +The authorities now devised plans for clearing away this ice-barrier, +which acted as an impediment to the flow of the river. They tried to +blow it up by means of dynamite, but all to no purpose; and it soon +became apparent that the danger to the capital was hourly on the +increase. At Pest the excitement and alarm became intense, for the +mighty waters were visibly and inexorably rising. We saw the steps of +the quay disappear one after another; then the whole subway of the +embankment became engulfed. Ominous cracks appeared in the asphaltic +promenade of the Corso, and the public were warned not to approach the +railings, lest they should give way bodily and fall over into the water, +which was lapping at the stonework. The "High-Water Commission" found it +necessary to close all the drains, and steam-pumps were brought into +requisition; the town was in fact besieged by water, and the enemy was +literally at the gates. The ordinary business of life was suspended. The +greeting in the street was not, "Good-day; how are you?" but, "What of +the Danube?" "Do you know the last reading of the register?" "Does the +water still rise?" + +"Still rising"--this was always the answer. On the morning of the 23d +the river had risen upwards of two feet in twenty-four hours. Hundreds +of people now thought seriously of flight from the doomed city. There +was a complete exodus to the heights behind Buda. The suspension bridge +was crowded day and night by the citizens, carrying with them their +wives, their children, and a miscellaneous collection of valuables. In +the town the shopkeepers removed their goods to the upper stories, +plastering up the doors and windows of the basement with cement; and +careful householders laid in provisions for several days' consumption. +The authorities had enough on their hands; amongst other things they had +to provide means of rescue, if necessary, for the inhabitants of Old +Buda, New Pest, and other low-lying quarters. The names of all public +buildings standing on higher levels, or otherwise suitable as places of +refuge, were notified in the event of a catastrophe. Boats also were +drawn up on the Corso and in some of the squares. From the want of these +precautions there had resulted that lamentable loss of life in 1838. + +Furthermore, the public were to be informed when the danger became +imminent by the firing of cannon-shots from the citadel on the lofty +Blocksberg, which dominates the town on the Buda side. The day of the +24th had been wild and stormy, the evening was intensely dark; but +notwithstanding, thousands, nay half Pest, crowded the river-bank. For +hours this surging multitude moved hither and thither on the Corso, +drawn together by the sense of common danger and distress. + +I was there amongst the rest, peering into the darkness. My brother's +arm was linked in mine, and we stood for some time on the Corso, just +above the fruit-market, facing Buda; but nothing, not even the outline +of the hills, was visible in the thick, black darkness of the night. +"Ah! what is that?--look!" cried my brother, with a pressure of the arm +that sent an electric shock through my body. Yes, sure enough, there was +a flash of fire high up on the Blocksberg that made a rift in the +darkness; and then, before we had time for speech, there came a sharp, +ringing, detonating sound that made every window in the Corso rattle +again. Once, twice, thrice the booming cannon roared out its terrible +warning. It was the appointed signal, and we all knew that now the +waters had risen so high that Old Buda and other low-lying districts +were in danger. + +That was a terrible night. The general excitement was intense, and there +were few people, I imagine, in all Pest who slept quietly in their beds. +Every hour news came of the spread of the inundation. The waters were +pouring in behind Pest from the upper bend of the river. Matters looked +very serious indeed. All communication with the suburb of New Pest was +cut off by the inroads of the flood. The night, with its pall of +darkness, seemed interminable; but at length the morning came, and--God +help us!--what a sea of trouble the light revealed! Whole districts +under water; churches and palaces knee-deep in the flood; and above +Pest--a widespread lake creeping on over the vast plain. + +The only news of the morning was a despairing telegram from Eresi that +the barrier of ice there was immovable. This meant, as I have said +before, that there was no release for the pent-up waters in the ordinary +course. The accumulated flood must swamp the capital, and that soon. The +river had ceased to flow past; it was no longer the "blue Danube" +running merrily its five miles an hour, but a dead sea, an inexorable +volume of water, slowly, silently creeping up to engulf us. Pest is a +city which literally has its foundations made on the sand; a portion of +it is built on the old bed of the Danube. Assuming a certain point as +zero, the official measurements were made from this, and notices were +published that if a maximum of twenty-five feet were attained by the +rising waters, then Pest must inevitably be flooded. + +As evening came on, with the cloudy forecast of more rain, the gravest +anxiety was visible on the face of every soul of that vast multitude. +This anxiety was intensified when it was announced that the latest +measurement was twenty-four feet nine inches; and what was simply +appalling, that the register marked six inches rise in less than an +hour. It was clear to every one that the critical moment had arrived. +There was little to hope, and much to fear. Darkness fell upon as dismal +a scene as imagination could well conceive. If the water once overlapped +the embankment at the fruit-market, it must very soon pour in in vast +volume; for the streets there are considerably lower than the level of +the Corso--as it was, several large blocks of ice had floated or slid +over on the quay. At this spot a serious catastrophe was apprehended. + +I think it must have been ten o'clock (my friends and I had just taken a +hasty supper) when the fortress on the Blocksberg again belched forth +its terrible sound of warning. This time there were six shots fired; +this was the signal of "Pest in danger." A profound impression of alarm +fell on the assembled multitude. Some went about wringing their hands; +others left the Corso hastily, going home, I imagine, to tell their +women to prepare for the worst. I was unconscious at the time of taking +note of things passing round me, and it seems strange, considering the +acute tension of my nerves, that I saw, and can now recall with +persistent accuracy, a lot of trivial and utterly unimportant incidents +that happened in the crowd. I remember the size and colour of a dog that +manifested his share in the common excitement by running perpetually +between everybody's legs, and I could draw the face of a frightened +child whom I saw clinging to its mother's skirts. + +We never quitted the Corso. Though this was the third night we had not +taken off our clothes, it was impossible to think of rest now. I felt no +fatigue, and I hardly know how the last hour or two passed, but I heard +distinctly above the murmur of voices the town clocks strike twelve. +Just afterwards, a man running at full speed broke through the crowd, +shouting as he went, "The water is falling! the water is falling!" He +spoke in German, so I understood the words directly. There was great +excitement to ascertain if the report was correct. Thank God! he spoke +words of truth. The gauge actually marked a decrease of no less than two +inches in the height of the river, and this decrease had taken place in +the space of half an hour. The river had attained the highest point when +the danger-signal was fired. It had never risen beyond, though the level +had been stationary for some time. + +Every one was surprised at the rapid fall of the Danube; it was +difficult to account for. It soon came to be remarked that the vast +volume of water was visibly moved onward. If the river was flowing on +its way, that meant the salvation of the city--the fact was most +important. I myself saw a dark mass--a piece of wreckage, probably, or +the carcass of an animal--pass with some rapidity across a track of +light reflected on the water. It was difficult to make out anything +clearly in the darkness, but I felt sure the object, whatever it was, +was borne onward by the stream. + +It was a generally-expressed opinion that something must have happened +farther down the river to relieve the pent-up waters. Very shortly +official news arrived, and spread like wildfire, that the Danube had +made a way for itself right across the island of Csepel into the +Soroksár arm of the river. + +Csepel is an island some thirty miles long, situated a short distance +below Pest. The engineering works for the regulation of the Danube had, +as I said before, closed this Soroksár branch, and the river, in +reasserting its right of way to the sea, caused a terrible calamity to +the villages on the Csepel Island, but thereby Hungary's capital was +saved. + +[Footnote 22: The Danube at Buda-Pest. Report addressed to Count +Andrassy by J.J. Révy, C.E. 1876.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + + Results of the Danube inundations--State of things at + Baja--Terrible condition of New Pest--Injuries sustained by the + island garden of St. Marguerite--Charity organisation. + + +Though Buda-Pest had escaped the worst of the threatened calamity, the +state of the low-lying suburbs of the town on both sides of the river +was very serious, and, as it turned out, weeks elapsed before the waters +entirely subsided. The extent of the Danube inundations in 1876 was far +greater than the flood of 1838; the latter was localised to Buda-Pest, +where, from the suddenness of the catastrophe, the sacrifice of life was +far greater than at present. But on this occasion the mischief was wide +spread indeed. From Passau to Orsova the banks of the Danube were more +or less flooded. The havoc below Pest was wellnigh incalculable. The +river had in places spread itself out like a small sea, inundating lands +already in seed; this was specially the case at Paks, where both banks +of the river are equally low--as a rule, the left side was the more +flooded the whole way along. + +At Baja the destruction to property was most serious. Some very +important works had just been completed, and these were all swept away +two days after the Danube had burst over the Csepel Island at Pest. It +is a matter of interest to note the travelling rate of the flood, which +from being ice-clogged was less rapid than one would suppose. Baja is +120 miles below Pest. + +The works here referred to were in parts a canal, to feed the old +Francis Canal, which connects the Danube and Theiss, in order to prevent +the stoppage of traffic, unavoidable at low water. The water and ice +brought down by the flood hurled themselves with such force against the +closed gates of the canal that they were burst open, and a masonry wall +7 feet in thickness and 250 in length was entirely overthrown. This +incident, together with many others, helps to illustrate the action of +water in flood as a factor in certain geological changes--the gorge of +Kasan, to wit, where the Danube has broken through the Carpathian chain. + +In the course of little more than a day the waters at Buda-Pest had +fallen two and a half feet; but afterwards the fall was very slow +indeed, which circumstance greatly protracted the misery of the +unfortunate inhabitants of Old Buda and New Pest, the two districts most +seriously compromised. Joining a relief party, I went in a pontoon to +visit New Pest. Vast blocks of ice were lying heaped up amidst the +_débris_ of the ruin they had made; whole terraces and streets were only +distinguishable by lines of rubbish somewhat raised above the flood: the +devastation was complete. + +On our way to the pontoon we passed a tongue of land which had not been +submerged, with a few houses intact. In this street, if it may be so +called, a crowd of more than a hundred women was collected; these were +mostly seated on boxes or other fragments of furniture that had been +saved; one and all had their faces turned towards the waste of waters, +where their homes had been. I shall never forget their looks of mute +despair; there was no crying, no noise, their very silence was a gauge +of the utter misery that had befallen them. + +The sea of trouble in which we found ourselves was strewn with wreckage +of all kinds, including the bodies of many domestic animals. Doubtless +many lives were lost; it will perhaps never be known how many. It was +unfortunate that no service was organised for saving life at the +bridges. Several lamentable accidents and loss of life took place owing +to the drifting away of boats and barges up stream. A friend of mine saw +a barge with four men on board jammed in between blocks of ice, and +hurried under the suspension bridge and down the stream. No one was able +to respond to the heart-rending appeals of the men, who very probably +might have been saved if simply ropes had been hanging from the bridge. +I myself saw a poor fellow perish in those churning waters; it was +terrible to think of his thus drowning in the presence of thousands of +fellow-creatures. + +The amount of wreckage that passed Buda-Pest gave one some idea of the +frightful amount of damage higher up the stream; there were heaps of +barrels, woodstacks, trees, furniture, and even houses with their +chimneys standing! + +The beautiful island of St. Marguerite, just above Buda-Pest, suffered +most severely. It was four feet under water; and the drift ice did +immense damage to the trees, causing abrasions of the bark at eight to +ten feet above the ground. + +It may well be imagined that the Charity Organisation Committee had +enough on their hands. Nearly 20,000 people sought the shelter provided +in the public buildings and other places appointed by the authorities, +and for fully a month after the catastrophe thousands had to be fed +daily at the public expense. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + + Expedition to the Marmaros Mountains--Railways in Hungary--The + train stopping for a rest--The Alföld--Shepherds of the plain--Wild + appearance of the Rusniacks--Slavs of Northern Hungary--Marmaros + Szigeth--Difficulty in slinging a hammock--The Jews of + Karasconfalu--Soda manufactory at Boeska--Romantic scenery--Salt + mines--Subterranean lake. + + +The spring was already melting into summer--and the melting process is +pretty rapid in Hungary--when an opportunity occurred enabling me to +visit the north-eastern part of the country with a friend who was going +to the Marmaros Mountains on business. Even this wild and remote +district is not without railway communication, and we took our tickets +for Szigeth, in the county of Marmaros, learning at the same time, to +our great satisfaction, that we could go straight on to our destination +without stopping. Though my friend is a Hungarian the route was as new +to him as to myself. + +The railway system has been enormously extended in this country during +the last ten years. In Transylvania, in the Tokay Hegyalia, in the +Zipsland, and in the mining district of Schemnitz a whole network of +lines has been opened up. Our route from Debreczin to Szigeth is one of +those recently opened. The railway statistics of Hungary are very +significant of progress. In 1864 only 1903 kilometres were open, whereas +ten years later the figures had risen to 6392 kilometres; and the +extension has been very considerable even subsequently, though +enterprise of every kind received a check in 1873, from which the +country has not yet recovered. + +I confess I was very glad to have come in for the days of the iron +horse, for it would be difficult to imagine anything more tiresome than +a drive on ordinary wheels across the vast Hungarian plain. It is so +utterly featureless as to be even without landmarks. Except for the +signs of the heavenly bodies, a man might, in a fit of absence, turn +round and fail to realise whether he was going backwards or forwards. +Right or left, it is all the same monotonous dead level, with scarce an +object on which to rest the eye. Here and there a row of acacia-trees +may be seen marking the boundary of an estate, and near by the sure +indication of a well in the form of a lofty pole balanced transversely; +but even this does not help you, for "grove nods at grove," and what you +have just seen on the right-hand side is sure somehow to be repeated on +the left, so you are all at sea again. + +Sometimes a mirage deludes the traveller in the Hungarian plain with the +fair presentment of a lake fringed with forest-trees; but the semblance +fades into nothingness, and he finds himself still in an endless waste, +"without a mark, without a bound." Dreary, inexpressibly dreary to all +save those who are born within its limits; for, strange to say, they +love their level plain as well, every bit as well, as the mountaineer +loves his cloud-capped home. + +This plain--the Alföld, as it is called--comprises an area of 37,400 +square miles, composed chiefly of rich black soil underlain by +water-worn gravel--a significant fact for geologists. It is worthy of +remark that the Magyar race is here found in its greatest purity. Here +the followers of Arpad settled themselves to the congenial life of +herdsmen. At the railway stations one generally sees a lot of these +shepherds from the _puszta_, each with his axe-headed staff and +sheepskin cloak, worn the woolly side outwards if the weather is hot. +They can be scented from afar, and their scent, of all bad smells, is +one of the worst. The fact is, the shepherds keep their bodies well +covered with grease to prevent injurious effects from the very sudden +changes of temperature so common in all Hungary. This smearing of the +skin with grease is also a defence against insects, which seems +probable, if insects have noses to be offended. + +Nowhere does the intrusion of modern art and its appliances strike one +more curiously by force of contrast than in the wilder parts of Hungary. +Just outside the railway station life and manners are what they were two +centuries ago, and yet here are the grappling-irons of civilisation. No +doubt a change will come to all this substratum of humanity, but it +takes time. Even the railways in these wilder parts have not exactly +settled themselves down to the inexorable limits of "time tables." It +occurred on this very journey that we stopped at some small station, for +no particular reason as far as I could see, for nobody got in or out; +but the heat was intense, and so we just made a halt of nearly an hour. +I could not make out what was up at first, but looking out I saw the +stokers, pokers, and engine-driver all calmly enjoying their pipes, +seated on the footboard on the shady side of the train! Some one or two +people remarked that the officials in this part of the world were lazy +fellows, but the passengers generally appeared in no great hurry, and +after a while the train moved on again. At several places on the line we +passed luggage trains waiting on the siding for their turn to be sent on +to Buda-Pest. In many of these open trucks we noticed a considerable +number of those fine Podolian oxen, common in these parts, and lots of +woolly-haired pigs, that look for all the world like sheep at a +distance. + +The effect of tapping these out-lying districts is already producing its +natural result; the cultivator finds a ready market for his produce, and +the value of land is rising, and "_must_ rise in Hungary," says +Professor Wrightson in his report on the agriculture of the +Austro-Hungarian empire.[23] + +In approaching Debreczin we noticed frequent instances of the +efflorescence of soda-salts upon the surface of the soil. This +occurrence greatly impairs the fertility of some parts of the Alföld. +Land drainage would probably cure this evil, but I do not fancy any +serious experiments have been tried. Skill and labour have not yet been +brought to bear on the greater part of the land in Hungary. It is a +country where a vast deal has yet to be done, and such are the +prejudices of the common people that improvements cannot be introduced +at once and without some caution; in fact, the material conditions of +the country itself and the climate necessitate considerable experience +on the part of any foreigner who may settle in Hungary and think to +import new fashions in agriculture. + +Stopping at Debreczin only long enough to get a little supper at the +station restaurant, we pursued our journey through the night. I do not +imagine that we lost much that was worthy of note owing to the darkness, +for the line continues to traverse a sanely plain utterly devoid of good +scenery. Towards morning we passed two important towns--namely, Nagy +Károly and Szathmár. The hitter is the seat of a Catholic bishop, and +has no less than 19,000 inhabitants--a good-sized place for Hungary. In +1711 the peace between the Austrians and Rákoczy was signed in this +town. Not far from here are the celebrated gold, silver, and lead mines +of Nagy Banya. + +We arrived at the junction station of Kiraly-haza early in the morning, +and there learned the agreeable news that we must wait ten hours, though +only a few miles from our destination. From this place there is a line +to Sátoralja-Uihely, a junction on the main line between Buda-Pest and +Lemberg. The town of Kiraly-haza is situated in a wide valley bounded by +high mountains. The plain is left far behind, and we are once more under +the shadow of the Carpathians. The heat of the day was intense, and +there was not much in the immediate neighbourhood to tempt us out in the +broiling sun, so we just got through the time as best we could. The food +was very bad and the wine execrable, an adulterated mixture not worthy +of the name. This is a rare occurrence in Hungary, and it ought not to +have been the case here, for there are good vineyards close to the town. + +It was getting towards evening before our train appeared, and when it +stopped at the station as wild a looking crew turned out of the +carriages as I ever remember to have seen. On inquiry I found that these +people were Rusniacks. Their occupation at this time of the year is to +convey rafts down the Theiss. It seems their work was done, and they +were returning by train. After the halt of ten minutes, and when the +passengers were resuming their seats, I found that these fellows were +all crowded into some empty horse-boxes attached to the train. The +officials treated them as if they were very little better than cattle. +These people, with their shoeless feet encased in thongs of leather, +with garments unconscious of the tailor's art, and in some instances +regardless of the primary object of clothes as a human institution, were +the most uncivilised of any I had yet seen in Hungary. + +These Rusniacks, or "Little Russians," as they are called, are tolerably +numerous--not less than 470,000, according to statistical returns. They +are to be found almost exclusively in the north-east of Hungary. They +were fugitives in the old days from Russia, to whom they are intensely +antagonistic, having probably suffered from her persecutions. In +religion they are dissenters from the orthodox Greek Church, +assimilating more with Roman Catholicism. These people are another +variety in the strange mixture of races to be found in Hungary. It is +thought, and it would seem probable, that the very fact of the military +conscription will help to civilise these Rusniacks by drawing them out +of their savage isolation in the wild valleys of the Marmaros Mountains. + +There are many peculiarities respecting the races inhabiting the +northern parts of Hungary. It would be a great mistake to put the Slavs +of the north in the same category with the Slavs of the south: the +former are on far better terms with the Magyars; they are for the most +part contented, hard-working people, not troubling themselves at all +about Panslavism. The reason is not far to seek. The Slovacks, as they +are called by way of distinction, numbering about two millions, do not +belong to the Greek Church. The greater proportion are Roman Catholics, +the rest Lutherans and Calvinists. Many of the Catholics are said to be +descended from refugees who fled from the tyranny of the Greek Church in +Polish Russia. + +After leaving Kiraly-haza we got into charming scenery. As we approached +the Carpathians we passed through vast oak-forests, and here and there +had a glimpse of the Theiss rushing along over its stony bed. +Occasionally we caught sight of herds of buffaloes bathing in the river. +It is difficult to imagine that these fierce-looking creatures, with +their massive shaggy heads, can ever be tractable; yet they can be +managed, though only by kindness--"the rod of correction they cannot +bear." At length we reached the end of our railway journey. Marmaros +Szigeth is the present terminus of the line, and I should say will very +probably remain such; for the iron road would hardly meander through the +denies and over the heights of the Carpathians, to descend into the +sparsely-inhabited wilds of the Bukovina. We sought out the principal +inn at Szigeth, a wretched place, with only one room and a single bed at +our disposal. + +My friend took possession of the bed at my request, for I told him I was +quite independent of the luxury, having provided myself before I left +England with an excellent hammock made of twine. I had learned to sleep +in these contrivances during my naval volunteer days, but the order to +"sling hammocks" would not have been easy to obey under the present +circumstances. I was forced to put my screws in the floor and hang my +net over some heavy furniture; but when I got in, the table that I had +chiefly depended upon gave way with a crash, and I found myself on the +floor. My friend laughed heartily; he had never seen a hammock before, +and, spite of my representations, I do not think he was properly +impressed by the great utility of the invention. Of course I was not to +be foiled, so I cast about for another method of "fixing." I tried +several dodges, but nothing answered exactly; something always gave way +after a few minutes of repose--either I came down with a bump, or some +abominable, ramshackle chest of drawers got over-turned. + +Now my friend was very tired and sleepy, and desired nothing so much as +a little repose. My experiments ceased to interest him, and the noise +caused by my repeated misfortunes irritated him. A large-minded man +would have admired my tenacity of purpose, but he did not. One can never +tell what people are till we travel with them. In a tone of mingled +solicitude and irritation he offered to vacate his bed in my favour. He +declared he would willingly lie on the hard floor, or indeed, if I would +only consent to take his place, he would sit bolt upright in a chair +through the livelong night. + +"I will do anything," he added piteously, "if you will only be quiet +and not try to hang yourself any more in that horrible netting." + +I would not hear of my friend leaving his bed, and after one or two more +mischances self and hammock were suspended for the night at an angle a +trifle too low for the head. Except for the honour and glory of the +thing, perhaps I might have slept as well on the floor; but one does not +carry a patent contrivance all across Europe to be balked of its use +after all. + +My friend woke me once during the night by shaking me roughly. He said I +had nightmare, and made "such a devil of a row that he could not sleep." +I have some dreamy recollection of finding myself in a London +drawing-room in the inexpressibly scanty garments of a Rusniack, and +when I turned to leave in all decent haste I found the way barred by an +insolent fellow with the head of a buffalo bull. When I awoke in the +early morning I found my friend already dressed and rather sulky. He +observed that he had never met a man so addicted to nightmare as myself, +adding, that another time if I must sleep in my hammock, it would be +better to see that the head was higher than the feet. + +"It does not make any difference to me," I replied cheerfully, "I am as +fresh as a lark." + +There was no time for further discussion, for our breakfast was ready (a +very bad breakfast it was, too), and the vehicle we had chartered the +night before was also waiting to convey us some miles into the interior +of the country, to the soda manufactory at Boeska. On our way we passed +through the village of Karasconfalu, inhabited entirely by Polish Jews. +The dirt and squalor of this place beggar description. The dwellings are +not houses, but are simply holes burrowed in the sandbanks, with an +upright stone set up in front to represent a door; windows and chimneys +are unknown. If it were not for a few erections more like ordinary human +habitations, the place might have passed for a gigantic rabbit-warren. +As we drove through we saw some of the villagers engaged in slaughtering +calves and sheep in the middle of the road, the blood running down into +a self-made gutter; it was a sickening sight. The people themselves have +a most peculiar physiognomy, especially the men, who in addition to long +beards wear corkscrew ringlets, which give them a very odd appearance. +Their principal garment is a kind of long brown dressing-gown, which in +its filthy grimness suits the wearer down to the ground. The feet are +bound up in thongs of leather. The shoemaker's trade is apparently +unknown in these parts. The inhabitants of this delightful village have +the reputation of being a set of born cheats and swindlers; if it is +true, then certainly the moral is plain, that dishonesty is not a +thriving trade. The fact is, being all of one sort, the profession is +overcrowded, and the result is that the sharpest amongst them emigrate, +or rather I should say go farther a-field to exercise their craft. I am +told that many of the low Jews, who make themselves a byword and a +reproach by their practices of cheating and usury throughout Hungary, +may be traced back to this foul nest in the Marmaros Mountains. It would +be well for the credit of the Jewish community in Hungary, as well as +elsewhere, if something were done to raise these people out of the utter +degradation which surrounds them from their birth. + +Not far beyond Karasconfalu we came upon Boeska, situated in the midst +of the most beautiful and romantic scenery, not at all suggestive of the +neighbourhood of a chemical manufactory. Putting up at the house of the +manager of the works, we remained here two or three days, during which +time we made some excursions into the heart of the mountains. One of our +drives took us some miles along the side of the beautiful river Theiss, +which though a proverbial sluggard when it reaches the plain, is here a +swift and impetuous stream. Our object was to see the timber-rafts pass +over the rapids; it was a very exciting scene, and as this was a +favourable season, owing to the state of the river, we came in just at +the right time. The Rusniacks--the people generally employed in this +perilous work--certainly display great skill and coolness in the +management of their ticklish craft. If by any mischance the timbers come +in contact with the rocks, then the danger is extreme; and hardly a year +passes that some of the poor fellows do not get carried away in the +swirling waters, which have made for themselves deep and treacherous +holes in this part of the stream. + +The pine-trees in the forests of the Marmaros Mountains are simply +magnificent; the birch and oak are hardly less remarkable. It is really +grievous to see the amount of ruthless destruction which is allowed to +go on in these valuable forests, more especially in those belonging to +the State. It is the old story--the Rusniack herdsman, to get herbage +for his cattle, will set fire to the forest, and perhaps burn some +hundreds of acres of standing timber. The result brings very little good +to himself; but the blackened trunks of thousands of half-burned trees +bear witness to the peasant's inveterate love of waste, and the utter +inefficiency of the forest laws, or rather of their administration. +Throughout Hungary it is the same, the power of the law does not make +itself felt in the remoter provinces. For example, in the year 1877 +there have been scores of incendiary fires in the county of Zemplin; +homesteads, hayricks, and woods have suffered, and yet punishment rarely +falls on the offender. Government should look to this, for lawlessness +is a most infectious disorder. + +The Marmaros district is chiefly known for the salt mines, which have +been worked here for centuries. Salt is a Government monopoly in +Hungary, and is sold at the high price of five florins the +hundredweight, forming, in fact, an important source of revenue. The +mines at Slatina, not far from Szigeth, are well worth a visit. One of +the chambers is of immense size; in this a pyramid of salt is left +untouched, and by its downward growth marks the progress of excavation. +At the foot of this pyramid is a little altar, where every year, on the +3d of March, mass is celebrated with great ceremony, that being the day +of Kunigunde, the patron saint of the mines. + +One of our expeditions was to visit the mines at Ronasick. Here, too, is +an enormous cave with a dome-shaped roof, one hundred and fifty feet +above the surface of the water, which covers the floor to the amazing +depth, it is said, of three hundred feet. Part of the visitor's +programme is to be paddled about on this subterranean lake. We embarked +on a raft slowly propelled by rowers; a cresset fire burning brightly at +the prow of our craft cast strange lights and shadows on the black +waters, added to which the shimmering reflection of the white-ribbed +walls had a very singular effect. But the sensation was still more weird +when we saw other mystic forms appearing from out the black darkness; +first a mere speck of red light was visible, till nearing us we beheld +other boats freighted with grim-looking figures that glided past into +the further darkness. These phantom-like forms, steering their rafts +through the black and silent waters, were grotesquely lit up from time +to time by the pulsating red firelight. It might have been a scene from +Dante's 'Inferno'! + +It was with the sense of escape from a living tomb that we emerged from +the depths below into the upper air, and here awaited us a sight never +to be forgotten, more especially for its singular contrast to the horrid +gloom of the under-world. Here, above ground, in the blessed free +expanse of earth and sky, we beheld the heavens ablaze with all the +intensest glory of a magnificent sunset. One's soul in deep gladness +drank in the ineffable loveliness of nature, as if athirst for the +beauty of light and life. + +[Footnote 23: Journal of Agricultural Society, vol. x. Part xi. No. +xx.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + + The Tokay district--Visit at Schloss G------Wild-boar + hunting--Incidents of the chase. + + +My first expedition to the Tokay district was in the winter; I was then +the guest of Baron V----, who has a charming château, surrounded by an +English garden, in this celebrated place of vineyards. + +In the winter there is a very fair amount of good sport in this part of +Hungary. Sometimes one is enabled to go out hare-shooting in sledges; of +course the horses' bells are removed on these occasions. Hares are not +preserved in the Tokay district, but they are pretty numerous. I myself +shot fifty-four in the space of a few weeks, which is nothing compared +to an English battue of a single day; but then this is sport, and there +is immense pleasure in dashing right across country behind a pair of +fleet horses, thinking yourself well repaid if you bag a couple or three +hares in the afternoon's scamper. For wolf and wild-boar hunting one +must penetrate into the forests which extend in the rear of the +southern slopes of this Tokay range of hills. + +During my stay at G---- a party was got up for a few days' shooting in +the interior. On this occasion we were to shoot in Baron Beust's +forests, which extend over an area of about forty miles square; as it +may be supposed, the sport is not the easy affair it is in the +well-stocked parks of Bohemia. + +There was not snow enough for sledging, so we drove to the rendezvous on +wheels, using the springless carts of the country, the roads being far +too rough for ordinary carriages. Wrapped in our _bundas_, we were proof +against the cold. The wolf-skin collar turned up rises above the head +and forms a capital protection; and very necessary it was on this +occasion, for there was a keen cutting wind the day we started. + +I carried a smooth-bore breechloader charged with the largest buck-shot +in one barrel and with a bullet in the other. In Hungary the forests are +usually so thick that one scarcely ever fires at a long range, and heavy +shot at a short distance in a thicket is better than a bullet. After +driving in a break-neck fashion for about two hours we arrived at the +river Bodrog, a tributary of the Theiss. Nearly every winter the country +hereabouts is under water; I remember once seeing it when there was all +the appearance of an extensive inland sea. Sometimes the inundations are +disastrous, but the ordinary flood is an accepted event, and no damage +accrues beyond the prevalence of marsh fever in April and May, when the +water recedes. This part of the country offers first-rate +wildfowl-shooting in the season. + +Everywhere in Hungary the different races are strangely mixed up +together: the Tokay Hegyalia, it is true, is chiefly peopled by Magyars, +and the language is said to be the purest Magyar spoken anywhere; but +there are Slavs and Jews amongst them, and our drive of twenty miles +brought us into an area where the Slavs predominate. The difference of +these races is very marked: the one, fair complexioned and blue eyed; +the Magyar, dark, almost swarthy amongst the lower classes. At +Olasz-Liszka, a small town within the Tokay district, there is an +Italian colony, as the name Olasz (Italian) would imply. As long ago as +the days of Bela II. this place was peopled by Italian immigrants from +the neighbourhood of Venice, invited hither by the king, who greatly +encouraged the cultivation of the vine. + +Go where you will in this country, there is a Babel of tongues. In this +instance our special coachman was a Bohemian, speaking his own +language--a very different dialect from the Slovacks who were the +"beaters" for our hunt. The gamekeepers, or rather the foresters (for +the game is of secondary consideration), were all Magyars. Their +language, as we know, bears no affinity to any of the rest. The marvel +is that the world gets on at all down here. The gentlemen of our party +spoke together indifferently German, French, and English. + +It is curious to hear the peasant come out with, "Why the Tartar are you +doing this?" for an angry expletive. It is a relic of the old troubled +times when the country suffered from the frequent depredations of Turks +and Tartars. The Tokay district, say the chronicles, was fearfully +harassed by the Turks as late as 1678. + +It is worth while recalling a contemporaneous fact. In 1529 the crescent +had been substituted for the cross on the Cathedral of Vienna to +propitiate the Turks, and it was not till 1683 that the symbol of the +dreaded Moslem was removed. When the Hungarians ceased to fear the Turk, +they ceased to hate him; and since 1848 they remember only the generous +hospitality of the Porte, and the cruel aggressions and treachery of the +Russians. The Slav has a longer memory, for to this day he repeats the +saying, "Where the Turk comes, there no grass grows." + +When we arrived at our destination our appetites were far too keenly set +to think about the Eastern Question, and right glad were we to see +active preparations for supper. The national dishes, the _gulyas hus_ +and the _paprika handl_, were produced amongst a number of other good +things, such as roast hare. You get to like the _paprika_, or red +pepper, very much. I wonder it is not introduced into English cookery, +it makes such a pretty-coloured gravy. If the traveller finds himself +attacked by marsh fever, and should chance to be without quinine (a +great mistake, by the way), let him substitute a spoonful of _paprika_ +mixed with a little red wine, repeating the dose every four hours if +necessary. While smoking our peace-pipes after supper, one of the +keepers came in to announce the welcome fact that it was snowing hard; +fresh-lain snow would materially increase our chances of tracking the +wild-boar. + +Next morning when we started the weather had somewhat cleared, which was +just as well, seeing we had to walk two or three miles to our first +battue. Arrived at the rendezvous, we found the "beaters" waiting for +us. They were a wild-looking crew were those Slovacks, with shaggy coats +of black sheepskin, and in their hands the usual long staff with the axe +at one end. Notwithstanding their uncouth appearance, later experience +has shown me that the Slovacks, as a rule, are patient, hard-working +people. + +The forest where we were consisted entirely of beech and oak. The acorns +attract the wild-boar, which have increased in a very remarkable manner +in this locality. I was told that twenty years ago there were no +wild-boar in these forests, while now there are hundreds. This seems +odd, for the oak-trees are pretty well as old as the hills, and offered +the same temptation in the way of food formerly as now. In fact the +increase of the wild-boar is a serious nuisance to the vine-grower, for +they tramp across to the southern hill-slopes, and occasionally make +raids on the vineyards, devouring the grapes with unparalleled +greediness, and what is still worse, they will sometimes plough up and +destroy a whole plot of carefully-tended vineyard. + +Formerly there were many deer in these forests, but now there are only a +few roedeer. We saw no traces of wolves on this occasion, but there are +plenty in this part of the country. + +We were only ten guns, and were soon posted each man in his proper +position waiting for the _schwarzwild_, as the Germans say; but, alas! +nothing appeared till the beaters themselves came in sight. So we had to +organise battue number two. The beaters walk quietly forward, tapping +the trees now and then. This is quite noise enough for the purpose of +rousing the game; if they shouted or made too much row, the game would +get wild and scared. + +In the next battue I had hardly been five minutes at my post when I +heard from behind the breaking of dead branches, as of some animal +advancing slowly. It was a fine buck which made his appearance, but he +scented me and made off. Again about a hundred yards off I got a glimpse +of him between the trees. I fired with effect. We found him afterwards +about two hundred yards farther on, where he had fallen. It was very +provoking; up to lunch-time we sighted no wild-boar, though we saw by +the snow that they must have been about the hillside during the night. +We had soon a good fire blazing, at which robber-steak was nicely +cooked. I never enjoyed anything more. We washed down our repast with +good Tokay. + +After luncheon we commenced work again. By this time we had advanced +into the very heart of the forest. The smooth boles of the tall +beech-trees looked grand in their winter nakedness, rising like columns +from the white frost-bespangled ground. I took up my stand, gun in +readiness, waiting for the tramp, the snort, or the grizzly dark form of +the wild-boar, but nothing came to disturb the utter solitude of the +scene. + +But hark! I hear shots fired repeatedly in the lower valley. I, too, +begin to look out with quickened pulse, peering into the misty depths of +the forest, and with ear alert for every sound, but all to no purpose. +Nothing comes my way, though again I hear two more shots echo sharply in +the narrow valley nearer to me than before. After the lapse of a few +minutes the beaters came up, breaking through the dead branches of +undercover. I knew now that my own chance was gone, but I was curious to +know what had happened, and joining two of my friends whose "stand" had +been near mine, we hurried down the valley to see what sport had turned +up for the other guns. On inquiry it appeared that at least seventy +wild-boars had passed close to one of our party, but the sight of so +many at once had made his aim unsteady, and he only succeeded in +wounding one of the number. The animal had dashed into the half-frozen +stream at the bottom of the valley, and our friend had to reload and +give him his final shot there. + +We formed one more battue, but nothing came of it, and it was already +high time to return to our quarters, for the whole scene was growing dim +in the wintry twilight. Some of the party, myself included, went by +arrangement to the house of one of the foresters. The good people, in +their desire to be hospitable, gave us a warm reception. They had heated +the rooms to such an extent that we were almost baked alive. + +The next morning we resumed our sport. During the first battue eight +wild-boars were sighted. One was shot instantly; the others broke +through the line of beaters, but in doing so a very unusual thing +happened, for one of the foresters succeeded in killing a boar by a +tremendous blow from his axe. We were very much surprised that the +animal had come near enough, for as a rule they will not approach human +beings except when wounded, and then they are most formidable +assailants. I regret to say that one of our dogs was ripped up by one of +this herd of eight. + +This was the beginning and end of our sport for the day. Our indifferent +luck was to be accounted for from the fact of there being, comparatively +speaking, not much snow. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + + Tokay vineyards--The vine-grower's difficulties--Geology of the + Hegyalia--The Pope's compliment to the wine of Tállya--Towns of the + Hegyalia--Farming--System of wages at harvest--The different sorts + of Tokay wine. + + +The vintage is the season of all others for Tokay; in former days it was +a very gay affair, for then every noble family in Hungary, especially +the bishops, had vineyards in the Hegyalia, and the magnates came to the +vintage with large retinues of servants and horses; and feasting and +hospitality were the order of the day. In the good old times every +important event in the family was celebrated by much drinking of Tokay, +but in those degenerate days other fashions prevail. Before their +kingdom was dismembered the Poles were the best customers for Tokay +wine, but they are too poor now to have such luxuries; added to this, +Russia has for nearly a century past laid an almost prohibitive duty on +Hungarian wine. The fiscal impositions of Austria have also weighed +heavily on Hungary's productions. At present North Germany and +Scandinavia are amongst the most ready purchasers of Tokay; and England +is beginning to appreciate the "Szamarodni" or "dry Tokay," remarkable +for the absence of all deleterious sweetness. + +In good years the vintage of Tokay may be estimated at something like +150,000 _eimers_, an _eimer_ being about two and a half gallons; but a +really good year is the exception, not the rule. For three years (since +1874) the vintages have all been below the average. The season of 1876 +was a complete failure; a disastrous frost on the 19th of May in that +year completely destroyed the hopes and prospects of the vine-grower. +Indeed he has a trying life of it, for his hopes go up and down with the +barometer. If his vines escape the much-dreaded May frosts, there is a +risk that the summer may be too wet for the grapes, which love sunshine. +Then, again, in the hottest summers there are violent hail-storms, and +in half an hour he may see his promising crop beaten to the ground. It +has been well remarked that "the weather seems to have no control over +itself in Hungary." + +The vine-grower's troubles do not end when the vintage is successfully +over. Tokay is a troublesome wine in respect to fermentation; it +requires three years before it can travel, and even when these critical +years are over, the wine will sometimes get "sick" in the spring--at +the identical time when the sap rises in the living plant. + +The unique quality of the Tokay is due to the soil, and perhaps to some +other conditions; but not to the peculiarity of the grape, for, as a +matter of fact, they grow a variety of sorts. The cultivation of the +vine appears to be of great antiquity in this part of the world. The +introduction of the plant is attributed to the inevitable PhÅ“nician; +but, treading on more assured historic ground, we find that King Bela +IV., in the thirteenth century, caused new kinds of grapes to be +imported from Italy, and brought about an improvement generally in the +culture of the vine. + +But to return to the question of the soil. The Tokay Eperies group of +hills is one of several well-defined groups of volcanic rocks that exist +in Hungary and Transylvania. In the Tokay district the formations are +partly eruptive, partly sedimentary, but nowhere older than the Tertiary +period, say the geologists. The Hegyalia (which means "mountain-slopes" +in the Magyar tongue) forms the southern spur of the extended volcanic +region, composed of trachyte and rhyolithe, beginning at Eperies and +terminating in the conical hill of Tokay, which protrudes itself so +singularly into the Alföld, or plain. + +But the vine-growing district does not end at Tokay; it continues on +the eastern slopes of the mountain range as far as Uihely, forming two +sides of an irregular triangle, and the total length, say from Szanto in +the west to Tokay, and from Tokay to Uihely, being about thirty-eight +miles. + +As a matter of fact, Tokay, which gives its name to the wine, does not +produce the best vintage; other localities are more esteemed. Tállya, +for example, situated a few miles east of Szanto, has long been +renowned. As early as the sixteenth century the excellence of the wine +from this district was acknowledged by infallible authority. It appears +that during the sitting of the Council of Trent, wines were produced +from all parts for the delectation of the holy fathers. George +Draskovics, the Bishop of Fünfkirchen, brought some of his celebrated +vintage, and presenting a glass of it to the Pope, observed that it was +_Tállya_ wine. Whereupon his Holiness pronounced it to be nectar, +surpassing all other wines, exclaiming with ready wit, "Summum +Pontificum _talia_ vina decent." This place, so happily distinguished by +Papal wit, is pleasantly situated on the side of the hill; it possesses +about 2100 acres of vineyards. + +The places in the Hegyalia are all called towns, though in reality they +are not much more than large villages. Tokay has 4000 inhabitants; it +is at the foot of the hill, close to the junction of the Theiss and the +Bodrog; a ruined castle forms a picturesque object in the foreground, +and beyond is the far-stretching plain. Professor Judd says[24] that at +one period of their history "the volcanic islands of Hungary must have +been very similar in appearance to those of the Grecian Archipelago." +Looking at the conical-shaped hill of Tokay, and the other +configurations of the range, it is quite easy to take in the idea, and +under certain atmospheric conditions the great plain very closely +resembles an inland sea. + +At Tokay the Theiss becomes navigable for steamers, but the circuitous +course of the river prevents much traffic, more especially since the +extension of railways. The next place is Tarczal, and here the Emperor +of Austria has some fine vineyards. Some people have an idea that all +the wine grown in the whole district is Imperial Tokay, and that the +vineyards themselves, one and all, are imperial property. This is very +far from being the case; in fact, since 1848, the peasant proprietors +hold more largely than any other class. The easy transfer of land +facilitates the purchase of small lots, and the result is that every +peasant in the Hegyalia tries to possess himself of an acre or two, or +even half an acre of vineyard. The cultivation seems to pay them well; +but a succession of bad seasons must be very trying, for the vineyards +cannot be neglected be the year good or bad. + +At Zombar, a village in this locality, there is a good instance of what +can be got out of reclaimed land; it was formerly under water for the +greater portion of the year. The soil is so rich in decayed vegetable +matter as to be almost black, and now grows excellent crops of tobacco +and Indian corn. The country north-east of Tokay is certainly the most +picturesque side, there is more foliage, and there is also water. + +The first time I drove through Bodrog-Keresztur, which is on this side, +I thought that, notwithstanding the pretty country, I had never seen so +desolate a place. The town was once famed for its markets, but the +railways have changed all this; almost every other house is a ruin, and +large trees may be seen growing between the walls. + +In the last century a company of Russian soldiers were stationed here +for the purpose of buying Tokay wine for the Russian Court. + +One of the prettiest little places in the Hegyalia is Erdö-Benye; it is +off the main road, right in amongst the hills. It boasts the largest +wine-cellar in the whole district; it has twenty-two ramifications at +two different levels, the whole being cut out of the solid rock; it is +more like a subterranean labyrinth than a cellar. This place was +formerly the property of the renowned family of Rákoczy, who played no +mean part in Hungarian history. Not far from Erdö-Benye are +mineral-water baths, romantically situated in the oak-forest. + +Sáros Patak and Uihely are the two most noteworthy towns in the +north-eastern side of the Tokay triangle. The first named has a +Calvinist college of some considerable reputation, a library of 24,000 +volumes, a printing-press, and a botanical garden. Uihely is the county +town of Zemplin. An agricultural show was held here last spring (1877), +which I attended. Our English-made agricultural implements were very +much to the fore on this occasion. Some people complain of these +machines on the score of their getting out of order rather easily, and +of the immense difficulty of having them repaired in the country. This +objection, I have heard, does not apply alike to all the English makers. +At this show there were some new kinds of wine-presses which attracted a +good deal of attention; before long no doubt not a few changes will be +effected in the process of wine-making in Tokay. Considering that +Hungary holds the third rank in Europe as a wine-producing country, the +whole question of the manipulation of wine is a very important one for +her. + +Amongst the live stock at this show I noticed some very fine merino +sheep. In Hungary the wool-producing quality is everything in sheep, as +mutton has hardly any value. This was only a country show, and the +horses, from an Englishman's point of view, were not worth looking at; +but there are plenty of fine horses in Hungary. The Government has been +at immense pains to improve the breed by introducing English and Arabian +sires. For practical purposes the native breed must not be decried; the +Hungarian horse, though small, has many excellent qualities. For +ordinary animals the prices are very low, which fact does not encourage +the peasants to take much care of the foals. On this occasion I bought a +couple of horses for farming purposes; the two only cost me about £11. + +With regard to farming, our English notions of "high farming" will not +do in Hungary; what is called the "extensive system" pays best. For +instance, if I were already farming, and had some disposable capital at +hand, I should find it pay me better to invest in buying more land than +in trying to increase the produce of what I had already in hand. After +some practical experience in the country, I have no hesitation in saying +that Hungary offers a good field for the employment of English capital. + +Vineyards, on the other hand, can only be worked "intensively." Nothing +requires more care and attention. To begin with, the aspect of the vine +garden influences the quality of the wine immensely. Then there is the +soil. The best is the plastic clay (_nyirok_), which appears to be the +product of the direct chemical decomposition of volcanic rock. This clay +absorbs water but very slowly, and is, in short, the most favourable to +the growth of the vine. As the vines are mostly on the steep hillsides, +low walls are built to prevent the earth from being washed away. In the +early spring one of the first things to be done is to repair the +inevitable damage done by the winter rain or snow to these walls, and to +clear the ditches, which are carefully constructed to carry off the +excess of water. I should observe that in the autumn, soon after the +vintage, the earth is heaped up round the vines to protect them from the +intense cold which prevails here, and directly the spring comes, one +must open up the vines again. In Tokay the vines are never trellised, +they are disposed irregularly, not even in rows--the better to escape +the denudation of their roots by rain. Each vine is supported by an oak +stick, which, removed in autumn, is replaced in spring after the +process of pruning. When the young shoots are long enough they are bound +to these sticks, and are not allowed to grow beyond them. + +No less than three times during the summer the earth should be dug up +round the roots of the vine, and it is very desirable to get the second +digging over before the harvest, for when harvest has once commenced it +is impossible to get labourers at any price. The harvest operations +generally begin at the end of June, and last six weeks. In the part of +Hungary of which I am now speaking the labourer gets a certain +proportion of the harvest. In this district he has every eleventh stack +of corn, and as they are fed as well during the time, a man and his wife +can generally earn enough corn for the whole year. The summers are +intensely hot, and the work in consequence very fatiguing. The poor +fellows are often stricken with fever, the result, in some cases, of +their own imprudence in eating water-melons to excess. + +It is not till the third or fourth week in October that the vintage is +to be looked for. It is not the abundance of grapes that makes a good +year; the test is the amount of dried grapes, for it is to these brown +withered-looking berries that the unique character of the-wine is due. +If the season is favourable, the over-ripe grapes crack in September, +when the watery particles evaporate, leaving the rasin-like grape with +its undissipated saccharine matter. + +In order to make "Essenz," these dry grapes are separated from the rest, +placed in tubs with holes perforated at the bottom. The juice is allowed +to squeeze out by the mere weight of the fruit into a vessel placed +beneath. After several years' keeping this liquid becomes a drinkable +wine, but of course it is always very costly. This is really only a +liqueur. The wine locally called "Ausbruch" is the more generally known +sweet Tokay, a delicious wine, but also very expensive. It is said to +possess wonderfully restorative properties in sickness and in advanced +age. + +Another quality, differently treated, but of the same vintage, is called +"Szamarodni," now known in the English market as "dry Tokay." This dry +wine preserves the bouquet and strength of the ordinary Tokay, but it is +absolutely without any appreciable "sweetness." In order to produce +Szamarodni the dry grapes must not be separated from the others. The +proportion of alcohol is from twelve to fifteen per cent. + +When first I saw the vintage in the Tokay district, I was greatly +interested in the novelty of the whole scene. It is well worth the +stranger's while to turn aside from the beaten track and join for once +in this characteristic Hungarian festivity, for nowhere is the Magyar +more at home than in the vine-growing Hegyalia. + +[Footnote 24: Ancient Volcanoes of Hungary.] + + +THE END. + + +MUIR AND PATERSON, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. + + +[Illustration: Map of the BANAT and TRANSYLVANIA with Mr. Crosse's +Route] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Round About the Carpathians, by Andrew F. Crosse + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROUND ABOUT THE CARPATHIANS *** + +***** This file should be named 17972-0.txt or 17972-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/9/7/17972/ + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Taavi Kalju, and the Online +Distributed Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net. +(This file was made using scans of public domain works +from the University of Michigan Digital Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Round About the Carpathians + +Author: Andrew F. Crosse + +Release Date: March 12, 2006 [EBook #17972] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROUND ABOUT THE CARPATHIANS *** + + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Taavi Kalju, and the Online +Distributed Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net. +(This file was made using scans of public domain works +from the University of Michigan Digital Libraries.) + + + + + +ROUND ABOUT THE +CARPATHIANS + + +BY + +ANDREW F. CROSSE + +FELLOW OF THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY + + +WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS + EDINBURGH AND LONDON + MDCCCLXXVIII + +_The Right of translation is reserved_ + + +MUIR AND PATERSON, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + +CHAPTER I. + +Down the Danube from Buda-Pest--Amusements on board the +steamer--Basiash--Drive to Oravicza by Weisskirchen--Ladies of +Oravicza--Gipsy music--Finding an old school-fellow--The +_czardas_. 1 + + +CHAPTER II. + +Consequences of trying to buy a horse--An expedition into +Servia--Fine scenery--The peasants of New Moldova--Szechenyi +road--Geology of the defile of Kasan--Crossing the +Danube--Milanovacz--Drive to Maidenpek--Fearful storm in the +mountains--Miserable quarters for the night--Extent of this +storm--The disastrous effects of the same storm at +Buda-Pest--Great loss of life. 15 + + +CHAPTER III. + +Maidenpek--Well-to-do condition of Servians--Lady Mary Wortley +Montague's journey through Servia--Troubles in +Bulgaria--Communists at Negotin--Copper mines--Forest +ride--Robbers on the road--Kucainia--Belo-breska--Across the +Danube--Detention at customhouse--Weisskirchen--Sleeping +Wallacks. 33 + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Variety of races in Hungary--Wallacks or +Roumains--Statistics--Savage outbreak of the Wallacks in former +years--Panslavic ideas--Roumanians and their origin--Priests of +the Greek Church--Destruction of forests--Spirit of +Communism--Incendiary fires. 46 + + +CHAPTER V. + +Paraffine-works in Oravicza--Gold mine--Coal mines at +Auima-Steirdorf--Geology--States Railway Company's +mines--Bribery 54 + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Mineral wealth of the Banat--Wild ride to Dognacska--Equipment +for a riding tour--An afternoon nap and its consequences--Copper +mines--Self-help--Rare insects--Moravicza--Rare +minerals--Deutsch Bogsan--Reschitza 58 + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Election at Oravicza--Officialism--Reforms--Society--Ride to +Szaszka--Fine views--Drenkova--Character of the +Serbs--Svenica--Rough night walk through the forest 70 + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Hospitable welcome at Uibanya--Excursion to the Servian side of +the Danube--Ascent of the Stierberg--Bivouac in the +woods--Magnificent views towards the Balkans--Fourteen eagles +disturbed--Wallack dance 83 + + +CHAPTER IX. + +A hunting expedition proposed--Drive from Uibanya to +Orsova--Oriental aspect of the market-place--Cserna +Valley--Hercules-Bad, Mehadia--Post-office mistakes--Drive to +Karansebes--Rough customers _en route_--Lawlessness--Fair at +Karansebes--Podolian cattle--Ferocious dogs 90 + + +CHAPTER X. + +Post-office at Karansebes--Good headquarters for a +sportsman--Preparations for a week in the mountains--The party +starting for the hunt--Adventures by the way--Fine +trees--Game--Hut in the forest--Beauty of the scenery in the +Southern Carpathians 104 + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Chamois and bear hunting--First battue--Luxurious dinner 5000 +feet above the sea-level--Storm in the night--Discomforts--The +bear's supper--The eagle's breakfast--Second and third day's +shooting--Baking a friend as a cure for fever--Striking +camp--View into Roumania 118 + + +CHAPTER XII. + +Back at Mehadia--Troubles about a carriage--An unexpected night +on the road--Return to Karansebes--On horseback through the Iron +Gate Pass--Varhely, the ancient capital of Dacia--Roman +remains--Beauty of the Hatszeg Valley 131 + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +Hungarian hospitality--Wallack laziness--Fishing--"Settled +gipsies"--Anecdote--Old _régime_--Fire--Old Roman bath--The +avifauna of Transylvania--Fly-fishing 140 + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +On horseback to Petrosèny--A new town--Valuable +coal-fields--Killing fish with dynamite and poison--Singular +manner of repairing roads--Hungarian patriotism--Story of +Hunyadi Janos--Intrusion of the Moslems into Europe 152 + + +CHAPTER XV. + +Hunting for a guide--School statistics--Old times--Over the +mountains to Herrmannstadt--Night in the open--Nearly setting +the forest on fire--Orlat 160 + +CHAPTER XVI. + +Herrmannstadt--Saxon immigrants--Museum--Places of interest in +the neighbourhood--The fortress-churches--Heltau--The Rothen +Thurm Pass--Turkish incursions 173 + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +Magyar intolerance of the German--Patriotic revival of the +Magyar language--Ride from Herrmannstadt to Kronstadt--The +village of Zeiden--Curious scene in church--Reformation in +Transylvania--Political bitterness between Saxons and Magyars in +1848 184 + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +Political difficulties--Impatient criticism of +foreigners--Hungary has everything to do--Tenant-farmers +wanted--Wages 195 + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +Want of progress amongst the Saxons--The +Burzenland--Kronstadt--Mixed character of its +inhabitants--Szeklers--General Bem's campaign 199 + + +CHAPTER XX. + +The Tomöscher Pass--Projected railway from Kronstadt to +Bucharest--Visit to the cavalry barracks at Rosenau--Terzburg +Pass--Dr Daubeny on the extinct volcanoes of Hungary--Professor +Judd on mineral deposits 209 + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +A ride through Szeklerland--Warnings about robbers--Büksad--A +look at the sulphur deposits on Mount Büdos--A lonely lake--An +invitation to Tusnad 219 + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +The baths of Tusnad--The state of affairs before +1848--Inequality of taxation--Reform--The existing land +laws--Communal property--Complete registration of titles to +estates--Question of entail 232 + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +Fine scenery in Szeklerland--Csik Szent Marton--Absence of +inns--The Szekler's love of lawsuits--Csik Szereda--Hospitality +along the road--Wallack atrocities in 1848--The Wallacks not +Panslavists 243 + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +Ride to Szent Domokos--Difficulty about quarters--Interesting +host--Jewish question in Hungary--Taxation--Financial matters 252 + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +Copper mine of Balanbanya--Miners in the wine-shop--Ride to St +Miklos--Visit to an Armenian family--Capture of a robber--Cold +ride to the baths of Borsék 260 + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +Moldavian frontier--Tölgyes--Excitement about robbers--Attempt +at extortion--A ride over the mountains--Return to St Miklos 275 + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +Toplicza--Armenian hospitality--A bear-hunt--A ride over to the +frontier of Bukovina--Destruction of timber--Maladministration +of State property--An unpleasant night on the +mountain--Snowstorm 282 + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +Visits at Transylvanian châteaux--Society--Dogs--Amusements at +Klausenburg--Magyar poets--Count Istvan Széchenyi--Baron +Eötvos--'The Village Notary'--Hungarian self-criticism--Literary +taste 291 + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +A visit at Schloss B------National characteristics--Robber +stories--Origin of the "poor lads"--Audacity of the +robbers--Anecdote of Deák and the housebreaker--Romantic story +of a robber chief 302 + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +Return to Buda-Pest--All-Souls' Day--The cemetery--Secret burial +of Count Louis Batthyanyi--High rate of mortality at Buda-Pest 315 + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +Skating--Death and funeral of Deák--Deák's policy--Uneasiness +about the rise of the Danube--Great excitement about +inundations--The capital in danger--Night scene on the +embankment--Firing the danger-signal--The great calamity averted 321 + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +Results of the Danube inundations--State of things at +Baja--Terrible condition of New Pest--Injuries sustained by the +island garden of St. Marguerite--Charity organisation 335 + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +Expedition to the Marmaros Mountains--Railways in Hungary--The +train stopping for a rest--The Alföld--Shepherds of the +plain--Wild appearance of the Rusniacks--Slavs of Northern +Hungary--Marmaros Szigeth--Difficulty in slinging a hammock--The +Jews of Karasconfalu--Soda manufactory at Boeska--Romantic +scenery--Salt mines--Subterranean lake 339 + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +The Tokay district--Visit at Schloss G------Wild-boar +hunting--Incidents of the chase 355 + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +Tokay vineyards--The vine-grower's difficulties--Geology of the +Hegyalia--The Pope's compliment to the wine of Tállya--Towns of +the Hegyalia--Farming--System of wages at harvest--The different +sorts of Tokay wine 364 + + +_Map of the Banat and Transylvania with Mr Crosse's route._ + + + + +ROUND ABOUT THE CARPATHIANS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + Down the Danube from Buda-Pest--Amusements on board the + steamer--Basiash--Drive to Oravicza by Weisskirchen--Ladies of + Oravicza--Gipsy music--Finding an old schoolfellow--The _czardas_. + + +One glorious morning in June 1875, I, with the true holiday feeling at +heart, for the world was all before me, stepped on board the Rustchuk +steamer at Buda-Pest, intending to go down the Danube as far as Basiash. + +Your express traveller, whose aim it is to get to the other end of +everywhere in the shortest possible time, will take the train instead of +the boat to Basiash, and there catch up the steamer, saving fully twelve +hours on the way. This time the man in a hurry is not so far wrong; the +Danube between Buda-Pest and the defile of Kasan is almost devoid of +what the regular tourist would call respectable scenery. There are few +objects of interest, except the mighty river itself. + +Now the steamer has its advantages over the train, for surely nowhere in +this locomotive world can a man more thoroughly enjoy "sweetly doing +nothing" than on board one of these river-boats. You are wafted swiftly +onward through pure air and sunshine; you have an armchair under the +awning; of course an amusing French novel; besides, truth to say, there +is plenty to amuse you on board. Once past Vienna, your moorings are cut +from the old familiar West; the costumes, the faces, the architecture, +and even the way of not doing things, have all a flavour of the East. + +What a hotch-potch of races, so to speak, all in one boat, but ready to +do anything rather than pull together; even here, between stem and stern +of our Danube steamer, are Magyars, Germans, Servians, Croats, +Roumanians, Jews, and gipsies. They are all unsatisfied people with +aspirations; no two are agreed--everybody wants something else down +here, and how Heaven is to grant all the prayers of those who have the +grace to pray, or how otherwise to settle the Eastern Question, I will +not pretend to say. + +Meanwhile the world amuses itself--I mean the microcosm on board the +steamer: people, ladies not excepted, play cards, drink coffee, and +smoke. There is a good opportunity of studying the latest Parisian +fashions, as worn by Roumanian belles; they know how to dress, do those +handsome girls from Bucharest. + +When steam navigation was first established on the Danube, as long ago +as 1830, Prince Demidoff remarked, that "in making the Danube one of the +great commercial highways of the world, steam had united the East with +the West." It was a smart saying, but it was not a thing accomplished +when the Prince wrote his Travels, nor is it now; for though the "Danube +Steam Navigation Company" have been running their boats for nearly half +a century, they are in difficulties, "chiefly," says Mr Révy,[1] "from +the neglect of all river improvements between Vienna and Buda-Pest, and +between Basiash and Turn-Severin." He goes on to say that the dearest +interests of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy are involved in the +rectification of the course of the Danube, recommending a Royal +Commission to be appointed. Those who follow the course of the river may +see for themselves how little has been done, and how much remains to be +done before it can be safely reckoned one of the great commercial +highways of the world. + +We had started from Buda-Pest on Monday morning at seven o'clock, and +arrived at Basiash at nine the following morning. We were fortunate in +not having been detained anywhere by shallow water, so often the cause +of delay by this route. + +Up to the present time Basiash is the terminus of the railway; it is a +depôt for coal brought from the interior, and though not out of its +teens, is a place fast growing into importance. + +As my object was to get to Oravicza in the Banat, I had done with the +steamboat, and intended taking the rail to my destination; but, in the +"general cussedness" of things, there turned out to be no train till the +evening. I did not at all enjoy the prospect of knocking about the whole +day amongst coal-sheds and unfinished houses, with the alternative +refuge of the inn, which was swarming with flies and redolent of many +evil smells; so I thought I would find some conveyance and drive over, +for the distance was not great. If there is anything I hate, it is +waiting the livelong day for a railway train. + +There chanced to be an intelligent native close by who divined my +thoughts, for I had certainly not uttered them; he came up, touched me +on the arm, and pointed round the corner. Notwithstanding the intense +heat of the day, the Wallack, for such he was, wore an enormous +sheepskin cloak with the wool outside, as though ready for an Arctic +winter. I followed him a few steps to see what he wanted me to look at; +the movement was quite enough, he regarded it evidently in the light of +ready assent, and in the twinkling of an eye he possessed himself of my +portmanteau and other belongings, motioned me to follow him, which I +did, and then found that my Heaven-sent friend had a machine for hire. + +I call it a machine, because it was not like anything on wheels I had +seen before: later on I became familiar enough with the carts of the +country; they are long-bodied, rough constructions, wonderfully adapted +to the uneven roads. In this case there were four horses abreast, which +sounds imposing, as any four-in-hand must always do. + +I now asked the Wallack in German if he could drive me to Oravicza, for +I saw he had made up his mind to drive me somewhere. To my relief I +found he could speak German, at all events a few words. He replied he +could drive the "high and nobly born Excellency" there in four hours. +The time was one thing, but the charge was quite another affair. His +demand was so outrageous that I supposed it was an implied compliment to +my exalted rank: certainly it had no adequate reference to the services +offered. The fellow asked enough to buy the whole concern outright--cart +and four horses! They were the smallest horses I almost ever saw, and +were further reduced by the nearest shave of being absolute skeletons; +the narrow line between sustaining life and actual starvation must have +been nicely calculated. + +We now entered upon the bargaining phase, a process which threatened to +last some time; all the stragglers in the place assisted at the +conference, taking a patriotic interest in their own countryman. The +matter was finally adjusted by the Wallack agreeing to take a sixth part +of the original sum. + +Seated on a bundle of hay, with my things around me, I was now quite +ready for the start, but the driver had a great many last words with the +public, which the interest in our proceedings had gathered about us. +Presently with an air of triumph he took his seat, gave a loud crack or +two with his whip, and off we started at a good swinging trot, just to +show what his team could accomplish. + +We took the road to Weisskirchen, leaving the Danube in the rear. The +country was fairly pretty, but nothing remarkable; fine scenery under +the circumstances would have been quite superfluous, for the dust was +two feet deep in the road, and the heels of four horses scampering along +raised such a cloud of it that we could see next to nothing. + +We had not proceeded far when the speed sensibly relaxed; I fancy the +horses went slower that they might listen to what the driver had to say, +he talked to them the whole time. He was not communicative to me; his +knowledge of German seemed limited to the bargaining process, a lesson +often repeated, I suspect. As time wore on the heat became almost +tropical; as for the dust, I felt as if I had swallowed a sandbank, and +was joyful at the near prospect of quenching my thirst at Weisskirchen, +now visible in the distance. + +Hungarian towns look like overgrown villages that have never made up +their minds seriously to become towns. The houses are mostly of one +story, standing each one alone, with the gable-end, blank and +windowless, towards the road. This is probably a relic of Orientalism. + +Getting up full speed as we approached the town, we clattered noisily +over the crown of the causeway, and suddenly making a sharp turn, found +ourselves in the courtyard of the inn. + +I inquired how long we were to remain here; "A small half-hour," was the +driver's answer. This was my first experience of a Wallack's idea of +time, if indeed they have any ideas on the subject beyond the rising and +the setting of the sun. + +I strolled about the place, but there was not much to be done in the +time, and I got very tired of waiting: the "half-hour" was anything but +"small;" however, one must be somewhere, and in Hungary waiting comes a +good deal into the day's work. I was rather afraid my Wallack was +indulging too freely in _slivovitz_--otherwise plum-brandy--a special +weakness of theirs; but after an intolerable delay we got off at last. + +Soon after leaving the town we came upon an encampment of gipsies; their +tents looked picturesque enough in the distance, but on nearer approach +the illusion was entirely dispelled. In appearance they were little +better than savages; children even of ten years of age, lean, mop-headed +creatures, were to be seen running about absolutely naked. As Mark Twain +said, "they wore nothing but a smile," but the smile was a grimace to +try to extract coppers from the traveller. Two miles farther on we came +upon fourteen carts of gipsies, as wild a crew as one could meet all the +world over. Some of the men struck me as handsome, but with a single +exception the women were terribly unkempt-looking creatures. + +It was fully six o'clock before we reached Oravicza; the drive of +twenty-five miles had taken eight hours instead of four, as the Wallack +had profanely promised. + +We entered the town with a feeble attempt at a trot, but the poor brutes +of horses were dead beat, and neither the pressure of public opinion nor +the suggestive cracking of the driver's whip could arouse them, to +becoming activity. + +Oravicza is very prettily situated on rising ground, and the long +winding street, extending more than two miles, turns with the valley. +Crawling along against collar the whole way, I thought the street would +never end. There are very few Magyar inhabitants in this place, which is +pretty equally divided between Germans and Wallacks; the lower part of +the town belongs to the latter, and is known as Roman Oravicza, in +distinction to Deutsch Oravicza. The population is altogether about +seven thousand. + +I fancy not many strangers pass this way, for never was a shy Englishman +so stared at as this dust-begrimmed traveller. I became painfully +self-conscious of the generally disreputable appearance of my cart and +horses, the driver and myself, when two remarkably pretty girls tripped +by, casting upon me well-bred but amused glances. All the womenkind of +Oravicza must have turned out at this particular hour, for I had hardly +passed the sisters with the arched eyebrows, when I came upon another +group of young ladies, who were laughing and talking together. I think +they grew merrier as I approached, and I am quite sure I was hotter than +I had been all day. "Confound the fellow! can't he turn into an +innyard--anywhere out of the main street?" thought I, giving my driver a +poke. He knew perfectly well where he was about to take me, and no +significant gestures of mine hastened him forward in the very least. +Presently, without any warning, we did turn into a side opening, but so +suddenly that the whole vehicle had a wrench, and the two hind wheels +jolted over a high kerbstone. Meanwhile the group of damsels were still +in close confab, and I could see took note that the stranger had +descended at the Krone. We were all in a heap in the courtyard, but we +had to extricate ourselves as best we could, for not a soul was to be +seen, though we had made noise enough certainly to announce our arrival. + +I pulled repeatedly at the bell before I could rouse the _hausknecht_, +and induce him to make an appearance. At length he deigned to emerge +from the recesses of the dirty interior. Having discharged the Wallack +in a satisfied frame of mind (he had the best of the bargain after all), +I was at leisure to follow mine host to inspect the accommodation he had +to offer me. A sanitary commissioner would have condemned it, but _en +voyage comme en voyage_. With some difficulty and delay I procured water +enough to fill the pie-dish that did duty for the washing apparatus. I +had an old relative of extremely Low Church proclivities who was always +repeating--for my edification, I suppose--that "man is but dust;" the +dear old lady would have said so in very truth if she had seen me on +this occasion. + +After supper I strolled into the summer theatre, a simple erection, +consisting of a stage at the end of a pretty, shady garden. Seats and +tables were placed under the lime-trees, and here the happy people of +Oravicza enjoy their amusements in the fresh air, drinking coffee and +eating ices. Think of the luxury of fresh air, O ye frequenters of +London theatres! + +The evening was already advanced, the tables were well filled; groups +gathered here and there, sauntering under the greenery, gay with +lanterns; and many a blue-eyed maiden was there, with looks coquettish +yet demure, as German maidens are wont to appear. + +A concert was going on, and I for the first time heard a gipsy band. +Music is an instinct with these Hungarian gipsies. They play by ear, and +with a marvellous precision, not surpassed by musicians who have been +subject to the most careful training. Their principal instruments are +the violin, the violoncello, and a sort of zither. The airs they play +are most frequently compositions of their own, and are in character +quite peculiar, though favourite pieces from Wagner and other composers +are also given by them with great effect. I heard on this occasion one +of the gipsy airs which made an indelible impression on my mind; it +seemed to me the thrilling utterance of a people's history. There was +the low wail of sorrow, of troubled passionate grief, stirring the heart +to restlessness, then the sense of turmoil and defeat; but upon this +breaks suddenly a wild burst of exultation, of rapturous joy--a triumph +achieved, which hurries you along with it in resistless sympathy. The +excitable Hungarians can literally become intoxicated with this +music--and no wonder. You cannot reason upon it, or explain it, but its +strains compel you to sensations of despair and joy, of exultation and +excitement, as though under the influence of some potent charm. + +I strolled leisurely back to the inn, beneath the starlit heavens. The +outline of the mountains was clearly marked in the distance, and in the +foreground quaint gable-ends mixed themselves up with the shadows and +the trees--a pretty picture, prettier than anything one can see by the +light of "common day." + +The following morning I set about making inquiries respecting the mines +which I knew existed in the neighbourhood of Oravicza. I found that an +English gentleman owned a gold mine in the immediate vicinity, and that +he was then living in the town. This induced me to go off at once to +call upon him, and I was immediately received in a very friendly manner. +This accidental meeting was rather curious, for on comparing notes we +found that we had been schoolfellows together at Westminster. H---- +being my senior, we had not known each other well; but meeting here in +the wilds, we were as old familiar friends. H---- kindly insisted on my +leaving the inn and taking up my quarters with him in his bachelor +residence, which was in fact big enough to accommodate a whole form of +Westminster boys. I was not at all sorry to avoid a second night at the +Krone, and gladly fell into my friend's hospitable arrangements. + +I was in great luck altogether, for that very evening a dance was to +come off at Oravicza, and my friend invited me to accompany him. Dancing +is one of the sins I compound for; moreover, I had a lively recollection +of the bright eyes I had encountered yesterday. + +Oravicza is a central place, in a way the chief town of the Banat. It +has a pleasant little society, composed of the families of the +officials, and of the military stationed there; they are mostly German +by origin. Amongst the belles of the evening I soon discovered my merry +critics of yesterday. I was duly presented, and we laughed together over +my "first appearance." It was one of the pleasantest evenings I ever +remember. I hate long invitations to anything agreeable; this party, for +instance, had the charm of unexpectedness. If unfortunately I should +prove not quite good enough to go to heaven, I think it would be very +pleasant to stop at Oravicza--supposing, of course, that my friends all +stopped there as well. + +Here I first danced the _czardas_; it is an epoch in a man's life, but +you must see it, feel it, dance it, and, above all, hear the gipsy music +that inspires it. This is the national dance of the Hungarians, favoured +by prince and peasant alike. The figures are very varied, and represent +the progress of a courtship where the lady is coy, and now retreats and +now advances; her partner manifests his despair, she yields her hand, +and then the couple whirl off together to the most entrancing tones of +wild music, such as St. Anthony himself could not have resisted. + +[Footnote 1: The Danube at Buda-Pest. Report addressed to Count Andrassy +by J.J. Révy, C.E. 1876.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + Consequences of trying to buy a horse--An expedition into + Servia--Fine scenery--The peasants of New Moldova--Szechenyi + road--Geology of the defile of Kasan--Crossing the + Danube--Milanovacz-Drive to Maidenpek--Fearful storm in the + mountains--Miserable quarters for the night--Extent of this + storm--The disastrous effects of the same storm at Buda-Pest--Great + loss of life. + + +My friend H---- is the very impersonation of sound practical sense. The +next morning he coolly broke in upon my raptures over the beauty of the +Oravicza ladies by saying, "You want to buy a horse, don't you?" + +Of course I did, but my thoughts were elsewhere at the moment, and with +some reluctance I took my hat and followed my friend to interview a +Wallack who had heard that I was a likely purchaser, and brought an +animal to show me. It would not do at all, and we dismissed him. + +A little later we went out into the town, and I thought there was a +horse-fair; I should think we met a dozen people at least who came up to +accost me on the subject of buying a horse. And such a collection of +animals!--wild colts from the Pustza that had never been ridden at all, +and other ancient specimens from I know not where, which could never be +ridden again--old, worn-out roadsters. There were two or three good +horses, but they were only fit for harness. I was so bothered every time +I put my nose out of doors by applications from persons anxious to part +with their property in horse-flesh, that I wished I had kept my +intentions locked in my own breast. I was pestered for days about this +business. There was an old Jew who came regularly to the house three +times a-day to tell me of some other paragon that he had found. When he +saw that it was really of no use, he then complained loudly that I had +wasted his precious time, that he had given up every other occupation +for the sake of finding me a horse. I dismissed this Jew, telling him +pretty sharply to go about his own business for once, adding that +nothing should induce me to buy a horse in Oravicza. + +One day H---- informed me that he was going over to Servia on a matter +of business, and if I liked to accompany him, I should see something of +the country, and perhaps I might find there a horse to suit me. The +Servian horses are said to be a useful breed, strong though small, and +very enduring for a long march. + +I was very ready for the expedition, so we hired a _leiterwagen_, which +is in fact a long cart with sides like a ladder, peculiarly suitable for +rough work. I was much surprised to find the Hungarians far less often +in the saddle than I expected; it is true, nobody walks, not even the +poorest peasant, but they drive, as a rule. + +We started one fine July morning in our machine for Moldova on the +Danube. The first place we came to was Szaszka, a mining village. Close +by are copper mines and smelting-works belonging to the States Railway +Company. I was told that they do not pay as well as formerly, owing to +the fact that the ore now being worked is poorer than before; it yields +only two per cent. of copper, a very low average. Nothing could well +exceed the dirt of Szaszka; we merely stopped long enough to feed the +horses, and were glad to get off again. + +On leaving this place the road immediately begins to ascend the +mountain, and may be described as a sort of pass over a spur of the +Carpathians. It was a very beautiful drive, favoured as we were, too, +with fine weather. The road on the northern side is even well made, +ascending in regular zigzags. After gaining the summit, we left the +post-road that we had hitherto traversed, and took our way to the right, +descending through a forest. The varied foliage was very lovely, and +the shade afforded us most grateful. It was an original notion driving +through such a place, for, according to my ideas, there was no road at +all; but H----, more accustomed to the country, declared it was not so +bad, at least he averred that there were other roads much worse. The +jolting we got over the ruts and stones exceeded anything in my previous +experience. How the cart kept itself together was a marvel to me, but it +accommodated itself by a kind of snakelike movement, not characteristic +of wheeled vehicles in general. Except for the honour and glory of +driving, I would as lief have walked, and I think have done the journey +nearly as soon; but my friend observed, "It was no good giving into bad +roads down in this part of the world." + +At one of the worst turnings we met several bullock-carts filled with +iron pyrites from the copper-smelting. The custom of the drivers of +these carts is to stop at the bottom of a steep bit of hill, and then +put five or six pairs of oxen to draw up one cart. The process is a slow +one, but is better for the oxen. We had great difficulty in passing in +safety, for unluckily at the spot we met them the trees were so thick +that they literally walled up the road, and on the other side there +chanced to be a very uninviting precipice, and of course we had the +place of honour. + +Soon after this little excitement was over we came upon a fine view of +the Danube, with a long stretch of Servian forests beyond. On we jolted, +till at length New Moldova was reached: this place has +smelting-furnaces, and in the neighbourhood are extensive copper mines. +The district is known as the Banat of Temesvar, an extensive area of the +most fertile land in Europe; rich black soil, capable of growing any +number of crops in succession without dressing. This part of Hungary +supplies the finest white flour, so much esteemed by the Vienna bakers, +and now sought after by the pastrycooks in England. + +There was a fair going on at New Moldova, which afforded me an +opportunity of seeing the peasants in their gala dresses. The place is +renowned for its pretty Wallack girls, and I certainly can bear witness +that I saw not a few handsome faces. But what struck me most was the +graceful movements of these damsels: their manner of walking was the +very poetry of motion. I daresay it was the more striking to me because +I had recently come from England, where fashion condemns the wearers of +high-heeled shoes to a rickety waddle! Even here, in these wilds, +fashion maintains a despotic rule. I understand black hair is the thing +at present, so every Wallack maiden dyes her hair to the regulation +colour, though Nature, who never makes a mistake, may have matched her +complexion with auburn locks. + +The costume is very pretty and peculiar; it consists of a loose chemise, +a short skirt of homespun, with a double apron front and back, formed of +a very deep thick fringe of various colours. This peculiar garment is +called an _obreska_; I think it has no counterpart in female fashions +elsewhere. When the under-garment is white and fresh the effect is very +good; but in the case of the very poor, if there are but scanty rags +beneath, then, to speak mildly, the fringe is an inefficient covering. +But to-day every damsel is in her best; and how jauntily she wears the +coloured scarf twisted round her head, which falls in graceful folds! +The Wallacks generally have their bare feet covered, not with boots, but +with thongs of leather, something in the form of a sandal. The Servian +women dress quite differently, wear tight-fitting garments, richly +embroidered when their means permit. The men also figure largely in +embroidery. + +In the evening the peasants had a dance on the open space in front of +the _czarda_, or village inn. Of course we were there to look on. I +should observe that we had arranged to stay the night at Moldova, for +the afternoon had been taken up in visiting a large manufactory for +sulphuric acid in the neighbourhood. The dance which wound up the day's +amusements can be easily described. "Many a youth and many a maid" form +a wide circle with arms interlaced, they move round and round in a +marzurka step to the sound of music. It appeared to me rather slow and +monotonous. I do not know whether the figure breaks up, leaving each +couple more to their own devices; but we left them still revolving in a +circle. + +The following morning we were off on our travels again. A short drive +took us to Old Moldova, a village within the Military Frontier, +regularly constructed, with guardhouse and other Government buildings, +facing the Danube. At this point begins the splendid road by the side of +the river, made by the Hungarian Government in 1840. It reaches as far +as Orsova, taking the left bank of the Danube. It would have been easier +to have followed Trajan's lead, and have made the road on the right +bank; but there were political reasons for deciding otherwise. The +Hungarian Government, as a matter of course, would only construct this +great work within their own territory: the other side of the river is +Servian. The engineering difficulties in making this road were very +great, but they have been everywhere overcome, and the result is a +splendid piece of work. + +Arriving at the Danube, we took a steamboat that would land us in +Milanovacz in Servia. The scenery here is magnificent; we were now in +the defile of Kasan. The waters of the mighty river are contracted +within a narrow gorge, which in fact cleaves asunder the Carpathian +range for a space of more than fifty miles. The limestone rock forms a +precipitous wall on either side, rising in some places to an altitude of +more than two thousand feet sheer from the water's edge. The scenery of +this wonderful pass is very varied; the bare rock with its vertical +precipice gives place to a disturbed broken mass of cliff and scaur, +flung about in every sort of fantastic form, or towering aloft like the +ruined ramparts of some Titan's castle. Over all this a luxuriant +vegetation has thrown a veil of exceeding beauty. + +The fact of the Danube forcing its way through the Carpathian chain in +this remarkable manner is a very interesting problem to the geologists, +and deserves more careful investigation at their hands than perhaps it +has yet received. They seem pretty well agreed in saying that there +must have been a time when the waters were bayed back, and when the vast +Hungarian plain was an inland sea or great lake. + +Professor Hull, in a recent paper on the subject,[2] states the fact of +the plains of Hungary being "overspread by sands, gravels, and a kind of +mud called _loess_, or by alluvial deposits underlaid by fresh-water +limestones, which may be considered as having been formed beneath an +inland lake, during different periods of repletion or partial +exhaustion, dating downwards from the Miocene period." + +The Professor goes on to say that "at intervals along the skirts of the +Carpathians, and in more central detached situations, volcanoes seem to +have been in active operation, vomiting forth masses of trachytic and +basaltic lava, which were sometimes mingled with the deposits forming +under the waters of the lakes. The connection of these great sheets of +water with these active volcanic eruptions in Hungary has been pointed +out by the late Dr. Daubeny. The gorge of Kasan, and the ridge about 700 +feet above the present surface of the stream, appear to have once barred +the passage of the river. At this time the waters must have been pent +up several hundred feet above the present surface, and thus have been +thrown back on the plains of Hungary. It was only necessary that the +barrier should be cut through in order to lay dry these plains by +draining the lakes. This was probably effected by the ordinary process +of river excavation, and partly by the formation of underground channels +scooped out amongst the limestone rocks of the gorge. These two modes of +excavation acting together may have hastened the lowering of the channel +and the drainage of the plains above considerably; nevertheless the time +required for such a work must have been extended, and it would appear +that while the great inland lakes were being drained, the volcanic fires +were languishing, and ultimately became extinct. Hungary thus presents +us with phenomena analogous to those which are to be found in the +volcanic district of Central France." It is a significant fact that even +at the present day the waters of the Platten See and other lakes and +swamps are diminishing, showing that the draining process is still going +on. + +The extent of the great lake of prehistoric times is forcibly brought +before us by the fact that the Alföld, or great plain of Hungary, +comprises an area of 37,400 square miles! Here is found the _Tiefland_, +or deep land, so wonderfully fertile that the cultivator need only +scratch the soil to prepare it for his crop. + +As it only took us four hours by steamer to go from Alt Moldova to +Milanovacz, we calculated that we might reach Maidenpek, our destination +in Servia, the same day by borrowing a few hours from the night, as an +Irishman would say. However, it turned out that there was so much +bargaining and dawdling about at Milanovacz before we could settle on a +conveyance that we did not get away till six o'clock--too late a great +deal, considering the rough drive we had before us. Immediately after +starting we began to wind our way up the mountain. The views were +splendid. The Danube at this part again spreads out, having the +appearance of a lake something like the Rhine near Bingen. We looked +right over into Transylvania and Roumania from the commanding position +afforded by the terraced road up which we slowly toiled. + +We had hardly gained the highest point when we remarked that the sky was +becoming rapidly overcast by clouds from the west. Our Servian driver +swore it would not rain; he knew the signs of the weather, he said, but +as he applied the whip and galloped his horses at every available +opportunity, it was clear he had an inner consciousness of coming +trouble. The road now led through a forest. Here and there a gap in the +thick foliage gave us a glimpse of the distant landscape, and of the +curious atmospheric effects produced by the coming storm. The clouds +rolled up behind us in dense masses, throwing the near mountains into +deep shadow, while the plain far beneath was flooded with bright +sunshine. + +The effect, however, was transitory, for the dark shadow soon engulfed +the distant plain, blurring the fair scene even while we looked upon it. +The change was something marvellous, so sudden and so complete. Up to +this time the air had been still, and very hot; but suddenly a fierce +wind came upon us with a hoarse roar--almost like the waves of the +sea--up the valley and over the hill-top it came, right down upon us, +tearing at the forest-trees. The branches, in all the full foliage of +leafy June, swayed to and fro as the wind went roaring and shrieking +down the hillside; the next moment the earth shook with the clap of a +terrific burst of thunder. + +The horses stood still and shuddered in their harness, and it was with +difficulty they were made to go on. It was evident the storm was right +over us, for now succeeded flash upon flash of forked lightning, with +thunder-claps that were instantaneous and unceasing. + +At the same time the windows of heaven were opened upon us, or rather +the sluices of heaven it seemed to me; for the rain descended in sheets, +not streams, of water. Without any adventitious difficulties, the road +was as objectionable as a road could be; deep ruts alternated with now a +bare bit of rock strewn with treacherous loose stones, and now a sharp +curve with an ugly slant towards the precipice. + +About half an hour after the storm first broke upon us it had become +night, indeed it was so dark that we could hardly see a pace in advance. +The repeated flashes of lightning helped us to make out our position +from time to time, and we trusted to the horses mainly to get us along +in the safe middle course. At moments when the heavens were lit up, I +could see the swaying branches of the fir-trees high above us battling +with the wind, for we were still in the forest. The sound of many waters +around on every side forcibly impressed us with the notion that we must +be washed away--a result not by any means improbable, for the road we +traversed was little better than a watercourse. + +I have experienced storms in Norway, and in the Swiss and Austrian Alps, +but I never remember anything to equal this outburst of the elements. + +To stop still or to go forward was almost equally difficult, but we +struggled on somehow at the rate, I should think, of a mile and a half +in the hour. The horses were thoroughly demoralised, as one says of +defeated troops, and stumbled recklessly at every obstacle. The driver +was a stupid fellow, without an ounce of pluck in his composition, and +declared more than once that he would not go on, preferring to stop +under such shelter as the trees afforded. We were of another mind, and +insisted on his pushing on. One of us walked at the horses' heads, and +thus we splashed and blundered on for three mortal hours, wishing all +the time that we had slept at Milanovacz. The route became so much worse +that I declared we must have missed the track. We were apparently in a +deep gully, traversed by a mountain torrent hardly a foot below the +level of our road; but the Servian said he knew we were "all right," and +that we should come directly to a house where we could get shelter. + +He had hardly spoken when H---- descried some lights not very far ahead, +and in less than ten minutes we came alongside a good-sized hut, which +turned out to be the welcome wine-shop the driver had promised us. Here +was a roof anyhow, so we entered, hoping for supper and beds in the +wayside inn. All our host could produce was a very good bottle of +Servian "black" wine and some coarse bread of the country, so stale +that we could hardly break it. This wine, which is almost as black as +ink, comes from Negotin, lower down the Danube, and is rather a +celebrated vintage I was informed. + +It was only in my untravelled mind that the idea of "beds" existed at +all. H---- knew better than to expect anything of the kind. All we could +do was to examine the place we were in with reference to passing the +night. The floor of the room consisted of hard stamped clay, which from +the drippings of our garments had become damp and slightly adhesive to +the tread. The furniture consisted of a few rough stools and three +tables. There was no question of any other apartment, there being only a +dark hole in the rear sacred to the family, into which every sense we +possessed forbade us to intrude. In peering about with the candles we +found that the floor was perfectly alive with insects--such strange +forms, awful in their strangeness--interesting, I daresay, to the +entomologist, but simply disgusting to one not given to collecting +specimens. + +If I were dying I could not have laid myself down on that floor, so we +dragged the three tables together. They were provokingly uneven, but +with the aid of a sheepskin _bunda_, and our carpet-bags for pillows, +we contrived something upon which to rest our tired limbs. I should +observe we had partially dried ourselves by a miserable fire fed with +wet wood; in fact, everything was wet--our plaids were soaked, and were +useless as coverlets. + +We had agreed to keep one candle burning, with the further precaution +that we should sleep and tie through the night; for it was a +cut-throat-looking place, and the countenance of the ordinary Servian is +not reassuring. It fell to my lot to have the first watch, and I lay +awake staring at the roof, no great height above us. Its dirt-stained +rafters were lit up by the candle, and I soon became aware that the +mainbody of the insects was performing a strategic movement highly +creditable to the attacking party--they dropped down upon us from the +beams! I will not pursue the subject farther, but as long as the candle +burned I did not sleep a wink. I suppose I must have dozed off towards +morning, for H---- roused me from a state of semi-unconsciousness, and +"up we got and shook our lugs." + +The first thing I saw on pushing open the door was the steaming carcass +of a sheep hung just outside, with a pool of blood on the very +threshold! In many places in Eastern Europe they have the disgusting +habit of slaughtering the animals in the middle of the street. + +As soon as we had swallowed a cup of hot coffee, which is always good in +this part of the world, we lost no time in clearing out of the wretched +hovel where we had passed the night. On every side there were traces of +last night's tempest--trees uprooted and lying across the road, walls +blown down, and watercourses overflowing. It came to my knowledge later +that we got part of the same storm that had fallen with such devastating +fury on Buda-Pest just twenty-four hours earlier.[3] + +It is a fact worth noting that this storm affected a large area of +Europe, travelling north-west to south-east. A friend writing from the +neighbourhood of Dresden made mention of a severe storm on the 24th of +June; it broke upon Buda on the 26th, reaching us down in Servia on the +27th. + +[Footnote 2: Hungary and the Lower Danube, by Professor Hull, F.R.S., in +Dublin University Magazine, March 1874.] + +[Footnote 3: Extract of a private letter, dated Buda-Pest, June 28th, +from Mr Landor Crosse, which appeared in the 'Daily News,' July 6, 1875: +"We have had one of the most dreadful storms that has happened here in +the memory of man. I must tell you that on Saturday evening I was taking +my coffee and cigar in the beautiful gardens of the Isle St Marguerite, +opposite Buda-Pest, when a little after six o'clock a fearful hurricane +arose very suddenly, sweeping over us with terrific force. Branches of +trees were carried along like feathers. After this came a dreadful +thunderstorm, accompanied by rain and hail, the hail breaking windows +right and left, even those that were made of plate-glass. The hailstones +were on an average the size of walnuts, and some very much larger. Two +trees were struck by lightning within thirty yards of me. I had a narrow +escape, for these large trees were shattered, and the fragments +dispersed by the hurricane; it was an awful moment, and I shall never +forget it as long as I live. + +"Yesterday I went over to the Buda side, where twenty houses have been +entirely washed away. Nearly the whole of the town is flooded, and every +street converted into a river five or six feet in depth. It is estimated +that more than two hundred people have been drowned.... On Sunday +morning I saw the Danube bearing swiftly away the terrible wreckage of +the storm. There were large articles of furniture, the bodies of men, +women, and children, together with horses and cows, all floating on the +whirling waters.... It rained a waterspout for nearly five hours, and in +consequence the small valleys leading down from the mountain were in +some places thirty feet deep, for a time, in rushing water.... The +tramways in some places are destroyed; the mountain railway wrecked; the +vineyards on the hillside simply ruined.... You will scarcely credit me +when I tell you that a house situated at the bottom of the valley and +near the railway station was literally battered in by a _drift_ of +hailstones. The doors and windows were burst in before the inmates could +escape, and they were actually buried alive in ice. When I saw the house +twenty-two hours afterwards it was still four feet deep in hailstones, +though they had been clearing them away with spades. Just as I got there +they recovered the body of a poor woman who had perished. From this +spot, and for about a mile up the valley, no less than fifty-seven +bodies were found."] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + Maidenpek--Well-to-do condition of Servians--Lady Mary Wortley + Montague's journey through Servia--Troubles in Bulgaria--Communists + at Negotin--Copper mines--Forest ride--Robbers on the + road--Kucainia--Belo-breska--Across the Danube--Detention at + customhouse--Weisskirchen--Sleeping Wallacks. + + +We reached Maidenpek without further mishap, and here I began to make +inquiries again about a horse. I was informed that in some of the +villages farther up I should be sure to find the sort of horse I wanted, +and not sorry for an excuse for exploring the country, I agreed to go, +at the same time getting my friend to join me. + +We hired some horses for the expedition, and set off, a party of four: +three Englishmen (for we had picked up a friend at Maidenpek) and a Serb +attendant, who was to act as our guide. He rode a small plucky horse, +being armed with a long Turkish gun slung over his shoulder, while his +belt was stuck full of strange-looking weapons, worthy of an +old-curiosity shop. We were mounted on serviceable little nags, and had +also our revolvers. + +The ride was truly enjoyable. We soon left the road, and took our way +along a forest path in Indian file, our picturesque guide leading the +way. The path came to an end before long, and we then followed the +course of a little stream; but as it wound about in a most tortuous +manner we were obliged to be continually crossing and recrossing. +Sometimes we rode through a jungle of reeds, at least eight feet high; +then we had to scramble up a sandy bank. The horses were like cats, and +did their scrambling well; and at rare intervals we found ourselves on a +fair stretch of open lawn which fringes the dense forest. There were +bits here and there which reminded one of Devonshire, where the +luxuriant ferns dipped their waving plumes into the cool waters of the +rocky stream. In the forest, too, there were exquisite fairy-spots, +where, as Spenser says, is found "beauty enregistered in every nook." + +After a time the way grew more wild in the character of the scenery, and +at length the route we took was so rough that we had to dismount and +lead our horses up the side of a steep hill. It was tiresome work, for +the heat was intense; but gaining the top, we were rewarded by a grand +view of the Balkan Mountains rising directly south. We ought to have +made out Widdin and a stretch of the Danube at Palanka; but the middle +of the day is the worst time for the details of a distant view. + +Shortly after this we arrived at a small uncivilised-looking village. +The men were powerfully built in point of figure, and the women rather +handsome. Both sexes wear picturesque garments. This village, like many +others of the same kind, we found encircled by plum-orchards. Thousands +of barrels of dried plums are sent from Servia every year, not only to +Western Europe, but to America. Besides the consumption of the fruit in +its innocent form of prunes, it is made into the spirit called +_slivovitz_, the curse of Hungary and Roumania. + +We made a halt at this village, and sent out a man to look up some +horses. He brought in several, but none of them were strong enough for +my purpose. It was then proposed that we should ride on to the next +village. Here we got dinner but no horses. The meal was very simple but +not unpalatable, finishing up with excellent Turkish coffee. + +I am writing now of the _status quo ante bellum_, and I must say I was +struck with the well-to-do aspect of the peasants in Servia. By peasants +I mean the class answering to the German _bauer_. It is true they lack +many things that Western civilisation regards as necessaries; but have +they not had the Turks for their masters far into this century? Turning +over Lady Mary Wortley Montague's Letters,[4] there occurs the +following paragraph in her account of a journey through Servia in +1717:-- + +"We crossed the deserts of Servia, almost quite overgrown with wood, +through a country naturally fertile. The inhabitants are industrious; +but the oppression of the peasants is so great, they are forced to +abandon their houses, and neglect their tillage, all they have being a +prey to janissaries whenever they please to seize upon it. We had a +guard of five hundred of them, and I was almost in fears every day to +see their insolencies in the poor villages through which we passed.... I +was assured that the quantity of wine last vintage was so prodigious +that they were forced to dig holes in the earth to put it in. The +happiness of this plenty is scarcely perceived by the oppressed people. +I saw here [Nissa] a new occasion for my compassion. The wretches that +had provided twenty waggons for our baggage from Belgrade hither for a +certain hire being all sent back without payment, some of their horses +lamed, and others killed, without any satisfaction made for them. The +poor fellows came round the house weeping and tearing their hair and +beards in a most pitiable manner, without getting anything but drubs +from the insolent soldiers. I would have paid them the money out of my +own pocket with all my heart, but it would only have been giving so much +to the aga, who would have taken it from them without any remorse.... +The villagers are so poor that only force would extort from them +necessary provisions. Indeed the janissaries had no mercy on their +poverty, killing all the poultry and sheep they could find, without +asking to whom they belonged, while the wretched owners durst not put in +their claim for fear of being beaten. When the pashas travel it is yet +worse. These oppressors are not content with eating all that is to be +eaten belonging to the peasants; after they have crammed themselves and +their numerous retinue, they have the impudence to exact what they call +_teeth-money_, a contribution for the use of their teeth, worn with +doing them the honour of devouring their meat." + +This is a lively picture of Turkish rule a century and a half ago; it +helps us to understand the saying, "Where the Turk treads, no grass +grows." + +The insurrection in Bulgaria had just broken out when I was in Servia: I +cannot say I heard it much talked of; we, none of us, knew then the +significance of the movement. But great uneasiness was felt in reference +to the wide spread of certain communistic doctrines. A disturbance was +stated to have taken place a few days before at Negotin. The foreign +owners of property expressed themselves very seriously alarmed about the +communistic propagandists who were going round the country. No one +seemed certain as to the course events would take. + +However--to resume my own simple narrative--after dining in the little +village aforesaid, we set our faces again towards Maidenpek, returning +by another route, which afforded us some very romantic scenery. I +finished the difficulty about the horse by purchasing the one I had +ridden that day. He was smaller than I liked, but he had proved himself +strong and sure footed. I cannot say he was a beauty, but what can one +expect for seventeen ducats--about eight pounds English? + +The second day of our stay at Maidenpek was principally devoted to +inspecting some copper mines belonging to an English company. They +appeared to be doing pretty well. We next arranged to ride over to +Kucainia, a place some twenty-five miles off. It was settled that we +were to start at seven o'clock in the morning, but a dense white fog +obliterated the outer world--we might have been on the verge of Nowhere. +It was more than two hours before the fog lifted sufficiently to enable +us to proceed. We went on our way some three miles when a drenching +shower came on, and we took shelter in the cavernous interior of an +enormous, half-ruined oak-tree. Natural decay and the pickaxes of the +woodman seeking fuel for his camp-fire had hollowed out a comfortable +retreat from the storm. Surrounding the tree was a bed of wild +strawberries, which helped to beguile the time. When at length the +clouds cleared away, we resumed our saddles with dry jackets. But, as it +turned out, the half-hour we spent under the tree lost us the chance of +some fun. + +I must remark that our road lay the whole way through a majestic forest. +We were actually on the highroad to Belgrade, yet in many places it was +nothing more than a grass-drive with trees on either side. Looking some +way ahead when we found ourselves on a track of this kind, we observed +in the distance two men on horseback standing their horses in the middle +of the road, apparently waiting for some one to pass. One of the +fellows, armed with the usual long Turkish gun, seeing our approach, +came forward as if to meet us. We instinctively looked to our revolvers, +but as he came up we saw that the stranger on the black horse (he must +have been _once_ a splendid roadster) had no sinister intentions upon +us. It turned out that he was the pope from a neighbouring village. He +was in a great state of excitement, but shook hands with us all round +before uttering a word. He then told us that the diligence from Belgrade +had been stopped only half an hour ago by five brigands at the bottom of +the very hill we had just passed. The booty was by no means +insignificant. The robbers had made off with 7000 florins in gold; but +what seemed rather significant was the statement that though the driver +and the conductor of the diligence were both well armed, they had +offered but little or no resistance. They declared they were overpowered +by numbers. If there had been a shot fired we certainly must have heard +it. + +Later we ascertained that the money belonged to the copper-mining +company at Maidenpek; the loss was not theirs, however, as the +Government would have to reimburse it. It was just like our ill-luck to +wait out of the shower; but for that delay we should have come in for +the affray. I have my doubts as to whether our assistance would have +been particularly welcome to the driver of the diligence. Robbery on the +highroad is a capital offence in Servia.[5] + +Arriving at the next village, we found the whole place in a hubbub and +commotion. The men were arming and collecting horses. We went straight +to the post-office to hear the rights of the story; the facts were +mainly as I have related them. The excitement appeared to increase as +the crowd flocked in from the fields. Horses were being saddled, powder +served out, and arrangements made for a systematic battue of the +robbers. After amusing ourselves by watching the warlike preparations, +we rode on to Kucainia. + +We were hospitably received by a fellow-countryman who is working the +mines there. We did justice to his capital dinner, and told our robber +story, which our host capped with the rumours of a communistic rising +down south. + +After a short stay at Kucainia, we made arrangements for returning over +the Danube; but this time we proposed to strike the river at +Belo-breska, higher up than Milanovacz. We had dropped our other friend, +so H---- and I hired a light cart for the thirty miles to Belo-breska, +my new horse meanwhile being tied on behind, and so we jogged along. The +road was good, but, like the good people in Thackeray's novels, totally +uninteresting. We drove continually through fields of maize--I say +_through_ the fields, for there was no hedge or fence anywhere. The soil +appeared to be splendidly fertile and well cultivated. + +Arrived at Belo-breska, our object was to get across the Danube, and +luckily we found a large flat-bottomed boat used for cattle. The owner +demanded a ducat (about nine shillings) for taking us across. I thought +it a monstrous charge, but the fellow had us in his power. I do not +think the Servians are much liked by those who have to do business with +them. From all I heard, Canning's lines about the sharp practice of some +nearer neighbours would apply very well to the Servians:-- + + "In matters of commerce the fault of the Dutch + Is giving too little, and asking too much." + +No sooner had we landed on the Hungarian side of the river than up came +a customhouse official, who informed me that I must pay duty for my +horse. Of course, as a law-respecting Briton, I was ready enough to +comply; but the fellow could not tell me what the charge was, saying his +chief was absent, and might not be back for some hours. + +This was exasperating to the last degree; the more so that it seemed so +stupid that the man left in charge could not consult a tariff of taxes, +or elicit from the villagers some information. He was stolidly +obstinate, and refused to let my horse go at any price, though I offered +him what H---- and I both thought a reasonable number of florins for the +horse-duty. In less than ten minutes I had worked myself into a rage--a +foolish thing to do with the thermometer at 96° in the shade; but H---- +was provokingly calm, which irritated me still more. There is an old +French verse which, rendered into English, says-- + + "Some of your griefs you have cured, + And the sharpest you still have survived; + But what torments of pain you endured + From evils that never arrived!" + +Now, a little patience would have saved me a useless ebullition of +temper. While I was still at white-heat up came the head official; +removing the cigar from his lips with Oriental dignity and deliberation, +he calmly answered my question, and having paid the money we went our +way. + +Our design was now to get to Weisskirchen, and sleep there, that place +being the only decent quarters within reach. Our road was over the +mountains--a lonely pass of ill repute. Several persons had been stopped +and robbed in these parts quite recently. The Government had formerly a +small guardhouse at the top of the pass; but it has been deserted since +1867, when the district ceased to be maintained as the Military +Frontier. Since that time crime has been very much on the increase all +along the border-country. The lawlessness that is rampant at the +extremities of the kingdom shows a weakness in the Central Government +which is very reprehensible. But for this laxity on the borders, the +recent Szeckler conspiracy for making a raid on the Russian railway +could never have been projected. + +We arrived all right at Weisskirchen, which was good-luck considering +the chances of an upset in the darkness, for night had overtaken us long +before our drive was half over. Thoroughly tired, we were glad enough to +draw up in the innyard, the same I had visited some weeks before; but +great was our disgust at being told that there was not a bed to be +had--every room was taken. We drove on to inn No. 2, where they had beds +but no supper. We were nearly starving, for we had had nothing to eat +since the morning, so back we had to go to No. 1 to procure supper. When +this important meal was finished, we had to make the return journey once +more. The streets were perfectly dark, and it was an affair of no small +difficulty to find our way. It happened to me that I stepped into +something soft and bumpy. I could not conceive what it was. I made a +long step forward, thinking to clear the obstacle, but I only stumbled +into another soft and bumpy thing. Was it a flock of sheep lying packed +together? The skins of the sheep were there, it is true, but as covering +for the forms of prostrate Wallacks. A lot of these fellows, wrapped in +their cloaks, were sleeping huddled together at the side of the street. +I found afterwards that this is a common practice with these people. The +wonderful _bunda_ is a cloak by day and a house by night. + +[Footnote 4: Letters and Works, edited by Lord Wharncliffe, 1837, p. +351, 359.] + +[Footnote 5: The robbers were subsequently taken and executed.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + Variety of races in Hungary--Wallacks or + Roumains--Statistics--Savage outbreak of the Wallacks in former + years--Panslavic ideas--Roumanians and their origin--Priests of the + Greek Church--Destruction of forests--Spirit of + Communism--Incendiary fires. + + +The mixture of races in Hungary is a puzzle to any outsider. There is +the original substratum of Slavs, overlaid by Szeklers, Magyars, German +immigrants, Wallacks, Rusniacks, Jews, and gipsies. An old German writer +has quaintly described the characteristics of these various peoples in +the following manner:-- + +"To the great national kitchen the Magyar contributes bread, meat, and +wine; the Rusniack and Wallack, salt from the salt pits of Marmaros; the +Slavonian, bacon, for Slavonia furnishes the greatest number of fattened +pigs; the German gives potatoes and vegetables; the Italian, rice; the +Slovack, milk, cheese, and butter, besides table-linen, kitchen +utensils, and crockery ware; the Jew supplies the Hungarian with money; +and the gipsy furnishes the entertainment with music." + +Coming to hard facts, the latest statistics of M. Keleti give 15,417,327 +as the total population of Hungary. Of these 2,470,000 are Wallacks, who +since the nationality fever has set in desire to be called Roumains; and +if you say Roman at once, they will be still better pleased. They were +in old time the overflow of Wallachia, now forming part of the Roumanian +Principality. The first historical irruption of the Wallacks was about +the end of the fourteenth century, when they became a terrible pest to +the German settlers in Transylvania, dreaded by them as much as Turk or +Tartar. They burned and pillaged the lands and villages of the peaceful +dwellers in the Saxon settlement; but at length they had become so +numerous that the law took cognisance of their existence and reduced +them to a state of serfdom, from which they were not relieved till 1848. + +A subject race has always its wrongs, and there is no doubt the haughty +Magyar nobles treated the Wallacks with great harshness and indignity. +It was the old story--good masters were kind to their serfs, but those +less fortunate had a bad time of it, what with forced labour and other +burdens. "A lord is a lord even in hell" is the saying of the peasants. + +Mr Paget[6] tells the story of an old countess he met in Transylvania, +who used to lament that "times were sadly changed, peasants were no +longer so respectful as they used to be; she could remember walking to +church on the backs of the peasants, who knelt down in the mud to allow +her to pass over them without soiling her shoes. She could also +remember, though less partial to the recollection, a rising of the +peasantry, when nothing but the kindness with which her mother had +generally treated them saved her from the cruel death which many of her +neighbours met with." + +The rising here mentioned took place in 1784, when two Wallacks named +Hora and Kloska were the leaders of a terrible onslaught upon the Magyar +nobles. The Vienna Government was accused on this occasion of being very +tardy in sending troops to quell the insurrection. It was the time when +the unpopular reforms of Joseph II. were so ill received by the Magyars, +and no good feeling subsisted between Hungary and the Central +Government. + +But the most frightful outbreak of the Wallacks was, as we all know, +within living memory. You can hear from the lips of witnesses +descriptions of horrors committed not thirty years ago in Transylvania. +Entire villages were destroyed, whole families slaughtered, down to the +new-born infant. + +The arms of the Wallacks were supplied by Austria, for whom they were +acting as a sort of militia at the time of Hungary's war of +independence. The Vienna Government has been very fond of playing off +the Wallacks and the Slavs against the Magyars: they have kept the pot +always simmering; if some fine day it boils over, they will have the fat +in the fire. + +Of course in Southern Hungary one hears enough about the Panslavic +movement, and Panslavic ideas. "The idea of Panslavism had a purely +literary origin," observes Sir Gardiner Wilkinson in his book on +Dalmatia. "It was started by Kolla, a Protestant clergyman of the +Slavonic congregation at Pesth, who wished to establish a national +literature by circulating all works written in the various Slavonic +dialects.... The idea of an intellectual union of all these nations +naturally led to that of a political one; and the Slavonians seeing that +their numbers amounted to about one-third of the whole population of +Europe, and occupied more than half its territory, began to be sensible +that they might claim for themselves a position to which they had not +hitherto aspired." + +But the Wallacks, or, as we will now call them, Roumains, are not Slavs +at all; they are utterly distinct in race, though they are +co-religionists with the Southern Slavs. "The Roumanians," says Mr +Freeman,[7] "speak neither Greek nor Turkish, neither Slave nor +Skipetar, but a dialect of Latin, a tongue akin not to any of their +neighbours, but to the tongues of Gaul, Italy, and Spain." He is +inclined to think these so-called Dacians are the surviving +representatives of the great Thracian race. + +Who they were is, after all, not so important a question as what they +are, these two millions and a half of Roumains in Hungary. To put the +statistical figures in another way, Mr. Boner,[8] writing in 1865, +calculates that the Roumains, naturalised in Southern Hungary, number +596 out of every 1000 souls in Transylvania. The fecundity of the race +is remarkable, they threaten to overwhelm the Saxons, whose numbers, on +the other hand, are seriously on the decrease. They are also supplanting +the Magyars in _Southern_ Hungary. + +I have myself seen villages which I was told had been exclusively +Magyar, but which are now as exclusively Roumain. It is even possible to +find churches where the service conducted in the Magyar tongue has +ceased to be understood by the congregation. + +To meet a Roumain possessed even of the first rudiments of education is +an exception to the rule: even their priests are deplorably ignorant; +but when we find them in receipt of such a miserable stipend as 100 +florins, indeed in some cases 30 florins a-year, it speaks for itself +that they belong to the poorest class. The Wallacks lead their lives +outside the pale of civilisation; they are without the wants and desires +of a settled life. Very naturally the manumission of the serfs in 1848 +found them utterly unprepared for their political freedom. Neither by +nature or by tradition are they law-respecting; in fact, they are very +much the reverse. + +The Roumain is a Communist pure and simple; the uneducated among them +know no other political creed. It is not that of the advanced school of +Communism, which deals with social theories, but a simple consistent +belief that, as they themselves express it, "what God makes grow belongs +to one and all alike." In this spirit he helps himself to the fruit in +his neighbour's garden when too lazy to cultivate the ground for +himself. + +This child of nature is by instinct a nomadic shepherd and herdsman; he +hates forests, and will ruthlessly burn down the finest trees to make a +clearing for sheep-pastures. It is impossible to travel twenty miles in +the Southern Carpathians without encountering the terrible ravages +committed by these people in the beautiful woods that adorn the sides of +the mountains. + +"The Wallacks find it too much trouble to fell the trees," says Mr +Boner. "They destroy systematically: one year the bark is stripped off, +the wood dries, and the year after it is fired.... In 1862, near +Toplitza, 23,000 _joch_ of forest were burned by the peasantry." + +Judging from what I saw during my travels in Hungary in 1875-76, I +should say the evil described by Mr Boner ten years before has in no way +abated. The Wallacks pursue their ruthless destruction of the forests, +and the law seems powerless to arrest the mischief. At present there is +wood and enough, but the time will come when the country at large must +suffer from this reckless waste. There are about twenty-three million +acres of forest in Hungary, including almost the only oak-woods left in +Europe. The great proportion of the forest-land belongs to the State, +hence the supervision is less keen, and the depredations more readily +winked at. Riding one day with a Hungarian friend, I asked what would be +the probable cost of a wooden house then building on the verge of the +forest. My friend replied, laughing, "That depends on whether the +builder stole the wood himself, or only bought it of some one else who +had stolen it; he might possibly have purchased the wood from the real +owner, but that is not very probable. So you see I really cannot tell +you what the house will cost." + +Incendiary fires are very common in Hungary. Here, again, the Wallacks +do their share of mischief. If they have a grudge against an active +magistrate or a thriving neighbour, his farmstead is set on fire, not +once, but many times probably. Added to this, the Wallack takes an +actual pleasure in wanton destruction. As an instance, an English +company who are working coal mines in the neighbourhood of Orsova have +been obliged within the last two years to relay their railway from the +mines to the Danube no less than three times, in consequence of the +Wallacks persistently destroying the permanent way and stealing the +rails. + +Notwithstanding all this the Wallacks are not without their good points. +They become capital workmen under certain circumstances, and they +possess an amount of natural intelligence which promises better things +as the result of education. "Barring his weakness for tobacco and +spirits, the much-abused Wallack is a useful fellow to the sportsman and +the traveller," said a sporting friend of mine who visits Transylvania +nearly every autumn. + +[Footnote 6: Hungary and Transylvania, 1839.] + +[Footnote 7: 'Geographical Aspect of the Eastern Question,' Fortnightly +Review, January 1877.] + +[Footnote 8: Transylvania: its Products and People.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + Paraffine-works in Oravicza--Gold mine--Coal mines at + Auima-Steirdorf--Geology--States Railway Company's mines--Bribery. + + +The old copper and silver mines of Oravicza are now abandoned, but the +industrial activity of the place is kept up by the working of coal +mines, which have their depôt here. The States Railway Company are the +great owners of mines in this district. They confine their attention to +iron and coal. There are extensive paraffine-works in Oravicza; the +crude oil is distilled from the black shale of the Steirdorf coal, +yielding five per cent of petroleum. At Moldova, where we were recently, +the same company have large sulphuric acid works, employing as material +the iron pyrites of the old mines. Moldova had formerly the reputation +of producing the best copper in Europe, but the mines fell out of work, +I believe, in 1848. + +An English gentleman is working a gold mine near Oravicza with some +success. Subsequent to my visit his people came upon what I think the +miners call a "pocket" of free gold. Bismuth is also raised, though not +in large quantities. + +Wishing to see the coal mines at Steirdorf, I rode over the hills in +about four hours. As I left Oravicza in the early morning the view +appeared very striking. Looking back, I could see the little town +straggling along in the shadow of the deeply-cleft valley, while beyond +stretched the sunlit plain, level as a sea, rich with fields of ripe +corn. The mists still lingered around me in the mountains, rolling about +in the form of soft white masses of vapour, with here and there a +fringed edge of iridescence. The cool freshness of the morning and the +beauty of the varied scenery made the ride most enjoyable. + +Arriving at Steirdorf, I spent some hours in visiting the ironworks, +blast-furnaces, coke-ovens, &c. The coal produced here is said to be the +best in Hungary. The output, I am told, is 150,000 tons; but only +one-third of this is sold, the rest being used by the States Railway +Company for their own ironworks, and for the locomotive engines of their +line. + +Professor Ansted,[9] who made a professional visit to this part of the +country in 1862, remarks that "the iron is mined by horizontal drifts or +kennels into the side of the hills. The coal is mined by vertical +shafts. The ironstone is of the kind common to some parts of Scotland, +and known as blackband. There are as many as eight principal seams." + +I had sent a man in advance from Oravicza to take my horse back, as I +intended returning by rail. This mountain railway between Oravicza and +Auima-Steirdorf is a remarkable piece of engineering work. In a distance +of about twenty miles it ascends 1100 feet, in some parts as much as one +foot in five. They have very powerful engines and a cogwheel +arrangement, the line making a zigzag up the mountain-side. The effect +is very curious in descending to see another train below you creeping +uphill, now at one angle, now at another. + +Considering the expensive nature of the works, and the paucity of +passengers, I almost wonder that the States Railway Company did more +than construct a narrow gauge for the mineral traffic. This company, I +believe, is of Austrian origin, assisted by French capital--in fact, its +head office is in Paris. It obtained large concessions in the Banat +during the Austrian rule in Hungary, acquiring a considerable amount of +property at very much below its real value; in consequence the company +is looked upon with some degree of jealousy by the Hungarians. Of +forest-land alone it owns about 360 square miles. It has a large staff +of officials, mostly Germans, who manage the woods and forests on a +very complicated system, which pays well, but would probably pay better +if simplified. It has also a monopoly of certain things in its own +district, such as salt, &c. + +The prevalence of bribery is one of the causes seriously retarding +progress in Hungary. There is as yet no wholesome feeling against this +corruption, even amongst those who ought to show an example to the +community. They have also a droll way of cooking accounts down in these +parts, but there is a vast deal of human nature everywhere, so "let no +more be said." + +[Footnote 9: A Short Trip in Hungary and Transylvania.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + Mineral wealth of the Banat--Wild ride to Dognacska--Equipment for + a riding tour--An afternoon nap and its consequences--Copper + mines--Self-help--Bare insects--Moravicza--Rare minerals--Deutsch + Bogsan--Reschitza. + + +The neighbourhood of Oravicza is well worth exploring, especially by +those who like knocking about with a geological hammer. The mines in the +Banat were perhaps worked earlier than any other in this part of Europe. +The minerals of the district present a very remarkable variety. Von +Cotta, I imagine, is the best authority upon the Banat ore deposits. + +I had heard a good deal of the silver and copper mines of Dognacska, and +wishing to visit them, I induced my friend H---- to accompany me. We +arranged to go on horseback. I was very glad to escape the "carts of the +country," which, notwithstanding the atrocious roads, are the usual mode +of conveyance. It had always been my intention to ride about the +country, and with this view I brought my saddle and travelling apparatus +from London--English-made articles bear knocking about so much better +than similar things purchased on the Continent. + +I had an ordinary pigskin saddle, furnished with plenty of metal rings. +I had four saddle-bags in all, made of a material known as waterproof +flax cloth. It has some advantages over leather, but is too apt to wear +into holes. It is of importance to have the straps of your saddle-bags +very strongly attached. It is not enough that they are sewn an inch into +the bag, they should extend down the sides; for want of this I had to +repair mine several times. Attached to my bridle I had a very convenient +arrangement for picketing my horse. It consisted of a rope about twelve +feet long, neatly rolled round itself; this was kept strapped on the +left side of the horse's head. + +The chief pride of my outfit was a cooking-apparatus, the last thing +out, which merits a few words of description. It consisted of a round +tin box, eight inches in diameter, capable of boiling three pints of +water in two minutes and a half; of its own self-consciousness, the +sauce-pan could evolve into a frying-pan, besides other adaptations, +including space for a Russian lamp--a vessel holding spirit--with +cellular cavities for salt, pepper, matches, not forgetting cup, spoon, +and plate. The Russian lamp is a very useful contrivance, in case of +open-air cooking; it gives a flame six or seven inches long, which is +not easily affected by wind or draught. + +Amongst the stores I took out from England was some "compressed tea," +which is very portable. In riding, all powdery substances should be +avoided; I had on one occasion practical experience of this. I had +procured some horse-medicine, and giving my animal one dose, I packed +the rest very carefully, as I thought; on opening my saddle-bag after a +ride of twenty miles, I found, to my disgust, that this wretched white +powder had mixed itself up with everything. I wished I had made the +horse his own medicine-chest, and given him his three doses at once. + +Let the weather be ever so warm in Hungary, it is not wise to take even +a day's ride without a good warm plaid; the changes of temperature are +often very sudden, and herein is the danger of fever. The peasant says, +"In summer take thy _bunda_ (fur cloak)." + +To complete the catalogue of my travelling appendages, I may mention a +revolver, a bowie-knife, a compass, good maps of the country, and a +flask. My flask held exactly a bottle of wine; it was covered with thick +felt, which on being soaked in water has the effect of keeping the wine +quite cool for an incredibly long time, even in the hottest weather. I +have been told that the Arabs in the desert have long been up to this +dodge with respect to their water-bottles, which are suffered to leak a +little to keep up the evaporation. The food I carried was of course +renewed from time to time, according to circumstances. Naturally I +economised the lamp spirit whenever I could obtain sticks for boiling +the water, as the spirit could not always be procured in the Hungarian +villages. + +In starting for Dognacska and Reschitza, we had before us a ride of more +than thirty miles through a very rough country, and with uncertain +prospects of accommodation, so I took with me all my travelling +"contraptions," as they say in the west of England. The weather was +excessively hot the morning H---- and I started on our expedition. About +noon, after we had ridden some two hours, the sun's rays beat down upon +us with such force that we made an unintentional halt on coming to a +well by the wayside. It was one of those picturesque wells so familiar +in Eastern landscape--a beam balanced on a lofty pole, with a rod +hanging from one end, to which is attached the bucket for drawing +water. + +Not far from the well was one of those curious tree hay-stacks to be +seen in some parts of Hungary. It is the practice to clear away a +certain number of the middle branches of a tree, then a wooden platform +is constructed, on which a quantity of hay is placed in store for winter +use. This mushroom-shaped hay-rick receives a cover of thatch, out of +the centre of which comes the tree-top. + +The shade afforded by this wigwam on stilts looked most inviting just +then, and we yielded to the seduction. We got off, and throwing +ourselves at full length on the grass, allowed our horses to graze close +to us, without taking the trouble to picket them. + +The heat of the noonday was perfectly overpowering. The momentary shade +was an intense relief, for we had been in the unmitigated glare of the +sun the whole morning. Of course we quickly had out our cigar-cases, and +puffing the grateful weed, we were soon in full enjoyment of dignified +ease. We were in that idle mood when, one says with the lotus-eaters, +"taking no care"-- + + "There is no joy but calm! + Why should we only _toil_, the roof and crown of things." + +"Why, indeed, should we toil?" I repeated languidly, at the same time +gently and slowly breaking off the end of my cigar-ash. + +"Why, indeed?" echoed my friend in a sleepy tone; and, unlike his usual +wont, he was quite disinclined to argue the point, being too lazy for +anything. + +In another moment we had both sprung to our feet, most thoroughly roused +from our apathy; the fact was, a big brute of a sheep-dog suddenly +jumped in upon us, barking loud and fiercely. We very soon found means +to rid ourselves of the dog, but that was the least part of the +incident. It appeared that the noise and suddenness of the outburst had +so frightened our horses that they took to their heels and galloped off +as hard as they could tear. Of course we were after them like a shot, +but they had gone all manner of ways. I spotted my little Servian nag +breasting the hill to our right in grand style; the saddle-bags were +beating his flanks. A pretty race we had after those brutes of horses! +We had to jump ditches, and struggle up sandbanks, tear through +undercover, and finally H---- got "stogged" in a treacherous green +marsh. Was there ever anything so exasperating and ridiculous? + +After running more or less for three-quarters of an hour in a sweltering +heat, we came upon the horses in an open glade in the wood, where they +were calmly regaling in green pastures, like lotus-eaters themselves. +Never from that day forward have I forgotten the necessary duty of +picketing my horse. + +It was well on in the afternoon before we got to Dognacska, a mere +mining village, but prettily situated in a narrow valley. On +approaching, we found it to be a more uncivilised place than we had +expected, and we had not expected much. The children ran away screaming +at the sight of two horsemen, so travellers, I expect, are unknown in +these parts. We found out a little inn, indicated by a wisp of straw +hanging above the door, and here we asked to be accommodated; they were +profuse in promises, but as there was no one to look after the horses, +we had to attend to them ourselves. The woman of the house said the men +were all out, but would be back presently. We only took a little bread +and cheese, but ordered a substantial supper to be ready for us on our +return later in the evening. The fact was, we were in a hurry to be off +to look at the works. Lead, silver, iron, and copper are found at +Dognacska, but the working at present is a dead-alive operation. The +blast-furnaces for making pig-iron are of recent construction, but the +smelting-furnaces were very antiquated. + +It was the same answer everywhere, "All belongs to the Marquis of +Carrabas;" in other words, the States Railway Company owns both mines +and forests in all directions throughout the Banat, though at the same +time I was told that they do not undertake metallic mining. + +From what I gathered it would seem that the mines round here are not +really very rich. You cannot depend on the working as in Cornwall, for +they are without regular lodes. A rich "pocket" occurs here and there, +but then is lost, the deposit not holding on to any depth. + +We made a considerable round, and returned with appetites very sharp +set, and counted on the chicken with _paprika_ that we had ordered to be +ready for us. On arriving at the little inn, great was our disgust to +find it utterly silent and deserted; neither man, woman, nor child was +to be found in or about the place. With some difficulty we caught some +children, who were peering at us behind the wall of a neighbour's house, +and from these blubbering little animals, who I believe thought we were +going to make mince meat of them, we at length extracted the fact that +the people of the inn were gone off haymaking. This was really too bad, +for if they had only told us, we could have made our arrangements +accordingly, but here we were starving and not the remotest prospect of +supper. There was no use wasting unparliamentary language, so I began +foraging in all directions, while H---- busied himself in cutting up +wood to make a fire, a process not too easy with an uncommonly blunt +axe. My researches into the interior of the dwelling were not +encouraging; the fowl was not there, neither was the _paprika_. At +length I discovered some eggs and a chunk of stale bread stowed away in +a corner; there were a great many things in that corner, but "they were +not of my search"--ignorance is bliss. + +H---- had done his duty by the fire; he had even persuaded the water to +boil, which I looked upon as the beginning of soup. Happily for us I had +my co-operative stores with me. From the depths of one of my saddle-bags +I drew out a small jar of Liebig's meat--a spoonful or two of this gave +quality to the soup. I added ten eggs and some small squares of bread, +flavouring the whole mess with a pinch of dried herbs, salt, and +pepper--all from "the stores." The result was a capital compound: in +fact I never tasted a better soup of its kind; we enjoyed it immensely. +We had barely finished when in came the woman of the house; she looked +very much surprised, grumbled at our making such a large fire, and made +no apology for her absence. + +No one came in to clean and feed our horses, and though I offered a +liberal _trinkgeld_ to any man or boy who would attend to them, not a +soul could I get, they all slunk away. I believe they are afraid of +horses at Dognacska. Self-help was the order of the day, and we just had +to look after the poor brutes ourselves. + +We slept in the inn. My bed was made up in the place where I had found +the eggs and bread. I imagine it was the "guest-corner." I do not wish +to be sensational, and I am no entomologist, therefore I will not +narrate my experiences that night; but I thought of the Irishman who +said, "if the fleas had all been of one mind, they could have pulled him +out of bed." Fortunately the summer nights are short; we were up with +the early birds, and started before the heat of the day for Moravicza, +another mining village. + +It was a pretty ride. We went for some way alongside a mineral tramway, +which followed the bend of a charming valley. Then we came upon a new +piece of road, made entirely of the whitest marble; it looked almost +like snow. Afterwards our track lay through a dense forest of majestic +trees. We could not have found our way unassisted, but one of the mine +inspectors from Dognacska had been sent with us. It was a delicious +ride, the air still cool and fresh. Sometimes we were in the forest, +and later, skirting a rocky ravine, we followed for a while a mountain +stream. It was rough work for the horses, and once, when leading my +horse over a narrow foot-bridge, he slipped off and rolled right over in +the bed of the stream. Luckily he was none the worse for the accident: +these small Servian horses bear a great deal of knocking about. It was +surprising that the baggage did not suffer, but except getting a little +wet, there was no harm done. + +This district is famous, I believe, for several kinds of rare beetles +and butterflies. I saw some beautiful butterflies myself during our +ride. + +Before reaching Moravicza we passed some large iron mines, but they were +not in full swing. In the last century the copper mines of this district +yielded extraordinary returns. Baron Born, in his "Travels in the +Banat," mentions a deposit of copper ore reaching to the amazing depth +of 240 feet. Some very fine syenite occurs in large blocks close to +Moravicza, which might be very valuable if made more accessible. The +village is half hidden in a narrow valley. Here we were most hospitably +received by Herr W----. In his collection of minerals he has many rare +specimens from this locality, which is peculiarly rich in regard to +variety. This gentleman kindly gave me some good specimens of magnetite, +greenockite (sulphate of cadmium), aurichalcite, Ludwigite, and garnet. +Leaving Moravicza, we rode on to Deutsch Bogsan, then to Reschitza, +where we arrived in the evening. Here we found a tolerable inn, for it +is a place of some size. We remained two days here; it is a flourishing +little place, the centre of the States Railway Works. They make a large +quantity of steel rails, any number of which will be wanted if half of +the projected lines are carried out, which are only waiting the +settlement of the Eastern Question. + +In Reschitza there are large blast-furnaces and Bessemer converters. +Enormous quantities of charcoal are produced; in short, on all sides +there is evidence of mining activity. Narrow-gauge lines run in every +direction, serving the coal mines; there is besides a railway for the +public from Reschitza to Deutsch Bogsan, and from the latter place a +branch communicates with the main line between Buda-Pest and Basiash. + +The country round Reschitza is rather pretty, but more tame than what we +had seen in other parts. We returned to Oravicza by a shorter route, +riding the whole distance in one day, which we did easily, for the roads +were not so bad, and it was not much over thirty miles. In Hungary it is +frequently more a question of roads than of actual distance. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + Election at Oravicza--Officialism--Reforms--Society--Ride to + Szaszka--Fine views--Drenkova--Character of the + Serbs--Svenica--Rough night walk through the forest. + + +We got back to Oravicza just in time to witness an election, which had +been a good deal talked about as likely to result in a row. There were +two candidates in the field: one a representative of the Wallachian +party; the other a director of the States Railway Company. In +consequence of a serious disturbance which took place some years ago, +the elections are now always held outside the town. The voting was in a +warehouse adjoining the railway station. A detachment of troops was +there to keep order, in fact the two parties were divided from each +other by a line of soldiers with fixed bayonets. It was extremely +ridiculous. The whole affair was as tame as possible; no more show of +fighting than at a Quakers' meeting. Of course the States Railway +representative had it all his own way, the officials, whose name is +legion, voting for him to a man. A trainful of Wallacks arrived from +some distant place, but their ardour for their own candidate was drowned +in the unlimited beer provided for them by their opponents. + +From what I heard about politics, or rather about the Parliament, it +seems to me that their House of Commons, like our own, suffers from too +many talkers. The Hungarian is at all times a great talker, and when +politics open the sluices of his mind, his speech is a perfect avalanche +of words. His conversation is never of that kind that puts you in a +state of antagonism, as a North German has so eminently the power of +doing; on the contrary, the listener sympathises whether he will or no, +but on calmer reflection one's judgment is apt to veer round again. + +The members of the House of Commons number 441, and of these 39 are +Croats, who are allowed to use their own language by special privilege. +The members are paid five florins a-day when the House is sitting, and a +grant of four hundred florins a-year is made for lodgings. There is this +peculiarity about the Hungarian Parliament: hereditary members of the +Upper House can if they choose offer themselves for election in the +Lower House. Many of the hereditary peers do so, meanwhile resigning as +a matter of course their seat in the Upper Chamber. + +The reform of 1848 extended the franchise so far that in point of fact +it only stops short of manhood suffrage. The property qualification of a +voter is in some cases as low as a hundred florins yearly income. +Religious and political liberty was granted to all denominations. The +disabilities of the Jews were suffered to remain a few years later; but +in 1867 they were entirely removed, and at the present moment several of +the most active members of Parliament are of the Jewish persuasion. +Elections are triennial, an arrangement not approved by many true +patriots, who complain that members think more of what will be popular +with the constituents, whom they must so soon meet again, than of the +effect of their votes on measures that concern the larger interests of +the State. + +Oravicza was so seductive--with its pleasant society; its "land +parties," as they call picnics; its evening dances, enlivened by gipsy +music--that I remained on and on from want of moral courage to tear +myself away. I had thoughts of changing my plans altogether, and of +devoting myself to a serious study of the minerals of the Banat, making +gay little Oravicza my head-centre. Looking back after the lapse of +sober time, I doubt if science would have gained much. Well, well, I +made up my mind to go. "The world was all before me," but I--left my +paradise alone. I had no fair Eve "hand in hand" to help my wandering +steps. + +I do think that packing one's portmanteau is the most prosaic thing in +life. Shirts and coats must be folded, and one's possessions have a way +of increasing which makes packing a progressive difficulty. However, at +last I did persuade my portmanteau to shut, and forthwith despatched it, +with some other heavy things, to Hatszeg, a small town in Transylvania, +where I intended to be in the course of ten days. + +I was now bound for Uibanya, in the Valea Tissovitza, a few miles from +Orsova on the Danube. There is an English firm down there engaged in +working the coal mines, and I had an introduction to one of the +partners. I rode from Oravicza to Szaszka--the place had become quite +familiar to me by this time--and I slept there. The night was not long, +for I left before sunrise. It is the only way to enjoy the ride; for the +middle of the day in July is really too hot for exertion in this part of +the world, and I found it was best to rest during the great heat of the +day. From Szaszka I pushed on to Moldova, and judging from my former +experience of driving the same road, I must say I prefer the saddle +infinitely. I should observe that on leaving Szaszka I got into a dense +mist on the top of the mountain. Fortunately I knew my bearings. When +it cleared off I had a magnificent view all the way, reaching the Danube +about nine o'clock. Here I spent the day and night at the house of Mr +G----, with whom I was slightly acquainted, and who received me +hospitably. The next morning very early I started for Svenica, a lovely +ride along the Szechenyi road. I had been in the saddle from five to +eleven A.M., and reaching Drenkova, I was not sorry to stop on +account of the great heat. It has only a wretched inn, where myself and +horse fared very badly. The Danube steamers are not unfrequently obliged +to stop at Drenkova and reship their passengers into smaller boats. This +happens when the water is low, and sometimes when the season is very dry +the river has to be abandoned for the road. When the Eastern Question is +settled a vast number of improvements are to be carried out on the +Danube it is said. The first ought to be the deepening of the channel in +this particular part of the river. There would surely be no great +difficulty in removing the obstructions caused by the rocks. But there +are always political difficulties creeping up in this part of the world +to prevent the carrying out of useful works. + +My siesta over, I was off again, soon after three P.M., on my +way to Svenica. I had a splendid view of the river, and stopped my +horse more than once to watch the boatmen at their perilous work of +shooting the rapids. Getting to Svenica soon after six o'clock, I made +inquiries about the distance to Uibanya. No two people agreed, but the +chief spokesman declared it was a couple of hours' walk, and he +volunteered to show me the way. The inn was horribly dirty, as one might +expect from the appearance of the village, which is inhabited entirely +by Serbs, otherwise Rascians. It appears that a vast number of Slavs +from Servia took refuge in Hungary at the end of the seventeenth +century. Some were Roman Catholics, but they were mostly of the Greek +Church. A colony settled at Buda. Lady Mary Wortley Montague, writing +from that town in 1717, says that the Governor of Buda assured her that +the Rascian colony without the walls would furnish him with 12,000 +fighting men at any moment. They were always a card in the hands of the +Austrians against the Magyars. + +Leopold I. granted the Servian refugees very considerable privileges and +immunities, causing thereby great jealousy among the Hungarians. Always +favoured by the Government of Vienna, these people have invariably shown +themselves pro-Austrian; and in 1848 they were destined to be a thorn in +the side of the proud Magyars, who despised them, and took no pains to +disguise the feeling, even at a moment so singularly unpropitious as the +eve of their own rupture with Austria. It seems that in the month of May +in that eventful year the Rascians sent a deputation to Pesth, to the +Diet, setting forth certain grievances and demanding redress. The +Magyars rejected their petition with haughty contempt, "a grievous +fault," says General Klapka in his history. The result was that the +Rascian deputies returned home in a state of great disgust at their +reception, and immediately took up arms against the Hungarians. This was +before the Government of Vienna had thrown off the mask. These facts are +not without significance at the present time. The Rascians are strongly +imbued with ideas of Panslavism, and now disdain any other name than +that of Servians; it would be a great offence to call the humblest +individual of the race by the old appellation of Rascian or Ratzen. +These so-called Servian subjects of the crown of St. Stephen number +about 800,000! + +The subject is worth mentioning at some length, because a good deal of +confusion exists respecting this particular division of the great Slav +family. + +Judging from what I saw of the inhabitants of Svenica, I think they have +not progressed very far in the ways of civilisation. I could get nothing +in the whole place but a piece of bread; but I was not to be balked of +my tea, so I entered the principal room in the wretched little inn, and +proceeded to take out my cooking apparatus. I was obliged to content +myself with a thick fluid, which they called water; no better was to be +procured. Now it happens that my spirit-lamp, when it begins to boil up, +makes a tremendous row for two or three minutes, as if it meant to burst +up with a general explosion. This circumstance, and my other novel +proceedings, had attracted a lot of idlers round the door, and before +the tea-making was over a number of Serbs and Wallacks crowded into the +room in a state of excited curiosity, and it was with difficulty that I +defended my tea-machine from absolute dismemberment. Though my horse and +I had done a good day's work, I determined to push on to Uibanya, for it +seemed to be not much more than a two hours' walk; moreover, I had been +warned of the bad reputation of the people in the village. I had heard +it was not an uncommon trick with them to steal a traveller's horse in +the night, and quietly ship him over the Danube into Servia. I had no +fancy for losing my possessions in this way, so altogether it seemed +better to go on. + +When I started with the guide I had hired from Svenica, there was still +a good half-hour before sunset. We commenced at once climbing a very +steep and stony path, where I had to lead my horse; indeed at times it +was very much like getting my horse over the top of a high-pitched roof, +if such an exploit were possible. We shortly lost all trace of a path. I +turned several times to look at the fine glimpses of the Danube far +below us. Arriving at a fringe of wood, I was not a little surprised to +see emerge from thence a sturdy Wallack, carrying the usual long staff, +armed with an axe at one end. I say surprised, because he at once joined +in with us, and though I had not seen him during our climb, I had my +strong suspicions that he had followed us all the way. My guide spoke a +little German, and I demanded of him in a sharp tone what the other +fellow meant by joining us. My guide answered that he was afraid to +return alone, for that presently we should get into "the forest, where +it would be as dark as a cave," and he had asked the other man to come +with us from Svenica. As according to his own account he had traversed +the forest for nineteen years, I thought he might very well have gone +back alone; besides, if there was any truth in what he said, why should +he have made a mystery about his companion till we were some way on our +journey? + +We were now on the outskirts of a thick forest, the sun had set in +great beauty, but every hue of colour had now faded from "the trailing +clouds of glory;" faded, indeed, so quickly that before the fact of +twilight could be realised, it was already night! It was literally dark +as a cave when we penetrated into the forest. My guide had a lantern, +which he lighted; for it would, indeed, have been impossible to make any +progress without the light. Though we were again in a path, the way was +frequently barred by the trunks of fallen trees. We were still +ascending, occasionally coming upon a steep rough bit, difficult for the +horse on account of the loose stones. I think we must have looked very +much like a party of smugglers. The ex-forester walked first, swinging +his lantern as he moved; then came the Wallack volunteer, stumping along +with axe-headed staff. He wanted very much to fall into the rear, but +this I would not allow, and in a resolute tone ordered him forward. I +followed with my little grey horse close upon the heels of my +companions, keeping all the time a keen and suspicious eye upon their +movements. They spoke together occasionally, but I was profoundly +ignorant of what they said, not understanding a word of Wallachian. + +Where it was anyhow possible we went at a good pace, but the underwood +and fallen trees hindered us a good deal. My guide told me to look out +for wolves. These forests are said to be full of them in summer, and he +added that a lot of pigs belonging to a neighbour of his had been +carried off by the wolves only the night before. I took this opportunity +of telling him that I was a dead shot, pointing to my revolver, which +was handy; adding a piece of information that I made much of, namely, +that I was expected at Uibanya. + +The doubts I felt about the honesty of the guide and the other fellow +were increased by a suspicion that they were leading me the wrong way. +We had been three hours in the forest, always ascending. Now I knew that +my destination was situated in a valley. I asked repeatedly when we +should get there, and invariably came the same short answer, "Gleich" +(directly). I noticed that we were steadily walking in the same +direction, for the trees being less thick I could keep my eye on the +Polar star: this was so far satisfactory. Presently I saw a light or two +in the distance, and before long we came to a cottage, the first in what +turned out to be the little village of Eibenthal. Here we came upon a +party of miners, who gave me the pleasant information that we were still +an hour's walk from Uibanya! There was nothing for it but to go on. I +confess I breathed more freely in the open; we were quite clear of the +forest now. On we went, a regular tramp, tramp, through a long valley +skirted with woods on either side. This last part of the walk seemed +interminable. It was eighteen hours since I had started in the morning. +I was physically weary, and I really believe I went off to sleep for a +second or two, though my legs kept up their automatic motion. I am sure +I must have slept, for I had a notion, like one has sometimes in sleep, +of extraordinary extension of time. It seemed to me that for years of my +life I had done nothing else than walk under the starlit sky into a vast +cave of black darkness, which only receded farther and farther as the +swinging of the lamp advanced with its monotonous vibration of light. + +It was just midnight when I descried a faint light in the distance. It +grew as we tramped on. I knew therefore it was no deceptive star setting +in the horizon, but the welcome firelight of a human habitation. This +time it was my goal--Uibanya! I stopped for a moment and fired off a +couple of shots to announce our approach, whereupon some of the people +in the house rushed out to see what was up, and I made myself known by +an English "halloo," and out of the darkness came a voice saying, "All +right." + +"All's well that ends well," I said to myself as I paid my guide for +his night's work. I looked round for the Wallack, but the fellow had +sloped off! + +I was most kindly and hospitably received, and, O ye gods, with what an +appetite I ate the excellent supper quickly prepared for me! + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + Hospitable welcome at Uibanya--Excursion to the Servian side of the + Danube--Ascent of the Stierberg--Bivouac in the woods--Magnificent + views towards the Balkans--Fourteen eagles disturbed--Wallack + dance. + + +A couple of days after my arrival at Uibanya, my friend F---- kindly +arranged a little expedition into Servia, with the object of making the +ascent of the Stierberg, a mountain of respectable elevation, commanding +very fine views. Our guide was the postmaster of Plavishovitza, who +professed a knowledge of the country round about. We drove down to the +Danube, and there crossed the river in a primitive "dug-out," and almost +immediately commenced the ascent of the Stierberg. It became quite dark +by the time we got half-way up the mountain; this we were prepared for, +having made arrangements for camping out the night. We had brought with +us an ample store of provisions, not forgetting our plaids. The heat was +so great when we started that we dispensed with coats, and even +waistcoats, and went on rejoicing in the cool freedom of our +shirt-sleeves. Each wore a broad leather waist-belt, stuck round with +revolvers and bowie-knives. I believe we looked like a couple of the +veriest brigands. Had we only been spotted by a "correspondent," I make +little doubt that we should have been telegraphed as "atrocities" to the +London evening papers. + +The more civilisation closes round one, the more enjoyable is an +occasional "try back" into barbarism. This feeling made the mere fact of +camping out seem delightful. Our first care was to select a suitable +spot; we found a clearing that promised well, and here we made a halt. +We deposited our _batterie de cuisine_, arranged our plaids, and then +proceeded to make a fire with a great lot of dried sticks and logs of +wood. The fire was soon crackling and blazing away in grand style, +throwing out mighty tongues of flame, which lit up the dark recesses of +the forest. + +Now came the supper, which consisted of robber-steak and tea. I always +stuck to my tea as the most refreshing beverage after a long walk or +ride. I like coffee in the morning before starting--good coffee, mind; +but in the evening there is nothing like tea. The robber-steak is +capital, and deserves an "honourable mention" at least: it is composed +of small bits of beef, bacon, and onion strung alternately on a piece of +stick; it is seasoned with pinches of _paprika_ and salt, and then +roasted over the fire, the lower end of the stick being rolled backwards +and forwards between your two palms as you hold it over the hot embers. +It makes a delicious relish with a hunch of bread. + +Our camp-fire and its surroundings formed a romantic scene. We had three +Serbs with us as attendants, and there was F---- and myself, all seated +in a semicircle to windward of the smoke. The boles of the majestic +beech-trees surrounding us rose like stately columns to support the +green canopy above our heads, and in the interstices of the leafy roof +were visible spaces of sky, so deeply blue that the hue was almost lost +in darkness; but out of the depths shone many a bright star in infinite +brilliancy. The scene was picturesque in the highest degree. The +flickering firelight, our Serbians in their quaint dresses moving about +the gnarled roots and antlered branches of the trees, upon which the +light played fitfully, and the mystery of that outer rim of darkness, +all helped to impress the fancy with the charm of novelty. + +After supper was finished, and duly cleared away, we all disposed +ourselves for sleep, taking care to have the guns ready at hand, for we +might be disturbed by a wolf or a bear on his nightly rounds. Our +attendants had previously collected some large logs of wood, large +almost as railway-sleepers, to keep up a good fire through the night. +Wrapping my plaid round me, I laid myself down, confident that I should +sleep better than in the softest feather bed. I gave one more look at +the romantic scene, and then turned on my side to yield to the +drowsiness of honest fatigue. + +But, alas! there was no sleep for me. I had hardly closed my eyes when I +was attacked by a regiment of mosquitoes. I was so tormented by these +brutes that I never slept a wink. I sat up the greater part of the night +battling with them; and what provoked me more was the tranquillity of +F----'s slumbers. I could bear it no longer, so at three A.M. I +woke him up, saying it was time for us to be stirring if we wanted to +get to the top of the mountain to see the sun rise. I believe he thought +I need not have called him so early, and grumbled a little, which was +very unreasonable, for the fellow had been sleeping for hours to my +knowledge. Rousing our Serbs, we set them about making preparations for +breakfast; but when the water was boiled and the tea made, it turned out +to be utterly undrinkable. The water-cask had had sour wine in it, and +the water was spoiled. We consoled ourselves with the hope that we might +get some sheep's milk on the mountain. + +We reached the summit of the Stierberg before five o'clock; it has no +great elevation, but the position commands magnificent views of all the +surrounding country. Advancing to the verge of the precipice overlooking +the Danube, a sheer wall of rock 2000 feet in depth, we signalled our +arrival by discharging our rifles simultaneously. This "set the wild +echoes flying." Each cliff and scaur of the narrow gorge flung back the +ringing sound till the sharp reverberations stirred the whole defile. +Before the fusillade had ceased we beheld a sight I shall never forget. +The sound had disturbed a colony of eagles, who make their nests in +these rocky fissures. They flew out in every direction from the face of +the cliff, and went soaring round and round, evidently in much alarm at +the unwonted noise. We counted fourteen of these magnificent birds. I +wanted to get a shot at one, but they never came near enough. After +circling round for several minutes they flew with one accord to the +opposite woods, and were no more seen. + +The view from the Stierberg is splendid. On every side were stretches of +primeval forest. Bounding the horizon on the north-east we made out the +Transylvanian Alps; to the south lay Servia, and more distant still the +Balkan Mountains. As the sun rose higher, lighting up in a marvellous +way all the details of this fair landscape, we could see far eastward a +strip of the Danube flashing in the sunbeams. + +We turned reluctantly from the grand panorama, but we began to feel the +distressing effects of thirst. We had failed to procure any sheep's +milk, but the postmaster declared that when we got back to our +camping-place we should be able to find some fresh water. Arrived at +this pleasant spot, we rested under the beech-trees, and sent off two of +the Serbs to look for water. After waiting some time one of them brought +us some, but it was from a stagnant pool, alive with animalculæ, quite +unfit to drink. I never remember suffering so much from thirst. The heat +was excessive, but happily before reaching the Danube we found a +delicious spring gushing out from the limestone rock. It was an +indescribable refreshment for thirsty souls. We further regaled +ourselves with a good meal at the village on the Hungarian side of the +Danube, after crossing again in the "dug-out." + +The pope of the village entered into conversation with us, and finding I +was a stranger he ordered a Wallack dance for our amusement. The +costumes of the women were picturesque, but the dance itself was a slow +affair, very unlike the lively _czardas_ of the Magyar peasant. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + A hunting expedition proposed--Drive from Uibanya to + Orsova--Oriental aspect of the market-place--Cserna + Valley--Hercules-Bad, Mehadia--Post-office mistakes--Drive to + Karansebes--Rough customers _en route_--Lawlessness--Fair at + Karansebes--Podolian cattle--Ferocious dogs. + + +During my stay at Uibanya the _Förstmeister_ (head of the forest +department) from Karansebes came over on business, and he told us there +was to be a shooting expedition on the Alps in his district. He further +invited us to take part in it, and I gladly accepted, as it fitted in +very well indeed with my plans. Karansebes is directly on the route to +Transylvania, whither I was bound. The district we were to shoot over is +the rocky border-land between Hungary and Roumania. My friend +F----agreed to accompany me, and on our way we proposed visiting the +celebrated baths of Mehadia. Early one morning we started for Orsova, a +drive of thirty miles, splendid scenery all the way. The latter part of +our journey was by the side of the Danube, on the Szechenyi road again. + +We passed a number of hay-ricks in trees, which I have before described. +Some of them were built up in the form of an inverted cone. The +luxuriance of the foliage is very striking. Nothing can exceed the +beauty of the wild vines so frequent on the banks of the Danube. They +fall in graceful festoons from the trees; sometimes they reach across to +the trees on the other side of the road, forming a complete arch of +greenery. In the autumn the vine leaves turn to a glowing red, like the +Virginian creeper, and then the effect of this mass of rich colouring is +indeed glorious. Meanwhile gay butterflies of rare form fluttered about +among the trailing vines, and bright green lizards darted in and out of +the stone wall. Then an eagle or a vulture would swoop down from the +heights, and settle himself on some pinnacle of rock, where he remained, +motionless as a stuffed bird. + +When we reached Orsova we only stopped long enough to get some dinner +and take the usual siesta. This place is on the frontier; three miles +farther down you pass out of Hungary into Roumanian territory. Had we +stayed any time we should certainly have gone to see Trajan's bridge, +about eighteen miles hence. The so-called "Iron Gates" are just below +Orsova. The designation is a misnomer, for the river ceases to be pent +up between a defile, the hills recede from the shore, and the "Gates" +are merely ledges of rock peculiarly difficult for navigation. Orsova is +celebrated as the place where the regalia of Hungary were concealed by +Kossuth and his friends from 1849 to 1853. The iron chest which held the +palladium of the kingdom, the sacred crown of St Stephen, was buried in +a waste spot, covered with willows, not far from the road. There is a +somewhat Oriental look about Orsova. In the market-place there is a +profusion of bright-coloured stuffs, prayer-carpets, and Turkish +slippers. A narrow island of no great length, just below Orsova, is +still held by the Turks. There is a small mosque with minarets visible +amongst a group of the funeral cypress-tree, so characteristic of the +presence of the Turk. + +Our road to Mehadia was away from the river, following instead the lead +of a lateral valley. As we drove out of Orsova we passed a lot of +Wallack huts forming a kind of suburb. These huts are built of wattles +stuccoed with mud, always having on one side of the dwelling a space +enclosed by stockades some ten feet high; this is a necessary protection +for their animals against the depredations of wolves and bears, which +abound here. + +Leaving this village we continued our way through the Cserna Valley, +which has few signs of cultivation beyond the orchards and vineyards +that climb up the hillsides of the narrow ravine. On our left we passed +a ruined aqueduct of Turkish origin, eleven arches still remaining. As +we proceeded, the valley narrowed considerably, and the scenery became +more wild and striking. Here vegetation is in its richest profusion; the +parasitical plants are surpassingly graceful, wreathing themselves over +rocks and trees. + +Mehadia, or more strictly, Hercules-Bad, is the most fashionable bath in +Hungary. The village of Mehedia must not be confounded with it, for it +lies at a distance of six miles thence. The situation of Hercules-Bad is +extremely romantic. Above the narrow rocky valley rise bare limestone +peaks, girdled with rich forests of every variety of foliage. There are +two kinds of springs, the sulphurous and the saline. The Hercules source +bursts out from a cleft of the rock in such an immense volume that it is +said to yield 5000 cubic feet in an hour. The water has to be cooled +before it is used, the natural heat being as much as 131° Fahrenheit. +Its efficacy is said to be so great that the patient while in the bath +"feels the evil being boiled out of him"! Some of the visitors had not +yet had their turn of cooking, I suppose, or if they had been boiled, +were rather underdone, for I met a good many gouty and rheumatic +patients still in the hobbling condition. + +The country round Mehadia is so wild, both in regard to the scenery and +to the native population, that the contrast of dropping suddenly into a +fashionable watering-place is very curious. This bath is much frequented +for pleasure and health by the luxury-loving Roumanians, who invariably +display the latest extravagance of Parisian fashion. Men in +patent-leather boots devoted to cards and billiards, while in the +immediate neighbourhood of glorious scenery, with bear and chamois +shooting to be had for the asking, seem to me "an unknown species," as +Voltaire said of the English. From what I learned of the ways of the +place it seems that the Magyar and Transylvanian visitors keep quite +aloof from the Roumanian coterie; they have never anything pleasant to +say of one another. At Boseg, a bath in the Eastern Carpathians which I +visited later, the separation is so complete that the Roumanians go at +one period of the season and the Hungarian visitors at another. + +It had always been my intention to stay a few days at the Hercules-Bad, +and I had given the place as an address for English letters. Accordingly +I presented myself at the _poste restante_. Seeing that I was a +Britisher, the postmaster gave me all the letters he possessed with +English postmarks. Many of them were of considerable antiquity. Out of +the goodly pile I selected some half-dozen that bore my name; but I was +greatly surprised to come across one that had made a very bad shot for +its destination. It bore the simple name of some poor Jacktar, with the +address "H.M.S. Hercules." + +The Romans had their _établissement_ here. The present name comes from +the "Thermæ Herculis" of classic times. There are many interesting +remains here--fragments of altars, sculptured capitals, and stones with +inscriptions, all telling the same story--the story of Roman dominion +and greatness. + +Just then we had no time for archæology, for we wanted to push on to +Karansebes, and we stayed only a day and a half at Mehadia. As it was +more than we could comfortably manage to do the whole distance in a day, +we arranged to drive as far as Terregova and sleep there. We left +Mehadia early in the afternoon, F----'s groom riding my horse. The road +was excellent--all the roads are in the districts of the Military +Frontier. As an example of the quick temper of the Wallacks, I will +mention a little incident which happened on the road. We met some of +these people, and one of them, who was looking another way, stumbled +most awkwardly against the groom's horse, and very nearly met with an +accident. Though it was so clearly his own fault, he had hardly +recovered himself when, raising his axe, he was about to strike our +servant on the head. Meanwhile another fellow seized a big stone, which +I believe was going to make a target of the same head. Luckily I turned, +and seeing the scuffle, I was out with my revolver in a moment, pointing +it at the man with the axe. He understood my language, and made a hasty +retreat. F---- said he had no doubt it would have gone badly with the +groom if the distance between us had been greater. + +We were in for adventures in a small way that evening. Just after +sunset, when it was already rather dark in the valley, we found +ourselves suddenly stopped by a man, who leaped out from behind a rock, +seized the horses, and with a powerful grasp brought them down on their +haunches. F---- had the reins, so I jumped down and made straight at the +fellow, revolver in hand. I imagine he did not expect to find us armed, +or he found us literally too many for him, but diving into the bushes, +he was gone even quicker than he came. + +We had hardly got the horses into full trot again, when we noticed two +cartloads of Wallacks driving side by side on in front of us. When we +came up they would not let us pass, and continued this little game for +more than ten minutes, notwithstanding all our expostulations. They were +driving much slower than ourselves, and F---- began to lose patience; so +holding the horses well in hand, he told me to fire off my revolver in +the air. After this they thought proper to draw aside, but even then +leaving us so little room that we risked our necks in passing them in a +very awkward corner. I was told afterwards by the postmaster of +Karansebes that a diligence had fallen over the precipice at this very +place, only a very short time before, owing to the Wallack drivers +purposely obstructing the road. Such are the Wallacks--I beg their +pardon, Roumanians! + +When we got to Terregova, we were glad to find quite a decent inn, the +Wilder Mann, kept by civil people. After supper we had a chat with our +hostess, who being a regular gossip, was very pleased to tell us a lot +of stories about the wild character of the country-people. She was very +sorry that the frontier was no longer under the Austrian military rule, +for, she said, having been accustomed to the strict military system so +long, the Wallacks, now they have more liberty, have become utterly +lawless, and exceedingly troublesome to their German neighbours. She +added that the _gendarmes_, who were supposed to keep order in the +district, were far too few to be of any real use. She complained +bitterly against the Wallacks for firing the forests, and they had +become much worse since '48. "In fact the time will come," she said, +"when wood will be scarce, and then everybody will suffer; but they +don't think, and they don't care, and just lay their hands on anything." + +The Government certainly ought to look to the preservation of the +forests, and above all they ought to make the law respected amongst a +population which is so little advanced in civilisation as to be +indifferent to the first principles of order. The Wallacks want +education, and above all they want a decent priesthood, before they can +make any sound progress. With all their ignorance and lawlessness, it is +curious that they pride themselves on being descendants of the ancient +Romans, ignoring their "Dacian sires." + +The next day we went on to Karansebes--a good road and charming scenery. +This is the highroad into Transylvania, called the Eisenthor Pass; but +it hardly merits the name of pass, inasmuch as it only crosses the spur +of the hills. The distance from Orsova on the Danube to Hatszeg in +Transylvania is 110 miles: the district is known as the "Romanen +Banat," and, as the name imports, is principally inhabited by Wallacks, +otherwise Roumanians. + +We arrived at Karansebes in the afternoon, and by good-luck it chanced +to be fair-day. This is a central market for a considerable extent of +country, so that there is always a great gathering of people. In driving +into the town we passed a long bridge which crosses a low-lying meadow, +the central arch being sufficient to span the stream, at least in +summer. From this elevation we had a capital view of the fair, which was +being held in these meadows, and could look down leisurely on the whole +scene; and a very novel and amusing sight it was. + +There were hundreds of people; and what a variety of races and diversity +of costumes! The Wallack women, in their holiday suits, were the most +picturesque. Many of them were handsome, and they have generally a very +superior air to the men; they are better dressed and more civilised +looking. There were a sprinkling of Magyars in braided coats, or with +white felt cloaks richly embroidered in divers colours. But the +blue-eyed, fair-complexioned German was far more numerous. The Magyar +element is very much in the minority in this particular part of Hungary. +The Jews and the gipsies were there in great numbers--they always are +at fairs--in the quality of horse-dealers and vendors of wooden articles +for the kitchen. The Jew is easily distinguished by his black corkscrew +ringlets, and his brown dressing-gown coat reaching to his heels. This +ancient garment suits him "down to the ground;" in fact his yellow +visage and greasy hat would not easily match with anything more cleanly. +These Jewish frequenters of fairs are, as a rule, of the lowest class, +hailing either from the Marmaros Mountains in North-Eastern Hungary, or +from Galicia. + +The fair is really a very important exhibition of the products and +manufactures of the country, and it is well worth the attention of the +stranger, who may pass on with the motley crowd through streets of +stalls and booths. One _annexe_ is devoted to furniture, from a winged +wardrobe down to a wooden spoon. In another part you see piles of +Servian rugs, coarse carpets, sheepskin _bundas_, hairy caps of a +strange peaked form, broad hats made of reed or rush, and the delightful +white felt garments before mentioned, which are always embroidered with +great taste and skill. Horses, cows, and pigs are also brought here in +great numbers to exchange owners. The long-horned cattle are perhaps the +most striking feature in the whole fair. They are white, with a little +grey on the necks, flanks, and buttocks. Oxen are much used for hauling +purposes as well as for the plough. A pair of oxen, it is considered, +will do the work of four horses. + +Professor Wrightson says: "The Podolian is an aboriginal race, descended +from the wild urox (_Bos primigenius_). The race is remarkable for its +capability of resisting influences of climate, and its contentedness +with poor diet.... The Hungarian oxen are considered by naturalists as +the best living representative of the original progenitors of our +domestic cattle." Of the buffalo the same writer says: "It was +introduced into Hungary by Attila; it is found in the lowlands, on both +sides of the Danube and the Theiss, Lower Hungary, and Transylvania. In +1870 there were upwards of 58,000 in Transylvania, and more than 14,000 +in Hungary."[10] + +Later in my tour, when at Klausenburg, I had an opportunity of seeing an +extensive dairy where upwards of a hundred buffalo cows were kept. The +farm alluded to is admirably managed, and, I am told, yields very +profitable returns. + +It is the opinion of Professor Wrightson that cattle are diminishing in +Hungary owing to the breaking up of pastures and the recurrence of +rinderpest. He says he does not think that the English market can look +to Hungary for a supply of cattle at present. This gentleman did not, I +believe, visit Transylvania, and I am inclined to think the supply from +_that_ part of the kingdom is greatly on the increase; there the +pastures are _not_ in process of being turned into arable land, and the +rise in prices has given an impetus to the profitable employment of +capital in raising stock. + +In walking round the fair, we took notice of the horses. I could have +made a better bargain than I did in Servia. A useful cart-horse could be +bought, I found, for about six or seven pounds. I daresay I could have +picked out a few from the lot fit for riding, but of course they were +rough animals, mere peasant horses. Some of the colts, brought in a +string fresh from the mountains, were wild, untamed-looking creatures; +but hardly as wild as the Wallacks who led them, dressed in sheepskin, +and followed each by his savage wolf-like dog. The dogs are very +formidable in Hungary. It is never safe to take a walk, even in the +environs of a town, without a revolver, on account of these savage +brutes, who, faithful to their masters, are liable to make the most +ferocious attacks on strangers. This special kind of dog is in fact most +useful--to the shepherd on the lonely _puszta_, to the keeper of the +vineyard through the night-watches, when the wild boar threatens his +ravages--and in short he acts the part of rural police generally. + +In Hungary, as elsewhere, there are dogs of kindly nature and gentle +culture. I can record a curious instance of reasoning power in a dog +named "Jockey," who is well known at Buda Pest. He has the habit of +crossing over from Pest to Buda every morning of his life in one or +another of the little steamboats that ply backwards and forwards. He +regularly takes his walk over there, and then returns as before by +steamer. This is his practice in summer; but when winter arrives, and +the ice on the Danube stops the traffic of the steamboats, then Jockey +has recourse to the bridge. I believe there is no doubt of this +anecdote. Another instance of sagacity is attributed to him. His master +lost a lawsuit through the rascality of his attorney; Jockey feels so +strongly on the subject that he snarls and growls whenever a lawyer +enters his master's house. Here, of course, the instinct is stronger +than the powers of discrimination. + +[Footnote 10: 'Report on the Agriculture of the Austro-Hungarian +Empire,' Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, vol. x. Part xi. No. +xx.] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + Post-office at Karansebes--Good headquarters for a + sportsman--Preparations for a week in the mountain--The party + starting for the hunt--Adventures by the way--Fine trees--Game--Hut + in the forest--Beauty of the scenery in the Southern Carpathians. + + +We put up at the Grünen Baum, the principal inn at Karansebes. My first +business was to worry everybody about my guns, which I had telegraphed +should be sent from Buda Pest to this place. I am afraid the postmaster +will never hear the name of an Englishman without associating the idea +of a fussy, irritable, impatient being, such as I was, about my guns. Of +course it was very provoking that they had not arrived. This postmaster +was a pattern official, an honour to his calling; he not only bore with +me, but he offered to lend me a gun if mine did not come. In Germany +there is a saying, "_So grob wie ein postbeamter_." The postmaster of +Karansebes was a glorious exception to the rule. + +On one occasion, while I was waiting in the office for an answer to one +of the many telegrams that I had despatched, a peasant woman came in +with a letter without an address. The postmaster seeing this, and +thinking she could not write, asked her to whom he should address the +letter. She was dreadfully indignant with him for his well-meant offer, +and said, "My son knows all about it--it is no business of yours." + +"But I can't forward it without an address," objected the postmaster. + +"Yes, you must," she rejoined, getting more and more angry--"you must; +that's what you are paid for doing." + +Here some other people came to the rescue, and by dint of all talking at +once for full twenty minutes, they induced her to give her son's +address; but it was a clear case of "convinced against her will," for as +she quitted the office she turned round and said, with a shake of the +head, "It's all very well to put that; but my son will know who it is +from." + +Karansebes is not at all a bad place as headquarters for the sportsman. +In the neighbourhood there is very good snipe-shooting in spring and +autumn. The fishing too is excellent for trout and grayling. The bear, +the wolf, and the chamois are to be met with on the heights, which form +this portion of the great horseshoe of the Carpathians. + +The day before our expedition we were occupied with a few necessary +preparations. When these matters were settled to our satisfaction, we +went off in good time to secure a few hours' sleep, as we were to start +at four A.M. + +F---- and I were up in capital time, eager for the day's work, and +anxious, moreover, not to keep the rest of the party waiting. There was +an Austrian general, however, amongst the number, and therefore we might +safely have slept another hour. The morning was very unpromising, the +rain descended in a dull persistent downpour. We tried to hope it was +the pride of the morning. The prospect was dreary enough to damp the +spirits of some of our party. One man found that urgent private affairs +called him hence; another averred he had an inflammatory sore throat. I +expected a third would say he had married a wife and could not come. +Happily, however, the weather cleared a little as the morning advanced, +and further desertions were arrested. + +At length the whole party got off in sundry _leiterwagen_, a vehicle +which has no counterpart in England, and the literal rendering of a +ladder-waggon hardly conveys the proper notion of the thing itself. This +long cart, it is needless to say, is without springs; but it has the +faculty of accommodating itself to the inequalities of the road in a +marvellous manner. It has, moreover, a snake-like vertebræ, and even +twists itself when necessary. + +My guns never came after all, and I was obliged to borrow. The one lent +me had one barrel smooth-bore, the other rifled. + +We drove for some distance along the Hatszeg highroad, then turned off +to the right. Continuing our course for some time, we came to the pretty +little village of Mörül, where we breakfasted. It was quite the cleanest +and neatest Wallack settlement that I had seen at all. It is celebrated +for the beauty of its women. Several very pretty girls in their +picturesque costume were gathered round the village well, engaged in +filling their classical-shaped pitchers. Every movement of their arms +was grace itself. The action was not from the elbow, but from the +shoulder, whereby one sees the arm extended in the curved line of +beauty, instead of sticking out at a sharp angle, as with us Western +races. + +The weather had improved considerably. Our breakfast, for which we +halted on the further outskirts of the village, was very agreeably +discussed amidst much general good-humour. The peasants regarded us with +frank undisguised curiosity, coming round to watch our proceedings. + +After leaving Mörül we got really into the wilds. A very bad road led +up through a magnificent valley, the scenery most romantic; indeed every +turn brought to view some new aspect, calling forth admiration. On our +right was a fine trout-stream of that delicious brown tint welcome to +the eye of the fisherman. At times the water was seen breaking over a +rocky bed with much foam and fret, and then would find for itself a +tranquil pool beneath the shadow of some mighty beech-tree. + +The foliage of the forest, which closed down upon the valley, was simply +magnificent. The trees in the Southern Carpathians are far finer than +those of the Austrian Alps; they attain a greater average height. The +variety, too, was very striking in many places. The strip of green +pasturage that bordered our road was fringed with weeping birch-trees, +which gave a singular charm to the woodland scene. + +A turn in the direction of the valley brought us within sight of the +high range of mountains forming the frontier between Hungary and +Roumania. Some of the higher summits were ominously covered with dirty +clouds. It was observed that they were lifting, at least some of the +most sanguine thought so. However, judging from my former experiences in +Upper Austria and Styria, I could not say that I thought it was a good +sign, supposing even they were lifting. I think myself there is better +chance of fine weather in high regions when the clouds descend and +disappear in the valleys. + +Coming shortly to the foot of the mountain, the Sarka, which is upwards +of 6000 feet in height, we made a temporary halt. We had now to change +our _leiterwagen_ for horses. All signs of a road had long ceased. On +the green knoll in front were a herd of shaggy mountain horses with +their Wallack drivers--as wild a scene as could well be imagined. Here +we unpacked our various stores of provisions, fortified ourselves with a +good dinner, and made necessary arrangements for the change of +locomotion. There was some trouble in properly distributing the things +for the pack-horses. Care had to be taken to give each horse his proper +weight and no more. It was also very important to see that the packages +were rightly balanced to avoid shifting. + +I had left my own horse at Karansebes, because he was in need of rest; +so F---- and I had to select horses from amongst the promiscuous lot +brought up by the "hunt." We chose out a couple of decent-looking +animals--indeed I rather prided myself on my selection, drew attention +to his good points, and rallied F---- on his less successful choice. + +At length everything was ready. Judging from the amount of baggage, the +commissariat department was all right. The order of march was this: ten +gentlemen, like so many knights on horseback with lances in rest, rode +on in front, in Indian file: our long alpen-stocks really somewhat +resembled lances. Each man had his gun slung behind. In the rear of +these gallant knights came a dozen pack-horses heavily laden, each with +his burden well covered up with sheepskins; behind again followed a lot +of Wallacks--these irregulars were to act as beaters. + +On we went in this order for seven hours. The pace was so slow that I +confess it made me impatient, but our path through the forest was too +narrow and too steep to do more than walk our horses in single file. The +character of the vegetation visibly changed as we ascended. We left the +oak and beech, and came upon a forest of pine-trees, and I thought of +the lines-- + + "This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, + Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight." + +The grey moss which hangs in such abundant festoons from the fir-trees +has a most singular effect, almost weird at times. These ancients of the +forest, with their long grey beards and hoary tresses, look very solemn +indeed in the gloaming. + +What unheeded wealth in these majestic trees, which grow but to decay! +Enormous trunks lay on every side: some had passed into the rottenness +which gives new life; and here fungi of bright and varied hues, grey +lichen, and green moss preserved together the contour of the gigantic +stem, which, prostrate and decayed now, had once held its head high +amongst the lordlings of the forest. + +In the last century these woods were tenanted by wild aurochs and the +ibex, but both are extinct now in Hungary. Red-deer and the roe are +still common enough. "The wild-cat, fox, badger, otter, marten, and +other smaller carnivora are pretty numerous." Mr Danford[11] goes on to +say that "feathered game is certainly not abundant. There are a good +many capercailzie in the quiet pine-woods, pretty high up, but they are +only to be got at during the pairing season. Hazel-grouse too are common +in the lower woods, but are not easily found unless the call-system be +adopted. Black game are scarcely worth mentioning as far as sport is +concerned. Partridges scarce, not preserved, and the hooded crows and +birds of prey making life rather hard for them." Mr Danford further +speaks of the chamois-eagle as "not rare in the higher mountains." The +fisher-eagle "generally distributed." The king-eagle also "not rare." +The carrion-vulture "common throughout the country," also the red-footed +falcon. At one time and another I have myself seen most of these birds +in the Carpathians, which form the frontier between Transylvania and +Roumania. + +Meanwhile I must resume the description of our march, which was a very +slow affair. As we ascended, the trees decreased in size. We had long +ago left the deciduous foliage behind us; but the pines themselves were +smaller, interspersed with what is called "crooked timber," which grows +in grotesque dwarf-like forms. The forest at last diminished into mere +sparse shrubs, and finally we reached the treeless region, called in +German the _Alpen_, where there is rich pasturage for cattle and sheep +during the summer. We were now on tolerably level ground, and I thought +we should get a trot out of our wretched horses, but no, not a step +faster would they go. I believe we went at the rate of about two miles +and a half an hour. We tried everything--I mean F----and I--to get the +animals to stretch out over the turf; but they set to kicking +vigorously, backing and rearing, so that to avoid giving annoyance to +our companions, we were obliged to give in, and let the brutes go their +own pace. + +We had gone but a very little way on the Alpen before we found ourselves +enveloped in a thick mist, added to which the track itself became +uncertain. We went on: if the saying "slow but sure" has any truth in +it, we ought to have been sure enough. My horse reminded me of the reply +of the Somersetshire farmer, who, when he was asked if his horse was +steady, answered, "He be so steady that if he were a bit steadier he +would not go at all." Notwithstanding that we moved like hay-stacks, and +the cavalcade seemed to be treading on one another's heels, yet, +ridiculous to say, we got separated from our baggage. Darkness set in, +and with it a cold drizzling rain--not an animated storm that braces +your nerves, but a quiet soaking rain, the sort of thing that takes the +starch out of one's moral nature. + +All at once I was aroused from my apathy by a shout from the front +calling out to the cavalcade to halt. I must observe a fellow on foot +was leading the way in quality of guide. A pretty sort of a guide he +turned out to be. He had led us quite wrong, and in fact found all of a +sudden that he was on the verge of a precipice! + +There was a good deal of unparliamentary language, expressed in tones +both loud and deep. It was an act of unwisdom, however, to stop there in +a heap on the grassy slope of a precipice, swearing in chorus at the +poor devil of a Wallack. I turned my horse up the incline, resolved to +try back, hoping to regain the lost track. It was next to impossible to +halt, for we had not even got our plaids with us--everything was with +the baggage-horses. Of course "some one had blundered." We all knew +that! The guide stuck to it to the last that "he had not exactly lost +his way." The fellow was incapable of a suggestion, and would have stood +there arguing till doomsday if we had not sent him off with a sharp +injunction to find some shepherds, and that quickly, who could take us +to the rendezvous. Being summer time, there would be many shepherds +about in different places on the Alpen, and the Wallack could hardly +fail to encounter some herdkeeper before long. + +We waited, as agreed, on the same spot nearly an hour, and then we heard +a great shouting to the right of us. This was the guide, who I believe +must have been born utterly without the organ of locality. He had found +some shepherds, he told us subsequently, not long after he had left us, +but then the fool of a fellow could not find his way back to us, to the +spot where we agreed to wait for him. There was a great deal of shouting +before we could bring him to our bearings: the fog muffled the sound, +adding to the perplexity. + +The shepherds now took us in tow. We had to go back some distance, and +then make a sharp descent to the right, which brought us to the +rendezvous, and we effected at last a junction with our lost luggage. +Arriving at the hut, which had been previously built for us, we were +delighted to find a meal already prepared; it was in fact a very +elaborate supper, but I think we were all too exhausted to appreciate +the details. I know I was very glad to wrap my plaid round me and +stretch myself on the floor. + +The next morning we were up with the first streak of dawn. It was with +some curiosity that I looked round at our impromptu dwelling and its +surroundings, upon which we had descended in total obscurity the night +before. The position of our camping-place was not badly chosen; we were +just within the girdle of forest above which rises the grassy Alpen. +About forty yards to the left or north-east of us was a small stream, +the boundary, it seems, between the Banat and Transylvania. We were +provided with two necessaries of life, wood and water, close at hand. + +The hut, however, was more picturesque than practical, as subsequent +events proved. The Wallacks had constructed it by driving two strong +posts into the ground about ten yards apart. A tree was placed across, +with a couple of smaller supports, and on this was made on a rough +framework a sloping roof to the windward side. The roofing consisted +entirely of leaves: it is called in German _laubhütte_, but is in fact +more of a parasol than an umbrella. I should have preferred a hut made +of bark, such as I have seen used by shepherds and sportsmen in Styria. + +The interior of the hut had a droll appearance. Bacon, sausages, +meal-bags, and various other things were hanging from pegs fastened into +the supports of the roof; and the gear belonging to ten sportsmen were +stowed away somehow. The place might have passed for the head-centre of +a band of brigands. + +The mountain on which we were encamped forms part of the western side of +a long valley, at the bottom of which, quite 2000 feet below us, is a +magnificent trout-stream. The sides of this valley are clothed with +dense forests, with broken cliffs obtruding in places. The height of the +Carpathians in this part of the range must not be taken as a gauge of +the scenery, which quite equals in grandeur the higher Alps in many +parts of Switzerland and the Tyrol. Comparisons are dangerous, for the +lovers of Switzerland will silence me with glaciers and eternal snow; +these advantages I must concede, still contending, however, for the +extreme beauty and wildness of the Southern Carpathians. The +characteristics of the scenery are due to the broken forms of the +crystalline rocks, the singular occurrence of sharp limestone ridges, +and the deep forest-clad valleys, traversed by mountain torrents, which +everywhere diversify the scene. + +[Footnote 11: The Ibis, vol. v., 1875. The Birds of Transylvania. By +Messrs. Danford and Brown.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + Chamois and bear hunting--First battue--Luxurious dinner 5000 feet + above the sea-level--Storm in the night--Discomforts--The bear's + supper--The eagle's breakfast--Second and third day's + shooting--Baking a friend as a cure for fever--Striking camp--View + into Roumania. + + +We started for our first battue in capital time, taking with us a crowd +of Wallack beaters. Our places were appointed to us by the director of +the hunt, and some of us had a stiffish climb before reaching the spot +indicated. At a right angle to this valley there protrudes one of those +characteristic limestone ridges; it terminates in an abrupt precipice or +declivity above the stream. My place was some half-way up, a good +position; for while I could see the course of the stream, I could +command a fair range of ground above me. + +It was impossible not to take note of the exquisite beauty of the whole +scene, particularly as it then appeared. The sun breaking through the +clouds, threw his sharply-defined rays of light into the depths of the +misty defile, playing upon the foam of the water, and giving life and +colour to the hanging woods. I hardly took it in at the time, but rather +remembered the details afterwards; for my thoughts were occupied in +trying to judge the distance up to which I might fire with any chance of +success--distances are always very deceptive on the mountains. + +I must observe that we hoped to get a shot at some bears, but the +chamois were the legitimate object of the hunt. The late autumn or early +winter is the best time for bear-hunting. + +I had not been long at my post when I heard two shots in quick +succession fired below me. I found a chamois had been shot. + +For our next battue we turned right-about face, the beaters coming from +the other side; but we had bad luck. One of our party saw a bear at some +distance, fired, and--missed it. The fact of a bear having been sighted +encouraged us in keeping up our battues pretty late, but nothing more +was shot that day. It was very disappointing, because if the bear was +thereabouts our numerous staff of beaters ought to have turned him up +again. Some of the party were altogether sceptical about a bear having +been seen at all. Of course the man who had fired held to the bear as if +it was the first article in his creed. The dissentients remarked that +"believing is seeing," as some one cleverly said of spiritualism. I +don't know whether it was better to think you had missed your bear or +had no bear to miss. + +When we returned to the hut in the evening we found that a couple of men +left in charge had made some great improvements. The Wallacks, who are +sharp ready-handed fellows, to do them justice, had in our absence cut +down some trees, split them with wooden pegs, and constructed out of the +rough timber a long table and a couple of benches. These were placed in +front of our hut; the supper was spread, the table being lighted with +some four lanterns, supplemented by torches of resinous pine-wood. + +The weather had been fair, though sport had been bad, so with a feeling +not "altogether sorrow-like" we sat down to a hearty good meal. One of +the dishes was chamois-liver, which is considered a great delicacy. We +had, indeed, several capital dishes, well dressed and served hot--a most +successful feast at 5000 feet above the sea-level. A vote of thanks was +proposed for the cook, and carried unanimously. The wines were +excellent. We had golden Mediasch, one of the best wines grown in +Transylvania, Roszamáber from Karlsburg and Bakatar. The peculiarity +about the first-named wine is that it produces an agreeable pricking on +the tongue, called in German _tschirpsen_. + +Before turning in we had a smoke, accompanied by tea with rum, the +invariable substitute for milk in Hungary. + +As there were four big fires burning in the clearing outside the hut, +the whole scene was very bright and cheerful. The wood crackled briskly, +the flames lit up the green foliage, and the moving figures of our +attendants gave animation to the picture. Amongst ourselves there were a +few snatches of song, and from up the hill where the Wallacks were +camped came a chorus of not unmusical voices. One after another of our +party dropped off, betaking himself to his natural rest. I was not the +last, and must have slept as soon as I pulled the plaid over my ears, +for I remembered nothing more. + +I daresay I slept two or three hours; it may have been more or less, I +don't know, but the next moment of consciousness, or semi-consciousness, +was an uneasy feeling that a thief was trying to carry off a large tin +bath that belonged to me, in my dream. As he dragged it away it seemed +to me that he bumped it with all his might, making a horrible row. +Meanwhile, oppressed by nightmare, I could not budge an inch nor utter a +cry, though I would have given the world to stop the thief. I daresay +this nonsense of my dream occupied but an instant of time. I woke to the +consciousness of a loud peal of thunder. "We are in for a storm," +thought I, turning drowsily on my other side, not yet much awake to the +probable consequences. + +There was no sleep for me, however. The rest of the party were, one and +all, up and moving about; and the noise of the storm also increased--the +flashes of lightning were blinding, and the crash of the thunder was +almost simultaneous. Through the open side of our hut I could see and +hear the rain descending in torrents; fortunately it did not beat in, +but it was not long before the wet penetrated the roof--that roof of +leaves that I had mentally condemned the day before. After the rain once +came through, the ground was soon soaking. + +It was a dismal scene. I sat up with the others, "the lanterns dimly +burning," and occupied myself for some time contriving gurgoyles at +different angles of my body, but the wet would trickle down my neck. + +We made a small fire inside the hut, essaying thereby to dry some of our +things. My socks were soaking; my boots, I found, had a considerable +storage of water; the only dry thing was my throat, made dry by +swallowing the wood-smoke. A more complete transformation scene could +hardly be imagined than our present woeful guise compared with the +merriment of the supper-table, where all was song and jollity. + +A German, who was sitting on the same log with myself, looking the +picture of misery, had been one of the most jovial songsters of the +evening. + +"Thousand devils!" said he, "you could wring me like a rag. This +abominable hut is a sponge--a mere reservoir of water." + +"Oh, well, it is all part of the fun," said I, turning the water out of +my boots, and proceeding to toast my socks by the fire on the thorns of +a twig. "Suppose we sing a song. What shall it be?--'The meeting of the +waters'?" + +I had intended a mild joke, but the Teuton relapsed into grim silence. + +The storm after a while appeared to be rolling off. The thunder-claps +were not so immediately over our heads, and the flashes of lightning +were less frequent; in fact a perfect lull existed for a short space of +time, marking the passage probably to an oppositely electrified zone of +the thunder-cloud. During this brief lull we were startled by hearing +all at once a frightful yelling from the quarter where the Wallacks were +camping, a little higher up than our hut. + +Amidst the general hullabaloo of dogs barking and men shouting we at +last distinguished the cry of "Ursa, ursa!" which is Wallachian for +bear. Our camp became the scene of the most tremendous excitement; +everybody rushed out, but in the thick darkness it was impossible to +pursue the bear. The more experienced sportsmen were not so eager to +sally out after the bear, as they were anxious to prevent a stampede of +the horses. When the latter were secured as well as circumstances would +permit, a few guns were fired off to warn the bear, and then there was +nothing for it but to watch and wait. The dogs went on barking for more +than an hour, but otherwise the camp relapsed into stillness. I spent +the remainder of the night sitting on a log before the fire, smoking my +pipe with the bowl downwards, for the rain had never ceased, and clouds +of steam rose from our camp-fires. The fear was that the powder would +get wet. I must have dropped off my perch asleep, for I picked myself up +the next morning out of a pool of water. It was already dawn, and +looking eastward I saw a streak of light beneath a dark curtain of +cloud, like the gleam on the edge of a sword, so sharp and defined was +it. This was hopeful; it had ceased raining too, and a brisk wind came +up the valley. + +There was plenty to be done, in drying our clothes and preparing +breakfast under difficulties. In the midst of this bustle a Wallack came +in to tell us that the bear had really got into the camp in the night, +and that he had killed and partly eaten one of the horses. This +confirmed the fact that the bear had been sighted by one of our party +the day before; though we missed him, he had had his supper, and we were +minus a horse. + +I followed the Wallack a few steps up the hill, and there, not far off, +on a knoll to the left, lay the carcass of the horse. It was a strange +sight! Crowds of eagles, vultures, and carrion-crows were already +feasting on the remains. Every moment almost, fresh birds came swooping +down to their savage breakfast. Bears do not always eat flesh; but it +seems when once tasted, they have a liking for it, and cease to be +vegetarians. A simple-minded bear delights in maize, honey, wild apples +and raspberries. + +Our guns required a good deal of cleaning before we were ready to start +for the second day's sport. + +The result of the battues were not satisfactory. A fine buck was shot, +and two or three chamois were bagged. We sighted no less than three +bears, but they all broke through the line, and got off into the lower +valleys. The provoking thing was that the bear or bears came again to +our camp the second night; but they were able to do no mischief this +time. The horses were kept better together, and the dogs scared the +intruders from close quarters I imagine. Fires certainly do not frighten +the bear in districts where they get accustomed to the shepherds' +fires. + +The third day of our shooting the weather was good, but we had no sport +at all. I believe we should have done better with a different set of +beaters, and this opinion was shared by several of our party. The +_Förstmeister_ had made a mistake in choosing men from the villages in +the plain, instead of getting some of the hill shepherds, who know the +mountains thoroughly well, and are not afraid of a bear when they see +one. Some of our beaters were funky, I believe, and gave the bear a wide +berth I feel sure, otherwise we must have had better sport. + +During the evening of the third day F---- got a bad attack of fever, the +intermittent fever common in all the Danubian Provinces. After supper +the rain came on again, not violently, but enough to make everything +very damp. I felt that under the circumstances the hut was a very bad +place for him, so I cast about to see what I could do. As good-luck +would have it, not very far off I discovered a horizontal fissure in the +cliff, a sort of wide slit caused by one rock overhanging another ledge. +It was fortunately sheltered from the wind, and promised to suit my +purpose very well. + +I collected a pile of sticks and firewood, thrust them blazing into the +cavity, and fed the fire till the rocks were fit to crack with the heat. +I remembered having seen cottagers heat their ovens in this way in +Somersetshire. I now raked out the fire and all the mortuary remains of +insects, and then laid down a plaid thrice doubled for softness. Having +done this, I seized upon my friend, weak and prostrate as he was, and +shoved him into his oven like a batch of bread. I had previously given +him a big dose of quinine (without which medicine I never travel in +these parts), and now I set to work rubbing him, for he was really very +bad indeed. In ten minutes or so F----became warm as a toast. The +terrible shivering was stopped, so my plan of baking was succeeding +capitally. It is true he complained a little of one shoulder being +rather overdone, but that was nothing. The vigorous rubbing was of great +service also. I remembered the saying, "Whatever is worth doing at all +is worth doing well," so I rubbed my patient with a will. He objected +rather, but he was too weak to make any resistance, so I rubbed on. I +knew it would do him good in the end; so it did--I cured him. I think, +however, the cure was mainly due to the baking! + +After I had satisfied myself that my friend was going on well, I +arranged our waterproofs in front of the opening like curtains; and then +I turned in myself, for there was room for me too in the oven. The rain +descended pretty heavily in the night, but we slept well; and my patient +presented a most creditable appearance in the morning. + +On the fourth day some of our party bagged a few chamois, but the +incidents of the day were in no way remarkable. At night F---- and I +returned to our cave. The others had dubbed it the "Hôtel d'Angleterre." +Considering the capability we had of warming-up, our quarters were not +half bad. + +The succeeding morning it was settled that we should strike our camp and +move on to a fresh place. The beaters were sent back, for they were not +a bit of good. Some of the party also left, amongst them my German +friend. I do not think he will ever join a bear-hunt again, and his +departure did not surprise us. After leaving our late quarters we rode +for some hours along a singular ridge, so narrow at places as to leave +little more than the width of the sheep-track on the actual summit. This +ridge, more or less precipitous, rises above the zone of forest, and is +covered with short thick grass. We passed, I should think, thirty flocks +of sheep at different times, attended by the wild-looking Wallacks and +their fierce dogs. + +We made a halt in the middle of the day, but the rain was coming down, +and we were glad to be soon off again. + +In the afternoon we got over into the Roumanian side of the frontier. +The lofty limestone ridge of which I have spoken is in fact the +boundary-line at this part. We were at an elevation of about 6000 feet, +judging from the heights above us, when suddenly, or almost suddenly, +the clouds were lifted which hitherto had enveloped us. It was like +drawing up the curtain of a theatre. I never remember to have seen +anything so striking as this sudden revealing of the fair world at our +feet, bathed in glowing sunlight. We beheld the plains of Roumania far +away stretched as a map beneath us; there, though one cannot discern it, +the swift Aluta joins the Danube opposite Nicopolis; and there, within +range of the glass, are the white mosques of Widdin in Bulgaria. We +looked right down into Little Wallachia, where woods, rocks, and streams +are tumbled about pellmell in a picturesque but unsettled sort of way. +The very locality we were traversing is the part where the +salt-smugglers used to carry on their trade, and many a sharp encounter +has been fought here between them and the soldiers. This is now a thing +of the past, since Roumania has also introduced a salt monopoly. + +We were treated to this glorious view for little more than half an hour; +the clouds then enveloped us again, and blotted out that fair world, +with all its brightness, as if it were not. A strong wind blew up from +the north, bringing with it a storm of rain and sleet which chilled us +to the bones. The horses went slower and slower. Including the noonday +halt, we had been ten hours in the saddle, and men and horses had had +pretty well enough. I never recollect a colder ride. + +We encamped that night in the forest. I looked out for another rock +oven, and found one not otherwise unsuitable for shelter; but +unfortunately this time the opening was to the windward side, so it was +useless for our purpose. It was a good thing F---- did not have a return +of his fever here, for we had to pass the night very indifferently. + +The next morning the weather continued so persistently bad in the +mountains that we voted the "hunt" at an end, and made the best of our +way towards Mehadia, from which place we were in fact not so very +distant. The descent was very rapid; at first through a thick forest, +then into the open valley, where the heat became intense. The change of +temperature was very striking. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + Back at Mehadia--Troubles about a carriage--An unexpected night on + the road--Return to Karansebes--On horseback through the Iron Gate + Pass--Varhely, the ancient capital of Dacia--Roman remains--Beauty + of the Hatszeg Valley. + + +After a week of such weather as we had had in the mountains, a +water-tight roof over one's head was in itself a luxury; so we were not +inclined to quarrel with our quarters at the hotel at Mehadia, had they +been even less good than they were. + +F---- and I wished the next day to get back to Karansebes; he had left +his carriage, and I my Servian horse. A Hungarian gentleman, one of the +late expedition, said he would arrange to have a _vorspann_, if we would +join him, as he also wanted to go there. This well-understood plan +insures to the traveller relays of horses, and we were only too glad to +acquiesce in the prospect of making the journey pleasantly and quickly. + +The driver who was to take us the first stage came in and asked for a +florin to get some oats for his horses. Very foolishly I gave him the +money, nothing doubting; and off he went to spend it on _slivovitz_, +the result being that he was soon drunk and incapable. If we had +realised the fact at once it might have been better, but we waited and +waited, not knowing for a long time what had happened. This upset all +our _vorspann_ arrangements, and to our great disgust the best part of +the day was wasted in seeking another vehicle and horses to take us to +Karansebes. At last we succeeded in obtaining a lumbering sort of +covered conveyance, whose speed we doubted from the first; but the +owner, who was to drive us, declared he would get us to our journey's +end in an incredibly short space of time. + +We took care to give no _pourboire_ in advance; but what with the +inevitable dilatoriness of the people down in these parts, it was after +seven o'clock before we left the Hercules-Bad, and we had fifty miles to +drive. + +Not even the ten hours of undisturbed consecutive repose in the downy +bed at the Mehadia hotel had made up the deficiency of sleep during the +foregoing week, and drowsiness overcame us. I think we must have had a +couple of hours of monotonous jog-trot on the fairly level road when I +fell asleep, and I suppose my companions did the same. + +I must have slept long and profoundly, for when I woke, pulling myself +together with some difficulty, having slept in the form of a doubled-up +zigzag, I found it was daylight. I was surprised that we were not +moving; I rubbed my eyes, and looked out at the back of the cart, and +there I saw a round tower on a slight eminence, encircled by a belt of +fir-wood, the very counterpart of a pretty bit of scenery I had noticed +in the twilight. I looked again, and sure enough it was just the tower +itself and no other, and the very same belt of wood. The explanation was +not far to seek. I was the first to wake up in our "fast coach." Every +mortal soul--and there were five of us, besides the four horses--had, it +seems, gone to sleep much about the same time that I did. The magic +sleep of eld must have fallen upon us. The simple fact was, we had +passed the night in the middle of the highroad. Was there ever anything +so ridiculous? + +We were about seven miles from Mehadia; I knew the country perfectly +well. Of course we made a confounded row with the idiot of a driver, who +certainly had been hired--not to go to sleep. I have known these +Wallacks drive for miles in a state of somnolency, the horses generally +keeping in the "safe middle course" of their own accord. As there were +some awkward turns not far ahead of us, it was perhaps just as well that +the horses stopped on this occasion. + +Well, we jogged on all that day, reaching Karansebes between one and two +o'clock. We had been some eighteen hours on the road! + +Here F---- and I parted, my friend returning to Uibanya, while I pursued +my way to Transylvania. + +I slept the night at Karansebes, rising very early; indeed I started +soon after four o'clock. I was again on my little Servian horse, who was +quite fresh after his long rest, and I saw no reason why I should not +reach Hatszeg the same evening, as the distance is not more than +forty-five miles. About two miles from Karansebes I passed a hill +crowned with a picturesque ruin, locally called Ovid's Tower. Tradition +fondly believes that Ovid spent the last years of his banishment, not on +the shores of the stormy Euxine, but in the tranquillity of these lovely +valleys. Certain it is that the name and fame of many of the great +Romans are still known to the Wallacks; and the story is told by Mr +Boner, that they have a catechism which teaches the children to say that +they have Ovid and Virgil for their ancestors, and that they are +descended from demigods! + +On my way I passed the villages of Ohaba, Marga, and Bukova. On arriving +at Varhely, or Gradischtie, as it is called in Wallack language, I found +that it was worth while to stay the night, for the sake of having the +afternoon to examine the Roman remains scattered about the +neighbourhood. + +The Wallack villages I had passed through were very miserable-looking +places: they are generally in the south of Transylvania. The houses are +mostly mere wattled wigwams, without chimneys; a patch of garden, rudely +hurdled in, with the addition of a high stockaded enclosure for cattle. +Some of the women are extremely pretty, and, as I have said before, the +costume can be very picturesque; but they are often seen extremely +dirty, in which case the filthy fringe garment gives them the appearance +of savages. + +Varhely is conspicuous for its dirt even among Wallachian villages, yet +once it was a royal town. It is built on the site of the famous +Sarmisegethusa, the capital of ancient Dacia. In Trajan's second +expedition against Decebalus, King of the Dacians, he came from Orsova +on the Danube by the same route that forms the highroad of this day--the +same I had traversed in my way hither. It is curious to reflect how +nation succeeding nation tread in each other's footsteps, through the +self-same valley, beneath the shadow of the old hills. Here they have +trudged, old Dacian gold-seekers, returning from the daily labours of +washing the auriferous sands of the mountain streams; here, too, have +tramped victorious Roman soldiers--Avars, Tartars, Turks, and other +intruders. A long and motley cavalcade has history marshalled along this +route for two thousand years and more! + +The old Dacians were strong enough we know to exact a yearly tribute +from Domitian: it was for this insult that Trajan marched upon Dacia, +defeating Decebalus at Klausenburg, in the heart of Transylvania, which +was at the time their greatest strong-hold. It was after this that the +Dacian king retreated upon Sarmisegethusa, and there Trajan came down +upon them through the Iron Gate Pass. Unable to defend themselves, the +Dacians set fire to their royal city and fled to the mountains. On these +ruins the Romans, ever ready to appropriate a good site, erected the +city of Ulpia Trajana, connecting it by good roads with the existing +Roman colonies at Karlsburg and Klausenburg. + +Unless the traveller had brought historic facts with him to Gradischtie, +he would hardly be induced to search for tesselated pavements and relics +of royalty amongst the piggeries of this dirty Wallack village. It is a +literal fact that a very fine specimen of Roman pavement exists here in +an unsavoury outhouse, not unknown to pigs and their congeners. + +This Hatszeg Valley, in the county of Hunyad, has long been celebrated +for the richness of its Dacian and Roman antiquities. These treasures +have unfortunately been dispersed about amongst various general +collections of antiquity, instead of being well kept together as +illustrative of local facts and history. The archæologist must seek for +these remains specially in the Ambras collection of the Archæological +Museum at Vienna, the National Museum at Buda Pest, in the Bruckenthal +Museum at Herrmannstadt, also in the Klausenburg Museum. Dr H. Finály, +Professor of Archæology at the University of Klausenburg, is the great +living authority on this interesting subject. To him I am indebted for +some information, conveyed in a letter to a private friend.[12] The +professor alludes to the fact of the treasures being all carried away, +adding that on the spot very little is to be found except the remains of +Roman encampments (_castra stativa_), Roman military roads, together +with the foundations of buildings, the materials of which however are +usually carried away by the peasants. Nor are the records of former +interesting discoveries to be found in one volume, but are dispersed +about in the various publications of learned societies, such as the +'Archælogiæi Közlemények' of the Hungarian Academy, the 'Year-Book of +the Transylvanian Museum,' and 'Verhandlungen und Mittheilungen' of the +Verein fur Siebenbürgische Landeskunde of Herrmannstadt. + +That the materials of the old Roman buildings are now used for baser +purposes, one has abundant proof; even in my hurried inspection I saw +many a sculptured stone and fragment of fluted column doing duty as the +support of a wretched Wallack shanty. Another evidence of the Roman +occupation of the country occurs in the case of certain plants now found +growing wild, which are exotic to the soil. This, I am told, occurs in a +marked manner at Thorda, which was known to be a Roman colony. The +plants, it may be presumed, were brought thither by the Roman +legionaries. The most picturesque bit of Roman antiquity is the Temple +at Demsus, within a short drive of Varhely. It is on a small eminence +overlooking a cluster of Wallack dwellings, and has long been used as a +church by these people. + +The Hatszeg Valley, which comprehends the district I am now describing, +is the pride of Transylvania, not less for its fertility than for its +beauty. It has the appearance of having been filled in former geological +ages by the waters of a widespread lake. + +It was a lovely afternoon, but very hot, when I rode into the little +town of Hatszeg. Everywhere is to be seen evidence of the careful +cultivation of the maize and other crops. Numerous villages dot the +plain and cluster amidst the thickly-wooded hillsides. And now we come +upon the railway system again, which has stretched out its feelers into +the wilds of the Southern Carpathians. The railroad enters Transylvania +by two routes. The main line is from Buda-Pest to Grosswardein, and so +on by Klausenburg--the Magyar capital--to the present terminus of +Kronstadt, one of the chief towns of the Saxon immigrants. This includes +a branch to Maros Vásárhely. It is proposed to carry this line over a +pass in the Carpathians to Bucharest. The second line of railway +entering Transylvania starts from Arad, and terminates at Herrmannstadt, +the Saxon capital, having a branch to the mineral district of Petrosèny. + +It will be seen from the above that this "odd corner of Europe," as +Transylvania has been called, is fairly well off for iron roads; and +considering how short a time some portions of them have been opened, +they have already borne good fruit in developing the resources of the +country. + +[Footnote 12: Martin Diosy, Esq.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + Hungarian hospitality--Wallack laziness--Fishing--"Settled + gipsies"--Anecdote--Old _régime_--Fire--Old Roman bath--The + avifauna of Transylvania--Fly-fishing. + + +I had brought with me from London a letter of introduction to a +Hungarian gentleman residing near Hatszeg, and finding his place was not +far off, I rode over to see him the evening of my arrival. + +I had merely intended to make a call, but Herr von B----, with true +Hungarian hospitality, insisted that I should stay at his house as long +as I remained in the neighbourhood. + +"What! allow a stranger to remain at the inn?--impossible!" he said with +resolute kindness. + +It was in vain that I made any attempt to plead that I felt it was +trespassing too much on his hospitality. His answer was very decided. He +put the key of the stable which held my horse in his pocket, and turning +to one of his people he gave orders that my things should be brought +hither from the Hatszeg inn. + +I was soon quite at home with my new friends, a young married couple, +whose _ménage_, though very simple, was thoroughly refined and +agreeable. As it was my first visit to a Hungarian house, I found many +things to interest me. Several of the dishes at table were novelties, +the variety consisting more in the cooking than in the materials; for +instance, we had maize dressed in a dozen different ways. It was +generally eaten as a sort of pudding at breakfast, at which meal there +was also an unfailing dish of water-melons. Of course we had _paprika +handl_ (chicken with red pepper), and _gulyas_, a sort of improved Irish +stew; and gipsy's meat, also very good, besides excellent soups and many +nameless delicacies in the way of sweets. + +All Hungarian men are great smokers, but as a rule the ladies do not +smoke; there are some exceptions, but it is considered "fast" to do so. + +The peasants in the Hatszeg Valley are all Wallacks, and as lazy a set +as can well be imagined; in fact, judging by their homes, they are in a +lower condition than those of the Banat. So much is laziness the normal +state with these people that I think they must regard hard work as a +sort of recreation. Their wants are so limited that there is no +inducement to work for gain. What have they to work for beyond the +necessary quantity of maize, _slivovitz_, and tobacco? Their women make +nearly all the clothes. Wages of course are high--that is the trouble +throughout the country. If the Wallack could be raised out of the moral +swamp of his present existence he might do something, but he must first +feel the need of what civilisation has to offer him. + +The village of Rea, where I was staying, is about the wildest-looking +place one can well imagine in Europe. The habitations of the peasants +are made of reed and straw; the hay-ricks are mere slovenly heaps, +partially thatched; the fences are made up of odds and ends. As for +order, the whole place might have been strewn with the _débris_ of a +whirlwind and not have looked worse. As a natural consequence of all +this slatternly disorder, fire is no uncommon occurrence; and when a +fire begins, it seldom stops till it has licked the whole place clean--a +condition not attainable by any other process. + +Fishing was a very favourite amusement with us, and Herr von B---- +several times organised some pleasant excursions with that object. One +day we went up the Lepusnik, a magnificent trout-stream. + +We drove across the valley, and then followed a narrow gorge near the +village of Klopotiva. The scenery was enchanting, but our fishing was +only moderately successful; for the trout were very much larger than in +the valley nearer home, and they bothered us sadly by carrying away our +lines. + +Some way up the valley we came upon a little colony of gipsies, who were +settled there. Their dwellings were more primitive than the Wallacks +even. The huts are formed of plaited sticks, with mud plastered into the +interstices; this earth in time becomes overgrown with grass, and as the +erection is only some seven feet high, it has very much the appearance +of an exaggerated mound or anthill, and would never suggest a human +habitation. + +A fire was burning in the open, with a tripod to support the iron +pot--just as we see in England in a gipsy's camp; and the people had a +remarkable resemblance in complexion and feature, only that here they +were far less civilised than with us. + +I entered one of the huts, in which by the way I could scarcely stand +upright, and found there a man employed in making a variety of simple +wooden articles for household use. The gipsies are remarkably clever +with their hands; many of these wooden utensils are fashioned very +dexterously, and even display some taste. The gipsy, moreover, is always +the best blacksmith in all the country round; and as for their music, I +have before spoken of the strange power these people possess of stirring +the hearts of their hearers with their pathetic strains. It has often +seemed to me that this marvellous gift of music is, as it were, a +language brought with them in their exile from another and a higher +state of existence. + +That these poor outcasts are capable of noble self-sacrifice, the story +I am about to relate will testify. Not far from this very gipsy +settlement, in a wild romantic glen, is a steep overhanging rock, which +is known throughout the country as the "Gipsy's Rock," and came to be so +called from the following tragical occurrence. It seems that many years +ago--about the middle of the last century, I believe--there was a famine +in the land, and the poor gipsies, poorer than all the rest, were +reduced to great straits. Some of them came to the neighbouring village +and begged hard for food. The selfish people turned them away, or at +least tried to do so; but one poor fellow would not cease his +importunities, and said that his children were literally starving. +"Then," said one of the villagers in a mocking tone, "I will give your +family a side of bacon if you will jump that rock." + +"You hear his promise?" cried the gipsy, appealing to the idle crowd. He +said not another word, but rushing from their midst, clambered up the +rock, and in another instant took the fatal leap! + +I see no reason to discredit the story, generally believed as it is in +the district; and, happily for the honour of human nature, it has many a +parallel, in another way perhaps, but equal in self-sacrifice and +devotion. + +The gipsies in Hungary are supposed to number at least 150,000. The +Czigany, as they are called, made their appearance early in the +fifteenth century, having fled, it is believed, from the cruelty of the +Mongol rulers. They were allowed by King Sigismund to settle in Hungary, +and were called in law the "new peasants." Before the reforms of 1848 +they were in a state of absolute serfdom, and could not legally take +service away from the place where they were born. The case of the gipsy +was the only instance in Hungary, even in the Hungary of the old +_régime_, of absolute serfdom; for oppressive as were the obligations of +the land-holding peasant to his lord, yet the relation between them was +never that of master and slave. As a matter of fact, if the Hungarian +peasant gave up his _session_--that is to say, the land he occupied in +hereditary use--he was free to go wheresoever he pleased, and was not +forced to serve any master. In practice the serf would not readily +relinquish the means of subsistence for himself and family, and +generally preferred the burden, odious though it was, of the _robot_, or +forced labour. This personal liberty, which the Hungarian peasant in the +worst of times has preserved, is deep-rooted in the growth of the +nation, and accounts for their characteristic love of freedom in the +present day. It was this that made the freedom-loving peasant detest the +military conscription imposed by the Austrians in 1849, an innovation +the more obnoxious because enforced with every species of official +brutality. + +The poor Czigany had not been so fortunate as to preserve even the +Hungarian serf's modicum of liberty. Mr Paget mentions that forty years +ago he saw gipsies exposed for sale in the neighbouring province of +Wallachia. + +There are a great many "settled gipsies" in Transylvania. Of course they +are legally free, but they attach themselves peculiarly to the Magyars, +from a profound respect they have for everything that is aristocratic; +and in Transylvania the name Magyar holds almost as a distinctive term +for class as well as race. The gipsies do not assimilate with the +thrifty Saxon, but prefer to be hangers-on at the castle of the +Hungarian noble: they call themselves by his name, and profess to hold +the same faith, be it Catholic or Protestant. Notwithstanding that, the +gipsy has an incurable habit of pilfering here as elsewhere; yet they +can be trusted as messengers and carriers--indeed I do not know what +people would do without them, for they are as good as a general +"parcels-delivery company" any day; and certainly they are ubiquitous, +for never is a door left unlocked but a gipsy will steal in, to your +cost. + +The gipsy is sometimes accused of having a hand in incendiary fires; but +I believe the general testimony is in his favour, and against the +Wallack, whose love of revenge is the ugliest feature in his character. +These people seem to forget the saying that "curses, like chickens, come +home to roost," for they will set fire to places under circumstances +that not unfrequently involve themselves in ruin. + +We were calmly sitting one day at dinner when we heard a great row all +at once; looking out of the window, we saw dense clouds of smoke and +flame not a hundred yards from the house. We rushed out immediately to +render assistance, but without water or engines of any kind it was +difficult to do much. However, Herr von B---- and myself got on the top +of the outhouse that was in flames, and stripped off the wooden tiles, +removing out of the way everything that was likely to feed the fire. +There stood close by a crowd of Wallacks, utterly panic-stricken it +seemed: they did nothing but scream and howl as if possessed. The +building belonged to one of them, but he only screamed louder than the +rest, and was not a bit of use, though he was repeatedly called on to +help. If the wind had set the other way, it would have been just a +chance if the whole village had not been burned down. In this instance +the fire was caused by mere carelessness. + +The number of excursions to be made in the Hatszeg Valley is endless. On +one occasion I took my horse and rode off alone to inspect mines and +mining works in the mountains. While looking over the ironworks at +Kalan, I was told of the existence of some Roman remains in the +neighbourhood, so taking a boy from the works with me to act as guide, I +set off, walking, to examine the spot. He led me into the middle of a +field, not far off the main road; and here I found the remains of a +Roman bath of a very interesting character. + +It was singularly constructed. I must observe first that there was a +protruding mass of rock rising about fifteen feet above the surrounding +ground, and of considerable circumference. In the middle of this there +was a circular excavation ten feet in diameter and ten feet deep. At the +bottom I discovered a spring of tepid mineral water, which flowed away +through a small section cut perpendicularly out of the wall of the great +bath; judging from other incisions in the stone, a wooden slide may have +been used to bay back the water. On the face of the rock I noticed a +Roman inscription, but too much mutilated for me to make anything of it. +An attempt had been evidently made to utilise this mineral water, for in +the field were some primitive wooden bathing-houses, and not far off +there was actually a little inn, but I fear the public had not +encouraged the revival of the Roman bath. + +In poking about after game or minerals, one frequently comes upon +evidence of the former occupation of the country. Speaking of game, the +partridges are not preserved, and they are scarce; of course I was too +early, but in autumn the woodcock-shooting, I understand, is first-rate. +Quails and snipes are also common in the Hatszeg Valley. + +Herr von Adam Buda, or, as one should say in Hungarian, Buda Adam (for +the Christian name always comes last), has devoted much time to the +avifauna of Transylvania. He has a fine collection of stuffed birds at +his residence at Rea, near Hatszeg. These are birds which he has himself +shot, and he is quite the local authority upon the subject. + +I have alluded to the trout-fishing in the district. I went out +frequently, and had generally very fair sport indeed. Mr Danford, in his +paper in 'The Ibis,'[13] in speaking of fishing, says: "Perhaps the best +stream in the country is the Sebes, which joins the Strell near Hatszeg. +The trout are not bad, one to two lbs. in weight; and the +grayling-fishing is really good--almost any number may be taken in +autumn, when weather and water are in good order. The Sil also, near +Petrosèny, is a fine-looking river, and used to be celebrated for its +so-called 'salmon-trout;' but these had quite disappeared when we saw +it, having been blown up with dynamite, a method of fishing very +commonly practised in the country, but now forbidden by law. Indeed +fly-fishing is gaining ground, and English tackle in great demand." + +This practice of the wholesale destruction of fish by the use of +dynamite has not been stopped a moment too soon; and some time must now +elapse in certain waters before they can become properly stocked again. + +It was now time for me to quit the happy valley, and I bade adieu to my +kind friends near Hatszeg. I believe if I had remained to this day, I +should not have outstayed my welcome. I had come to pay a morning visit, +and I stopped on more than a fortnight. + +The Hungarian has a particularly pleasant way of greeting a stranger +under his own roof. He gives you the idea that he has been expecting +you, though in reality your existence and name were unknown to him till +he read the letter or the visiting-card with which you have just +presented him. + +I now sent my portmanteau, &c., on to Herrmannstadt, packed my +saddle-bags to take with me, and once more rode off into the wilds. My +destination this time was Petrosèny. + +[Footnote 13: Vol. v., The Birds of Transylvania.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + On horseback to Petrosèny--A new town--Valuable + coal-fields--Killing fish with dynamite and poison--Singular manner + of repairing roads--Hungarian patriotism--Story of Hunyadi + Janos--Intrusion of the Moslems into Europe. + + +The history of the town of Petrosèny is as short as that of some of the +western cities of America. It began life in 1868, and is now the +terminus of a branch railway. + +Before the wicked days of dynamite, and as long ago as the year 1834, a +fisherman was leisurely catching salmon-trout up the Sil; he had time to +look about him, and he noticed that in many places the rocks had a black +appearance. He broke off some pieces and carried them home, when he +found that they burned like coal; in fact he had discovered a coal mine! +Those were simple-minded days, for instead of running off with these +valuable cinders under his arm, fixing on an influential chairman and a +board of directors for his new company, this good man did nothing but +talk occasionally of the black rock that he had seen when fishing. Many +years elapsed before any advantage was taken of this valuable discovery. +At length a more careful search was made, and it proved that coal +existed there in abundance! In 1867 mining was commenced on a large +scale by the Kronstäder Company. The next year a town was already +growing up in the neighbourhood of the mines, and increased in a most +surprising manner. In 1870 the railway was opened from Petrosèny to +Piski, on the main line from Arad. The growth of the place, however, +received a check in the financial crisis of 1873. + +The town itself is in no way remarkable, being a mere collection of +dwellings for the accommodation of the miners and the employés; but the +scenery in the neighbourhood is simply magnificent. In approaching +Petrosèny the railway rises one foot in forty, no inconsiderable +gradient. + +The coal-fields are partly in the hands of Government, and partly owned +by the before-named Kronstäder Company. Between these separate interests +there is not much accord. The Kronstäders say that Government has not +behaved fairly or openly, but has secured to itself so many "claims" as +to damage considerably the prospects of the private speculators. + +While at Petrosèny, I heard great complaints against the Government for +selling coal at such a low price that they must actually work at a +loss. The Kronstäder Verein say they are prevented in this way from +making their fair profits, as they are obliged to sell down to the +others. It would appear to be a suicidal policy for the pockets of the +tax-payers to be mulcted for the sake of securing a prospective monopoly +and the ruin of a private enterprise. As it stands it is a pretty +quarrel. + +Writing in 1862, Professor Ansted says: "The coal of Hungary is of +almost all geological ages, and though none is first-rate in point of +quality, a large proportion is excellent fuel. The coals most valued at +the present moment in Hungary are those of the _Secondary_ and _not_ of +the _Palæozoic_ period. But the great body of coal is very much newer; +it is _Tertiary_, and till lately was regarded as of comparatively +modern date. In the Ysil Valley there is a splendid deposit of _true_ +coal."[14] Since the time when the above was written the resources of +the Ysil or Sil Valley--viz., Petrosèny--have been abundantly developed, +as we see, and it has been pronounced to be "one of the finest coal +mines in Europe." One of the seams of coal is ninety feet in thickness; +but up to the present time it has been found impossible to make it into +coke. + +The miners at Petrosèny are great offenders in regard to the abominable +practice of killing fish by means of dynamite. It is very well to say +that the law forbids it; but the administrators of the law are not +always a terror to evil-doers, and perhaps the timely present of a dish +of fine trout does not sharpen the energies of the officials. Another +mode of destroying fish is practised by the Wallacks. There grows in +this locality a poisonous plant, of which they make a decoction and +throw it into the river, thereby killing great numbers of fish at a +time. + +While driving round Petrosèny I had an opportunity of seeing the +Hungarian manner of making roads. The peasants have to work on the roads +a certain number of days in the year, and if they possess a pair of +oxen, these must also be brought for a specified time. An inspector is +supposed to watch over them. One afternoon we came upon a score of +peasants, men and women, who were engaged in mending a bridge. Their +proceedings were just an instance of how "not to do a thing." They were +placing trees across the gap, and the interstices they were filling up +with leafy branches, over which was thrown a quantity of loose earth and +stones well patted down to give the appearance of a substantial and even +surface. Of course the first rain would wash away the earth and leave as +nice a hole as you could wish your enemy to put his foot into. For all +purposes of traffic the bridge was safer with the honest gap yawning in +the traveller's face. + +It is said that the magistrates make matters easy and convenient for the +peasants, if the latter, by being let off public work, attend +gratuitously to the more pressing wants of the individual magistrate. + +"You see, nobody suffers but the Government," says the man of easy +conscience, not seeing that, after all, the good condition of the roads +concerns themselves more than the officials in the capital. + +In many things the Hungarians are like children, and they have not yet +grown out of the idea that it is patriotic to be unruly. The fact is, +the Central Government was so long in the hands of the Vienna Cabinet, +who were obnoxious in the highest degree to the Hungarians, that the +latter cannot get the habit of antagonism out of their minds, though the +reconciliation carried through by Deák in 1867 entirely restored +self-government to Hungary. "What do we want with money?" said a +gentleman of the old school. "Money is only useful for paying taxes, and +if we have not got it for that purpose, never mind!" + +On leaving Petrosèny the route I proposed to myself was to take the +bridle-path over the mountains to Herrmannstadt. But in following this +out, I omitted to visit the Castle of Hunyad--a great mistake, for +castles are rare in this part of Europe, and the romantic and singular +position of Schloss Hunyad renders it quite unique in a way. It is +situated, I am told, on a lofty spur of rock, washed on three sides by +two rivers which unite at its base, a draw-bridge connecting the +building with a fortified eminence high above the stream. + +The place is associated with the name of Hungary's greatest hero, John +Hunyadi, who was born near by, and who subsequently built the castle. +The story of his birth, which took place somewhere about 1400, is +romantic enough. His mother was said to be a beautiful Wallack girl +called Elizabeth Marsinai, who was beloved by King Sigismund. When he +left her he gave her his signet ring, which she was to bring to him in +Buda if she gave birth to a son. + +Showing all proper respect to the wishes of its parents, a child of the +"male persuasion" made its appearance in due course of time; and the +joyful mother, accompanied by her brother, set off walking to Buda, with +the small boy and the ring for credentials. When resting by the way in a +forest the child began playing with the ring, and a jackdaw, who in all +ancient story has a weakness for this sort of ornament, pounced upon the +shining jewel and carried it off to a tree. The brother with commendable +quickness took up his bow and shot the bird; thus the ring was +recovered, and the story duly related to the king, who evolved out of +the incident a prophetic omen of the boy's future greatness. His majesty +had the child brought up at the Court, and bestowed upon him the town of +Hunyad and sixty surrounding villages. + +It was in the reign of Sigismund that the Turks first regularly invaded +Hungary; and the young Hunyadi soon distinguished himself by a series of +victories over the Moslems. To him Europe is indebted for the check he +gave the Turks. He forced them to relinquish Servia and Bosnia, and in +his time both provinces were placed under the vassalage of Hungary. We +may go further and say that had Hunyadi's plans for hurling back the +Moslem invaders been seconded by the other Christian powers, we should +not have the Eastern Question upon our hands in this our day. But, alas! +all the solicitations of this great patriot were met with short-sighted +indifference by the Courts of Europe. It is true that the Diet of +Ratisbon, summoned by the Emperor Frederick, voted 10,000 men-at-arms +and 30,000 infantry to assist in repelling the Turks; and it is true +that the Pope in those days was anti-Turkish, and vowed on the Gospels +to use every effort, even to the shedding of his blood, to recover +Constantinople from the infidels. The old chronicles give a curious +account of the monk Capestrano, who, bearing the cross that the Pope had +blessed, traversed Hungary, Transylvania, and Wallachia, to rouse the +people to the danger that threatened them from the intrusion of the +Moslem into Europe. Special church services were instituted; and at noon +the "Turks' bell" was daily sounded in every parish throughout these +border-lands, when prayers were offered up to arrest the progress of the +common enemy of Christendom. + +Hunyadi's son, Matthias Corvinus, rivalled his father as a champion +against the Turks. He was elected King of Hungary, and after reigning +forty-two years, passed away; and the people still say, "King Matthias +is dead, and justice with him." + +[Footnote 14: A Short Trip in Hungary and Transylvania, p. 242.] + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + Hunting for a guide--School statistics--Old times--Over the + mountains to Herrmannstadt--Night in the open--Nearly setting the + forest on fire--Orlat. + + +I found some difficulty while at Petrosèny in getting a guide to convoy +me over the mountains to Orlat, near Herrmannstadt. My Hungarian friend +proposed that, choosing a saint's day, we should ride over to the +neighbouring village of Pétrilla, where I would certainly find some +peasant able and willing amongst the numbers who crowd into the village +on these occasions. + +Accordingly we went over, and I was very pleased I had gone, for the +rural gathering was a very pretty and characteristic sight. The people +from all the country round were collected together in the churchyard, +dressed of course in their bravery, and a very goodly show they made. +They were the finest Wallacks I had seen anywhere; they were superior +looking in physique, and many of them must really have been well off, if +one may judge a man's wealth by the richness of the wife's dress. + +Some of the young girls were very pretty, and wore their silver-coin +decorations with quite a fashionable coquettish air. The Wallack women, +whether walking or standing, never have the spindle out of their hands: +the attitude is very graceful, added to which the thread must be held +daintily in the fingers. They are very industrious, making nearly all +the articles of clothing for the family. + +After a great deal of palavering--I think we must have spoken to every +able-bodied man in the churchyard--I at last induced a young Wallachian +to say he would accompany me. He spoke a little German, which was a +great advantage. I told him to procure himself a good horse, and to take +care that all his arrangements were completed before night, as I wished +to start very early the following morning. + +To this he replied that it would be quite necessary to start early, and +begged to know if five o'clock would be too soon; adding that as I must +pass through Pétrilla, would I meet him at the corner of the churchyard? + +To this I agreed, repeating that we were to meet not a moment later than +five o'clock. My friend and I returned to Petrosèny, and the afternoon +was occupied in making preparations for two days on the mountains. I +supplied myself with a good amount of _slivovitz_, as a medium of +exchange for milk and cheese with the shepherds, who understand this +kind of barter much better than any money transactions. + +The next day, when it came, brought a continuance of good weather, and I +was up betimes, looking forward with pleasure to the mountain ride. I +reached Pétrilla a few minutes after five o'clock; but my man was not at +the churchyard corner, whereupon I rode all round the churchyard, +thinking he might by mistake have pitched on some odd corner, and be out +of sight under the trees. However, I looked in vain--a man on horseback +is not hidden like a lizard between two stones! Verily he was not there. + +I waited half an hour all to no purpose. I now resolved to try and find +out where he lived. I had understood that he belonged to the village. +After a great deal of trouble and bother, and poking of my nose into +various interiors where the families were still _en déshabillé_, I +unearthed my guide. He coolly said that he was waiting for the horse, +which was to be brought to him by some other lazy fellow not yet up. + +I could not speak Wallachian, and he pretended not to understand a word +of my wrathful tirade in German, which was all nonsense, because I +found later that he spoke that language fairly well. I insisted that he +should come with me to find the horse, and so he did at last, in a +dilatory sort of way, and then it turned out that the animal was waiting +at the other end of the village for his rider. + +Well, thought I, we shall start now; but no, there were two to that +bargain. The Wallack calmly informed me that he must return to his hut, +for he had not breakfasted. Not to lose sight of him, I returned too. He +then with Oriental deliberation set about making a fire, and proceeded +to cook his _polenta_ of maize. I had got hungry again by this time, +though I had breakfasted at Petrosèny before starting, so I partook of +some of his mess, which was exceedingly good, much better than oatmeal +porridge. + +In consequence of all these delays it was after eight o'clock before we +really started. The horse which my guide had procured for himself was a +wretched animal--a tantalising object for vultures and +carrion-crows--instead of being a good strong horse, as I had stipulated +he should be; but there was no help for it now, so on we went. + +My companion soon gave me to understand in good German that he was a +superior sort of fellow. He had been to school at Hatszeg, and knew a +thing or two. I have heard it stated that the Wallacks are so quick +that they make great and rapid progress at first, distancing the German +children; but that they seem to stop after a while, and even fall back +into ignorance and their old slovenly ways of life. + +On referring to the statistics of Messrs Keleti and Beöthy, I see that +only eleven per cent of Roumains (Wallacks) attend the primary schools, +and this percentage had not increased between the years 1867 and 1874. +The percentage of the Magyars attending the primary schools is +forty-nine per cent, while the Slavs, again, are twenty-one. + +"The world is only saved by the breath of the school-children," says the +Talmud. A conviction of this truth makes every inquiry into educational +progress extremely interesting. According to M. Keleti's tables, +fifty-three per cent of the males and sixty-two per cent of the females +in Hungary generally are still illiterates. This excludes from the +calculation children under six years of age. On comparing notes, other +countries do not come out so very much better. It is calculated that 30 +per cent of French conscripts are unable to read; moreover, in _our_ +"returns" of marriages in England in 1845, a percentage of forty-one +signed the register with _marks_. In 1874 the number of illiterates was +reduced to twenty-one per cent. + +I elicited a good many interesting facts from my Wallack guide, several +that were confirmatory of the terrible ignorance existing amongst the +priesthood of the Greek Church. The popes do not commend themselves to +the good opinion of the male part of the community, whatever hold they +may have on the superstition of the women. I cannot see myself how +things are to be mended till the position and education of the +priesthood are improved. It is said that, in the old days before '48, +when the peasants had to render forced labour to the lord of the land, +the Transylvanian nobles would have the village pope up to the castle, +and keep him there for a fortnight in a state of intoxication, thus +preventing his giving out the saints' days at the altar on Sunday. This +was done that their own harvest-work should proceed without the +inconvenience of suspending operations at a critical time on _fête_ +days, the people themselves being too ignorant to consult the calendar! + +The Magyar nobles are improved, and do not play these pranks now; but +very little progress, I imagine, has been made on the side of the +priests. Chatting with my Wallack guide helped to beguile the tedious +nature of the ride, an ascent over roughish ground all the way. Arriving +at the summit, we made a noonday halt. + +A fire was soon burning, whereat our dinner of robber-steak was +roasted; but the halt was shorter than usual, for I was anxious to push +on, remembering how much time had been lost at starting. + +We now gained the other side of the mountain-chain, passing the remains +of an old Turkish camp, the outlines of which were quite visible. From +this point there is a magnificent view, interminable forests to the +eastward clothing the deep ravines that score the hillsides. The +accidents of light and shade were particularly happy on this occasion, +bringing out various details in the picture in a very striking manner. +As a general rule, there is no time so unpropitious for scenic effect as +noonday. + +We passed from the grassy Alpen down into the thick of the forest, +losing very soon any glimpse of the distant view, or any help from +conspicuous landmarks. It was a labyrinth of trees, with tracks crossing +each other in a most perplexing manner. I could not have got on without +a guide. + +When the evening approached I thought it was time to look out for +quarters for the night. Our first necessity was water, but we went on +and on without coming upon a stream. It was provoking, for we had passed +so many springs and rivulets earlier in the day, and now darkness +threatened to wrap us round with the mantle of night before we had +arranged our bivouac. When the sun sets in the East, it is like turning +off the gas; you are left in darkness suddenly, without any intervening +twilight. As a fact one knows this perfectly well; but habit is stronger +than reason, and day after day I went on being perplexed, and often +unready for the "early-closing" system. + +"Water we must have," said I to the Wallack. "Let us strike off from the +direct route and follow the lead of this valley, we shall find water in +the bottom for a certainty." + +We hurried forward, leading our horses through the thick undercover, +always diving deeper into the ravine. At length I discovered a trickling +amongst the stones, and a little farther on we came upon a grassy spot +beneath some enormous pine-trees. It was an ideal place for a bivouac! + +When the horses had been carefully picketed, we proceeded to make a fire +and cook our supper, which consisted of gipsy-meat and tea. + +The meal finished to my perfect satisfaction, (how good everything +tastes under such circumstances!) I then stretched myself on a sloping +bank overspread by a thick covering of dry _needle-wood_, as the Germans +call the leaves of the fir-tree. How soft and clean it felt, and how +sweet the aromatic perfume that pervaded the whole place! Lighting my +pipe, I gave myself up to the perfect enjoyment of repose amidst this +romantic scene. The Wallack, covered by his fur _bunda_, was already +asleep, and save the bubbling of the water in the little stream, and the +crackling of the fire, there was absolutely not a sound or a breath. +Through the tasselled pine branches, festooned with streamers of grey +moss, I could see the stars shining in the blue depths of ether. One can +realise in these regions the intense _depth_ of the heavens when seen at +night; we never get the same effect in our "weeping skies." + +Before wrapping my plaid round me for the night, I threw some fresh wood +on the fire, which, crushing down upon the hot embers, sent up a +scintillating shower of sparks that ran a mad race in and out of the +greenery. I saw that the horses were all right, I put my gun handy, and +then I gave myself up to sleep. + +I do not know how long I had slept, but I was conscious of being +bothered, and could not rouse myself at once. I dreamed that a bear was +sniffing at me, but instead of being the least surprised or frightened, +I said to myself in my dream, as if it was quite a common occurrence, +"That's the bear again, he always comes when I am asleep." The next +moment, however, I was very effectually awakened by a tug that half +lifted me off the ground. I must mention that I had tied my horse's +halter to my waist-belt in case of any alarm in the night, for I sleep +so soundly always that no ordinary noise or movement ever wakes me. I +sprang up of course, calling the Wallack at the same time. Something had +frightened the horses, and they had attempted to bolt. We found them +trembling from head to foot, but we could not discover the cause of +their fright. I fired off my revolver twice; the Wallack in the meantime +had lighted a bundle of resinous fir branches as a torch. He had +carefully arranged it before he slept; it is a capital thing, as it +gives a good light on an emergency. + +After making an examination of the place all round, and finding nothing, +we made up a bright fire, and again laid ourselves down to rest. I had +my saddle for a pillow, and it was not half bad. Before giving myself +over to sleep I listened and listened again, but I heard nothing except +the hooting of the owls answering each other in the distance. The night +had grown very cold, and a heavy dew was falling, but notwithstanding +these discomforts I had another good nap. + +Next morning, after a hearty breakfast, we were off early. Instead of +going uphill again to recover our former route, we followed the stream, +which gradually increased in size, and we came at last to a place where +a dam had been thrown across the valley with the object of floating the +wood cut in the forest. This small lake was very pretty; the water was +as clear as crystal. Farther on we came upon another dam of larger +dimensions; but though it had evidently been quite recently constructed, +there was no one about, and no signs of wood-cutting. Here we began to +ascend again, and about mid-day got to a place called La Durs, a +customhouse for cattle coming from Roumania; it is not absolutely on the +frontier, but very near it. I heard later that this district has a bad +reputation for smugglers and robbers, the latter being on the increase, +it is said; always the same story of unrepressed lawlessness on the +frontier. + +We made no stay at the customhouse, but rode on a couple of miles +farther, where, coming upon a nice spring, we dined. Not a single +shepherd had we met, so there had been no chance of bartering for milk; +it was not surprising, because our track had been almost entirely in the +forests, and of course the shepherds are higher up on the Alpen. At this +last halting-place we nearly set the forest on fire. The grass was very +dry all round, and before I was aware of it, the fire ran along the +ground and caught the trees. It blazed up in an inconceivably short +time. I rushed up directly, to cut off what branches I could with my +bowie-knife; but though calling loudly to the Wallack to assist me, he +never concerned himself in the least. This exasperated me beyond +measure, seeing what mischief was likely to accrue from the +misadventure. Luckily a man came up, riding on one horse and leading +another, and he readily gave me a helping hand, and between us we put +out the fire. The Wallack never raised a finger! + +Getting into conversation with the new-comer, I found that he was going +to Orlat, whereupon I arranged to go on with him. Accordingly I paid my +guide, and was not sorry to have done with him, he had so disgusted me +about the fire, and I was especially glad to get quit of his wretched +horse, which had greatly retarded our progress. I transferred my +saddle-bags to the spare horse, and we got on much faster, reaching +Orlat by sunset. + +Before descending into the plain we had a magnificent view. +Herrmannstadt seemed almost at our feet, though in reality it was still +a long way off; the Fogaraser Mountains stretching away towards +Kronstadt, appeared in all their picturesque irregularity, and along the +plain at their base were scattered the villages of the Saxonland, each +with its fortress-church, a relic of the old time, when the brave +burghers had to hold their own against Turk and Tartar. + +At Orlat I found a small inn, but they had no travellers' room in it; +however some of the family were good enough to turn out, and I was very +glad to turn in, and that rather early. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + Herrmannstadt--Saxon immigrants--Museum--Places of interest in the + neighbourhood--The fortress-churches--Heltau--The Rothen Thurm + Pass--Turkish incursions. + + +The following morning a ride of ten miles brought me to Herrmannstadt. +Here I put up at the Hotel Neurikrer, a comfortable house; it was a new +sensation getting into the land of inns. The fact is, the Saxons are not +indifferent to the existence of inns; it relieves them of the necessity +of hospitality. The Hungarian will take the wheels off his guest's +carriage and hide them to prevent his departure, whereas the Saxon would +be more inclined to speed the parting guest with amiable alacrity. There +is an old-world look about Herrmannstadt that gives one the sensation of +being landed in another age; it is a case of Rip Van Winkle, only +"t'other way round," as the saying is: one has awakened from the sleep +in the hills to walk down into a mediæval town, finding the speech and +fashions of old Germany--Luther's Germany! + +The Saxon immigrants in Hungary number nearly two millions. The greater +proportion of these is found in Transylvania; the rest, some forty +thousand, have a compact colony under the shadow of the Tatra Mountains, +in the north of Hungary, called from time immemorable the "Free +District." But it was to the slopes of the Southern Carpathians, to the +"land beyond the forest," where the first Saxons came and settled. It is +still called "Altland," being the oldest of their possessions in +Hungary. In fact this appellation of the "Oldland" belongs, strictly +speaking, to the Herrmannstadt district. Formerly no Hungarian was +allowed to settle in the town, so jealous were the burghers of their +privileges. I believe the earliest date of the Saxon immigration is +1143. The country had been wasted by the incursions of the Tartars, and +in consequence the Servian Princess Helena, widow of the blind King Bela +of Hungary, invited them hither during the minority of her son, Geysa +II. They appear to have come from Flanders, and from the neighbourhood +of Cologne. They were tempted to this strange land by certain privileges +and special rights secured to them by the rulers of Hungary, and +faithfully preserved through many difficulties; as a fact the Saxons of +Transylvania retained their self-government down to the middle of this +century. + +These people have played no unimportant part in European history; for +Herrmannstadt and Kronstadt, the sister towns of Saxon Transylvania, +were called the bulwarks of Christianity all through the evil days of +Moslem invasion. Herrmannstadt was called by the Turks the "Red Town" on +account of the colour of its brick walls. It was besieged in 1438 with a +force of 70,000 men headed by the Sultan Amurad himself, and great were +the rejoicings amongst the brave burghers when it became known that an +arrow directed from one of the towers had rid them of their foe! Trade +and commerce must have prospered, by all accounts, in those days; and +the burghers made themselves of importance, for King Andrew II., a man +far in advance of his time, summoned them to assist in consultation at +the Imperial Parliament. The wealth of Herrmannstadt is a thing of the +past; the place has now the appearance of a dead level of competence, +where riches and poverty are equally absent. There were no new houses +building to supply an increasing population, nor, I should say, had any +been built for many years. + +The town is prettily situated on a slight elevation above the +surrounding plain; it has the fine range of the Fogaraser Mountains as a +background. The old moat, where Amurad fell pierced by the well-directed +arrow, has been turned into a promenade; parts of the fortifications +remain in a state of picturesque ruin. Herrmannstadt is the seat of the +Protestant Bishop of Transylvania, and there is a fine old church, +which, however, has suffered severely in the process of restoration. + +The interior of the church is in that unhappy condition which bespeaks +the churchwarden's period--whitewash plastered over everything, +obliterating lights and shades and rare carvings beneath a glare of +uncouth cleanliness. In their desire to remove every object that could +harbour dust or obstruct the besom of reform, they have bodily removed +from the church many rich monuments and interesting effigies, and these +are to be seen huddled away in an obscure corner of the churchyard. The +church has a large collection of richly-embroidered vestments belonging +to the pre-Reformation days. + +Herrmannstadt is decidedly rich in collections. The Bruckenthal Library +contains an illuminated missal of great beauty; the execution is +singularly fine, and the designs very artistic. The curious thing is +that the history of this rare volume is unknown; by some it is believed +to have come from Bohemia during the time of the troubles in that +country, however nothing is positively known. The book is of the finest +vellum, containing 630 pages in small quarto. The pictures of +architecture and scenery are extremely interesting; the first represent +buildings familiar to us in old German towns, and the rural scenes +depict a variety of agricultural instruments, together with many details +of home life in the olden time. The colours of the birds and flowers are +as bright as if only finished yesterday. The ingenuity of the design is +very striking; no two objects are alike. It would have taken hours to +have looked over the volume thoroughly. + +In the palace, of which the museum forms a part, there is a gallery of +pictures, collected by the Baron Bruckenthal, formerly governor of +Transylvania. The history of these pictures is very curious, they were +mostly purchased from French refugees at the time of the first +revolution. It appears that both at that period, and at the revocation +of the Edict of Nantes, many French families had sought an asylum in +Hungary and Transylvania. In the Banat I am told there are two or three +villages inhabited entirely by people who came originally from France; +they retain only their Gallic names, having adopted the Magyar tongue +and utterly lost their own. This little colony of the Banat belonged of +course to the Huguenot exodus. I had now an opportunity of examining a +collection of the Roman antiquities obtained from the Hatszeg Valley. + +I remained several days at Herrmannstadt, principally for the sake of +resting my horse, which unfortunately had been rubbed by the saddle-bags +on my ride from Petrosèny. I spent the time agreeably enough, exploring +the neighbourhood and making chance acquaintances. I bought here Bishop +Teusch's 'History of Transylvanian Saxons,' a handy-book in two volumes. +It interested me very much, especially reading it in the country itself +where so many stirring scenes had been enacted. + +Wishing to see some of the neighbouring villages, I set off one fine day +on a walking expedition. I chose Sunday, because on that day one can see +to best advantage the costume of the peasants. Hammersdorf is a pretty +enough village, "fair with orchard lawns," but not so charming as +Heltau, which, standing on high ground, commands an extensive view of +the whole plain, with the old "Red Town" in the foreground of the +picture. The church in this village is a very fine specimen of the +fortified churches, which are a unique feature of the Transylvanian +border-land. The origin of this form of architecture is very obvious; it +was necessary to have a defence against the incursions of the Tartars +and Turks, who for centuries troubled the peace of this fair land. In +every village of the Saxons in the south and east of Transylvania the +church is also a fortified place, fitted to maintain a siege if +necessary. The construction of these buildings varies according to +circumstances: the general character is that the sacred edifice is +surrounded, or forms part of a strong wall with its watch-towers; not +unfrequently a second and even a third wall surround the place. In every +case a considerable space of ground is enclosed around the church, +sufficient to provide accommodation for the villagers; in fact every +family with a house outside had a corresponding hut within the fortified +walls. Here, too, was a granary, and some of the larger places had also +their school-tower attached to the church. It happened not unfrequently +that the villagers were obliged to remain for some weeks in their +sanctuary. + +Heltau is an industrious little place. Here is manufactured the peculiar +white frieze so much worn by the Wallacks. Nearly every house has its +loom, but I was told the trade is less flourishing than formerly. The +woollen-cloth manufacturers of Transylvania have suffered very much from +the introduction of foreign goods; but, on the other hand, if they would +bestir themselves they might enormously increase their exports. Heltau +is a market-place, and reserves many old privileges very jealously. Its +inhabitants were often in dispute with the burghers of Herrmannstadt, +and on one occasion they had the audacity, in rebuilding their +church-tower, to place four turrets upon it. Their neighbours regarded +this with great indignation, for are not four turrets the sign and +symbol of _civic_ authority? The burghers of Herrmannstadt hereupon +obliged the men of Heltau to sign a bond, saying that "they were but +humble villagers," and promising to treat their haughty neighbours with +all due "honour, fear, and friendship." + +From Heltau I went on to Michaelsburg, an extremely curious place. In +the centre of a lovely valley rises a conical rock of gneiss, protruding +to the height of 200 feet or more. This is crowned by the ruins of a +Romanesque church. There are, I believe, only two other specimens of +this kind of architecture in the country. The time of the building of +Michaelsburg is stated to be between 1173 and 1223. Before the use of +artillery this fortified church on the rock must have been really +impregnable. Inside the walls I found a quantity of large round +stones--the shot and shell of those days; these stones were capable of +making considerable havoc amongst a besieging party I should say. The +custom was in the old time that no young man should be allowed to take +unto himself a wife till he had carried one such stone from the bed of +the river where they are found, to the summit of the rock within the +church walls. As these stones weigh between two and three hundredweight, +and the ascent is very steep, it was a test of strength. The villagers +were anxious to prevent the weaklings from marrying lest they should +spoil the hardy race. + +The view from the village itself is very pretty, home-like, and with a +more familiar look about the vegetation than I had seen elsewhere. There +were orchards of cherry-trees, and hedges, as in our west country, +festooned with wild hops and dog-roses. Every girl I met was busily +engaged plaiting straw as she walked. This straw is for hats of a +particular kind for which the place is famed. Besides this industry, the +people are great bee-keepers, and make a good trade by selling the +honey. The produce of the hives in the Southern Carpathians is the very +poetry of honey; it is perfectly delicious, not surpassed by that of +Hymettus or Hybla, so famed in ancient story. This "mountain honey" +sometimes reaches the London market, but, unfortunately, not with any +regularity. It is most difficult to make these people practical in their +trade dealings; and as for _time_, they must have come into the world +before it was talked about. + +I made a short excursion into the Rothen Thurm Pass, the principal road +across the Southern Carpathians, if we except the Tomöscher Pass from +Kronstadt, which, owing to local circumstances, has become more +important. The Rothen Thurm or Red Tower Pass is extremely picturesque. +It is traversed by the Aluta, which though rising in the Szeklerland in +the north-east, finds its way through the Carpathian range, flowing at +length into the Lower Danube. The red tower stands at the narrowest part +of the defile, an important position of defence; and not far from this +spot signal victory was gained by the Christians over the infidels. In +the year 1493 the Turks made one of their frequent raids into +Transylvania. They had succeeded in collecting a vast amount of booty, +including many fair young maidens and tender youths, and were returning +in long cavalcade through the Red Tower Pass. Here, however, they fell +into an ambuscade arranged by the men of Herrmannstadt, headed by their +burgomaster, the brave George Hecht. At a concerted signal the Saxons +rushed upon the despoilers with such a fierce and sudden onslaught, that +though the Turks far exceeded them in number, they were completely +overpowered. Many a turbaned corpse lay that day on the green margin of +the classical Aluta, and few, very few, of the hated Turks, it is said, +escaped over the frontier to tell the tale of their disaster. How many a +home must have been gladdened by the sight of the rescued children after +that happy victory! + +These abductions are not altogether a thing of the past. In the autumn +of 1875, the very date of my tour, a paragraph appeared in a Pest +newspaper stating that a young girl of great beauty in the neighbourhood +of Temesvar, in the Banat of Hungary, had been secretly carried off into +Turkey without the knowledge or consent of her parents. It was further +stated that these scandalous proceedings were of very frequent +occurrence in the border provinces. For some years past the supply of +beautiful Circassians has been deficient, it is said, so doubtless the +harems of Constantinople are supplied with Christian maidens to make up +the numbers. The late Sultan--I mean the one who committed suicide--was +considered a moderate man, and he had eight hundred women in his harem, +at least so a relative of mine was credibly informed at Constantinople. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + Magyar intolerance of the German--Patriotic revival of the Magyar + language--Ride from Herrmannstadt to Kronstadt--The village of + Zeiden--Curious scene in church--Reformation in + Transylvania--Political bitterness between Saxons and Magyars in + 1848. + + +My horse being all right again, I thought it high time to push on to +Kronstadt, which is nearly ninety miles from Herrmannstadt by road. +There is railway communication, but not direct; you have to get on the +main line at the junction of Klein Köpisch--in Hungarian, Kis Kapus--and +hence to Kronstadt, called Brasso by the non-Germans. This confusion of +names is very difficult for a foreigner when consulting the railway +tables. I have often seen the names of stations put up in three +languages. Herrmannstadt is Nagy Szeben. The confusion of tongues in +Hungary is one of the greatest stumbling-blocks to progress; and +unfortunately it is considered patriotic by the Magyar to speak his own +language and ignore that of his neighbour. + +It happened to me once that I entered an inn in a Hungarian town, and +addressing the waiter, I gave my orders in German, whereupon an elderly +gentleman turned sharply upon me, saying--also in German, observe--"It +is the custom to speak Hungarian here." + +"I am not acquainted with the language, sir," I replied. "German is not +to be spoken here--Hungarian or nothing," he retorted. I simply turned +on my heel with a gesture of impatience. It was rather too much for any +old fellow, however venerable and patriotic, to condemn me to silence +and starvation because I could not speak the national lingo, so in the +irritation of the moment I rapped out an English expletive, meant as an +aside. Enough! No sooner did the testy old gentleman hear the familiar +sound, invariably associated with the travelling Britisher in old days, +than he turned to me with the utmost urbanity, saying in French, "Pardon +a thousand times, I thought you were a German from the fluency of your +speech; I had no idea you were an Englishman. Why did you not tell me at +once? What orders shall I give for you? How can I help you?" It ended in +our dining together and becoming the best friends; in fact he invited me +to spend a week with him at his château in the neighbourhood. In the +course of conversation I could not help asking him why, as he spoke +German himself and the people in the inn also understood it--in fact I +am not sure but what it was their mother-tongue--why he would not allow +the language to be spoken? + +"We are Hungarians here," he replied, going off into testiness again, +"and we do not want that cursed German spoken on all sides. I, for one, +will move heaven and earth to get my own language used in my own +country. Ha, ha! the Austrians wanted us to have their officials +everywhere on the railway. We have put a stop to that; now every +man-jack of them must speak Hungarian. It gave an immensity of trouble, +and they did not like it at all, I can tell you." + +I did not attempt to argue with the old gentleman, for his views were +inextricably mixed up with feelings and patriotism. + +As a matter of fact, in the early part of this century the Magyar +language was hardly spoken by the upper classes except in communicating +with their inferiors; but when the patriotic Count Stephen Széchenyi +first roused his fellow-countrymen to nobler impulses and more +enlightened views, he held forth the restoration of the national +language as the first necessity of their position. In his time it meant +breaking down the barrier which separated classes. He was the first in +the Chamber of Magnates who spoke in the tongue understood by the +people; hitherto Latin had been the language of the Chambers. With the +exception of a group of poets--Varósmazty, Petoefy, Kolcsey, and the +brothers Kisfaludy--there were hardly any writers who employed their +native language in literature or science. Count Széchenyi set the +fashion, he wrote his political works in Hungarian, and what was more, +assisted in establishing a national theatre. + +There is perhaps no place where Shakespeare is so often given as at the +Hungarian theatre at Buda-Pest, and it is said by competent judges that +their translation of our great poet is unequalled in any language, +German not excepted. + +To a foreigner the Hungarian tongue appears very difficult, because of +its isolated character and its striking difference from any other +European language. In Cox's 'Travels in Sweden,' published in the last +century, he mentions that Sainovits, a learned Jesuit, a native of +Hungary, who had gone to Lapland to observe the transit of Venus in +1775, remarked that the Hungarian and Lapland idioms were the same; and +he further stated that many words were identical. As a Turanian +language, Hungarian has also an alliance with the Turkish as well as the +Finnish; but there are only six and a half millions of Magyars who speak +the language, and by no possibility can it be adopted by any other +peoples. + +For their men of letters it is an undeniable misfortune to have so +restricted a public; a translated work is never quite the same. The +question of language must also limit the choice of professors in the +higher schools and at the university. But political grievances are mixed +up with the language question, and of those I will not speak now, while +I am still in Saxonland, where they do not love the Magyar or anything +belonging to him. + +Returning to the itinerary of my route, I left Herrmannstadt very early +one morning, getting to Fogaras by four o'clock; it was about +forty-seven miles of good road. This little town is celebrated for the +cultivation of tobacco. There is a large inn here, which looked +promising from the outside, but that was all; it had no _inside_ to +speak of--no food, no stable-boy, nothing. After foraging about I got +something to eat with great difficulty, and feeling much disgusted with +my quarters, I sallied forth to find the clergyman of the place, to whom +I introduced myself. + +I spent the evening at his house, and found him a very jolly old fellow; +he entertained me with a variety of good stories, some of them relating +to the tobacco-smuggling. The peasants are allowed to grow the precious +weed on condition that they sell it all to the State at a fixed rate. +Naturally, if they otherwise disposed of it, they would be able to make +a much larger profit, as it is a monopoly of the State. They have a +peculiar way of mystifying the exciseman as to the number of leaves on a +string, for this is the regulation way of reckoning; besides which, +wholesale smuggling goes on at times, and waggon-loads are got away. +Occasionally there is a fight between the officials and the peasants. + +I had intended getting on to Kronstadt the next day, but I stopped at +the Saxon village of Zeiden. The clergyman, on hearing that there was a +stranger in the place, hastened to the inn, where he found me calmly +discussing my mid-day meal. He would not hear of my going on to +Kronstadt, but kindly invited me to be his guest. I heard a great deal +later of his unvarying hospitality to strangers. + +The next day being Sunday, of course I went to church with my host. The +congregation, including their pastor, wore the costume of the middle +ages; it was a most curious and interesting sight. I am never a good +hand at describing the details of dress, but I know my impression was +that the pastor--wearing a ruff, I think, or something like it--might +just have walked out of a picture, such as one knows so well of the old +Puritans in Cromwell's time. The dress of the peasants, though unlike +the English fashion of any period, had an old-world look. The married +women wore white kerchiefs twisted round the head, sleeveless jackets, +with a mystery of lace adornments. The marriageable girls sat together +in one part of the church, which I thought very funny; they wore +drum-shaped hats poised on the head in a droll sort of way. Some of them +had a kind of white leather pelisse beautifully wrought with embroidery. +Each girl carried a large bouquet of flowers. These blue-eyed German +maidens were many of them very pretty, and all were fresh looking and +exquisitely neat. It was an impressive moment when the whole +congregation joined in singing-- + + _"Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott;"_ + +"the Marseillaise of the Reformation," as Heine calls Luther's hymn, +"that defiant strain that up to our time has preserved its inspiring +power." + +The Reformation spread with wonderful rapidity throughout the length and +breadth of Hungary, more especially in Transylvania. It appears that the +merchants of Herrmannstadt, who were in the habit of attending the great +fair at Leipsic, brought back Luther's writings, which had the effect of +setting fire to men's minds. At one time more than half Hungary had +declared for the new doctrines, but terrible persecutions thinned their +ranks. According to the latest statistics there are 1,109,154 Lutherans +and 2,024,332 Calvinists in Hungary. The Saxons of Transylvania belong +almost exclusively to the Reformed faith; they had always preserved in a +remarkable degree their love for civil and political freedom, hence +their minds were prepared to receive Protestantism. Three monks from +Silesia, converts to Luther's views, came into these parts to preach, +passing from one village to another, and in the towns they "held +catechisings and preachings in the public squares and market-places," +where crowds came from all the country round to hear them. The peasants +went back to their mountain homes with Bibles in their hands; and since +that time the simple folk, through wars and persecutions, have held +steadfast to their faith. + +Herrmannstadt became a second Wittenberg: the new doctrine was not more +powerful in the town where Luther lived. Several bishops joined the +party of the seceders, and already the towns throughout Hungary had +generally declared for the Reformation; in many the "Catholic priests +were left, as shepherds without flocks."[15] When Popish ceremonies +aroused the ridicule of the people, and when even in country districts +the priests who came to demand their tithes were dismissed without their +"fat ducks and geese," there was a general outcry against the new +heresy. The Romish party knew their strength at the Court of Vienna. At +the instigation of the Papal legate Cajetan, Louis II. issued the +terrible edict of 1523, which ran as follows: "All Lutherans, and those +who favour them, as well as all adherents to their sect, shall have +their property confiscated and themselves be punished with death as +heretics and foes of the most holy Virgin Mary." + +While the monks were stirring up their partisans to have the Lutherans +put to death, a national misfortune happened which saved Protestantism, +at least in Transylvania. Soliman the Magnificent set out from +Constantinople in the spring of 1526 with a mighty host, which came +nearer and nearer to Hungary like the "wasting levin." King Louis lost +his army and his life at the battle of Mohacks, leaving the Turks to +pursue their way into the heart of the country, slaughtering upwards of +200,000 of its inhabitants. To this calamity, as we all know, succeeded +an internal civil war, resulting from the rival claims of John Zapolya +and the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria for the crown of Hungary. +Transylvania took advantage of this critical time to achieve her +independence under Zapolya, consenting to pay tribute to the Porte on +condition of _receiving assistance against the tyranny of Austria_. Thus +it came about that the infidel Turks helped to preserve the Reformation +in this part of Europe: they became the defenders of Protestant +Transylvania against the tyranny of Roman Catholic Austria. "Sell what +thou hast and depart into Transylvania, where thou wilt have liberty to +profess the truth," were the words spoken by King Ferdinand himself to +Stephen Szantai, a zealous preacher of the gospel in Upper Hungary, whom +he desired to defend. + +It is said that the first printing-press set up in Hungary was the gift +of Count Nadasdy to Matthias Devay, who was devoted to the education of +youth; and the first work that was issued from the press was a book for +children, teaching the rudiments of the gospel in the language of the +country. The same Protestant nobleman aided the publication in 1541 of +an edition of the New Testament in the Magyar tongue. "It is a +remarkable fact," says Mr Patterson,[16] "connected with the history of +Protestantism, that all its converts were made within the pale of +_Latin_ Christianity. In the nationalities of Hungary there belonged to +Latin Christianity the Magyars, the Slovacks, and the Germans." + +In Transylvania the progress of Protestantism was secured. In 1553 the +Diet declared in favour of the Reformation by a majority of votes, and +while the province was governed by Petrovich, during the minority of +Zapolya's infant son, he freed the whole of Transylvania from the +jurisdiction of the Roman hierarchy. + +When the Turks were finally expelled from Hungary by the second battle +of Mohacks in 1686, Protestantism had grown strong enough in +Transylvania to extract from the house of Hapsburg the celebrated +_Diploma Leopoldium_ (their Magna Charta), which secured to them +religious liberty once and for ever. + +[Footnote 15: See The History of Protestantism, by Rev. J.A. Wylie, Part +29.] + +[Footnote 16: The Magyars; their Country and Institutions.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + Political difficulties--Impatient criticism of foreigners--Hungary + has everything to do--Tenant-farmers wanted--Wages. + + +It is remarkable that the Saxons in Transylvania, who had suffered so +much tribulation from the religious persecutions of the house of +Hapsburg, preferring even to shelter themselves under the protection of +the Turk, should be the first to support the tyranny of Austria against +the Magyars in 1848. + +I visited at the house of a village pastor, who told me he had himself +led four hundred Saxons against the Hungarians at that time. The +remembrance of that era is not yet effaced; so many people not much +beyond middle age had taken part in the war that the bitterness has not +passed out of the personal stage. Pacification and reconciliation, and +all the Christian virtues, have been evoked; but underlying the calm +surface, all the old hatreds of race still exist. Nothing assimilates +socially or politically in Hungary. The troubled history of the past +reappears in the political difficulty of the present. And what can be +done when the Magyar will not hold with the Saxon, and the Saxon cannot +away with the Szekler? Are not the ever-increasing Wallacks getting +numerically ahead of the rest, while the Southern Slavs threaten the +integrity of the empire? + +Prosperity is the best solvent for disaffection. When the resources of +Hungary are properly developed, and wealth results to the many, bringing +education and general enlightenment in its train, there will be a common +ground of interest, even amongst those who differ in race, religion, and +language. It was a saying of the patriotic Count Széchenyi, and the +saying has passed into a proverb, "Make money, and enrich the country; +an empty sack will topple over, but if you fill it, it will stand by its +own weight." + +"You call yourselves 'the English of the East,'" I said one day to a +Hungarian friend of mine; "but how is it you are not more practical, +since you pay us the compliment of following our lead in many things?" + +"You do not see that in many respects we are children, the Hungarians +are children," replied my friend. "'We are not, but we shall be,' said +one of our patriots. You Britishers are rash in your impatient +criticism of a state which has not come to its full growth. It is hardly +thirty years since we emerged from the middle ages, so to speak; and you +expect our civilisation to have the well-worn polish of Western States. +Think how recently we have emancipated our serfs, and reformed our +constitution and our laws. Take into account, too, that just as we were +setting our house in order, the enemy was at the gate--progress was +arrested, and our national life paralysed; but let that pass, we don't +want to look back, we want to look forward. We have still to build up +the structure that with you is finished; we are deficient in everything +that a state wants in these days, and in our haste to make railways, +roads, and bridges, to erect public buildings, and to promote industrial +enterprises, we make certain financial blunders. You must not forget +that we in Hungary are much in the same state that you were in England +in the thirteenth century, before tenant-holdings had become general. We +shall gradually learn to see the advantages to be derived from letting +land on your farm system. There is nothing we desire so much as the +creation of the tenant-farmer class, which hardly exists yet. Large +estates would be far better divided and let as farms on your system. We +are in a transition state as regards many things in agricultural +matters. English or Scotch farmers would be welcomed over here by the +great landowners. Your countryman, Professor Wrightson, convinced +himself of this when he was here in 1873. If they could command some +capital, the produce of the land in many instances could be doubled." + +I asked my friend about labourers' wages, but he said it was difficult +to give any fixed rate. A mere agricultural day-labourer would get from +1s. 3d. to 1s. 6d.; sometimes the evil practice of paying wages in kind +obtained--viz., a man receives so much Indian corn (_kukoricz_). And not +unfrequently a peasant undertakes to plough the fields twice, to hoe +them three times, and to see the crop housed, for which he receives the +half of the yield provided he has furnished the seed. The peasants' own +lands, as a rule, are very badly managed; their ploughing is shallow, +and they do nothing or next to nothing in the way of drainage. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + Want of progress amongst the Saxons--The + Burzenland--Kronstadt--Mixed character of its + inhabitants--Szeklers--General Bem's campaign. + +It was a glorious morning when I left the comfortable village of Zeiden. +Before me were the rich pastures of the Burzenland, a tract which +tradition says was once filled up by the waters of a great lake, till +some Saxon hero hewed a passage through the mountains in the Geisterwald +for the river Aluta, thus draining this fertile region. + +The mountainous wall to the rear of Zeiden is clothed by magnificent +hanging woods, which at the time I describe were just tinged with the +first rich touches of autumn. It was a lovely ride through this fertile +vale. On every side I saw myself surrounded by the lofty Carpathians, or +the lesser spurs of that grand range of mountains; the higher peaks to +the south and south-east were already capped with snow. The village in +which I had so agreeably sojourned for a couple of days almost rises to +the dignity of a little town, for it has nearly 4000 inhabitants. +Considering its situation, on the verge of this rich plain, and many +other local circumstances, it is, I suppose, a very favourable example +of a German settlement in Transylvania. I had been struck by the extreme +neatness of the dwellings and the generally well-to-do air of the +people, but there is nothing progressive about these Saxons. I saw +plainly that what their fathers did before them they do themselves, and +expect their sons to follow in the same groove. There is amongst them +generally a dead level of content incomprehensible to a restless +Englishman. + +When I asked why they did not try to turn this or that natural advantage +to account, I was met with the reply, "Our fathers have done very well +without it, why should not we?" I could never discover any inclination +amongst the Saxons to initiate any fresh commercial enterprise either at +home or abroad, nor would they respond with any interest to the most +tempting suggestions as to ways and means of increasing their +possessions. It is all very well to draw the moral picture of a +contented people. Contentment under some circumstances is the first +stage of rottenness. The inevitable law of change works the +deterioration of a race which does not progress. This fact admits of +practical proof here. For instance, the cloth manufactures of +Transylvania are falling into decay, and there is nothing else of an +industrial kind substituted. The result is a decrease of the general +prosperity, and a marked diminution in the population of the towns. Nor +is this the case in populous places only. The Saxon villager desires to +transmit the small estate he derived from his father intact to his +_only_ son. He does not desire a large family; it would tax his energies +too much to provide for that. It is deeply to be lamented that a +superior race like the educated Saxons of Transylvania, who held their +own so bravely against Turk and Tartar, and, what was more difficult +still, preserved their religious liberty in spite of Austrian Jesuits, +should _now_ be losing their political ascendancy, owing mainly to their +displacement by the Wallacks. According to the last census, the German +immigrants in Hungary are estimated at 1,820,922. I have no means of +making an accurate comparison, but I hear on all hands that the numbers +are diminished. There are, besides, proofs of it in the case of villages +which were exclusively Saxon having now become partly, even wholly, +Wallachian. + +There are wonderfully few châteaux in this picturesque land. In my +frequent rides over the Burzenland I rarely saw any dwellings above what +we should attribute to a yeoman farmer. As a matter of fact there are +fewer aristocrats in this part of Hungary, or perhaps I should say this +part of Transylvania, than in any other. + +After my pleasant morning's ride I found myself at Kronstadt, and put up +at Hotel "No. 1"--an odd name for a fairly good inn. There is another +farther in town--the Hotel Bucharest--also a place of some pretension. +The charges for rooms generally in the country are out of all proportion +to the accommodation given. Travellers are rare, at least they used to +be before the present war; but Kronstadt is the terminus of the direct +railway from Buda-Pest, which, communicating with the Tomöscher Pass +over the Carpathians, is the shortest route to Bucharest. + +As far as the buildings are concerned, Kronstadt has much the air of an +old-fashioned German town. As you pass along the streets you get a peep +now and then of picturesque interior courtyards, seen through the +wide-arched doorways. These courts are mostly surrounded by an open +arcade. Generally in the centre of each is set a large green tub holding +an oleander-tree. This gives rather an Oriental appearance to these +interiors. The East and West are here mixed up together most curiously. +Amongst the fair-haired, blue-eyed Saxons are dusky Armenians and +black-ringleted Jews, wearing strange garments. By the way, the +merchants of these two races have ousted the Saxon trader from the +field; commerce is almost completely in their hands. + +The market-day at Kronstadt is a most curious and interesting sight. The +country-people come in, sitting in their long waggons, drawn by four +horses abreast, they themselves dressed in cloaks of snow-white +sheepskins, or richly-embroidered white leather coats lined with black +fur. The head-gear too is very comely, and very dissimilar; for there +are flat fur caps--like an exaggerated Glengarry--and peaked hats, and +drum-shaped hats for the girls, while the close-twisted white kerchief +denotes the matron. The Wallack maiden is adorned by her dowry of coins +hanging over head and shoulders, and with braids of plaited black +hair--mingled, I am afraid, with tow, if the truth must be spoken. + +Kronstadt is rather a considerable place; the population is stated to be +27,766, composed of Saxons, Szeklers, and Wallacks, who have each their +separate quarter. It is most beautifully situated, quite amongst the +mountains; in fact it is 2000 feet above the sea-level. The Saxon part +of the town is built in the opening of a richly-wooded valley. The +approach from the vale beyond--the Burzenland, of which I have spoken +before--is guarded by a singular isolated rock, a spur of the +mountain-chain. This natural defence is crowned by a fortress, which +forms a very picturesque feature in the landscape. Formerly the town was +completely surrounded by walls, curtained on the hillside, reminding one +of Lucern's "coronal of towers." In the "brave days of old" the +trade-guilds were severally allotted their forts for the defence of the +town--no holiday task for volunteers, as in our "right little, tight +little island." + +Though the dangers of the frontier are by no means a thing of the past, +the town walls and the towers are mainly in ruins, overgrown with wild +vines and other luxuriant vegetation. As no guidebook exists to tell one +what one ought to see, and where one ought to go, I had all the pleasure +of poking about and coming upon surprises. I was not aware that the +church at Kronstadt is about the finest specimen of fourteenth-century +Gothic in Transylvania, ranking second only to the Cathedral of Kashau +in Upper Hungary. + +My first walk was to the Kapellenburg, a hill which rises abruptly from +the very walls of the town. An hour's climb through a shady zigzag +brought me to the summit. From thence I could see the "seven villages" +which, according to some persons, gave the German name to the province, +Siebenbürgen, "seven towns." The level Burzenland looked almost like a +green lake; beyond it the chain of the Carpathian takes a bend, forming +the frontier of Roumania. The highest point seen from thence is the +Schülerberg, upwards of 8000 feet, and a little farther off the +Königstein, and the Butschrtsch, the latter reaching 9526 feet. Hardly +less picturesque is the view from the Castle Hill. Quite separated from +the rest of the town is the quarter inhabited by the Szeklers. This +people constitute one of four principal races inhabiting Transylvania. +They are of Turanian origin, like the Magyars, but apparently an older +branch of the family. When the Magyars overran Pannonia in the tenth +century, under the headship of the great Arpad, they appear to have +found the Szeklers already in possession of part of the vast Carpathian +horseshoe--that part known to us as the Transylvanian frontier of +Moldavia. They claim to have come hither as early as the fourth century. +It is known that an earlier wave of the Turanians had swept over Europe +before the incoming of the Magyars, and the so-called Szeklers were +probably a tribe or remnant of this invasion, the date of which, +however, is wrapped in no little obscurity. + +This is certain, that they have preserved their independence throughout +all these ages in a very remarkable manner. "They are all 'noble,'" says +Mr Boner, "and proudly and steadfastly adhere to and uphold their old +rights and privileges, such as right of limiting and of pasture. They +had their own judges, and acknowledged the authority of none beside. +Like their ancestors the Huns, they loved fighting, and were the best +soldiers that Bem had in his army. They guarded the frontier, and +guarded it well, of their own free-will; but they would not be compelled +to do so, and the very circumstance that Austria, when the border system +was established, obliged them to furnish a contingent of one infantry +and two hussar regiments sufficed to alienate their regard."[17] In +another place Mr Boner says, "The Szekler soldier, I was told, was +'excessive,' which means extreme, in all he did." + +In the view of recent events, it may be worth while to recall to mind a +few particulars of General Bem's campaign in Transylvania. In no part of +Hungary was the war of independence waged with so much bitterness as +down here on these border-lands. The Saxons and the Wallacks were +bitterly opposed to the Magyars; and on the 12th of May, in the eventful +'48, a popular meeting was held at Kronstadt, where they protested +vehemently against union with Hungary, and swore allegiance to the +Emperor of Austria. Upon this the Szeklers flew to arms--on the side of +the Magyars, of course; throughout their history they have always made +common cause with them. In the autumn of the same year, Joseph Bem, a +native of Galicia, who had fought under Marshal Davoust, later with +Macdonald at the siege of Hamburg, and had also taken part in the +Polish insurrection of 1830, attached himself to the Hungarian cause. He +had formed a body of troops from the wrecks and remnants of other corps, +and soon by his admirable tactics succeeded on two occasions in beating +the Austrians at the very outset of his campaign; the latter of these +victories was near Dées, to the north of Klausenburg, where he defeated +General Wardener. The winter of that terrible year wore on. In +Transylvania it was not merely keeping back the common enemy, the +invader of the soil, but it was a case where the foes were of the same +township, and the nearest neighbours confronted each other on opposite +ranks. + +The Austrians meanwhile had called in the Russians to aid them in +crushing the Hungarians; and at the time it was believed that the Saxons +of Transylvania had instigated this measure. It is easy to understand +how the Russians would be hated along with their allies; it was a +desperate struggle, and well fought out by Magyars and Szeklers, ably +handled by General Bem. Herrmannstadt and Kronstadt both fell into his +hands, after a vigorous defence by the Austro-Russian garrisons; in +fact, by the middle of March '49, the whole of Transylvania, with the +exception of Karlsburg and Dèva, was held by the troops of this +fortunate general. But, as we all know, the Hungarian arms were not so +successful elsewhere, and the end of that struggle was approaching, +which was to find its saddest hour at Villagos on the 13th of August, +when the Hungarians were cajoled into laying down their arms before the +Russians! + +The rest of the miserable story had better not be dwelt upon. Much has +changed in these few years. Now a Hapsburg recognises the privilege of +mercy amongst his kingly attributes. The last words of Maximilian, the +ill-fated Emperor of Mexico, were, "Let my blood be the last shed as an +offering for my country." Since then capital punishment has become of +rare occurrence in Austria; and remembering his brother's death, the +Emperor, it is said, can hardly be induced to sign a death-warrant! + +[Footnote 17: Boner's Transylvania, p. 624.] + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + The Tomöscher Pass--Projected railway from Kronstadt to + Bucharest--Visit to the cavalry barracks at Rosenau--Terzburg + Pass--Dr Daubeny on the extinct volcanoes of Hungary--Professor + Judd on mineral deposits. + + +Kronstadt is a capital place as headquarters for any one who desires to +explore the neighbouring country. One of my first expeditions was to +Sinia, a small bath-place in the Tomöscher Pass, just over the +borders--in fact in Roumania. Here Prince Charles has a charming +château, and there are besides several ambitious Swiss cottages +belonging to the wealthy grandees of Roumania. My object was not so much +to see the little place, as it was to explore this pass of the +Carpathians, now so familiar to newspaper correspondents and others +since the Russo-Turkish war began. + +As I mentioned before, a railway is projected from Kronstadt through +this pass, which will meet the Lemberg and Bucharest line at Ployesti, +that station being less than two hours from the Roumanian capital. Up to +the present hour not a sod of this railway has been turned; but +curiously enough, with only two or three exceptions, all the "war maps" +have made the capital mistake of marking it down as a _completed_ line. +In the autumn of 1875, when I was there, the levels had been taken and +the course marked down; if it is ever really carried out, it will be one +of the most beautiful railway drives in Europe. It is a most important +link in the railway system of Eastern Europe. The Danube route is +frequently, indeed periodically, closed by the winter's ice, and +sometimes by the drought of summer, in which case the traveller who +wants to get to Roumania must take the train from Buda-Pest to +Kronstadt, and thence by road through the Tomöscher Pass to Ployesti. + +There is a diligence service twice daily, occupying fourteen hours or +thereabouts, dependent, of course, on the state of the roads, which can +be very bad--inconceivably bad. For the sake of the excursion I took a +place in the _postwagen_ one day as far as Sinia, where there is a +modern hotel and very tolerable quarters. The scenery of the pass is +very romantic. In places the road winds round the face of the precipice, +and far below is a deep sunless glen, through which the mountain torrent +rushes noisily over its rocky bed; at other times you skirt the stream +with its green margin of meadow--a pastoral oasis amidst the wild +grandeur of bare limestone peaks and snowy summits. The autumnal +colouring on the hanging woods of oak and beech was something more +brilliant than I ever remember to have seen; the effect of being oneself +in shadow and seeing the glory of the sunlight on the foliage of the +other side of the defile, was most striking. Above this ruby mountain +rose other heights with a girdle of dark fir, and higher still were +visible yet loftier peaks, clothed in the dazzling whiteness of +fresh-fallen snow. In the Southern Carpathians there is no region of +perpetual snow, but the higher summits are generally snow-clad late in +the spring and very early in the autumn. I was told there is good +bear-hunting in this district. + +While at Kronstadt I made the acquaintance of some Austrian officers +quartered in the neighbourhood. They kindly invited me to the cavalry +barracks at Rosenau, and accordingly I went over for a few days. The +barracks were built by the people of the village, or rather small town, +of Rosenau; for they were obliged by law to quarter the military, and to +avoid the inconvenience of having soldiers billeted upon them they +constructed a suitable building. The cavalry horses were nearly all in a +bad plight when I was there, for they had an epidemic of influenza +amongst them; but we found a couple of nags to scramble about with, and +made some pleasant excursions. One of our rides was to a place called +"The Desolate Path," a singularly wild bit of scenery, and curiously in +contrast to the rich fertility of Rosenau and its immediate +neighbourhood. This pretty little market town lies at the foot of a +hill, which is crowned with a romantic ruin, one of the seven burgher +fortresses built by the Saxon immigrants. There is a remarkably pretty +walk from the village to the "Odenweg," a romantic ravine, with +beautiful hanging woods and castellated rocks disposed about in every +sort of fantastic form. It reminded me somewhat of some parts of the +Odenwald near Heidelberg. Very likely the wild and mysterious character +of the spot led the German settlers to associate with it the name of +Oden. + +We also rode over the Terzburg Pass. The picturesque castle which gives +its name to this pass is situated on an isolated rock, admirably +calculated for defence in the old days. It belonged once upon a time to +the Teutonic Knights, who held it on condition of defending the +frontier; but they became so intolerable to the burghers of Kronstadt, +that these informed their sovereign that they preferred being their own +defenders, and thus the castle and nine villages were given over to the +town. The Germans who had left their own Rhine country for the sake of +getting away from the robber knights were not anxious for that special +mediæval institution to accompany them in their flitting, we may be +sure. The democratic character of the laws and customs of the Germans of +Transylvania is a very curious and interesting study; in not a few +instances these people have anticipated by some centuries the liberal +ideas of Western Europe in our own day. + +After returning from the visit to my military friends at Rosenau, I was +told I must not omit to make some excursions to the celebrated mineral +watering-places of Transylvania. The chief baths in this locality are +Elopatak and Tusnad. The first named is four hours' drive from +Kronstadt. The waters contain a great deal of protoxide of iron, +stronger even than those of Schwalbach, which they resemble. Tusnad, I +was told, is pleasantly situated on the river Aluta, an excellent stream +for fishing. The post goes daily in eight hours from Kronstadt. The +season is very short, being over in August. Tusnad is said to contain +one hundred springs of different kinds of water. I am not a +water-totaller, so I did not taste all of them when I visited the place +later on; but undoubtedly alum, iodine, and iron do severally impregnate +the various springs. + +I remembered reading long ago Dr Daubeny's work on "Volcanoes," in which +he says that Hungary is one of the most remarkable countries in Europe +for the scale on which volcanic operation has taken place. There are, it +is stated, seven well-marked mountain groups of volcanic rocks, and two +of these are in Transylvania. The most interesting in many respects is +the chain of hills separating Szeklerland from Transylvania Proper. It +is within this district that most of the mineral springs are found. + +These volcanic rocks are of undoubted Tertiary origin, say the +geologists. The whole range is for the most part composed of various +kinds of trachytic conglomerate. "From the midst of these vast tufaceous +deposits, the tops of the hills, composed of trachyte, a rock which +forms all the loftiest eminences, here and there emerge.... The trachyte +is ordinarily reddish, greyish, or blackish; it mostly contains mica. In +the southern parts, as near Csik Szereda, the trachyte encloses large +masses, sometimes forming even small hillocks, of that variety of which +millstones are made, having quartz crystals disseminated through it, and +in general indurated by silicious matter in so fine a state of division +that the parts are nearly invisible. The latter substance seems to be +the result of a kind of sublimation which took place at the moment of +the formation of the trachyte.... Distinct craters are only seen at the +southern extremity of the chain. One of the finest observed by Dr Boné +was to the south of Tusnad. It was of great size and well characterised, +surrounded by pretty steep and lofty hills composed of trachyte. The +bottom of the hollow was full of water. The ground near has a very +strong sulphureous odour. A mile to the SSE. direction from this point +there are on the tableland two large and distinct _maars_ like those of +the Eifel--that is to say, old craters, which have been lakes, and are +now covered with a thick coat of marsh plants. The cattle dare not graze +upon them for fear of sinking in. Some miles farther in the same +direction is the well-known hill of Budoshegy (or hill of bad smell), a +trachytic mountain, near the summit of which is a distinct rent, +exhaling very hot sulphureous vapours.... The craters here described +have thrown out a vast quantity of pumice, which now forms a deposit of +greater or less thickness along the Aluta and the Marosch from Tusnad to +Toplitza. Impressions of plants and some silicious wood are likewise to +be found in it."[18] + +Since Dr Daubeny's time there have been many observers over the same +ground, the most distinguished being the Hungarian geologist Szabó, +professor at the University of Buda-Pest. A countryman of our own has +also taken up the subject of the ancient volcanoes of Hungary, and has +recently published a paper on the subject. Professor Judd has confined +his remarks principally to the Schemnitz district in the north of +Hungary. But the following passage refers to the general character of +the formation. Professor Judd says:[19] "The most interesting fact with +regard to the constitution of these Hungarian lavas, which in the +central parts of their masses are often found to assume a very coarsely +crystalline and almost granitic character, while their outer portions +present a strikingly scoriaceous or slaggy appearance, remains to be +noticed. It is, that though the predominant felspar in them is always of +the basic type, yet they not unfrequently contain _free quartz_, +sometimes in very large proportion. This free quartz is in some cases +found to constitute large irregular crystalline grains in the mass, just +like those of the ordinary orthoclase quartz-trachytes; but at other +times its presence can only be detected by the microscope in thin +sections. These quartziferous andesites were by Stache, who first +clearly pointed out their true character, styled 'Dacites,' from the +circumstance of their prevalence in Transylvania (the ancient Dacia)." + +In concluding this highly instructive and interesting memoir of the +volcanic rocks of Hungary, Professor Judd says: "The mineral veins of +Hungary and Transylvania, with their rich deposits of gold and silver, +cannot be of older date than the Miocene, while some of them are +certainly more recent than the Pliocene. Hence these deposits of ore +must all have been formed at a later period than the clays and sands on +which London stands; while in some cases they appear to be of even +younger date than the gravelly beds of our crags!" + +For any one who desires to geologise in Hungary and Transylvania there +is abundant assistance to be obtained in the maps which have been issued +by the Imperial Geological Institute of Vienna, under the successive +direction of Haidinger and Von Hauer. "These are geologically-coloured +copies of the whole of the 165 sheets of the military map of the empire; +and these have been accompanied by most valuable memoirs on the +different districts, published in the well-known 'Jahrbuch' of the +Institute. Franz von Hauer has further completed a reduction of these +large-scale maps to a general map consisting of twelve sheets, with a +memoir descriptive of each, and has finally in his most valuable and +useful work, 'Die Geologie und ihre Anwendung auf die Kenntniss der +Bodenbeschaffenheit der Osterrungar. Monarchie,' which is accompanied by +a single-sheet map of the whole country, summarised in a most able +manner the entire mass of information hitherto obtained concerning the +geology of the empire." + +I have given this passage from Mr Judd's paper because there exists a +good deal of misapprehension amongst English travellers as to what has +really been done with regard to the geological survey of Austro-Hungary. + +[Footnote 18: A Description of Active and Extinct Volcanoes, by C. +Daubeny, p. 133. 1848.] + +[Footnote 19: 'On the Ancient Volcano of the District of Schemnitz, +Hungary,' Quarterly Journal, Geo. Soc., August 1876.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + A ride through Szeklerland--Warnings about robbers--Büksad--A look + at the sulphur deposits on Mount Büdos--A lonely lake--An + invitation to Tusnad. + + +Feeling curious not only about the geology of the Szeklerland, but +interested also in the inhabitants, I resolved to pursue my journey by +going through what is called the Csik. I made all my arrangements to +start, but wet weather set in, and I remained against my inclination at +Kronstadt, for I was impatient now to be moving onwards. + +When I was in Hungary Proper they told me that travelling in +Transylvania was very dangerous, and that it was a mad notion to think +of going about there alone. Now that I was in Transylvania, I was amused +at finding myself most seriously warned against the risk of riding alone +through the Szeklerland. Every one told some fresh story of the +insecurity of the roads. Curiously enough, foreigners get off better +than the natives themselves; people of indifferent honesty have been +known to say, "One would not rob a stranger." It happened to me that +one day when riding along--in this very Szeklerland of ill-repute--I +dropped my Scotch plaid, and did not discover my loss till I arrived at +the next village, where I was going to sleep. I was much vexed, not +thinking for a moment that I should ever see my useful plaid again. +However, before the evening was over, a peasant brought it into the inn, +saying he had found it on the road, and it must belong to the Englishman +who was travelling about the country. The finder would not accept any +reward! + +There was a fair in the town the day I left Kronstadt. The field where +it is held is right opposite Hotel "No. 1," and the whole place was +crowded with country-folks in quaint costumes--spruce, gaily-dressed +people mixed up with Wallack cattle-drivers and other picturesque +rascals, such as gipsies and Jews, and here and there a Turk, and, more +ragged than all, a sprinkling of refugee Bulgarians. Though it was a +scene of strange incongruities--a very jumble of races--yet it was by no +means a crowd of roughs; on the contrary, the well-dressed, well-to-do +element prevailed. The thrifty Saxon was very much there, intent on +making a good bargain; the neatly-dressed Szekler walked about holding +his head on his shoulders with an air of resolute self-respect--they +are unmistakable, are these proud rustics. Many a fair-haired Saxon +maiden too tripped along, eyeing askance the peculiar "get-up" of the +Englishman as he was about to mount his noble steed and ride forth into +the wilds. If I was amused by the crowd, I believe the crowd was greatly +amused at my proceedings. Mine own familiar friend, I verily believe, +would have passed me by on the other side, I cut so queer a figure. As +usual on these occasions, I had sent forward my portmanteau, this time +to Maros Vásárhely; but everything else I possessed I carried round +about me and my horse somehow, and I am not a man "who wants but little +here below." + +Besides my _toilette de voyage_, I had my cooking apparatus, a small jar +of Liebig's meat, and some compressed tea, and other little odds and +ends of comforts. I had also provided myself with some bacon and +_slivovitz_ for barter, a couple of bottles of the spirit being turned +into a big flask slung alongside of my lesser flask for wine. Nor was +this all, for having duly secured my saddle-bags, I had the plaid and +mackintosh rolled up neatly and strapped in front of the saddle; then my +gun, field-glass, and roll of three maps were slung across my shoulders. +_Nota bene_ my pockets were full to repletion. In my leathern belt was +stuck a revolver, handy, and a bowie-knife not far off. + +But the portrait of this Englishman as he appeared to the Kronstadt +people on that day is not yet complete. His legs were encased in Hessian +boots; his shooting-jacket was somewhat the worse for wear; and his hat, +which had been eminently respectable at first starting, had acquired a +sort of brigandish air; and to add to the drollery of his general +appearance, the excellent little Servian horse he rode was not high +enough for a man of his inches. + +With my weapons of offence and defence I must have appeared a "caution" +to robbers, and it seems that the business of the fair was suspended to +witness my departure. I was profoundly unconscious at the time of the +public interest taken in my humble self, but later I heard a very +humorous account of the whole proceeding from some relatives who visited +Kronstadt about three weeks afterwards. I believe I am held in +remembrance in the town as a typical Englishman! + +Well, to take up the thread of my narrative--like Don Quixote, "I +travelled _all_ that day." If any reader can remember Gustave Doré's +illustration of the good knight on that occasion, he will have some idea +of how the sky looked on this very ride of mine. As evening approached, +the settled grey clouds, which had hung overhead like a pall all the +afternoon, were driven about by a rough wind, which went on rising +steadily. The grim phantom-haunted clouds came closer and closer round +about me as darkness grew apace, and now and then the gust brought with +it a vicious "spate" of rain. With no immediate prospect of shelter, my +position became less and less lively. I had not bargained for a night on +the highroad, or lodgings in a dry ditch or under a tree. Indeed those +luxuries were not at hand; for trees there were none bordering the road, +or in the open fields which stretched away on either side; and as for a +_dry_ ditch, I heard the streams gurgling along the watercourses, which +were full to overflowing, as well they might be, seeing that it had +rained for three days. + +My object was to reach the village of Büksad, but where was Büksad now +in reference to myself? I had no idea it was such a devil of a way off +when I started. I had foolishly omitted to consult the map for myself, +and had just relied on what I was told, though I might have remembered +how loosely country-people all the world over speak of time and space. + +When at length the darkness had become perplexing--_entre chien et +loup_, as the saying is--I met a peasant with a fierce-looking +sheep-dog by his side. The brute barked savagely round me as if he meant +mischief, and I soon told the peasant if he did not call off his dog +directly I would shoot him. He called his dog back, which proved he +understood German, so I then asked if I was anywhere near Büksad. To my +dismay he informed me that it was a long way off; how long he would not +say, for without further parley he strode on, and he and his dog were +soon lost to view in the thick misty darkness. + +Not a furlong farther, I came suddenly upon a house by the roadside, and +a man coming out of the door with a light at the same moment enabled me +to see "Vendéglo" on a small signboard. Good-luck: here, then, was an +inn, where at least shelter was possible; and shelter was much to be +desired, seeing that the rain was now a steady downpour. On making +inquiries, I found that I was already in Büksad. The peasant had played +off a joke at my expense, or perhaps dealt me a Roland for an Oliver, +for threatening to shoot his dog. A _paprika handl_ was soon prepared +for me. In all parts of the country where travellers are possible, the +invariable reply to a demand for something to eat is the query, "Would +the gentleman like _paprika handl_?" and he had better like it, for his +chances are small of getting anything else. While I was seeing after my +horse, the woman of the inn caught a miserable chicken, which I am sure +could have had nothing to regret in this life; and in a marvellously +short time the bird was stewed in red pepper, and called _paprika +handl_. + +I was aware that Count M---- owned a good deal of property in the +neighbourhood of Büksad, and as I had a letter of introduction to his +bailiff, I set off the next morning to find him. My object in coming to +this particular part of the country was principally to explore that +curious place Mount Büdos, mentioned by Dr Daubeny and others. I wanted +to see for myself what amount of sulphur deposits were really to be +found there. Count M----'s bailiff was very ready to be obliging, and he +provided me with a guide, and further provided the guide with a horse, +so that I had no difficulty in arranging an expedition to the mount of +evil smell. + +Having arranged the commissariat as usual, I started one fine morning +with my guide. We rode for about two hours through a forest of majestic +beech-trees, and then came almost suddenly, without any preparation, +upon a beautiful mountain lake, called St Anna's Lake. It lies in a +hollow; the hills around, forming cup-like sides, are clothed with +thick woods down to its very edge. Looking down from above, I saw the +green reflection of the foliage penetrating the pellucid water till it +met the other heaven reflected below. The effect was very singular, and +gave one the idea of a lovely bit of world and sky turned upside down; +it produced, moreover, a sort of fascination, as if one must dive down +into its luring depths. No human sight or sound disturbed the weird +beauty of this lonely spot. I longed at last to break the oppressive +silence, and I fired off my revolver. This brought down a perfect volley +of echoes, and at the same time, from the highest crags, out flew some +half-dozen vultures; they wheeled round for a few moments, then +disappeared behind the nearest crest of wood. + +My guide soon set about making a fire; and while dinner was being +cooked, I bethought me I would have a bath. I took a header from a +projecting rock, but I very soon made the best of my way out of the +water again. It was icy cold; I hardly ever recollect feeling any water +so cold--I suppose because the lake is so much in shadow. After the meal +we pushed on to Büdos, another two hours of riding; this time through a +forest so dense that we could scarcely make our way. At last we reached +a path, and this brought us before long to a roughly-constructed +log-hut. This, I was told, was the "summer hotel." Further on there +were a few more log-huts, the "dependence" of the hotel itself. The +bathing season was over, so hosts and guests had alike departed. This +must be "roughing it" with a vengeance, I should say; but my guide told +me that very "high-born" people came here to be cured. + +It is a favourite place, too, for some who desire the last cure of all +for life's ills; a single breath of the gaseous exhalations is death. +One cleft in the hill is called the "Murderer;" so fatal are the fumes +that even birds flying over it are often known to drop dead! The +elevation of Mount Büdos is only 3800 feet; there are several caves +immediately below the highest point. The principal cave is ten feet high +and forty feet long, the interior being lower than the opening. A +mixture of gases is exhaled, which, being heavier than the atmosphere, +fills it up to the level of the entrance; and when the sun is shining +into the cave, one can see the gaseous fumes swaying to and fro, owing +to the difference of refraction. + +I experienced a sensation which has often been noticed here before. On +entering the cave, and standing for some minutes immersed in the gas, +but with my head above it, I had the feeling of warmth pervading the +lower limbs. I might have believed myself to be in a warm bath up to +the chest. This is a delusion, however, for the gaseous exhalation is +pronounced by experimenters to be cooler, if anything, than the air; I +suppose they mean the air of an ordinary summer day. The walls of the +cave arc covered with a deposit of sulphur, and at the extreme end drops +of liquid are continually falling. This moisture is esteemed very highly +for disease of the eyes; it is collected by the peasants. The gas-baths +are resorted to by persons suffering from gout or rheumatism. They are +taken in this manner: The patient wears a loose dress over nothing else, +and arriving at the mouth of the cave, he must take one long breath. +Instantly he runs into the dread cavern, remaining only as long as he +can hold his breath; he then rushes back again. One single inhalation, +and he would be as dead as a door-nail! How the halt and lame folk +manage I don't know, but my guide was eloquent about the wonderful cures +that are made here every year. + +There are a variety of mineral springs in different parts of the +mountain. At the source some have the appearance of boiling, from the +quantity of carbonic acid gas given off; but it is only in appearance, +for the water is very cold. + +The springs which yield iron and carbonic acid are much used for +drinking. There are also some primitive arrangements for bathing near +by. A square hole is cut in the ground; this is boarded round, and a +simple wooden shed, like a gigantic dish-cover, is put over it. Here +again my guide said that miraculous cures are wrought annually. It is a +wonder that anybody is left with an ache or a pain in a country which +has such wonderful waters. I think my guide thought I was a doctor, who +was searching for a new health-resort, and he was quite ready to do his +share of the puffing. + +On Mount Büdos itself, in other parts than the cave, there occurs a good +deal of sulphur; specimens are often found distributed which are very +rich indeed. The place certainly deserves a thorough exploration, with a +view to utilising the sulphur deposits; but it is so overgrown with +vegetation that the search would involve considerable trouble and +expense. + +There is a fine view from Mount Büdos towards Moldavia. I was fortunate +in having good lights and shades, and therefore enjoyed the prospect +most thoroughly. I should like to have remained longer on the summit, +but not being prepared for camping out it was not possible; so very +reluctantly we set about returning. + +My guide led me back to Büksad by another route, a rough road, with +deep ruts and big stones that must make driving in any vehicle, except +for the honour and glory of it, a very doubtful blessing. But bad roads +never do seem to matter in Hungary. Everybody drives everywhere; they +would drive over a glacier if they had one. Occasionally we came upon +some charming bits of forest scenery. The trees were grand, especially +the beech; they were of greater girth than any I had yet seen in +Transylvania. I noticed many mineral springs by the roadside; one could +distinguish them by the deposit of oxide of iron on the stones near by. + +When I got back to Büksad, I found the bailiff waiting to tell me that +Count M---- and Baron A---- desired their compliments, and would be +pleased to see me at Tusnad, if I would go over there. I had no +introduction to these noblemen, and mention the invitation as an +instance of Hungarian hospitality. They had simply heard that an +Englishman was travelling about the country. + +I rode over to Tusnad the following day, and found it, as I had been led +to expect, a very picturesque little place, a number of Swiss cottages +dropped down in the clearing of the forest, with a good "restauration," +built by Count M---- himself. When I was there the season was over; but +I am told that it is full of fashionables in June and July, and that the +waters have an increasing reputation. My attention was drawn to the +singular fact of two springs bubbling up within six feet of each other, +which are proved by chemical analysis to be distinctly different in +composition. I fancy Count M---- was much amused at the fact of an +English gentleman travelling about alone on horseback, without any +servants or other impedimenta. I remember a friend of mine telling me +that once in Italy, when he declined to hire a carriage from a peasant +at a perfectly exorbitant price, and said he preferred walking, the +fellow called after him, saying, "We all know you English are mad enough +for anything!" + +I don't know whether the Hungarian Count drew the same conclusion in my +case, but I could see he was very much amused; I don't think any other +people understand the Englishman's love of adventure. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + The baths of Tusnad--The state of affairs before 1848--Inequality + of taxation--Reform--The existing land laws--Communal + property--Complete registration of titles to estates--Question of + entail. + + +I mixed exclusively in Hungarian society during my stay at the baths of +Tusnad. With Baron ---- and Herr von ---- I talked politics by the hour. +The Hungarians have the natural gift of eloquence. They pour forth their +words like the waters of a mill-race, no matter in what language. My +principal companion at Tusnad spoke French. The true Magyar will always +employ that language in preference to German when speaking with a +foreigner; but as often as not the Hungarians of good society speak +English perfectly well. The younger generation, almost without +exception, understand our language, and are extremely well read in +English literature. + +I had so recently left Saxonland, where public opinion is opposed to +everything that has the faintest shade of Magyarism, that I felt in the +state of Victor Hugo's hero, of whom he said, "Son orientation était +changée, ce qui avait été le couchant était le levant. Il s'était +retourné." The transition was certainly curious, but I confess to +getting rather tired of the mutual recriminations of political parties; +respecting each other's good qualities, they are simply colour-blind. + +After the Saxons had been allowed to drop out of the conversation, I led +my Magyar friend to talk of the state of things before 1848, and to +enlighten me as to the existing condition of laws of property. My +Hungarian--who, by the way, is a man well qualified to speak about legal +matters--showered down upon me a perfect avalanche of facts. Leaving out +a few patriotic flashes, the substance of what he told me was much as +follows. I had especially asked about the recent legislation on the land +question. + +"In the old time, before '48, the State, the Church, and the Nobles were +the _sole_ landowners. The holding of land was strictly prohibited to +all who were not noble; but to the peasants were allotted certain +tracts, called for distinction 'session-lands.' For this privilege the +peasant had to give up a tenth part of the produce to the lord, and +besides he had to work for him two, and in some cases even _three_, days +in the week. The _robot_, or forced labour, varied in different +localities. The lord was judge over his tenants, and even his bailiff +had the right of administering twenty-five lashes to insubordinate +peasants. The _time_ of the forced labour was at the option of the lord, +who might oblige his tenant to give his term of labour consecutively +during seed-sowing or harvest, at the very time that the peasant's own +land required his attendance. It may easily be imagined that this was a +fruitful cause of dispute between the lord and his serfs. + +"But the most glaring act of injustice under the old system was that +_all the taxes_ were paid by the session-holding peasantry, while the +nobles were privileged and tax-free. They absolutely contributed nothing +to the revenue of the country in the way of direct taxes! + +"This peculiarity of the Constitution made it the interest of the Crown +to _preserve_ the area of the tax-paying peasant-land against the +encroachments of the tax-free landlord. It often happened that on the +death or removal of a peasant-holder the lord would choose to absorb the +session-land into the _allodium_, which, being tax-free, resulted in a +loss to the imperial revenue. To prevent this absorption of +session-lands by the landlord, and also to accommodate the burdens of +the peasantry, which had become almost intolerable in the last century, +owing to the tyranny of the feudal superiors--to prevent this, I repeat, +a general memorial survey with a view to readjustment took place in 1767 +by command of Maria Theresa. + +"This very important settlement, which came to be known as the +'URBARIAL CONSCRIPTION,' laid down and defined the rights and +services of the peasants, and the amount of land to be held by them. The +nobles henceforth were obliged to find new tenants of the peasant class +in the event of the 'session-lands' becoming vacant. Likewise their +unjust impositions on the serfs were restricted, and the _rights_ of the +latter, in respect to wood-cutting and pasturage on the lord's lands, +were established by law. + +"This was all very well as far as it went," said my friend; "but the +inequality of taxation and the forced labour were crying evils not to be +endured in the nineteenth century. Our people who travelled in England +and elsewhere came back imbued with new ideas. We in Transylvania assume +the credit of taking the lead in liberal politics. Baron Wesselényi was +one of the first to advise a radical reform, and others--Count Bethlen, +Baron Kemeny, and Count Teleki--were all agreed as to the necessity of +bringing about the manumission of the serfs. It is an old story now. I +am speaking of the third and fourth decades of the century, and +political excitement was at white-heat. The extreme views of Wesselényi +raised a host of opponents among his own class, who regarded the +prospect of reform as nothing short of class suicide. Everything else +might go to the devil as long as they retained their privileges; the +devil, however, is apt to make a clean sweep of the board when he has +got the game in his own hands, but these noble wiseacres could not see +that. In other parts of the country good men and true were working up +the leaven of reform. The great patriot Széchenyi, as long ago as 1830, +when he published his work on 'Credit,' had shown his countrymen their +shortcomings. He had proved to them that their laws and their +institutions were not marching with the spirit of the age; that, in +short, the 'rights of humanity' called for justice. What this truly +great man did for the material improvement of his country could hardly +be told between sunrise and sundown. You practical English were our +teachers and our helpers in those days, when bridges had to be built, +roads to be made, and steam navigation set up in our rivers. English +horses were brought over to improve the breed in Hungary, and English +agricultural machinery still turns out treasure-trove from our fields. +But beyond all this, what we saw and admired in England's history was +her constitutional struggles for liberty; the efforts made by freedom +within the pale of the law; her capacity, in short, for self-reform. You +see how it is, my dear sir, that everything English is so popular with +us in Hungary." + +I bowed my acknowledgments, and begged my friend to proceed with his +narrative of events. + +"Well, to go back to our own history," he continued, in a tone which had +in it a shade of melancholy, "you see from 1823 to the eve of 1848 the +Diet had been tinkering at reform in a half-hearted sort of way, but the +Paris revolution let loose the whirlwind, and events were precipitated. +I need not tell you there was a standing quarrel between us and the +reactionary rulers in Vienna. It was the deceitful policy of Austria to +bring about a temporary show of agreement between us. The Archduke +Stephen was appointed Viceroy, assisted by a council composed entirely +of Hungarians. Now mark this turning-point in our history. The first Act +of this Diet, presided over by Count Batthyanyi, was to abolish at one +sweep the class privileges of the nobility. Roundly speaking, eight +millions of serfs received their freedom by that Act! Nor was this all, +the important part remains to be told--and I do not think foreigners +always realise it--the Act further enforced that the session-lands held +by the peasants became henceforth _their freehold property_. Half, or +nearly half, the kingdom thus, by the voluntary concession of the +nobles, became converted from a feudal tenure, burdened with duties, +into an absolute freehold. + +"Like every sudden change, the result was not unmixed good. The Wallacks +especially were not prepared for their emancipation; they thought +equality before the law meant equality of goods." + +I now inquired how the working of the land laws was carried out, and to +this my friend replied:-- + +"As a lawyer I can give you an exact statement in a few words. The +disturbed state of the country after the war of independence, which +followed immediately upon the emancipation of the serfs, prevented for a +while the effective realisation of the great reform of '48. However, in +1853 several imperial decrees were promulgated, by means of which the +changed system was worked out in detail. 'Urbarial courts' were +instituted to inquire into the amount of compensation due to the lords +of the manors who had lost the tithes and the 'forced labour' of the +former serfs. To meet this compensation 'State urbarial bonds' were +created and apportioned; they bear five per cent. interest, and are +redeemable within eighty years, with two drawings annually. The fund for +this compensation is raised by a special tax on every Hungarian subject; +not only the freed peasant pays towards the fund, but the lord himself, +and those who never had any feudal tenants. + +"The peasants had also to receive their compensation for the loss of +pasturage and the right of cutting wood on the lord's demesne. In lieu +of these privileges they received allotments of forest and pasturage as +absolute property. The land thus acquired by the peasants is in fact +_parish property_, or in other words, communal property. This is the +only instance in which the parish appears as landowner, for all other +peasant property, with the exception of the parish buildings, such as +the school, is the property of the respective peasants. The parish +authorities regulate the usage of the common pasturage and common +forest. The sale or cutting down of the latter is subject to the +permission of the county authorities." + +I now proceeded to question my friend about the laws respecting the +transfer of land, and especially about the registration of titles of +estate. To these inquiries he replied as follows:-- + +"Land in Hungary is the absolute property of that person, or corporate +body, who appears as owner in the registry. A limitation of claim to +ownership does not exist with us; indeed it is contrary to the law. The +_Avitische Patent_ of 1854 prescribed further that every one should be +regarded as the rightful owner who actually held the property in +1848--_i.e._, the _status quo_ of 1848 to be accepted as the basis. The +_Urbarium_ of Maria Theresa was, in short, the stand-point in all these +arrangements, whether it was the sessional lands of tenants formerly +held in hereditary use, now freehold, or the _allodium_ of the noble. +Immediately succeeding the _Avitische Patent_, the _registration of +land_ was made law, in conformity with which all estates had been +surveyed and entered on the registry as belonging to those owners who +possessed the same in consequence of the above-named patent." + +"But how about disputed inheritance-lands held by mortgagees, and other +contingencies always arising in regard to estates?" I asked. + +"I am sorry to say that dreadful cases of injustice were caused by this +enactment. Whole families were reduced to beggary, and the greatest +rascals obtained possession by this law of enormous estates, simply +because they happened to hold the land in 1848, and the rightful owner +did not advance his claim within the prescribed time. The evil could +not be redressed, and in 1861, when the Hungarian Constitution was +reinstated, the Diet of that year was obliged to accept and confirm the +_Avitische Patent_, and the registration of land as directly following +it. The grievances are past, but the benefit remains to us and our +children. In Hungary at the present time the transfer of land is as +simple as buying or selling the registered shares of a railway company. +The registry forms the basis of every transaction connected with landed +property, and, as we lawyers say, what is not entered there _non est in +mundo_. Mortgages must be set down against the registered title. +Contracts of leases are also entered, and in the case of farms being +taken, caution-money, amounting generally to a quarter's rent, must be +deposited with the authorities." + +"One more question. Are there no entailed estates amongst your +aristocracy?" + +"Very few, indeed, even among the richest aristocracy. An Act of +entailment can, it is true, be founded, but it is rarely permitted, +being looked upon with disfavour for reasons of political economy. Such +an Act would require in any case the special permission of the sovereign +and of Government; and then the estate is placed under a special court. +Without special permission from this court neither an alteration of the +Act can take place, nor is sale or mortgage allowed. Hungarian law also +interposes some restrictions in the case of a testator, who must leave +by will at least half his property to his children. And with regard to +women, the law with us is specially careful to preserve a woman's legal +existence after marriage." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + Fine scenery in Szeklerland--Csik Szent Marton--Absence of + inns--The Szekler's love of lawsuits--Csik Szereda--Hospitality + along the, road--Wallack atrocities in 1848--The Wallacks not + Panslavists. + + +The charming scenery of the Szeklerland, and the kindly hospitality of +the people, induced me to linger on. I had many a ride through those +glorious primeval forests, where the girth of the grand old oak-trees +and their widespreading branches are in themselves a sight to see: the +beech, too, are very fine. Climbing farther, the deciduous woods give +place to sombre pine-trees--the greybeards of the mountain. A great +charm in this part of the country, at least from a picturesque point of +view, is the affluence of water. Every rocky glen has its gurgling rill, +every ravine its stream, which, at an hour's notice almost, may become a +mountain torrent, should a storm break over the watershed. A plague of +waters is no unfrequent occurrence, as the farmer in the valley knows to +his cost. Fields are laid under water, and the turbulent streams often +bring down great masses of earth and rock in a way that becomes +"monotonous" for the man who has to clear his land or his roads of the +_débris_. Mr Judd remarks that the volcanic rocks of Hungary have +"suffered enormously from denuding causes." Every fresh storm reminds +one that the process is in active operation. + +After finally leaving Tusnad, I rode on to Csik Szent Marton, where, as +there was no inn, I had to present myself at the best house in the place +and crave their hospitality. My request was taken as a matter of course, +and they received me with the greatest kindness; in fact it was with +great difficulty that I could get away the next day. My host entreated +me to remain longer, and when he found that I was really bent on +departing, he gave me several letters of introduction to friends of his +along the road I was likely to travel. It was a very acceptable act of +kindness, for there are hardly any inns in this part of the country. "If +Transylvania is an odd corner of Europe," then is the Csik or +Szeklerland a still more odd corner; by no possibility can it ever be +the highroad to anywhere else. I am not surprised that my lawyer friend +said that there were still some lawsuits pending in connection with the +allotments of forest and pasturage in this part of Hungary, though +everything was definitely settled elsewhere. The Szekler is as +troublesome and turbulent in some respects as his own mountain streams; +added to which he dearly loves a lawsuit: it is in the eyes of the +peasant a patent of respectability, as keeping a gig formerly was in +England. + +"Why do you go to law about such a trifle?" observed a friend of mine to +his neighbour. + +"Well, you see I have never had a lawsuit, as all my neighbours have had +about something or another; so, now there is the chance, I had better +have one myself!" + +It is well for the lawyers that there is "a good deal of human nature" +everywhere, especially in Hungary, otherwise they would have a bad time +of it, where the legal expenses of "transfer" are a few florins, whether +it be for an acre of vineyard or for half a _comitat_. I must observe, +however, that in the sale of lands or houses, Government intervenes with +a heavy tax on the transaction. + +Leaving my hospitable entertainers at Csik Szent Marton, I went on to +Csik Szereda, where I was kindly taken in by the postmaster. In this +case I was provided with a letter; but a stranger would naturally go to +the postmaster or the clergyman to ask for a night's lodging. At first I +felt diffident on this score; but I soon got over my shyness, for in +Szeklerland they make a stranger so heartily welcome that he ceases to +regard himself as an intruder. In out-of-the-way places one is looked +upon as a sort of heaven-sent "special correspondent." There is a story +told of Baron ----, one of the nearly extinct old-fashioned people, who +regularly, an hour or so before the dinner-hour, rides along the nearest +highroad to try and catch a guest. It has even been whispered that on +one occasion a couple of intelligent-looking travellers, who declined to +be "retained" for dinner, were severely beaten for their recalcitrant +behaviour, by order of the hospitable Baron. The story is well founded, +and I daresay took place before '48, when anything might have happened. + +I can bear witness that I have never myself been ill-treated for +declining Hungarian hospitality, but when in Saxonland something very +much the reverse occurred to me. I once entered a village at the end of +a long day's ride, and stopping at the first house, asked for a night's +lodging, whereupon I was told to ask at the next house. They said they +could not take me in, excusing themselves on the score of an important +domestic event being expected. I went on a little farther, though the +"shades of night were falling fast," and repeated my request at the next +house. I give you my word, there were _more_ domestic events--always +the same excuse. I began to calculate that the population must be +rapidly on the increase in that place. It was too much. I entered the +last house of that straggling village with a stern resolve that not even +new-born twins should bar my claim to hospitality! + +I found the postmaster at Csik Szereda a very intelligent man, with a +fund of anecdotes and recollections, which generally centred in the +troubles of '48. As I mentioned before, the Szeklers rose _en masse_ +against the Austrians. One of their officers, Colonel Alexander Gál, +proved himself a very distinguished leader. Corps after corps were +organised and sent to aid General Bem. "It was a terrible time; the men +had to fight the enemy in the plain while our old men and women defended +their homesteads against the jealous Saxons and the brutal Wallacks." + +It was not in one place, or from one person, but from every one with +whom I spoke on the subject, that I heard frightful stories of Wallack +atrocities. In one instance a noble family--in all, thirteen persons, +including a new-born infant--were slaughtered under circumstances of +horrible barbarity within the walls of their castle. The name I think +was Bardi; it is matter of history. + +Amongst other horrors, the Wallacks on several occasions buried their +victims alive, except the head, which they left above ground; they +would then hurl stones at the unfortunate creatures, or cut off the +heads with a scythe. It was not a war of classes but of race, for the +poor peasants amongst the Magyars and Szeklers fared just as badly at +the hands of the infuriated Wallacks as the nobles. + +The belief is still held that the Vienna Government instigated the +outbreak. Certainly arms had been put into the hands of these +uncivilised hordes under the pretence of organising a sort of militia. +Metternich knew the character of these irregulars, as he had known and +proved the character of the Slovacks in Galicia in the terrible rising +of the serfs in 1846. His complicity on that occasion has never been +disproved. + +The winter of 1848-49 must have been a time of unexampled misery to the +Magyars of Transylvania. The nobles generally dared not remain in their +lonely châteaux; it was not a question of bravery, for how could the +feeble members who remained home from the war guard the castle from the +torches of a hundred frantic, yelling wretches, who, with arms in their +hands, spared neither age nor sex? For the time they were mad--these +Eastern people are subject to terrible epidemics of frenzy! + +The Szekler town of Maros Vásárhely, which was strong enough to keep the +Wallacks at bay, was the sanctuary of the noble ladies and children of +that part of Transylvania. It was so full of fugitives that the +overcrowding was most distressing. A lady, the bearer of an historic +name, told me herself that she and seven of her family passed the whole +winter in one small room in Maros Yásárhely. Added to the discomfort and +insalubrity of this crowding, they were almost penniless, having nothing +but "Kossuth money." For the time the sources of their income were +entirely arrested. In this instance one of the children died--succumbed +to bad air and privation. Another patrician dame kept her family through +the winter by selling the vegetables from her garden; this together with +seventeen florins in silver was all they had to depend upon. Add to this +the misery of not hearing for weeks, perhaps even for months, from their +husbands or sons, who were with the armies of Görgey or Bem. + +The Magyars were not always safe in the towns, for at Nagy Enyed, a +rather considerable place, the Wallacks succeeded in setting fire to it, +and butchered all the inhabitants who were not fortunate enough to +escape their fury. In the neighbourhood of Reps the castles of the +nobility suffered very severely. Grim incidents were told me, things +that were too horrible not to be true--infants spiked and women +tortured. One cannot dwell upon the details! What struck me as very +remarkable was the fact that Magyars and Wallacks are now dwelling +together again in peace side by side. It reminds one of the people who +plant their vines again on Vesuvius directly an eruption is over. In the +last century, in 1784, there was a dreadful outbreak of the Wallacks. +Individually they are really not bad fellows--so it seemed to me--and +one hears of fewer murders among them than perhaps in Ireland. The +danger exists of leaders arising who may stir up the nationality +fever--the idea of the great _Roumain_ nation that looms big in their +imagination! + +They love neither Croatians, Slavonians, nor Austrians, and they are no +longer a safe card to play off against the Magyars; but indeed I would +fain believe that better and wiser counsels now prevail. Austria is not +the Austria of '48, any more than the England of to-day is the same as +England before the Reform Bill. + +The autumn evenings were getting long, and after supper, as I sat +smoking my pipe by the stove in the simple but scrupulously neat +apartment of my host, he, in his turn, asked me about England. It is +very touching the warmth with which these people in the far-off "land +beyond the forest" speak of us. "We never can forget how kindly England +received our patriots." This, or words like it, were said to me many +times, and always the name of Palmerston came to the fore. "He cordially +hated the Austrians." What better ground of sympathy? + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + Ride to Szent Domokos--Difficulty about quarters--Interesting + host--Jewish question in Hungary--Taxation--Financial matters. + + +From Szereda I went to Szent Domokos. It was a long ride, and I was +again nearly benighted. However, I reached my destination this time just +as the last streak of daylight had departed. + +I had some difficulty in making the people I met understand that I +wanted the postmaster's house. No one, it appeared, could speak a word +of German. At length I found the place; but a new difficulty arose. The +postmaster, it seemed, was away, as far as I could make out from his +wife. She seemed greatly puzzled, not to say alarmed, at seeing an armed +horseman ride up, who demanded hospitality; and I daresay she was the +more puzzled at not being able "to place me," as the Yankees say, for +she asked me if I was a Saxon, an Austrian, or a Turk? My appearance, I +suppose, was rather uncouth and alarming. She was young and very +pretty--an Armenian, I learned afterwards. These women are apt to have +Oriental notions about men, and she was evidently afraid to ask me in. + +There was I, with my tired horse, completely up a tree. I thought to +myself, I cannot stay in the street, so pushing my way through a sort of +courtyard, I found out what appeared to be the stable. This I took +possession of, all the time making the most polite bows and gestures, +for we hardly understood a word of each other's language. There was no +help for it, I must make myself at home. I put the horse up, I relieved +him of his saddle and saddle-bags, and seeing a bucket and a well not +far off, I fetched some water. By this time the young woman had called +in some neighbours, and I could see them watching me from behind the +half-closed doors and windows. I must observe I had lighted my own +lantern that I always carried with me, so that my proceedings were made +quite visible to the cautious spectators. They never attempted to +interfere with me, and I went on doing my work quietly and +unostentatiously. The position was ludicrous in the highest degree! + +While I was yet foraging for my horse's supper, by good-luck in came the +postmaster. He spoke German, and I was soon able to make all square. He +was as civil as possible, offering me at once the hospitality of his +roof, which in fact I had already assumed. I saw he was very anxious to +remove the unpleasant impression of his wife's mistake. He bade me +welcome many times over, he thanked me for the honour I did him in +offering to sleep under his humble roof, and further persisted in +calling me "Herr Lord." It was in vain that I corrected him on this +point. "I was an Englishman, therefore I must be a 'Herr Lord,' and +there was an end of it." + +When Mr Boner was travelling in Szeklerland he was also, _nolens +volens_, raised to the peerage, so I suppose it is a settled conviction +of the people that we are all lords in Great Britain. + +We had for supper a capital _filet d'ours_ from a bear that had been +shot only two days before. I enjoyed my supper immensely; the wine was +as good as the food. My pretty hostess laughed a good deal over the +false alarm my appearance had created. Her husband interpreted between +us, but I promised to learn Hungarian before I paid them another visit. +My host proved himself to be a very intelligent man; I had an +exceedingly interesting conversation with him after supper. He +complained bitterly of the heavy pressure of taxation, saying that +Government ought to manage things more economically, for that every year +now there was a deficit. + +"Yet your country is rich in natural resources, as rich almost as +France, barring her advantages of seaboard." + +"Yes, we have wealth under the soil," he replied, "and what we want is +capital to develop our resources. Herein Austria has stood in our way; +you know the old policy of Austria, as far back as Maria Theresa's time, +which was to make Hungary Catholic, to make her poor, and to turn her +people into Germans. This last they will never do; but they have +succeeded in their second project only too well. They have made us poor +enough, they have discouraged manufactures and industries of every kind. +We wish for free trade, but Austria is opposed to it. The manufactures +of Bohemia must be nursed, and accordingly we are made to suffer. We +want to be brought into contact with our customers in Western Europe; we +want, in fact, to get our trade out of the hands of the Jews." + +"I wish to ask you your candid opinion about the Jews. Some people say +they are the curse of the country; others again, that Hungarian commerce +would be nowhere without them." + +"I will tell you what happens," replied my friend, evading a direct +answer to my latter observation. "A wretched Jew comes into this +village, or some other place--it does not matter, it is always the same +story. He comes probably from Galicia as poor as a rat, he settles +himself in the village, and sells _slivovitz_ on credit to the foolish +peasant, who, besotted with drink and debt, gets into his meshes; in the +end, the Jew having sucked the blood of his victims, possesses himself +of their little property, finds himself the object of universal hatred, +and then he moves on. He makes a fresh start in some other place, +beginning on a higher rung of the ladder; and you will find him sitting +in the highest seats before he has done." + +"If your people were less of spendthrifts and managed their affairs +themselves, then the Jews would cease to find a harvest amongst you." + +"Yes, that is true," he answered; "but we are not practical; we do not +organise well. The Jew always manages to be the middle-man between +ourselves and the consumers." + +"But without the Jew you would perhaps not even get so near to the +consumer," I observed quietly. + +My host puffed out a volume of smoke, and after a pause observed, before +he placed his pipe again between his lips, "In this part of the country, +in the Szeklerland, the better class of merchants are nearly all +Armenians." + +Apropos of the tax question, I have looked into the matter since, and I +am rather surprised to find the proportion not so heavy as I thought; on +the whole population it is about £1 a-head--certainly less than is borne +by many other states. In England, I believe, we are taxed at over £2 +a-head. Then, again, it is true that since 1870 there has been an annual +deficit, and the equilibrium of income and expenditure can hardly be +counted upon just yet; still things are moving in the right direction. +The Hungarians have been reproached for managing their finances badly +since the compromise with Austria in 1867, when the revenue came +exclusively under their own control. But in answer they say, that having +so lately entered the community of states, they found themselves in the +position of a minor who comes into house and lands that have need of +every sort of radical repair and improvement. Hungary has had to spend +heavily upon road-making, bridges, railroads, sanatory and other +economic improvements, and very heavily for rectification of the course +of the Danube; in fact they have ambitiously set themselves too much to +do in the time. They have rendered Buda-Pest, with its magnificent river +embankments, one of the finest capitals in Europe. The Magyar does +everything with a degree of splendour that savours of the Oriental. +They know not the meaning of the homely adage which tells a man to "cut +his coat according to his cloth." + +Added to the pressure of accumulated expenses, Hungary has had a +succession of bad harvests--she has been passing through the seven lean +years. The last season has shown, however, a decided improvement, so we +may hope the bad corner is turned. I am informed that this year the +schedule for unpaid--viz., arrears of--taxes is completely wiped off. +Then, again, the income-tax in the space of five years ending 1874 +increased from 5,684,000 florins to 27,650,000 florins! + +The financial account of the current year is reassuring. At the sitting +of the Hungarian Diet on the 30th October,[20] the minister, in +presenting the estimates for 1878, said that in 1876 and 1877 the +expenditure had been reduced by £1,250,000. It was not possible to +continue at the same rate, and the net reduction next year would be +£360,000. It is true the deficit of 1877 is £1,600,000, a sufficiently +grave sum; but to judge the position fairly it is necessary to look at +the budgets of former years. In 1874, "in consequence of rather too +hasty investment of money in railways and other public works," the +deficit was £6,000,700; in 1876 it had fallen to £3,100,000. The present +year, therefore, shows a steady reduction of those ugly figures at the +wrong side of the national account. + +[Footnote 20: 'Hungarian Finances,' the Times, October 31, 1877.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + Copper mine of Balanbanya--Miners in the wine-shop--Ride to St + Miklos--Visit to an Armenian family--Capture of a robber--Cold ride + to the baths of Borsék. + + +Having expressed a wish to see the copper mine at Balanbanya, which is +some five miles from Szent Domokos, my host proposed to drive me over +the next morning. When the morning came the weather looked most +unpromising; there was a steady downpour, without any perceptible break +in the clouds in any quarter. I had made up my mind to go, and as after +the noonday meal it cleared slightly, we started. The mud was nearly up +to the axletree of our cart. After driving some time we reached a wild +and rather picturesque valley, in which rises the Alt, or, as it is +called when it reaches Roumania, the Aluta. The course of this stream is +singularly tortuous, winding about through rocks and defiles, often +changing its direction, and finally making a way for itself through the +Carpathian range. + +As we approached the copper mine it had all the appearance of a volcano, +for a heavy cloud of smoke hung over the spot like a canopy. This mine +has been worked for many years; formerly it paid well, but now it is in +the hands of a company, who are working at a loss, if I could believe +what I was told. + +I have repeatedly noticed in Hungary that people commit themselves to +works of this kind without the technical knowledge necessary to carry +them on successfully. The necessary capital, too, is generally wanting +to bring these mining operations to a successful issue; added to this +the managers are often not conspicuous for their honesty. + +I went over these works, and gave particular attention to the refinery. +Some of the processes for collecting the metal are ingeniously simple +and effective. The copper-ore is remarkably pure, being, it is said, +free from arsenic and antimony. The concern ought to pay, for the copper +is so well esteemed that it obtains the best price in the market. + +After inspecting the place, we went into the inn to have some supper, +and while there, several miners came in. I had heard that they were +renowned for their mining songs down in these parts, so I made friends +with the men and begged them to sing. After a little persuasion and a +refilling of glasses they began. + +The music of their songs was very mournful, and the words equally so, +descriptive of the dangers the poor miner had to encounter in searching +for ore in the gloomy depths of the earth. I believe my companion, the +postmaster, was very puzzled to understand what could interest me in +these rough miners. The scene was exceedingly picturesque; for some six +or eight of these stalwart fellows, with skin and clothes reddened by +the earth, sat by a long table, each with his flask of wine before him, +while the flicker of an oil-lamp threw its yellow light over the group. +One of the men spoke German, and with him I talked. He had elicited from +me the fact of my being an Englishman, whereupon he asked me a variety +of questions about our mines and our forests. Finally he inquired +whether our bears were as large as theirs. When I told him we had none +he could not credit it, saying, "But you must have bears on the +frontier?" When I explained that we lived upon an island he seemed much +surprised. I saw that his natural politeness prevented his saying what +was in his mind, but it was evident he thought that if the English lived +in an island they could not be such a great people after all. + +Not wishing to put my host to expense, more especially as the expedition +was undertaken solely for my benefit and at my suggestion, I paid the +score at the Balanbanya Inn without saying anything. I was very vexed to +find, however, that by doing so I had offended my companion very much. +He reminded me that I was a stranger in Szeklerland and his guest, and +it was contrary to all his ideas of hospitality that I should be the +paymaster. Instead of starting homewards, as we were ready to do, he +ordered more wine and some sardines, being the greatest delicacy the +house afforded. I was obliged to make a show of partaking of something +more, though I had amply supped. For these extras of course my friend +paid, but he was only half appeased, and was never quite the same again. + +The following morning I left the house of my too-hospitable +entertainers. My destination now was St Miklos. My road thither lay +through a pine-forest, as lonely a tract as could well be imagined, for +there were no signs whatever of human habitations. Certainly the weird +solitude of a pine-wood is more impressive than any other kind of forest +scenery. Under the impervious shade and the long grey vistas, one moves +forward with something of a superstitious feeling, as though one were +intruding into the sanctuary of unseen spirits. I cannot say that I was +a prey to such idle fancies, for the spirits I was likely to meet would +be very tangible enemies. This district had a bad reputation, owing to +several robberies having been committed in the neighbourhood; in fact +the whole country was just then under martial law. I was well armed, and +being alone I kept my weather-eye open; but I saw not even the ghost of +a brigand, and reached St Miklos in safety. + +It is usual when incendiary fires or robberies have been rife in any +district to place that part of the country under the _Statorium_, so +that if any person or persons are caught in _flagrante delicto_, they +are summarily tried and hung before a week is over. When I was in +Transylvania in the autumn of '75, the whole of the north-eastern corner +was under the _Statorium_. + +At St Miklos I put up at the house of an Armenian, who received me with +a most frank and kindly welcome, conducting me to the guest-chamber +himself after giving orders to the servants to attend to my horse. St +Miklos is charmingly situated in the valley of Gyergyó, at an elevation +of nearly 3000 feet above the sea-level. Here one is right in amongst +the mountains, the higher summits rising grandly around. The scenery is +very fine. There are interminable forests on every side, broken by +ravines and valleys, with strips of green pasture-land. In former times +these primeval woods were tenanted by the wild aurochs, but now one sees +only the long-horned white cattle and the wiry little horses belonging +to the villages that nestle about in unexpected places. St Miklos is +almost entirely inhabited by Armenians. There is a market here, and it +is considered the central place of the district. The year before my +visit the town was nearly destroyed by fire. Upwards of three hundred +houses were burned down in less than three hours. The loss of property +was considerable, including stores of hay and _kukoricz_ (Indian corn). +Since this conflagration, which caused such widespread distress in the +place, they have established a volunteer fire brigade. This ought to +exist in every village. Prompt action would often arrest the serious +proportions of a fire. It would be a good thing if some substitute could +be found for the wooden tiles used for roofing; in course of time they +become like tinder, and a spark will fire the roof. The houses in +Hungary are not, as a rule, constructed of wood, as in Upper Austria and +Styria, nor are they nearly so picturesque as in that part of the world. +In some Hungarian villages the cottages are painted partly blue and +partly yellow, which has a very odd effect; and throughout the country +they are built with the gable-end to the road. + +When I was at St Miklos there was great excitement over the recent +capture of a famous robber chief, whose band had kept the country-side +in a state of alarm for some months past. I was asked if I would like to +go and see him, and of course I was glad to get a sight at last of one +of the robbers of whom I had heard so much in my travels. I was never +more surprised than, on arriving in front of a very shaky wooden +building, to be told that this was the prison. A few resolute fellows +might have easily broken in and effected the rescue of their chief. + +There was no romance about the appearance of the miserable wretch that +we found within, stretched on a rough bed with wrists and feet heavily +ironed. These manacles were hardly needed, for he was severely wounded, +and seemed incapable of rising from his pallet. I never saw so repulsive +a countenance; and the flatness of the head was quite remarkable. His +eyes were very prominent, and had the restless look of a hunted animal, +which was painful in the extreme; but there was absolutely no redeeming +expression of human feeling in the dark coarse face. Well, there was +something human about him though. I was told he had been photographed +that morning, and that he had expressed considerable satisfaction at the +idea of his portrait being preserved. He was under sentence of death! +There were various stories told of his capture, but I think the +following is the true account. It appears that he and his gang made +their appearance from time to time in the forest round the well-known +watering-place of Borsék. When visitors were on their way to the baths, +they were frequently stopped by the robbers in a mountain pass, in the +immediate neighbourhood of a dense forest that stretches far away for +miles and miles over the frontier. It was the custom of the robbers to +demand all the money, and they would relieve the travellers of their fur +cloaks and overcoats, and other useful articles; but if they did not +offer any resistance, they were permitted to go on uninjured, to take +their cure at the baths. I should doubt, however, that anybody would be +welcome there without a well-filled purse; at least I judge so from what +I heard of the eminently commercial character of the place. + +The robbers had the game in their own hands for a long while, but they +made a mistake one fine day. They stopped a handsome equipage, which +seemed to promise a good haul; but lo, behold, it was the +_Obergespannirz_, the lord-lieutenant of the county! He had four good +horses, and so saved himself by flight. But the authorities now really +bestirred themselves, and the soldiers were called out to exterminate +this troublesome brood. They were accompanied by a renowned bear-slayer +who knew the forest well. It was with great difficulty that they +succeeded at last in tracking the robbers, or rather robber, for it was +only the chief who was trapped after all. It appears that the soldiers +and their guide came upon a small hut surrounded by almost impenetrable +thickets. The hunter crept on in advance of the rest, and looking into +the interior through the chinks of timbers, he saw a man drying his +clothes by a small fire. He quietly said, "Good-day." The robber started +up, and seizing his gun, flung open the door and fired his fowling-piece +at once at his visitor. Fortunately the powder proved to be damp, or he +must have received the full charge. The bear-slayer was now in close +quarters, and fired off his revolver within a short distance of the +other's head. The shot took effect, and he fell in a heap stunned and +senseless. At first they thought he was dead, and it is marvellous that +the well-aimed discharge did not kill him. His skull must have been +uncommonly thick. This fellow was known to be the leader. The rest of +the gang had probably escaped into Moldavia, from whence they came. + +My friends at St Miklos were kind enough to promise to get up a +bear-hunt for me, and it was arranged that I should go and see the +baths of Borsék, and return on Saturday night, so as to be ready for the +bear-hunt on Sunday. The "better observance of the Sabbath" is always +associated with bear-hunting in these parts. + +I left St Miklos in a snowstorm, though it was only the 16th of +September--very early for such signs of winter. I was not prepared for +wintry weather. It frustrated my plans and expectations a good deal. I +was disappointed, too, in the climate, for I had always heard that the +late autumn is about the finest time for Transylvania. + +I have invariably remarked that whenever I go to a new country it is the +signal for "abnormal meteorological disturbances," as they call bad +weather in the newspapers. My own notion is that weather is a very mixed +affair everywhere. + +For three mortal hours I rode on through a blinding snowstorm. At length +I espied the ruin of an unfinished cottage by the wayside, and here I +bethought me I would take shelter and see after my dinner; for whatever +happens, I can be hungry directly afterwards--I think an earthquake +would give me an appetite. + +My unfurnished lodgings were in as wild a spot as imagination could +picture. No wonder that the builder had abandoned the construction of +this solitary dwelling; why it had ever been commenced passes my +comprehension. It was just at the entrance of a mountain valley, +treeless, stony, and rugged, through which there were at intervals the +semblance of a track--a desolate, God-forgotten-looking place. On +consulting the map I found that the "road" led to Moldavia. I resolved +it should not lead me there. Here then, in this dreary spot, with its +gable-end to the road, and turning away from the prospect--and no +wonder--stood the carcass of a cottage. My horse and I scrambled over +the breach in the wall, where a garden never had smiled, and got into +the roofless house. It was with considerable difficulty that I found +sticks enough for my kitchen fire. I had to try back on the route I had +passed, for I remembered not far in the rear a group of firs standing +sentinels in the pass. I always took care to have an end of rope in my +pocket; with this I tied up my fagot, shouldered it, and returned to the +house of entertainment. The result of my trouble was a blazing fire, +whereat I cooked an excellent robber-steak. I made myself some tea, and +afterwards enjoyed--yes, actually enjoyed--my pipe. There is a pleasure +in battling with circumstances, even in such a small affair as getting +one's dinner under difficulties. + +After washing-up (by good-luck there was a stream near by), I packed up +my belongings, and giving a last look around to see that I had left +nothing, I departed without as much as a _pourboire_ for "service," one +of the advantages of self-help. + +The prospect for the rest of my ride was not lively, a good ten miles +yet to be done on a bad road. It had ceased to snow, but the clouds kept +driving down into the valley as if the very heavens themselves were in a +state of mobilisation. It is curious to notice sometimes in the higher +Carpathians how the clouds march continuously through the winding +valleys; always moving and driving on, these compact masses of vapour +are impelled by the currents of air in the defiles which seam the +mountains. + +My way was now through an interminable pine-forest, the road stretching +in a perfectly straight line and at a perceptible rise. Indeed it was +uphill work altogether. The ceaseless dripping of the rain made the +whole scene as cheerless as it well could be. The snow had turned to +cold dull rain, which was far more depressing. I wished the mineral +springs at Borsék had never been discovered. It was too late to turn +back to St Miklos, where I devoutly wished myself, so I had nothing to +do but plod on with my waterproof tight round me. It was impossible to +go fast, for in places the mud was very deep and the road was beset +with big stones. + +It was dark when I reached Borsék, and again I wished I had never come. +The inn was very uncomfortable; there was no fireplace in any of the +rooms. The baths are only used in the height of summer, and if it turns +cold, as it does sometimes at this elevation, people I suppose must +freeze till it gets warm again. I had come a fortnight too late; the +world of fashion departs from Borsék at the end of August. Ten or twelve +springs rise within a short area, and vary curiously in quality and +temperature. The source which is principally used for exportation is +remarkable for the quantity of carbonic acid it contains. About 12,000 +bottles are filled every day; some 1500 on an average break soon after +corking, owing partly to the bad quality of the bottles. There is a +glass manufactory in the place, and though they have good material they +turn out the work badly. + +The export trade in the mineral waters is very large. They are much +valued for long sea voyages, as the water keeps for years without losing +its gaseous qualities.[21] + +The baths of Borsék belong to two different parishes, and they are by no +means agreed as to the management. Some years ago the principal spring +was struck by lightning and entirely lost for a time, but after much +digging it was found again. The situation of Borsék is extremely +romantic, and in the height of summer it must be very delightful; but in +summer only--let no one follow my example and go there out of season. Of +course the place is surrounded by magnificent forests, but it is a +crying shame to see how they have been treated. In every direction there +is evidence of the ravages of fire. You may see in a morning's walk the +blackened stems of thousands of trees, the results of Wallack +incendiarism. If the Wallacks go on destroying the forests in this way, +they will end in injuring the value of the place as a health resort; for +the efficacy of the perfumed air of the pine-woods is well known, +especially for all nervous diseases. + +The houses are badly built at Borsék, and the arrangements for comfort +are very incomplete. Most of the habitations appear to have been run up +with green wood; the result may be pleasant and airy in summer, when the +balmy breeze comes in from cracks in the doors and window-frames, but +except in great heat, a perforated house is a mistake. People have to +bring their own servants and other effects. I should say a portable +stove would not be a bad item amongst the luggage. + +The Borsék waters are very much drunk throughout Hungary, especially +mixed with wine. Everywhere I noticed that eight people out of ten would +take water with their wine at meals. In the district round there is +splendid pasturage for cattle. Large numbers of cattle fed in these +parts are now sent to Buda-Pest and Vienna. The serious drawback to +Borsék is its great distance from a railway. The nearest station is +Maros Vásárhely, which is nearly ninety miles away. The drive between +the two places is very fine--that is, the scenery is fine, but the road +itself is execrable. A telegraph wire connects Borsék with the outside +world, but the post only comes twice a-week. + +[Footnote 21: The waters of Borsék are much taken as an "after-cure."] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + Moldavian frontier--Tölgyes--Excitement about robbers--Attempt at + extortion--A ride over the mountains--Return to St Miklos. + + +Instead of going back to St Miklos by the same route, I resolved to +diverge a little if the weather permitted. I wanted to visit Tölgyes, a +village on the frontier of Moldavia, which is said to be very pretty. +The weather decidedly improved, so I rode off in that direction. The +road, owing to the late rains, was in a dreadful state. All the mountain +summits were covered with fresh snow; it was a lovely sight. The +dazzling whiteness of these peaks rising above the zone of dark +fir-trees was singularly striking and beautiful. The effect of sunshine +was exhilarating in the highest degree, and the contrast with my recent +experience gave it a keener relish. + +At Tölgyes there is a considerable trade with Moldavia in wood. Quite a +fresh human interest was imparted to the scene by this industry. By the +side of the stream small rafts were in course of construction, and the +trunks of the trees were being placed in position to make the descent of +the stream. The woodman's axe was heard in the forest, and many a +picturesque hut or group of huts were to be seen by the roadside, where +the woodmen and their families live, to be near their work. The labour +of getting the timber along these tortuous mountain streams is very +great. A ready market is found at Galatz, where a great deal of this +wood is sent. + +I remained the night at Tölgyes. The whole place was in a state of +excitement about brigands; every one had some fresh rumour to help swell +the general panic. A company of soldiers were kept constantly patrolling +the roads in the neighbourhood. I should say they were pretty safe not +to encounter the robbers, who are always well informed under those +circumstances. + +In studying my pocket-map, I found that there was clearly a short cut +over the mountains to St Miklos. On inquiry I extracted the confirmation +of the fact with difficulty, and I had still more difficulty in inducing +anybody to go with me as a guide. At length I secured the services of a +fellow who was willing to go for a tolerably substantial +"consideration." I was afraid to work my way entirely by the map, for +roads are apt to be vague in these parts. Ten chances to one whether +you know a road when you see it; it might be a green sward, or the +rubbly dry bed of a mountain torrent, or a cattle-track; it may lead +somewhere or nowhere. Unassisted you may wander all manner of ways. + +I made my start very early in the morning, for I had a long way to go, +and my guide was on foot; there was not much use in being mounted, +considering the pace that the roughness of the road forced us to take. +Before leaving Tölgyes I had a row with the innkeeper. He made a most +exorbitant demand upon me, at least three times over what was properly +due. I told him at once that I declined to pay the full amount he asked. +I knew perfectly well what the charge ought to be, and I said I should +pay that and no more. Hereupon he got very angry, and informed me that +he should not saddle my horse or let me go till I had paid him in full. +I immediately went into the stable and saddled the horse myself; I then +put down on the window-seat the money which I considered was due to him, +giving a fair and liberal margin, but I was not going to be "done" +because I was a foreigner. I ordered my guide to proceed, and I myself +quickly rode out of the place. The innkeeper worked himself up into a +tremendous rage, and declared he would have me back, or at least he +would have his cold meat and bread back that I had ordered for the +journey. I gave my horse the rein, and left the fellow uttering his +blessings both loud and deep. + +We had ten miles of as bad a road as any I had yet seen in my travels. +The mud in some places was two feet deep. We followed the windings of a +stream called the Putna Patak, and came presently to a wayside inn +frequented by foresters. Here we made a short halt, got a bottle of +decent wine and a crust of bread. Immediately on quitting this place we +turned into a less frequented path, and began a stiffish ascent. It was +a superb day, and I enjoyed it immensely, not having been much favoured +by weather lately. Our route was through a thick forest, the trees, as +usual in these, magnificent, with their gigantic girth, and +widespreading branches. At times I got a glimpse of the snowy mountain +summits standing out against the intensely blue sky. + +At mid-day I told the guide to look out for the next spring, for there +we would dine. We did not find a spring for some time, at least not by +the wayside, and I was reluctant to lose time by wandering about. At +length when we had secured a water-tap--viz., a little trickling rill +flowing between some stones and spongy moss--we found ourselves in a +difficulty about the fire. There was plenty of wood, but it was all +soaking wet and would not burn. Luckily a fir-tree was spied out, which +provided us with a good quantity of turpentine, and with this we +persuaded the fire to blaze up a bit. We cooked the dinner, had a smoke, +a short rest, and then _en avant_--always through the forest. + +Later in the afternoon, emerging from the wood, we came upon a grassy +plateau which commanded a glorious view of the Transylvanian side of the +Carpathians. I was glad to see the familiar valley of Gyergyó away +westward, with its numerous villages and green pasturage. The same +physical peculiarity pervades the whole of Hungary. Whenever you get a +vale of any extent, it is as flat as if it were a bit of the great +plain. Everywhere you have the impression that formerly the waters of a +lake must have covered the level verdure of the valley. As soon as I +caught sight of St Miklos I dismissed my guide, for his services were no +longer required, and I could get on quicker without him. I had still a +long distance to go, for I was not far below the summit. I was extremely +anxious to get into safe quarters before dark, so I made the best of the +way, leading my horse down the steep bits, and mounting again for a +short trot where it was possible. + +On arriving at the house of my Armenian friends at St Miklos, happily +before sundown, I was greatly disappointed to find that there would be +no bear-hunt the next day. Those detestable robbers had turned up again, +and the people who were to have formed part of the sporting expedition +were obliged to go robber-hunting, a sport not much to their taste I +fancy. + +It appeared that the fellows had entered an out-of-the-way inn, or +rather wine-shop, and boldly ordered the owner to procure for them a +certain amount of gunpowder, which they required should be ready for +them the next day, and failing to carry out their orders, they +threatened to shoot him. He was obliged to promise, for there were five +of them, and except women he was alone in the house. They drank a +quantity of his wine, and asked for no reckoning, saying they would pay +for it the next day along with the gunpowder. + +Directly they had left the premises, the innkeeper set off as fast as +his legs could carry him to St Miklos to ask for help. The robbers +seemed to be such bunglers that one would judge them to be new to the +business; but the innkeeper's terror knew no bounds, and he declared +they were awful-looking cut-throats. Two of the men were caught the +next day. I saw them brought into the village heavily manacled; they +were harmless-looking Wallacks, not very different in appearance from my +guide over the mountain. Though armed with guns, they made no +resistance; and when they were discovered they had called out lustily to +the soldiers not to fire, for they would give themselves up. I expect +they were let off with imprisonment, but I never heard the end of the +story. I owed them a grudge for spoiling my bear-hunt, which I missed +altogether, for I could not wait until the following Sunday. + +I left St Miklos with an introduction to some rich Armenians at +Toplicza, where I intended making my next halt. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + Toplicza--Armenian hospitality--A bear-hunt--A ride over to the + frontier of Bukovina--Destruction of timber--Maladministration of + State property--An unpleasant night on the mountain--Snowstorm. + + +At Toplicza I was very hospitably received by the family to whom I took +the letter of introduction from my friends at the last place. +Unfortunately I could not converse with the elders of the family, for +they spoke no German, and my Hungarian was limited. However, there was a +charming young lady with whom I found no difficulty in getting on; she +understood not only the language but the literature of Germany. + +A bear-hunt was soon proposed in my honour. The headman of the village +was brought into our council, and he quickly sent round orders that +everybody was to appear the following day--which conveniently happened +to be _fête_ day--for a hunt. Those who had guns would be placed at +different "stands," and those who had no guns were expected to act as +beaters. + +The _Richter_, or headman, was a fine specimen of a Wallack; he was six +feet three, broad chested, with flowing black hair--a handsome fellow of +that type. I told him I should not like to fight him if he knew how to +use his fists. He was pleased at the little compliment. The next day the +Wallacks came pouring in from all the outlying parts of the village. It +was really a very picturesque sight. The men wore thongs of leather +round their feet in place of boots; and those who had no guns were armed +with the usual long staff surmounted by the formidable axe-head. + +A great deal of time was wasted in preparations. The Wallacks are the +most dilatory people in the whole world. It was nearly three o'clock +before we got to the forests where we hoped to give Bruin a rendezvous. +The guns that some of the party carried were "a caution"--more fit for a +museum of armoury than for anything else. The Wallacks try to remedy the +inefficiency of their guns by cramming in very large charges of powder, +at least two bullets, and some buckshot besides. I often thought the +danger was greater to themselves than to the bear. They never fire over +twenty-five yards, and in fact generally allow the bear to come within +twelve yards, when they pepper away at him. + +At last we were in position. It is usual to have a second gun, but I +had only my rifle and revolver; unfortunately my gun was with my baggage +at Maros Vásárhely. After waiting for some time without hearing anything +but the creaking of the pine-trees in the wind, the advance of the +beaters was at length audible. You hear repeated thuds with their axes +on the trees, and you know that they are beating up your way. All at +once I heard the unmistakable tread of some heavy four-footed beast. I +held my breath, fearing to betray my presence. Nearer and nearer came +the heavy tread, the branches cracking as the animal broke its way +through the thicket. It must be a bear of the largest size, thought I, +with a glow of delight warming up my whole frame at this supreme moment. +I had just raised the rifle to my shoulder, when--judge my disgust--when +emerging from the thicket I saw a stray ox make his appearance! I could +hardly resist putting a bullet into the stupid brute's carcass, but I +remembered that I should have to pay for that little game. + +We moved on to another part of the forest, and the same programme of +taking our positions and arranging the course of the beaters was gone +through; but we met with no success. This was the more provoking, +because on our return we found the fresh slot of a bear. He had +evidently just saved himself in time; the marks of his claws were quite +visible in the soft mud. + +These footprints were all we were destined to see, for evening was +drawing on, and it was impossible to pursue the sport any farther. Of +course we commenced operations far too late in the day; it was simply +ridiculous to begin at such a late hour in the autumn afternoon. It was +very disappointing; but there is so much of mere chance in bear-hunting, +that where one man has the luck to kill four or five in a season, +another may go on for two years following without getting as much as a +shot. + +The sportsman will be glad to hear, though the farmer is of quite +another mind, that bears, wolves, and wild-boar are increasing very much +in the Carpathians generally. I have mentioned this fact before, but I +allude to it again because it was everywhere corroborated. On all sides +this increase is attributed to the tax on firearms, which deters the +peasants from keeping them down. They are often too poor to pay for a +shooting licence and the gun-tax. + +Toplicza has some warm mineral springs. Warm water seems to be turned on +everywhere in Hungary. One of these springs is situated close to the +river, where a simple kind of bath-house has been constructed. The water +contains iodine. While at Toplicza I heard that somewhere up in the +mountains on the Bukovina side there is a large deposit of sulphur. The +accounts were very vague, but I thought I should like to have a look at +the place. The district was pronounced to be so unsafe, and so many +robbers had appeared on the scene lately, that I thought proper to take +two men with me; one as a guide, for he had been there before, and a +forester armed with a gun. + +My friends the Armenians kindly insisted on providing me with everything +necessary in the shape of food; and one day, the weather being fine, I +started at noon on this expedition along with my attendants. We soon got +into the forest again. The size of the trees was almost beyond belief; +but, alas! many of them had been destroyed in the same ruthless manner +that I have so often alluded to in my travels. Here were half-burned +trunks of splendid oak-trees lying rotting on the ground in every +direction, showing clearly that the forest had been fired. The attempt +at a clearing, if that was the object, was utterly abortive; for when +the trees are down a thick undercover grows up, more impervious by far, +and there is less chance of obtaining pasturage than ever, but the +Wallack never reasons upon this. The State reckons the value of its +"forests" at something like 27,000,000 florins, and yet there is no +efficient supervision of this property, which, from the increasing +scarcity of wood in Europe, must become in time more and more valuable. +The mines of Hungary are estimated in round numbers at 210,000,000 +florins, and here again there is a lamentable absence of wise +administration. The mining laws, I understand, are at present under +revision. Foreign enterprise is not discouraged, but I cannot go so far +as to say that the adventure would not meet with difficulties from local +obstructions of an official or semi-official nature. + +We had started from Toplicza in beautiful weather, but before sunset a +complete change came on, and heavy rain set in. This was a very +uncomfortable look-out, for we could see nothing that offered us +anything like a decent shelter for the night. The guide urged us to go +on, for he said there was a hut at the top of the mountain; so we beat +our way along through the driving rain, and eventually came to the top. +We soon found the hut, but it was a mere ruin; it might have been in +Chancery for any number of years, indeed one end had tumbled in. It was +as uninviting a place to spend a night in as could well be imagined. +Fortunately one corner was still weather-proof, the fir bark of the roof +yet remaining intact. We had to be careful, however, about the roof, +which consisted of stems of trees supported longitudinally. It was easy +to see that a very little incautious vivacity on our part would bring +the whole structure down on our heads. Water was found not far off, and +we soon had a fire, which blazed up cheerfully. Its warmth was very +necessary, for it was bitterly cold and damp. I had brought with me a +hammock made of twine; this I slung in the driest corner, and after +supper I turned in and was soon asleep. The faculty of sleep is an +immense comfort. A man may put it high up on the credit side in striking +the balance of good and evil in his lot. + +When I awoke the next morning, I found that the weather was worse than +ever. The mist was so dense that the Wallack guide said it was perfectly +impossible to go on, in fact we might consider ourselves lucky if we +were able to get back without mischance. Not to be daunted, I waited +till nearly noon, thinking it was possible that the mist might rise, and +restore to us the bright skies of yesterday. A change came, but not the +one we hoped for. The cold rain turned into snow, so it would have been +sheer madness to think of going on. + +We were in a wretched plight, crowded together in the corner of the +ruined hut, and snow as well as "light" came in "through the chinks that +time had made." Owing to a change in the wind, the smoke of the fire +outside drifted in; and there was evidence of a worse drift--that of the +snow, which before nightfall I daresay may have buried the cottage out +of sight. + +I now gave orders for returning, and just as I stepped out of the hut, +or was in the act of leaving, one of the heavy beams from the roof fell +upon me; it caught me on the back of my head--a pretty close shave! The +ride back, with the consciousness of having failed to attain the object +I had in view, was depressing. Nothing could be more unlovely than these +once glorious forests. In parts we had to pass through a mere morass, +into which my horse kept sinking. + +At last we got back to Toplicza. The forester and the Wallack thought +themselves amply compensated by a few paper florins. I daresay they kept +off the rheumatism by extra potations of _slivovitz_. As for myself, +having been dipped, yea, having even undergone total immersion in the +morass, I felt like those extinct animals who have left their +interesting bones nice and dry in the blue lias, but who in daily life +must have been "mud all over." I presented such a spectacle on my +return, that I consider it was an instance of the greatest +kindness--indeed it must have been a severe strain on the hospitality +of my friends to give me house-room. + +As my garments had not the durability of those of the Israelites in the +wilderness, it became a very desirable object to effect a junction with +my portmanteau, which was sitting all this time at Maros Vásárhely. The +weather, too, had calmed my ardour for the mountains, and I resolved to +strike into the interior of Transylvania, and see something of the +towns. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + Visits at Transylvanian châteaux--Society--Dogs--Amusements at + Klausenburg--Magyar poets--Count Istvan Széchenyi--Baron + Eötvos--'The Village Notary'--Hungarian self-criticism--Literary + taste. + + +I must now drop the itinerary of my journey and speak more in +generalities; for after leaving the wilder districts of the Szeklerland, +I took the opportunity of presenting some of the letters of introduction +that I brought with me from England. + +For the succeeding six weeks or more I spent my time most agreeably in +the châteaux of some of the well-known Transylvanian nobles. For the +time my wild rovings were over. The bivouac in the glorious forest and +robber-steak cooked by the camp fire--the pleasures of "roughing +it"--were exchanged for the charms of society. + +And society is _very_ charming in Transylvania. Nearly all the ladies +speak English well, and are extremely well read in our literature. To +speak French is a matter of course everywhere; but they infinitely +prefer our literature, and speak our language always in preference when +they can. + +The works of such men as Darwin, Lyell, and Tyndall are read. I remember +seeing these, and many other leading authors, in a bookseller's shop in +Klausenburg. It is true this last-named place is the capital--viz., the +Magyar capital--of Transylvania, but in most respects it is a mere +provincial town. + +A friend and myself happened to be lunching one day in the principal +inn--it was in the _salle à manger_--and we were talking together in +English. Presently I noticed a remarkably little man at the next table, +who looked towards us several times; finally he got up from his chair, +or rather I should say got down, and making a sign to us equivalent to +touching his hat, he said, "Gentlemen, I am an Englishman; I thought it +right to tell you in case you should think there was no one present who +understood what you were talking!" It was very civil of the little +fellow, for we were talking rather unguardedly about some well-known +personages. I then asked him how he came to be in this part of the +world, and he told me he was a jockey, and had been over several times +to ride at the Klausenburg races; but he added he was very sorry that +they always took place on a Sunday! There is certainly no "_bitter_ +observance of the Sabbath" in Hungary generally. Offices are open, and +business is conducted as usual--certainly in the morning. + +There is some good coursing in the neighbourhood of Klausenburg, which +is kept up closely on the pattern of English sport. I had two or three +good runs with the harriers, and on one occasion got a spill that was a +close shave of breaking my neck. Count T---- had given me a mount. The +horse was all right, but not knowing the nature of the country, I was +not aware that the ground drops suddenly in many places. Coming to +something of this kind without preparation, the horse threw me, and I +was pitched down an embankment upwards of twelve feet in depth. Several +people who saw the mishap thought it was all up with me, but, curiously +enough, I was absolutely unhurt. A pull at my flask set me all right, +and I walked back the five miles to Klausenburg. The horse unfortunately +galloped away, and was not brought back till the next day, and then +minus his saddle; however, it was recovered subsequently. + +In the present scare about hydrophobia the following is worth notice. +One day when walking in the principal street of Klausenburg I heard a +great barking amongst the dogs, of which there were some dozen following +a closed van. On inquiry I found that once a-week the authorities send +round to see if there are any dogs at large without the regulation +tax-collar. If any such vagabonds are found they are consigned to the +covered cart, and are forthwith shot. This excellent arrangement has the +effect of keeping down the number of dogs; besides, there is the +safeguard attendant upon the responsibility of ownership. The funny part +of the matter is that the tax-paying dogs are not the least alarmed at +the appearance of the whipper-in, but join with great show of public +spirit in denouncing the collarless vagrants. + +Klausenburg has not the picturesque situation of Kronstadt, but it is a +pleasant clean-looking town, with wide streets diverging from the Platz, +where stands the Cathedral, completed by Matthias Corvinus, son of +Hunyadi. This famous king, always called "the Just," was born at +Klausenburg in 1443. + +As Herrmannstadt and Kronstadt are chiefly inhabited by Saxon +immigrants, and Maros Vásárhely is the central place of the Szeklers, so +may Klausenburg, or rather Kolozsvár, as it is rightly named, be +considered the Magyar capital of Transylvania. + +The gaieties of the winter season had not commenced when I was there, +but I understand the world amuses itself immensely. The nobles come in +from their remote châteaux to their houses, or apartments, as it may be, +in town, and then the ball is set going. + +There is a good theatre in Klausenburg. I found the acting decidedly +above the average of the provincial stage generally. I saw a piece of +Moliere's given, and though I could only understand the Hungarian very +imperfectly, I was enabled to follow it well enough to judge of the +acting. + +Shakespeare is so great a favourite with the Hungarians that his plays +are certainly more often represented on the stage at Buda-Pest than in +London. The Hungarian translation of our great poet, as I observed +before, is most excellent. + +It was a band of patriotic poets who first employed the language of the +Magyars in their compositions. Hitherto all literary utterance had been +confined to Latin, or to the foreign tongues spoken at courts. The rash +attempt of Joseph II. to denationalise the Magyar and to Germanise +Hungary by imperial edicts had a violent reactionary result. The +strongest and the most enduring expression is to be found in the popular +literature which was inaugurated by such men as Csokonai and the two +brothers Kisfaludy, who were all three born in the last century. The +songs of Csokonai have retained their hold on the people's hearts +because, and here is the keynote--"because they breathe the true +Hungarian feeling." The insistent themes of the Magyar poets were the +love of country, the joys of home, the duty of patriotism. Such was the +soul-stirring 'Appeal' ('Szózat') of Varósmazty, the chief of all the +tuneful brethren, the Schiller of Hungary. Born with the nineteenth +century, and at once its child and its teacher, he died in 1855--too +soon, alas! to see the benefits accruing to his beloved country from the +wise reconciliatory policy of his dear friend Deák. His funeral was +attended by more than 20,000 people, and the country provided for his +family. + +Whenever the poets of Hungary are mentioned the name of Petoefy will +occur, and he was second to none in originality of thought and poetic +utterance. An intense love of his native scenery, not excepting even the +dreary boundless Alföld, afforded inspiration for his genius. His poetic +temperament and pathetic story give him a certain likeness to the brave +young Körner, dear to every German heart. Petoefy was engaged in editing +a Hungarian translation of Shakespeare when he was interrupted by the +political events of 1848. His pen and sword were alike devoted to the +cause of patriotism, and entering the army under General Bern, he +became his adjutant and secretary. During the memorable winter campaign +in Transylvania he wrote proclamations and warlike songs. We all know +the story of the Russian invasion of Transylvania at Austria's appeal, +and how the brave Hungarians fought and fell at the battle of +Schässburg. This engagement took place on the 31st of July '49. Petoefy +was present, and indeed had been seen in the thick of the fight; but in +the evening he was missing from the roll-call, and, strange to say, his +remains, though searched for, were never identified. The mystery which +hung over his fate caused many romantic stories to be circulated, and +not a few claimants to his name and fame have arisen. Even within the +last three months a report has reached his native village that he had +been seen in the mines of Siberia, where he has been kept a prisoner all +these years by the Russians! + +The language of the Magyars was heard not in poetry alone, but in the +sternest prose. "Hungary is not, but Hungary shall be," said Count +Széchcnyi. The men who worked out this problem were politicians, +writers, and orators. Foremost among them may be reckoned Baron Eötvos, +one of the most liberal-minded and enlightened thinkers of the day. His +efforts were specially directed to improving the education of all +classes of the community. With this end and aim he worked unceasingly. +He held the post of Minister of Cultus and Education in the first +independent Hungarian Ministry in 1848, but withdrew in consequence of +political differences with his colleagues. Again in 1867 he held the +same _porte-feuille_ under Count Andrassy, but died in 1870 universally +regretted. His best known literary productions arc two novels, 'The +Carthusian' and 'The Village Notary,' The latter highly-interesting, +indeed dramatic story, may be recommended to any one who desires to know +what really were the sufferings entailed upon the peasantry under the +old system of forced labour. It is one of those fictions which, as old +Walter Savage Landor used to say, "are more true than fact." It was the +'Uncle Tom's Cabin' of that day, and of the cause he had at heart--the +abolition of serfdom. In reading this most thrilling story, one can +understand the evil times that gave birth to the terrible saying of the +peasant, "that a lord is a lord, even in hell." + +Yet it was the nobles themselves who abolished at one sweep all the +privileges of their order. It was by their unanimous consent that the +manumission of nearly eight millions of serfs was granted, at the same +time converting the feudal holdings of some 500,000 families into +absolute freeholds. + +In Hungary it would appear that public opinion is generously receptive +of new impulses, and in this particular the Hungarians resemble us, as +they claim to do in many things, calling themselves "the English of the +East." + +"It is curious," said Baroness B---- to me one day, "that with all our +respect for British institutions, and everything that is English, that +we fail to copy their straight good sense. We have too many talkers, too +few workers. We are not yet a money-making nation; we have no idea of +serious work, and our spirit for business is not yet developed. Almost +all industrial or commercial enterprises are in the hands of Jews, +Armenians, Greeks, who are great scoundrels generally." + +"The Armenians are instinctive traders," I remarked. + +"Yes, true; just as we are the very reverse. But this change has come +over us. Taking again our cue from England, we see that trade can be +respectable, and those who follow it are respected--with you at least. +We try to _Englishify_ ourselves, and some of the younger members of the +community make a funny hash of it. For instance, a rich young country +swell in our neighbourhood went over to England and came back in +raptures with everything, and tried to turn everything upside down at +home without accommodating his new ideas to the circumstances that were +firmly rooted here. You may see him now sit down to dinner with an +English dresscoat over his red Hungarian waistcoat. His freaks went far +beyond this, and he came to be known as the 'savage Englishman.'" + +I asked my hostess if our English novels were much read. + +"Everybody likes your English fiction," replied Baroness B----. "It is +immensely read, and has helped to promote the knowledge of the language +more perhaps than anything else. We, too, have our writers of fiction. +Jokai is the most prolific, but he has got to be too much an imitator of +the French school. One of his earlier novels, 'The New Landlord,' has +been translated into English, and gives a good picture of Hungarian life +in the transition state of things. For elegance of style he is not to be +compared to Gzulai Paul and Baron Eötvos." + +"There seems to be a growing interest in natural history and +literature," I remarked, "judging from the enormous increase of +newspapers and journals which pass through the post, both foreign and +local." + +"With regard to local journals," replied the Baroness, "we have the +'Osszehasonlitó irodalomtörténelmi Lapok' ('Comparative Literary +Journal'), which is published at Klausenburg, at Herrmannstadt, and at +Kesmark in Upper Hungary. There are Natural History Societies, who +publish their reports annually. Added to this, there are few towns of +any size that have not their public libraries. I speak specially of +Transylvania, where we affect a higher degree of culture than in Hungary +Proper." + +Baroness B---- was very anxious to impress upon me that certainly in +Transylvania the ladies of good society do not affect "fast" manners or +style. "Very few amongst us," she said, "adopt the nasty habit of +smoking cigarettes. I am very sorry that Countess A---- has attempted to +introduce this fashion from Pest." + +Buda-Pest, though the capital, is not the place to find the best +Hungarian society. Many of the old families prefer Pressburg; and +Klausenburg is to Transylvania what Edinburgh was to Scotland, socially +speaking, before the days of railroads. In the season good society may +be met with at the various baths, but every year the facilities of +travel enable people to go farther a-field health-seeking and for +pleasure. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + A visit at Schloss B------National characteristics--Robber + stories--Origin of the "poor lads"--Audacity of the + robbers--Anecdote of Deák and the housebreaker--Romantic story of a + robber chief. + + +The three weeks I remained at Schloss B---- were amongst the most +agreeable days I spent in Transylvania. There were a great many visitors +coming and going, affording me an excellent opportunity of seeing the +society of that part of Hungary. With regard to the younger generation, +the Transylvanians are like well-bred people all the world over. The +ladies have something of the frankness of superior Americans--the sort +of Americans that Lord Lytton describes in 'The Parisians'--and in +consequence conversation has more vivacity than with us. + +In the elder generation you may detect far more of national peculiarity; +in some cases they retain the national dress, and with it the Magyar +pride and ostentation, so strongly dashed with Orientalism. Then again, +in the houses of the old nobility, one is struck by many curious +incongruities. For example, Count T---- has a large retinue of +servants--five cooks are hardly able at times to supply his hospitable +board, so numerous are the guests--yet the walls of his rooms are simply +whitewashed, and the furniture is a mixture of costly articles from +Vienna and the handiwork of the village carpenter. A whole array of +servants, who are in gorgeous liveries at dinner, may be seen barefooted +in the morning. + +In talking with some of the elderly members of the family, I heard many +curious anecdotes of old Hungarian customs; but "the old order changeth" +here as elsewhere, and a monotonous uniformity threatens the social +world. Even as it is, everybody who entertains his friends at dinner is +much the same as everybody else, be he in Monmouth or Macedon. +Distinctive characteristics of race are found more easily in the common +people, who are less amenable to the change of fashion than their +superiors. Baroness B---- had a complete repertory of robber stories, +some of which are so characteristic that I will repeat them here. + +I have before alluded to the peculiarity which existed in the old system +preserving to the peasant his personal freedom, though the land was +burdened with duties. It was not till 1838 that the Austrians +introduced the conscription, and subsequently they carried out the law +with a brutality that made the innovation thoroughly detested by the +peasantry. Accustomed to their tradition of personal freedom, the forced +military service in itself was regarded with intense dislike. The richer +classes were enabled to pay a certain sum of money for exemption, but +the poor were helpless; they were dragged from their houses and sent to +distant parts of the empire, to serve for a long period of years. As +cases had not unfrequently occurred of the recruits running away, they +were subjected to the ignominy of being chained together in gangs; and +as if this was not enough, many superfluous brutalities were inflicted +by the Austrian officials. + +To escape from this hated service, many a young man fled from his home +in anticipation of the next levy of the conscription, and hid himself in +the shepherds' _tanya_ in the plain. These remote dwellings in the +distant _puszta_ were no bad hiding--places, and the fugitives were +freely harboured by the shepherds, who shared the animosity of the "poor +lads" against the Austrian conscription. In course of time these outlaws +found honest work difficult to procure; they became, in short, vagabonds +on the face of the earth, and ended by forming themselves into robber +bands. They had also their class grievance against the rich, who had +been enabled to buy themselves off from serving in the army. The numbers +of the original fugitives were soon increased by evil-doers from all +sides--ruffians who had a natural bent for rapine--and a plague of +robbers was the result, threatening all parts of Hungary. The mischief +grew to such serious proportions, and it transpired that the robbers had +everywhere accomplices in the towns and villages. Persons of apparently +respectable position were suspected of favouring them; they were called +"poor lads," and a glamour of patriotism was flung over the fugitives +from Austrian tyranny. + +During the war of independence these robber bands rallied round their +elected chief, Shandor Bozsa, and actually offered their services to the +Hungarian Government, as they desired to take part in the great national +struggle. The Provisional Government accepted their services, and they +came pouring in from every part of the country. At first they behaved +very well, and in fact many of these "irregulars" distinguished +themselves by acts of great valour. In the end it was the old story; +they soon showed a degree of insubordination that rendered them worse +than useless to the regular army. By the time the struggle for +independence had found its melancholy ending at Villagos, these fellows +were again at their old tricks of horse-stealing and cattle-lifting, and +they went so far as to waylay even the _honved_, the national Hungarian +militia. The well-disposed part of the community was powerless to resist +the robbers, for after the disastrous events of 1849 the Austrian +Government prohibited the possession of firearms, even for hunting +purposes, so that villages and towns, one might almost say, were at the +mercy of a band of well-armed robbers. The Government were so busy +hunting down political conspirators, and hanging, shooting, and +imprisoning patriots, that they were indifferent to the increase of +brigandage. The statistics of the political persecutions which Hungary +suffered at the hands of Austria during the ten years that followed +Villagos were significant. Upwards of two thousand persons were +sentenced to death, nearly ten times that number were thrown into +prison, and almost five thousand Hungarian patriots were driven into +exile--amongst the number Deák, the yet-to-be saviour of his country. + +But to return to the robbers. They had spread themselves over the whole +land; from the forests of Bakony to Transylvania, from the Carpathians +to the Danube, no place was free from these desperate marauders. They +committed incredible deeds of boldness. On one occasion seven or eight +robbers attacked a caravan of thirty waggons in the neighbourhood of +Szegedin, the cavalcade being on its way to the fair in that town. The +traders were without a single firearm amongst them, so that the +fully--armed brigands effected their purpose, though it was broad +daylight. Another time they entered a market town in Transylvania and +coolly demanded that the broken wheel of their waggon should be mended, +threatening to shoot down anybody who offered the slightest opposition. +The post was frequently stopped, but it came to be remarked, that though +the passengers were generally killed, the drivers escaped. This, +together with the fact that the post was always stopped when there were +large sums of money in course of transit, led the authorities to suspect +that their employés were in collusion with the robbers, and subsequent +events proved this to be the case. + +When the hostility of Austria had somewhat cooled down, the dangerous +up-growth of these robber bands attracted the serious attention of the +Government, and not only _gendarmerie_ but military force were employed +against them. The officials to a man were Germans and Bohemians, +indifferently honest, and hated by the peasantry, who, after all, +preferred a Hungarian robber to an Austrian official. The consequence +was that they were not by any means very ready to depose against the +"poor lads," and the Government found themselves unequal to cope with +the difficulty, so things went from bad to worse. + +In 1867, when at last the reconciliation policy of Deák had effected a +substantial peace with Austria, the Hungarian Constitution being +reestablished, and the towns and _comitats_ (counties) having got back +their prerogatives and self-government, the intolerable evil of +brigandage was at once brought before the attention of the Parliament +assembled at Buda-Pest. There were a great many speeches made upon the +subject, and Count Forgács with a considerable military force was +despatched to Zala and the adjoining country against the robbers. He +simply drove them out of one part of the country to carry on their +devastations in another, and dreadful robberies and murders were +reported from Szegedin. On several occasions the post was stopped, and +the passengers were invariably killed. They even stopped the railway +train one day at Péteri. + +Government were now obliged to take stronger measures. They recalled +Count Forgács, and despatched Count Rádaz as Royal Commissary with +augmented powers, Parliament in the mean time voting a grant of 60,000 +florins for the purpose. + +The energetic measures taken by Count Rádaz led to some remarkable +disclosures. He discovered that tradesmen, magistrates, and other +employés in towns and villages were in communication with the brigands, +and in fact shared the booty. It came to be remarked that certain +persons returned suddenly to their homes after a mysterious absence, +which corresponded with the commission of some desperate outrage in +another part of the country. + +In the space of fifteen months Count Rádaz had to deal with nearly six +hundred cases of capital offences, and no less than two hundred of the +malefactors were condemned to the gallows. + +"Wherever they can the peasants will shelter the 'poor lads' from the +law," said my friend. "It happened only last spring in our neighbourhood +that a robber had been tracked to a village, but though this had +happened on several occasions, yet the authorities failed to find him. +It was known that he had a sweetheart there, a handsome peasant girl, +who was herself a favourite with everybody. One day, however, the +soldiers discovered him hidden in a hay-loft. There was a terrible +struggle; the robber, discharging his revolver, killed one man and +wounded another. At length he was secured, strongly bound, and placed in +a waggon to be conveyed to the nearest fortress. When passing through a +wood the convoy was set upon by a lot of women, who flung flowers into +the waggon, and a little farther on a rescue was attempted; but the +military were in strong force, and the villagers had to content +themselves with loud expressions of sympathy for the 'poor lad.' He was, +in truth, a handsome, gallant young fellow--open-handed, generous to the +poor, and with the courage of a lion--just the sort of hero for a +mischievous romance." + +The following story, related by my friend Baroness B----, proves that +there were men amongst these outlaws who were not destitute of patriotic +feeling. In the year 1867 a band of "poor lads" surprised a country +gentleman's house by night. It was their habit to ask for money and +valuables, and woe betide those who refused, unless they were strong +enough to resist the demand. Horrible atrocities were committed by these +miscreants, who have been known to torture the inhabitants of lonely +dwellings, finishing their brutal work by setting fire to house and +homestead. + +On the occasion above named the robber band consisted of more than a +dozen well-armed men, and as the household was but small, resistance +was out of the question. They made a forcible entrance, and were going +the round of every room in the house, collecting all valuables of a +portable nature, when it chanced that they entered the guest-chamber, +that had for its occupant no less a person than the great patriot +Francis Deák. The intruders instantly pounced on a very handsome gold +watch lying on a table near the bedside. Mr Deák, thus rudely disturbed, +awoke to the unpleasant fact that his much-prized watch was in the hands +of the robbers. Giving them credit for some feelings of patriotism, he +simply told them who he was, adding that the watch was the keepsake of a +dear departed friend, and begged they would restore it to him. On +hearing his name the chief immediately handed the watch back, +apologising "very much for breaking in on the repose of honoured Mr +Deák, whom they held in so much respect," adding "that the nature of +their occupation obliged them to make use of the hours of the night for +their work." + +The chance of interviewing Mr Deák was not to be neglected, so the +robber chief sat down by the bedside of the statesman and had a chat +about political affairs, and finally took his leave with many +expressions of respect. Not an article of Mr Deák's was touched; they +even contented themselves with a very moderate amount of black-mail +from the master of the house, and no one was personally injured in any +way. + +My next story is a very romantic one; it was related to me by an English +friend who was travelling in Hungary as long ago as 1846, when the +circumstance had recently occurred. It seems that in those days a +certain lady, the widow of a wealthy magnate, inhabited a lonely castle +not far from the principal route between Buda and Vienna. She received +one morning a polite note requesting her to provide supper at ten +o'clock that night for twelve gentlemen! She knew at once the character +of her self-invited guests, and devised a novel mode of defence. Some +people would have sent post-haste to the nearest town for help, but the +_châtelaine_ could easily divine that every road from the castle would +be watched to prevent communication, so she made her own plans. + +At ten o'clock up rode an armed band, twelve men in all; immediately the +gate of the outer court and the entrance door were thrown open, as if +for the most honoured and welcome guests. The lady of the castle herself +stood in the entrance to receive them, richly dressed as if for an +entertainment. She at once selected the chief, bade him welcome, gave +orders that their horses should be well cared for, and then taking the +arm of her guest, she led him into the dining-hall. Here a goodly feast +was spread, the tables and sideboard being covered with a magnificent +display of gold and silver plate, the accumulation of many generations. + +The leader of the robber band started back surprised, but immediately +recovering his presence of mind, he seated himself calmly by the side of +his charming hostess, who soon engaged him in conversation about the gay +world of Vienna, whose doings were perfectly familiar to them both. At +length, when the feast was nearly ended, the chief took out his watch +and said, "Madame, the happiest moments of my life have always been the +shortest. I have another engagement this night, but before I leave allow +me to tell you that in appealing to my honour, as you have done +to-night, you have saved me from the commission of a crime. Bad as I am, +none ever appealed to my honour in vain. As for you, my men," he said, +looking sternly round with his hand on his pistol, "I charge you to take +nothing from this house; he who disobeys me dies that instant." + +The chief then asked for pen and paper, and writing some sentences in a +strange character, handed it to his hostess, saying, "If you or your +retainers should at any time lose anything of value, let that paper be +displayed in the nearest town, and I pledge you my word the missing +articles shall be returned." After this he took his leave, the troop +mounted their horses and departed. + +My friend told me that he was enabled to verify the story; and he +subsequently discovered the real name of the robber chief. He was an +impoverished cadet of one of the noblest families in Hungary. His fate +was sad enough; lie was captured a few months after this incident, and +ended his life under the hands of the common hangman. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + Return to Buda-Pest--All-Souls' Day--The cemetery--Secret burial of + Count Louis Batthyanyi--High rate of mortality at Buda-Pest. + + +Some matters of business recalled me to Buda-Pest in the midst of a +round of visits in Transylvania. The great hospitality of my new friends +would have rendered a winter in that delightful country most agreeable, +but the holiday part of my tour was over, and circumstances led me to +pass some months in the capital. + +I got back just in time for All-Souls' Day. The _Fête des Morts_ is +observed with great ceremony throughout Hungary, especially at +Buda-Pest. In the afternoon of this day a friend and myself joined the +throng, who were with one accord making their way eastward along the +Radial Strasse, the great thoroughfare of Pest. It appeared as if the +whole population of the town had turned out; private carriages, +tramways, droskies alike were all crammed, driving in the same direction +with the ceaseless stream of pedestrians. It was the day for the living +to visit their dead! Attired in black, almost every one carried a +funeral wreath; even the poorest and the humblest were taking some +floral offering to their beloved ones who sleep for evermore in the +great cemetery. + +There is a dynamic force in the sympathy of a crowd. I had the sensation +of being carried along with the moving masses, without the exercise of +my own will, I hardly know how one could have turned back. And on we +went, the light of the short winter day meanwhile fading quickly into +the gloom of night. Once beyond the gaslighted streets, the sense of +darkness in the midst of the surging multitude was oppressive and +unnatural. We were borne on towards the principal gate of the cemetery, +and here the effect was most striking. We left the outer darkness, and +stepped into an area of light; beyond the belt of cypress and of yew +there was so brilliant an illumination that it threw its glowing +reflection on the clouds that hung pall-like over the whole city. + +In all that crowded cemetery--and it is crowded--there was not a single +grave without its lights. The most ordinary had rows of candles marking +the simple form of the gravestone; but there were costlier tombs, with +an array of lamps in banks of flowers beautifully arranged; and in the +mausoleum of Batthyanyi the illuminations were effected by gas in the +form of architectural lines of light. At this point the crowd was +greatest. To visit the tomb of the martyred statesman is deemed a +patriotic duty. The particulars relating to the disposal of Count +Batthyanyi's body after his judicial murder in 1849 are not very +generally known; the facts are as follows. + +At the close of hostilities in 1849, Haynau, commissioned by the Vienna +Government, condemned people to death with unsparing barbarity--it was a +way the Austrians had of stamping out insurrections. Amongst their +victims was Count Louis Batthyanyi, some time President of the Hungarian +Diet. Haynau wanted to have him hung at the gallows, but he was +mercifully shot, at Pest on the 6th October 1849. It is said that the +infamous Haynau was nearly mad with rage that his noble victim escaped +the last indignity of hanging. His remains were ordered to be buried in +a nameless coffin in the burial-ground of the common criminals,.and for +many years it was supposed that he had received no other sepulchre. This +was not so, however, for two priests who were greatly attached to the +magnate's family procured possession of his body, and secretly conveyed +it to the church in the Serviten Gasse, where they built up the coffin +in the wall, and carefully preserved it for years. When the +reconciliation with Austria took place, concealment being no longer +necessary, they revealed their secret. The coffin was then opened, and +it was found that the features of the unfortunate Batthyanyi had been +singularly well preserved. Several who had fought for freedom by his +side in 1848 looked once more on the face of their leader. The +subsequent funeral in the new cemetery was made the occasion of a very +marked display of patriotic feeling. Later an imposing monument was +erected, but Count Batthyanyi's best and most enduring monument is the +part he took in the emancipation of the serfs. + +Turning aside from the public demonstrations around the tombs of poets +and patriots, we wandered down the more secluded alleys of the cemetery. +In a lonely spot, quite away from the crowd and the glare, we came upon +an exquisite little plot of garden with growing flowers, shrubs, and +cypress-trees, tended, one could see, with loving care, "and in the +garden there is a sepulchre." I shall not easily forget the look of +ineffable grief visible on the face of an elderly man who was arranging +and rearranging the lights round and about the family grave. We noticed +that the names on the slab were those of a wife and mother, followed by +her children, several of them, sons and daughters, the dates of their +decease being terribly close one upon another. I had a conviction that +the lonely man we saw there was the only survivor of his family; I feel +sure it must have been so. It was very touching the way in which he +(aimlessly, it seemed to me) moved first this light and then the other, +or grouped them together around the vases of sweet flowers that decked +the graves. It was all that remained for him to do for his beloved ones; +and we could see the poor man was vainly occupying himself, lingering +on, unwilling to leave the spot! + +We had not much fancy for returning amongst the patriotic crowd gathered +about the gaslighted Valhalla, so we made our way out. + +We English must have our say about statistics whenever there is a +wedding or a funeral, and as a fact Buda-Pest comes out very badly in +its death-rate. It is only within the last two or three years that they +have taken to publish the comparative returns of the capital cities of +Europe, and now it appears that Buda-Pest is in the unenviable position +of having on an average the highest death-rate of any European town! By +some this is attributed to the great excess of infant +mortality--consolatory for the grown-up people, as reducing their risk; +but the children, who die like flies before they are twelve months old, +may say with the epitaph in the country churchyard-- + + "If then we so soon were done for, + What the deuce were we begun for?" + +I do not speak as one with authority, but duly-qualified persons tell me +that nursery reform is much needed in Hungary. I know not what it is +they do with the children, only it seems the system is wrong somewhere, +as the bills of mortality clearly testify. + +Then, again, the position of Pest is not healthy; it lies low, indeed +some part of the city is built on the old bed of the Danube. The +drainage, however, is very much improved of late years, and the +magnificent river embankments have done much to obviate the malaria +arising from mud-banks. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + Skating--Death and funeral of Deák--Deák's policy--Uneasiness about + the rise of the Danube--Great excitement about inundations--The + capital in danger--Night scene on the embankment--Firing the + danger-signal--The great calamity averted. + + +The winter is usually a very pleasant season at Buda-Pest. There is +plenty of amusement; in fact, during the carnival, parties, balls, and +concerts succeed one another without cessation. The Hungarians dance as +though it were an exercise of patriotism; with them it is no languid +movement half deprecated by the utilitarian soul--it is a passion +whirling them into ecstasy. But dancing was not the only diversion. The +winter I was at Buda-Pest a long spell of enduring frost gave us some +capital skating. The fashionable society meet for this amusement in the +park, where there is a piece of ornamental water about five acres in +extent. Here the Skating Club have established themselves, having +erected a handsome pavilion at the side of the lake to serve as a +clubhouse. + +From time to time _fêtes_ are given on the ice. I was present on more +than one occasion, and I must say it would be difficult to imagine a +more animated or a prettier scene. The Hungarians always display great +taste in their arrangements for festive gatherings. During the gay +carnival of 1876 "all went merry as a marriage-bell" till the sad news +spread that the great patriot Deák was sick unto death. Then we heard +that he had passed away from our midst--I say "our midst," for Hungary +throws a glamour over the stranger that is within her gates, and, moved +by irresistible sympathy, you are led to rejoice in her joy and mourn +with her in her sorrow. + +Buda-Pest presented on the day of Deák's funeral a scene never to be +forgotten. It was a whole people mourning for their friend--their safe +guide in time of trouble, the statesman who of all others had planted a +firm basis of future prosperity. + +Francis Deák was endowed with that rare gift of persuasion which can +appeal to hostile parties, and in the end unite them in common patriotic +action. Any one who has attentively considered the state of parties in +Hungary during the last decade will know with what irreconcilable +elements the great statesman had to deal. To the Magyars he said, "He +who will be free himself must be just to others;" while to the Slavs he +said, "Labour with us, that we may labour for you." "Reconciliation" +and "compromise" with Austria were the most unpopular words that could +be uttered at that time, yet Deák bravely spoke them in his famous open +letter on Easter day 1865. He continued his calm and steady appeal to +public opinion till his patriotic efforts were rewarded by the close of +that long-standing strife between the Hungarian people and their king. + +On the day of the funeral the ground was white with snow, the cold was +intense, but a vast concourse of people followed Deák to his grave. On +the road to the cemetery every house was hung with black, the city was +really and truly in mourning; and well it might be, for their great +peace-maker was dead, the man who beyond all others of his generation +had the power to restrain the impatient enthusiasm of his countrymen by +wise counsels that had grown almost paternal in their gentle influence. + +While we were still thinking and talking of Deáks political career, a +very present cause for anxiety arose in reference to the state of the +Danube. The annual breaking up of the ice is always anticipated with +uneasiness, for during this century no less than thirteen serious +inundations have occurred. This year there was reason for alarm, for +early in January the level of the river was unusually high, and a +further rise had taken place, unprecedented at that season. + +The greatest disaster of the kind on record took place in 1838, when the +greater part of Pest was inundated, and something like four thousand +houses were churned up in the flood; nor was this all, for the loss of +life had been very considerable, owing to the sudden nature of the +calamity on that occasion. The recollection of this terrible disaster +within the living memory of many persons kept the inhabitants of +Buda-Pest very keenly alive to any abnormal rise of the Danube waters. +There were, besides, additional circumstances which created uneasiness +and led to very acrimonious discussions. In recent years certain +"rectifications" had been effected in the course of the Danube, which +one-half of the community averred would for ever prevent the chance of +any recurrence of the catastrophe of 1838. But there are always two +parties in every question--"Little-endians" and "Big-endians"--and a +great many people were of opinion that these very "rectifications" were, +in fact, an additional source of peril to the capital. + +The case stands thus: the river, left to its own devices, separates +below Pest into two branches, called respectively the Soroksár and the +Promontar; these branches continue their course independently of each +other for a distance of about fifty-seven kilometres, forming the great +island of Csepel, which has an average width of about five kilometres. +By certain embankments on the Soroksár branch the _régime_ of the river +has been disturbed, and according to the opinion of M. Révy, a French +engineer,[22] this has been a grave mistake, and he thinks that the +Danube misses her former channel of Soroksár more and more. He further +remarks in the very strongest terms upon an engineering operation "which +proposes the amputation of a vital limb, conveying about one-third of +the power and life of a giant river when in flood--a step which has no +parallel in the magnitude of its consequences in any river with which I +am acquainted." + +Now let us see which side the Danube took in the controversy in the +spring of 1876. On the 17th of February the public mind had been almost +tranquillised by the gradual fall of the water-level, but appearances +changed very rapidly on the morning of the 18th, for alarming +intelligence came to Buda-Pest from the Upper Danube. It seems that a +sudden rise of temperature had melted the vast deposits of snow in the +mountains of the Tyrol and other high ranges which send down their +tributary waters to the Danube. A telegram from Passau announced the +startling news that the waters of the Inn had risen eleven feet since +the afternoon of the previous day, and further news came that the Danube +had risen twelve and a half feet in the same time. Following close upon +this came intelligence of a disastrous inundation at Vienna which had +caused loss of life and property. The boats and barges in the winter +harbour of the Austrian capital had been dragged from their anchorage, +covering the river with the _débris_ of wreckage; in short, widespread +mischief was reported generally from the Upper Danube. + +There was a prevalent idea that Buda-Pest had been saved by the flood +breaking bounds at Vienna, but events proved that our troubles were yet +to come. There was a peculiarity in the thaw of this spring which told +tremendously against us. It came westward--viz., down stream instead of +up stream, as it usually does. This state of things greatly increased +the chances of flood in the middle Danube, as the descending volume of +water and ice-blocks found the lower part of the river still frozen and +inert. Even up to the 21st the daily rise in the river was only six +inches, and if the large floes of ice which passed the town had only +gone on their course without interruption all might still have been +well. Unfortunately, however, this was far from being the case. It seems +that at Eresi, a few miles below Buda-Pest, where the water is shallow, +the ice had formed into a compact mass for the space of six miles, and +at this point the down-drifting ice-blocks got regularly stacked, rising +higher and higher, till the whole vast volume of water was bayed back +upon the twin cities of Buda and Pest, the latter place being specially +endangered by its site on the edge of the great plain. + +The authorities now devised plans for clearing away this ice-barrier, +which acted as an impediment to the flow of the river. They tried to +blow it up by means of dynamite, but all to no purpose; and it soon +became apparent that the danger to the capital was hourly on the +increase. At Pest the excitement and alarm became intense, for the +mighty waters were visibly and inexorably rising. We saw the steps of +the quay disappear one after another; then the whole subway of the +embankment became engulfed. Ominous cracks appeared in the asphaltic +promenade of the Corso, and the public were warned not to approach the +railings, lest they should give way bodily and fall over into the water, +which was lapping at the stonework. The "High-Water Commission" found it +necessary to close all the drains, and steam-pumps were brought into +requisition; the town was in fact besieged by water, and the enemy was +literally at the gates. The ordinary business of life was suspended. The +greeting in the street was not, "Good-day; how are you?" but, "What of +the Danube?" "Do you know the last reading of the register?" "Does the +water still rise?" + +"Still rising"--this was always the answer. On the morning of the 23d +the river had risen upwards of two feet in twenty-four hours. Hundreds +of people now thought seriously of flight from the doomed city. There +was a complete exodus to the heights behind Buda. The suspension bridge +was crowded day and night by the citizens, carrying with them their +wives, their children, and a miscellaneous collection of valuables. In +the town the shopkeepers removed their goods to the upper stories, +plastering up the doors and windows of the basement with cement; and +careful householders laid in provisions for several days' consumption. +The authorities had enough on their hands; amongst other things they had +to provide means of rescue, if necessary, for the inhabitants of Old +Buda, New Pest, and other low-lying quarters. The names of all public +buildings standing on higher levels, or otherwise suitable as places of +refuge, were notified in the event of a catastrophe. Boats also were +drawn up on the Corso and in some of the squares. From the want of these +precautions there had resulted that lamentable loss of life in 1838. + +Furthermore, the public were to be informed when the danger became +imminent by the firing of cannon-shots from the citadel on the lofty +Blocksberg, which dominates the town on the Buda side. The day of the +24th had been wild and stormy, the evening was intensely dark; but +notwithstanding, thousands, nay half Pest, crowded the river-bank. For +hours this surging multitude moved hither and thither on the Corso, +drawn together by the sense of common danger and distress. + +I was there amongst the rest, peering into the darkness. My brother's +arm was linked in mine, and we stood for some time on the Corso, just +above the fruit-market, facing Buda; but nothing, not even the outline +of the hills, was visible in the thick, black darkness of the night. +"Ah! what is that?--look!" cried my brother, with a pressure of the arm +that sent an electric shock through my body. Yes, sure enough, there was +a flash of fire high up on the Blocksberg that made a rift in the +darkness; and then, before we had time for speech, there came a sharp, +ringing, detonating sound that made every window in the Corso rattle +again. Once, twice, thrice the booming cannon roared out its terrible +warning. It was the appointed signal, and we all knew that now the +waters had risen so high that Old Buda and other low-lying districts +were in danger. + +That was a terrible night. The general excitement was intense, and there +were few people, I imagine, in all Pest who slept quietly in their beds. +Every hour news came of the spread of the inundation. The waters were +pouring in behind Pest from the upper bend of the river. Matters looked +very serious indeed. All communication with the suburb of New Pest was +cut off by the inroads of the flood. The night, with its pall of +darkness, seemed interminable; but at length the morning came, and--God +help us!--what a sea of trouble the light revealed! Whole districts +under water; churches and palaces knee-deep in the flood; and above +Pest--a widespread lake creeping on over the vast plain. + +The only news of the morning was a despairing telegram from Eresi that +the barrier of ice there was immovable. This meant, as I have said +before, that there was no release for the pent-up waters in the ordinary +course. The accumulated flood must swamp the capital, and that soon. The +river had ceased to flow past; it was no longer the "blue Danube" +running merrily its five miles an hour, but a dead sea, an inexorable +volume of water, slowly, silently creeping up to engulf us. Pest is a +city which literally has its foundations made on the sand; a portion of +it is built on the old bed of the Danube. Assuming a certain point as +zero, the official measurements were made from this, and notices were +published that if a maximum of twenty-five feet were attained by the +rising waters, then Pest must inevitably be flooded. + +As evening came on, with the cloudy forecast of more rain, the gravest +anxiety was visible on the face of every soul of that vast multitude. +This anxiety was intensified when it was announced that the latest +measurement was twenty-four feet nine inches; and what was simply +appalling, that the register marked six inches rise in less than an +hour. It was clear to every one that the critical moment had arrived. +There was little to hope, and much to fear. Darkness fell upon as dismal +a scene as imagination could well conceive. If the water once overlapped +the embankment at the fruit-market, it must very soon pour in in vast +volume; for the streets there are considerably lower than the level of +the Corso--as it was, several large blocks of ice had floated or slid +over on the quay. At this spot a serious catastrophe was apprehended. + +I think it must have been ten o'clock (my friends and I had just taken a +hasty supper) when the fortress on the Blocksberg again belched forth +its terrible sound of warning. This time there were six shots fired; +this was the signal of "Pest in danger." A profound impression of alarm +fell on the assembled multitude. Some went about wringing their hands; +others left the Corso hastily, going home, I imagine, to tell their +women to prepare for the worst. I was unconscious at the time of taking +note of things passing round me, and it seems strange, considering the +acute tension of my nerves, that I saw, and can now recall with +persistent accuracy, a lot of trivial and utterly unimportant incidents +that happened in the crowd. I remember the size and colour of a dog that +manifested his share in the common excitement by running perpetually +between everybody's legs, and I could draw the face of a frightened +child whom I saw clinging to its mother's skirts. + +We never quitted the Corso. Though this was the third night we had not +taken off our clothes, it was impossible to think of rest now. I felt no +fatigue, and I hardly know how the last hour or two passed, but I heard +distinctly above the murmur of voices the town clocks strike twelve. +Just afterwards, a man running at full speed broke through the crowd, +shouting as he went, "The water is falling! the water is falling!" He +spoke in German, so I understood the words directly. There was great +excitement to ascertain if the report was correct. Thank God! he spoke +words of truth. The gauge actually marked a decrease of no less than two +inches in the height of the river, and this decrease had taken place in +the space of half an hour. The river had attained the highest point when +the danger-signal was fired. It had never risen beyond, though the level +had been stationary for some time. + +Every one was surprised at the rapid fall of the Danube; it was +difficult to account for. It soon came to be remarked that the vast +volume of water was visibly moved onward. If the river was flowing on +its way, that meant the salvation of the city--the fact was most +important. I myself saw a dark mass--a piece of wreckage, probably, or +the carcass of an animal--pass with some rapidity across a track of +light reflected on the water. It was difficult to make out anything +clearly in the darkness, but I felt sure the object, whatever it was, +was borne onward by the stream. + +It was a generally-expressed opinion that something must have happened +farther down the river to relieve the pent-up waters. Very shortly +official news arrived, and spread like wildfire, that the Danube had +made a way for itself right across the island of Csepel into the +Soroksár arm of the river. + +Csepel is an island some thirty miles long, situated a short distance +below Pest. The engineering works for the regulation of the Danube had, +as I said before, closed this Soroksár branch, and the river, in +reasserting its right of way to the sea, caused a terrible calamity to +the villages on the Csepel Island, but thereby Hungary's capital was +saved. + +[Footnote 22: The Danube at Buda-Pest. Report addressed to Count +Andrassy by J.J. Révy, C.E. 1876.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + + Results of the Danube inundations--State of things at + Baja--Terrible condition of New Pest--Injuries sustained by the + island garden of St. Marguerite--Charity organisation. + + +Though Buda-Pest had escaped the worst of the threatened calamity, the +state of the low-lying suburbs of the town on both sides of the river +was very serious, and, as it turned out, weeks elapsed before the waters +entirely subsided. The extent of the Danube inundations in 1876 was far +greater than the flood of 1838; the latter was localised to Buda-Pest, +where, from the suddenness of the catastrophe, the sacrifice of life was +far greater than at present. But on this occasion the mischief was wide +spread indeed. From Passau to Orsova the banks of the Danube were more +or less flooded. The havoc below Pest was wellnigh incalculable. The +river had in places spread itself out like a small sea, inundating lands +already in seed; this was specially the case at Paks, where both banks +of the river are equally low--as a rule, the left side was the more +flooded the whole way along. + +At Baja the destruction to property was most serious. Some very +important works had just been completed, and these were all swept away +two days after the Danube had burst over the Csepel Island at Pest. It +is a matter of interest to note the travelling rate of the flood, which +from being ice-clogged was less rapid than one would suppose. Baja is +120 miles below Pest. + +The works here referred to were in parts a canal, to feed the old +Francis Canal, which connects the Danube and Theiss, in order to prevent +the stoppage of traffic, unavoidable at low water. The water and ice +brought down by the flood hurled themselves with such force against the +closed gates of the canal that they were burst open, and a masonry wall +7 feet in thickness and 250 in length was entirely overthrown. This +incident, together with many others, helps to illustrate the action of +water in flood as a factor in certain geological changes--the gorge of +Kasan, to wit, where the Danube has broken through the Carpathian chain. + +In the course of little more than a day the waters at Buda-Pest had +fallen two and a half feet; but afterwards the fall was very slow +indeed, which circumstance greatly protracted the misery of the +unfortunate inhabitants of Old Buda and New Pest, the two districts most +seriously compromised. Joining a relief party, I went in a pontoon to +visit New Pest. Vast blocks of ice were lying heaped up amidst the +_débris_ of the ruin they had made; whole terraces and streets were only +distinguishable by lines of rubbish somewhat raised above the flood: the +devastation was complete. + +On our way to the pontoon we passed a tongue of land which had not been +submerged, with a few houses intact. In this street, if it may be so +called, a crowd of more than a hundred women was collected; these were +mostly seated on boxes or other fragments of furniture that had been +saved; one and all had their faces turned towards the waste of waters, +where their homes had been. I shall never forget their looks of mute +despair; there was no crying, no noise, their very silence was a gauge +of the utter misery that had befallen them. + +The sea of trouble in which we found ourselves was strewn with wreckage +of all kinds, including the bodies of many domestic animals. Doubtless +many lives were lost; it will perhaps never be known how many. It was +unfortunate that no service was organised for saving life at the +bridges. Several lamentable accidents and loss of life took place owing +to the drifting away of boats and barges up stream. A friend of mine saw +a barge with four men on board jammed in between blocks of ice, and +hurried under the suspension bridge and down the stream. No one was able +to respond to the heart-rending appeals of the men, who very probably +might have been saved if simply ropes had been hanging from the bridge. +I myself saw a poor fellow perish in those churning waters; it was +terrible to think of his thus drowning in the presence of thousands of +fellow-creatures. + +The amount of wreckage that passed Buda-Pest gave one some idea of the +frightful amount of damage higher up the stream; there were heaps of +barrels, woodstacks, trees, furniture, and even houses with their +chimneys standing! + +The beautiful island of St. Marguerite, just above Buda-Pest, suffered +most severely. It was four feet under water; and the drift ice did +immense damage to the trees, causing abrasions of the bark at eight to +ten feet above the ground. + +It may well be imagined that the Charity Organisation Committee had +enough on their hands. Nearly 20,000 people sought the shelter provided +in the public buildings and other places appointed by the authorities, +and for fully a month after the catastrophe thousands had to be fed +daily at the public expense. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + + Expedition to the Marmaros Mountains--Railways in Hungary--The + train stopping for a rest--The Alföld--Shepherds of the plain--Wild + appearance of the Rusniacks--Slavs of Northern Hungary--Marmaros + Szigeth--Difficulty in slinging a hammock--The Jews of + Karasconfalu--Soda manufactory at Boeska--Romantic scenery--Salt + mines--Subterranean lake. + + +The spring was already melting into summer--and the melting process is +pretty rapid in Hungary--when an opportunity occurred enabling me to +visit the north-eastern part of the country with a friend who was going +to the Marmaros Mountains on business. Even this wild and remote +district is not without railway communication, and we took our tickets +for Szigeth, in the county of Marmaros, learning at the same time, to +our great satisfaction, that we could go straight on to our destination +without stopping. Though my friend is a Hungarian the route was as new +to him as to myself. + +The railway system has been enormously extended in this country during +the last ten years. In Transylvania, in the Tokay Hegyalia, in the +Zipsland, and in the mining district of Schemnitz a whole network of +lines has been opened up. Our route from Debreczin to Szigeth is one of +those recently opened. The railway statistics of Hungary are very +significant of progress. In 1864 only 1903 kilometres were open, whereas +ten years later the figures had risen to 6392 kilometres; and the +extension has been very considerable even subsequently, though +enterprise of every kind received a check in 1873, from which the +country has not yet recovered. + +I confess I was very glad to have come in for the days of the iron +horse, for it would be difficult to imagine anything more tiresome than +a drive on ordinary wheels across the vast Hungarian plain. It is so +utterly featureless as to be even without landmarks. Except for the +signs of the heavenly bodies, a man might, in a fit of absence, turn +round and fail to realise whether he was going backwards or forwards. +Right or left, it is all the same monotonous dead level, with scarce an +object on which to rest the eye. Here and there a row of acacia-trees +may be seen marking the boundary of an estate, and near by the sure +indication of a well in the form of a lofty pole balanced transversely; +but even this does not help you, for "grove nods at grove," and what you +have just seen on the right-hand side is sure somehow to be repeated on +the left, so you are all at sea again. + +Sometimes a mirage deludes the traveller in the Hungarian plain with the +fair presentment of a lake fringed with forest-trees; but the semblance +fades into nothingness, and he finds himself still in an endless waste, +"without a mark, without a bound." Dreary, inexpressibly dreary to all +save those who are born within its limits; for, strange to say, they +love their level plain as well, every bit as well, as the mountaineer +loves his cloud-capped home. + +This plain--the Alföld, as it is called--comprises an area of 37,400 +square miles, composed chiefly of rich black soil underlain by +water-worn gravel--a significant fact for geologists. It is worthy of +remark that the Magyar race is here found in its greatest purity. Here +the followers of Arpad settled themselves to the congenial life of +herdsmen. At the railway stations one generally sees a lot of these +shepherds from the _puszta_, each with his axe-headed staff and +sheepskin cloak, worn the woolly side outwards if the weather is hot. +They can be scented from afar, and their scent, of all bad smells, is +one of the worst. The fact is, the shepherds keep their bodies well +covered with grease to prevent injurious effects from the very sudden +changes of temperature so common in all Hungary. This smearing of the +skin with grease is also a defence against insects, which seems +probable, if insects have noses to be offended. + +Nowhere does the intrusion of modern art and its appliances strike one +more curiously by force of contrast than in the wilder parts of Hungary. +Just outside the railway station life and manners are what they were two +centuries ago, and yet here are the grappling-irons of civilisation. No +doubt a change will come to all this substratum of humanity, but it +takes time. Even the railways in these wilder parts have not exactly +settled themselves down to the inexorable limits of "time tables." It +occurred on this very journey that we stopped at some small station, for +no particular reason as far as I could see, for nobody got in or out; +but the heat was intense, and so we just made a halt of nearly an hour. +I could not make out what was up at first, but looking out I saw the +stokers, pokers, and engine-driver all calmly enjoying their pipes, +seated on the footboard on the shady side of the train! Some one or two +people remarked that the officials in this part of the world were lazy +fellows, but the passengers generally appeared in no great hurry, and +after a while the train moved on again. At several places on the line we +passed luggage trains waiting on the siding for their turn to be sent on +to Buda-Pest. In many of these open trucks we noticed a considerable +number of those fine Podolian oxen, common in these parts, and lots of +woolly-haired pigs, that look for all the world like sheep at a +distance. + +The effect of tapping these out-lying districts is already producing its +natural result; the cultivator finds a ready market for his produce, and +the value of land is rising, and "_must_ rise in Hungary," says +Professor Wrightson in his report on the agriculture of the +Austro-Hungarian empire.[23] + +In approaching Debreczin we noticed frequent instances of the +efflorescence of soda-salts upon the surface of the soil. This +occurrence greatly impairs the fertility of some parts of the Alföld. +Land drainage would probably cure this evil, but I do not fancy any +serious experiments have been tried. Skill and labour have not yet been +brought to bear on the greater part of the land in Hungary. It is a +country where a vast deal has yet to be done, and such are the +prejudices of the common people that improvements cannot be introduced +at once and without some caution; in fact, the material conditions of +the country itself and the climate necessitate considerable experience +on the part of any foreigner who may settle in Hungary and think to +import new fashions in agriculture. + +Stopping at Debreczin only long enough to get a little supper at the +station restaurant, we pursued our journey through the night. I do not +imagine that we lost much that was worthy of note owing to the darkness, +for the line continues to traverse a sanely plain utterly devoid of good +scenery. Towards morning we passed two important towns--namely, Nagy +Károly and Szathmár. The hitter is the seat of a Catholic bishop, and +has no less than 19,000 inhabitants--a good-sized place for Hungary. In +1711 the peace between the Austrians and Rákoczy was signed in this +town. Not far from here are the celebrated gold, silver, and lead mines +of Nagy Banya. + +We arrived at the junction station of Kiraly-haza early in the morning, +and there learned the agreeable news that we must wait ten hours, though +only a few miles from our destination. From this place there is a line +to Sátoralja-Uihely, a junction on the main line between Buda-Pest and +Lemberg. The town of Kiraly-haza is situated in a wide valley bounded by +high mountains. The plain is left far behind, and we are once more under +the shadow of the Carpathians. The heat of the day was intense, and +there was not much in the immediate neighbourhood to tempt us out in the +broiling sun, so we just got through the time as best we could. The food +was very bad and the wine execrable, an adulterated mixture not worthy +of the name. This is a rare occurrence in Hungary, and it ought not to +have been the case here, for there are good vineyards close to the town. + +It was getting towards evening before our train appeared, and when it +stopped at the station as wild a looking crew turned out of the +carriages as I ever remember to have seen. On inquiry I found that these +people were Rusniacks. Their occupation at this time of the year is to +convey rafts down the Theiss. It seems their work was done, and they +were returning by train. After the halt of ten minutes, and when the +passengers were resuming their seats, I found that these fellows were +all crowded into some empty horse-boxes attached to the train. The +officials treated them as if they were very little better than cattle. +These people, with their shoeless feet encased in thongs of leather, +with garments unconscious of the tailor's art, and in some instances +regardless of the primary object of clothes as a human institution, were +the most uncivilised of any I had yet seen in Hungary. + +These Rusniacks, or "Little Russians," as they are called, are tolerably +numerous--not less than 470,000, according to statistical returns. They +are to be found almost exclusively in the north-east of Hungary. They +were fugitives in the old days from Russia, to whom they are intensely +antagonistic, having probably suffered from her persecutions. In +religion they are dissenters from the orthodox Greek Church, +assimilating more with Roman Catholicism. These people are another +variety in the strange mixture of races to be found in Hungary. It is +thought, and it would seem probable, that the very fact of the military +conscription will help to civilise these Rusniacks by drawing them out +of their savage isolation in the wild valleys of the Marmaros Mountains. + +There are many peculiarities respecting the races inhabiting the +northern parts of Hungary. It would be a great mistake to put the Slavs +of the north in the same category with the Slavs of the south: the +former are on far better terms with the Magyars; they are for the most +part contented, hard-working people, not troubling themselves at all +about Panslavism. The reason is not far to seek. The Slovacks, as they +are called by way of distinction, numbering about two millions, do not +belong to the Greek Church. The greater proportion are Roman Catholics, +the rest Lutherans and Calvinists. Many of the Catholics are said to be +descended from refugees who fled from the tyranny of the Greek Church in +Polish Russia. + +After leaving Kiraly-haza we got into charming scenery. As we approached +the Carpathians we passed through vast oak-forests, and here and there +had a glimpse of the Theiss rushing along over its stony bed. +Occasionally we caught sight of herds of buffaloes bathing in the river. +It is difficult to imagine that these fierce-looking creatures, with +their massive shaggy heads, can ever be tractable; yet they can be +managed, though only by kindness--"the rod of correction they cannot +bear." At length we reached the end of our railway journey. Marmaros +Szigeth is the present terminus of the line, and I should say will very +probably remain such; for the iron road would hardly meander through the +denies and over the heights of the Carpathians, to descend into the +sparsely-inhabited wilds of the Bukovina. We sought out the principal +inn at Szigeth, a wretched place, with only one room and a single bed at +our disposal. + +My friend took possession of the bed at my request, for I told him I was +quite independent of the luxury, having provided myself before I left +England with an excellent hammock made of twine. I had learned to sleep +in these contrivances during my naval volunteer days, but the order to +"sling hammocks" would not have been easy to obey under the present +circumstances. I was forced to put my screws in the floor and hang my +net over some heavy furniture; but when I got in, the table that I had +chiefly depended upon gave way with a crash, and I found myself on the +floor. My friend laughed heartily; he had never seen a hammock before, +and, spite of my representations, I do not think he was properly +impressed by the great utility of the invention. Of course I was not to +be foiled, so I cast about for another method of "fixing." I tried +several dodges, but nothing answered exactly; something always gave way +after a few minutes of repose--either I came down with a bump, or some +abominable, ramshackle chest of drawers got over-turned. + +Now my friend was very tired and sleepy, and desired nothing so much as +a little repose. My experiments ceased to interest him, and the noise +caused by my repeated misfortunes irritated him. A large-minded man +would have admired my tenacity of purpose, but he did not. One can never +tell what people are till we travel with them. In a tone of mingled +solicitude and irritation he offered to vacate his bed in my favour. He +declared he would willingly lie on the hard floor, or indeed, if I would +only consent to take his place, he would sit bolt upright in a chair +through the livelong night. + +"I will do anything," he added piteously, "if you will only be quiet +and not try to hang yourself any more in that horrible netting." + +I would not hear of my friend leaving his bed, and after one or two more +mischances self and hammock were suspended for the night at an angle a +trifle too low for the head. Except for the honour and glory of the +thing, perhaps I might have slept as well on the floor; but one does not +carry a patent contrivance all across Europe to be balked of its use +after all. + +My friend woke me once during the night by shaking me roughly. He said I +had nightmare, and made "such a devil of a row that he could not sleep." +I have some dreamy recollection of finding myself in a London +drawing-room in the inexpressibly scanty garments of a Rusniack, and +when I turned to leave in all decent haste I found the way barred by an +insolent fellow with the head of a buffalo bull. When I awoke in the +early morning I found my friend already dressed and rather sulky. He +observed that he had never met a man so addicted to nightmare as myself, +adding, that another time if I must sleep in my hammock, it would be +better to see that the head was higher than the feet. + +"It does not make any difference to me," I replied cheerfully, "I am as +fresh as a lark." + +There was no time for further discussion, for our breakfast was ready (a +very bad breakfast it was, too), and the vehicle we had chartered the +night before was also waiting to convey us some miles into the interior +of the country, to the soda manufactory at Boeska. On our way we passed +through the village of Karasconfalu, inhabited entirely by Polish Jews. +The dirt and squalor of this place beggar description. The dwellings are +not houses, but are simply holes burrowed in the sandbanks, with an +upright stone set up in front to represent a door; windows and chimneys +are unknown. If it were not for a few erections more like ordinary human +habitations, the place might have passed for a gigantic rabbit-warren. +As we drove through we saw some of the villagers engaged in slaughtering +calves and sheep in the middle of the road, the blood running down into +a self-made gutter; it was a sickening sight. The people themselves have +a most peculiar physiognomy, especially the men, who in addition to long +beards wear corkscrew ringlets, which give them a very odd appearance. +Their principal garment is a kind of long brown dressing-gown, which in +its filthy grimness suits the wearer down to the ground. The feet are +bound up in thongs of leather. The shoemaker's trade is apparently +unknown in these parts. The inhabitants of this delightful village have +the reputation of being a set of born cheats and swindlers; if it is +true, then certainly the moral is plain, that dishonesty is not a +thriving trade. The fact is, being all of one sort, the profession is +overcrowded, and the result is that the sharpest amongst them emigrate, +or rather I should say go farther a-field to exercise their craft. I am +told that many of the low Jews, who make themselves a byword and a +reproach by their practices of cheating and usury throughout Hungary, +may be traced back to this foul nest in the Marmaros Mountains. It would +be well for the credit of the Jewish community in Hungary, as well as +elsewhere, if something were done to raise these people out of the utter +degradation which surrounds them from their birth. + +Not far beyond Karasconfalu we came upon Boeska, situated in the midst +of the most beautiful and romantic scenery, not at all suggestive of the +neighbourhood of a chemical manufactory. Putting up at the house of the +manager of the works, we remained here two or three days, during which +time we made some excursions into the heart of the mountains. One of our +drives took us some miles along the side of the beautiful river Theiss, +which though a proverbial sluggard when it reaches the plain, is here a +swift and impetuous stream. Our object was to see the timber-rafts pass +over the rapids; it was a very exciting scene, and as this was a +favourable season, owing to the state of the river, we came in just at +the right time. The Rusniacks--the people generally employed in this +perilous work--certainly display great skill and coolness in the +management of their ticklish craft. If by any mischance the timbers come +in contact with the rocks, then the danger is extreme; and hardly a year +passes that some of the poor fellows do not get carried away in the +swirling waters, which have made for themselves deep and treacherous +holes in this part of the stream. + +The pine-trees in the forests of the Marmaros Mountains are simply +magnificent; the birch and oak are hardly less remarkable. It is really +grievous to see the amount of ruthless destruction which is allowed to +go on in these valuable forests, more especially in those belonging to +the State. It is the old story--the Rusniack herdsman, to get herbage +for his cattle, will set fire to the forest, and perhaps burn some +hundreds of acres of standing timber. The result brings very little good +to himself; but the blackened trunks of thousands of half-burned trees +bear witness to the peasant's inveterate love of waste, and the utter +inefficiency of the forest laws, or rather of their administration. +Throughout Hungary it is the same, the power of the law does not make +itself felt in the remoter provinces. For example, in the year 1877 +there have been scores of incendiary fires in the county of Zemplin; +homesteads, hayricks, and woods have suffered, and yet punishment rarely +falls on the offender. Government should look to this, for lawlessness +is a most infectious disorder. + +The Marmaros district is chiefly known for the salt mines, which have +been worked here for centuries. Salt is a Government monopoly in +Hungary, and is sold at the high price of five florins the +hundredweight, forming, in fact, an important source of revenue. The +mines at Slatina, not far from Szigeth, are well worth a visit. One of +the chambers is of immense size; in this a pyramid of salt is left +untouched, and by its downward growth marks the progress of excavation. +At the foot of this pyramid is a little altar, where every year, on the +3d of March, mass is celebrated with great ceremony, that being the day +of Kunigunde, the patron saint of the mines. + +One of our expeditions was to visit the mines at Ronasick. Here, too, is +an enormous cave with a dome-shaped roof, one hundred and fifty feet +above the surface of the water, which covers the floor to the amazing +depth, it is said, of three hundred feet. Part of the visitor's +programme is to be paddled about on this subterranean lake. We embarked +on a raft slowly propelled by rowers; a cresset fire burning brightly at +the prow of our craft cast strange lights and shadows on the black +waters, added to which the shimmering reflection of the white-ribbed +walls had a very singular effect. But the sensation was still more weird +when we saw other mystic forms appearing from out the black darkness; +first a mere speck of red light was visible, till nearing us we beheld +other boats freighted with grim-looking figures that glided past into +the further darkness. These phantom-like forms, steering their rafts +through the black and silent waters, were grotesquely lit up from time +to time by the pulsating red firelight. It might have been a scene from +Dante's 'Inferno'! + +It was with the sense of escape from a living tomb that we emerged from +the depths below into the upper air, and here awaited us a sight never +to be forgotten, more especially for its singular contrast to the horrid +gloom of the under-world. Here, above ground, in the blessed free +expanse of earth and sky, we beheld the heavens ablaze with all the +intensest glory of a magnificent sunset. One's soul in deep gladness +drank in the ineffable loveliness of nature, as if athirst for the +beauty of light and life. + +[Footnote 23: Journal of Agricultural Society, vol. x. Part xi. No. +xx.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + + The Tokay district--Visit at Schloss G------Wild-boar + hunting--Incidents of the chase. + + +My first expedition to the Tokay district was in the winter; I was then +the guest of Baron V----, who has a charming château, surrounded by an +English garden, in this celebrated place of vineyards. + +In the winter there is a very fair amount of good sport in this part of +Hungary. Sometimes one is enabled to go out hare-shooting in sledges; of +course the horses' bells are removed on these occasions. Hares are not +preserved in the Tokay district, but they are pretty numerous. I myself +shot fifty-four in the space of a few weeks, which is nothing compared +to an English battue of a single day; but then this is sport, and there +is immense pleasure in dashing right across country behind a pair of +fleet horses, thinking yourself well repaid if you bag a couple or three +hares in the afternoon's scamper. For wolf and wild-boar hunting one +must penetrate into the forests which extend in the rear of the +southern slopes of this Tokay range of hills. + +During my stay at G---- a party was got up for a few days' shooting in +the interior. On this occasion we were to shoot in Baron Beust's +forests, which extend over an area of about forty miles square; as it +may be supposed, the sport is not the easy affair it is in the +well-stocked parks of Bohemia. + +There was not snow enough for sledging, so we drove to the rendezvous on +wheels, using the springless carts of the country, the roads being far +too rough for ordinary carriages. Wrapped in our _bundas_, we were proof +against the cold. The wolf-skin collar turned up rises above the head +and forms a capital protection; and very necessary it was on this +occasion, for there was a keen cutting wind the day we started. + +I carried a smooth-bore breechloader charged with the largest buck-shot +in one barrel and with a bullet in the other. In Hungary the forests are +usually so thick that one scarcely ever fires at a long range, and heavy +shot at a short distance in a thicket is better than a bullet. After +driving in a break-neck fashion for about two hours we arrived at the +river Bodrog, a tributary of the Theiss. Nearly every winter the country +hereabouts is under water; I remember once seeing it when there was all +the appearance of an extensive inland sea. Sometimes the inundations are +disastrous, but the ordinary flood is an accepted event, and no damage +accrues beyond the prevalence of marsh fever in April and May, when the +water recedes. This part of the country offers first-rate +wildfowl-shooting in the season. + +Everywhere in Hungary the different races are strangely mixed up +together: the Tokay Hegyalia, it is true, is chiefly peopled by Magyars, +and the language is said to be the purest Magyar spoken anywhere; but +there are Slavs and Jews amongst them, and our drive of twenty miles +brought us into an area where the Slavs predominate. The difference of +these races is very marked: the one, fair complexioned and blue eyed; +the Magyar, dark, almost swarthy amongst the lower classes. At +Olasz-Liszka, a small town within the Tokay district, there is an +Italian colony, as the name Olasz (Italian) would imply. As long ago as +the days of Bela II. this place was peopled by Italian immigrants from +the neighbourhood of Venice, invited hither by the king, who greatly +encouraged the cultivation of the vine. + +Go where you will in this country, there is a Babel of tongues. In this +instance our special coachman was a Bohemian, speaking his own +language--a very different dialect from the Slovacks who were the +"beaters" for our hunt. The gamekeepers, or rather the foresters (for +the game is of secondary consideration), were all Magyars. Their +language, as we know, bears no affinity to any of the rest. The marvel +is that the world gets on at all down here. The gentlemen of our party +spoke together indifferently German, French, and English. + +It is curious to hear the peasant come out with, "Why the Tartar are you +doing this?" for an angry expletive. It is a relic of the old troubled +times when the country suffered from the frequent depredations of Turks +and Tartars. The Tokay district, say the chronicles, was fearfully +harassed by the Turks as late as 1678. + +It is worth while recalling a contemporaneous fact. In 1529 the crescent +had been substituted for the cross on the Cathedral of Vienna to +propitiate the Turks, and it was not till 1683 that the symbol of the +dreaded Moslem was removed. When the Hungarians ceased to fear the Turk, +they ceased to hate him; and since 1848 they remember only the generous +hospitality of the Porte, and the cruel aggressions and treachery of the +Russians. The Slav has a longer memory, for to this day he repeats the +saying, "Where the Turk comes, there no grass grows." + +When we arrived at our destination our appetites were far too keenly set +to think about the Eastern Question, and right glad were we to see +active preparations for supper. The national dishes, the _gulyas hus_ +and the _paprika handl_, were produced amongst a number of other good +things, such as roast hare. You get to like the _paprika_, or red +pepper, very much. I wonder it is not introduced into English cookery, +it makes such a pretty-coloured gravy. If the traveller finds himself +attacked by marsh fever, and should chance to be without quinine (a +great mistake, by the way), let him substitute a spoonful of _paprika_ +mixed with a little red wine, repeating the dose every four hours if +necessary. While smoking our peace-pipes after supper, one of the +keepers came in to announce the welcome fact that it was snowing hard; +fresh-lain snow would materially increase our chances of tracking the +wild-boar. + +Next morning when we started the weather had somewhat cleared, which was +just as well, seeing we had to walk two or three miles to our first +battue. Arrived at the rendezvous, we found the "beaters" waiting for +us. They were a wild-looking crew were those Slovacks, with shaggy coats +of black sheepskin, and in their hands the usual long staff with the axe +at one end. Notwithstanding their uncouth appearance, later experience +has shown me that the Slovacks, as a rule, are patient, hard-working +people. + +The forest where we were consisted entirely of beech and oak. The acorns +attract the wild-boar, which have increased in a very remarkable manner +in this locality. I was told that twenty years ago there were no +wild-boar in these forests, while now there are hundreds. This seems +odd, for the oak-trees are pretty well as old as the hills, and offered +the same temptation in the way of food formerly as now. In fact the +increase of the wild-boar is a serious nuisance to the vine-grower, for +they tramp across to the southern hill-slopes, and occasionally make +raids on the vineyards, devouring the grapes with unparalleled +greediness, and what is still worse, they will sometimes plough up and +destroy a whole plot of carefully-tended vineyard. + +Formerly there were many deer in these forests, but now there are only a +few roedeer. We saw no traces of wolves on this occasion, but there are +plenty in this part of the country. + +We were only ten guns, and were soon posted each man in his proper +position waiting for the _schwarzwild_, as the Germans say; but, alas! +nothing appeared till the beaters themselves came in sight. So we had to +organise battue number two. The beaters walk quietly forward, tapping +the trees now and then. This is quite noise enough for the purpose of +rousing the game; if they shouted or made too much row, the game would +get wild and scared. + +In the next battue I had hardly been five minutes at my post when I +heard from behind the breaking of dead branches, as of some animal +advancing slowly. It was a fine buck which made his appearance, but he +scented me and made off. Again about a hundred yards off I got a glimpse +of him between the trees. I fired with effect. We found him afterwards +about two hundred yards farther on, where he had fallen. It was very +provoking; up to lunch-time we sighted no wild-boar, though we saw by +the snow that they must have been about the hillside during the night. +We had soon a good fire blazing, at which robber-steak was nicely +cooked. I never enjoyed anything more. We washed down our repast with +good Tokay. + +After luncheon we commenced work again. By this time we had advanced +into the very heart of the forest. The smooth boles of the tall +beech-trees looked grand in their winter nakedness, rising like columns +from the white frost-bespangled ground. I took up my stand, gun in +readiness, waiting for the tramp, the snort, or the grizzly dark form of +the wild-boar, but nothing came to disturb the utter solitude of the +scene. + +But hark! I hear shots fired repeatedly in the lower valley. I, too, +begin to look out with quickened pulse, peering into the misty depths of +the forest, and with ear alert for every sound, but all to no purpose. +Nothing comes my way, though again I hear two more shots echo sharply in +the narrow valley nearer to me than before. After the lapse of a few +minutes the beaters came up, breaking through the dead branches of +undercover. I knew now that my own chance was gone, but I was curious to +know what had happened, and joining two of my friends whose "stand" had +been near mine, we hurried down the valley to see what sport had turned +up for the other guns. On inquiry it appeared that at least seventy +wild-boars had passed close to one of our party, but the sight of so +many at once had made his aim unsteady, and he only succeeded in +wounding one of the number. The animal had dashed into the half-frozen +stream at the bottom of the valley, and our friend had to reload and +give him his final shot there. + +We formed one more battue, but nothing came of it, and it was already +high time to return to our quarters, for the whole scene was growing dim +in the wintry twilight. Some of the party, myself included, went by +arrangement to the house of one of the foresters. The good people, in +their desire to be hospitable, gave us a warm reception. They had heated +the rooms to such an extent that we were almost baked alive. + +The next morning we resumed our sport. During the first battue eight +wild-boars were sighted. One was shot instantly; the others broke +through the line of beaters, but in doing so a very unusual thing +happened, for one of the foresters succeeded in killing a boar by a +tremendous blow from his axe. We were very much surprised that the +animal had come near enough, for as a rule they will not approach human +beings except when wounded, and then they are most formidable +assailants. I regret to say that one of our dogs was ripped up by one of +this herd of eight. + +This was the beginning and end of our sport for the day. Our indifferent +luck was to be accounted for from the fact of there being, comparatively +speaking, not much snow. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + + Tokay vineyards--The vine-grower's difficulties--Geology of the + Hegyalia--The Pope's compliment to the wine of Tállya--Towns of the + Hegyalia--Farming--System of wages at harvest--The different sorts + of Tokay wine. + + +The vintage is the season of all others for Tokay; in former days it was +a very gay affair, for then every noble family in Hungary, especially +the bishops, had vineyards in the Hegyalia, and the magnates came to the +vintage with large retinues of servants and horses; and feasting and +hospitality were the order of the day. In the good old times every +important event in the family was celebrated by much drinking of Tokay, +but in those degenerate days other fashions prevail. Before their +kingdom was dismembered the Poles were the best customers for Tokay +wine, but they are too poor now to have such luxuries; added to this, +Russia has for nearly a century past laid an almost prohibitive duty on +Hungarian wine. The fiscal impositions of Austria have also weighed +heavily on Hungary's productions. At present North Germany and +Scandinavia are amongst the most ready purchasers of Tokay; and England +is beginning to appreciate the "Szamarodni" or "dry Tokay," remarkable +for the absence of all deleterious sweetness. + +In good years the vintage of Tokay may be estimated at something like +150,000 _eimers_, an _eimer_ being about two and a half gallons; but a +really good year is the exception, not the rule. For three years (since +1874) the vintages have all been below the average. The season of 1876 +was a complete failure; a disastrous frost on the 19th of May in that +year completely destroyed the hopes and prospects of the vine-grower. +Indeed he has a trying life of it, for his hopes go up and down with the +barometer. If his vines escape the much-dreaded May frosts, there is a +risk that the summer may be too wet for the grapes, which love sunshine. +Then, again, in the hottest summers there are violent hail-storms, and +in half an hour he may see his promising crop beaten to the ground. It +has been well remarked that "the weather seems to have no control over +itself in Hungary." + +The vine-grower's troubles do not end when the vintage is successfully +over. Tokay is a troublesome wine in respect to fermentation; it +requires three years before it can travel, and even when these critical +years are over, the wine will sometimes get "sick" in the spring--at +the identical time when the sap rises in the living plant. + +The unique quality of the Tokay is due to the soil, and perhaps to some +other conditions; but not to the peculiarity of the grape, for, as a +matter of fact, they grow a variety of sorts. The cultivation of the +vine appears to be of great antiquity in this part of the world. The +introduction of the plant is attributed to the inevitable Phoenician; +but, treading on more assured historic ground, we find that King Bela +IV., in the thirteenth century, caused new kinds of grapes to be +imported from Italy, and brought about an improvement generally in the +culture of the vine. + +But to return to the question of the soil. The Tokay Eperies group of +hills is one of several well-defined groups of volcanic rocks that exist +in Hungary and Transylvania. In the Tokay district the formations are +partly eruptive, partly sedimentary, but nowhere older than the Tertiary +period, say the geologists. The Hegyalia (which means "mountain-slopes" +in the Magyar tongue) forms the southern spur of the extended volcanic +region, composed of trachyte and rhyolithe, beginning at Eperies and +terminating in the conical hill of Tokay, which protrudes itself so +singularly into the Alföld, or plain. + +But the vine-growing district does not end at Tokay; it continues on +the eastern slopes of the mountain range as far as Uihely, forming two +sides of an irregular triangle, and the total length, say from Szanto in +the west to Tokay, and from Tokay to Uihely, being about thirty-eight +miles. + +As a matter of fact, Tokay, which gives its name to the wine, does not +produce the best vintage; other localities are more esteemed. Tállya, +for example, situated a few miles east of Szanto, has long been +renowned. As early as the sixteenth century the excellence of the wine +from this district was acknowledged by infallible authority. It appears +that during the sitting of the Council of Trent, wines were produced +from all parts for the delectation of the holy fathers. George +Draskovics, the Bishop of Fünfkirchen, brought some of his celebrated +vintage, and presenting a glass of it to the Pope, observed that it was +_Tállya_ wine. Whereupon his Holiness pronounced it to be nectar, +surpassing all other wines, exclaiming with ready wit, "Summum +Pontificum _talia_ vina decent." This place, so happily distinguished by +Papal wit, is pleasantly situated on the side of the hill; it possesses +about 2100 acres of vineyards. + +The places in the Hegyalia are all called towns, though in reality they +are not much more than large villages. Tokay has 4000 inhabitants; it +is at the foot of the hill, close to the junction of the Theiss and the +Bodrog; a ruined castle forms a picturesque object in the foreground, +and beyond is the far-stretching plain. Professor Judd says[24] that at +one period of their history "the volcanic islands of Hungary must have +been very similar in appearance to those of the Grecian Archipelago." +Looking at the conical-shaped hill of Tokay, and the other +configurations of the range, it is quite easy to take in the idea, and +under certain atmospheric conditions the great plain very closely +resembles an inland sea. + +At Tokay the Theiss becomes navigable for steamers, but the circuitous +course of the river prevents much traffic, more especially since the +extension of railways. The next place is Tarczal, and here the Emperor +of Austria has some fine vineyards. Some people have an idea that all +the wine grown in the whole district is Imperial Tokay, and that the +vineyards themselves, one and all, are imperial property. This is very +far from being the case; in fact, since 1848, the peasant proprietors +hold more largely than any other class. The easy transfer of land +facilitates the purchase of small lots, and the result is that every +peasant in the Hegyalia tries to possess himself of an acre or two, or +even half an acre of vineyard. The cultivation seems to pay them well; +but a succession of bad seasons must be very trying, for the vineyards +cannot be neglected be the year good or bad. + +At Zombar, a village in this locality, there is a good instance of what +can be got out of reclaimed land; it was formerly under water for the +greater portion of the year. The soil is so rich in decayed vegetable +matter as to be almost black, and now grows excellent crops of tobacco +and Indian corn. The country north-east of Tokay is certainly the most +picturesque side, there is more foliage, and there is also water. + +The first time I drove through Bodrog-Keresztur, which is on this side, +I thought that, notwithstanding the pretty country, I had never seen so +desolate a place. The town was once famed for its markets, but the +railways have changed all this; almost every other house is a ruin, and +large trees may be seen growing between the walls. + +In the last century a company of Russian soldiers were stationed here +for the purpose of buying Tokay wine for the Russian Court. + +One of the prettiest little places in the Hegyalia is Erdö-Benye; it is +off the main road, right in amongst the hills. It boasts the largest +wine-cellar in the whole district; it has twenty-two ramifications at +two different levels, the whole being cut out of the solid rock; it is +more like a subterranean labyrinth than a cellar. This place was +formerly the property of the renowned family of Rákoczy, who played no +mean part in Hungarian history. Not far from Erdö-Benye are +mineral-water baths, romantically situated in the oak-forest. + +Sáros Patak and Uihely are the two most noteworthy towns in the +north-eastern side of the Tokay triangle. The first named has a +Calvinist college of some considerable reputation, a library of 24,000 +volumes, a printing-press, and a botanical garden. Uihely is the county +town of Zemplin. An agricultural show was held here last spring (1877), +which I attended. Our English-made agricultural implements were very +much to the fore on this occasion. Some people complain of these +machines on the score of their getting out of order rather easily, and +of the immense difficulty of having them repaired in the country. This +objection, I have heard, does not apply alike to all the English makers. +At this show there were some new kinds of wine-presses which attracted a +good deal of attention; before long no doubt not a few changes will be +effected in the process of wine-making in Tokay. Considering that +Hungary holds the third rank in Europe as a wine-producing country, the +whole question of the manipulation of wine is a very important one for +her. + +Amongst the live stock at this show I noticed some very fine merino +sheep. In Hungary the wool-producing quality is everything in sheep, as +mutton has hardly any value. This was only a country show, and the +horses, from an Englishman's point of view, were not worth looking at; +but there are plenty of fine horses in Hungary. The Government has been +at immense pains to improve the breed by introducing English and Arabian +sires. For practical purposes the native breed must not be decried; the +Hungarian horse, though small, has many excellent qualities. For +ordinary animals the prices are very low, which fact does not encourage +the peasants to take much care of the foals. On this occasion I bought a +couple of horses for farming purposes; the two only cost me about £11. + +With regard to farming, our English notions of "high farming" will not +do in Hungary; what is called the "extensive system" pays best. For +instance, if I were already farming, and had some disposable capital at +hand, I should find it pay me better to invest in buying more land than +in trying to increase the produce of what I had already in hand. After +some practical experience in the country, I have no hesitation in saying +that Hungary offers a good field for the employment of English capital. + +Vineyards, on the other hand, can only be worked "intensively." Nothing +requires more care and attention. To begin with, the aspect of the vine +garden influences the quality of the wine immensely. Then there is the +soil. The best is the plastic clay (_nyirok_), which appears to be the +product of the direct chemical decomposition of volcanic rock. This clay +absorbs water but very slowly, and is, in short, the most favourable to +the growth of the vine. As the vines are mostly on the steep hillsides, +low walls are built to prevent the earth from being washed away. In the +early spring one of the first things to be done is to repair the +inevitable damage done by the winter rain or snow to these walls, and to +clear the ditches, which are carefully constructed to carry off the +excess of water. I should observe that in the autumn, soon after the +vintage, the earth is heaped up round the vines to protect them from the +intense cold which prevails here, and directly the spring comes, one +must open up the vines again. In Tokay the vines are never trellised, +they are disposed irregularly, not even in rows--the better to escape +the denudation of their roots by rain. Each vine is supported by an oak +stick, which, removed in autumn, is replaced in spring after the +process of pruning. When the young shoots are long enough they are bound +to these sticks, and are not allowed to grow beyond them. + +No less than three times during the summer the earth should be dug up +round the roots of the vine, and it is very desirable to get the second +digging over before the harvest, for when harvest has once commenced it +is impossible to get labourers at any price. The harvest operations +generally begin at the end of June, and last six weeks. In the part of +Hungary of which I am now speaking the labourer gets a certain +proportion of the harvest. In this district he has every eleventh stack +of corn, and as they are fed as well during the time, a man and his wife +can generally earn enough corn for the whole year. The summers are +intensely hot, and the work in consequence very fatiguing. The poor +fellows are often stricken with fever, the result, in some cases, of +their own imprudence in eating water-melons to excess. + +It is not till the third or fourth week in October that the vintage is +to be looked for. It is not the abundance of grapes that makes a good +year; the test is the amount of dried grapes, for it is to these brown +withered-looking berries that the unique character of the-wine is due. +If the season is favourable, the over-ripe grapes crack in September, +when the watery particles evaporate, leaving the rasin-like grape with +its undissipated saccharine matter. + +In order to make "Essenz," these dry grapes are separated from the rest, +placed in tubs with holes perforated at the bottom. The juice is allowed +to squeeze out by the mere weight of the fruit into a vessel placed +beneath. After several years' keeping this liquid becomes a drinkable +wine, but of course it is always very costly. This is really only a +liqueur. The wine locally called "Ausbruch" is the more generally known +sweet Tokay, a delicious wine, but also very expensive. It is said to +possess wonderfully restorative properties in sickness and in advanced +age. + +Another quality, differently treated, but of the same vintage, is called +"Szamarodni," now known in the English market as "dry Tokay." This dry +wine preserves the bouquet and strength of the ordinary Tokay, but it is +absolutely without any appreciable "sweetness." In order to produce +Szamarodni the dry grapes must not be separated from the others. The +proportion of alcohol is from twelve to fifteen per cent. + +When first I saw the vintage in the Tokay district, I was greatly +interested in the novelty of the whole scene. It is well worth the +stranger's while to turn aside from the beaten track and join for once +in this characteristic Hungarian festivity, for nowhere is the Magyar +more at home than in the vine-growing Hegyalia. + +[Footnote 24: Ancient Volcanoes of Hungary.] + + +THE END. + + +MUIR AND PATERSON, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. + + +[Illustration: Map of the BANAT and TRANSYLVANIA with Mr. Crosse's +Route] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Round About the Carpathians, by Andrew F. 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Crosse. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + a img {border: none; } + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 1%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: left; + color: gray; + } /* page numbers */ + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i10 {display: block; margin-left: 10em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Round About the Carpathians, by Andrew F. Crosse + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Round About the Carpathians + +Author: Andrew F. Crosse + +Release Date: March 12, 2006 [EBook #17972] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROUND ABOUT THE CARPATHIANS *** + + + + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Taavi Kalju, and the Online +Distributed Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net. +(This file was made using scans of public domain works +from the University of Michigan Digital Libraries.) + + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + + +<h1>ROUND ABOUT THE<br /> +CARPATHIANS</h1> + + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>ANDREW F. CROSSE</h2> + +<h3>FELLOW OF THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY</h3> + +<h4> +WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS<br /> +EDINBURGH AND LONDON<br /> +MDCCCLXXVIII</h4> + +<h5><i>The Right of translation is reserved</i></h5> + + +<h4>MUIR AND PATERSON, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.</h4> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr> + <td align='left'></td> + <td align='right'>PAGE</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER I.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Down the Danube from Buda-Pest—Amusements on board the +steamer—Basiash—Drive to Oravicza by Weisskirchen—Ladies of +Oravicza—Gipsy music—Finding an old school-fellow—The +<i>czardas</i>.</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER II.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Consequences of trying to buy a horse—An expedition into +Servia—Fine scenery—The peasants of New Moldova—Szechenyi +road—Geology of the defile of Kasan—Crossing the +Danube—Milanovacz—Drive to Maidenpek—Fearful storm in the +mountains—Miserable quarters for the night—Extent of this +storm—The disastrous effects of the same storm at +Buda-Pest—Great loss of life.</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_15'>15</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER III.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Maidenpek—Well-to-do condition of Servians—Lady Mary Wortley +Montague's journey through Servia—Troubles in +Bulgaria—Communists at Negotin—Copper mines—Forest +ride—Robbers on the road—Kucainia—Belo-breska—Across the +Danube—Detention at customhouse—Weisskirchen—Sleeping +Wallacks.</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_33'>33</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER IV.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Variety of races in Hungary—Wallacks or +Roumains—Statistics—Savage outbreak of the Wallacks in former +years—Panslavic ideas—Roumanians and their origin—Priests of +the Greek Church—Destruction of forests—Spirit of +Communism—Incendiary fires.</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_46'>46</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span><b>CHAPTER V.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Paraffine-works in Oravicza—Gold mine—Coal mines at +Auima-Steirdorf—Geology—States Railway Company's +mines—Bribery</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_54'>54</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER VI.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Mineral wealth of the Banat—Wild ride to Dognacska—Equipment +for a riding tour—An afternoon nap and its consequences—Copper +mines—Self-help—Rare insects—Moravicza—Rare +minerals—Deutsch Bogsan—Reschitza</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_58'>58</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER VII.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Election at Oravicza—Officialism—Reforms—Society—Ride to +Szaszka—Fine views—Drenkova—Character of the +Serbs—Svenica—Rough night walk through the forest</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_70'>70</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER VIII.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Hospitable welcome at Uibanya—Excursion to the Servian side of +the Danube—Ascent of the Stierberg—Bivouac in the +woods—Magnificent views towards the Balkans—Fourteen eagles +disturbed—Wallack dance</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_83'>83</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER IX.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>A hunting expedition proposed—Drive from Uibanya to +Orsova—Oriental aspect of the market-place—Cserna +Valley—Hercules-Bad, Mehadia—Post-office mistakes—Drive to +Karansebes—Rough customers <i>en route</i>—Lawlessness—Fair at +Karansebes—Podolian cattle—Ferocious dogs</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_90'>90</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER X.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Post-office at Karansebes—Good headquarters for a +sportsman—Preparations for a week in the mountains—The party +starting for the hunt—Adventures by the way—Fine +trees—Game—Hut in the forest—Beauty of the scenery in the +Southern Carpathians</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_104'>104</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span><b>CHAPTER XI.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Chamois and bear hunting—First battue—Luxurious dinner 5000 +feet above the sea-level—Storm in the night—Discomforts—The +bear's supper—The eagle's breakfast—Second and third day's +shooting—Baking a friend as a cure for fever—Striking +camp—View into Roumania</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_118'>118</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER XII.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Back at Mehadia—Troubles about a carriage—An unexpected night +on the road—Return to Karansebes—On horseback through the Iron +Gate Pass—Varhely, the ancient capital of Dacia—Roman +remains—Beauty of the Hatszeg Valley</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_131'>131</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER XIII.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Hungarian hospitality—Wallack laziness—Fishing—"Settled +gipsies"—Anecdote—Old <i>régime</i>—Fire—Old Roman bath—The +avifauna of Transylvania—Fly-fishing</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_140'>140</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER XIV.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>On horseback to Petrosèny—A new town—Valuable +coal-fields—Killing fish with dynamite and poison—Singular +manner of repairing roads—Hungarian patriotism—Story of +Hunyadi Janos—Intrusion of the Moslems into Europe</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_152'>152</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER XV.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Hunting for a guide—School statistics—Old times—Over the +mountains to Herrmannstadt—Night in the open—Nearly setting +the forest on fire—Orlat</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_160'>160</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER XVI.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Herrmannstadt—Saxon immigrants—Museum—Places of interest in +the neighbourhood—The fortress-churches—Heltau—The Rothen +Thurm Pass—Turkish incursions</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_173'>173</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span><b>CHAPTER XVII.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Magyar intolerance of the German—Patriotic revival of the +Magyar language—Ride from Herrmannstadt to Kronstadt—The +village of Zeiden—Curious scene in church—Reformation in +Transylvania—Political bitterness between Saxons and Magyars in +1848</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_184'>184</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER XVIII.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Political difficulties—Impatient criticism of +foreigners—Hungary has everything to do—Tenant-farmers +wanted—Wages</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_195'>195</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER XIX.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Want of progress amongst the Saxons—The +Burzenland—Kronstadt—Mixed character of its +inhabitants—Szeklers—General Bem's campaign</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_199'>199</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER XX.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>The Tomöscher Pass—Projected railway from Kronstadt to +Bucharest—Visit to the cavalry barracks at Rosenau—Terzburg +Pass—Dr Daubeny on the extinct volcanoes of Hungary—Professor +Judd on mineral deposits</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_209'>209</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER XXI.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>A ride through Szeklerland—Warnings about robbers—Büksad—A +look at the sulphur deposits on Mount Büdos—A lonely lake—An +invitation to Tusnad</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_219'>219</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER XXII.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>The baths of Tusnad—The state of affairs before +1848—Inequality of taxation—Reform—The existing land +laws—Communal property—Complete registration of titles to +estates—Question of entail</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_232'>232</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span><b>CHAPTER XXIII.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Fine scenery in Szeklerland—Csik Szent Marton—Absence of +inns—The Szekler's love of lawsuits—Csik Szereda—Hospitality +along the road—Wallack atrocities in 1848—The Wallacks not +Panslavists</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_243'>243</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER XXIV.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Ride to Szent Domokos—Difficulty about quarters—Interesting +host—Jewish question in Hungary—Taxation—Financial matters</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_252'>252</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER XXV.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Copper mine of Balanbanya—Miners in the wine-shop—Ride to St +Miklos—Visit to an Armenian family—Capture of a robber—Cold +ride to the baths of Borsék</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_260'>260</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER XXVI.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Moldavian frontier—Tölgyes—Excitement about robbers—Attempt +at extortion—A ride over the mountains—Return to St Miklos</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_275'>275</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER XXVII.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Toplicza—Armenian hospitality—A bear-hunt—A ride over to the +frontier of Bukovina—Destruction of timber—Maladministration +of State property—An unpleasant night on the +mountain—Snowstorm</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_282'>282</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER XXVIII.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Visits at Transylvanian châteaux—Society—Dogs—Amusements at +Klausenburg—Magyar poets—Count Istvan Széchenyi—Baron +Eötvos—'The Village Notary'—Hungarian self-criticism—Literary +taste</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_291'>291</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER XXIX.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>A visit at Schloss B———National characteristics—Robber +stories—Origin of the "poor lads"—Audacity of the +robbers—Anecdote of Deák and the housebreaker—Romantic story +of a robber chief</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_302'>302</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span><b>CHAPTER XXX.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Return to Buda-Pest—All-Souls' Day—The cemetery—Secret burial +of Count Louis Batthyanyi—High rate of mortality at Buda-Pest</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_315'>315</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER XXXI.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Skating—Death and funeral of Deák—Deák's policy—Uneasiness +about the rise of the Danube—Great excitement about +inundations—The capital in danger—Night scene on the +embankment—Firing the danger-signal—The great calamity averted</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_321'>321</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER XXXII.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Results of the Danube inundations—State of things at +Baja—Terrible condition of New Pest—Injuries sustained by the +island garden of St. Marguerite—Charity organisation</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_335'>335</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER XXXIII.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Expedition to the Marmaros Mountains—Railways in Hungary—The +train stopping for a rest—The Alföld—Shepherds of the +plain—Wild appearance of the Rusniacks—Slavs of Northern +Hungary—Marmaros Szigeth—Difficulty in slinging a hammock—The +Jews of Karasconfalu—Soda manufactory at Boeska—Romantic +scenery—Salt mines—Subterranean lake</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_339'>339</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER XXXIV.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>The Tokay district—Visit at Schloss G———Wild-boar +hunting—Incidents of the chase</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_355'>355</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><b>CHAPTER XXXV.</b></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'>Tokay vineyards—The vine-grower's difficulties—Geology of the +Hegyalia—The Pope's compliment to the wine of Tállya—Towns of +the Hegyalia—Farming—System of wages at harvest—The different +sorts of Tokay wine</td> + <td align='right'><a href='#Page_364'>364</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='center'><a href='#image01'><i>Map of the Banat and Transylvania with Mr Crosse's route.</i></a></td> + <td align='left'></td> +</tr> +</table></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> +<h2>ROUND ABOUT THE CARPATHIANS.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2> + +<h4>Down the Danube from Buda-Pest—Amusements on board the +steamer—Basiash—Drive to Oravicza by Weisskirchen—Ladies of +Oravicza—Gipsy music—Finding an old schoolfellow—The <i>czardas</i>.</h4> + + +<p>One glorious morning in June 1875, I, with the true holiday feeling at +heart, for the world was all before me, stepped on board the Rustchuk +steamer at Buda-Pest, intending to go down the Danube as far as Basiash.</p> + +<p>Your express traveller, whose aim it is to get to the other end of +everywhere in the shortest possible time, will take the train instead of +the boat to Basiash, and there catch up the steamer, saving fully twelve +hours on the way. This time the man in a hurry is not so far wrong; the +Danube between Buda-Pest and the defile of Kasan is almost devoid of +what the regular tourist would call respectable scenery. There are few +objects of interest, except the mighty river itself.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p> + +<p>Now the steamer has its advantages over the train, for surely nowhere in +this locomotive world can a man more thoroughly enjoy "sweetly doing +nothing" than on board one of these river-boats. You are wafted swiftly +onward through pure air and sunshine; you have an armchair under the +awning; of course an amusing French novel; besides, truth to say, there +is plenty to amuse you on board. Once past Vienna, your moorings are cut +from the old familiar West; the costumes, the faces, the architecture, +and even the way of not doing things, have all a flavour of the East.</p> + +<p>What a hotch-potch of races, so to speak, all in one boat, but ready to +do anything rather than pull together; even here, between stem and stern +of our Danube steamer, are Magyars, Germans, Servians, Croats, +Roumanians, Jews, and gipsies. They are all unsatisfied people with +aspirations; no two are agreed—everybody wants something else down +here, and how Heaven is to grant all the prayers of those who have the +grace to pray, or how otherwise to settle the Eastern Question, I will +not pretend to say.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the world amuses itself—I mean the microcosm on board the +steamer: people, ladies not excepted, play cards, drink coffee, and +smoke. There is a good opportunity of studying the latest Parisian +fashions, as worn by Roumanian belles;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span> they know how to dress, do those +handsome girls from Bucharest.</p> + +<p>When steam navigation was first established on the Danube, as long ago +as 1830, Prince Demidoff remarked, that "in making the Danube one of the +great commercial highways of the world, steam had united the East with +the West." It was a smart saying, but it was not a thing accomplished +when the Prince wrote his Travels, nor is it now; for though the "Danube +Steam Navigation Company" have been running their boats for nearly half +a century, they are in difficulties, "chiefly," says Mr Révy,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> "from +the neglect of all river improvements between Vienna and Buda-Pest, and +between Basiash and Turn-Severin." He goes on to say that the dearest +interests of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy are involved in the +rectification of the course of the Danube, recommending a Royal +Commission to be appointed. Those who follow the course of the river may +see for themselves how little has been done, and how much remains to be +done before it can be safely reckoned one of the great commercial +highways of the world.</p> + +<p>We had started from Buda-Pest on Monday morning at seven o'clock, and +arrived at Basiash at nine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> the following morning. We were fortunate in +not having been detained anywhere by shallow water, so often the cause +of delay by this route.</p> + +<p>Up to the present time Basiash is the terminus of the railway; it is a +depôt for coal brought from the interior, and though not out of its +teens, is a place fast growing into importance.</p> + +<p>As my object was to get to Oravicza in the Banat, I had done with the +steamboat, and intended taking the rail to my destination; but, in the +"general cussedness" of things, there turned out to be no train till the +evening. I did not at all enjoy the prospect of knocking about the whole +day amongst coal-sheds and unfinished houses, with the alternative +refuge of the inn, which was swarming with flies and redolent of many +evil smells; so I thought I would find some conveyance and drive over, +for the distance was not great. If there is anything I hate, it is +waiting the livelong day for a railway train.</p> + +<p>There chanced to be an intelligent native close by who divined my +thoughts, for I had certainly not uttered them; he came up, touched me +on the arm, and pointed round the corner. Notwithstanding the intense +heat of the day, the Wallack, for such he was, wore an enormous +sheepskin cloak with the wool outside, as though ready for an Arctic +winter. I followed him a few steps to see what he wanted me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> to look at; +the movement was quite enough, he regarded it evidently in the light of +ready assent, and in the twinkling of an eye he possessed himself of my +portmanteau and other belongings, motioned me to follow him, which I +did, and then found that my Heaven-sent friend had a machine for hire.</p> + +<p>I call it a machine, because it was not like anything on wheels I had +seen before: later on I became familiar enough with the carts of the +country; they are long-bodied, rough constructions, wonderfully adapted +to the uneven roads. In this case there were four horses abreast, which +sounds imposing, as any four-in-hand must always do.</p> + +<p>I now asked the Wallack in German if he could drive me to Oravicza, for +I saw he had made up his mind to drive me somewhere. To my relief I +found he could speak German, at all events a few words. He replied he +could drive the "high and nobly born Excellency" there in four hours. +The time was one thing, but the charge was quite another affair. His +demand was so outrageous that I supposed it was an implied compliment to +my exalted rank: certainly it had no adequate reference to the services +offered. The fellow asked enough to buy the whole concern outright—cart +and four horses! They were the smallest horses I almost ever saw, and +were further reduced by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> nearest shave of being absolute skeletons; +the narrow line between sustaining life and actual starvation must have +been nicely calculated.</p> + +<p>We now entered upon the bargaining phase, a process which threatened to +last some time; all the stragglers in the place assisted at the +conference, taking a patriotic interest in their own countryman. The +matter was finally adjusted by the Wallack agreeing to take a sixth part +of the original sum.</p> + +<p>Seated on a bundle of hay, with my things around me, I was now quite +ready for the start, but the driver had a great many last words with the +public, which the interest in our proceedings had gathered about us. +Presently with an air of triumph he took his seat, gave a loud crack or +two with his whip, and off we started at a good swinging trot, just to +show what his team could accomplish.</p> + +<p>We took the road to Weisskirchen, leaving the Danube in the rear. The +country was fairly pretty, but nothing remarkable; fine scenery under +the circumstances would have been quite superfluous, for the dust was +two feet deep in the road, and the heels of four horses scampering along +raised such a cloud of it that we could see next to nothing.</p> + +<p>We had not proceeded far when the speed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> sensibly relaxed; I fancy the +horses went slower that they might listen to what the driver had to say, +he talked to them the whole time. He was not communicative to me; his +knowledge of German seemed limited to the bargaining process, a lesson +often repeated, I suspect. As time wore on the heat became almost +tropical; as for the dust, I felt as if I had swallowed a sandbank, and +was joyful at the near prospect of quenching my thirst at Weisskirchen, +now visible in the distance.</p> + +<p>Hungarian towns look like overgrown villages that have never made up +their minds seriously to become towns. The houses are mostly of one +story, standing each one alone, with the gable-end, blank and +windowless, towards the road. This is probably a relic of Orientalism.</p> + +<p>Getting up full speed as we approached the town, we clattered noisily +over the crown of the causeway, and suddenly making a sharp turn, found +ourselves in the courtyard of the inn.</p> + +<p>I inquired how long we were to remain here; "A small half-hour," was the +driver's answer. This was my first experience of a Wallack's idea of +time, if indeed they have any ideas on the subject beyond the rising and +the setting of the sun.</p> + +<p>I strolled about the place, but there was not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> much to be done in the +time, and I got very tired of waiting: the "half-hour" was anything but +"small;" however, one must be somewhere, and in Hungary waiting comes a +good deal into the day's work. I was rather afraid my Wallack was +indulging too freely in <i>slivovitz</i>—otherwise plum-brandy—a special +weakness of theirs; but after an intolerable delay we got off at last.</p> + +<p>Soon after leaving the town we came upon an encampment of gipsies; their +tents looked picturesque enough in the distance, but on nearer approach +the illusion was entirely dispelled. In appearance they were little +better than savages; children even of ten years of age, lean, mop-headed +creatures, were to be seen running about absolutely naked. As Mark Twain +said, "they wore nothing but a smile," but the smile was a grimace to +try to extract coppers from the traveller. Two miles farther on we came +upon fourteen carts of gipsies, as wild a crew as one could meet all the +world over. Some of the men struck me as handsome, but with a single +exception the women were terribly unkempt-looking creatures.</p> + +<p>It was fully six o'clock before we reached Oravicza; the drive of +twenty-five miles had taken eight hours instead of four, as the Wallack +had profanely promised.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> + +<p>We entered the town with a feeble attempt at a trot, but the poor brutes +of horses were dead beat, and neither the pressure of public opinion nor +the suggestive cracking of the driver's whip could arouse them, to +becoming activity.</p> + +<p>Oravicza is very prettily situated on rising ground, and the long +winding street, extending more than two miles, turns with the valley. +Crawling along against collar the whole way, I thought the street would +never end. There are very few Magyar inhabitants in this place, which is +pretty equally divided between Germans and Wallacks; the lower part of +the town belongs to the latter, and is known as Roman Oravicza, in +distinction to Deutsch Oravicza. The population is altogether about +seven thousand.</p> + +<p>I fancy not many strangers pass this way, for never was a shy Englishman +so stared at as this dust-begrimmed traveller. I became painfully +self-conscious of the generally disreputable appearance of my cart and +horses, the driver and myself, when two remarkably pretty girls tripped +by, casting upon me well-bred but amused glances. All the womenkind of +Oravicza must have turned out at this particular hour, for I had hardly +passed the sisters with the arched eyebrows, when I came upon another +group of young ladies, who were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> laughing and talking together. I think +they grew merrier as I approached, and I am quite sure I was hotter than +I had been all day. "Confound the fellow! can't he turn into an +innyard—anywhere out of the main street?" thought I, giving my driver a +poke. He knew perfectly well where he was about to take me, and no +significant gestures of mine hastened him forward in the very least. +Presently, without any warning, we did turn into a side opening, but so +suddenly that the whole vehicle had a wrench, and the two hind wheels +jolted over a high kerbstone. Meanwhile the group of damsels were still +in close confab, and I could see took note that the stranger had +descended at the Krone. We were all in a heap in the courtyard, but we +had to extricate ourselves as best we could, for not a soul was to be +seen, though we had made noise enough certainly to announce our arrival.</p> + +<p>I pulled repeatedly at the bell before I could rouse the <i>hausknecht</i>, +and induce him to make an appearance. At length he deigned to emerge +from the recesses of the dirty interior. Having discharged the Wallack +in a satisfied frame of mind (he had the best of the bargain after all), +I was at leisure to follow mine host to inspect the accommodation he had +to offer me. A sanitary commis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>sioner would have condemned it, but <i>en +voyage comme en voyage</i>. With some difficulty and delay I procured water +enough to fill the pie-dish that did duty for the washing apparatus. I +had an old relative of extremely Low Church proclivities who was always +repeating—for my edification, I suppose—that "man is but dust;" the +dear old lady would have said so in very truth if she had seen me on +this occasion.</p> + +<p>After supper I strolled into the summer theatre, a simple erection, +consisting of a stage at the end of a pretty, shady garden. Seats and +tables were placed under the lime-trees, and here the happy people of +Oravicza enjoy their amusements in the fresh air, drinking coffee and +eating ices. Think of the luxury of fresh air, O ye frequenters of +London theatres!</p> + +<p>The evening was already advanced, the tables were well filled; groups +gathered here and there, sauntering under the greenery, gay with +lanterns; and many a blue-eyed maiden was there, with looks coquettish +yet demure, as German maidens are wont to appear.</p> + +<p>A concert was going on, and I for the first time heard a gipsy band. +Music is an instinct with these Hungarian gipsies. They play by ear, and +with a marvellous precision, not surpassed by musi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>cians who have been +subject to the most careful training. Their principal instruments are +the violin, the violoncello, and a sort of zither. The airs they play +are most frequently compositions of their own, and are in character +quite peculiar, though favourite pieces from Wagner and other composers +are also given by them with great effect. I heard on this occasion one +of the gipsy airs which made an indelible impression on my mind; it +seemed to me the thrilling utterance of a people's history. There was +the low wail of sorrow, of troubled passionate grief, stirring the heart +to restlessness, then the sense of turmoil and defeat; but upon this +breaks suddenly a wild burst of exultation, of rapturous joy—a triumph +achieved, which hurries you along with it in resistless sympathy. The +excitable Hungarians can literally become intoxicated with this +music—and no wonder. You cannot reason upon it, or explain it, but its +strains compel you to sensations of despair and joy, of exultation and +excitement, as though under the influence of some potent charm.</p> + +<p>I strolled leisurely back to the inn, beneath the starlit heavens. The +outline of the mountains was clearly marked in the distance, and in the +foreground quaint gable-ends mixed themselves up with the shadows and +the trees—a pretty picture,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> prettier than anything one can see by the +light of "common day."</p> + +<p>The following morning I set about making inquiries respecting the mines +which I knew existed in the neighbourhood of Oravicza. I found that an +English gentleman owned a gold mine in the immediate vicinity, and that +he was then living in the town. This induced me to go off at once to +call upon him, and I was immediately received in a very friendly manner. +This accidental meeting was rather curious, for on comparing notes we +found that we had been schoolfellows together at Westminster. H—— +being my senior, we had not known each other well; but meeting here in +the wilds, we were as old familiar friends. H—— kindly insisted on my +leaving the inn and taking up my quarters with him in his bachelor +residence, which was in fact big enough to accommodate a whole form of +Westminster boys. I was not at all sorry to avoid a second night at the +Krone, and gladly fell into my friend's hospitable arrangements.</p> + +<p>I was in great luck altogether, for that very evening a dance was to +come off at Oravicza, and my friend invited me to accompany him. Dancing +is one of the sins I compound for; moreover, I had a lively recollection +of the bright eyes I had encountered yesterday.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> + +<p>Oravicza is a central place, in a way the chief town of the Banat. It +has a pleasant little society, composed of the families of the +officials, and of the military stationed there; they are mostly German +by origin. Amongst the belles of the evening I soon discovered my merry +critics of yesterday. I was duly presented, and we laughed together over +my "first appearance." It was one of the pleasantest evenings I ever +remember. I hate long invitations to anything agreeable; this party, for +instance, had the charm of unexpectedness. If unfortunately I should +prove not quite good enough to go to heaven, I think it would be very +pleasant to stop at Oravicza—supposing, of course, that my friends all +stopped there as well.</p> + +<p>Here I first danced the <i>czardas</i>; it is an epoch in a man's life, but +you must see it, feel it, dance it, and, above all, hear the gipsy music +that inspires it. This is the national dance of the Hungarians, favoured +by prince and peasant alike. The figures are very varied, and represent +the progress of a courtship where the lady is coy, and now retreats and +now advances; her partner manifests his despair, she yields her hand, +and then the couple whirl off together to the most entrancing tones of +wild music, such as St. Anthony himself could not have resisted.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER II.</h2> + +<h4>Consequences of trying to buy a horse—An expedition into +Servia—Fine scenery—The peasants of New Moldova—Szechenyi +road—Geology of the defile of Kasan—Crossing the +Danube—Milanovacz-Drive to Maidenpek—Fearful storm in the +mountains—Miserable quarters for the night—Extent of this +storm—The disastrous effects of the same storm at Buda-Pest—Great +loss of life.</h4> + + +<p>My friend H—— is the very impersonation of sound practical sense. The +next morning he coolly broke in upon my raptures over the beauty of the +Oravicza ladies by saying, "You want to buy a horse, don't you?"</p> + +<p>Of course I did, but my thoughts were elsewhere at the moment, and with +some reluctance I took my hat and followed my friend to interview a +Wallack who had heard that I was a likely purchaser, and brought an +animal to show me. It would not do at all, and we dismissed him.</p> + +<p>A little later we went out into the town, and I thought there was a +horse-fair; I should think we met a dozen people at least who came up to +accost me on the subject of buying a horse. And such a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> collection of +animals!—wild colts from the Pustza that had never been ridden at all, +and other ancient specimens from I know not where, which could never be +ridden again—old, worn-out roadsters. There were two or three good +horses, but they were only fit for harness. I was so bothered every time +I put my nose out of doors by applications from persons anxious to part +with their property in horse-flesh, that I wished I had kept my +intentions locked in my own breast. I was pestered for days about this +business. There was an old Jew who came regularly to the house three +times a-day to tell me of some other paragon that he had found. When he +saw that it was really of no use, he then complained loudly that I had +wasted his precious time, that he had given up every other occupation +for the sake of finding me a horse. I dismissed this Jew, telling him +pretty sharply to go about his own business for once, adding that +nothing should induce me to buy a horse in Oravicza.</p> + +<p>One day H—— informed me that he was going over to Servia on a matter +of business, and if I liked to accompany him, I should see something of +the country, and perhaps I might find there a horse to suit me. The +Servian horses are said to be a useful breed, strong though small, and +very enduring for a long march.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span></p> + +<p>I was very ready for the expedition, so we hired a <i>leiterwagen</i>, which +is in fact a long cart with sides like a ladder, peculiarly suitable for +rough work. I was much surprised to find the Hungarians far less often +in the saddle than I expected; it is true, nobody walks, not even the +poorest peasant, but they drive, as a rule.</p> + +<p>We started one fine July morning in our machine for Moldova on the +Danube. The first place we came to was Szaszka, a mining village. Close +by are copper mines and smelting-works belonging to the States Railway +Company. I was told that they do not pay as well as formerly, owing to +the fact that the ore now being worked is poorer than before; it yields +only two per cent. of copper, a very low average. Nothing could well +exceed the dirt of Szaszka; we merely stopped long enough to feed the +horses, and were glad to get off again.</p> + +<p>On leaving this place the road immediately begins to ascend the +mountain, and may be described as a sort of pass over a spur of the +Carpathians. It was a very beautiful drive, favoured as we were, too, +with fine weather. The road on the northern side is even well made, +ascending in regular zigzags. After gaining the summit, we left the +post-road that we had hitherto traversed, and took our way to the right, +descending through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> a forest. The varied foliage was very lovely, and +the shade afforded us most grateful. It was an original notion driving +through such a place, for, according to my ideas, there was no road at +all; but H——, more accustomed to the country, declared it was not so +bad, at least he averred that there were other roads much worse. The +jolting we got over the ruts and stones exceeded anything in my previous +experience. How the cart kept itself together was a marvel to me, but it +accommodated itself by a kind of snakelike movement, not characteristic +of wheeled vehicles in general. Except for the honour and glory of +driving, I would as lief have walked, and I think have done the journey +nearly as soon; but my friend observed, "It was no good giving into bad +roads down in this part of the world."</p> + +<p>At one of the worst turnings we met several bullock-carts filled with +iron pyrites from the copper-smelting. The custom of the drivers of +these carts is to stop at the bottom of a steep bit of hill, and then +put five or six pairs of oxen to draw up one cart. The process is a slow +one, but is better for the oxen. We had great difficulty in passing in +safety, for unluckily at the spot we met them the trees were so thick +that they literally walled up the road, and on the other side there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +chanced to be a very uninviting precipice, and of course we had the +place of honour.</p> + +<p>Soon after this little excitement was over we came upon a fine view of +the Danube, with a long stretch of Servian forests beyond. On we jolted, +till at length New Moldova was reached: this place has +smelting-furnaces, and in the neighbourhood are extensive copper mines. +The district is known as the Banat of Temesvar, an extensive area of the +most fertile land in Europe; rich black soil, capable of growing any +number of crops in succession without dressing. This part of Hungary +supplies the finest white flour, so much esteemed by the Vienna bakers, +and now sought after by the pastrycooks in England.</p> + +<p>There was a fair going on at New Moldova, which afforded me an +opportunity of seeing the peasants in their gala dresses. The place is +renowned for its pretty Wallack girls, and I certainly can bear witness +that I saw not a few handsome faces. But what struck me most was the +graceful movements of these damsels: their manner of walking was the +very poetry of motion. I daresay it was the more striking to me because +I had recently come from England, where fashion condemns the wearers of +high-heeled shoes to a rickety waddle! Even here, in these wilds, +fashion maintains a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> despotic rule. I understand black hair is the thing +at present, so every Wallack maiden dyes her hair to the regulation +colour, though Nature, who never makes a mistake, may have matched her +complexion with auburn locks.</p> + +<p>The costume is very pretty and peculiar; it consists of a loose chemise, +a short skirt of homespun, with a double apron front and back, formed of +a very deep thick fringe of various colours. This peculiar garment is +called an <i>obreska</i>; I think it has no counterpart in female fashions +elsewhere. When the under-garment is white and fresh the effect is very +good; but in the case of the very poor, if there are but scanty rags +beneath, then, to speak mildly, the fringe is an inefficient covering. +But to-day every damsel is in her best; and how jauntily she wears the +coloured scarf twisted round her head, which falls in graceful folds! +The Wallacks generally have their bare feet covered, not with boots, but +with thongs of leather, something in the form of a sandal. The Servian +women dress quite differently, wear tight-fitting garments, richly +embroidered when their means permit. The men also figure largely in +embroidery.</p> + +<p>In the evening the peasants had a dance on the open space in front of +the <i>czarda</i>, or village inn.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> Of course we were there to look on. I +should observe that we had arranged to stay the night at Moldova, for +the afternoon had been taken up in visiting a large manufactory for +sulphuric acid in the neighbourhood. The dance which wound up the day's +amusements can be easily described. "Many a youth and many a maid" form +a wide circle with arms interlaced, they move round and round in a +marzurka step to the sound of music. It appeared to me rather slow and +monotonous. I do not know whether the figure breaks up, leaving each +couple more to their own devices; but we left them still revolving in a +circle.</p> + +<p>The following morning we were off on our travels again. A short drive +took us to Old Moldova, a village within the Military Frontier, +regularly constructed, with guardhouse and other Government buildings, +facing the Danube. At this point begins the splendid road by the side of +the river, made by the Hungarian Government in 1840. It reaches as far +as Orsova, taking the left bank of the Danube. It would have been easier +to have followed Trajan's lead, and have made the road on the right +bank; but there were political reasons for deciding otherwise. The +Hungarian Government, as a matter of course, would only construct this +great work within<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> their own territory: the other side of the river is +Servian. The engineering difficulties in making this road were very +great, but they have been everywhere overcome, and the result is a +splendid piece of work.</p> + +<p>Arriving at the Danube, we took a steamboat that would land us in +Milanovacz in Servia. The scenery here is magnificent; we were now in +the defile of Kasan. The waters of the mighty river are contracted +within a narrow gorge, which in fact cleaves asunder the Carpathian +range for a space of more than fifty miles. The limestone rock forms a +precipitous wall on either side, rising in some places to an altitude of +more than two thousand feet sheer from the water's edge. The scenery of +this wonderful pass is very varied; the bare rock with its vertical +precipice gives place to a disturbed broken mass of cliff and scaur, +flung about in every sort of fantastic form, or towering aloft like the +ruined ramparts of some Titan's castle. Over all this a luxuriant +vegetation has thrown a veil of exceeding beauty.</p> + +<p>The fact of the Danube forcing its way through the Carpathian chain in +this remarkable manner is a very interesting problem to the geologists, +and deserves more careful investigation at their hands than perhaps it +has yet received. They seem pretty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> well agreed in saying that there +must have been a time when the waters were bayed back, and when the vast +Hungarian plain was an inland sea or great lake.</p> + +<p>Professor Hull, in a recent paper on the subject,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> states the fact of +the plains of Hungary being "overspread by sands, gravels, and a kind of +mud called <i>loess</i>, or by alluvial deposits underlaid by fresh-water +limestones, which may be considered as having been formed beneath an +inland lake, during different periods of repletion or partial +exhaustion, dating downwards from the Miocene period."</p> + +<p>The Professor goes on to say that "at intervals along the skirts of the +Carpathians, and in more central detached situations, volcanoes seem to +have been in active operation, vomiting forth masses of trachytic and +basaltic lava, which were sometimes mingled with the deposits forming +under the waters of the lakes. The connection of these great sheets of +water with these active volcanic eruptions in Hungary has been pointed +out by the late Dr. Daubeny. The gorge of Kasan, and the ridge about 700 +feet above the present surface of the stream, appear to have once barred +the passage of the river. At this time the waters must have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> been pent +up several hundred feet above the present surface, and thus have been +thrown back on the plains of Hungary. It was only necessary that the +barrier should be cut through in order to lay dry these plains by +draining the lakes. This was probably effected by the ordinary process +of river excavation, and partly by the formation of underground channels +scooped out amongst the limestone rocks of the gorge. These two modes of +excavation acting together may have hastened the lowering of the channel +and the drainage of the plains above considerably; nevertheless the time +required for such a work must have been extended, and it would appear +that while the great inland lakes were being drained, the volcanic fires +were languishing, and ultimately became extinct. Hungary thus presents +us with phenomena analogous to those which are to be found in the +volcanic district of Central France." It is a significant fact that even +at the present day the waters of the Platten See and other lakes and +swamps are diminishing, showing that the draining process is still going +on.</p> + +<p>The extent of the great lake of prehistoric times is forcibly brought +before us by the fact that the Alföld, or great plain of Hungary, +comprises an area of 37,400 square miles! Here is found the <i>Tiefland</i>, +or deep land, so wonderfully fertile that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> cultivator need only +scratch the soil to prepare it for his crop.</p> + +<p>As it only took us four hours by steamer to go from Alt Moldova to +Milanovacz, we calculated that we might reach Maidenpek, our destination +in Servia, the same day by borrowing a few hours from the night, as an +Irishman would say. However, it turned out that there was so much +bargaining and dawdling about at Milanovacz before we could settle on a +conveyance that we did not get away till six o'clock—too late a great +deal, considering the rough drive we had before us. Immediately after +starting we began to wind our way up the mountain. The views were +splendid. The Danube at this part again spreads out, having the +appearance of a lake something like the Rhine near Bingen. We looked +right over into Transylvania and Roumania from the commanding position +afforded by the terraced road up which we slowly toiled.</p> + +<p>We had hardly gained the highest point when we remarked that the sky was +becoming rapidly overcast by clouds from the west. Our Servian driver +swore it would not rain; he knew the signs of the weather, he said, but +as he applied the whip and galloped his horses at every available +opportunity, it was clear he had an inner consciousness of coming +trouble.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> The road now led through a forest. Here and there a gap in the +thick foliage gave us a glimpse of the distant landscape, and of the +curious atmospheric effects produced by the coming storm. The clouds +rolled up behind us in dense masses, throwing the near mountains into +deep shadow, while the plain far beneath was flooded with bright +sunshine.</p> + +<p>The effect, however, was transitory, for the dark shadow soon engulfed +the distant plain, blurring the fair scene even while we looked upon it. +The change was something marvellous, so sudden and so complete. Up to +this time the air had been still, and very hot; but suddenly a fierce +wind came upon us with a hoarse roar—almost like the waves of the +sea—up the valley and over the hill-top it came, right down upon us, +tearing at the forest-trees. The branches, in all the full foliage of +leafy June, swayed to and fro as the wind went roaring and shrieking +down the hillside; the next moment the earth shook with the clap of a +terrific burst of thunder.</p> + +<p>The horses stood still and shuddered in their harness, and it was with +difficulty they were made to go on. It was evident the storm was right +over us, for now succeeded flash upon flash of forked lightning, with +thunder-claps that were instantaneous and unceasing.</p> + +<p>At the same time the windows of heaven were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> opened upon us, or rather +the sluices of heaven it seemed to me; for the rain descended in sheets, +not streams, of water. Without any adventitious difficulties, the road +was as objectionable as a road could be; deep ruts alternated with now a +bare bit of rock strewn with treacherous loose stones, and now a sharp +curve with an ugly slant towards the precipice.</p> + +<p>About half an hour after the storm first broke upon us it had become +night, indeed it was so dark that we could hardly see a pace in advance. +The repeated flashes of lightning helped us to make out our position +from time to time, and we trusted to the horses mainly to get us along +in the safe middle course. At moments when the heavens were lit up, I +could see the swaying branches of the fir-trees high above us battling +with the wind, for we were still in the forest. The sound of many waters +around on every side forcibly impressed us with the notion that we must +be washed away—a result not by any means improbable, for the road we +traversed was little better than a watercourse.</p> + +<p>I have experienced storms in Norway, and in the Swiss and Austrian Alps, +but I never remember anything to equal this outburst of the elements.</p> + +<p>To stop still or to go forward was almost equally difficult, but we +struggled on somehow at the rate, I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> should think, of a mile and a half +in the hour. The horses were thoroughly demoralised, as one says of +defeated troops, and stumbled recklessly at every obstacle. The driver +was a stupid fellow, without an ounce of pluck in his composition, and +declared more than once that he would not go on, preferring to stop +under such shelter as the trees afforded. We were of another mind, and +insisted on his pushing on. One of us walked at the horses' heads, and +thus we splashed and blundered on for three mortal hours, wishing all +the time that we had slept at Milanovacz. The route became so much worse +that I declared we must have missed the track. We were apparently in a +deep gully, traversed by a mountain torrent hardly a foot below the +level of our road; but the Servian said he knew we were "all right," and +that we should come directly to a house where we could get shelter.</p> + +<p>He had hardly spoken when H—— descried some lights not very far ahead, +and in less than ten minutes we came alongside a good-sized hut, which +turned out to be the welcome wine-shop the driver had promised us. Here +was a roof anyhow, so we entered, hoping for supper and beds in the +wayside inn. All our host could produce was a very good bottle of +Servian "black" wine and some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> coarse bread of the country, so stale +that we could hardly break it. This wine, which is almost as black as +ink, comes from Negotin, lower down the Danube, and is rather a +celebrated vintage I was informed.</p> + +<p>It was only in my untravelled mind that the idea of "beds" existed at +all. H—— knew better than to expect anything of the kind. All we could +do was to examine the place we were in with reference to passing the +night. The floor of the room consisted of hard stamped clay, which from +the drippings of our garments had become damp and slightly adhesive to +the tread. The furniture consisted of a few rough stools and three +tables. There was no question of any other apartment, there being only a +dark hole in the rear sacred to the family, into which every sense we +possessed forbade us to intrude. In peering about with the candles we +found that the floor was perfectly alive with insects—such strange +forms, awful in their strangeness—interesting, I daresay, to the +entomologist, but simply disgusting to one not given to collecting +specimens.</p> + +<p>If I were dying I could not have laid myself down on that floor, so we +dragged the three tables together. They were provokingly uneven, but +with the aid of a sheepskin <i>bunda</i>, and our carpet-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>bags for pillows, +we contrived something upon which to rest our tired limbs. I should +observe we had partially dried ourselves by a miserable fire fed with +wet wood; in fact, everything was wet—our plaids were soaked, and were +useless as coverlets.</p> + +<p>We had agreed to keep one candle burning, with the further precaution +that we should sleep and tie through the night; for it was a +cut-throat-looking place, and the countenance of the ordinary Servian is +not reassuring. It fell to my lot to have the first watch, and I lay +awake staring at the roof, no great height above us. Its dirt-stained +rafters were lit up by the candle, and I soon became aware that the +mainbody of the insects was performing a strategic movement highly +creditable to the attacking party—they dropped down upon us from the +beams! I will not pursue the subject farther, but as long as the candle +burned I did not sleep a wink. I suppose I must have dozed off towards +morning, for H—— roused me from a state of semi-unconsciousness, and +"up we got and shook our lugs."</p> + +<p>The first thing I saw on pushing open the door was the steaming carcass +of a sheep hung just outside, with a pool of blood on the very +threshold! In many places in Eastern Europe they have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> the disgusting +habit of slaughtering the animals in the middle of the street.</p> + +<p>As soon as we had swallowed a cup of hot coffee, which is always good in +this part of the world, we lost no time in clearing out of the wretched +hovel where we had passed the night. On every side there were traces of +last night's tempest—trees uprooted and lying across the road, walls +blown down, and watercourses overflowing. It came to my knowledge later +that we got part of the same storm that had fallen with such devastating +fury on Buda-Pest just twenty-four hours earlier.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span><a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + +<p>It is a fact worth noting that this storm affected a large area of +Europe, travelling north-west to south-east. A friend writing from the +neighbourhood of Dresden made mention of a severe storm on the 24th of +June; it broke upon Buda on the 26th, reaching us down in Servia on the +27th.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER III.</h2> + +<h4>Maidenpek—Well-to-do condition of Servians—Lady Mary Wortley +Montague's journey through Servia—Troubles in Bulgaria—Communists +at Negotin—Copper mines—Forest ride—Robbers on the +road—Kucainia—Belo-breska—Across the Danube—Detention at +customhouse—Weisskirchen—Sleeping Wallacks.</h4> + + +<p>We reached Maidenpek without further mishap, and here I began to make +inquiries again about a horse. I was informed that in some of the +villages farther up I should be sure to find the sort of horse I wanted, +and not sorry for an excuse for exploring the country, I agreed to go, +at the same time getting my friend to join me.</p> + +<p>We hired some horses for the expedition, and set off, a party of four: +three Englishmen (for we had picked up a friend at Maidenpek) and a Serb +attendant, who was to act as our guide. He rode a small plucky horse, +being armed with a long Turkish gun slung over his shoulder, while his +belt was stuck full of strange-looking weapons, worthy of an +old-curiosity shop. We were mounted on serviceable little nags, and had +also our revolvers.</p> + +<p>The ride was truly enjoyable. We soon left the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> road, and took our way +along a forest path in Indian file, our picturesque guide leading the +way. The path came to an end before long, and we then followed the +course of a little stream; but as it wound about in a most tortuous +manner we were obliged to be continually crossing and recrossing. +Sometimes we rode through a jungle of reeds, at least eight feet high; +then we had to scramble up a sandy bank. The horses were like cats, and +did their scrambling well; and at rare intervals we found ourselves on a +fair stretch of open lawn which fringes the dense forest. There were +bits here and there which reminded one of Devonshire, where the +luxuriant ferns dipped their waving plumes into the cool waters of the +rocky stream. In the forest, too, there were exquisite fairy-spots, +where, as Spenser says, is found "beauty enregistered in every nook."</p> + +<p>After a time the way grew more wild in the character of the scenery, and +at length the route we took was so rough that we had to dismount and +lead our horses up the side of a steep hill. It was tiresome work, for +the heat was intense; but gaining the top, we were rewarded by a grand +view of the Balkan Mountains rising directly south. We ought to have +made out Widdin and a stretch of the Danube at Palanka; but the middle +of the day is the worst time for the details of a distant view.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p> + +<p>Shortly after this we arrived at a small uncivilised-looking village. +The men were powerfully built in point of figure, and the women rather +handsome. Both sexes wear picturesque garments. This village, like many +others of the same kind, we found encircled by plum-orchards. Thousands +of barrels of dried plums are sent from Servia every year, not only to +Western Europe, but to America. Besides the consumption of the fruit in +its innocent form of prunes, it is made into the spirit called +<i>slivovitz</i>, the curse of Hungary and Roumania.</p> + +<p>We made a halt at this village, and sent out a man to look up some +horses. He brought in several, but none of them were strong enough for +my purpose. It was then proposed that we should ride on to the next +village. Here we got dinner but no horses. The meal was very simple but +not unpalatable, finishing up with excellent Turkish coffee.</p> + +<p>I am writing now of the <i>status quo ante bellum</i>, and I must say I was +struck with the well-to-do aspect of the peasants in Servia. By peasants +I mean the class answering to the German <i>bauer</i>. It is true they lack +many things that Western civilisation regards as necessaries; but have +they not had the Turks for their masters far into this century? Turning +over Lady Mary Wortley<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> Montague's Letters,<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> there occurs the +following paragraph in her account of a journey through Servia in +1717:—</p> + +<p>"We crossed the deserts of Servia, almost quite overgrown with wood, +through a country naturally fertile. The inhabitants are industrious; +but the oppression of the peasants is so great, they are forced to +abandon their houses, and neglect their tillage, all they have being a +prey to janissaries whenever they please to seize upon it. We had a +guard of five hundred of them, and I was almost in fears every day to +see their insolencies in the poor villages through which we passed.... I +was assured that the quantity of wine last vintage was so prodigious +that they were forced to dig holes in the earth to put it in. The +happiness of this plenty is scarcely perceived by the oppressed people. +I saw here [Nissa] a new occasion for my compassion. The wretches that +had provided twenty waggons for our baggage from Belgrade hither for a +certain hire being all sent back without payment, some of their horses +lamed, and others killed, without any satisfaction made for them. The +poor fellows came round the house weeping and tearing their hair and +beards in a most pitiable manner, without getting anything but drubs +from the insolent soldiers. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> would have paid them the money out of my +own pocket with all my heart, but it would only have been giving so much +to the aga, who would have taken it from them without any remorse.... +The villagers are so poor that only force would extort from them +necessary provisions. Indeed the janissaries had no mercy on their +poverty, killing all the poultry and sheep they could find, without +asking to whom they belonged, while the wretched owners durst not put in +their claim for fear of being beaten. When the pashas travel it is yet +worse. These oppressors are not content with eating all that is to be +eaten belonging to the peasants; after they have crammed themselves and +their numerous retinue, they have the impudence to exact what they call +<i>teeth-money</i>, a contribution for the use of their teeth, worn with +doing them the honour of devouring their meat."</p> + +<p>This is a lively picture of Turkish rule a century and a half ago; it +helps us to understand the saying, "Where the Turk treads, no grass +grows."</p> + +<p>The insurrection in Bulgaria had just broken out when I was in Servia: I +cannot say I heard it much talked of; we, none of us, knew then the +significance of the movement. But great uneasiness was felt in reference +to the wide spread of certain communistic doctrines. A disturbance was +stated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> to have taken place a few days before at Negotin. The foreign +owners of property expressed themselves very seriously alarmed about the +communistic propagandists who were going round the country. No one +seemed certain as to the course events would take.</p> + +<p>However—to resume my own simple narrative—after dining in the little +village aforesaid, we set our faces again towards Maidenpek, returning +by another route, which afforded us some very romantic scenery. I +finished the difficulty about the horse by purchasing the one I had +ridden that day. He was smaller than I liked, but he had proved himself +strong and sure footed. I cannot say he was a beauty, but what can one +expect for seventeen ducats—about eight pounds English?</p> + +<p>The second day of our stay at Maidenpek was principally devoted to +inspecting some copper mines belonging to an English company. They +appeared to be doing pretty well. We next arranged to ride over to +Kucainia, a place some twenty-five miles off. It was settled that we +were to start at seven o'clock in the morning, but a dense white fog +obliterated the outer world—we might have been on the verge of Nowhere. +It was more than two hours before the fog lifted sufficiently to enable +us<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> to proceed. We went on our way some three miles when a drenching +shower came on, and we took shelter in the cavernous interior of an +enormous, half-ruined oak-tree. Natural decay and the pickaxes of the +woodman seeking fuel for his camp-fire had hollowed out a comfortable +retreat from the storm. Surrounding the tree was a bed of wild +strawberries, which helped to beguile the time. When at length the +clouds cleared away, we resumed our saddles with dry jackets. But, as it +turned out, the half-hour we spent under the tree lost us the chance of +some fun.</p> + +<p>I must remark that our road lay the whole way through a majestic forest. +We were actually on the highroad to Belgrade, yet in many places it was +nothing more than a grass-drive with trees on either side. Looking some +way ahead when we found ourselves on a track of this kind, we observed +in the distance two men on horseback standing their horses in the middle +of the road, apparently waiting for some one to pass. One of the +fellows, armed with the usual long Turkish gun, seeing our approach, +came forward as if to meet us. We instinctively looked to our revolvers, +but as he came up we saw that the stranger on the black horse (he must +have been <i>once</i> a splendid roadster) had no sinister intentions upon +us. It turned out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> that he was the pope from a neighbouring village. He +was in a great state of excitement, but shook hands with us all round +before uttering a word. He then told us that the diligence from Belgrade +had been stopped only half an hour ago by five brigands at the bottom of +the very hill we had just passed. The booty was by no means +insignificant. The robbers had made off with 7000 florins in gold; but +what seemed rather significant was the statement that though the driver +and the conductor of the diligence were both well armed, they had +offered but little or no resistance. They declared they were overpowered +by numbers. If there had been a shot fired we certainly must have heard +it.</p> + +<p>Later we ascertained that the money belonged to the copper-mining +company at Maidenpek; the loss was not theirs, however, as the +Government would have to reimburse it. It was just like our ill-luck to +wait out of the shower; but for that delay we should have come in for +the affray. I have my doubts as to whether our assistance would have +been particularly welcome to the driver of the diligence. Robbery on the +highroad is a capital offence in Servia.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>Arriving at the next village, we found the whole place in a hubbub and +commotion. The men were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> arming and collecting horses. We went straight +to the post-office to hear the rights of the story; the facts were +mainly as I have related them. The excitement appeared to increase as +the crowd flocked in from the fields. Horses were being saddled, powder +served out, and arrangements made for a systematic battue of the +robbers. After amusing ourselves by watching the warlike preparations, +we rode on to Kucainia.</p> + +<p>We were hospitably received by a fellow-countryman who is working the +mines there. We did justice to his capital dinner, and told our robber +story, which our host capped with the rumours of a communistic rising +down south.</p> + +<p>After a short stay at Kucainia, we made arrangements for returning over +the Danube; but this time we proposed to strike the river at +Belo-breska, higher up than Milanovacz. We had dropped our other friend, +so H—— and I hired a light cart for the thirty miles to Belo-breska, +my new horse meanwhile being tied on behind, and so we jogged along. The +road was good, but, like the good people in Thackeray's novels, totally +uninteresting. We drove continually through fields of maize—I say +<i>through</i> the fields, for there was no hedge or fence anywhere. The soil +appeared to be splendidly fertile and well cultivated.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span></p> + +<p>Arrived at Belo-breska, our object was to get across the Danube, and +luckily we found a large flat-bottomed boat used for cattle. The owner +demanded a ducat (about nine shillings) for taking us across. I thought +it a monstrous charge, but the fellow had us in his power. I do not +think the Servians are much liked by those who have to do business with +them. From all I heard, Canning's lines about the sharp practice of some +nearer neighbours would apply very well to the Servians:—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"In matters of commerce the fault of the Dutch<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Is giving too little, and asking too much."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>No sooner had we landed on the Hungarian side of the river than up came +a customhouse official, who informed me that I must pay duty for my +horse. Of course, as a law-respecting Briton, I was ready enough to +comply; but the fellow could not tell me what the charge was, saying his +chief was absent, and might not be back for some hours.</p> + +<p>This was exasperating to the last degree; the more so that it seemed so +stupid that the man left in charge could not consult a tariff of taxes, +or elicit from the villagers some information. He was stolidly +obstinate, and refused to let my horse go at any price, though I offered +him what H—— and I both thought a reasonable number of florins for the +horse-duty. In less than ten minutes I had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> worked myself into a rage—a +foolish thing to do with the thermometer at 96° in the shade; but H—— +was provokingly calm, which irritated me still more. There is an old +French verse which, rendered into English, says—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Some of your griefs you have cured,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">And the sharpest you still have survived;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But what torments of pain you endured<br /></span> +<span class="i2">From evils that never arrived!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Now, a little patience would have saved me a useless ebullition of +temper. While I was still at white-heat up came the head official; +removing the cigar from his lips with Oriental dignity and deliberation, +he calmly answered my question, and having paid the money we went our +way.</p> + +<p>Our design was now to get to Weisskirchen, and sleep there, that place +being the only decent quarters within reach. Our road was over the +mountains—a lonely pass of ill repute. Several persons had been stopped +and robbed in these parts quite recently. The Government had formerly a +small guardhouse at the top of the pass; but it has been deserted since +1867, when the district ceased to be maintained as the Military +Frontier. Since that time crime has been very much on the increase all +along the border-country. The lawlessness that is rampant at the +extremities of the kingdom shows a weakness in the Central Government +which is very reprehensible.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> But for this laxity on the borders, the +recent Szeckler conspiracy for making a raid on the Russian railway +could never have been projected.</p> + +<p>We arrived all right at Weisskirchen, which was good-luck considering +the chances of an upset in the darkness, for night had overtaken us long +before our drive was half over. Thoroughly tired, we were glad enough to +draw up in the innyard, the same I had visited some weeks before; but +great was our disgust at being told that there was not a bed to be +had—every room was taken. We drove on to inn No. 2, where they had beds +but no supper. We were nearly starving, for we had had nothing to eat +since the morning, so back we had to go to No. 1 to procure supper. When +this important meal was finished, we had to make the return journey once +more. The streets were perfectly dark, and it was an affair of no small +difficulty to find our way. It happened to me that I stepped into +something soft and bumpy. I could not conceive what it was. I made a +long step forward, thinking to clear the obstacle, but I only stumbled +into another soft and bumpy thing. Was it a flock of sheep lying packed +together? The skins of the sheep were there, it is true, but as covering +for the forms of prostrate Wallacks. A lot of these fellows, wrapped in +their cloaks, were sleeping huddled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> together at the side of the street. +I found afterwards that this is a common practice with these people. The +wonderful <i>bunda</i> is a cloak by day and a house by night.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + +<h4>Variety of races in Hungary—Wallacks or +Roumains—Statistics—Savage outbreak of the Wallacks in former +years—Panslavic ideas—Roumanians and their origin—Priests of the +Greek Church—Destruction of forests—Spirit of +Communism—Incendiary fires.</h4> + + +<p>The mixture of races in Hungary is a puzzle to any outsider. There is +the original substratum of Slavs, overlaid by Szeklers, Magyars, German +immigrants, Wallacks, Rusniacks, Jews, and gipsies. An old German writer +has quaintly described the characteristics of these various peoples in +the following manner:—</p> + +<p>"To the great national kitchen the Magyar contributes bread, meat, and +wine; the Rusniack and Wallack, salt from the salt pits of Marmaros; the +Slavonian, bacon, for Slavonia furnishes the greatest number of fattened +pigs; the German gives potatoes and vegetables; the Italian, rice; the +Slovack, milk, cheese, and butter, besides table-linen, kitchen +utensils, and crockery ware; the Jew supplies the Hungarian with money; +and the gipsy furnishes the entertainment with music."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p> + +<p>Coming to hard facts, the latest statistics of M. Keleti give 15,417,327 +as the total population of Hungary. Of these 2,470,000 are Wallacks, who +since the nationality fever has set in desire to be called Roumains; and +if you say Roman at once, they will be still better pleased. They were +in old time the overflow of Wallachia, now forming part of the Roumanian +Principality. The first historical irruption of the Wallacks was about +the end of the fourteenth century, when they became a terrible pest to +the German settlers in Transylvania, dreaded by them as much as Turk or +Tartar. They burned and pillaged the lands and villages of the peaceful +dwellers in the Saxon settlement; but at length they had become so +numerous that the law took cognisance of their existence and reduced +them to a state of serfdom, from which they were not relieved till 1848.</p> + +<p>A subject race has always its wrongs, and there is no doubt the haughty +Magyar nobles treated the Wallacks with great harshness and indignity. +It was the old story—good masters were kind to their serfs, but those +less fortunate had a bad time of it, what with forced labour and other +burdens. "A lord is a lord even in hell" is the saying of the peasants.</p> + +<p>Mr Paget<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> tells the story of an old countess he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> met in Transylvania, +who used to lament that "times were sadly changed, peasants were no +longer so respectful as they used to be; she could remember walking to +church on the backs of the peasants, who knelt down in the mud to allow +her to pass over them without soiling her shoes. She could also +remember, though less partial to the recollection, a rising of the +peasantry, when nothing but the kindness with which her mother had +generally treated them saved her from the cruel death which many of her +neighbours met with."</p> + +<p>The rising here mentioned took place in 1784, when two Wallacks named +Hora and Kloska were the leaders of a terrible onslaught upon the Magyar +nobles. The Vienna Government was accused on this occasion of being very +tardy in sending troops to quell the insurrection. It was the time when +the unpopular reforms of Joseph II. were so ill received by the Magyars, +and no good feeling subsisted between Hungary and the Central +Government.</p> + +<p>But the most frightful outbreak of the Wallacks was, as we all know, +within living memory. You can hear from the lips of witnesses +descriptions of horrors committed not thirty years ago in Transylvania. +Entire villages were destroyed, whole families slaughtered, down to the +new-born infant.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p> + +<p>The arms of the Wallacks were supplied by Austria, for whom they were +acting as a sort of militia at the time of Hungary's war of +independence. The Vienna Government has been very fond of playing off +the Wallacks and the Slavs against the Magyars: they have kept the pot +always simmering; if some fine day it boils over, they will have the fat +in the fire.</p> + +<p>Of course in Southern Hungary one hears enough about the Panslavic +movement, and Panslavic ideas. "The idea of Panslavism had a purely +literary origin," observes Sir Gardiner Wilkinson in his book on +Dalmatia. "It was started by Kolla, a Protestant clergyman of the +Slavonic congregation at Pesth, who wished to establish a national +literature by circulating all works written in the various Slavonic +dialects.... The idea of an intellectual union of all these nations +naturally led to that of a political one; and the Slavonians seeing that +their numbers amounted to about one-third of the whole population of +Europe, and occupied more than half its territory, began to be sensible +that they might claim for themselves a position to which they had not +hitherto aspired."</p> + +<p>But the Wallacks, or, as we will now call them, Roumains, are not Slavs +at all; they are utterly distinct in race, though they are +co-religionists with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> the Southern Slavs. "The Roumanians," says Mr +Freeman,<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> "speak neither Greek nor Turkish, neither Slave nor +Skipetar, but a dialect of Latin, a tongue akin not to any of their +neighbours, but to the tongues of Gaul, Italy, and Spain." He is +inclined to think these so-called Dacians are the surviving +representatives of the great Thracian race.</p> + +<p>Who they were is, after all, not so important a question as what they +are, these two millions and a half of Roumains in Hungary. To put the +statistical figures in another way, Mr. Boner,<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> writing in 1865, +calculates that the Roumains, naturalised in Southern Hungary, number +596 out of every 1000 souls in Transylvania. The fecundity of the race +is remarkable, they threaten to overwhelm the Saxons, whose numbers, on +the other hand, are seriously on the decrease. They are also supplanting +the Magyars in <i>Southern</i> Hungary.</p> + +<p>I have myself seen villages which I was told had been exclusively +Magyar, but which are now as exclusively Roumain. It is even possible to +find churches where the service conducted in the Magyar tongue has +ceased to be understood by the congregation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p> + +<p>To meet a Roumain possessed even of the first rudiments of education is +an exception to the rule: even their priests are deplorably ignorant; +but when we find them in receipt of such a miserable stipend as 100 +florins, indeed in some cases 30 florins a-year, it speaks for itself +that they belong to the poorest class. The Wallacks lead their lives +outside the pale of civilisation; they are without the wants and desires +of a settled life. Very naturally the manumission of the serfs in 1848 +found them utterly unprepared for their political freedom. Neither by +nature or by tradition are they law-respecting; in fact, they are very +much the reverse.</p> + +<p>The Roumain is a Communist pure and simple; the uneducated among them +know no other political creed. It is not that of the advanced school of +Communism, which deals with social theories, but a simple consistent +belief that, as they themselves express it, "what God makes grow belongs +to one and all alike." In this spirit he helps himself to the fruit in +his neighbour's garden when too lazy to cultivate the ground for +himself.</p> + +<p>This child of nature is by instinct a nomadic shepherd and herdsman; he +hates forests, and will ruthlessly burn down the finest trees to make a +clearing for sheep-pastures. It is impossible to travel twenty miles in +the Southern Carpathians<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> without encountering the terrible ravages +committed by these people in the beautiful woods that adorn the sides of +the mountains.</p> + +<p>"The Wallacks find it too much trouble to fell the trees," says Mr +Boner. "They destroy systematically: one year the bark is stripped off, +the wood dries, and the year after it is fired.... In 1862, near +Toplitza, 23,000 <i>joch</i> of forest were burned by the peasantry."</p> + +<p>Judging from what I saw during my travels in Hungary in 1875-76, I +should say the evil described by Mr Boner ten years before has in no way +abated. The Wallacks pursue their ruthless destruction of the forests, +and the law seems powerless to arrest the mischief. At present there is +wood and enough, but the time will come when the country at large must +suffer from this reckless waste. There are about twenty-three million +acres of forest in Hungary, including almost the only oak-woods left in +Europe. The great proportion of the forest-land belongs to the State, +hence the supervision is less keen, and the depredations more readily +winked at. Riding one day with a Hungarian friend, I asked what would be +the probable cost of a wooden house then building on the verge of the +forest. My friend replied, laughing, "That depends on whether the +builder stole the wood himself, or only bought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> it of some one else who +had stolen it; he might possibly have purchased the wood from the real +owner, but that is not very probable. So you see I really cannot tell +you what the house will cost."</p> + +<p>Incendiary fires are very common in Hungary. Here, again, the Wallacks +do their share of mischief. If they have a grudge against an active +magistrate or a thriving neighbour, his farmstead is set on fire, not +once, but many times probably. Added to this, the Wallack takes an +actual pleasure in wanton destruction. As an instance, an English +company who are working coal mines in the neighbourhood of Orsova have +been obliged within the last two years to relay their railway from the +mines to the Danube no less than three times, in consequence of the +Wallacks persistently destroying the permanent way and stealing the +rails.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding all this the Wallacks are not without their good points. +They become capital workmen under certain circumstances, and they +possess an amount of natural intelligence which promises better things +as the result of education. "Barring his weakness for tobacco and +spirits, the much-abused Wallack is a useful fellow to the sportsman and +the traveller," said a sporting friend of mine who visits Transylvania +nearly every autumn.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER V.</h2> + +<h4>Paraffine-works in Oravicza—Gold mine—Coal mines at +Auima-Steirdorf—Geology—States Railway Company's mines—Bribery.</h4> + + +<p>The old copper and silver mines of Oravicza are now abandoned, but the +industrial activity of the place is kept up by the working of coal +mines, which have their depôt here. The States Railway Company are the +great owners of mines in this district. They confine their attention to +iron and coal. There are extensive paraffine-works in Oravicza; the +crude oil is distilled from the black shale of the Steirdorf coal, +yielding five per cent of petroleum. At Moldova, where we were recently, +the same company have large sulphuric acid works, employing as material +the iron pyrites of the old mines. Moldova had formerly the reputation +of producing the best copper in Europe, but the mines fell out of work, +I believe, in 1848.</p> + +<p>An English gentleman is working a gold mine near Oravicza with some +success. Subsequent to my visit his people came upon what I think the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +miners call a "pocket" of free gold. Bismuth is also raised, though not +in large quantities.</p> + +<p>Wishing to see the coal mines at Steirdorf, I rode over the hills in +about four hours. As I left Oravicza in the early morning the view +appeared very striking. Looking back, I could see the little town +straggling along in the shadow of the deeply-cleft valley, while beyond +stretched the sunlit plain, level as a sea, rich with fields of ripe +corn. The mists still lingered around me in the mountains, rolling about +in the form of soft white masses of vapour, with here and there a +fringed edge of iridescence. The cool freshness of the morning and the +beauty of the varied scenery made the ride most enjoyable.</p> + +<p>Arriving at Steirdorf, I spent some hours in visiting the ironworks, +blast-furnaces, coke-ovens, &c. The coal produced here is said to be the +best in Hungary. The output, I am told, is 150,000 tons; but only +one-third of this is sold, the rest being used by the States Railway +Company for their own ironworks, and for the locomotive engines of their +line.</p> + +<p>Professor Ansted,<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> who made a professional visit to this part of the +country in 1862, remarks that "the iron is mined by horizontal drifts or +kennels into the side of the hills. The coal is mined by vertical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +shafts. The ironstone is of the kind common to some parts of Scotland, +and known as blackband. There are as many as eight principal seams."</p> + +<p>I had sent a man in advance from Oravicza to take my horse back, as I +intended returning by rail. This mountain railway between Oravicza and +Auima-Steirdorf is a remarkable piece of engineering work. In a distance +of about twenty miles it ascends 1100 feet, in some parts as much as one +foot in five. They have very powerful engines and a cogwheel +arrangement, the line making a zigzag up the mountain-side. The effect +is very curious in descending to see another train below you creeping +uphill, now at one angle, now at another.</p> + +<p>Considering the expensive nature of the works, and the paucity of +passengers, I almost wonder that the States Railway Company did more +than construct a narrow gauge for the mineral traffic. This company, I +believe, is of Austrian origin, assisted by French capital—in fact, its +head office is in Paris. It obtained large concessions in the Banat +during the Austrian rule in Hungary, acquiring a considerable amount of +property at very much below its real value; in consequence the company +is looked upon with some degree of jealousy by the Hungarians. Of +forest-land alone it owns about 360 square miles. It has a large staff +of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> officials, mostly Germans, who manage the woods and forests on a +very complicated system, which pays well, but would probably pay better +if simplified. It has also a monopoly of certain things in its own +district, such as salt, &c.</p> + +<p>The prevalence of bribery is one of the causes seriously retarding +progress in Hungary. There is as yet no wholesome feeling against this +corruption, even amongst those who ought to show an example to the +community. They have also a droll way of cooking accounts down in these +parts, but there is a vast deal of human nature everywhere, so "let no +more be said."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + +<h4>Mineral wealth of the Banat—Wild ride to Dognacska—Equipment for +a riding tour—An afternoon nap and its consequences—Copper +mines—Self-help—Bare insects—Moravicza—Rare minerals—Deutsch +Bogsan—Reschitza.</h4> + + +<p>The neighbourhood of Oravicza is well worth exploring, especially by +those who like knocking about with a geological hammer. The mines in the +Banat were perhaps worked earlier than any other in this part of Europe. +The minerals of the district present a very remarkable variety. Von +Cotta, I imagine, is the best authority upon the Banat ore deposits.</p> + +<p>I had heard a good deal of the silver and copper mines of Dognacska, and +wishing to visit them, I induced my friend H—— to accompany me. We +arranged to go on horseback. I was very glad to escape the "carts of the +country," which, notwithstanding the atrocious roads, are the usual mode +of conveyance. It had always been my intention to ride about the +country, and with this view I brought my saddle and travelling apparatus +from London<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>—English-made articles bear knocking about so much better +than similar things purchased on the Continent.</p> + +<p>I had an ordinary pigskin saddle, furnished with plenty of metal rings. +I had four saddle-bags in all, made of a material known as waterproof +flax cloth. It has some advantages over leather, but is too apt to wear +into holes. It is of importance to have the straps of your saddle-bags +very strongly attached. It is not enough that they are sewn an inch into +the bag, they should extend down the sides; for want of this I had to +repair mine several times. Attached to my bridle I had a very convenient +arrangement for picketing my horse. It consisted of a rope about twelve +feet long, neatly rolled round itself; this was kept strapped on the +left side of the horse's head.</p> + +<p>The chief pride of my outfit was a cooking-apparatus, the last thing +out, which merits a few words of description. It consisted of a round +tin box, eight inches in diameter, capable of boiling three pints of +water in two minutes and a half; of its own self-consciousness, the +sauce-pan could evolve into a frying-pan, besides other adaptations, +including space for a Russian lamp—a vessel holding spirit—with +cellular cavities for salt, pepper, matches, not forgetting cup, spoon, +and plate. The Russian<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> lamp is a very useful contrivance, in case of +open-air cooking; it gives a flame six or seven inches long, which is +not easily affected by wind or draught.</p> + +<p>Amongst the stores I took out from England was some "compressed tea," +which is very portable. In riding, all powdery substances should be +avoided; I had on one occasion practical experience of this. I had +procured some horse-medicine, and giving my animal one dose, I packed +the rest very carefully, as I thought; on opening my saddle-bag after a +ride of twenty miles, I found, to my disgust, that this wretched white +powder had mixed itself up with everything. I wished I had made the +horse his own medicine-chest, and given him his three doses at once.</p> + +<p>Let the weather be ever so warm in Hungary, it is not wise to take even +a day's ride without a good warm plaid; the changes of temperature are +often very sudden, and herein is the danger of fever. The peasant says, +"In summer take thy <i>bunda</i> (fur cloak)."</p> + +<p>To complete the catalogue of my travelling appendages, I may mention a +revolver, a bowie-knife, a compass, good maps of the country, and a +flask. My flask held exactly a bottle of wine; it was covered with thick +felt, which on being soaked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span> in water has the effect of keeping the wine +quite cool for an incredibly long time, even in the hottest weather. I +have been told that the Arabs in the desert have long been up to this +dodge with respect to their water-bottles, which are suffered to leak a +little to keep up the evaporation. The food I carried was of course +renewed from time to time, according to circumstances. Naturally I +economised the lamp spirit whenever I could obtain sticks for boiling +the water, as the spirit could not always be procured in the Hungarian +villages.</p> + +<p>In starting for Dognacska and Reschitza, we had before us a ride of more +than thirty miles through a very rough country, and with uncertain +prospects of accommodation, so I took with me all my travelling +"contraptions," as they say in the west of England. The weather was +excessively hot the morning H—— and I started on our expedition. About +noon, after we had ridden some two hours, the sun's rays beat down upon +us with such force that we made an unintentional halt on coming to a +well by the wayside. It was one of those picturesque wells so familiar +in Eastern landscape—a beam balanced on a lofty pole, with a rod +hanging from one end, to which is attached the bucket for drawing +water.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p> + +<p>Not far from the well was one of those curious tree hay-stacks to be +seen in some parts of Hungary. It is the practice to clear away a +certain number of the middle branches of a tree, then a wooden platform +is constructed, on which a quantity of hay is placed in store for winter +use. This mushroom-shaped hay-rick receives a cover of thatch, out of +the centre of which comes the tree-top.</p> + +<p>The shade afforded by this wigwam on stilts looked most inviting just +then, and we yielded to the seduction. We got off, and throwing +ourselves at full length on the grass, allowed our horses to graze close +to us, without taking the trouble to picket them.</p> + +<p>The heat of the noonday was perfectly overpowering. The momentary shade +was an intense relief, for we had been in the unmitigated glare of the +sun the whole morning. Of course we quickly had out our cigar-cases, and +puffing the grateful weed, we were soon in full enjoyment of dignified +ease. We were in that idle mood when, one says with the lotus-eaters, +"taking no care"—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i10">"There is no joy but calm!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Why should we only <i>toil</i>, the roof and crown of things."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Why, indeed, should we toil?" I repeated languidly, at the same time +gently and slowly breaking off the end of my cigar-ash.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Why, indeed?" echoed my friend in a sleepy tone; and, unlike his usual +wont, he was quite disinclined to argue the point, being too lazy for +anything.</p> + +<p>In another moment we had both sprung to our feet, most thoroughly roused +from our apathy; the fact was, a big brute of a sheep-dog suddenly +jumped in upon us, barking loud and fiercely. We very soon found means +to rid ourselves of the dog, but that was the least part of the +incident. It appeared that the noise and suddenness of the outburst had +so frightened our horses that they took to their heels and galloped off +as hard as they could tear. Of course we were after them like a shot, +but they had gone all manner of ways. I spotted my little Servian nag +breasting the hill to our right in grand style; the saddle-bags were +beating his flanks. A pretty race we had after those brutes of horses! +We had to jump ditches, and struggle up sandbanks, tear through +undercover, and finally H—— got "stogged" in a treacherous green +marsh. Was there ever anything so exasperating and ridiculous?</p> + +<p>After running more or less for three-quarters of an hour in a sweltering +heat, we came upon the horses in an open glade in the wood, where they +were calmly regaling in green pastures, like lotus-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>eaters themselves. +Never from that day forward have I forgotten the necessary duty of +picketing my horse.</p> + +<p>It was well on in the afternoon before we got to Dognacska, a mere +mining village, but prettily situated in a narrow valley. On +approaching, we found it to be a more uncivilised place than we had +expected, and we had not expected much. The children ran away screaming +at the sight of two horsemen, so travellers, I expect, are unknown in +these parts. We found out a little inn, indicated by a wisp of straw +hanging above the door, and here we asked to be accommodated; they were +profuse in promises, but as there was no one to look after the horses, +we had to attend to them ourselves. The woman of the house said the men +were all out, but would be back presently. We only took a little bread +and cheese, but ordered a substantial supper to be ready for us on our +return later in the evening. The fact was, we were in a hurry to be off +to look at the works. Lead, silver, iron, and copper are found at +Dognacska, but the working at present is a dead-alive operation. The +blast-furnaces for making pig-iron are of recent construction, but the +smelting-furnaces were very antiquated.</p> + +<p>It was the same answer everywhere, "All belongs to the Marquis of +Carrabas;" in other words, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span> States Railway Company owns both mines +and forests in all directions throughout the Banat, though at the same +time I was told that they do not undertake metallic mining.</p> + +<p>From what I gathered it would seem that the mines round here are not +really very rich. You cannot depend on the working as in Cornwall, for +they are without regular lodes. A rich "pocket" occurs here and there, +but then is lost, the deposit not holding on to any depth.</p> + +<p>We made a considerable round, and returned with appetites very sharp +set, and counted on the chicken with <i>paprika</i> that we had ordered to be +ready for us. On arriving at the little inn, great was our disgust to +find it utterly silent and deserted; neither man, woman, nor child was +to be found in or about the place. With some difficulty we caught some +children, who were peering at us behind the wall of a neighbour's house, +and from these blubbering little animals, who I believe thought we were +going to make mince meat of them, we at length extracted the fact that +the people of the inn were gone off haymaking. This was really too bad, +for if they had only told us, we could have made our arrangements +accordingly, but here we were starving and not the remotest prospect of +supper. There was no use wasting unparliamentary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> language, so I began +foraging in all directions, while H—— busied himself in cutting up +wood to make a fire, a process not too easy with an uncommonly blunt +axe. My researches into the interior of the dwelling were not +encouraging; the fowl was not there, neither was the <i>paprika</i>. At +length I discovered some eggs and a chunk of stale bread stowed away in +a corner; there were a great many things in that corner, but "they were +not of my search"—ignorance is bliss.</p> + +<p>H—— had done his duty by the fire; he had even persuaded the water to +boil, which I looked upon as the beginning of soup. Happily for us I had +my co-operative stores with me. From the depths of one of my saddle-bags +I drew out a small jar of Liebig's meat—a spoonful or two of this gave +quality to the soup. I added ten eggs and some small squares of bread, +flavouring the whole mess with a pinch of dried herbs, salt, and +pepper—all from "the stores." The result was a capital compound: in +fact I never tasted a better soup of its kind; we enjoyed it immensely. +We had barely finished when in came the woman of the house; she looked +very much surprised, grumbled at our making such a large fire, and made +no apology for her absence.</p> + +<p>No one came in to clean and feed our horses, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> though I offered a +liberal <i>trinkgeld</i> to any man or boy who would attend to them, not a +soul could I get, they all slunk away. I believe they are afraid of +horses at Dognacska. Self-help was the order of the day, and we just had +to look after the poor brutes ourselves.</p> + +<p>We slept in the inn. My bed was made up in the place where I had found +the eggs and bread. I imagine it was the "guest-corner." I do not wish +to be sensational, and I am no entomologist, therefore I will not +narrate my experiences that night; but I thought of the Irishman who +said, "if the fleas had all been of one mind, they could have pulled him +out of bed." Fortunately the summer nights are short; we were up with +the early birds, and started before the heat of the day for Moravicza, +another mining village.</p> + +<p>It was a pretty ride. We went for some way alongside a mineral tramway, +which followed the bend of a charming valley. Then we came upon a new +piece of road, made entirely of the whitest marble; it looked almost +like snow. Afterwards our track lay through a dense forest of majestic +trees. We could not have found our way unassisted, but one of the mine +inspectors from Dognacska had been sent with us. It was a delicious +ride, the air still cool and fresh. Sometimes we were in the forest, +and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> later, skirting a rocky ravine, we followed for a while a mountain +stream. It was rough work for the horses, and once, when leading my +horse over a narrow foot-bridge, he slipped off and rolled right over in +the bed of the stream. Luckily he was none the worse for the accident: +these small Servian horses bear a great deal of knocking about. It was +surprising that the baggage did not suffer, but except getting a little +wet, there was no harm done.</p> + +<p>This district is famous, I believe, for several kinds of rare beetles +and butterflies. I saw some beautiful butterflies myself during our +ride.</p> + +<p>Before reaching Moravicza we passed some large iron mines, but they were +not in full swing. In the last century the copper mines of this district +yielded extraordinary returns. Baron Born, in his "Travels in the +Banat," mentions a deposit of copper ore reaching to the amazing depth +of 240 feet. Some very fine syenite occurs in large blocks close to +Moravicza, which might be very valuable if made more accessible. The +village is half hidden in a narrow valley. Here we were most hospitably +received by Herr W——. In his collection of minerals he has many rare +specimens from this locality, which is peculiarly rich in regard to +variety. This gentleman kindly gave me some good specimens of magnetite, +greenockite (sulphate of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> cadmium), aurichalcite, Ludwigite, and garnet. +Leaving Moravicza, we rode on to Deutsch Bogsan, then to Reschitza, +where we arrived in the evening. Here we found a tolerable inn, for it +is a place of some size. We remained two days here; it is a flourishing +little place, the centre of the States Railway Works. They make a large +quantity of steel rails, any number of which will be wanted if half of +the projected lines are carried out, which are only waiting the +settlement of the Eastern Question.</p> + +<p>In Reschitza there are large blast-furnaces and Bessemer converters. +Enormous quantities of charcoal are produced; in short, on all sides +there is evidence of mining activity. Narrow-gauge lines run in every +direction, serving the coal mines; there is besides a railway for the +public from Reschitza to Deutsch Bogsan, and from the latter place a +branch communicates with the main line between Buda-Pest and Basiash.</p> + +<p>The country round Reschitza is rather pretty, but more tame than what we +had seen in other parts. We returned to Oravicza by a shorter route, +riding the whole distance in one day, which we did easily, for the roads +were not so bad, and it was not much over thirty miles. In Hungary it is +frequently more a question of roads than of actual distance.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + +<h4>Election at Oravicza—Officialism—Reforms—Society—Ride to +Szaszka—Fine views—Drenkova—Character of the +Serbs—Svenica—Rough night walk through the forest.</h4> + + +<p>We got back to Oravicza just in time to witness an election, which had +been a good deal talked about as likely to result in a row. There were +two candidates in the field: one a representative of the Wallachian +party; the other a director of the States Railway Company. In +consequence of a serious disturbance which took place some years ago, +the elections are now always held outside the town. The voting was in a +warehouse adjoining the railway station. A detachment of troops was +there to keep order, in fact the two parties were divided from each +other by a line of soldiers with fixed bayonets. It was extremely +ridiculous. The whole affair was as tame as possible; no more show of +fighting than at a Quakers' meeting. Of course the States Railway +representative had it all his own way, the officials, whose name is +legion, voting for him to a man. A trainful of Wallacks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> arrived from +some distant place, but their ardour for their own candidate was drowned +in the unlimited beer provided for them by their opponents.</p> + +<p>From what I heard about politics, or rather about the Parliament, it +seems to me that their House of Commons, like our own, suffers from too +many talkers. The Hungarian is at all times a great talker, and when +politics open the sluices of his mind, his speech is a perfect avalanche +of words. His conversation is never of that kind that puts you in a +state of antagonism, as a North German has so eminently the power of +doing; on the contrary, the listener sympathises whether he will or no, +but on calmer reflection one's judgment is apt to veer round again.</p> + +<p>The members of the House of Commons number 441, and of these 39 are +Croats, who are allowed to use their own language by special privilege. +The members are paid five florins a-day when the House is sitting, and a +grant of four hundred florins a-year is made for lodgings. There is this +peculiarity about the Hungarian Parliament: hereditary members of the +Upper House can if they choose offer themselves for election in the +Lower House. Many of the hereditary peers do so, meanwhile resigning as +a matter of course their seat in the Upper Chamber.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p> + +<p>The reform of 1848 extended the franchise so far that in point of fact +it only stops short of manhood suffrage. The property qualification of a +voter is in some cases as low as a hundred florins yearly income. +Religious and political liberty was granted to all denominations. The +disabilities of the Jews were suffered to remain a few years later; but +in 1867 they were entirely removed, and at the present moment several of +the most active members of Parliament are of the Jewish persuasion. +Elections are triennial, an arrangement not approved by many true +patriots, who complain that members think more of what will be popular +with the constituents, whom they must so soon meet again, than of the +effect of their votes on measures that concern the larger interests of +the State.</p> + +<p>Oravicza was so seductive—with its pleasant society; its "land +parties," as they call picnics; its evening dances, enlivened by gipsy +music—that I remained on and on from want of moral courage to tear +myself away. I had thoughts of changing my plans altogether, and of +devoting myself to a serious study of the minerals of the Banat, making +gay little Oravicza my head-centre. Looking back after the lapse of +sober time, I doubt if science would have gained much. Well, well, I +made up my mind to go. "The world was all before me," but I—left<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> my +paradise alone. I had no fair Eve "hand in hand" to help my wandering +steps.</p> + +<p>I do think that packing one's portmanteau is the most prosaic thing in +life. Shirts and coats must be folded, and one's possessions have a way +of increasing which makes packing a progressive difficulty. However, at +last I did persuade my portmanteau to shut, and forthwith despatched it, +with some other heavy things, to Hatszeg, a small town in Transylvania, +where I intended to be in the course of ten days.</p> + +<p>I was now bound for Uibanya, in the Valea Tissovitza, a few miles from +Orsova on the Danube. There is an English firm down there engaged in +working the coal mines, and I had an introduction to one of the +partners. I rode from Oravicza to Szaszka—the place had become quite +familiar to me by this time—and I slept there. The night was not long, +for I left before sunrise. It is the only way to enjoy the ride; for the +middle of the day in July is really too hot for exertion in this part of +the world, and I found it was best to rest during the great heat of the +day. From Szaszka I pushed on to Moldova, and judging from my former +experience of driving the same road, I must say I prefer the saddle +infinitely. I should observe that on leaving Szaszka I got into a dense +mist<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> on the top of the mountain. Fortunately I knew my bearings. When +it cleared off I had a magnificent view all the way, reaching the Danube +about nine o'clock. Here I spent the day and night at the house of Mr +G——, with whom I was slightly acquainted, and who received me +hospitably. The next morning very early I started for Svenica, a lovely +ride along the Szechenyi road. I had been in the saddle from five to +eleven <span class="smcap">a.m.</span>, and reaching Drenkova, I was not sorry to stop on +account of the great heat. It has only a wretched inn, where myself and +horse fared very badly. The Danube steamers are not unfrequently obliged +to stop at Drenkova and reship their passengers into smaller boats. This +happens when the water is low, and sometimes when the season is very dry +the river has to be abandoned for the road. When the Eastern Question is +settled a vast number of improvements are to be carried out on the +Danube it is said. The first ought to be the deepening of the channel in +this particular part of the river. There would surely be no great +difficulty in removing the obstructions caused by the rocks. But there +are always political difficulties creeping up in this part of the world +to prevent the carrying out of useful works.</p> + +<p>My siesta over, I was off again, soon after three <span class="smcap">p.m.</span>, on my +way to Svenica. I had a splendid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> view of the river, and stopped my +horse more than once to watch the boatmen at their perilous work of +shooting the rapids. Getting to Svenica soon after six o'clock, I made +inquiries about the distance to Uibanya. No two people agreed, but the +chief spokesman declared it was a couple of hours' walk, and he +volunteered to show me the way. The inn was horribly dirty, as one might +expect from the appearance of the village, which is inhabited entirely +by Serbs, otherwise Rascians. It appears that a vast number of Slavs +from Servia took refuge in Hungary at the end of the seventeenth +century. Some were Roman Catholics, but they were mostly of the Greek +Church. A colony settled at Buda. Lady Mary Wortley Montague, writing +from that town in 1717, says that the Governor of Buda assured her that +the Rascian colony without the walls would furnish him with 12,000 +fighting men at any moment. They were always a card in the hands of the +Austrians against the Magyars.</p> + +<p>Leopold I. granted the Servian refugees very considerable privileges and +immunities, causing thereby great jealousy among the Hungarians. Always +favoured by the Government of Vienna, these people have invariably shown +themselves pro-Austrian; and in 1848 they were destined to be a thorn in +the side of the proud Magyars, who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> despised them, and took no pains to +disguise the feeling, even at a moment so singularly unpropitious as the +eve of their own rupture with Austria. It seems that in the month of May +in that eventful year the Rascians sent a deputation to Pesth, to the +Diet, setting forth certain grievances and demanding redress. The +Magyars rejected their petition with haughty contempt, "a grievous +fault," says General Klapka in his history. The result was that the +Rascian deputies returned home in a state of great disgust at their +reception, and immediately took up arms against the Hungarians. This was +before the Government of Vienna had thrown off the mask. These facts are +not without significance at the present time. The Rascians are strongly +imbued with ideas of Panslavism, and now disdain any other name than +that of Servians; it would be a great offence to call the humblest +individual of the race by the old appellation of Rascian or Ratzen. +These so-called Servian subjects of the crown of St. Stephen number +about 800,000!</p> + +<p>The subject is worth mentioning at some length, because a good deal of +confusion exists respecting this particular division of the great Slav +family.</p> + +<p>Judging from what I saw of the inhabitants of Svenica, I think they have +not progressed very far in the ways of civilisation. I could get nothing +in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> the whole place but a piece of bread; but I was not to be balked of +my tea, so I entered the principal room in the wretched little inn, and +proceeded to take out my cooking apparatus. I was obliged to content +myself with a thick fluid, which they called water; no better was to be +procured. Now it happens that my spirit-lamp, when it begins to boil up, +makes a tremendous row for two or three minutes, as if it meant to burst +up with a general explosion. This circumstance, and my other novel +proceedings, had attracted a lot of idlers round the door, and before +the tea-making was over a number of Serbs and Wallacks crowded into the +room in a state of excited curiosity, and it was with difficulty that I +defended my tea-machine from absolute dismemberment. Though my horse and +I had done a good day's work, I determined to push on to Uibanya, for it +seemed to be not much more than a two hours' walk; moreover, I had been +warned of the bad reputation of the people in the village. I had heard +it was not an uncommon trick with them to steal a traveller's horse in +the night, and quietly ship him over the Danube into Servia. I had no +fancy for losing my possessions in this way, so altogether it seemed +better to go on.</p> + +<p>When I started with the guide I had hired from Svenica, there was still +a good half-hour before sun<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>set. We commenced at once climbing a very +steep and stony path, where I had to lead my horse; indeed at times it +was very much like getting my horse over the top of a high-pitched roof, +if such an exploit were possible. We shortly lost all trace of a path. I +turned several times to look at the fine glimpses of the Danube far +below us. Arriving at a fringe of wood, I was not a little surprised to +see emerge from thence a sturdy Wallack, carrying the usual long staff, +armed with an axe at one end. I say surprised, because he at once joined +in with us, and though I had not seen him during our climb, I had my +strong suspicions that he had followed us all the way. My guide spoke a +little German, and I demanded of him in a sharp tone what the other +fellow meant by joining us. My guide answered that he was afraid to +return alone, for that presently we should get into "the forest, where +it would be as dark as a cave," and he had asked the other man to come +with us from Svenica. As according to his own account he had traversed +the forest for nineteen years, I thought he might very well have gone +back alone; besides, if there was any truth in what he said, why should +he have made a mystery about his companion till we were some way on our +journey?</p> + +<p>We were now on the outskirts of a thick forest, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> sun had set in +great beauty, but every hue of colour had now faded from "the trailing +clouds of glory;" faded, indeed, so quickly that before the fact of +twilight could be realised, it was already night! It was literally dark +as a cave when we penetrated into the forest. My guide had a lantern, +which he lighted; for it would, indeed, have been impossible to make any +progress without the light. Though we were again in a path, the way was +frequently barred by the trunks of fallen trees. We were still +ascending, occasionally coming upon a steep rough bit, difficult for the +horse on account of the loose stones. I think we must have looked very +much like a party of smugglers. The ex-forester walked first, swinging +his lantern as he moved; then came the Wallack volunteer, stumping along +with axe-headed staff. He wanted very much to fall into the rear, but +this I would not allow, and in a resolute tone ordered him forward. I +followed with my little grey horse close upon the heels of my +companions, keeping all the time a keen and suspicious eye upon their +movements. They spoke together occasionally, but I was profoundly +ignorant of what they said, not understanding a word of Wallachian.</p> + +<p>Where it was anyhow possible we went at a good pace, but the underwood +and fallen trees hindered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> us a good deal. My guide told me to look out +for wolves. These forests are said to be full of them in summer, and he +added that a lot of pigs belonging to a neighbour of his had been +carried off by the wolves only the night before. I took this opportunity +of telling him that I was a dead shot, pointing to my revolver, which +was handy; adding a piece of information that I made much of, namely, +that I was expected at Uibanya.</p> + +<p>The doubts I felt about the honesty of the guide and the other fellow +were increased by a suspicion that they were leading me the wrong way. +We had been three hours in the forest, always ascending. Now I knew that +my destination was situated in a valley. I asked repeatedly when we +should get there, and invariably came the same short answer, "Gleich" +(directly). I noticed that we were steadily walking in the same +direction, for the trees being less thick I could keep my eye on the +Polar star: this was so far satisfactory. Presently I saw a light or two +in the distance, and before long we came to a cottage, the first in what +turned out to be the little village of Eibenthal. Here we came upon a +party of miners, who gave me the pleasant information that we were still +an hour's walk from Uibanya! There was nothing for it but to go on. I +confess I breathed more freely in the open; we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> were quite clear of the +forest now. On we went, a regular tramp, tramp, through a long valley +skirted with woods on either side. This last part of the walk seemed +interminable. It was eighteen hours since I had started in the morning. +I was physically weary, and I really believe I went off to sleep for a +second or two, though my legs kept up their automatic motion. I am sure +I must have slept, for I had a notion, like one has sometimes in sleep, +of extraordinary extension of time. It seemed to me that for years of my +life I had done nothing else than walk under the starlit sky into a vast +cave of black darkness, which only receded farther and farther as the +swinging of the lamp advanced with its monotonous vibration of light.</p> + +<p>It was just midnight when I descried a faint light in the distance. It +grew as we tramped on. I knew therefore it was no deceptive star setting +in the horizon, but the welcome firelight of a human habitation. This +time it was my goal—Uibanya! I stopped for a moment and fired off a +couple of shots to announce our approach, whereupon some of the people +in the house rushed out to see what was up, and I made myself known by +an English "halloo," and out of the darkness came a voice saying, "All +right."</p> + +<p>"All's well that ends well," I said to myself as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> I paid my guide for +his night's work. I looked round for the Wallack, but the fellow had +sloped off!</p> + +<p>I was most kindly and hospitably received, and, O ye gods, with what an +appetite I ate the excellent supper quickly prepared for me!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + +<h4>Hospitable welcome at Uibanya—Excursion to the Servian side of the +Danube—Ascent of the Stierberg—Bivouac in the woods—Magnificent +views towards the Balkans—Fourteen eagles disturbed—Wallack +dance.</h4> + + +<p>A couple of days after my arrival at Uibanya, my friend F—— kindly +arranged a little expedition into Servia, with the object of making the +ascent of the Stierberg, a mountain of respectable elevation, commanding +very fine views. Our guide was the postmaster of Plavishovitza, who +professed a knowledge of the country round about. We drove down to the +Danube, and there crossed the river in a primitive "dug-out," and almost +immediately commenced the ascent of the Stierberg. It became quite dark +by the time we got half-way up the mountain; this we were prepared for, +having made arrangements for camping out the night. We had brought with +us an ample store of provisions, not forgetting our plaids. The heat was +so great when we started that we dispensed with coats, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> even +waistcoats, and went on rejoicing in the cool freedom of our +shirt-sleeves. Each wore a broad leather waist-belt, stuck round with +revolvers and bowie-knives. I believe we looked like a couple of the +veriest brigands. Had we only been spotted by a "correspondent," I make +little doubt that we should have been telegraphed as "atrocities" to the +London evening papers.</p> + +<p>The more civilisation closes round one, the more enjoyable is an +occasional "try back" into barbarism. This feeling made the mere fact of +camping out seem delightful. Our first care was to select a suitable +spot; we found a clearing that promised well, and here we made a halt. +We deposited our <i>batterie de cuisine</i>, arranged our plaids, and then +proceeded to make a fire with a great lot of dried sticks and logs of +wood. The fire was soon crackling and blazing away in grand style, +throwing out mighty tongues of flame, which lit up the dark recesses of +the forest.</p> + +<p>Now came the supper, which consisted of robber-steak and tea. I always +stuck to my tea as the most refreshing beverage after a long walk or +ride. I like coffee in the morning before starting—good coffee, mind; +but in the evening there is nothing like tea. The robber-steak is +capital, and deserves an "honourable mention" at least: it is composed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +of small bits of beef, bacon, and onion strung alternately on a piece of +stick; it is seasoned with pinches of <i>paprika</i> and salt, and then +roasted over the fire, the lower end of the stick being rolled backwards +and forwards between your two palms as you hold it over the hot embers. +It makes a delicious relish with a hunch of bread.</p> + +<p>Our camp-fire and its surroundings formed a romantic scene. We had three +Serbs with us as attendants, and there was F—— and myself, all seated +in a semicircle to windward of the smoke. The boles of the majestic +beech-trees surrounding us rose like stately columns to support the +green canopy above our heads, and in the interstices of the leafy roof +were visible spaces of sky, so deeply blue that the hue was almost lost +in darkness; but out of the depths shone many a bright star in infinite +brilliancy. The scene was picturesque in the highest degree. The +flickering firelight, our Serbians in their quaint dresses moving about +the gnarled roots and antlered branches of the trees, upon which the +light played fitfully, and the mystery of that outer rim of darkness, +all helped to impress the fancy with the charm of novelty.</p> + +<p>After supper was finished, and duly cleared away, we all disposed +ourselves for sleep, taking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> care to have the guns ready at hand, for we +might be disturbed by a wolf or a bear on his nightly rounds. Our +attendants had previously collected some large logs of wood, large +almost as railway-sleepers, to keep up a good fire through the night. +Wrapping my plaid round me, I laid myself down, confident that I should +sleep better than in the softest feather bed. I gave one more look at +the romantic scene, and then turned on my side to yield to the +drowsiness of honest fatigue.</p> + +<p>But, alas! there was no sleep for me. I had hardly closed my eyes when I +was attacked by a regiment of mosquitoes. I was so tormented by these +brutes that I never slept a wink. I sat up the greater part of the night +battling with them; and what provoked me more was the tranquillity of +F——'s slumbers. I could bear it no longer, so at three <span class="smcap">a.m.</span> I +woke him up, saying it was time for us to be stirring if we wanted to +get to the top of the mountain to see the sun rise. I believe he thought +I need not have called him so early, and grumbled a little, which was +very unreasonable, for the fellow had been sleeping for hours to my +knowledge. Rousing our Serbs, we set them about making preparations for +breakfast; but when the water was boiled and the tea made, it turned out +to be utterly undrinkable. The water-cask had had sour wine in it, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +the water was spoiled. We consoled ourselves with the hope that we might +get some sheep's milk on the mountain.</p> + +<p>We reached the summit of the Stierberg before five o'clock; it has no +great elevation, but the position commands magnificent views of all the +surrounding country. Advancing to the verge of the precipice overlooking +the Danube, a sheer wall of rock 2000 feet in depth, we signalled our +arrival by discharging our rifles simultaneously. This "set the wild +echoes flying." Each cliff and scaur of the narrow gorge flung back the +ringing sound till the sharp reverberations stirred the whole defile. +Before the fusillade had ceased we beheld a sight I shall never forget. +The sound had disturbed a colony of eagles, who make their nests in +these rocky fissures. They flew out in every direction from the face of +the cliff, and went soaring round and round, evidently in much alarm at +the unwonted noise. We counted fourteen of these magnificent birds. I +wanted to get a shot at one, but they never came near enough. After +circling round for several minutes they flew with one accord to the +opposite woods, and were no more seen.</p> + +<p>The view from the Stierberg is splendid. On every side were stretches of +primeval forest. Bounding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> the horizon on the north-east we made out the +Transylvanian Alps; to the south lay Servia, and more distant still the +Balkan Mountains. As the sun rose higher, lighting up in a marvellous +way all the details of this fair landscape, we could see far eastward a +strip of the Danube flashing in the sunbeams.</p> + +<p>We turned reluctantly from the grand panorama, but we began to feel the +distressing effects of thirst. We had failed to procure any sheep's +milk, but the postmaster declared that when we got back to our +camping-place we should be able to find some fresh water. Arrived at +this pleasant spot, we rested under the beech-trees, and sent off two of +the Serbs to look for water. After waiting some time one of them brought +us some, but it was from a stagnant pool, alive with animalculæ, quite +unfit to drink. I never remember suffering so much from thirst. The heat +was excessive, but happily before reaching the Danube we found a +delicious spring gushing out from the limestone rock. It was an +indescribable refreshment for thirsty souls. We further regaled +ourselves with a good meal at the village on the Hungarian side of the +Danube, after crossing again in the "dug-out."</p> + +<p>The pope of the village entered into conversation with us, and finding I +was a stranger he ordered a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> Wallack dance for our amusement. The +costumes of the women were picturesque, but the dance itself was a slow +affair, very unlike the lively <i>czardas</i> of the Magyar peasant.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + +<h4>A hunting expedition proposed—Drive from Uibanya to +Orsova—Oriental aspect of the market-place—Cserna +Valley—Hercules-Bad, Mehadia—Post-office mistakes—Drive to +Karansebes—Rough customers <i>en route</i>—Lawlessness—Fair at +Karansebes—Podolian cattle—Ferocious dogs.</h4> + + +<p>During my stay at Uibanya the <i>Förstmeister</i> (head of the forest +department) from Karansebes came over on business, and he told us there +was to be a shooting expedition on the Alps in his district. He further +invited us to take part in it, and I gladly accepted, as it fitted in +very well indeed with my plans. Karansebes is directly on the route to +Transylvania, whither I was bound. The district we were to shoot over is +the rocky border-land between Hungary and Roumania. My friend +F——agreed to accompany me, and on our way we proposed visiting the +celebrated baths of Mehadia. Early one morning we started for Orsova, a +drive of thirty miles, splendid scenery all the way. The latter part of +our journey was by the side of the Danube, on the Szechenyi road again.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p> + +<p>We passed a number of hay-ricks in trees, which I have before described. +Some of them were built up in the form of an inverted cone. The +luxuriance of the foliage is very striking. Nothing can exceed the +beauty of the wild vines so frequent on the banks of the Danube. They +fall in graceful festoons from the trees; sometimes they reach across to +the trees on the other side of the road, forming a complete arch of +greenery. In the autumn the vine leaves turn to a glowing red, like the +Virginian creeper, and then the effect of this mass of rich colouring is +indeed glorious. Meanwhile gay butterflies of rare form fluttered about +among the trailing vines, and bright green lizards darted in and out of +the stone wall. Then an eagle or a vulture would swoop down from the +heights, and settle himself on some pinnacle of rock, where he remained, +motionless as a stuffed bird.</p> + +<p>When we reached Orsova we only stopped long enough to get some dinner +and take the usual siesta. This place is on the frontier; three miles +farther down you pass out of Hungary into Roumanian territory. Had we +stayed any time we should certainly have gone to see Trajan's bridge, +about eighteen miles hence. The so-called "Iron Gates" are just below +Orsova. The designation is a misnomer, for the river ceases to be pent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> +up between a defile, the hills recede from the shore, and the "Gates" +are merely ledges of rock peculiarly difficult for navigation. Orsova is +celebrated as the place where the regalia of Hungary were concealed by +Kossuth and his friends from 1849 to 1853. The iron chest which held the +palladium of the kingdom, the sacred crown of St Stephen, was buried in +a waste spot, covered with willows, not far from the road. There is a +somewhat Oriental look about Orsova. In the market-place there is a +profusion of bright-coloured stuffs, prayer-carpets, and Turkish +slippers. A narrow island of no great length, just below Orsova, is +still held by the Turks. There is a small mosque with minarets visible +amongst a group of the funeral cypress-tree, so characteristic of the +presence of the Turk.</p> + +<p>Our road to Mehadia was away from the river, following instead the lead +of a lateral valley. As we drove out of Orsova we passed a lot of +Wallack huts forming a kind of suburb. These huts are built of wattles +stuccoed with mud, always having on one side of the dwelling a space +enclosed by stockades some ten feet high; this is a necessary protection +for their animals against the depredations of wolves and bears, which +abound here.</p> + +<p>Leaving this village we continued our way<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> through the Cserna Valley, +which has few signs of cultivation beyond the orchards and vineyards +that climb up the hillsides of the narrow ravine. On our left we passed +a ruined aqueduct of Turkish origin, eleven arches still remaining. As +we proceeded, the valley narrowed considerably, and the scenery became +more wild and striking. Here vegetation is in its richest profusion; the +parasitical plants are surpassingly graceful, wreathing themselves over +rocks and trees.</p> + +<p>Mehadia, or more strictly, Hercules-Bad, is the most fashionable bath in +Hungary. The village of Mehedia must not be confounded with it, for it +lies at a distance of six miles thence. The situation of Hercules-Bad is +extremely romantic. Above the narrow rocky valley rise bare limestone +peaks, girdled with rich forests of every variety of foliage. There are +two kinds of springs, the sulphurous and the saline. The Hercules source +bursts out from a cleft of the rock in such an immense volume that it is +said to yield 5000 cubic feet in an hour. The water has to be cooled +before it is used, the natural heat being as much as 131° Fahrenheit. +Its efficacy is said to be so great that the patient while in the bath +"feels the evil being boiled out of him"! Some of the visitors had not +yet had their turn of cooking, I suppose, or if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> they had been boiled, +were rather underdone, for I met a good many gouty and rheumatic +patients still in the hobbling condition.</p> + +<p>The country round Mehadia is so wild, both in regard to the scenery and +to the native population, that the contrast of dropping suddenly into a +fashionable watering-place is very curious. This bath is much frequented +for pleasure and health by the luxury-loving Roumanians, who invariably +display the latest extravagance of Parisian fashion. Men in +patent-leather boots devoted to cards and billiards, while in the +immediate neighbourhood of glorious scenery, with bear and chamois +shooting to be had for the asking, seem to me "an unknown species," as +Voltaire said of the English. From what I learned of the ways of the +place it seems that the Magyar and Transylvanian visitors keep quite +aloof from the Roumanian coterie; they have never anything pleasant to +say of one another. At Boseg, a bath in the Eastern Carpathians which I +visited later, the separation is so complete that the Roumanians go at +one period of the season and the Hungarian visitors at another.</p> + +<p>It had always been my intention to stay a few days at the Hercules-Bad, +and I had given the place as an address for English letters. Accordingly +I presented myself at the <i>poste restante</i>. Seeing that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> I was a +Britisher, the postmaster gave me all the letters he possessed with +English postmarks. Many of them were of considerable antiquity. Out of +the goodly pile I selected some half-dozen that bore my name; but I was +greatly surprised to come across one that had made a very bad shot for +its destination. It bore the simple name of some poor Jacktar, with the +address "H.M.S. Hercules."</p> + +<p>The Romans had their <i>établissement</i> here. The present name comes from +the "Thermæ Herculis" of classic times. There are many interesting +remains here—fragments of altars, sculptured capitals, and stones with +inscriptions, all telling the same story—the story of Roman dominion +and greatness.</p> + +<p>Just then we had no time for archæology, for we wanted to push on to +Karansebes, and we stayed only a day and a half at Mehadia. As it was +more than we could comfortably manage to do the whole distance in a day, +we arranged to drive as far as Terregova and sleep there. We left +Mehadia early in the afternoon, F——'s groom riding my horse. The road +was excellent—all the roads are in the districts of the Military +Frontier. As an example of the quick temper of the Wallacks, I will +mention a little incident which happened on the road. We met some of +these people, and one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> of them, who was looking another way, stumbled +most awkwardly against the groom's horse, and very nearly met with an +accident. Though it was so clearly his own fault, he had hardly +recovered himself when, raising his axe, he was about to strike our +servant on the head. Meanwhile another fellow seized a big stone, which +I believe was going to make a target of the same head. Luckily I turned, +and seeing the scuffle, I was out with my revolver in a moment, pointing +it at the man with the axe. He understood my language, and made a hasty +retreat. F—— said he had no doubt it would have gone badly with the +groom if the distance between us had been greater.</p> + +<p>We were in for adventures in a small way that evening. Just after +sunset, when it was already rather dark in the valley, we found +ourselves suddenly stopped by a man, who leaped out from behind a rock, +seized the horses, and with a powerful grasp brought them down on their +haunches. F—— had the reins, so I jumped down and made straight at the +fellow, revolver in hand. I imagine he did not expect to find us armed, +or he found us literally too many for him, but diving into the bushes, +he was gone even quicker than he came.</p> + +<p>We had hardly got the horses into full trot again, when we noticed two +cartloads of Wallacks driving<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> side by side on in front of us. When we +came up they would not let us pass, and continued this little game for +more than ten minutes, notwithstanding all our expostulations. They were +driving much slower than ourselves, and F—— began to lose patience; so +holding the horses well in hand, he told me to fire off my revolver in +the air. After this they thought proper to draw aside, but even then +leaving us so little room that we risked our necks in passing them in a +very awkward corner. I was told afterwards by the postmaster of +Karansebes that a diligence had fallen over the precipice at this very +place, only a very short time before, owing to the Wallack drivers +purposely obstructing the road. Such are the Wallacks—I beg their +pardon, Roumanians!</p> + +<p>When we got to Terregova, we were glad to find quite a decent inn, the +Wilder Mann, kept by civil people. After supper we had a chat with our +hostess, who being a regular gossip, was very pleased to tell us a lot +of stories about the wild character of the country-people. She was very +sorry that the frontier was no longer under the Austrian military rule, +for, she said, having been accustomed to the strict military system so +long, the Wallacks, now they have more liberty, have become utterly +lawless, and exceedingly troublesome to their German<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> neighbours. She +added that the <i>gendarmes</i>, who were supposed to keep order in the +district, were far too few to be of any real use. She complained +bitterly against the Wallacks for firing the forests, and they had +become much worse since '48. "In fact the time will come," she said, +"when wood will be scarce, and then everybody will suffer; but they +don't think, and they don't care, and just lay their hands on anything."</p> + +<p>The Government certainly ought to look to the preservation of the +forests, and above all they ought to make the law respected amongst a +population which is so little advanced in civilisation as to be +indifferent to the first principles of order. The Wallacks want +education, and above all they want a decent priesthood, before they can +make any sound progress. With all their ignorance and lawlessness, it is +curious that they pride themselves on being descendants of the ancient +Romans, ignoring their "Dacian sires."</p> + +<p>The next day we went on to Karansebes—a good road and charming scenery. +This is the highroad into Transylvania, called the Eisenthor Pass; but +it hardly merits the name of pass, inasmuch as it only crosses the spur +of the hills. The distance from Orsova on the Danube to Hatszeg in +Transylvania is 110 miles: the district is known as the "Ro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>manen +Banat," and, as the name imports, is principally inhabited by Wallacks, +otherwise Roumanians.</p> + +<p>We arrived at Karansebes in the afternoon, and by good-luck it chanced +to be fair-day. This is a central market for a considerable extent of +country, so that there is always a great gathering of people. In driving +into the town we passed a long bridge which crosses a low-lying meadow, +the central arch being sufficient to span the stream, at least in +summer. From this elevation we had a capital view of the fair, which was +being held in these meadows, and could look down leisurely on the whole +scene; and a very novel and amusing sight it was.</p> + +<p>There were hundreds of people; and what a variety of races and diversity +of costumes! The Wallack women, in their holiday suits, were the most +picturesque. Many of them were handsome, and they have generally a very +superior air to the men; they are better dressed and more civilised +looking. There were a sprinkling of Magyars in braided coats, or with +white felt cloaks richly embroidered in divers colours. But the +blue-eyed, fair-complexioned German was far more numerous. The Magyar +element is very much in the minority in this particular part of Hungary. +The Jews and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> gipsies were there in great numbers—they always are +at fairs—in the quality of horse-dealers and vendors of wooden articles +for the kitchen. The Jew is easily distinguished by his black corkscrew +ringlets, and his brown dressing-gown coat reaching to his heels. This +ancient garment suits him "down to the ground;" in fact his yellow +visage and greasy hat would not easily match with anything more cleanly. +These Jewish frequenters of fairs are, as a rule, of the lowest class, +hailing either from the Marmaros Mountains in North-Eastern Hungary, or +from Galicia.</p> + +<p>The fair is really a very important exhibition of the products and +manufactures of the country, and it is well worth the attention of the +stranger, who may pass on with the motley crowd through streets of +stalls and booths. One <i>annexe</i> is devoted to furniture, from a winged +wardrobe down to a wooden spoon. In another part you see piles of +Servian rugs, coarse carpets, sheepskin <i>bundas</i>, hairy caps of a +strange peaked form, broad hats made of reed or rush, and the delightful +white felt garments before mentioned, which are always embroidered with +great taste and skill. Horses, cows, and pigs are also brought here in +great numbers to exchange owners. The long-horned cattle are perhaps the +most striking feature in the whole fair.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> They are white, with a little +grey on the necks, flanks, and buttocks. Oxen are much used for hauling +purposes as well as for the plough. A pair of oxen, it is considered, +will do the work of four horses.</p> + +<p>Professor Wrightson says: "The Podolian is an aboriginal race, descended +from the wild urox (<i>Bos primigenius</i>). The race is remarkable for its +capability of resisting influences of climate, and its contentedness +with poor diet.... The Hungarian oxen are considered by naturalists as +the best living representative of the original progenitors of our +domestic cattle." Of the buffalo the same writer says: "It was +introduced into Hungary by Attila; it is found in the lowlands, on both +sides of the Danube and the Theiss, Lower Hungary, and Transylvania. In +1870 there were upwards of 58,000 in Transylvania, and more than 14,000 +in Hungary."<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></p> + +<p>Later in my tour, when at Klausenburg, I had an opportunity of seeing an +extensive dairy where upwards of a hundred buffalo cows were kept. The +farm alluded to is admirably managed, and, I am told, yields very +profitable returns.</p> + +<p>It is the opinion of Professor Wrightson that cattle are diminishing in +Hungary owing to the breaking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> up of pastures and the recurrence of +rinderpest. He says he does not think that the English market can look +to Hungary for a supply of cattle at present. This gentleman did not, I +believe, visit Transylvania, and I am inclined to think the supply from +<i>that</i> part of the kingdom is greatly on the increase; there the +pastures are <i>not</i> in process of being turned into arable land, and the +rise in prices has given an impetus to the profitable employment of +capital in raising stock.</p> + +<p>In walking round the fair, we took notice of the horses. I could have +made a better bargain than I did in Servia. A useful cart-horse could be +bought, I found, for about six or seven pounds. I daresay I could have +picked out a few from the lot fit for riding, but of course they were +rough animals, mere peasant horses. Some of the colts, brought in a +string fresh from the mountains, were wild, untamed-looking creatures; +but hardly as wild as the Wallacks who led them, dressed in sheepskin, +and followed each by his savage wolf-like dog. The dogs are very +formidable in Hungary. It is never safe to take a walk, even in the +environs of a town, without a revolver, on account of these savage +brutes, who, faithful to their masters, are liable to make the most +ferocious attacks on strangers. This special kind of dog is in fact most +useful—to the shepherd<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span> on the lonely <i>puszta</i>, to the keeper of the +vineyard through the night-watches, when the wild boar threatens his +ravages—and in short he acts the part of rural police generally.</p> + +<p>In Hungary, as elsewhere, there are dogs of kindly nature and gentle +culture. I can record a curious instance of reasoning power in a dog +named "Jockey," who is well known at Buda Pest. He has the habit of +crossing over from Pest to Buda every morning of his life in one or +another of the little steamboats that ply backwards and forwards. He +regularly takes his walk over there, and then returns as before by +steamer. This is his practice in summer; but when winter arrives, and +the ice on the Danube stops the traffic of the steamboats, then Jockey +has recourse to the bridge. I believe there is no doubt of this +anecdote. Another instance of sagacity is attributed to him. His master +lost a lawsuit through the rascality of his attorney; Jockey feels so +strongly on the subject that he snarls and growls whenever a lawyer +enters his master's house. Here, of course, the instinct is stronger +than the powers of discrimination.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER X.</h2> + +<h4>Post-office at Karansebes—Good headquarters for a +sportsman—Preparations for a week in the mountain—The party +starting for the hunt—Adventures by the way—Fine trees—Game—Hut +in the forest—Beauty of the scenery in the Southern Carpathians.</h4> + + +<p>We put up at the Grünen Baum, the principal inn at Karansebes. My first +business was to worry everybody about my guns, which I had telegraphed +should be sent from Buda Pest to this place. I am afraid the postmaster +will never hear the name of an Englishman without associating the idea +of a fussy, irritable, impatient being, such as I was, about my guns. Of +course it was very provoking that they had not arrived. This postmaster +was a pattern official, an honour to his calling; he not only bore with +me, but he offered to lend me a gun if mine did not come. In Germany +there is a saying, "<i>So grob wie ein postbeamter</i>." The postmaster of +Karansebes was a glorious exception to the rule.</p> + +<p>On one occasion, while I was waiting in the office for an answer to one +of the many telegrams that I had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> despatched, a peasant woman came in +with a letter without an address. The postmaster seeing this, and +thinking she could not write, asked her to whom he should address the +letter. She was dreadfully indignant with him for his well-meant offer, +and said, "My son knows all about it—it is no business of yours."</p> + +<p>"But I can't forward it without an address," objected the postmaster.</p> + +<p>"Yes, you must," she rejoined, getting more and more angry—"you must; +that's what you are paid for doing."</p> + +<p>Here some other people came to the rescue, and by dint of all talking at +once for full twenty minutes, they induced her to give her son's +address; but it was a clear case of "convinced against her will," for as +she quitted the office she turned round and said, with a shake of the +head, "It's all very well to put that; but my son will know who it is +from."</p> + +<p>Karansebes is not at all a bad place as headquarters for the sportsman. +In the neighbourhood there is very good snipe-shooting in spring and +autumn. The fishing too is excellent for trout and grayling. The bear, +the wolf, and the chamois are to be met with on the heights, which form +this portion of the great horseshoe of the Carpathians.</p> + +<p>The day before our expedition we were occupied<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> with a few necessary +preparations. When these matters were settled to our satisfaction, we +went off in good time to secure a few hours' sleep, as we were to start +at four <span class="smcap">a.m.</span></p> + +<p>F—— and I were up in capital time, eager for the day's work, and +anxious, moreover, not to keep the rest of the party waiting. There was +an Austrian general, however, amongst the number, and therefore we might +safely have slept another hour. The morning was very unpromising, the +rain descended in a dull persistent downpour. We tried to hope it was +the pride of the morning. The prospect was dreary enough to damp the +spirits of some of our party. One man found that urgent private affairs +called him hence; another averred he had an inflammatory sore throat. I +expected a third would say he had married a wife and could not come. +Happily, however, the weather cleared a little as the morning advanced, +and further desertions were arrested.</p> + +<p>At length the whole party got off in sundry <i>leiterwagen</i>, a vehicle +which has no counterpart in England, and the literal rendering of a +ladder-waggon hardly conveys the proper notion of the thing itself. This +long cart, it is needless to say, is without springs; but it has the +faculty of accommodating itself to the inequalities of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> road in a +marvellous manner. It has, moreover, a snake-like vertebræ, and even +twists itself when necessary.</p> + +<p>My guns never came after all, and I was obliged to borrow. The one lent +me had one barrel smooth-bore, the other rifled.</p> + +<p>We drove for some distance along the Hatszeg highroad, then turned off +to the right. Continuing our course for some time, we came to the pretty +little village of Mörül, where we breakfasted. It was quite the cleanest +and neatest Wallack settlement that I had seen at all. It is celebrated +for the beauty of its women. Several very pretty girls in their +picturesque costume were gathered round the village well, engaged in +filling their classical-shaped pitchers. Every movement of their arms +was grace itself. The action was not from the elbow, but from the +shoulder, whereby one sees the arm extended in the curved line of +beauty, instead of sticking out at a sharp angle, as with us Western +races.</p> + +<p>The weather had improved considerably. Our breakfast, for which we +halted on the further outskirts of the village, was very agreeably +discussed amidst much general good-humour. The peasants regarded us with +frank undisguised curiosity, coming round to watch our proceedings.</p> + +<p>After leaving Mörül we got really into the wilds.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span> A very bad road led +up through a magnificent valley, the scenery most romantic; indeed every +turn brought to view some new aspect, calling forth admiration. On our +right was a fine trout-stream of that delicious brown tint welcome to +the eye of the fisherman. At times the water was seen breaking over a +rocky bed with much foam and fret, and then would find for itself a +tranquil pool beneath the shadow of some mighty beech-tree.</p> + +<p>The foliage of the forest, which closed down upon the valley, was simply +magnificent. The trees in the Southern Carpathians are far finer than +those of the Austrian Alps; they attain a greater average height. The +variety, too, was very striking in many places. The strip of green +pasturage that bordered our road was fringed with weeping birch-trees, +which gave a singular charm to the woodland scene.</p> + +<p>A turn in the direction of the valley brought us within sight of the +high range of mountains forming the frontier between Hungary and +Roumania. Some of the higher summits were ominously covered with dirty +clouds. It was observed that they were lifting, at least some of the +most sanguine thought so. However, judging from my former experiences in +Upper Austria and Styria, I could not say that I thought it was a good +sign, supposing even they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> were lifting. I think myself there is better +chance of fine weather in high regions when the clouds descend and +disappear in the valleys.</p> + +<p>Coming shortly to the foot of the mountain, the Sarka, which is upwards +of 6000 feet in height, we made a temporary halt. We had now to change +our <i>leiterwagen</i> for horses. All signs of a road had long ceased. On +the green knoll in front were a herd of shaggy mountain horses with +their Wallack drivers—as wild a scene as could well be imagined. Here +we unpacked our various stores of provisions, fortified ourselves with a +good dinner, and made necessary arrangements for the change of +locomotion. There was some trouble in properly distributing the things +for the pack-horses. Care had to be taken to give each horse his proper +weight and no more. It was also very important to see that the packages +were rightly balanced to avoid shifting.</p> + +<p>I had left my own horse at Karansebes, because he was in need of rest; +so F—— and I had to select horses from amongst the promiscuous lot +brought up by the "hunt." We chose out a couple of decent-looking +animals—indeed I rather prided myself on my selection, drew attention +to his good points, and rallied F—— on his less successful choice.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p> + +<p>At length everything was ready. Judging from the amount of baggage, the +commissariat department was all right. The order of march was this: ten +gentlemen, like so many knights on horseback with lances in rest, rode +on in front, in Indian file: our long alpen-stocks really somewhat +resembled lances. Each man had his gun slung behind. In the rear of +these gallant knights came a dozen pack-horses heavily laden, each with +his burden well covered up with sheepskins; behind again followed a lot +of Wallacks—these irregulars were to act as beaters.</p> + +<p>On we went in this order for seven hours. The pace was so slow that I +confess it made me impatient, but our path through the forest was too +narrow and too steep to do more than walk our horses in single file. The +character of the vegetation visibly changed as we ascended. We left the +oak and beech, and came upon a forest of pine-trees, and I thought of +the lines—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The grey moss which hangs in such abundant festoons from the fir-trees +has a most singular effect, almost weird at times. These ancients of the +forest,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> with their long grey beards and hoary tresses, look very solemn +indeed in the gloaming.</p> + +<p>What unheeded wealth in these majestic trees, which grow but to decay! +Enormous trunks lay on every side: some had passed into the rottenness +which gives new life; and here fungi of bright and varied hues, grey +lichen, and green moss preserved together the contour of the gigantic +stem, which, prostrate and decayed now, had once held its head high +amongst the lordlings of the forest.</p> + +<p>In the last century these woods were tenanted by wild aurochs and the +ibex, but both are extinct now in Hungary. Red-deer and the roe are +still common enough. "The wild-cat, fox, badger, otter, marten, and +other smaller carnivora are pretty numerous." Mr Danford<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> goes on to +say that "feathered game is certainly not abundant. There are a good +many capercailzie in the quiet pine-woods, pretty high up, but they are +only to be got at during the pairing season. Hazel-grouse too are common +in the lower woods, but are not easily found unless the call-system be +adopted. Black game are scarcely worth mentioning as far as sport is +concerned. Partridges scarce, not preserved, and the hooded crows and +birds of prey making life<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span> rather hard for them." Mr Danford further +speaks of the chamois-eagle as "not rare in the higher mountains." The +fisher-eagle "generally distributed." The king-eagle also "not rare." +The carrion-vulture "common throughout the country," also the red-footed +falcon. At one time and another I have myself seen most of these birds +in the Carpathians, which form the frontier between Transylvania and +Roumania.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile I must resume the description of our march, which was a very +slow affair. As we ascended, the trees decreased in size. We had long +ago left the deciduous foliage behind us; but the pines themselves were +smaller, interspersed with what is called "crooked timber," which grows +in grotesque dwarf-like forms. The forest at last diminished into mere +sparse shrubs, and finally we reached the treeless region, called in +German the <i>Alpen</i>, where there is rich pasturage for cattle and sheep +during the summer. We were now on tolerably level ground, and I thought +we should get a trot out of our wretched horses, but no, not a step +faster would they go. I believe we went at the rate of about two miles +and a half an hour. We tried everything—I mean F——and I—to get the +animals to stretch out over the turf; but they set to kicking +vigorously, backing and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> rearing, so that to avoid giving annoyance to +our companions, we were obliged to give in, and let the brutes go their +own pace.</p> + +<p>We had gone but a very little way on the Alpen before we found ourselves +enveloped in a thick mist, added to which the track itself became +uncertain. We went on: if the saying "slow but sure" has any truth in +it, we ought to have been sure enough. My horse reminded me of the reply +of the Somersetshire farmer, who, when he was asked if his horse was +steady, answered, "He be so steady that if he were a bit steadier he +would not go at all." Notwithstanding that we moved like hay-stacks, and +the cavalcade seemed to be treading on one another's heels, yet, +ridiculous to say, we got separated from our baggage. Darkness set in, +and with it a cold drizzling rain—not an animated storm that braces +your nerves, but a quiet soaking rain, the sort of thing that takes the +starch out of one's moral nature.</p> + +<p>All at once I was aroused from my apathy by a shout from the front +calling out to the cavalcade to halt. I must observe a fellow on foot +was leading the way in quality of guide. A pretty sort of a guide he +turned out to be. He had led us quite wrong, and in fact found all of a +sudden that he was on the verge of a precipice!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p> + +<p>There was a good deal of unparliamentary language, expressed in tones +both loud and deep. It was an act of unwisdom, however, to stop there in +a heap on the grassy slope of a precipice, swearing in chorus at the +poor devil of a Wallack. I turned my horse up the incline, resolved to +try back, hoping to regain the lost track. It was next to impossible to +halt, for we had not even got our plaids with us—everything was with +the baggage-horses. Of course "some one had blundered." We all knew +that! The guide stuck to it to the last that "he had not exactly lost +his way." The fellow was incapable of a suggestion, and would have stood +there arguing till doomsday if we had not sent him off with a sharp +injunction to find some shepherds, and that quickly, who could take us +to the rendezvous. Being summer time, there would be many shepherds +about in different places on the Alpen, and the Wallack could hardly +fail to encounter some herdkeeper before long.</p> + +<p>We waited, as agreed, on the same spot nearly an hour, and then we heard +a great shouting to the right of us. This was the guide, who I believe +must have been born utterly without the organ of locality. He had found +some shepherds, he told us subsequently, not long after he had left us, +but then the fool of a fellow could not find his way back<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> to us, to the +spot where we agreed to wait for him. There was a great deal of shouting +before we could bring him to our bearings: the fog muffled the sound, +adding to the perplexity.</p> + +<p>The shepherds now took us in tow. We had to go back some distance, and +then make a sharp descent to the right, which brought us to the +rendezvous, and we effected at last a junction with our lost luggage. +Arriving at the hut, which had been previously built for us, we were +delighted to find a meal already prepared; it was in fact a very +elaborate supper, but I think we were all too exhausted to appreciate +the details. I know I was very glad to wrap my plaid round me and +stretch myself on the floor.</p> + +<p>The next morning we were up with the first streak of dawn. It was with +some curiosity that I looked round at our impromptu dwelling and its +surroundings, upon which we had descended in total obscurity the night +before. The position of our camping-place was not badly chosen; we were +just within the girdle of forest above which rises the grassy Alpen. +About forty yards to the left or north-east of us was a small stream, +the boundary, it seems, between the Banat and Transylvania. We were +provided with two necessaries of life, wood and water, close at hand.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span></p> + +<p>The hut, however, was more picturesque than practical, as subsequent +events proved. The Wallacks had constructed it by driving two strong +posts into the ground about ten yards apart. A tree was placed across, +with a couple of smaller supports, and on this was made on a rough +framework a sloping roof to the windward side. The roofing consisted +entirely of leaves: it is called in German <i>laubhütte</i>, but is in fact +more of a parasol than an umbrella. I should have preferred a hut made +of bark, such as I have seen used by shepherds and sportsmen in Styria.</p> + +<p>The interior of the hut had a droll appearance. Bacon, sausages, +meal-bags, and various other things were hanging from pegs fastened into +the supports of the roof; and the gear belonging to ten sportsmen were +stowed away somehow. The place might have passed for the head-centre of +a band of brigands.</p> + +<p>The mountain on which we were encamped forms part of the western side of +a long valley, at the bottom of which, quite 2000 feet below us, is a +magnificent trout-stream. The sides of this valley are clothed with +dense forests, with broken cliffs obtruding in places. The height of the +Carpathians in this part of the range must not be taken as a gauge of +the scenery, which quite equals in grandeur the higher Alps in many +parts of Switzerland and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> the Tyrol. Comparisons are dangerous, for the +lovers of Switzerland will silence me with glaciers and eternal snow; +these advantages I must concede, still contending, however, for the +extreme beauty and wildness of the Southern Carpathians. The +characteristics of the scenery are due to the broken forms of the +crystalline rocks, the singular occurrence of sharp limestone ridges, +and the deep forest-clad valleys, traversed by mountain torrents, which +everywhere diversify the scene.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + +<h4>Chamois and bear hunting—First battue—Luxurious dinner 5000 feet +above the sea-level—Storm in the night—Discomforts—The bear's +supper—The eagle's breakfast—Second and third day's +shooting—Baking a friend as a cure for fever—Striking camp—View +into Roumania.</h4> + + +<p>We started for our first battue in capital time, taking with us a crowd +of Wallack beaters. Our places were appointed to us by the director of +the hunt, and some of us had a stiffish climb before reaching the spot +indicated. At a right angle to this valley there protrudes one of those +characteristic limestone ridges; it terminates in an abrupt precipice or +declivity above the stream. My place was some half-way up, a good +position; for while I could see the course of the stream, I could +command a fair range of ground above me.</p> + +<p>It was impossible not to take note of the exquisite beauty of the whole +scene, particularly as it then appeared. The sun breaking through the +clouds, threw his sharply-defined rays of light into the depths of the +misty defile, playing upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> the foam of the water, and giving life and +colour to the hanging woods. I hardly took it in at the time, but rather +remembered the details afterwards; for my thoughts were occupied in +trying to judge the distance up to which I might fire with any chance of +success—distances are always very deceptive on the mountains.</p> + +<p>I must observe that we hoped to get a shot at some bears, but the +chamois were the legitimate object of the hunt. The late autumn or early +winter is the best time for bear-hunting.</p> + +<p>I had not been long at my post when I heard two shots in quick +succession fired below me. I found a chamois had been shot.</p> + +<p>For our next battue we turned right-about face, the beaters coming from +the other side; but we had bad luck. One of our party saw a bear at some +distance, fired, and—missed it. The fact of a bear having been sighted +encouraged us in keeping up our battues pretty late, but nothing more +was shot that day. It was very disappointing, because if the bear was +thereabouts our numerous staff of beaters ought to have turned him up +again. Some of the party were altogether sceptical about a bear having +been seen at all. Of course the man who had fired held to the bear as if +it was the first article in his creed. The dissentients remarked that +"believing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> is seeing," as some one cleverly said of spiritualism. I +don't know whether it was better to think you had missed your bear or +had no bear to miss.</p> + +<p>When we returned to the hut in the evening we found that a couple of men +left in charge had made some great improvements. The Wallacks, who are +sharp ready-handed fellows, to do them justice, had in our absence cut +down some trees, split them with wooden pegs, and constructed out of the +rough timber a long table and a couple of benches. These were placed in +front of our hut; the supper was spread, the table being lighted with +some four lanterns, supplemented by torches of resinous pine-wood.</p> + +<p>The weather had been fair, though sport had been bad, so with a feeling +not "altogether sorrow-like" we sat down to a hearty good meal. One of +the dishes was chamois-liver, which is considered a great delicacy. We +had, indeed, several capital dishes, well dressed and served hot—a most +successful feast at 5000 feet above the sea-level. A vote of thanks was +proposed for the cook, and carried unanimously. The wines were +excellent. We had golden Mediasch, one of the best wines grown in +Transylvania, Roszamáber from Karlsburg and Bakatar. The peculiarity +about the first-named wine is that it produces an agreeable pricking on +the tongue, called in German <i>tschirpsen</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p> + +<p>Before turning in we had a smoke, accompanied by tea with rum, the +invariable substitute for milk in Hungary.</p> + +<p>As there were four big fires burning in the clearing outside the hut, +the whole scene was very bright and cheerful. The wood crackled briskly, +the flames lit up the green foliage, and the moving figures of our +attendants gave animation to the picture. Amongst ourselves there were a +few snatches of song, and from up the hill where the Wallacks were +camped came a chorus of not unmusical voices. One after another of our +party dropped off, betaking himself to his natural rest. I was not the +last, and must have slept as soon as I pulled the plaid over my ears, +for I remembered nothing more.</p> + +<p>I daresay I slept two or three hours; it may have been more or less, I +don't know, but the next moment of consciousness, or semi-consciousness, +was an uneasy feeling that a thief was trying to carry off a large tin +bath that belonged to me, in my dream. As he dragged it away it seemed +to me that he bumped it with all his might, making a horrible row. +Meanwhile, oppressed by nightmare, I could not budge an inch nor utter a +cry, though I would have given the world to stop the thief. I daresay +this nonsense of my dream occupied but an instant of time. I woke to the +consciousness of a loud peal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> of thunder. "We are in for a storm," +thought I, turning drowsily on my other side, not yet much awake to the +probable consequences.</p> + +<p>There was no sleep for me, however. The rest of the party were, one and +all, up and moving about; and the noise of the storm also increased—the +flashes of lightning were blinding, and the crash of the thunder was +almost simultaneous. Through the open side of our hut I could see and +hear the rain descending in torrents; fortunately it did not beat in, +but it was not long before the wet penetrated the roof—that roof of +leaves that I had mentally condemned the day before. After the rain once +came through, the ground was soon soaking.</p> + +<p>It was a dismal scene. I sat up with the others, "the lanterns dimly +burning," and occupied myself for some time contriving gurgoyles at +different angles of my body, but the wet would trickle down my neck.</p> + +<p>We made a small fire inside the hut, essaying thereby to dry some of our +things. My socks were soaking; my boots, I found, had a considerable +storage of water; the only dry thing was my throat, made dry by +swallowing the wood-smoke. A more complete transformation scene could +hardly be imagined than our present woeful guise compared with the +merriment of the supper-table, where all was song and jollity.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p> + +<p>A German, who was sitting on the same log with myself, looking the +picture of misery, had been one of the most jovial songsters of the +evening.</p> + +<p>"Thousand devils!" said he, "you could wring me like a rag. This +abominable hut is a sponge—a mere reservoir of water."</p> + +<p>"Oh, well, it is all part of the fun," said I, turning the water out of +my boots, and proceeding to toast my socks by the fire on the thorns of +a twig. "Suppose we sing a song. What shall it be?—'The meeting of the +waters'?"</p> + +<p>I had intended a mild joke, but the Teuton relapsed into grim silence.</p> + +<p>The storm after a while appeared to be rolling off. The thunder-claps +were not so immediately over our heads, and the flashes of lightning +were less frequent; in fact a perfect lull existed for a short space of +time, marking the passage probably to an oppositely electrified zone of +the thunder-cloud. During this brief lull we were startled by hearing +all at once a frightful yelling from the quarter where the Wallacks were +camping, a little higher up than our hut.</p> + +<p>Amidst the general hullabaloo of dogs barking and men shouting we at +last distinguished the cry of "Ursa, ursa!" which is Wallachian for +bear. Our camp became the scene of the most tremendous excitement; +everybody rushed out, but in the thick<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> darkness it was impossible to +pursue the bear. The more experienced sportsmen were not so eager to +sally out after the bear, as they were anxious to prevent a stampede of +the horses. When the latter were secured as well as circumstances would +permit, a few guns were fired off to warn the bear, and then there was +nothing for it but to watch and wait. The dogs went on barking for more +than an hour, but otherwise the camp relapsed into stillness. I spent +the remainder of the night sitting on a log before the fire, smoking my +pipe with the bowl downwards, for the rain had never ceased, and clouds +of steam rose from our camp-fires. The fear was that the powder would +get wet. I must have dropped off my perch asleep, for I picked myself up +the next morning out of a pool of water. It was already dawn, and +looking eastward I saw a streak of light beneath a dark curtain of +cloud, like the gleam on the edge of a sword, so sharp and defined was +it. This was hopeful; it had ceased raining too, and a brisk wind came +up the valley.</p> + +<p>There was plenty to be done, in drying our clothes and preparing +breakfast under difficulties. In the midst of this bustle a Wallack came +in to tell us that the bear had really got into the camp in the night, +and that he had killed and partly eaten one of the horses. This +confirmed the fact that the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> bear had been sighted by one of our party +the day before; though we missed him, he had had his supper, and we were +minus a horse.</p> + +<p>I followed the Wallack a few steps up the hill, and there, not far off, +on a knoll to the left, lay the carcass of the horse. It was a strange +sight! Crowds of eagles, vultures, and carrion-crows were already +feasting on the remains. Every moment almost, fresh birds came swooping +down to their savage breakfast. Bears do not always eat flesh; but it +seems when once tasted, they have a liking for it, and cease to be +vegetarians. A simple-minded bear delights in maize, honey, wild apples +and raspberries.</p> + +<p>Our guns required a good deal of cleaning before we were ready to start +for the second day's sport.</p> + +<p>The result of the battues were not satisfactory. A fine buck was shot, +and two or three chamois were bagged. We sighted no less than three +bears, but they all broke through the line, and got off into the lower +valleys. The provoking thing was that the bear or bears came again to +our camp the second night; but they were able to do no mischief this +time. The horses were kept better together, and the dogs scared the +intruders from close quarters I imagine. Fires certainly do not frighten +the bear in districts where they get accustomed to the shepherds' +fires.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span></p> + +<p>The third day of our shooting the weather was good, but we had no sport +at all. I believe we should have done better with a different set of +beaters, and this opinion was shared by several of our party. The +<i>Förstmeister</i> had made a mistake in choosing men from the villages in +the plain, instead of getting some of the hill shepherds, who know the +mountains thoroughly well, and are not afraid of a bear when they see +one. Some of our beaters were funky, I believe, and gave the bear a wide +berth I feel sure, otherwise we must have had better sport.</p> + +<p>During the evening of the third day F—— got a bad attack of fever, the +intermittent fever common in all the Danubian Provinces. After supper +the rain came on again, not violently, but enough to make everything +very damp. I felt that under the circumstances the hut was a very bad +place for him, so I cast about to see what I could do. As good-luck +would have it, not very far off I discovered a horizontal fissure in the +cliff, a sort of wide slit caused by one rock overhanging another ledge. +It was fortunately sheltered from the wind, and promised to suit my +purpose very well.</p> + +<p>I collected a pile of sticks and firewood, thrust them blazing into the +cavity, and fed the fire till the rocks were fit to crack with the heat. +I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> remembered having seen cottagers heat their ovens in this way in +Somersetshire. I now raked out the fire and all the mortuary remains of +insects, and then laid down a plaid thrice doubled for softness. Having +done this, I seized upon my friend, weak and prostrate as he was, and +shoved him into his oven like a batch of bread. I had previously given +him a big dose of quinine (without which medicine I never travel in +these parts), and now I set to work rubbing him, for he was really very +bad indeed. In ten minutes or so F——became warm as a toast. The +terrible shivering was stopped, so my plan of baking was succeeding +capitally. It is true he complained a little of one shoulder being +rather overdone, but that was nothing. The vigorous rubbing was of great +service also. I remembered the saying, "Whatever is worth doing at all +is worth doing well," so I rubbed my patient with a will. He objected +rather, but he was too weak to make any resistance, so I rubbed on. I +knew it would do him good in the end; so it did—I cured him. I think, +however, the cure was mainly due to the baking!</p> + +<p>After I had satisfied myself that my friend was going on well, I +arranged our waterproofs in front of the opening like curtains; and then +I turned in myself, for there was room for me too in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> oven. The rain +descended pretty heavily in the night, but we slept well; and my patient +presented a most creditable appearance in the morning.</p> + +<p>On the fourth day some of our party bagged a few chamois, but the +incidents of the day were in no way remarkable. At night F—— and I +returned to our cave. The others had dubbed it the "Hôtel d'Angleterre." +Considering the capability we had of warming-up, our quarters were not +half bad.</p> + +<p>The succeeding morning it was settled that we should strike our camp and +move on to a fresh place. The beaters were sent back, for they were not +a bit of good. Some of the party also left, amongst them my German +friend. I do not think he will ever join a bear-hunt again, and his +departure did not surprise us. After leaving our late quarters we rode +for some hours along a singular ridge, so narrow at places as to leave +little more than the width of the sheep-track on the actual summit. This +ridge, more or less precipitous, rises above the zone of forest, and is +covered with short thick grass. We passed, I should think, thirty flocks +of sheep at different times, attended by the wild-looking Wallacks and +their fierce dogs.</p> + +<p>We made a halt in the middle of the day, but the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> rain was coming down, +and we were glad to be soon off again.</p> + +<p>In the afternoon we got over into the Roumanian side of the frontier. +The lofty limestone ridge of which I have spoken is in fact the +boundary-line at this part. We were at an elevation of about 6000 feet, +judging from the heights above us, when suddenly, or almost suddenly, +the clouds were lifted which hitherto had enveloped us. It was like +drawing up the curtain of a theatre. I never remember to have seen +anything so striking as this sudden revealing of the fair world at our +feet, bathed in glowing sunlight. We beheld the plains of Roumania far +away stretched as a map beneath us; there, though one cannot discern it, +the swift Aluta joins the Danube opposite Nicopolis; and there, within +range of the glass, are the white mosques of Widdin in Bulgaria. We +looked right down into Little Wallachia, where woods, rocks, and streams +are tumbled about pellmell in a picturesque but unsettled sort of way. +The very locality we were traversing is the part where the +salt-smugglers used to carry on their trade, and many a sharp encounter +has been fought here between them and the soldiers. This is now a thing +of the past, since Roumania has also introduced a salt monopoly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p> + +<p>We were treated to this glorious view for little more than half an hour; +the clouds then enveloped us again, and blotted out that fair world, +with all its brightness, as if it were not. A strong wind blew up from +the north, bringing with it a storm of rain and sleet which chilled us +to the bones. The horses went slower and slower. Including the noonday +halt, we had been ten hours in the saddle, and men and horses had had +pretty well enough. I never recollect a colder ride.</p> + +<p>We encamped that night in the forest. I looked out for another rock +oven, and found one not otherwise unsuitable for shelter; but +unfortunately this time the opening was to the windward side, so it was +useless for our purpose. It was a good thing F—— did not have a return +of his fever here, for we had to pass the night very indifferently.</p> + +<p>The next morning the weather continued so persistently bad in the +mountains that we voted the "hunt" at an end, and made the best of our +way towards Mehadia, from which place we were in fact not so very +distant. The descent was very rapid; at first through a thick forest, +then into the open valley, where the heat became intense. The change of +temperature was very striking.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + +<h4>Back at Mehadia—Troubles about a carriage—An unexpected night on +the road—Return to Karansebes—On horseback through the Iron Gate +Pass—Varhely, the ancient capital of Dacia—Roman remains—Beauty +of the Hatszeg Valley.</h4> + + +<p>After a week of such weather as we had had in the mountains, a +water-tight roof over one's head was in itself a luxury; so we were not +inclined to quarrel with our quarters at the hotel at Mehadia, had they +been even less good than they were.</p> + +<p>F—— and I wished the next day to get back to Karansebes; he had left +his carriage, and I my Servian horse. A Hungarian gentleman, one of the +late expedition, said he would arrange to have a <i>vorspann</i>, if we would +join him, as he also wanted to go there. This well-understood plan +insures to the traveller relays of horses, and we were only too glad to +acquiesce in the prospect of making the journey pleasantly and quickly.</p> + +<p>The driver who was to take us the first stage came in and asked for a +florin to get some oats for his horses. Very foolishly I gave him the +money,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> nothing doubting; and off he went to spend it on <i>slivovitz</i>, +the result being that he was soon drunk and incapable. If we had +realised the fact at once it might have been better, but we waited and +waited, not knowing for a long time what had happened. This upset all +our <i>vorspann</i> arrangements, and to our great disgust the best part of +the day was wasted in seeking another vehicle and horses to take us to +Karansebes. At last we succeeded in obtaining a lumbering sort of +covered conveyance, whose speed we doubted from the first; but the +owner, who was to drive us, declared he would get us to our journey's +end in an incredibly short space of time.</p> + +<p>We took care to give no <i>pourboire</i> in advance; but what with the +inevitable dilatoriness of the people down in these parts, it was after +seven o'clock before we left the Hercules-Bad, and we had fifty miles to +drive.</p> + +<p>Not even the ten hours of undisturbed consecutive repose in the downy +bed at the Mehadia hotel had made up the deficiency of sleep during the +foregoing week, and drowsiness overcame us. I think we must have had a +couple of hours of monotonous jog-trot on the fairly level road when I +fell asleep, and I suppose my companions did the same.</p> + +<p>I must have slept long and profoundly, for when I woke, pulling myself +together with some difficulty,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> having slept in the form of a doubled-up +zigzag, I found it was daylight. I was surprised that we were not +moving; I rubbed my eyes, and looked out at the back of the cart, and +there I saw a round tower on a slight eminence, encircled by a belt of +fir-wood, the very counterpart of a pretty bit of scenery I had noticed +in the twilight. I looked again, and sure enough it was just the tower +itself and no other, and the very same belt of wood. The explanation was +not far to seek. I was the first to wake up in our "fast coach." Every +mortal soul—and there were five of us, besides the four horses—had, it +seems, gone to sleep much about the same time that I did. The magic +sleep of eld must have fallen upon us. The simple fact was, we had +passed the night in the middle of the highroad. Was there ever anything +so ridiculous?</p> + +<p>We were about seven miles from Mehadia; I knew the country perfectly +well. Of course we made a confounded row with the idiot of a driver, who +certainly had been hired—not to go to sleep. I have known these +Wallacks drive for miles in a state of somnolency, the horses generally +keeping in the "safe middle course" of their own accord. As there were +some awkward turns not far ahead of us, it was perhaps just as well that +the horses stopped on this occasion.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span></p> + +<p>Well, we jogged on all that day, reaching Karansebes between one and two +o'clock. We had been some eighteen hours on the road!</p> + +<p>Here F—— and I parted, my friend returning to Uibanya, while I pursued +my way to Transylvania.</p> + +<p>I slept the night at Karansebes, rising very early; indeed I started +soon after four o'clock. I was again on my little Servian horse, who was +quite fresh after his long rest, and I saw no reason why I should not +reach Hatszeg the same evening, as the distance is not more than +forty-five miles. About two miles from Karansebes I passed a hill +crowned with a picturesque ruin, locally called Ovid's Tower. Tradition +fondly believes that Ovid spent the last years of his banishment, not on +the shores of the stormy Euxine, but in the tranquillity of these lovely +valleys. Certain it is that the name and fame of many of the great +Romans are still known to the Wallacks; and the story is told by Mr +Boner, that they have a catechism which teaches the children to say that +they have Ovid and Virgil for their ancestors, and that they are +descended from demigods!</p> + +<p>On my way I passed the villages of Ohaba, Marga, and Bukova. On arriving +at Varhely, or Gradischtie, as it is called in Wallack language, I found +that it was worth while to stay the night, for the sake of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> having the +afternoon to examine the Roman remains scattered about the +neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>The Wallack villages I had passed through were very miserable-looking +places: they are generally in the south of Transylvania. The houses are +mostly mere wattled wigwams, without chimneys; a patch of garden, rudely +hurdled in, with the addition of a high stockaded enclosure for cattle. +Some of the women are extremely pretty, and, as I have said before, the +costume can be very picturesque; but they are often seen extremely +dirty, in which case the filthy fringe garment gives them the appearance +of savages.</p> + +<p>Varhely is conspicuous for its dirt even among Wallachian villages, yet +once it was a royal town. It is built on the site of the famous +Sarmisegethusa, the capital of ancient Dacia. In Trajan's second +expedition against Decebalus, King of the Dacians, he came from Orsova +on the Danube by the same route that forms the highroad of this day—the +same I had traversed in my way hither. It is curious to reflect how +nation succeeding nation tread in each other's footsteps, through the +self-same valley, beneath the shadow of the old hills. Here they have +trudged, old Dacian gold-seekers, returning from the daily labours of +washing the auriferous sands of the mountain streams; here, too, have +tramped victorious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span> Roman soldiers—Avars, Tartars, Turks, and other +intruders. A long and motley cavalcade has history marshalled along this +route for two thousand years and more!</p> + +<p>The old Dacians were strong enough we know to exact a yearly tribute +from Domitian: it was for this insult that Trajan marched upon Dacia, +defeating Decebalus at Klausenburg, in the heart of Transylvania, which +was at the time their greatest strong-hold. It was after this that the +Dacian king retreated upon Sarmisegethusa, and there Trajan came down +upon them through the Iron Gate Pass. Unable to defend themselves, the +Dacians set fire to their royal city and fled to the mountains. On these +ruins the Romans, ever ready to appropriate a good site, erected the +city of Ulpia Trajana, connecting it by good roads with the existing +Roman colonies at Karlsburg and Klausenburg.</p> + +<p>Unless the traveller had brought historic facts with him to Gradischtie, +he would hardly be induced to search for tesselated pavements and relics +of royalty amongst the piggeries of this dirty Wallack village. It is a +literal fact that a very fine specimen of Roman pavement exists here in +an unsavoury outhouse, not unknown to pigs and their congeners.</p> + +<p>This Hatszeg Valley, in the county of Hunyad, has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span> long been celebrated +for the richness of its Dacian and Roman antiquities. These treasures +have unfortunately been dispersed about amongst various general +collections of antiquity, instead of being well kept together as +illustrative of local facts and history. The archæologist must seek for +these remains specially in the Ambras collection of the Archæological +Museum at Vienna, the National Museum at Buda Pest, in the Bruckenthal +Museum at Herrmannstadt, also in the Klausenburg Museum. Dr H. Finály, +Professor of Archæology at the University of Klausenburg, is the great +living authority on this interesting subject. To him I am indebted for +some information, conveyed in a letter to a private friend.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> The +professor alludes to the fact of the treasures being all carried away, +adding that on the spot very little is to be found except the remains of +Roman encampments (<i>castra stativa</i>), Roman military roads, together +with the foundations of buildings, the materials of which however are +usually carried away by the peasants. Nor are the records of former +interesting discoveries to be found in one volume, but are dispersed +about in the various publications of learned societies, such as the +'Archælogiæi Közlemények' of the Hungarian Academy, the 'Year-Book of +the Transylvanian Museum,' and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> 'Verhandlungen und Mittheilungen' of the +Verein fur Siebenbürgische Landeskunde of Herrmannstadt.</p> + +<p>That the materials of the old Roman buildings are now used for baser +purposes, one has abundant proof; even in my hurried inspection I saw +many a sculptured stone and fragment of fluted column doing duty as the +support of a wretched Wallack shanty. Another evidence of the Roman +occupation of the country occurs in the case of certain plants now found +growing wild, which are exotic to the soil. This, I am told, occurs in a +marked manner at Thorda, which was known to be a Roman colony. The +plants, it may be presumed, were brought thither by the Roman +legionaries. The most picturesque bit of Roman antiquity is the Temple +at Demsus, within a short drive of Varhely. It is on a small eminence +overlooking a cluster of Wallack dwellings, and has long been used as a +church by these people.</p> + +<p>The Hatszeg Valley, which comprehends the district I am now describing, +is the pride of Transylvania, not less for its fertility than for its +beauty. It has the appearance of having been filled in former geological +ages by the waters of a widespread lake.</p> + +<p>It was a lovely afternoon, but very hot, when I rode into the little +town of Hatszeg. Everywhere is to be seen evidence of the careful +cultivation of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> maize and other crops. Numerous villages dot the +plain and cluster amidst the thickly-wooded hillsides. And now we come +upon the railway system again, which has stretched out its feelers into +the wilds of the Southern Carpathians. The railroad enters Transylvania +by two routes. The main line is from Buda-Pest to Grosswardein, and so +on by Klausenburg—the Magyar capital—to the present terminus of +Kronstadt, one of the chief towns of the Saxon immigrants. This includes +a branch to Maros Vásárhely. It is proposed to carry this line over a +pass in the Carpathians to Bucharest. The second line of railway +entering Transylvania starts from Arad, and terminates at Herrmannstadt, +the Saxon capital, having a branch to the mineral district of Petrosèny.</p> + +<p>It will be seen from the above that this "odd corner of Europe," as +Transylvania has been called, is fairly well off for iron roads; and +considering how short a time some portions of them have been opened, +they have already borne good fruit in developing the resources of the +country.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + +<h4>Hungarian hospitality—Wallack laziness—Fishing—"Settled +gipsies"—Anecdote—Old <i>régime</i>—Fire—Old Roman bath—The +avifauna of Transylvania—Fly-fishing.</h4> + + +<p>I had brought with me from London a letter of introduction to a +Hungarian gentleman residing near Hatszeg, and finding his place was not +far off, I rode over to see him the evening of my arrival.</p> + +<p>I had merely intended to make a call, but Herr von B——, with true +Hungarian hospitality, insisted that I should stay at his house as long +as I remained in the neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>"What! allow a stranger to remain at the inn?—impossible!" he said with +resolute kindness.</p> + +<p>It was in vain that I made any attempt to plead that I felt it was +trespassing too much on his hospitality. His answer was very decided. He +put the key of the stable which held my horse in his pocket, and turning +to one of his people he gave orders that my things should be brought +hither from the Hatszeg inn.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span></p> + +<p>I was soon quite at home with my new friends, a young married couple, +whose <i>ménage</i>, though very simple, was thoroughly refined and +agreeable. As it was my first visit to a Hungarian house, I found many +things to interest me. Several of the dishes at table were novelties, +the variety consisting more in the cooking than in the materials; for +instance, we had maize dressed in a dozen different ways. It was +generally eaten as a sort of pudding at breakfast, at which meal there +was also an unfailing dish of water-melons. Of course we had <i>paprika +handl</i> (chicken with red pepper), and <i>gulyas</i>, a sort of improved Irish +stew; and gipsy's meat, also very good, besides excellent soups and many +nameless delicacies in the way of sweets.</p> + +<p>All Hungarian men are great smokers, but as a rule the ladies do not +smoke; there are some exceptions, but it is considered "fast" to do so.</p> + +<p>The peasants in the Hatszeg Valley are all Wallacks, and as lazy a set +as can well be imagined; in fact, judging by their homes, they are in a +lower condition than those of the Banat. So much is laziness the normal +state with these people that I think they must regard hard work as a +sort of recreation. Their wants are so limited that there is no +inducement to work for gain. What have they to work for beyond the +necessary quantity of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> maize, <i>slivovitz</i>, and tobacco? Their women make +nearly all the clothes. Wages of course are high—that is the trouble +throughout the country. If the Wallack could be raised out of the moral +swamp of his present existence he might do something, but he must first +feel the need of what civilisation has to offer him.</p> + +<p>The village of Rea, where I was staying, is about the wildest-looking +place one can well imagine in Europe. The habitations of the peasants +are made of reed and straw; the hay-ricks are mere slovenly heaps, +partially thatched; the fences are made up of odds and ends. As for +order, the whole place might have been strewn with the <i>débris</i> of a +whirlwind and not have looked worse. As a natural consequence of all +this slatternly disorder, fire is no uncommon occurrence; and when a +fire begins, it seldom stops till it has licked the whole place clean—a +condition not attainable by any other process.</p> + +<p>Fishing was a very favourite amusement with us, and Herr von B—— +several times organised some pleasant excursions with that object. One +day we went up the Lepusnik, a magnificent trout-stream.</p> + +<p>We drove across the valley, and then followed a narrow gorge near the +village of Klopotiva. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> scenery was enchanting, but our fishing was +only moderately successful; for the trout were very much larger than in +the valley nearer home, and they bothered us sadly by carrying away our +lines.</p> + +<p>Some way up the valley we came upon a little colony of gipsies, who were +settled there. Their dwellings were more primitive than the Wallacks +even. The huts are formed of plaited sticks, with mud plastered into the +interstices; this earth in time becomes overgrown with grass, and as the +erection is only some seven feet high, it has very much the appearance +of an exaggerated mound or anthill, and would never suggest a human +habitation.</p> + +<p>A fire was burning in the open, with a tripod to support the iron +pot—just as we see in England in a gipsy's camp; and the people had a +remarkable resemblance in complexion and feature, only that here they +were far less civilised than with us.</p> + +<p>I entered one of the huts, in which by the way I could scarcely stand +upright, and found there a man employed in making a variety of simple +wooden articles for household use. The gipsies are remarkably clever +with their hands; many of these wooden utensils are fashioned very +dexterously, and even display some taste. The gipsy, moreover, is always +the best blacksmith in all the country round; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> as for their music, I +have before spoken of the strange power these people possess of stirring +the hearts of their hearers with their pathetic strains. It has often +seemed to me that this marvellous gift of music is, as it were, a +language brought with them in their exile from another and a higher +state of existence.</p> + +<p>That these poor outcasts are capable of noble self-sacrifice, the story +I am about to relate will testify. Not far from this very gipsy +settlement, in a wild romantic glen, is a steep overhanging rock, which +is known throughout the country as the "Gipsy's Rock," and came to be so +called from the following tragical occurrence. It seems that many years +ago—about the middle of the last century, I believe—there was a famine +in the land, and the poor gipsies, poorer than all the rest, were +reduced to great straits. Some of them came to the neighbouring village +and begged hard for food. The selfish people turned them away, or at +least tried to do so; but one poor fellow would not cease his +importunities, and said that his children were literally starving. +"Then," said one of the villagers in a mocking tone, "I will give your +family a side of bacon if you will jump that rock."</p> + +<p>"You hear his promise?" cried the gipsy, appealing to the idle crowd. He +said not another<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> word, but rushing from their midst, clambered up the +rock, and in another instant took the fatal leap!</p> + +<p>I see no reason to discredit the story, generally believed as it is in +the district; and, happily for the honour of human nature, it has many a +parallel, in another way perhaps, but equal in self-sacrifice and +devotion.</p> + +<p>The gipsies in Hungary are supposed to number at least 150,000. The +Czigany, as they are called, made their appearance early in the +fifteenth century, having fled, it is believed, from the cruelty of the +Mongol rulers. They were allowed by King Sigismund to settle in Hungary, +and were called in law the "new peasants." Before the reforms of 1848 +they were in a state of absolute serfdom, and could not legally take +service away from the place where they were born. The case of the gipsy +was the only instance in Hungary, even in the Hungary of the old +<i>régime</i>, of absolute serfdom; for oppressive as were the obligations of +the land-holding peasant to his lord, yet the relation between them was +never that of master and slave. As a matter of fact, if the Hungarian +peasant gave up his <i>session</i>—that is to say, the land he occupied in +hereditary use—he was free to go wheresoever he pleased,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span> and was not +forced to serve any master. In practice the serf would not readily +relinquish the means of subsistence for himself and family, and +generally preferred the burden, odious though it was, of the <i>robot</i>, or +forced labour. This personal liberty, which the Hungarian peasant in the +worst of times has preserved, is deep-rooted in the growth of the +nation, and accounts for their characteristic love of freedom in the +present day. It was this that made the freedom-loving peasant detest the +military conscription imposed by the Austrians in 1849, an innovation +the more obnoxious because enforced with every species of official +brutality.</p> + +<p>The poor Czigany had not been so fortunate as to preserve even the +Hungarian serf's modicum of liberty. Mr Paget mentions that forty years +ago he saw gipsies exposed for sale in the neighbouring province of +Wallachia.</p> + +<p>There are a great many "settled gipsies" in Transylvania. Of course they +are legally free, but they attach themselves peculiarly to the Magyars, +from a profound respect they have for everything that is aristocratic; +and in Transylvania the name Magyar holds almost as a distinctive term +for class as well as race. The gipsies do not assimilate with the +thrifty Saxon, but prefer to be hangers-on at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> the castle of the +Hungarian noble: they call themselves by his name, and profess to hold +the same faith, be it Catholic or Protestant. Notwithstanding that, the +gipsy has an incurable habit of pilfering here as elsewhere; yet they +can be trusted as messengers and carriers—indeed I do not know what +people would do without them, for they are as good as a general +"parcels-delivery company" any day; and certainly they are ubiquitous, +for never is a door left unlocked but a gipsy will steal in, to your +cost.</p> + +<p>The gipsy is sometimes accused of having a hand in incendiary fires; but +I believe the general testimony is in his favour, and against the +Wallack, whose love of revenge is the ugliest feature in his character. +These people seem to forget the saying that "curses, like chickens, come +home to roost," for they will set fire to places under circumstances +that not unfrequently involve themselves in ruin.</p> + +<p>We were calmly sitting one day at dinner when we heard a great row all +at once; looking out of the window, we saw dense clouds of smoke and +flame not a hundred yards from the house. We rushed out immediately to +render assistance, but without water or engines of any kind it was +difficult to do much. However, Herr von B—— and myself got on the top +of the outhouse that was in flames,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> and stripped off the wooden tiles, +removing out of the way everything that was likely to feed the fire. +There stood close by a crowd of Wallacks, utterly panic-stricken it +seemed: they did nothing but scream and howl as if possessed. The +building belonged to one of them, but he only screamed louder than the +rest, and was not a bit of use, though he was repeatedly called on to +help. If the wind had set the other way, it would have been just a +chance if the whole village had not been burned down. In this instance +the fire was caused by mere carelessness.</p> + +<p>The number of excursions to be made in the Hatszeg Valley is endless. On +one occasion I took my horse and rode off alone to inspect mines and +mining works in the mountains. While looking over the ironworks at +Kalan, I was told of the existence of some Roman remains in the +neighbourhood, so taking a boy from the works with me to act as guide, I +set off, walking, to examine the spot. He led me into the middle of a +field, not far off the main road; and here I found the remains of a +Roman bath of a very interesting character.</p> + +<p>It was singularly constructed. I must observe first that there was a +protruding mass of rock rising about fifteen feet above the surrounding +ground, and of considerable circumference. In the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> middle of this there +was a circular excavation ten feet in diameter and ten feet deep. At the +bottom I discovered a spring of tepid mineral water, which flowed away +through a small section cut perpendicularly out of the wall of the great +bath; judging from other incisions in the stone, a wooden slide may have +been used to bay back the water. On the face of the rock I noticed a +Roman inscription, but too much mutilated for me to make anything of it. +An attempt had been evidently made to utilise this mineral water, for in +the field were some primitive wooden bathing-houses, and not far off +there was actually a little inn, but I fear the public had not +encouraged the revival of the Roman bath.</p> + +<p>In poking about after game or minerals, one frequently comes upon +evidence of the former occupation of the country. Speaking of game, the +partridges are not preserved, and they are scarce; of course I was too +early, but in autumn the woodcock-shooting, I understand, is first-rate. +Quails and snipes are also common in the Hatszeg Valley.</p> + +<p>Herr von Adam Buda, or, as one should say in Hungarian, Buda Adam (for +the Christian name always comes last), has devoted much time to the +avifauna of Transylvania. He has a fine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span> collection of stuffed birds at +his residence at Rea, near Hatszeg. These are birds which he has himself +shot, and he is quite the local authority upon the subject.</p> + +<p>I have alluded to the trout-fishing in the district. I went out +frequently, and had generally very fair sport indeed. Mr Danford, in his +paper in 'The Ibis,'<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> in speaking of fishing, says: "Perhaps the best +stream in the country is the Sebes, which joins the Strell near Hatszeg. +The trout are not bad, one to two lbs. in weight; and the +grayling-fishing is really good—almost any number may be taken in +autumn, when weather and water are in good order. The Sil also, near +Petrosèny, is a fine-looking river, and used to be celebrated for its +so-called 'salmon-trout;' but these had quite disappeared when we saw +it, having been blown up with dynamite, a method of fishing very +commonly practised in the country, but now forbidden by law. Indeed +fly-fishing is gaining ground, and English tackle in great demand."</p> + +<p>This practice of the wholesale destruction of fish by the use of +dynamite has not been stopped a moment too soon; and some time must now +elapse in certain waters before they can become properly stocked again.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p> + +<p>It was now time for me to quit the happy valley, and I bade adieu to my +kind friends near Hatszeg. I believe if I had remained to this day, I +should not have outstayed my welcome. I had come to pay a morning visit, +and I stopped on more than a fortnight.</p> + +<p>The Hungarian has a particularly pleasant way of greeting a stranger +under his own roof. He gives you the idea that he has been expecting +you, though in reality your existence and name were unknown to him till +he read the letter or the visiting-card with which you have just +presented him.</p> + +<p>I now sent my portmanteau, &c., on to Herrmannstadt, packed my +saddle-bags to take with me, and once more rode off into the wilds. My +destination this time was Petrosèny.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + +<h4>On horseback to Petrosèny—A new town—Valuable +coal-fields—Killing fish with dynamite and poison—Singular manner +of repairing roads—Hungarian patriotism—Story of Hunyadi +Janos—Intrusion of the Moslems into Europe.</h4> + + +<p>The history of the town of Petrosèny is as short as that of some of the +western cities of America. It began life in 1868, and is now the +terminus of a branch railway.</p> + +<p>Before the wicked days of dynamite, and as long ago as the year 1834, a +fisherman was leisurely catching salmon-trout up the Sil; he had time to +look about him, and he noticed that in many places the rocks had a black +appearance. He broke off some pieces and carried them home, when he +found that they burned like coal; in fact he had discovered a coal mine! +Those were simple-minded days, for instead of running off with these +valuable cinders under his arm, fixing on an influential chairman and a +board of directors for his new company, this good man did nothing but +talk occasionally of the black rock that he had seen when fishing.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> Many +years elapsed before any advantage was taken of this valuable discovery. +At length a more careful search was made, and it proved that coal +existed there in abundance! In 1867 mining was commenced on a large +scale by the Kronstäder Company. The next year a town was already +growing up in the neighbourhood of the mines, and increased in a most +surprising manner. In 1870 the railway was opened from Petrosèny to +Piski, on the main line from Arad. The growth of the place, however, +received a check in the financial crisis of 1873.</p> + +<p>The town itself is in no way remarkable, being a mere collection of +dwellings for the accommodation of the miners and the employés; but the +scenery in the neighbourhood is simply magnificent. In approaching +Petrosèny the railway rises one foot in forty, no inconsiderable +gradient.</p> + +<p>The coal-fields are partly in the hands of Government, and partly owned +by the before-named Kronstäder Company. Between these separate interests +there is not much accord. The Kronstäders say that Government has not +behaved fairly or openly, but has secured to itself so many "claims" as +to damage considerably the prospects of the private speculators.</p> + +<p>While at Petrosèny, I heard great complaints against the Government for +selling coal at such a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span> low price that they must actually work at a +loss. The Kronstäder Verein say they are prevented in this way from +making their fair profits, as they are obliged to sell down to the +others. It would appear to be a suicidal policy for the pockets of the +tax-payers to be mulcted for the sake of securing a prospective monopoly +and the ruin of a private enterprise. As it stands it is a pretty +quarrel.</p> + +<p>Writing in 1862, Professor Ansted says: "The coal of Hungary is of +almost all geological ages, and though none is first-rate in point of +quality, a large proportion is excellent fuel. The coals most valued at +the present moment in Hungary are those of the <i>Secondary</i> and <i>not</i> of +the <i>Palæozoic</i> period. But the great body of coal is very much newer; +it is <i>Tertiary</i>, and till lately was regarded as of comparatively +modern date. In the Ysil Valley there is a splendid deposit of <i>true</i> +coal."<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> Since the time when the above was written the resources of +the Ysil or Sil Valley—viz., Petrosèny—have been abundantly developed, +as we see, and it has been pronounced to be "one of the finest coal +mines in Europe." One of the seams of coal is ninety feet in thickness; +but up to the present time it has been found impossible to make it into +coke.</p> + +<p>The miners at Petrosèny are great offenders in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> regard to the abominable +practice of killing fish by means of dynamite. It is very well to say +that the law forbids it; but the administrators of the law are not +always a terror to evil-doers, and perhaps the timely present of a dish +of fine trout does not sharpen the energies of the officials. Another +mode of destroying fish is practised by the Wallacks. There grows in +this locality a poisonous plant, of which they make a decoction and +throw it into the river, thereby killing great numbers of fish at a +time.</p> + +<p>While driving round Petrosèny I had an opportunity of seeing the +Hungarian manner of making roads. The peasants have to work on the roads +a certain number of days in the year, and if they possess a pair of +oxen, these must also be brought for a specified time. An inspector is +supposed to watch over them. One afternoon we came upon a score of +peasants, men and women, who were engaged in mending a bridge. Their +proceedings were just an instance of how "not to do a thing." They were +placing trees across the gap, and the interstices they were filling up +with leafy branches, over which was thrown a quantity of loose earth and +stones well patted down to give the appearance of a substantial and even +surface. Of course the first rain would wash away the earth and leave as +nice a hole as you could wish your enemy to put his foot into. For<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> all +purposes of traffic the bridge was safer with the honest gap yawning in +the traveller's face.</p> + +<p>It is said that the magistrates make matters easy and convenient for the +peasants, if the latter, by being let off public work, attend +gratuitously to the more pressing wants of the individual magistrate.</p> + +<p>"You see, nobody suffers but the Government," says the man of easy +conscience, not seeing that, after all, the good condition of the roads +concerns themselves more than the officials in the capital.</p> + +<p>In many things the Hungarians are like children, and they have not yet +grown out of the idea that it is patriotic to be unruly. The fact is, +the Central Government was so long in the hands of the Vienna Cabinet, +who were obnoxious in the highest degree to the Hungarians, that the +latter cannot get the habit of antagonism out of their minds, though the +reconciliation carried through by Deák in 1867 entirely restored +self-government to Hungary. "What do we want with money?" said a +gentleman of the old school. "Money is only useful for paying taxes, and +if we have not got it for that purpose, never mind!"</p> + +<p>On leaving Petrosèny the route I proposed to myself was to take the +bridle-path over the mountains to Herrmannstadt. But in following this +out, I omitted to visit the Castle of Hunyad—a great mistake, for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> +castles are rare in this part of Europe, and the romantic and singular +position of Schloss Hunyad renders it quite unique in a way. It is +situated, I am told, on a lofty spur of rock, washed on three sides by +two rivers which unite at its base, a draw-bridge connecting the +building with a fortified eminence high above the stream.</p> + +<p>The place is associated with the name of Hungary's greatest hero, John +Hunyadi, who was born near by, and who subsequently built the castle. +The story of his birth, which took place somewhere about 1400, is +romantic enough. His mother was said to be a beautiful Wallack girl +called Elizabeth Marsinai, who was beloved by King Sigismund. When he +left her he gave her his signet ring, which she was to bring to him in +Buda if she gave birth to a son.</p> + +<p>Showing all proper respect to the wishes of its parents, a child of the +"male persuasion" made its appearance in due course of time; and the +joyful mother, accompanied by her brother, set off walking to Buda, with +the small boy and the ring for credentials. When resting by the way in a +forest the child began playing with the ring, and a jackdaw, who in all +ancient story has a weakness for this sort of ornament, pounced upon the +shining jewel and carried it off to a tree. The brother with commendable +quickness took up his bow and shot the bird;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> thus the ring was +recovered, and the story duly related to the king, who evolved out of +the incident a prophetic omen of the boy's future greatness. His majesty +had the child brought up at the Court, and bestowed upon him the town of +Hunyad and sixty surrounding villages.</p> + +<p>It was in the reign of Sigismund that the Turks first regularly invaded +Hungary; and the young Hunyadi soon distinguished himself by a series of +victories over the Moslems. To him Europe is indebted for the check he +gave the Turks. He forced them to relinquish Servia and Bosnia, and in +his time both provinces were placed under the vassalage of Hungary. We +may go further and say that had Hunyadi's plans for hurling back the +Moslem invaders been seconded by the other Christian powers, we should +not have the Eastern Question upon our hands in this our day. But, alas! +all the solicitations of this great patriot were met with short-sighted +indifference by the Courts of Europe. It is true that the Diet of +Ratisbon, summoned by the Emperor Frederick, voted 10,000 men-at-arms +and 30,000 infantry to assist in repelling the Turks; and it is true +that the Pope in those days was anti-Turkish, and vowed on the Gospels +to use every effort, even to the shedding of his blood, to recover +Constantinople from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> infidels. The old chronicles give a curious +account of the monk Capestrano, who, bearing the cross that the Pope had +blessed, traversed Hungary, Transylvania, and Wallachia, to rouse the +people to the danger that threatened them from the intrusion of the +Moslem into Europe. Special church services were instituted; and at noon +the "Turks' bell" was daily sounded in every parish throughout these +border-lands, when prayers were offered up to arrest the progress of the +common enemy of Christendom.</p> + +<p>Hunyadi's son, Matthias Corvinus, rivalled his father as a champion +against the Turks. He was elected King of Hungary, and after reigning +forty-two years, passed away; and the people still say, "King Matthias +is dead, and justice with him."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + +<h4>Hunting for a guide—School statistics—Old times—Over the +mountains to Herrmannstadt—Night in the open—Nearly setting the +forest on fire—Orlat.</h4> + + +<p>I found some difficulty while at Petrosèny in getting a guide to convoy +me over the mountains to Orlat, near Herrmannstadt. My Hungarian friend +proposed that, choosing a saint's day, we should ride over to the +neighbouring village of Pétrilla, where I would certainly find some +peasant able and willing amongst the numbers who crowd into the village +on these occasions.</p> + +<p>Accordingly we went over, and I was very pleased I had gone, for the +rural gathering was a very pretty and characteristic sight. The people +from all the country round were collected together in the churchyard, +dressed of course in their bravery, and a very goodly show they made. +They were the finest Wallacks I had seen anywhere; they were superior +looking in physique, and many of them must really have been well off, if +one may judge a man's wealth by the richness of the wife's dress.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p> + +<p>Some of the young girls were very pretty, and wore their silver-coin +decorations with quite a fashionable coquettish air. The Wallack women, +whether walking or standing, never have the spindle out of their hands: +the attitude is very graceful, added to which the thread must be held +daintily in the fingers. They are very industrious, making nearly all +the articles of clothing for the family.</p> + +<p>After a great deal of palavering—I think we must have spoken to every +able-bodied man in the churchyard—I at last induced a young Wallachian +to say he would accompany me. He spoke a little German, which was a +great advantage. I told him to procure himself a good horse, and to take +care that all his arrangements were completed before night, as I wished +to start very early the following morning.</p> + +<p>To this he replied that it would be quite necessary to start early, and +begged to know if five o'clock would be too soon; adding that as I must +pass through Pétrilla, would I meet him at the corner of the churchyard?</p> + +<p>To this I agreed, repeating that we were to meet not a moment later than +five o'clock. My friend and I returned to Petrosèny, and the afternoon +was occupied in making preparations for two days on the mountains. I +supplied myself with a good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> amount of <i>slivovitz</i>, as a medium of +exchange for milk and cheese with the shepherds, who understand this +kind of barter much better than any money transactions.</p> + +<p>The next day, when it came, brought a continuance of good weather, and I +was up betimes, looking forward with pleasure to the mountain ride. I +reached Pétrilla a few minutes after five o'clock; but my man was not at +the churchyard corner, whereupon I rode all round the churchyard, +thinking he might by mistake have pitched on some odd corner, and be out +of sight under the trees. However, I looked in vain—a man on horseback +is not hidden like a lizard between two stones! Verily he was not there.</p> + +<p>I waited half an hour all to no purpose. I now resolved to try and find +out where he lived. I had understood that he belonged to the village. +After a great deal of trouble and bother, and poking of my nose into +various interiors where the families were still <i>en déshabillé</i>, I +unearthed my guide. He coolly said that he was waiting for the horse, +which was to be brought to him by some other lazy fellow not yet up.</p> + +<p>I could not speak Wallachian, and he pretended not to understand a word +of my wrathful tirade in German, which was all nonsense, because I +found<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> later that he spoke that language fairly well. I insisted that he +should come with me to find the horse, and so he did at last, in a +dilatory sort of way, and then it turned out that the animal was waiting +at the other end of the village for his rider.</p> + +<p>Well, thought I, we shall start now; but no, there were two to that +bargain. The Wallack calmly informed me that he must return to his hut, +for he had not breakfasted. Not to lose sight of him, I returned too. He +then with Oriental deliberation set about making a fire, and proceeded +to cook his <i>polenta</i> of maize. I had got hungry again by this time, +though I had breakfasted at Petrosèny before starting, so I partook of +some of his mess, which was exceedingly good, much better than oatmeal +porridge.</p> + +<p>In consequence of all these delays it was after eight o'clock before we +really started. The horse which my guide had procured for himself was a +wretched animal—a tantalising object for vultures and +carrion-crows—instead of being a good strong horse, as I had stipulated +he should be; but there was no help for it now, so on we went.</p> + +<p>My companion soon gave me to understand in good German that he was a +superior sort of fellow. He had been to school at Hatszeg, and knew a +thing or two. I have heard it stated that the Wallacks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> are so quick +that they make great and rapid progress at first, distancing the German +children; but that they seem to stop after a while, and even fall back +into ignorance and their old slovenly ways of life.</p> + +<p>On referring to the statistics of Messrs Keleti and Beöthy, I see that +only eleven per cent of Roumains (Wallacks) attend the primary schools, +and this percentage had not increased between the years 1867 and 1874. +The percentage of the Magyars attending the primary schools is +forty-nine per cent, while the Slavs, again, are twenty-one.</p> + +<p>"The world is only saved by the breath of the school-children," says the +Talmud. A conviction of this truth makes every inquiry into educational +progress extremely interesting. According to M. Keleti's tables, +fifty-three per cent of the males and sixty-two per cent of the females +in Hungary generally are still illiterates. This excludes from the +calculation children under six years of age. On comparing notes, other +countries do not come out so very much better. It is calculated that 30 +per cent of French conscripts are unable to read; moreover, in <i>our</i> +"returns" of marriages in England in 1845, a percentage of forty-one +signed the register with <i>marks</i>. In 1874 the number of illiterates was +reduced to twenty-one per cent.</p> + +<p>I elicited a good many interesting facts from my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> Wallack guide, several +that were confirmatory of the terrible ignorance existing amongst the +priesthood of the Greek Church. The popes do not commend themselves to +the good opinion of the male part of the community, whatever hold they +may have on the superstition of the women. I cannot see myself how +things are to be mended till the position and education of the +priesthood are improved. It is said that, in the old days before '48, +when the peasants had to render forced labour to the lord of the land, +the Transylvanian nobles would have the village pope up to the castle, +and keep him there for a fortnight in a state of intoxication, thus +preventing his giving out the saints' days at the altar on Sunday. This +was done that their own harvest-work should proceed without the +inconvenience of suspending operations at a critical time on <i>fête</i> +days, the people themselves being too ignorant to consult the calendar!</p> + +<p>The Magyar nobles are improved, and do not play these pranks now; but +very little progress, I imagine, has been made on the side of the +priests. Chatting with my Wallack guide helped to beguile the tedious +nature of the ride, an ascent over roughish ground all the way. Arriving +at the summit, we made a noonday halt.</p> + +<p>A fire was soon burning, whereat our dinner of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> robber-steak was +roasted; but the halt was shorter than usual, for I was anxious to push +on, remembering how much time had been lost at starting.</p> + +<p>We now gained the other side of the mountain-chain, passing the remains +of an old Turkish camp, the outlines of which were quite visible. From +this point there is a magnificent view, interminable forests to the +eastward clothing the deep ravines that score the hillsides. The +accidents of light and shade were particularly happy on this occasion, +bringing out various details in the picture in a very striking manner. +As a general rule, there is no time so unpropitious for scenic effect as +noonday.</p> + +<p>We passed from the grassy Alpen down into the thick of the forest, +losing very soon any glimpse of the distant view, or any help from +conspicuous landmarks. It was a labyrinth of trees, with tracks crossing +each other in a most perplexing manner. I could not have got on without +a guide.</p> + +<p>When the evening approached I thought it was time to look out for +quarters for the night. Our first necessity was water, but we went on +and on without coming upon a stream. It was provoking, for we had passed +so many springs and rivulets earlier in the day, and now darkness +threatened to wrap us round with the mantle of night before we had +arranged our bivouac. When the sun sets in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> the East, it is like turning +off the gas; you are left in darkness suddenly, without any intervening +twilight. As a fact one knows this perfectly well; but habit is stronger +than reason, and day after day I went on being perplexed, and often +unready for the "early-closing" system.</p> + +<p>"Water we must have," said I to the Wallack. "Let us strike off from the +direct route and follow the lead of this valley, we shall find water in +the bottom for a certainty."</p> + +<p>We hurried forward, leading our horses through the thick undercover, +always diving deeper into the ravine. At length I discovered a trickling +amongst the stones, and a little farther on we came upon a grassy spot +beneath some enormous pine-trees. It was an ideal place for a bivouac!</p> + +<p>When the horses had been carefully picketed, we proceeded to make a fire +and cook our supper, which consisted of gipsy-meat and tea.</p> + +<p>The meal finished to my perfect satisfaction, (how good everything +tastes under such circumstances!) I then stretched myself on a sloping +bank overspread by a thick covering of dry <i>needle-wood</i>, as the Germans +call the leaves of the fir-tree. How soft and clean it felt, and how +sweet the aromatic perfume that pervaded the whole place! Lighting my +pipe, I gave myself up to the perfect enjoyment<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> of repose amidst this +romantic scene. The Wallack, covered by his fur <i>bunda</i>, was already +asleep, and save the bubbling of the water in the little stream, and the +crackling of the fire, there was absolutely not a sound or a breath. +Through the tasselled pine branches, festooned with streamers of grey +moss, I could see the stars shining in the blue depths of ether. One can +realise in these regions the intense <i>depth</i> of the heavens when seen at +night; we never get the same effect in our "weeping skies."</p> + +<p>Before wrapping my plaid round me for the night, I threw some fresh wood +on the fire, which, crushing down upon the hot embers, sent up a +scintillating shower of sparks that ran a mad race in and out of the +greenery. I saw that the horses were all right, I put my gun handy, and +then I gave myself up to sleep.</p> + +<p>I do not know how long I had slept, but I was conscious of being +bothered, and could not rouse myself at once. I dreamed that a bear was +sniffing at me, but instead of being the least surprised or frightened, +I said to myself in my dream, as if it was quite a common occurrence, +"That's the bear again, he always comes when I am asleep." The next +moment, however, I was very effectually awakened by a tug that half +lifted me off the ground. I must mention that I had tied my horse's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> +halter to my waist-belt in case of any alarm in the night, for I sleep +so soundly always that no ordinary noise or movement ever wakes me. I +sprang up of course, calling the Wallack at the same time. Something had +frightened the horses, and they had attempted to bolt. We found them +trembling from head to foot, but we could not discover the cause of +their fright. I fired off my revolver twice; the Wallack in the meantime +had lighted a bundle of resinous fir branches as a torch. He had +carefully arranged it before he slept; it is a capital thing, as it +gives a good light on an emergency.</p> + +<p>After making an examination of the place all round, and finding nothing, +we made up a bright fire, and again laid ourselves down to rest. I had +my saddle for a pillow, and it was not half bad. Before giving myself +over to sleep I listened and listened again, but I heard nothing except +the hooting of the owls answering each other in the distance. The night +had grown very cold, and a heavy dew was falling, but notwithstanding +these discomforts I had another good nap.</p> + +<p>Next morning, after a hearty breakfast, we were off early. Instead of +going uphill again to recover our former route, we followed the stream, +which gradually increased in size, and we came at last to a place where +a dam had been thrown across the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> valley with the object of floating the +wood cut in the forest. This small lake was very pretty; the water was +as clear as crystal. Farther on we came upon another dam of larger +dimensions; but though it had evidently been quite recently constructed, +there was no one about, and no signs of wood-cutting. Here we began to +ascend again, and about mid-day got to a place called La Durs, a +customhouse for cattle coming from Roumania; it is not absolutely on the +frontier, but very near it. I heard later that this district has a bad +reputation for smugglers and robbers, the latter being on the increase, +it is said; always the same story of unrepressed lawlessness on the +frontier.</p> + +<p>We made no stay at the customhouse, but rode on a couple of miles +farther, where, coming upon a nice spring, we dined. Not a single +shepherd had we met, so there had been no chance of bartering for milk; +it was not surprising, because our track had been almost entirely in the +forests, and of course the shepherds are higher up on the Alpen. At this +last halting-place we nearly set the forest on fire. The grass was very +dry all round, and before I was aware of it, the fire ran along the +ground and caught the trees. It blazed up in an inconceivably short +time. I rushed up directly, to cut off what branches I could with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> my +bowie-knife; but though calling loudly to the Wallack to assist me, he +never concerned himself in the least. This exasperated me beyond +measure, seeing what mischief was likely to accrue from the +misadventure. Luckily a man came up, riding on one horse and leading +another, and he readily gave me a helping hand, and between us we put +out the fire. The Wallack never raised a finger!</p> + +<p>Getting into conversation with the new-comer, I found that he was going +to Orlat, whereupon I arranged to go on with him. Accordingly I paid my +guide, and was not sorry to have done with him, he had so disgusted me +about the fire, and I was especially glad to get quit of his wretched +horse, which had greatly retarded our progress. I transferred my +saddle-bags to the spare horse, and we got on much faster, reaching +Orlat by sunset.</p> + +<p>Before descending into the plain we had a magnificent view. +Herrmannstadt seemed almost at our feet, though in reality it was still +a long way off; the Fogaraser Mountains stretching away towards +Kronstadt, appeared in all their picturesque irregularity, and along the +plain at their base were scattered the villages of the Saxonland, each +with its fortress-church, a relic of the old time, when the brave +burghers had to hold their own against Turk and Tartar.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p> + +<p>At Orlat I found a small inn, but they had no travellers' room in it; +however some of the family were good enough to turn out, and I was very +glad to turn in, and that rather early.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + +<h4>Herrmannstadt—Saxon immigrants—Museum—Places of interest in the +neighbourhood—The fortress-churches—Heltau—The Rothen Thurm +Pass—Turkish incursions.</h4> + + +<p>The following morning a ride of ten miles brought me to Herrmannstadt. +Here I put up at the Hotel Neurikrer, a comfortable house; it was a new +sensation getting into the land of inns. The fact is, the Saxons are not +indifferent to the existence of inns; it relieves them of the necessity +of hospitality. The Hungarian will take the wheels off his guest's +carriage and hide them to prevent his departure, whereas the Saxon would +be more inclined to speed the parting guest with amiable alacrity. There +is an old-world look about Herrmannstadt that gives one the sensation of +being landed in another age; it is a case of Rip Van Winkle, only +"t'other way round," as the saying is: one has awakened from the sleep +in the hills to walk down into a mediæval town, finding the speech and +fashions of old Germany—Luther's Germany!</p> + +<p>The Saxon immigrants in Hungary number nearly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> two millions. The greater +proportion of these is found in Transylvania; the rest, some forty +thousand, have a compact colony under the shadow of the Tatra Mountains, +in the north of Hungary, called from time immemorable the "Free +District." But it was to the slopes of the Southern Carpathians, to the +"land beyond the forest," where the first Saxons came and settled. It is +still called "Altland," being the oldest of their possessions in +Hungary. In fact this appellation of the "Oldland" belongs, strictly +speaking, to the Herrmannstadt district. Formerly no Hungarian was +allowed to settle in the town, so jealous were the burghers of their +privileges. I believe the earliest date of the Saxon immigration is +1143. The country had been wasted by the incursions of the Tartars, and +in consequence the Servian Princess Helena, widow of the blind King Bela +of Hungary, invited them hither during the minority of her son, Geysa +II. They appear to have come from Flanders, and from the neighbourhood +of Cologne. They were tempted to this strange land by certain privileges +and special rights secured to them by the rulers of Hungary, and +faithfully preserved through many difficulties; as a fact the Saxons of +Transylvania retained their self-government down to the middle of this +century.</p> + +<p>These people have played no unimportant part in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> European history; for +Herrmannstadt and Kronstadt, the sister towns of Saxon Transylvania, +were called the bulwarks of Christianity all through the evil days of +Moslem invasion. Herrmannstadt was called by the Turks the "Red Town" on +account of the colour of its brick walls. It was besieged in 1438 with a +force of 70,000 men headed by the Sultan Amurad himself, and great were +the rejoicings amongst the brave burghers when it became known that an +arrow directed from one of the towers had rid them of their foe! Trade +and commerce must have prospered, by all accounts, in those days; and +the burghers made themselves of importance, for King Andrew II., a man +far in advance of his time, summoned them to assist in consultation at +the Imperial Parliament. The wealth of Herrmannstadt is a thing of the +past; the place has now the appearance of a dead level of competence, +where riches and poverty are equally absent. There were no new houses +building to supply an increasing population, nor, I should say, had any +been built for many years.</p> + +<p>The town is prettily situated on a slight elevation above the +surrounding plain; it has the fine range of the Fogaraser Mountains as a +background. The old moat, where Amurad fell pierced by the well-directed +arrow, has been turned into a promenade; parts of the fortifications +remain in a state of pictur<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>esque ruin. Herrmannstadt is the seat of the +Protestant Bishop of Transylvania, and there is a fine old church, +which, however, has suffered severely in the process of restoration.</p> + +<p>The interior of the church is in that unhappy condition which bespeaks +the churchwarden's period—whitewash plastered over everything, +obliterating lights and shades and rare carvings beneath a glare of +uncouth cleanliness. In their desire to remove every object that could +harbour dust or obstruct the besom of reform, they have bodily removed +from the church many rich monuments and interesting effigies, and these +are to be seen huddled away in an obscure corner of the churchyard. The +church has a large collection of richly-embroidered vestments belonging +to the pre-Reformation days.</p> + +<p>Herrmannstadt is decidedly rich in collections. The Bruckenthal Library +contains an illuminated missal of great beauty; the execution is +singularly fine, and the designs very artistic. The curious thing is +that the history of this rare volume is unknown; by some it is believed +to have come from Bohemia during the time of the troubles in that +country, however nothing is positively known. The book is of the finest +vellum, containing 630 pages in small quarto. The pictures of +architecture<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> and scenery are extremely interesting; the first represent +buildings familiar to us in old German towns, and the rural scenes +depict a variety of agricultural instruments, together with many details +of home life in the olden time. The colours of the birds and flowers are +as bright as if only finished yesterday. The ingenuity of the design is +very striking; no two objects are alike. It would have taken hours to +have looked over the volume thoroughly.</p> + +<p>In the palace, of which the museum forms a part, there is a gallery of +pictures, collected by the Baron Bruckenthal, formerly governor of +Transylvania. The history of these pictures is very curious, they were +mostly purchased from French refugees at the time of the first +revolution. It appears that both at that period, and at the revocation +of the Edict of Nantes, many French families had sought an asylum in +Hungary and Transylvania. In the Banat I am told there are two or three +villages inhabited entirely by people who came originally from France; +they retain only their Gallic names, having adopted the Magyar tongue +and utterly lost their own. This little colony of the Banat belonged of +course to the Huguenot exodus. I had now an opportunity of examining a +collection of the Roman antiquities obtained from the Hatszeg Valley.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p> + +<p>I remained several days at Herrmannstadt, principally for the sake of +resting my horse, which unfortunately had been rubbed by the saddle-bags +on my ride from Petrosèny. I spent the time agreeably enough, exploring +the neighbourhood and making chance acquaintances. I bought here Bishop +Teusch's 'History of Transylvanian Saxons,' a handy-book in two volumes. +It interested me very much, especially reading it in the country itself +where so many stirring scenes had been enacted.</p> + +<p>Wishing to see some of the neighbouring villages, I set off one fine day +on a walking expedition. I chose Sunday, because on that day one can see +to best advantage the costume of the peasants. Hammersdorf is a pretty +enough village, "fair with orchard lawns," but not so charming as +Heltau, which, standing on high ground, commands an extensive view of +the whole plain, with the old "Red Town" in the foreground of the +picture. The church in this village is a very fine specimen of the +fortified churches, which are a unique feature of the Transylvanian +border-land. The origin of this form of architecture is very obvious; it +was necessary to have a defence against the incursions of the Tartars +and Turks, who for centuries troubled the peace of this fair land. In +every village of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> Saxons in the south and east of Transylvania the +church is also a fortified place, fitted to maintain a siege if +necessary. The construction of these buildings varies according to +circumstances: the general character is that the sacred edifice is +surrounded, or forms part of a strong wall with its watch-towers; not +unfrequently a second and even a third wall surround the place. In every +case a considerable space of ground is enclosed around the church, +sufficient to provide accommodation for the villagers; in fact every +family with a house outside had a corresponding hut within the fortified +walls. Here, too, was a granary, and some of the larger places had also +their school-tower attached to the church. It happened not unfrequently +that the villagers were obliged to remain for some weeks in their +sanctuary.</p> + +<p>Heltau is an industrious little place. Here is manufactured the peculiar +white frieze so much worn by the Wallacks. Nearly every house has its +loom, but I was told the trade is less flourishing than formerly. The +woollen-cloth manufacturers of Transylvania have suffered very much from +the introduction of foreign goods; but, on the other hand, if they would +bestir themselves they might enormously increase their exports. Heltau +is a market-place, and reserves many old privileges very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> jealously. Its +inhabitants were often in dispute with the burghers of Herrmannstadt, +and on one occasion they had the audacity, in rebuilding their +church-tower, to place four turrets upon it. Their neighbours regarded +this with great indignation, for are not four turrets the sign and +symbol of <i>civic</i> authority? The burghers of Herrmannstadt hereupon +obliged the men of Heltau to sign a bond, saying that "they were but +humble villagers," and promising to treat their haughty neighbours with +all due "honour, fear, and friendship."</p> + +<p>From Heltau I went on to Michaelsburg, an extremely curious place. In +the centre of a lovely valley rises a conical rock of gneiss, protruding +to the height of 200 feet or more. This is crowned by the ruins of a +Romanesque church. There are, I believe, only two other specimens of +this kind of architecture in the country. The time of the building of +Michaelsburg is stated to be between 1173 and 1223. Before the use of +artillery this fortified church on the rock must have been really +impregnable. Inside the walls I found a quantity of large round +stones—the shot and shell of those days; these stones were capable of +making considerable havoc amongst a besieging party I should say. The +custom was in the old time that no young man should be allowed to take +unto himself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> a wife till he had carried one such stone from the bed of +the river where they are found, to the summit of the rock within the +church walls. As these stones weigh between two and three hundredweight, +and the ascent is very steep, it was a test of strength. The villagers +were anxious to prevent the weaklings from marrying lest they should +spoil the hardy race.</p> + +<p>The view from the village itself is very pretty, home-like, and with a +more familiar look about the vegetation than I had seen elsewhere. There +were orchards of cherry-trees, and hedges, as in our west country, +festooned with wild hops and dog-roses. Every girl I met was busily +engaged plaiting straw as she walked. This straw is for hats of a +particular kind for which the place is famed. Besides this industry, the +people are great bee-keepers, and make a good trade by selling the +honey. The produce of the hives in the Southern Carpathians is the very +poetry of honey; it is perfectly delicious, not surpassed by that of +Hymettus or Hybla, so famed in ancient story. This "mountain honey" +sometimes reaches the London market, but, unfortunately, not with any +regularity. It is most difficult to make these people practical in their +trade dealings; and as for <i>time</i>, they must have come into the world +before it was talked about.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span></p> + +<p>I made a short excursion into the Rothen Thurm Pass, the principal road +across the Southern Carpathians, if we except the Tomöscher Pass from +Kronstadt, which, owing to local circumstances, has become more +important. The Rothen Thurm or Red Tower Pass is extremely picturesque. +It is traversed by the Aluta, which though rising in the Szeklerland in +the north-east, finds its way through the Carpathian range, flowing at +length into the Lower Danube. The red tower stands at the narrowest part +of the defile, an important position of defence; and not far from this +spot signal victory was gained by the Christians over the infidels. In +the year 1493 the Turks made one of their frequent raids into +Transylvania. They had succeeded in collecting a vast amount of booty, +including many fair young maidens and tender youths, and were returning +in long cavalcade through the Red Tower Pass. Here, however, they fell +into an ambuscade arranged by the men of Herrmannstadt, headed by their +burgomaster, the brave George Hecht. At a concerted signal the Saxons +rushed upon the despoilers with such a fierce and sudden onslaught, that +though the Turks far exceeded them in number, they were completely +overpowered. Many a turbaned corpse lay that day on the green margin of +the classical Aluta, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span> few, very few, of the hated Turks, it is said, +escaped over the frontier to tell the tale of their disaster. How many a +home must have been gladdened by the sight of the rescued children after +that happy victory!</p> + +<p>These abductions are not altogether a thing of the past. In the autumn +of 1875, the very date of my tour, a paragraph appeared in a Pest +newspaper stating that a young girl of great beauty in the neighbourhood +of Temesvar, in the Banat of Hungary, had been secretly carried off into +Turkey without the knowledge or consent of her parents. It was further +stated that these scandalous proceedings were of very frequent +occurrence in the border provinces. For some years past the supply of +beautiful Circassians has been deficient, it is said, so doubtless the +harems of Constantinople are supplied with Christian maidens to make up +the numbers. The late Sultan—I mean the one who committed suicide—was +considered a moderate man, and he had eight hundred women in his harem, +at least so a relative of mine was credibly informed at Constantinople.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + +<h4>Magyar intolerance of the German—Patriotic revival of the Magyar +language—Ride from Herrmannstadt to Kronstadt—The village of +Zeiden—Curious scene in church—Reformation in +Transylvania—Political bitterness between Saxons and Magyars in +1848.</h4> + + +<p>My horse being all right again, I thought it high time to push on to +Kronstadt, which is nearly ninety miles from Herrmannstadt by road. +There is railway communication, but not direct; you have to get on the +main line at the junction of Klein Köpisch—in Hungarian, Kis Kapus—and +hence to Kronstadt, called Brasso by the non-Germans. This confusion of +names is very difficult for a foreigner when consulting the railway +tables. I have often seen the names of stations put up in three +languages. Herrmannstadt is Nagy Szeben. The confusion of tongues in +Hungary is one of the greatest stumbling-blocks to progress; and +unfortunately it is considered patriotic by the Magyar to speak his own +language and ignore that of his neighbour.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p> + +<p>It happened to me once that I entered an inn in a Hungarian town, and +addressing the waiter, I gave my orders in German, whereupon an elderly +gentleman turned sharply upon me, saying—also in German, observe—"It +is the custom to speak Hungarian here."</p> + +<p>"I am not acquainted with the language, sir," I replied. "German is not +to be spoken here—Hungarian or nothing," he retorted. I simply turned +on my heel with a gesture of impatience. It was rather too much for any +old fellow, however venerable and patriotic, to condemn me to silence +and starvation because I could not speak the national lingo, so in the +irritation of the moment I rapped out an English expletive, meant as an +aside. Enough! No sooner did the testy old gentleman hear the familiar +sound, invariably associated with the travelling Britisher in old days, +than he turned to me with the utmost urbanity, saying in French, "Pardon +a thousand times, I thought you were a German from the fluency of your +speech; I had no idea you were an Englishman. Why did you not tell me at +once? What orders shall I give for you? How can I help you?" It ended in +our dining together and becoming the best friends; in fact he invited me +to spend a week with him at his château in the neighbourhood. In the +course of conversation I could not help asking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> him why, as he spoke +German himself and the people in the inn also understood it—in fact I +am not sure but what it was their mother-tongue—why he would not allow +the language to be spoken?</p> + +<p>"We are Hungarians here," he replied, going off into testiness again, +"and we do not want that cursed German spoken on all sides. I, for one, +will move heaven and earth to get my own language used in my own +country. Ha, ha! the Austrians wanted us to have their officials +everywhere on the railway. We have put a stop to that; now every +man-jack of them must speak Hungarian. It gave an immensity of trouble, +and they did not like it at all, I can tell you."</p> + +<p>I did not attempt to argue with the old gentleman, for his views were +inextricably mixed up with feelings and patriotism.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, in the early part of this century the Magyar +language was hardly spoken by the upper classes except in communicating +with their inferiors; but when the patriotic Count Stephen Széchenyi +first roused his fellow-countrymen to nobler impulses and more +enlightened views, he held forth the restoration of the national +language as the first necessity of their position. In his time it meant +breaking down the barrier which separated classes. He was the first in +the Chamber of Magnates who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> spoke in the tongue understood by the +people; hitherto Latin had been the language of the Chambers. With the +exception of a group of poets—Varósmazty, Petoefy, Kolcsey, and the +brothers Kisfaludy—there were hardly any writers who employed their +native language in literature or science. Count Széchenyi set the +fashion, he wrote his political works in Hungarian, and what was more, +assisted in establishing a national theatre.</p> + +<p>There is perhaps no place where Shakespeare is so often given as at the +Hungarian theatre at Buda-Pest, and it is said by competent judges that +their translation of our great poet is unequalled in any language, +German not excepted.</p> + +<p>To a foreigner the Hungarian tongue appears very difficult, because of +its isolated character and its striking difference from any other +European language. In Cox's 'Travels in Sweden,' published in the last +century, he mentions that Sainovits, a learned Jesuit, a native of +Hungary, who had gone to Lapland to observe the transit of Venus in +1775, remarked that the Hungarian and Lapland idioms were the same; and +he further stated that many words were identical. As a Turanian +language, Hungarian has also an alliance with the Turkish as well as the +Finnish; but there are only six and a half millions of Magyars who speak +the language,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> and by no possibility can it be adopted by any other +peoples.</p> + +<p>For their men of letters it is an undeniable misfortune to have so +restricted a public; a translated work is never quite the same. The +question of language must also limit the choice of professors in the +higher schools and at the university. But political grievances are mixed +up with the language question, and of those I will not speak now, while +I am still in Saxonland, where they do not love the Magyar or anything +belonging to him.</p> + +<p>Returning to the itinerary of my route, I left Herrmannstadt very early +one morning, getting to Fogaras by four o'clock; it was about +forty-seven miles of good road. This little town is celebrated for the +cultivation of tobacco. There is a large inn here, which looked +promising from the outside, but that was all; it had no <i>inside</i> to +speak of—no food, no stable-boy, nothing. After foraging about I got +something to eat with great difficulty, and feeling much disgusted with +my quarters, I sallied forth to find the clergyman of the place, to whom +I introduced myself.</p> + +<p>I spent the evening at his house, and found him a very jolly old fellow; +he entertained me with a variety of good stories, some of them relating +to the tobacco-smuggling. The peasants are allowed to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> grow the precious +weed on condition that they sell it all to the State at a fixed rate. +Naturally, if they otherwise disposed of it, they would be able to make +a much larger profit, as it is a monopoly of the State. They have a +peculiar way of mystifying the exciseman as to the number of leaves on a +string, for this is the regulation way of reckoning; besides which, +wholesale smuggling goes on at times, and waggon-loads are got away. +Occasionally there is a fight between the officials and the peasants.</p> + +<p>I had intended getting on to Kronstadt the next day, but I stopped at +the Saxon village of Zeiden. The clergyman, on hearing that there was a +stranger in the place, hastened to the inn, where he found me calmly +discussing my mid-day meal. He would not hear of my going on to +Kronstadt, but kindly invited me to be his guest. I heard a great deal +later of his unvarying hospitality to strangers.</p> + +<p>The next day being Sunday, of course I went to church with my host. The +congregation, including their pastor, wore the costume of the middle +ages; it was a most curious and interesting sight. I am never a good +hand at describing the details of dress, but I know my impression was +that the pastor—wearing a ruff, I think, or something like it—might +just have walked out of a picture, such as one knows so well of the old +Puritans in Cromwell's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> time. The dress of the peasants, though unlike +the English fashion of any period, had an old-world look. The married +women wore white kerchiefs twisted round the head, sleeveless jackets, +with a mystery of lace adornments. The marriageable girls sat together +in one part of the church, which I thought very funny; they wore +drum-shaped hats poised on the head in a droll sort of way. Some of them +had a kind of white leather pelisse beautifully wrought with embroidery. +Each girl carried a large bouquet of flowers. These blue-eyed German +maidens were many of them very pretty, and all were fresh looking and +exquisitely neat. It was an impressive moment when the whole +congregation joined in singing—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0"><i>"Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott;"</i><br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"the Marseillaise of the Reformation," as Heine calls Luther's hymn, +"that defiant strain that up to our time has preserved its inspiring +power."</p> + +<p>The Reformation spread with wonderful rapidity throughout the length and +breadth of Hungary, more especially in Transylvania. It appears that the +merchants of Herrmannstadt, who were in the habit of attending the great +fair at Leipsic, brought back Luther's writings, which had the effect of +setting fire to men's minds. At one time more than half Hungary had +declared for the new doc<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>trines, but terrible persecutions thinned their +ranks. According to the latest statistics there are 1,109,154 Lutherans +and 2,024,332 Calvinists in Hungary. The Saxons of Transylvania belong +almost exclusively to the Reformed faith; they had always preserved in a +remarkable degree their love for civil and political freedom, hence +their minds were prepared to receive Protestantism. Three monks from +Silesia, converts to Luther's views, came into these parts to preach, +passing from one village to another, and in the towns they "held +catechisings and preachings in the public squares and market-places," +where crowds came from all the country round to hear them. The peasants +went back to their mountain homes with Bibles in their hands; and since +that time the simple folk, through wars and persecutions, have held +steadfast to their faith.</p> + +<p>Herrmannstadt became a second Wittenberg: the new doctrine was not more +powerful in the town where Luther lived. Several bishops joined the +party of the seceders, and already the towns throughout Hungary had +generally declared for the Reformation; in many the "Catholic priests +were left, as shepherds without flocks."<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> When Popish ceremonies +aroused the ridicule of the people, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> when even in country districts +the priests who came to demand their tithes were dismissed without their +"fat ducks and geese," there was a general outcry against the new +heresy. The Romish party knew their strength at the Court of Vienna. At +the instigation of the Papal legate Cajetan, Louis II. issued the +terrible edict of 1523, which ran as follows: "All Lutherans, and those +who favour them, as well as all adherents to their sect, shall have +their property confiscated and themselves be punished with death as +heretics and foes of the most holy Virgin Mary."</p> + +<p>While the monks were stirring up their partisans to have the Lutherans +put to death, a national misfortune happened which saved Protestantism, +at least in Transylvania. Soliman the Magnificent set out from +Constantinople in the spring of 1526 with a mighty host, which came +nearer and nearer to Hungary like the "wasting levin." King Louis lost +his army and his life at the battle of Mohacks, leaving the Turks to +pursue their way into the heart of the country, slaughtering upwards of +200,000 of its inhabitants. To this calamity, as we all know, succeeded +an internal civil war, resulting from the rival claims of John Zapolya +and the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria for the crown of Hungary. +Transylvania took advantage of this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> critical time to achieve her +independence under Zapolya, consenting to pay tribute to the Porte on +condition of <i>receiving assistance against the tyranny of Austria</i>. Thus +it came about that the infidel Turks helped to preserve the Reformation +in this part of Europe: they became the defenders of Protestant +Transylvania against the tyranny of Roman Catholic Austria. "Sell what +thou hast and depart into Transylvania, where thou wilt have liberty to +profess the truth," were the words spoken by King Ferdinand himself to +Stephen Szantai, a zealous preacher of the gospel in Upper Hungary, whom +he desired to defend.</p> + +<p>It is said that the first printing-press set up in Hungary was the gift +of Count Nadasdy to Matthias Devay, who was devoted to the education of +youth; and the first work that was issued from the press was a book for +children, teaching the rudiments of the gospel in the language of the +country. The same Protestant nobleman aided the publication in 1541 of +an edition of the New Testament in the Magyar tongue. "It is a +remarkable fact," says Mr Patterson,<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> "connected with the history of +Protestantism, that all its converts were made within the pale of +<i>Latin</i> Christianity. In the nationalities of Hungary there belonged to +Latin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> Christianity the Magyars, the Slovacks, and the Germans."</p> + +<p>In Transylvania the progress of Protestantism was secured. In 1553 the +Diet declared in favour of the Reformation by a majority of votes, and +while the province was governed by Petrovich, during the minority of +Zapolya's infant son, he freed the whole of Transylvania from the +jurisdiction of the Roman hierarchy.</p> + +<p>When the Turks were finally expelled from Hungary by the second battle +of Mohacks in 1686, Protestantism had grown strong enough in +Transylvania to extract from the house of Hapsburg the celebrated +<i>Diploma Leopoldium</i> (their Magna Charta), which secured to them +religious liberty once and for ever.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + +<h4>Political difficulties—Impatient criticism of foreigners—Hungary +has everything to do—Tenant-farmers wanted—Wages.</h4> + + +<p>It is remarkable that the Saxons in Transylvania, who had suffered so +much tribulation from the religious persecutions of the house of +Hapsburg, preferring even to shelter themselves under the protection of +the Turk, should be the first to support the tyranny of Austria against +the Magyars in 1848.</p> + +<p>I visited at the house of a village pastor, who told me he had himself +led four hundred Saxons against the Hungarians at that time. The +remembrance of that era is not yet effaced; so many people not much +beyond middle age had taken part in the war that the bitterness has not +passed out of the personal stage. Pacification and reconciliation, and +all the Christian virtues, have been evoked; but underlying the calm +surface, all the old hatreds of race still exist. Nothing assimilates +socially or politically in Hungary. The troubled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> history of the past +reappears in the political difficulty of the present. And what can be +done when the Magyar will not hold with the Saxon, and the Saxon cannot +away with the Szekler? Are not the ever-increasing Wallacks getting +numerically ahead of the rest, while the Southern Slavs threaten the +integrity of the empire?</p> + +<p>Prosperity is the best solvent for disaffection. When the resources of +Hungary are properly developed, and wealth results to the many, bringing +education and general enlightenment in its train, there will be a common +ground of interest, even amongst those who differ in race, religion, and +language. It was a saying of the patriotic Count Széchenyi, and the +saying has passed into a proverb, "Make money, and enrich the country; +an empty sack will topple over, but if you fill it, it will stand by its +own weight."</p> + +<p>"You call yourselves 'the English of the East,'" I said one day to a +Hungarian friend of mine; "but how is it you are not more practical, +since you pay us the compliment of following our lead in many things?"</p> + +<p>"You do not see that in many respects we are children, the Hungarians +are children," replied my friend. "'We are not, but we shall be,' said +one of our patriots. You Britishers are rash in your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> impatient +criticism of a state which has not come to its full growth. It is hardly +thirty years since we emerged from the middle ages, so to speak; and you +expect our civilisation to have the well-worn polish of Western States. +Think how recently we have emancipated our serfs, and reformed our +constitution and our laws. Take into account, too, that just as we were +setting our house in order, the enemy was at the gate—progress was +arrested, and our national life paralysed; but let that pass, we don't +want to look back, we want to look forward. We have still to build up +the structure that with you is finished; we are deficient in everything +that a state wants in these days, and in our haste to make railways, +roads, and bridges, to erect public buildings, and to promote industrial +enterprises, we make certain financial blunders. You must not forget +that we in Hungary are much in the same state that you were in England +in the thirteenth century, before tenant-holdings had become general. We +shall gradually learn to see the advantages to be derived from letting +land on your farm system. There is nothing we desire so much as the +creation of the tenant-farmer class, which hardly exists yet. Large +estates would be far better divided and let as farms on your system. We +are in a transition state as regards many things<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> in agricultural +matters. English or Scotch farmers would be welcomed over here by the +great landowners. Your countryman, Professor Wrightson, convinced +himself of this when he was here in 1873. If they could command some +capital, the produce of the land in many instances could be doubled."</p> + +<p>I asked my friend about labourers' wages, but he said it was difficult +to give any fixed rate. A mere agricultural day-labourer would get from +1s. 3d. to 1s. 6d.; sometimes the evil practice of paying wages in kind +obtained—viz., a man receives so much Indian corn (<i>kukoricz</i>). And not +unfrequently a peasant undertakes to plough the fields twice, to hoe +them three times, and to see the crop housed, for which he receives the +half of the yield provided he has furnished the seed. The peasants' own +lands, as a rule, are very badly managed; their ploughing is shallow, +and they do nothing or next to nothing in the way of drainage.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + +<h4>Want of progress amongst the Saxons—The +Burzenland—Kronstadt—Mixed character of its +inhabitants—Szeklers—General Bem's campaign.</h4> + +<p>It was a glorious morning when I left the comfortable village of Zeiden. +Before me were the rich pastures of the Burzenland, a tract which +tradition says was once filled up by the waters of a great lake, till +some Saxon hero hewed a passage through the mountains in the Geisterwald +for the river Aluta, thus draining this fertile region.</p> + +<p>The mountainous wall to the rear of Zeiden is clothed by magnificent +hanging woods, which at the time I describe were just tinged with the +first rich touches of autumn. It was a lovely ride through this fertile +vale. On every side I saw myself surrounded by the lofty Carpathians, or +the lesser spurs of that grand range of mountains; the higher peaks to +the south and south-east were already capped with snow. The village in +which I had so agreeably sojourned for a couple of days almost rises to +the dignity of a little town, for it has nearly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span> 4000 inhabitants. +Considering its situation, on the verge of this rich plain, and many +other local circumstances, it is, I suppose, a very favourable example +of a German settlement in Transylvania. I had been struck by the extreme +neatness of the dwellings and the generally well-to-do air of the +people, but there is nothing progressive about these Saxons. I saw +plainly that what their fathers did before them they do themselves, and +expect their sons to follow in the same groove. There is amongst them +generally a dead level of content incomprehensible to a restless +Englishman.</p> + +<p>When I asked why they did not try to turn this or that natural advantage +to account, I was met with the reply, "Our fathers have done very well +without it, why should not we?" I could never discover any inclination +amongst the Saxons to initiate any fresh commercial enterprise either at +home or abroad, nor would they respond with any interest to the most +tempting suggestions as to ways and means of increasing their +possessions. It is all very well to draw the moral picture of a +contented people. Contentment under some circumstances is the first +stage of rottenness. The inevitable law of change works the +deterioration of a race which does not progress. This fact admits of +practical proof here. For instance, the cloth manufactures of +Transylvania<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> are falling into decay, and there is nothing else of an +industrial kind substituted. The result is a decrease of the general +prosperity, and a marked diminution in the population of the towns. Nor +is this the case in populous places only. The Saxon villager desires to +transmit the small estate he derived from his father intact to his +<i>only</i> son. He does not desire a large family; it would tax his energies +too much to provide for that. It is deeply to be lamented that a +superior race like the educated Saxons of Transylvania, who held their +own so bravely against Turk and Tartar, and, what was more difficult +still, preserved their religious liberty in spite of Austrian Jesuits, +should <i>now</i> be losing their political ascendancy, owing mainly to their +displacement by the Wallacks. According to the last census, the German +immigrants in Hungary are estimated at 1,820,922. I have no means of +making an accurate comparison, but I hear on all hands that the numbers +are diminished. There are, besides, proofs of it in the case of villages +which were exclusively Saxon having now become partly, even wholly, +Wallachian.</p> + +<p>There are wonderfully few châteaux in this picturesque land. In my +frequent rides over the Burzenland I rarely saw any dwellings above what +we should attribute to a yeoman farmer. As a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> matter of fact there are +fewer aristocrats in this part of Hungary, or perhaps I should say this +part of Transylvania, than in any other.</p> + +<p>After my pleasant morning's ride I found myself at Kronstadt, and put up +at Hotel "No. 1"—an odd name for a fairly good inn. There is another +farther in town—the Hotel Bucharest—also a place of some pretension. +The charges for rooms generally in the country are out of all proportion +to the accommodation given. Travellers are rare, at least they used to +be before the present war; but Kronstadt is the terminus of the direct +railway from Buda-Pest, which, communicating with the Tomöscher Pass +over the Carpathians, is the shortest route to Bucharest.</p> + +<p>As far as the buildings are concerned, Kronstadt has much the air of an +old-fashioned German town. As you pass along the streets you get a peep +now and then of picturesque interior courtyards, seen through the +wide-arched doorways. These courts are mostly surrounded by an open +arcade. Generally in the centre of each is set a large green tub holding +an oleander-tree. This gives rather an Oriental appearance to these +interiors. The East and West are here mixed up together most curiously. +Amongst the fair-haired, blue-eyed Saxons are dusky Armenians and +black-ringleted Jews, wearing strange garments. By the way, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> +merchants of these two races have ousted the Saxon trader from the +field; commerce is almost completely in their hands.</p> + +<p>The market-day at Kronstadt is a most curious and interesting sight. The +country-people come in, sitting in their long waggons, drawn by four +horses abreast, they themselves dressed in cloaks of snow-white +sheepskins, or richly-embroidered white leather coats lined with black +fur. The head-gear too is very comely, and very dissimilar; for there +are flat fur caps—like an exaggerated Glengarry—and peaked hats, and +drum-shaped hats for the girls, while the close-twisted white kerchief +denotes the matron. The Wallack maiden is adorned by her dowry of coins +hanging over head and shoulders, and with braids of plaited black +hair—mingled, I am afraid, with tow, if the truth must be spoken.</p> + +<p>Kronstadt is rather a considerable place; the population is stated to be +27,766, composed of Saxons, Szeklers, and Wallacks, who have each their +separate quarter. It is most beautifully situated, quite amongst the +mountains; in fact it is 2000 feet above the sea-level. The Saxon part +of the town is built in the opening of a richly-wooded valley. The +approach from the vale beyond—the Burzenland, of which I have spoken +before—is guarded by a singular isolated rock, a spur of the +mountain-chain. This<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> natural defence is crowned by a fortress, which +forms a very picturesque feature in the landscape. Formerly the town was +completely surrounded by walls, curtained on the hillside, reminding one +of Lucern's "coronal of towers." In the "brave days of old" the +trade-guilds were severally allotted their forts for the defence of the +town—no holiday task for volunteers, as in our "right little, tight +little island."</p> + +<p>Though the dangers of the frontier are by no means a thing of the past, +the town walls and the towers are mainly in ruins, overgrown with wild +vines and other luxuriant vegetation. As no guidebook exists to tell one +what one ought to see, and where one ought to go, I had all the pleasure +of poking about and coming upon surprises. I was not aware that the +church at Kronstadt is about the finest specimen of fourteenth-century +Gothic in Transylvania, ranking second only to the Cathedral of Kashau +in Upper Hungary.</p> + +<p>My first walk was to the Kapellenburg, a hill which rises abruptly from +the very walls of the town. An hour's climb through a shady zigzag +brought me to the summit. From thence I could see the "seven villages" +which, according to some persons, gave the German name to the province, +Siebenbürgen, "seven towns." The level Burzen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>land looked almost like a +green lake; beyond it the chain of the Carpathian takes a bend, forming +the frontier of Roumania. The highest point seen from thence is the +Schülerberg, upwards of 8000 feet, and a little farther off the +Königstein, and the Butschrtsch, the latter reaching 9526 feet. Hardly +less picturesque is the view from the Castle Hill. Quite separated from +the rest of the town is the quarter inhabited by the Szeklers. This +people constitute one of four principal races inhabiting Transylvania. +They are of Turanian origin, like the Magyars, but apparently an older +branch of the family. When the Magyars overran Pannonia in the tenth +century, under the headship of the great Arpad, they appear to have +found the Szeklers already in possession of part of the vast Carpathian +horseshoe—that part known to us as the Transylvanian frontier of +Moldavia. They claim to have come hither as early as the fourth century. +It is known that an earlier wave of the Turanians had swept over Europe +before the incoming of the Magyars, and the so-called Szeklers were +probably a tribe or remnant of this invasion, the date of which, +however, is wrapped in no little obscurity.</p> + +<p>This is certain, that they have preserved their independence throughout +all these ages in a very remarkable manner. "They are all 'noble,'" says +Mr<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> Boner, "and proudly and steadfastly adhere to and uphold their old +rights and privileges, such as right of limiting and of pasture. They +had their own judges, and acknowledged the authority of none beside. +Like their ancestors the Huns, they loved fighting, and were the best +soldiers that Bem had in his army. They guarded the frontier, and +guarded it well, of their own free-will; but they would not be compelled +to do so, and the very circumstance that Austria, when the border system +was established, obliged them to furnish a contingent of one infantry +and two hussar regiments sufficed to alienate their regard."<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> In +another place Mr Boner says, "The Szekler soldier, I was told, was +'excessive,' which means extreme, in all he did."</p> + +<p>In the view of recent events, it may be worth while to recall to mind a +few particulars of General Bem's campaign in Transylvania. In no part of +Hungary was the war of independence waged with so much bitterness as +down here on these border-lands. The Saxons and the Wallacks were +bitterly opposed to the Magyars; and on the 12th of May, in the eventful +'48, a popular meeting was held at Kronstadt, where they protested +vehemently against union with Hungary, and swore allegiance to the +Emperor of Austria. Upon this the Szeklers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> flew to arms—on the side of +the Magyars, of course; throughout their history they have always made +common cause with them. In the autumn of the same year, Joseph Bem, a +native of Galicia, who had fought under Marshal Davoust, later with +Macdonald at the siege of Hamburg, and had also taken part in the +Polish insurrection of 1830, attached himself to the Hungarian cause. He +had formed a body of troops from the wrecks and remnants of other corps, +and soon by his admirable tactics succeeded on two occasions in beating +the Austrians at the very outset of his campaign; the latter of these +victories was near Dées, to the north of Klausenburg, where he defeated +General Wardener. The winter of that terrible year wore on. In +Transylvania it was not merely keeping back the common enemy, the +invader of the soil, but it was a case where the foes were of the same +township, and the nearest neighbours confronted each other on opposite +ranks.</p> + +<p>The Austrians meanwhile had called in the Russians to aid them in +crushing the Hungarians; and at the time it was believed that the Saxons +of Transylvania had instigated this measure. It is easy to understand +how the Russians would be hated along with their allies; it was a +desperate struggle, and well fought out by Magyars and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> Szeklers, ably +handled by General Bem. Herrmannstadt and Kronstadt both fell into his +hands, after a vigorous defence by the Austro-Russian garrisons; in +fact, by the middle of March '49, the whole of Transylvania, with the +exception of Karlsburg and Dèva, was held by the troops of this +fortunate general. But, as we all know, the Hungarian arms were not so +successful elsewhere, and the end of that struggle was approaching, +which was to find its saddest hour at Villagos on the 13th of August, +when the Hungarians were cajoled into laying down their arms before the +Russians!</p> + +<p>The rest of the miserable story had better not be dwelt upon. Much has +changed in these few years. Now a Hapsburg recognises the privilege of +mercy amongst his kingly attributes. The last words of Maximilian, the +ill-fated Emperor of Mexico, were, "Let my blood be the last shed as an +offering for my country." Since then capital punishment has become of +rare occurrence in Austria; and remembering his brother's death, the +Emperor, it is said, can hardly be induced to sign a death-warrant!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + +<h4>The Tomöscher Pass—Projected railway from Kronstadt to +Bucharest—Visit to the cavalry barracks at Rosenau—Terzburg +Pass—Dr Daubeny on the extinct volcanoes of Hungary—Professor +Judd on mineral deposits.</h4> + + +<p>Kronstadt is a capital place as headquarters for any one who desires to +explore the neighbouring country. One of my first expeditions was to +Sinia, a small bath-place in the Tomöscher Pass, just over the +borders—in fact in Roumania. Here Prince Charles has a charming +château, and there are besides several ambitious Swiss cottages +belonging to the wealthy grandees of Roumania. My object was not so much +to see the little place, as it was to explore this pass of the +Carpathians, now so familiar to newspaper correspondents and others +since the Russo-Turkish war began.</p> + +<p>As I mentioned before, a railway is projected from Kronstadt through +this pass, which will meet the Lemberg and Bucharest line at Ployesti, +that station being less than two hours from the Roumanian capital. Up to +the present hour not a sod of this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> railway has been turned; but +curiously enough, with only two or three exceptions, all the "war maps" +have made the capital mistake of marking it down as a <i>completed</i> line. +In the autumn of 1875, when I was there, the levels had been taken and +the course marked down; if it is ever really carried out, it will be one +of the most beautiful railway drives in Europe. It is a most important +link in the railway system of Eastern Europe. The Danube route is +frequently, indeed periodically, closed by the winter's ice, and +sometimes by the drought of summer, in which case the traveller who +wants to get to Roumania must take the train from Buda-Pest to +Kronstadt, and thence by road through the Tomöscher Pass to Ployesti.</p> + +<p>There is a diligence service twice daily, occupying fourteen hours or +thereabouts, dependent, of course, on the state of the roads, which can +be very bad—inconceivably bad. For the sake of the excursion I took a +place in the <i>postwagen</i> one day as far as Sinia, where there is a +modern hotel and very tolerable quarters. The scenery of the pass is +very romantic. In places the road winds round the face of the precipice, +and far below is a deep sunless glen, through which the mountain torrent +rushes noisily over its rocky bed; at other times you skirt the stream +with its green margin of meadow—a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> pastoral oasis amidst the wild +grandeur of bare limestone peaks and snowy summits. The autumnal +colouring on the hanging woods of oak and beech was something more +brilliant than I ever remember to have seen; the effect of being oneself +in shadow and seeing the glory of the sunlight on the foliage of the +other side of the defile, was most striking. Above this ruby mountain +rose other heights with a girdle of dark fir, and higher still were +visible yet loftier peaks, clothed in the dazzling whiteness of +fresh-fallen snow. In the Southern Carpathians there is no region of +perpetual snow, but the higher summits are generally snow-clad late in +the spring and very early in the autumn. I was told there is good +bear-hunting in this district.</p> + +<p>While at Kronstadt I made the acquaintance of some Austrian officers +quartered in the neighbourhood. They kindly invited me to the cavalry +barracks at Rosenau, and accordingly I went over for a few days. The +barracks were built by the people of the village, or rather small town, +of Rosenau; for they were obliged by law to quarter the military, and to +avoid the inconvenience of having soldiers billeted upon them they +constructed a suitable building. The cavalry horses were nearly all in a +bad plight when I was there, for they had an epidemic of influenza +amongst them; but we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> found a couple of nags to scramble about with, and +made some pleasant excursions. One of our rides was to a place called +"The Desolate Path," a singularly wild bit of scenery, and curiously in +contrast to the rich fertility of Rosenau and its immediate +neighbourhood. This pretty little market town lies at the foot of a +hill, which is crowned with a romantic ruin, one of the seven burgher +fortresses built by the Saxon immigrants. There is a remarkably pretty +walk from the village to the "Odenweg," a romantic ravine, with +beautiful hanging woods and castellated rocks disposed about in every +sort of fantastic form. It reminded me somewhat of some parts of the +Odenwald near Heidelberg. Very likely the wild and mysterious character +of the spot led the German settlers to associate with it the name of +Oden.</p> + +<p>We also rode over the Terzburg Pass. The picturesque castle which gives +its name to this pass is situated on an isolated rock, admirably +calculated for defence in the old days. It belonged once upon a time to +the Teutonic Knights, who held it on condition of defending the +frontier; but they became so intolerable to the burghers of Kronstadt, +that these informed their sovereign that they preferred being their own +defenders, and thus the castle and nine villages were given over to the +town.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> The Germans who had left their own Rhine country for the sake of +getting away from the robber knights were not anxious for that special +mediæval institution to accompany them in their flitting, we may be +sure. The democratic character of the laws and customs of the Germans of +Transylvania is a very curious and interesting study; in not a few +instances these people have anticipated by some centuries the liberal +ideas of Western Europe in our own day.</p> + +<p>After returning from the visit to my military friends at Rosenau, I was +told I must not omit to make some excursions to the celebrated mineral +watering-places of Transylvania. The chief baths in this locality are +Elopatak and Tusnad. The first named is four hours' drive from +Kronstadt. The waters contain a great deal of protoxide of iron, +stronger even than those of Schwalbach, which they resemble. Tusnad, I +was told, is pleasantly situated on the river Aluta, an excellent stream +for fishing. The post goes daily in eight hours from Kronstadt. The +season is very short, being over in August. Tusnad is said to contain +one hundred springs of different kinds of water. I am not a +water-totaller, so I did not taste all of them when I visited the place +later on; but undoubtedly alum, iodine, and iron do severally impregnate +the various springs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p> + +<p>I remembered reading long ago Dr Daubeny's work on "Volcanoes," in which +he says that Hungary is one of the most remarkable countries in Europe +for the scale on which volcanic operation has taken place. There are, it +is stated, seven well-marked mountain groups of volcanic rocks, and two +of these are in Transylvania. The most interesting in many respects is +the chain of hills separating Szeklerland from Transylvania Proper. It +is within this district that most of the mineral springs are found.</p> + +<p>These volcanic rocks are of undoubted Tertiary origin, say the +geologists. The whole range is for the most part composed of various +kinds of trachytic conglomerate. "From the midst of these vast tufaceous +deposits, the tops of the hills, composed of trachyte, a rock which +forms all the loftiest eminences, here and there emerge.... The trachyte +is ordinarily reddish, greyish, or blackish; it mostly contains mica. In +the southern parts, as near Csik Szereda, the trachyte encloses large +masses, sometimes forming even small hillocks, of that variety of which +millstones are made, having quartz crystals disseminated through it, and +in general indurated by silicious matter in so fine a state of division +that the parts are nearly invisible. The latter substance seems to be +the result of a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> kind of sublimation which took place at the moment of +the formation of the trachyte.... Distinct craters are only seen at the +southern extremity of the chain. One of the finest observed by Dr Boné +was to the south of Tusnad. It was of great size and well characterised, +surrounded by pretty steep and lofty hills composed of trachyte. The +bottom of the hollow was full of water. The ground near has a very +strong sulphureous odour. A mile to the SSE. direction from this point +there are on the tableland two large and distinct <i>maars</i> like those of +the Eifel—that is to say, old craters, which have been lakes, and are +now covered with a thick coat of marsh plants. The cattle dare not graze +upon them for fear of sinking in. Some miles farther in the same +direction is the well-known hill of Budoshegy (or hill of bad smell), a +trachytic mountain, near the summit of which is a distinct rent, +exhaling very hot sulphureous vapours.... The craters here described +have thrown out a vast quantity of pumice, which now forms a deposit of +greater or less thickness along the Aluta and the Marosch from Tusnad to +Toplitza. Impressions of plants and some silicious wood are likewise to +be found in it."<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p> + +<p>Since Dr Daubeny's time there have been many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> observers over the same +ground, the most distinguished being the Hungarian geologist Szabó, +professor at the University of Buda-Pest. A countryman of our own has +also taken up the subject of the ancient volcanoes of Hungary, and has +recently published a paper on the subject. Professor Judd has confined +his remarks principally to the Schemnitz district in the north of +Hungary. But the following passage refers to the general character of +the formation. Professor Judd says:<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> "The most interesting fact with +regard to the constitution of these Hungarian lavas, which in the +central parts of their masses are often found to assume a very coarsely +crystalline and almost granitic character, while their outer portions +present a strikingly scoriaceous or slaggy appearance, remains to be +noticed. It is, that though the predominant felspar in them is always of +the basic type, yet they not unfrequently contain <i>free quartz</i>, +sometimes in very large proportion. This free quartz is in some cases +found to constitute large irregular crystalline grains in the mass, just +like those of the ordinary orthoclase quartz-trachytes; but at other +times its presence can only be detected by the microscope in thin +sections. These quartz<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>iferous andesites were by Stache, who first +clearly pointed out their true character, styled 'Dacites,' from the +circumstance of their prevalence in Transylvania (the ancient Dacia)."</p> + +<p>In concluding this highly instructive and interesting memoir of the +volcanic rocks of Hungary, Professor Judd says: "The mineral veins of +Hungary and Transylvania, with their rich deposits of gold and silver, +cannot be of older date than the Miocene, while some of them are +certainly more recent than the Pliocene. Hence these deposits of ore +must all have been formed at a later period than the clays and sands on +which London stands; while in some cases they appear to be of even +younger date than the gravelly beds of our crags!"</p> + +<p>For any one who desires to geologise in Hungary and Transylvania there +is abundant assistance to be obtained in the maps which have been issued +by the Imperial Geological Institute of Vienna, under the successive +direction of Haidinger and Von Hauer. "These are geologically-coloured +copies of the whole of the 165 sheets of the military map of the empire; +and these have been accompanied by most valuable memoirs on the +different districts, published in the well-known 'Jahrbuch' of the +Institute. Franz von Hauer has further completed a reduction of these +large-scale maps to a general map consisting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span> of twelve sheets, with a +memoir descriptive of each, and has finally in his most valuable and +useful work, 'Die Geologie und ihre Anwendung auf die Kenntniss der +Bodenbeschaffenheit der Osterrungar. Monarchie,' which is accompanied by +a single-sheet map of the whole country, summarised in a most able +manner the entire mass of information hitherto obtained concerning the +geology of the empire."</p> + +<p>I have given this passage from Mr Judd's paper because there exists a +good deal of misapprehension amongst English travellers as to what has +really been done with regard to the geological survey of Austro-Hungary.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> + +<h4>A ride through Szeklerland—Warnings about robbers—Büksad—A look +at the sulphur deposits on Mount Büdos—A lonely lake—An +invitation to Tusnad.</h4> + + +<p>Feeling curious not only about the geology of the Szeklerland, but +interested also in the inhabitants, I resolved to pursue my journey by +going through what is called the Csik. I made all my arrangements to +start, but wet weather set in, and I remained against my inclination at +Kronstadt, for I was impatient now to be moving onwards.</p> + +<p>When I was in Hungary Proper they told me that travelling in +Transylvania was very dangerous, and that it was a mad notion to think +of going about there alone. Now that I was in Transylvania, I was amused +at finding myself most seriously warned against the risk of riding alone +through the Szeklerland. Every one told some fresh story of the +insecurity of the roads. Curiously enough, foreigners get off better +than the natives themselves; people of indifferent honesty have been +known to say, "One<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> would not rob a stranger." It happened to me that +one day when riding along—in this very Szeklerland of ill-repute—I +dropped my Scotch plaid, and did not discover my loss till I arrived at +the next village, where I was going to sleep. I was much vexed, not +thinking for a moment that I should ever see my useful plaid again. +However, before the evening was over, a peasant brought it into the inn, +saying he had found it on the road, and it must belong to the Englishman +who was travelling about the country. The finder would not accept any +reward!</p> + +<p>There was a fair in the town the day I left Kronstadt. The field where +it is held is right opposite Hotel "No. 1," and the whole place was +crowded with country-folks in quaint costumes—spruce, gaily-dressed +people mixed up with Wallack cattle-drivers and other picturesque +rascals, such as gipsies and Jews, and here and there a Turk, and, more +ragged than all, a sprinkling of refugee Bulgarians. Though it was a +scene of strange incongruities—a very jumble of races—yet it was by no +means a crowd of roughs; on the contrary, the well-dressed, well-to-do +element prevailed. The thrifty Saxon was very much there, intent on +making a good bargain; the neatly-dressed Szekler walked about holding +his head on his shoulders<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> with an air of resolute self-respect—they +are unmistakable, are these proud rustics. Many a fair-haired Saxon +maiden too tripped along, eyeing askance the peculiar "get-up" of the +Englishman as he was about to mount his noble steed and ride forth into +the wilds. If I was amused by the crowd, I believe the crowd was greatly +amused at my proceedings. Mine own familiar friend, I verily believe, +would have passed me by on the other side, I cut so queer a figure. As +usual on these occasions, I had sent forward my portmanteau, this time +to Maros Vásárhely; but everything else I possessed I carried round +about me and my horse somehow, and I am not a man "who wants but little +here below."</p> + +<p>Besides my <i>toilette de voyage</i>, I had my cooking apparatus, a small jar +of Liebig's meat, and some compressed tea, and other little odds and +ends of comforts. I had also provided myself with some bacon and +<i>slivovitz</i> for barter, a couple of bottles of the spirit being turned +into a big flask slung alongside of my lesser flask for wine. Nor was +this all, for having duly secured my saddle-bags, I had the plaid and +mackintosh rolled up neatly and strapped in front of the saddle; then my +gun, field-glass, and roll of three maps were slung across my shoulders. +<i>Nota bene</i> my pockets were full to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> repletion. In my leathern belt was +stuck a revolver, handy, and a bowie-knife not far off.</p> + +<p>But the portrait of this Englishman as he appeared to the Kronstadt +people on that day is not yet complete. His legs were encased in Hessian +boots; his shooting-jacket was somewhat the worse for wear; and his hat, +which had been eminently respectable at first starting, had acquired a +sort of brigandish air; and to add to the drollery of his general +appearance, the excellent little Servian horse he rode was not high +enough for a man of his inches.</p> + +<p>With my weapons of offence and defence I must have appeared a "caution" +to robbers, and it seems that the business of the fair was suspended to +witness my departure. I was profoundly unconscious at the time of the +public interest taken in my humble self, but later I heard a very +humorous account of the whole proceeding from some relatives who visited +Kronstadt about three weeks afterwards. I believe I am held in +remembrance in the town as a typical Englishman!</p> + +<p>Well, to take up the thread of my narrative—like Don Quixote, "I +travelled <i>all</i> that day." If any reader can remember Gustave Doré's +illustration of the good knight on that occasion, he will have some idea +of how the sky looked on this very ride of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> mine. As evening approached, +the settled grey clouds, which had hung overhead like a pall all the +afternoon, were driven about by a rough wind, which went on rising +steadily. The grim phantom-haunted clouds came closer and closer round +about me as darkness grew apace, and now and then the gust brought with +it a vicious "spate" of rain. With no immediate prospect of shelter, my +position became less and less lively. I had not bargained for a night on +the highroad, or lodgings in a dry ditch or under a tree. Indeed those +luxuries were not at hand; for trees there were none bordering the road, +or in the open fields which stretched away on either side; and as for a +<i>dry</i> ditch, I heard the streams gurgling along the watercourses, which +were full to overflowing, as well they might be, seeing that it had +rained for three days.</p> + +<p>My object was to reach the village of Büksad, but where was Büksad now +in reference to myself? I had no idea it was such a devil of a way off +when I started. I had foolishly omitted to consult the map for myself, +and had just relied on what I was told, though I might have remembered +how loosely country-people all the world over speak of time and space.</p> + +<p>When at length the darkness had become perplexing—<i>entre chien et +loup</i>, as the saying is—I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> met a peasant with a fierce-looking +sheep-dog by his side. The brute barked savagely round me as if he meant +mischief, and I soon told the peasant if he did not call off his dog +directly I would shoot him. He called his dog back, which proved he +understood German, so I then asked if I was anywhere near Büksad. To my +dismay he informed me that it was a long way off; how long he would not +say, for without further parley he strode on, and he and his dog were +soon lost to view in the thick misty darkness.</p> + +<p>Not a furlong farther, I came suddenly upon a house by the roadside, and +a man coming out of the door with a light at the same moment enabled me +to see "Vendéglo" on a small signboard. Good-luck: here, then, was an +inn, where at least shelter was possible; and shelter was much to be +desired, seeing that the rain was now a steady downpour. On making +inquiries, I found that I was already in Büksad. The peasant had played +off a joke at my expense, or perhaps dealt me a Roland for an Oliver, +for threatening to shoot his dog. A <i>paprika handl</i> was soon prepared +for me. In all parts of the country where travellers are possible, the +invariable reply to a demand for something to eat is the query, "Would +the gentleman like <i>paprika handl</i>?" and he had better like it, for his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> +chances are small of getting anything else. While I was seeing after my +horse, the woman of the inn caught a miserable chicken, which I am sure +could have had nothing to regret in this life; and in a marvellously +short time the bird was stewed in red pepper, and called <i>paprika +handl</i>.</p> + +<p>I was aware that Count M—— owned a good deal of property in the +neighbourhood of Büksad, and as I had a letter of introduction to his +bailiff, I set off the next morning to find him. My object in coming to +this particular part of the country was principally to explore that +curious place Mount Büdos, mentioned by Dr Daubeny and others. I wanted +to see for myself what amount of sulphur deposits were really to be +found there. Count M——'s bailiff was very ready to be obliging, and he +provided me with a guide, and further provided the guide with a horse, +so that I had no difficulty in arranging an expedition to the mount of +evil smell.</p> + +<p>Having arranged the commissariat as usual, I started one fine morning +with my guide. We rode for about two hours through a forest of majestic +beech-trees, and then came almost suddenly, without any preparation, +upon a beautiful mountain lake, called St Anna's Lake. It lies in a +hollow; the hills around, forming cup-like sides, are clothed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> with +thick woods down to its very edge. Looking down from above, I saw the +green reflection of the foliage penetrating the pellucid water till it +met the other heaven reflected below. The effect was very singular, and +gave one the idea of a lovely bit of world and sky turned upside down; +it produced, moreover, a sort of fascination, as if one must dive down +into its luring depths. No human sight or sound disturbed the weird +beauty of this lonely spot. I longed at last to break the oppressive +silence, and I fired off my revolver. This brought down a perfect volley +of echoes, and at the same time, from the highest crags, out flew some +half-dozen vultures; they wheeled round for a few moments, then +disappeared behind the nearest crest of wood.</p> + +<p>My guide soon set about making a fire; and while dinner was being +cooked, I bethought me I would have a bath. I took a header from a +projecting rock, but I very soon made the best of my way out of the +water again. It was icy cold; I hardly ever recollect feeling any water +so cold—I suppose because the lake is so much in shadow. After the meal +we pushed on to Büdos, another two hours of riding; this time through a +forest so dense that we could scarcely make our way. At last we reached +a path, and this brought us before long to a roughly-constructed +log-hut. This, I was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> told, was the "summer hotel." Further on there +were a few more log-huts, the "dependence" of the hotel itself. The +bathing season was over, so hosts and guests had alike departed. This +must be "roughing it" with a vengeance, I should say; but my guide told +me that very "high-born" people came here to be cured.</p> + +<p>It is a favourite place, too, for some who desire the last cure of all +for life's ills; a single breath of the gaseous exhalations is death. +One cleft in the hill is called the "Murderer;" so fatal are the fumes +that even birds flying over it are often known to drop dead! The +elevation of Mount Büdos is only 3800 feet; there are several caves +immediately below the highest point. The principal cave is ten feet high +and forty feet long, the interior being lower than the opening. A +mixture of gases is exhaled, which, being heavier than the atmosphere, +fills it up to the level of the entrance; and when the sun is shining +into the cave, one can see the gaseous fumes swaying to and fro, owing +to the difference of refraction.</p> + +<p>I experienced a sensation which has often been noticed here before. On +entering the cave, and standing for some minutes immersed in the gas, +but with my head above it, I had the feeling of warmth pervading the +lower limbs. I might have believed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> myself to be in a warm bath up to +the chest. This is a delusion, however, for the gaseous exhalation is +pronounced by experimenters to be cooler, if anything, than the air; I +suppose they mean the air of an ordinary summer day. The walls of the +cave arc covered with a deposit of sulphur, and at the extreme end drops +of liquid are continually falling. This moisture is esteemed very highly +for disease of the eyes; it is collected by the peasants. The gas-baths +are resorted to by persons suffering from gout or rheumatism. They are +taken in this manner: The patient wears a loose dress over nothing else, +and arriving at the mouth of the cave, he must take one long breath. +Instantly he runs into the dread cavern, remaining only as long as he +can hold his breath; he then rushes back again. One single inhalation, +and he would be as dead as a door-nail! How the halt and lame folk +manage I don't know, but my guide was eloquent about the wonderful cures +that are made here every year.</p> + +<p>There are a variety of mineral springs in different parts of the +mountain. At the source some have the appearance of boiling, from the +quantity of carbonic acid gas given off; but it is only in appearance, +for the water is very cold.</p> + +<p>The springs which yield iron and carbonic acid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> are much used for +drinking. There are also some primitive arrangements for bathing near +by. A square hole is cut in the ground; this is boarded round, and a +simple wooden shed, like a gigantic dish-cover, is put over it. Here +again my guide said that miraculous cures are wrought annually. It is a +wonder that anybody is left with an ache or a pain in a country which +has such wonderful waters. I think my guide thought I was a doctor, who +was searching for a new health-resort, and he was quite ready to do his +share of the puffing.</p> + +<p>On Mount Büdos itself, in other parts than the cave, there occurs a good +deal of sulphur; specimens are often found distributed which are very +rich indeed. The place certainly deserves a thorough exploration, with a +view to utilising the sulphur deposits; but it is so overgrown with +vegetation that the search would involve considerable trouble and +expense.</p> + +<p>There is a fine view from Mount Büdos towards Moldavia. I was fortunate +in having good lights and shades, and therefore enjoyed the prospect +most thoroughly. I should like to have remained longer on the summit, +but not being prepared for camping out it was not possible; so very +reluctantly we set about returning.</p> + +<p>My guide led me back to Büksad by another<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> route, a rough road, with +deep ruts and big stones that must make driving in any vehicle, except +for the honour and glory of it, a very doubtful blessing. But bad roads +never do seem to matter in Hungary. Everybody drives everywhere; they +would drive over a glacier if they had one. Occasionally we came upon +some charming bits of forest scenery. The trees were grand, especially +the beech; they were of greater girth than any I had yet seen in +Transylvania. I noticed many mineral springs by the roadside; one could +distinguish them by the deposit of oxide of iron on the stones near by.</p> + +<p>When I got back to Büksad, I found the bailiff waiting to tell me that +Count M—— and Baron A—— desired their compliments, and would be +pleased to see me at Tusnad, if I would go over there. I had no +introduction to these noblemen, and mention the invitation as an +instance of Hungarian hospitality. They had simply heard that an +Englishman was travelling about the country.</p> + +<p>I rode over to Tusnad the following day, and found it, as I had been led +to expect, a very picturesque little place, a number of Swiss cottages +dropped down in the clearing of the forest, with a good "restauration," +built by Count M—— himself. When I was there the season<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> was over; but +I am told that it is full of fashionables in June and July, and that the +waters have an increasing reputation. My attention was drawn to the +singular fact of two springs bubbling up within six feet of each other, +which are proved by chemical analysis to be distinctly different in +composition. I fancy Count M—— was much amused at the fact of an +English gentleman travelling about alone on horseback, without any +servants or other impedimenta. I remember a friend of mine telling me +that once in Italy, when he declined to hire a carriage from a peasant +at a perfectly exorbitant price, and said he preferred walking, the +fellow called after him, saying, "We all know you English are mad enough +for anything!"</p> + +<p>I don't know whether the Hungarian Count drew the same conclusion in my +case, but I could see he was very much amused; I don't think any other +people understand the Englishman's love of adventure.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> + +<h4>The baths of Tusnad—The state of affairs before 1848—Inequality +of taxation—Reform—The existing land laws—Communal +property—Complete registration of titles to estates—Question of +entail.</h4> + + +<p>I mixed exclusively in Hungarian society during my stay at the baths of +Tusnad. With Baron —— and Herr von —— I talked politics by the hour. +The Hungarians have the natural gift of eloquence. They pour forth their +words like the waters of a mill-race, no matter in what language. My +principal companion at Tusnad spoke French. The true Magyar will always +employ that language in preference to German when speaking with a +foreigner; but as often as not the Hungarians of good society speak +English perfectly well. The younger generation, almost without +exception, understand our language, and are extremely well read in +English literature.</p> + +<p>I had so recently left Saxonland, where public opinion is opposed to +everything that has the faintest shade of Magyarism, that I felt in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> +state of Victor Hugo's hero, of whom he said, "Son orientation était +changée, ce qui avait été le couchant était le levant. Il s'était +retourné." The transition was certainly curious, but I confess to +getting rather tired of the mutual recriminations of political parties; +respecting each other's good qualities, they are simply colour-blind.</p> + +<p>After the Saxons had been allowed to drop out of the conversation, I led +my Magyar friend to talk of the state of things before 1848, and to +enlighten me as to the existing condition of laws of property. My +Hungarian—who, by the way, is a man well qualified to speak about legal +matters—showered down upon me a perfect avalanche of facts. Leaving out +a few patriotic flashes, the substance of what he told me was much as +follows. I had especially asked about the recent legislation on the land +question.</p> + +<p>"In the old time, before '48, the State, the Church, and the Nobles were +the <i>sole</i> landowners. The holding of land was strictly prohibited to +all who were not noble; but to the peasants were allotted certain +tracts, called for distinction 'session-lands.' For this privilege the +peasant had to give up a tenth part of the produce to the lord, and +besides he had to work for him two, and in some cases even <i>three</i>, days +in the week. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> <i>robot</i>, or forced labour, varied in different +localities. The lord was judge over his tenants, and even his bailiff +had the right of administering twenty-five lashes to insubordinate +peasants. The <i>time</i> of the forced labour was at the option of the lord, +who might oblige his tenant to give his term of labour consecutively +during seed-sowing or harvest, at the very time that the peasant's own +land required his attendance. It may easily be imagined that this was a +fruitful cause of dispute between the lord and his serfs.</p> + +<p>"But the most glaring act of injustice under the old system was that +<i>all the taxes</i> were paid by the session-holding peasantry, while the +nobles were privileged and tax-free. They absolutely contributed nothing +to the revenue of the country in the way of direct taxes!</p> + +<p>"This peculiarity of the Constitution made it the interest of the Crown +to <i>preserve</i> the area of the tax-paying peasant-land against the +encroachments of the tax-free landlord. It often happened that on the +death or removal of a peasant-holder the lord would choose to absorb the +session-land into the <i>allodium</i>, which, being tax-free, resulted in a +loss to the imperial revenue. To prevent this absorption of +session-lands by the landlord, and also to accommodate the burdens of +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> peasantry, which had become almost intolerable in the last century, +owing to the tyranny of the feudal superiors—to prevent this, I repeat, +a general memorial survey with a view to readjustment took place in 1767 +by command of Maria Theresa.</p> + +<p>"This very important settlement, which came to be known as the +'<span class="smcap">Urbarial Conscription</span>,' laid down and defined the rights and +services of the peasants, and the amount of land to be held by them. The +nobles henceforth were obliged to find new tenants of the peasant class +in the event of the 'session-lands' becoming vacant. Likewise their +unjust impositions on the serfs were restricted, and the <i>rights</i> of the +latter, in respect to wood-cutting and pasturage on the lord's lands, +were established by law.</p> + +<p>"This was all very well as far as it went," said my friend; "but the +inequality of taxation and the forced labour were crying evils not to be +endured in the nineteenth century. Our people who travelled in England +and elsewhere came back imbued with new ideas. We in Transylvania assume +the credit of taking the lead in liberal politics. Baron Wesselényi was +one of the first to advise a radical reform, and others—Count Bethlen, +Baron Kemeny, and Count Teleki—were all agreed as to the necessity of +bringing about the manumission of the serfs.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> It is an old story now. I +am speaking of the third and fourth decades of the century, and +political excitement was at white-heat. The extreme views of Wesselényi +raised a host of opponents among his own class, who regarded the +prospect of reform as nothing short of class suicide. Everything else +might go to the devil as long as they retained their privileges; the +devil, however, is apt to make a clean sweep of the board when he has +got the game in his own hands, but these noble wiseacres could not see +that. In other parts of the country good men and true were working up +the leaven of reform. The great patriot Széchenyi, as long ago as 1830, +when he published his work on 'Credit,' had shown his countrymen their +shortcomings. He had proved to them that their laws and their +institutions were not marching with the spirit of the age; that, in +short, the 'rights of humanity' called for justice. What this truly +great man did for the material improvement of his country could hardly +be told between sunrise and sundown. You practical English were our +teachers and our helpers in those days, when bridges had to be built, +roads to be made, and steam navigation set up in our rivers. English +horses were brought over to improve the breed in Hungary, and English +agricultural machinery still turns out treasure-trove from our fields. +But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> beyond all this, what we saw and admired in England's history was +her constitutional struggles for liberty; the efforts made by freedom +within the pale of the law; her capacity, in short, for self-reform. You +see how it is, my dear sir, that everything English is so popular with +us in Hungary."</p> + +<p>I bowed my acknowledgments, and begged my friend to proceed with his +narrative of events.</p> + +<p>"Well, to go back to our own history," he continued, in a tone which had +in it a shade of melancholy, "you see from 1823 to the eve of 1848 the +Diet had been tinkering at reform in a half-hearted sort of way, but the +Paris revolution let loose the whirlwind, and events were precipitated. +I need not tell you there was a standing quarrel between us and the +reactionary rulers in Vienna. It was the deceitful policy of Austria to +bring about a temporary show of agreement between us. The Archduke +Stephen was appointed Viceroy, assisted by a council composed entirely +of Hungarians. Now mark this turning-point in our history. The first Act +of this Diet, presided over by Count Batthyanyi, was to abolish at one +sweep the class privileges of the nobility. Roundly speaking, eight +millions of serfs received their freedom by that Act! Nor was this all, +the important part remains to be told—and I do not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> think foreigners +always realise it—the Act further enforced that the session-lands held +by the peasants became henceforth <i>their freehold property</i>. Half, or +nearly half, the kingdom thus, by the voluntary concession of the +nobles, became converted from a feudal tenure, burdened with duties, +into an absolute freehold.</p> + +<p>"Like every sudden change, the result was not unmixed good. The Wallacks +especially were not prepared for their emancipation; they thought +equality before the law meant equality of goods."</p> + +<p>I now inquired how the working of the land laws was carried out, and to +this my friend replied:—</p> + +<p>"As a lawyer I can give you an exact statement in a few words. The +disturbed state of the country after the war of independence, which +followed immediately upon the emancipation of the serfs, prevented for a +while the effective realisation of the great reform of '48. However, in +1853 several imperial decrees were promulgated, by means of which the +changed system was worked out in detail. 'Urbarial courts' were +instituted to inquire into the amount of compensation due to the lords +of the manors who had lost the tithes and the 'forced labour' of the +former serfs. To meet this compensation 'State urbarial bonds' were +created and apportioned; they bear five per<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> cent. interest, and are +redeemable within eighty years, with two drawings annually. The fund for +this compensation is raised by a special tax on every Hungarian subject; +not only the freed peasant pays towards the fund, but the lord himself, +and those who never had any feudal tenants.</p> + +<p>"The peasants had also to receive their compensation for the loss of +pasturage and the right of cutting wood on the lord's demesne. In lieu +of these privileges they received allotments of forest and pasturage as +absolute property. The land thus acquired by the peasants is in fact +<i>parish property</i>, or in other words, communal property. This is the +only instance in which the parish appears as landowner, for all other +peasant property, with the exception of the parish buildings, such as +the school, is the property of the respective peasants. The parish +authorities regulate the usage of the common pasturage and common +forest. The sale or cutting down of the latter is subject to the +permission of the county authorities."</p> + +<p>I now proceeded to question my friend about the laws respecting the +transfer of land, and especially about the registration of titles of +estate. To these inquiries he replied as follows:—</p> + +<p>"Land in Hungary is the absolute property of that person, or corporate +body, who appears as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> owner in the registry. A limitation of claim to +ownership does not exist with us; indeed it is contrary to the law. The +<i>Avitische Patent</i> of 1854 prescribed further that every one should be +regarded as the rightful owner who actually held the property in +1848—<i>i.e.</i>, the <i>status quo</i> of 1848 to be accepted as the basis. The +<i>Urbarium</i> of Maria Theresa was, in short, the stand-point in all these +arrangements, whether it was the sessional lands of tenants formerly +held in hereditary use, now freehold, or the <i>allodium</i> of the noble. +Immediately succeeding the <i>Avitische Patent</i>, the <i>registration of +land</i> was made law, in conformity with which all estates had been +surveyed and entered on the registry as belonging to those owners who +possessed the same in consequence of the above-named patent."</p> + +<p>"But how about disputed inheritance-lands held by mortgagees, and other +contingencies always arising in regard to estates?" I asked.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry to say that dreadful cases of injustice were caused by this +enactment. Whole families were reduced to beggary, and the greatest +rascals obtained possession by this law of enormous estates, simply +because they happened to hold the land in 1848, and the rightful owner +did not advance his claim within the prescribed time. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> evil could +not be redressed, and in 1861, when the Hungarian Constitution was +reinstated, the Diet of that year was obliged to accept and confirm the +<i>Avitische Patent</i>, and the registration of land as directly following +it. The grievances are past, but the benefit remains to us and our +children. In Hungary at the present time the transfer of land is as +simple as buying or selling the registered shares of a railway company. +The registry forms the basis of every transaction connected with landed +property, and, as we lawyers say, what is not entered there <i>non est in +mundo</i>. Mortgages must be set down against the registered title. +Contracts of leases are also entered, and in the case of farms being +taken, caution-money, amounting generally to a quarter's rent, must be +deposited with the authorities."</p> + +<p>"One more question. Are there no entailed estates amongst your +aristocracy?"</p> + +<p>"Very few, indeed, even among the richest aristocracy. An Act of +entailment can, it is true, be founded, but it is rarely permitted, +being looked upon with disfavour for reasons of political economy. Such +an Act would require in any case the special permission of the sovereign +and of Government; and then the estate is placed under a special court. +Without special permission from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> this court neither an alteration of the +Act can take place, nor is sale or mortgage allowed. Hungarian law also +interposes some restrictions in the case of a testator, who must leave +by will at least half his property to his children. And with regard to +women, the law with us is specially careful to preserve a woman's legal +existence after marriage."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> + +<h4>Fine scenery in Szeklerland—Csik Szent Marton—Absence of +inns—The Szekler's love of lawsuits—Csik Szereda—Hospitality +along the, road—Wallack atrocities in 1848—The Wallacks not +Panslavists.</h4> + + +<p>The charming scenery of the Szeklerland, and the kindly hospitality of +the people, induced me to linger on. I had many a ride through those +glorious primeval forests, where the girth of the grand old oak-trees +and their widespreading branches are in themselves a sight to see: the +beech, too, are very fine. Climbing farther, the deciduous woods give +place to sombre pine-trees—the greybeards of the mountain. A great +charm in this part of the country, at least from a picturesque point of +view, is the affluence of water. Every rocky glen has its gurgling rill, +every ravine its stream, which, at an hour's notice almost, may become a +mountain torrent, should a storm break over the watershed. A plague of +waters is no unfrequent occurrence, as the farmer in the valley knows to +his cost. Fields are laid under water, and the turbu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>lent streams often +bring down great masses of earth and rock in a way that becomes +"monotonous" for the man who has to clear his land or his roads of the +<i>débris</i>. Mr Judd remarks that the volcanic rocks of Hungary have +"suffered enormously from denuding causes." Every fresh storm reminds +one that the process is in active operation.</p> + +<p>After finally leaving Tusnad, I rode on to Csik Szent Marton, where, as +there was no inn, I had to present myself at the best house in the place +and crave their hospitality. My request was taken as a matter of course, +and they received me with the greatest kindness; in fact it was with +great difficulty that I could get away the next day. My host entreated +me to remain longer, and when he found that I was really bent on +departing, he gave me several letters of introduction to friends of his +along the road I was likely to travel. It was a very acceptable act of +kindness, for there are hardly any inns in this part of the country. "If +Transylvania is an odd corner of Europe," then is the Csik or +Szeklerland a still more odd corner; by no possibility can it ever be +the highroad to anywhere else. I am not surprised that my lawyer friend +said that there were still some lawsuits pending in connection with the +allotments of forest and pasturage in this part of Hungary, though +everything was defi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>nitely settled elsewhere. The Szekler is as +troublesome and turbulent in some respects as his own mountain streams; +added to which he dearly loves a lawsuit: it is in the eyes of the +peasant a patent of respectability, as keeping a gig formerly was in +England.</p> + +<p>"Why do you go to law about such a trifle?" observed a friend of mine to +his neighbour.</p> + +<p>"Well, you see I have never had a lawsuit, as all my neighbours have had +about something or another; so, now there is the chance, I had better +have one myself!"</p> + +<p>It is well for the lawyers that there is "a good deal of human nature" +everywhere, especially in Hungary, otherwise they would have a bad time +of it, where the legal expenses of "transfer" are a few florins, whether +it be for an acre of vineyard or for half a <i>comitat</i>. I must observe, +however, that in the sale of lands or houses, Government intervenes with +a heavy tax on the transaction.</p> + +<p>Leaving my hospitable entertainers at Csik Szent Marton, I went on to +Csik Szereda, where I was kindly taken in by the postmaster. In this +case I was provided with a letter; but a stranger would naturally go to +the postmaster or the clergyman to ask for a night's lodging. At first I +felt diffident on this score; but I soon got over my shyness,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> for in +Szeklerland they make a stranger so heartily welcome that he ceases to +regard himself as an intruder. In out-of-the-way places one is looked +upon as a sort of heaven-sent "special correspondent." There is a story +told of Baron ——, one of the nearly extinct old-fashioned people, who +regularly, an hour or so before the dinner-hour, rides along the nearest +highroad to try and catch a guest. It has even been whispered that on +one occasion a couple of intelligent-looking travellers, who declined to +be "retained" for dinner, were severely beaten for their recalcitrant +behaviour, by order of the hospitable Baron. The story is well founded, +and I daresay took place before '48, when anything might have happened.</p> + +<p>I can bear witness that I have never myself been ill-treated for +declining Hungarian hospitality, but when in Saxonland something very +much the reverse occurred to me. I once entered a village at the end of +a long day's ride, and stopping at the first house, asked for a night's +lodging, whereupon I was told to ask at the next house. They said they +could not take me in, excusing themselves on the score of an important +domestic event being expected. I went on a little farther, though the +"shades of night were falling fast," and repeated my request at the next +house. I give you my word, there were <i>more</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> domestic events—always +the same excuse. I began to calculate that the population must be +rapidly on the increase in that place. It was too much. I entered the +last house of that straggling village with a stern resolve that not even +new-born twins should bar my claim to hospitality!</p> + +<p>I found the postmaster at Csik Szereda a very intelligent man, with a +fund of anecdotes and recollections, which generally centred in the +troubles of '48. As I mentioned before, the Szeklers rose <i>en masse</i> +against the Austrians. One of their officers, Colonel Alexander Gál, +proved himself a very distinguished leader. Corps after corps were +organised and sent to aid General Bem. "It was a terrible time; the men +had to fight the enemy in the plain while our old men and women defended +their homesteads against the jealous Saxons and the brutal Wallacks."</p> + +<p>It was not in one place, or from one person, but from every one with +whom I spoke on the subject, that I heard frightful stories of Wallack +atrocities. In one instance a noble family—in all, thirteen persons, +including a new-born infant—were slaughtered under circumstances of +horrible barbarity within the walls of their castle. The name I think +was Bardi; it is matter of history.</p> + +<p>Amongst other horrors, the Wallacks on several occasions buried their +victims alive, except the head,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> which they left above ground; they +would then hurl stones at the unfortunate creatures, or cut off the +heads with a scythe. It was not a war of classes but of race, for the +poor peasants amongst the Magyars and Szeklers fared just as badly at +the hands of the infuriated Wallacks as the nobles.</p> + +<p>The belief is still held that the Vienna Government instigated the +outbreak. Certainly arms had been put into the hands of these +uncivilised hordes under the pretence of organising a sort of militia. +Metternich knew the character of these irregulars, as he had known and +proved the character of the Slovacks in Galicia in the terrible rising +of the serfs in 1846. His complicity on that occasion has never been +disproved.</p> + +<p>The winter of 1848-49 must have been a time of unexampled misery to the +Magyars of Transylvania. The nobles generally dared not remain in their +lonely châteaux; it was not a question of bravery, for how could the +feeble members who remained home from the war guard the castle from the +torches of a hundred frantic, yelling wretches, who, with arms in their +hands, spared neither age nor sex? For the time they were mad—these +Eastern people are subject to terrible epidemics of frenzy!</p> + +<p>The Szekler town of Maros Vásárhely, which was strong enough to keep the +Wallacks at bay, was the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> sanctuary of the noble ladies and children of +that part of Transylvania. It was so full of fugitives that the +overcrowding was most distressing. A lady, the bearer of an historic +name, told me herself that she and seven of her family passed the whole +winter in one small room in Maros Yásárhely. Added to the discomfort and +insalubrity of this crowding, they were almost penniless, having nothing +but "Kossuth money." For the time the sources of their income were +entirely arrested. In this instance one of the children died—succumbed +to bad air and privation. Another patrician dame kept her family through +the winter by selling the vegetables from her garden; this together with +seventeen florins in silver was all they had to depend upon. Add to this +the misery of not hearing for weeks, perhaps even for months, from their +husbands or sons, who were with the armies of Görgey or Bem.</p> + +<p>The Magyars were not always safe in the towns, for at Nagy Enyed, a +rather considerable place, the Wallacks succeeded in setting fire to it, +and butchered all the inhabitants who were not fortunate enough to +escape their fury. In the neighbourhood of Reps the castles of the +nobility suffered very severely. Grim incidents were told me, things +that were too horrible not to be true—infants spiked and women +tortured. One cannot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> dwell upon the details! What struck me as very +remarkable was the fact that Magyars and Wallacks are now dwelling +together again in peace side by side. It reminds one of the people who +plant their vines again on Vesuvius directly an eruption is over. In the +last century, in 1784, there was a dreadful outbreak of the Wallacks. +Individually they are really not bad fellows—so it seemed to me—and +one hears of fewer murders among them than perhaps in Ireland. The +danger exists of leaders arising who may stir up the nationality +fever—the idea of the great <i>Roumain</i> nation that looms big in their +imagination!</p> + +<p>They love neither Croatians, Slavonians, nor Austrians, and they are no +longer a safe card to play off against the Magyars; but indeed I would +fain believe that better and wiser counsels now prevail. Austria is not +the Austria of '48, any more than the England of to-day is the same as +England before the Reform Bill.</p> + +<p>The autumn evenings were getting long, and after supper, as I sat +smoking my pipe by the stove in the simple but scrupulously neat +apartment of my host, he, in his turn, asked me about England. It is +very touching the warmth with which these people in the far-off "land +beyond the forest" speak of us. "We never can forget how kindly England<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> +received our patriots." This, or words like it, were said to me many +times, and always the name of Palmerston came to the fore. "He cordially +hated the Austrians." What better ground of sympathy?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> + +<h4>Ride to Szent Domokos—Difficulty about quarters—Interesting +host—Jewish question in Hungary—Taxation—Financial matters.</h4> + + +<p>From Szereda I went to Szent Domokos. It was a long ride, and I was +again nearly benighted. However, I reached my destination this time just +as the last streak of daylight had departed.</p> + +<p>I had some difficulty in making the people I met understand that I +wanted the postmaster's house. No one, it appeared, could speak a word +of German. At length I found the place; but a new difficulty arose. The +postmaster, it seemed, was away, as far as I could make out from his +wife. She seemed greatly puzzled, not to say alarmed, at seeing an armed +horseman ride up, who demanded hospitality; and I daresay she was the +more puzzled at not being able "to place me," as the Yankees say, for +she asked me if I was a Saxon, an Austrian, or a Turk? My appearance, I +suppose, was rather uncouth and alarming. She was young and very +pretty—an Armenian, I learned afterwards. These<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> women are apt to have +Oriental notions about men, and she was evidently afraid to ask me in.</p> + +<p>There was I, with my tired horse, completely up a tree. I thought to +myself, I cannot stay in the street, so pushing my way through a sort of +courtyard, I found out what appeared to be the stable. This I took +possession of, all the time making the most polite bows and gestures, +for we hardly understood a word of each other's language. There was no +help for it, I must make myself at home. I put the horse up, I relieved +him of his saddle and saddle-bags, and seeing a bucket and a well not +far off, I fetched some water. By this time the young woman had called +in some neighbours, and I could see them watching me from behind the +half-closed doors and windows. I must observe I had lighted my own +lantern that I always carried with me, so that my proceedings were made +quite visible to the cautious spectators. They never attempted to +interfere with me, and I went on doing my work quietly and +unostentatiously. The position was ludicrous in the highest degree!</p> + +<p>While I was yet foraging for my horse's supper, by good-luck in came the +postmaster. He spoke German, and I was soon able to make all square. He +was as civil as possible, offering me at once the hospitality of his +roof, which in fact I had already<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> assumed. I saw he was very anxious to +remove the unpleasant impression of his wife's mistake. He bade me +welcome many times over, he thanked me for the honour I did him in +offering to sleep under his humble roof, and further persisted in +calling me "Herr Lord." It was in vain that I corrected him on this +point. "I was an Englishman, therefore I must be a 'Herr Lord,' and +there was an end of it."</p> + +<p>When Mr Boner was travelling in Szeklerland he was also, <i>nolens +volens</i>, raised to the peerage, so I suppose it is a settled conviction +of the people that we are all lords in Great Britain.</p> + +<p>We had for supper a capital <i>filet d'ours</i> from a bear that had been +shot only two days before. I enjoyed my supper immensely; the wine was +as good as the food. My pretty hostess laughed a good deal over the +false alarm my appearance had created. Her husband interpreted between +us, but I promised to learn Hungarian before I paid them another visit. +My host proved himself to be a very intelligent man; I had an +exceedingly interesting conversation with him after supper. He +complained bitterly of the heavy pressure of taxation, saying that +Government ought to manage things more economically, for that every year +now there was a deficit.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p> + +<p>"Yet your country is rich in natural resources, as rich almost as +France, barring her advantages of seaboard."</p> + +<p>"Yes, we have wealth under the soil," he replied, "and what we want is +capital to develop our resources. Herein Austria has stood in our way; +you know the old policy of Austria, as far back as Maria Theresa's time, +which was to make Hungary Catholic, to make her poor, and to turn her +people into Germans. This last they will never do; but they have +succeeded in their second project only too well. They have made us poor +enough, they have discouraged manufactures and industries of every kind. +We wish for free trade, but Austria is opposed to it. The manufactures +of Bohemia must be nursed, and accordingly we are made to suffer. We +want to be brought into contact with our customers in Western Europe; we +want, in fact, to get our trade out of the hands of the Jews."</p> + +<p>"I wish to ask you your candid opinion about the Jews. Some people say +they are the curse of the country; others again, that Hungarian commerce +would be nowhere without them."</p> + +<p>"I will tell you what happens," replied my friend, evading a direct +answer to my latter observation. "A wretched Jew comes into this +village, or some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> other place—it does not matter, it is always the same +story. He comes probably from Galicia as poor as a rat, he settles +himself in the village, and sells <i>slivovitz</i> on credit to the foolish +peasant, who, besotted with drink and debt, gets into his meshes; in the +end, the Jew having sucked the blood of his victims, possesses himself +of their little property, finds himself the object of universal hatred, +and then he moves on. He makes a fresh start in some other place, +beginning on a higher rung of the ladder; and you will find him sitting +in the highest seats before he has done."</p> + +<p>"If your people were less of spendthrifts and managed their affairs +themselves, then the Jews would cease to find a harvest amongst you."</p> + +<p>"Yes, that is true," he answered; "but we are not practical; we do not +organise well. The Jew always manages to be the middle-man between +ourselves and the consumers."</p> + +<p>"But without the Jew you would perhaps not even get so near to the +consumer," I observed quietly.</p> + +<p>My host puffed out a volume of smoke, and after a pause observed, before +he placed his pipe again between his lips, "In this part of the country, +in the Szeklerland, the better class of merchants are nearly all +Armenians."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span></p> + +<p>Apropos of the tax question, I have looked into the matter since, and I +am rather surprised to find the proportion not so heavy as I thought; on +the whole population it is about £1 a-head—certainly less than is borne +by many other states. In England, I believe, we are taxed at over £2 +a-head. Then, again, it is true that since 1870 there has been an annual +deficit, and the equilibrium of income and expenditure can hardly be +counted upon just yet; still things are moving in the right direction. +The Hungarians have been reproached for managing their finances badly +since the compromise with Austria in 1867, when the revenue came +exclusively under their own control. But in answer they say, that having +so lately entered the community of states, they found themselves in the +position of a minor who comes into house and lands that have need of +every sort of radical repair and improvement. Hungary has had to spend +heavily upon road-making, bridges, railroads, sanatory and other +economic improvements, and very heavily for rectification of the course +of the Danube; in fact they have ambitiously set themselves too much to +do in the time. They have rendered Buda-Pest, with its magnificent river +embankments, one of the finest capitals in Europe. The Magyar does +everything with a degree of splendour that savours of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> Oriental. +They know not the meaning of the homely adage which tells a man to "cut +his coat according to his cloth."</p> + +<p>Added to the pressure of accumulated expenses, Hungary has had a +succession of bad harvests—she has been passing through the seven lean +years. The last season has shown, however, a decided improvement, so we +may hope the bad corner is turned. I am informed that this year the +schedule for unpaid—viz., arrears of—taxes is completely wiped off. +Then, again, the income-tax in the space of five years ending 1874 +increased from 5,684,000 florins to 27,650,000 florins!</p> + +<p>The financial account of the current year is reassuring. At the sitting +of the Hungarian Diet on the 30th October,<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> the minister, in +presenting the estimates for 1878, said that in 1876 and 1877 the +expenditure had been reduced by £1,250,000. It was not possible to +continue at the same rate, and the net reduction next year would be +£360,000. It is true the deficit of 1877 is £1,600,000, a sufficiently +grave sum; but to judge the position fairly it is necessary to look at +the budgets of former years. In 1874, "in consequence of rather too +hasty investment of money in railways and other<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> public works," the +deficit was £6,000,700; in 1876 it had fallen to £3,100,000. The present +year, therefore, shows a steady reduction of those ugly figures at the +wrong side of the national account.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXV.</h2> + +<h4>Copper mine of Balanbanya—Miners in the wine-shop—Ride to St +Miklos—Visit to an Armenian family—Capture of a robber—Cold ride +to the baths of Borsék.</h4> + + +<p>Having expressed a wish to see the copper mine at Balanbanya, which is +some five miles from Szent Domokos, my host proposed to drive me over +the next morning. When the morning came the weather looked most +unpromising; there was a steady downpour, without any perceptible break +in the clouds in any quarter. I had made up my mind to go, and as after +the noonday meal it cleared slightly, we started. The mud was nearly up +to the axletree of our cart. After driving some time we reached a wild +and rather picturesque valley, in which rises the Alt, or, as it is +called when it reaches Roumania, the Aluta. The course of this stream is +singularly tortuous, winding about through rocks and defiles, often +changing its direction, and finally making a way for itself through the +Carpathian range.</p> + +<p>As we approached the copper mine it had all the appearance of a volcano, +for a heavy cloud of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> smoke hung over the spot like a canopy. This mine +has been worked for many years; formerly it paid well, but now it is in +the hands of a company, who are working at a loss, if I could believe +what I was told.</p> + +<p>I have repeatedly noticed in Hungary that people commit themselves to +works of this kind without the technical knowledge necessary to carry +them on successfully. The necessary capital, too, is generally wanting +to bring these mining operations to a successful issue; added to this +the managers are often not conspicuous for their honesty.</p> + +<p>I went over these works, and gave particular attention to the refinery. +Some of the processes for collecting the metal are ingeniously simple +and effective. The copper-ore is remarkably pure, being, it is said, +free from arsenic and antimony. The concern ought to pay, for the copper +is so well esteemed that it obtains the best price in the market.</p> + +<p>After inspecting the place, we went into the inn to have some supper, +and while there, several miners came in. I had heard that they were +renowned for their mining songs down in these parts, so I made friends +with the men and begged them to sing. After a little persuasion and a +refilling of glasses they began.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span></p> + +<p>The music of their songs was very mournful, and the words equally so, +descriptive of the dangers the poor miner had to encounter in searching +for ore in the gloomy depths of the earth. I believe my companion, the +postmaster, was very puzzled to understand what could interest me in +these rough miners. The scene was exceedingly picturesque; for some six +or eight of these stalwart fellows, with skin and clothes reddened by +the earth, sat by a long table, each with his flask of wine before him, +while the flicker of an oil-lamp threw its yellow light over the group. +One of the men spoke German, and with him I talked. He had elicited from +me the fact of my being an Englishman, whereupon he asked me a variety +of questions about our mines and our forests. Finally he inquired +whether our bears were as large as theirs. When I told him we had none +he could not credit it, saying, "But you must have bears on the +frontier?" When I explained that we lived upon an island he seemed much +surprised. I saw that his natural politeness prevented his saying what +was in his mind, but it was evident he thought that if the English lived +in an island they could not be such a great people after all.</p> + +<p>Not wishing to put my host to expense, more especially as the expedition +was undertaken solely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> for my benefit and at my suggestion, I paid the +score at the Balanbanya Inn without saying anything. I was very vexed to +find, however, that by doing so I had offended my companion very much. +He reminded me that I was a stranger in Szeklerland and his guest, and +it was contrary to all his ideas of hospitality that I should be the +paymaster. Instead of starting homewards, as we were ready to do, he +ordered more wine and some sardines, being the greatest delicacy the +house afforded. I was obliged to make a show of partaking of something +more, though I had amply supped. For these extras of course my friend +paid, but he was only half appeased, and was never quite the same again.</p> + +<p>The following morning I left the house of my too-hospitable +entertainers. My destination now was St Miklos. My road thither lay +through a pine-forest, as lonely a tract as could well be imagined, for +there were no signs whatever of human habitations. Certainly the weird +solitude of a pine-wood is more impressive than any other kind of forest +scenery. Under the impervious shade and the long grey vistas, one moves +forward with something of a superstitious feeling, as though one were +intruding into the sanctuary of unseen spirits. I cannot say that I was +a prey to such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> idle fancies, for the spirits I was likely to meet would +be very tangible enemies. This district had a bad reputation, owing to +several robberies having been committed in the neighbourhood; in fact +the whole country was just then under martial law. I was well armed, and +being alone I kept my weather-eye open; but I saw not even the ghost of +a brigand, and reached St Miklos in safety.</p> + +<p>It is usual when incendiary fires or robberies have been rife in any +district to place that part of the country under the <i>Statorium</i>, so +that if any person or persons are caught in <i>flagrante delicto</i>, they +are summarily tried and hung before a week is over. When I was in +Transylvania in the autumn of '75, the whole of the north-eastern corner +was under the <i>Statorium</i>.</p> + +<p>At St Miklos I put up at the house of an Armenian, who received me with +a most frank and kindly welcome, conducting me to the guest-chamber +himself after giving orders to the servants to attend to my horse. St +Miklos is charmingly situated in the valley of Gyergyó, at an elevation +of nearly 3000 feet above the sea-level. Here one is right in amongst +the mountains, the higher summits rising grandly around. The scenery is +very fine. There are interminable forests on every side, broken by +ravines and valleys, with strips of green<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> pasture-land. In former times +these primeval woods were tenanted by the wild aurochs, but now one sees +only the long-horned white cattle and the wiry little horses belonging +to the villages that nestle about in unexpected places. St Miklos is +almost entirely inhabited by Armenians. There is a market here, and it +is considered the central place of the district. The year before my +visit the town was nearly destroyed by fire. Upwards of three hundred +houses were burned down in less than three hours. The loss of property +was considerable, including stores of hay and <i>kukoricz</i> (Indian corn). +Since this conflagration, which caused such widespread distress in the +place, they have established a volunteer fire brigade. This ought to +exist in every village. Prompt action would often arrest the serious +proportions of a fire. It would be a good thing if some substitute could +be found for the wooden tiles used for roofing; in course of time they +become like tinder, and a spark will fire the roof. The houses in +Hungary are not, as a rule, constructed of wood, as in Upper Austria and +Styria, nor are they nearly so picturesque as in that part of the world. +In some Hungarian villages the cottages are painted partly blue and +partly yellow, which has a very odd effect; and throughout the country +they are built with the gable-end to the road.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span></p> + +<p>When I was at St Miklos there was great excitement over the recent +capture of a famous robber chief, whose band had kept the country-side +in a state of alarm for some months past. I was asked if I would like to +go and see him, and of course I was glad to get a sight at last of one +of the robbers of whom I had heard so much in my travels. I was never +more surprised than, on arriving in front of a very shaky wooden +building, to be told that this was the prison. A few resolute fellows +might have easily broken in and effected the rescue of their chief.</p> + +<p>There was no romance about the appearance of the miserable wretch that +we found within, stretched on a rough bed with wrists and feet heavily +ironed. These manacles were hardly needed, for he was severely wounded, +and seemed incapable of rising from his pallet. I never saw so repulsive +a countenance; and the flatness of the head was quite remarkable. His +eyes were very prominent, and had the restless look of a hunted animal, +which was painful in the extreme; but there was absolutely no redeeming +expression of human feeling in the dark coarse face. Well, there was +something human about him though. I was told he had been photographed +that morning, and that he had expressed considerable satisfaction at the +idea of his portrait<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> being preserved. He was under sentence of death! +There were various stories told of his capture, but I think the +following is the true account. It appears that he and his gang made +their appearance from time to time in the forest round the well-known +watering-place of Borsék. When visitors were on their way to the baths, +they were frequently stopped by the robbers in a mountain pass, in the +immediate neighbourhood of a dense forest that stretches far away for +miles and miles over the frontier. It was the custom of the robbers to +demand all the money, and they would relieve the travellers of their fur +cloaks and overcoats, and other useful articles; but if they did not +offer any resistance, they were permitted to go on uninjured, to take +their cure at the baths. I should doubt, however, that anybody would be +welcome there without a well-filled purse; at least I judge so from what +I heard of the eminently commercial character of the place.</p> + +<p>The robbers had the game in their own hands for a long while, but they +made a mistake one fine day. They stopped a handsome equipage, which +seemed to promise a good haul; but lo, behold, it was the +<i>Obergespannirz</i>, the lord-lieutenant of the county! He had four good +horses, and so saved himself by flight. But the authorities now really +bestirred themselves, and the soldiers were called<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> out to exterminate +this troublesome brood. They were accompanied by a renowned bear-slayer +who knew the forest well. It was with great difficulty that they +succeeded at last in tracking the robbers, or rather robber, for it was +only the chief who was trapped after all. It appears that the soldiers +and their guide came upon a small hut surrounded by almost impenetrable +thickets. The hunter crept on in advance of the rest, and looking into +the interior through the chinks of timbers, he saw a man drying his +clothes by a small fire. He quietly said, "Good-day." The robber started +up, and seizing his gun, flung open the door and fired his fowling-piece +at once at his visitor. Fortunately the powder proved to be damp, or he +must have received the full charge. The bear-slayer was now in close +quarters, and fired off his revolver within a short distance of the +other's head. The shot took effect, and he fell in a heap stunned and +senseless. At first they thought he was dead, and it is marvellous that +the well-aimed discharge did not kill him. His skull must have been +uncommonly thick. This fellow was known to be the leader. The rest of +the gang had probably escaped into Moldavia, from whence they came.</p> + +<p>My friends at St Miklos were kind enough to promise to get up a +bear-hunt for me, and it was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> arranged that I should go and see the +baths of Borsék, and return on Saturday night, so as to be ready for the +bear-hunt on Sunday. The "better observance of the Sabbath" is always +associated with bear-hunting in these parts.</p> + +<p>I left St Miklos in a snowstorm, though it was only the 16th of +September—very early for such signs of winter. I was not prepared for +wintry weather. It frustrated my plans and expectations a good deal. I +was disappointed, too, in the climate, for I had always heard that the +late autumn is about the finest time for Transylvania.</p> + +<p>I have invariably remarked that whenever I go to a new country it is the +signal for "abnormal meteorological disturbances," as they call bad +weather in the newspapers. My own notion is that weather is a very mixed +affair everywhere.</p> + +<p>For three mortal hours I rode on through a blinding snowstorm. At length +I espied the ruin of an unfinished cottage by the wayside, and here I +bethought me I would take shelter and see after my dinner; for whatever +happens, I can be hungry directly afterwards—I think an earthquake +would give me an appetite.</p> + +<p>My unfurnished lodgings were in as wild a spot as imagination could +picture. No wonder that the builder had abandoned the construction of +this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> solitary dwelling; why it had ever been commenced passes my +comprehension. It was just at the entrance of a mountain valley, +treeless, stony, and rugged, through which there were at intervals the +semblance of a track—a desolate, God-forgotten-looking place. On +consulting the map I found that the "road" led to Moldavia. I resolved +it should not lead me there. Here then, in this dreary spot, with its +gable-end to the road, and turning away from the prospect—and no +wonder—stood the carcass of a cottage. My horse and I scrambled over +the breach in the wall, where a garden never had smiled, and got into +the roofless house. It was with considerable difficulty that I found +sticks enough for my kitchen fire. I had to try back on the route I had +passed, for I remembered not far in the rear a group of firs standing +sentinels in the pass. I always took care to have an end of rope in my +pocket; with this I tied up my fagot, shouldered it, and returned to the +house of entertainment. The result of my trouble was a blazing fire, +whereat I cooked an excellent robber-steak. I made myself some tea, and +afterwards enjoyed—yes, actually enjoyed—my pipe. There is a pleasure +in battling with circumstances, even in such a small affair as getting +one's dinner under difficulties.</p> + +<p>After washing-up (by good-luck there was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> stream near by), I packed up +my belongings, and giving a last look around to see that I had left +nothing, I departed without as much as a <i>pourboire</i> for "service," one +of the advantages of self-help.</p> + +<p>The prospect for the rest of my ride was not lively, a good ten miles +yet to be done on a bad road. It had ceased to snow, but the clouds kept +driving down into the valley as if the very heavens themselves were in a +state of mobilisation. It is curious to notice sometimes in the higher +Carpathians how the clouds march continuously through the winding +valleys; always moving and driving on, these compact masses of vapour +are impelled by the currents of air in the defiles which seam the +mountains.</p> + +<p>My way was now through an interminable pine-forest, the road stretching +in a perfectly straight line and at a perceptible rise. Indeed it was +uphill work altogether. The ceaseless dripping of the rain made the +whole scene as cheerless as it well could be. The snow had turned to +cold dull rain, which was far more depressing. I wished the mineral +springs at Borsék had never been discovered. It was too late to turn +back to St Miklos, where I devoutly wished myself, so I had nothing to +do but plod on with my waterproof tight round me. It was impossible to +go<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> fast, for in places the mud was very deep and the road was beset +with big stones.</p> + +<p>It was dark when I reached Borsék, and again I wished I had never come. +The inn was very uncomfortable; there was no fireplace in any of the +rooms. The baths are only used in the height of summer, and if it turns +cold, as it does sometimes at this elevation, people I suppose must +freeze till it gets warm again. I had come a fortnight too late; the +world of fashion departs from Borsék at the end of August. Ten or twelve +springs rise within a short area, and vary curiously in quality and +temperature. The source which is principally used for exportation is +remarkable for the quantity of carbonic acid it contains. About 12,000 +bottles are filled every day; some 1500 on an average break soon after +corking, owing partly to the bad quality of the bottles. There is a +glass manufactory in the place, and though they have good material they +turn out the work badly.</p> + +<p>The export trade in the mineral waters is very large. They are much +valued for long sea voyages, as the water keeps for years without losing +its gaseous qualities.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p> + +<p>The baths of Borsék belong to two different parishes, and they are by no +means agreed as to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> the management. Some years ago the principal spring +was struck by lightning and entirely lost for a time, but after much +digging it was found again. The situation of Borsék is extremely +romantic, and in the height of summer it must be very delightful; but in +summer only—let no one follow my example and go there out of season. Of +course the place is surrounded by magnificent forests, but it is a +crying shame to see how they have been treated. In every direction there +is evidence of the ravages of fire. You may see in a morning's walk the +blackened stems of thousands of trees, the results of Wallack +incendiarism. If the Wallacks go on destroying the forests in this way, +they will end in injuring the value of the place as a health resort; for +the efficacy of the perfumed air of the pine-woods is well known, +especially for all nervous diseases.</p> + +<p>The houses are badly built at Borsék, and the arrangements for comfort +are very incomplete. Most of the habitations appear to have been run up +with green wood; the result may be pleasant and airy in summer, when the +balmy breeze comes in from cracks in the doors and window-frames, but +except in great heat, a perforated house is a mistake. People have to +bring their own servants and other effects. I should say a portable +stove would not be a bad item amongst the luggage.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Borsék waters are very much drunk throughout Hungary, especially +mixed with wine. Everywhere I noticed that eight people out of ten would +take water with their wine at meals. In the district round there is +splendid pasturage for cattle. Large numbers of cattle fed in these +parts are now sent to Buda-Pest and Vienna. The serious drawback to +Borsék is its great distance from a railway. The nearest station is +Maros Vásárhely, which is nearly ninety miles away. The drive between +the two places is very fine—that is, the scenery is fine, but the road +itself is execrable. A telegraph wire connects Borsék with the outside +world, but the post only comes twice a-week.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVI.</h2> + +<h4>Moldavian frontier—Tölgyes—Excitement about robbers—Attempt at +extortion—A ride over the mountains—Return to St Miklos.</h4> + + +<p>Instead of going back to St Miklos by the same route, I resolved to +diverge a little if the weather permitted. I wanted to visit Tölgyes, a +village on the frontier of Moldavia, which is said to be very pretty. +The weather decidedly improved, so I rode off in that direction. The +road, owing to the late rains, was in a dreadful state. All the mountain +summits were covered with fresh snow; it was a lovely sight. The +dazzling whiteness of these peaks rising above the zone of dark +fir-trees was singularly striking and beautiful. The effect of sunshine +was exhilarating in the highest degree, and the contrast with my recent +experience gave it a keener relish.</p> + +<p>At Tölgyes there is a considerable trade with Moldavia in wood. Quite a +fresh human interest was imparted to the scene by this industry. By the +side of the stream small rafts were in course<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> of construction, and the +trunks of the trees were being placed in position to make the descent of +the stream. The woodman's axe was heard in the forest, and many a +picturesque hut or group of huts were to be seen by the roadside, where +the woodmen and their families live, to be near their work. The labour +of getting the timber along these tortuous mountain streams is very +great. A ready market is found at Galatz, where a great deal of this +wood is sent.</p> + +<p>I remained the night at Tölgyes. The whole place was in a state of +excitement about brigands; every one had some fresh rumour to help swell +the general panic. A company of soldiers were kept constantly patrolling +the roads in the neighbourhood. I should say they were pretty safe not +to encounter the robbers, who are always well informed under those +circumstances.</p> + +<p>In studying my pocket-map, I found that there was clearly a short cut +over the mountains to St Miklos. On inquiry I extracted the confirmation +of the fact with difficulty, and I had still more difficulty in inducing +anybody to go with me as a guide. At length I secured the services of a +fellow who was willing to go for a tolerably substantial +"consideration." I was afraid to work my way entirely by the map, for +roads are apt to be vague<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span> in these parts. Ten chances to one whether +you know a road when you see it; it might be a green sward, or the +rubbly dry bed of a mountain torrent, or a cattle-track; it may lead +somewhere or nowhere. Unassisted you may wander all manner of ways.</p> + +<p>I made my start very early in the morning, for I had a long way to go, +and my guide was on foot; there was not much use in being mounted, +considering the pace that the roughness of the road forced us to take. +Before leaving Tölgyes I had a row with the innkeeper. He made a most +exorbitant demand upon me, at least three times over what was properly +due. I told him at once that I declined to pay the full amount he asked. +I knew perfectly well what the charge ought to be, and I said I should +pay that and no more. Hereupon he got very angry, and informed me that +he should not saddle my horse or let me go till I had paid him in full. +I immediately went into the stable and saddled the horse myself; I then +put down on the window-seat the money which I considered was due to him, +giving a fair and liberal margin, but I was not going to be "done" +because I was a foreigner. I ordered my guide to proceed, and I myself +quickly rode out of the place. The innkeeper worked himself up into a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> +tremendous rage, and declared he would have me back, or at least he +would have his cold meat and bread back that I had ordered for the +journey. I gave my horse the rein, and left the fellow uttering his +blessings both loud and deep.</p> + +<p>We had ten miles of as bad a road as any I had yet seen in my travels. +The mud in some places was two feet deep. We followed the windings of a +stream called the Putna Patak, and came presently to a wayside inn +frequented by foresters. Here we made a short halt, got a bottle of +decent wine and a crust of bread. Immediately on quitting this place we +turned into a less frequented path, and began a stiffish ascent. It was +a superb day, and I enjoyed it immensely, not having been much favoured +by weather lately. Our route was through a thick forest, the trees, as +usual in these, magnificent, with their gigantic girth, and +widespreading branches. At times I got a glimpse of the snowy mountain +summits standing out against the intensely blue sky.</p> + +<p>At mid-day I told the guide to look out for the next spring, for there +we would dine. We did not find a spring for some time, at least not by +the wayside, and I was reluctant to lose time by wandering about. At +length when we had secured a water-tap—viz., a little trickling rill +flowing between some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> stones and spongy moss—we found ourselves in a +difficulty about the fire. There was plenty of wood, but it was all +soaking wet and would not burn. Luckily a fir-tree was spied out, which +provided us with a good quantity of turpentine, and with this we +persuaded the fire to blaze up a bit. We cooked the dinner, had a smoke, +a short rest, and then <i>en avant</i>—always through the forest.</p> + +<p>Later in the afternoon, emerging from the wood, we came upon a grassy +plateau which commanded a glorious view of the Transylvanian side of the +Carpathians. I was glad to see the familiar valley of Gyergyó away +westward, with its numerous villages and green pasturage. The same +physical peculiarity pervades the whole of Hungary. Whenever you get a +vale of any extent, it is as flat as if it were a bit of the great +plain. Everywhere you have the impression that formerly the waters of a +lake must have covered the level verdure of the valley. As soon as I +caught sight of St Miklos I dismissed my guide, for his services were no +longer required, and I could get on quicker without him. I had still a +long distance to go, for I was not far below the summit. I was extremely +anxious to get into safe quarters before dark, so I made the best of the +way, leading my horse down the steep bits,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span> and mounting again for a +short trot where it was possible.</p> + +<p>On arriving at the house of my Armenian friends at St Miklos, happily +before sundown, I was greatly disappointed to find that there would be +no bear-hunt the next day. Those detestable robbers had turned up again, +and the people who were to have formed part of the sporting expedition +were obliged to go robber-hunting, a sport not much to their taste I +fancy.</p> + +<p>It appeared that the fellows had entered an out-of-the-way inn, or +rather wine-shop, and boldly ordered the owner to procure for them a +certain amount of gunpowder, which they required should be ready for +them the next day, and failing to carry out their orders, they +threatened to shoot him. He was obliged to promise, for there were five +of them, and except women he was alone in the house. They drank a +quantity of his wine, and asked for no reckoning, saying they would pay +for it the next day along with the gunpowder.</p> + +<p>Directly they had left the premises, the innkeeper set off as fast as +his legs could carry him to St Miklos to ask for help. The robbers +seemed to be such bunglers that one would judge them to be new to the +business; but the innkeeper's terror knew no bounds, and he declared +they were awful-looking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> cut-throats. Two of the men were caught the +next day. I saw them brought into the village heavily manacled; they +were harmless-looking Wallacks, not very different in appearance from my +guide over the mountain. Though armed with guns, they made no +resistance; and when they were discovered they had called out lustily to +the soldiers not to fire, for they would give themselves up. I expect +they were let off with imprisonment, but I never heard the end of the +story. I owed them a grudge for spoiling my bear-hunt, which I missed +altogether, for I could not wait until the following Sunday.</p> + +<p>I left St Miklos with an introduction to some rich Armenians at +Toplicza, where I intended making my next halt.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVII.</h2> + +<h4>Toplicza—Armenian hospitality—A bear-hunt—A ride over to the +frontier of Bukovina—Destruction of timber—Maladministration of +State property—An unpleasant night on the mountain—Snowstorm.</h4> + + +<p>At Toplicza I was very hospitably received by the family to whom I took +the letter of introduction from my friends at the last place. +Unfortunately I could not converse with the elders of the family, for +they spoke no German, and my Hungarian was limited. However, there was a +charming young lady with whom I found no difficulty in getting on; she +understood not only the language but the literature of Germany.</p> + +<p>A bear-hunt was soon proposed in my honour. The headman of the village +was brought into our council, and he quickly sent round orders that +everybody was to appear the following day—which conveniently happened +to be <i>fête</i> day—for a hunt. Those who had guns would be placed at +different "stands," and those who had no guns were expected to act as +beaters.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span></p> + +<p>The <i>Richter</i>, or headman, was a fine specimen of a Wallack; he was six +feet three, broad chested, with flowing black hair—a handsome fellow of +that type. I told him I should not like to fight him if he knew how to +use his fists. He was pleased at the little compliment. The next day the +Wallacks came pouring in from all the outlying parts of the village. It +was really a very picturesque sight. The men wore thongs of leather +round their feet in place of boots; and those who had no guns were armed +with the usual long staff surmounted by the formidable axe-head.</p> + +<p>A great deal of time was wasted in preparations. The Wallacks are the +most dilatory people in the whole world. It was nearly three o'clock +before we got to the forests where we hoped to give Bruin a rendezvous. +The guns that some of the party carried were "a caution"—more fit for a +museum of armoury than for anything else. The Wallacks try to remedy the +inefficiency of their guns by cramming in very large charges of powder, +at least two bullets, and some buckshot besides. I often thought the +danger was greater to themselves than to the bear. They never fire over +twenty-five yards, and in fact generally allow the bear to come within +twelve yards, when they pepper away at him.</p> + +<p>At last we were in position. It is usual to have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> a second gun, but I +had only my rifle and revolver; unfortunately my gun was with my baggage +at Maros Vásárhely. After waiting for some time without hearing anything +but the creaking of the pine-trees in the wind, the advance of the +beaters was at length audible. You hear repeated thuds with their axes +on the trees, and you know that they are beating up your way. All at +once I heard the unmistakable tread of some heavy four-footed beast. I +held my breath, fearing to betray my presence. Nearer and nearer came +the heavy tread, the branches cracking as the animal broke its way +through the thicket. It must be a bear of the largest size, thought I, +with a glow of delight warming up my whole frame at this supreme moment. +I had just raised the rifle to my shoulder, when—judge my disgust—when +emerging from the thicket I saw a stray ox make his appearance! I could +hardly resist putting a bullet into the stupid brute's carcass, but I +remembered that I should have to pay for that little game.</p> + +<p>We moved on to another part of the forest, and the same programme of +taking our positions and arranging the course of the beaters was gone +through; but we met with no success. This was the more provoking, +because on our return we found the fresh slot of a bear. He had +evidently just<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span> saved himself in time; the marks of his claws were quite +visible in the soft mud.</p> + +<p>These footprints were all we were destined to see, for evening was +drawing on, and it was impossible to pursue the sport any farther. Of +course we commenced operations far too late in the day; it was simply +ridiculous to begin at such a late hour in the autumn afternoon. It was +very disappointing; but there is so much of mere chance in bear-hunting, +that where one man has the luck to kill four or five in a season, +another may go on for two years following without getting as much as a +shot.</p> + +<p>The sportsman will be glad to hear, though the farmer is of quite +another mind, that bears, wolves, and wild-boar are increasing very much +in the Carpathians generally. I have mentioned this fact before, but I +allude to it again because it was everywhere corroborated. On all sides +this increase is attributed to the tax on firearms, which deters the +peasants from keeping them down. They are often too poor to pay for a +shooting licence and the gun-tax.</p> + +<p>Toplicza has some warm mineral springs. Warm water seems to be turned on +everywhere in Hungary. One of these springs is situated close to the +river, where a simple kind of bath-house has been constructed. The water +contains iodine. While at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span> Toplicza I heard that somewhere up in the +mountains on the Bukovina side there is a large deposit of sulphur. The +accounts were very vague, but I thought I should like to have a look at +the place. The district was pronounced to be so unsafe, and so many +robbers had appeared on the scene lately, that I thought proper to take +two men with me; one as a guide, for he had been there before, and a +forester armed with a gun.</p> + +<p>My friends the Armenians kindly insisted on providing me with everything +necessary in the shape of food; and one day, the weather being fine, I +started at noon on this expedition along with my attendants. We soon got +into the forest again. The size of the trees was almost beyond belief; +but, alas! many of them had been destroyed in the same ruthless manner +that I have so often alluded to in my travels. Here were half-burned +trunks of splendid oak-trees lying rotting on the ground in every +direction, showing clearly that the forest had been fired. The attempt +at a clearing, if that was the object, was utterly abortive; for when +the trees are down a thick undercover grows up, more impervious by far, +and there is less chance of obtaining pasturage than ever, but the +Wallack never reasons upon this. The State reckons the value of its +"forests" at something like<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span> 27,000,000 florins, and yet there is no +efficient supervision of this property, which, from the increasing +scarcity of wood in Europe, must become in time more and more valuable. +The mines of Hungary are estimated in round numbers at 210,000,000 +florins, and here again there is a lamentable absence of wise +administration. The mining laws, I understand, are at present under +revision. Foreign enterprise is not discouraged, but I cannot go so far +as to say that the adventure would not meet with difficulties from local +obstructions of an official or semi-official nature.</p> + +<p>We had started from Toplicza in beautiful weather, but before sunset a +complete change came on, and heavy rain set in. This was a very +uncomfortable look-out, for we could see nothing that offered us +anything like a decent shelter for the night. The guide urged us to go +on, for he said there was a hut at the top of the mountain; so we beat +our way along through the driving rain, and eventually came to the top. +We soon found the hut, but it was a mere ruin; it might have been in +Chancery for any number of years, indeed one end had tumbled in. It was +as uninviting a place to spend a night in as could well be imagined. +Fortunately one corner was still weather-proof, the fir bark of the roof +yet remaining intact. We had to be careful, however,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> about the roof, +which consisted of stems of trees supported longitudinally. It was easy +to see that a very little incautious vivacity on our part would bring +the whole structure down on our heads. Water was found not far off, and +we soon had a fire, which blazed up cheerfully. Its warmth was very +necessary, for it was bitterly cold and damp. I had brought with me a +hammock made of twine; this I slung in the driest corner, and after +supper I turned in and was soon asleep. The faculty of sleep is an +immense comfort. A man may put it high up on the credit side in striking +the balance of good and evil in his lot.</p> + +<p>When I awoke the next morning, I found that the weather was worse than +ever. The mist was so dense that the Wallack guide said it was perfectly +impossible to go on, in fact we might consider ourselves lucky if we +were able to get back without mischance. Not to be daunted, I waited +till nearly noon, thinking it was possible that the mist might rise, and +restore to us the bright skies of yesterday. A change came, but not the +one we hoped for. The cold rain turned into snow, so it would have been +sheer madness to think of going on.</p> + +<p>We were in a wretched plight, crowded together in the corner of the +ruined hut, and snow as well as "light" came in "through the chinks that +time had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span> made." Owing to a change in the wind, the smoke of the fire +outside drifted in; and there was evidence of a worse drift—that of the +snow, which before nightfall I daresay may have buried the cottage out +of sight.</p> + +<p>I now gave orders for returning, and just as I stepped out of the hut, +or was in the act of leaving, one of the heavy beams from the roof fell +upon me; it caught me on the back of my head—a pretty close shave! The +ride back, with the consciousness of having failed to attain the object +I had in view, was depressing. Nothing could be more unlovely than these +once glorious forests. In parts we had to pass through a mere morass, +into which my horse kept sinking.</p> + +<p>At last we got back to Toplicza. The forester and the Wallack thought +themselves amply compensated by a few paper florins. I daresay they kept +off the rheumatism by extra potations of <i>slivovitz</i>. As for myself, +having been dipped, yea, having even undergone total immersion in the +morass, I felt like those extinct animals who have left their +interesting bones nice and dry in the blue lias, but who in daily life +must have been "mud all over." I presented such a spectacle on my +return, that I consider it was an instance of the greatest +kindness—indeed it must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> have been a severe strain on the hospitality +of my friends to give me house-room.</p> + +<p>As my garments had not the durability of those of the Israelites in the +wilderness, it became a very desirable object to effect a junction with +my portmanteau, which was sitting all this time at Maros Vásárhely. The +weather, too, had calmed my ardour for the mountains, and I resolved to +strike into the interior of Transylvania, and see something of the +towns.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII.</h2> + +<h4>Visits at Transylvanian châteaux—Society—Dogs—Amusements at +Klausenburg—Magyar poets—Count Istvan Széchenyi—Baron +Eötvos—'The Village Notary'—Hungarian self-criticism—Literary +taste.</h4> + + +<p>I must now drop the itinerary of my journey and speak more in +generalities; for after leaving the wilder districts of the Szeklerland, +I took the opportunity of presenting some of the letters of introduction +that I brought with me from England.</p> + +<p>For the succeeding six weeks or more I spent my time most agreeably in +the châteaux of some of the well-known Transylvanian nobles. For the +time my wild rovings were over. The bivouac in the glorious forest and +robber-steak cooked by the camp fire—the pleasures of "roughing +it"—were exchanged for the charms of society.</p> + +<p>And society is <i>very</i> charming in Transylvania. Nearly all the ladies +speak English well, and are extremely well read in our literature. To +speak French is a matter of course everywhere; but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> they infinitely +prefer our literature, and speak our language always in preference when +they can.</p> + +<p>The works of such men as Darwin, Lyell, and Tyndall are read. I remember +seeing these, and many other leading authors, in a bookseller's shop in +Klausenburg. It is true this last-named place is the capital—viz., the +Magyar capital—of Transylvania, but in most respects it is a mere +provincial town.</p> + +<p>A friend and myself happened to be lunching one day in the principal +inn—it was in the <i>salle à manger</i>—and we were talking together in +English. Presently I noticed a remarkably little man at the next table, +who looked towards us several times; finally he got up from his chair, +or rather I should say got down, and making a sign to us equivalent to +touching his hat, he said, "Gentlemen, I am an Englishman; I thought it +right to tell you in case you should think there was no one present who +understood what you were talking!" It was very civil of the little +fellow, for we were talking rather unguardedly about some well-known +personages. I then asked him how he came to be in this part of the +world, and he told me he was a jockey, and had been over several times +to ride at the Klausenburg races; but he added he was very sorry that +they always took place on a Sunday! There is certainly no "<i>bitter</i> +observance of the Sabbath" in Hungary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> generally. Offices are open, and +business is conducted as usual—certainly in the morning.</p> + +<p>There is some good coursing in the neighbourhood of Klausenburg, which +is kept up closely on the pattern of English sport. I had two or three +good runs with the harriers, and on one occasion got a spill that was a +close shave of breaking my neck. Count T—— had given me a mount. The +horse was all right, but not knowing the nature of the country, I was +not aware that the ground drops suddenly in many places. Coming to +something of this kind without preparation, the horse threw me, and I +was pitched down an embankment upwards of twelve feet in depth. Several +people who saw the mishap thought it was all up with me, but, curiously +enough, I was absolutely unhurt. A pull at my flask set me all right, +and I walked back the five miles to Klausenburg. The horse unfortunately +galloped away, and was not brought back till the next day, and then +minus his saddle; however, it was recovered subsequently.</p> + +<p>In the present scare about hydrophobia the following is worth notice. +One day when walking in the principal street of Klausenburg I heard a +great barking amongst the dogs, of which there were some dozen following +a closed van. On inquiry I found that once a-week the authorities send +round to see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> if there are any dogs at large without the regulation +tax-collar. If any such vagabonds are found they are consigned to the +covered cart, and are forthwith shot. This excellent arrangement has the +effect of keeping down the number of dogs; besides, there is the +safeguard attendant upon the responsibility of ownership. The funny part +of the matter is that the tax-paying dogs are not the least alarmed at +the appearance of the whipper-in, but join with great show of public +spirit in denouncing the collarless vagrants.</p> + +<p>Klausenburg has not the picturesque situation of Kronstadt, but it is a +pleasant clean-looking town, with wide streets diverging from the Platz, +where stands the Cathedral, completed by Matthias Corvinus, son of +Hunyadi. This famous king, always called "the Just," was born at +Klausenburg in 1443.</p> + +<p>As Herrmannstadt and Kronstadt are chiefly inhabited by Saxon +immigrants, and Maros Vásárhely is the central place of the Szeklers, so +may Klausenburg, or rather Kolozsvár, as it is rightly named, be +considered the Magyar capital of Transylvania.</p> + +<p>The gaieties of the winter season had not commenced when I was there, +but I understand the world amuses itself immensely. The nobles come<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span> in +from their remote châteaux to their houses, or apartments, as it may be, +in town, and then the ball is set going.</p> + +<p>There is a good theatre in Klausenburg. I found the acting decidedly +above the average of the provincial stage generally. I saw a piece of +Moliere's given, and though I could only understand the Hungarian very +imperfectly, I was enabled to follow it well enough to judge of the +acting.</p> + +<p>Shakespeare is so great a favourite with the Hungarians that his plays +are certainly more often represented on the stage at Buda-Pest than in +London. The Hungarian translation of our great poet, as I observed +before, is most excellent.</p> + +<p>It was a band of patriotic poets who first employed the language of the +Magyars in their compositions. Hitherto all literary utterance had been +confined to Latin, or to the foreign tongues spoken at courts. The rash +attempt of Joseph II. to denationalise the Magyar and to Germanise +Hungary by imperial edicts had a violent reactionary result. The +strongest and the most enduring expression is to be found in the popular +literature which was inaugurated by such men as Csokonai and the two +brothers Kisfaludy, who were all three born in the last century. The +songs of Csokonai have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span> retained their hold on the people's hearts +because, and here is the keynote—"because they breathe the true +Hungarian feeling." The insistent themes of the Magyar poets were the +love of country, the joys of home, the duty of patriotism. Such was the +soul-stirring 'Appeal' ('Szózat') of Varósmazty, the chief of all the +tuneful brethren, the Schiller of Hungary. Born with the nineteenth +century, and at once its child and its teacher, he died in 1855—too +soon, alas! to see the benefits accruing to his beloved country from the +wise reconciliatory policy of his dear friend Deák. His funeral was +attended by more than 20,000 people, and the country provided for his +family.</p> + +<p>Whenever the poets of Hungary are mentioned the name of Petoefy will +occur, and he was second to none in originality of thought and poetic +utterance. An intense love of his native scenery, not excepting even the +dreary boundless Alföld, afforded inspiration for his genius. His poetic +temperament and pathetic story give him a certain likeness to the brave +young Körner, dear to every German heart. Petoefy was engaged in editing +a Hungarian translation of Shakespeare when he was interrupted by the +political events of 1848. His pen and sword were alike devoted to the +cause of patriotism, and entering the army under General<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span> Bern, he +became his adjutant and secretary. During the memorable winter campaign +in Transylvania he wrote proclamations and warlike songs. We all know +the story of the Russian invasion of Transylvania at Austria's appeal, +and how the brave Hungarians fought and fell at the battle of +Schässburg. This engagement took place on the 31st of July '49. Petoefy +was present, and indeed had been seen in the thick of the fight; but in +the evening he was missing from the roll-call, and, strange to say, his +remains, though searched for, were never identified. The mystery which +hung over his fate caused many romantic stories to be circulated, and +not a few claimants to his name and fame have arisen. Even within the +last three months a report has reached his native village that he had +been seen in the mines of Siberia, where he has been kept a prisoner all +these years by the Russians!</p> + +<p>The language of the Magyars was heard not in poetry alone, but in the +sternest prose. "Hungary is not, but Hungary shall be," said Count +Széchcnyi. The men who worked out this problem were politicians, +writers, and orators. Foremost among them may be reckoned Baron Eötvos, +one of the most liberal-minded and enlightened thinkers of the day. His +efforts were specially directed to improving the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span> education of all +classes of the community. With this end and aim he worked unceasingly. +He held the post of Minister of Cultus and Education in the first +independent Hungarian Ministry in 1848, but withdrew in consequence of +political differences with his colleagues. Again in 1867 he held the +same <i>porte-feuille</i> under Count Andrassy, but died in 1870 universally +regretted. His best known literary productions arc two novels, 'The +Carthusian' and 'The Village Notary,' The latter highly-interesting, +indeed dramatic story, may be recommended to any one who desires to know +what really were the sufferings entailed upon the peasantry under the +old system of forced labour. It is one of those fictions which, as old +Walter Savage Landor used to say, "are more true than fact." It was the +'Uncle Tom's Cabin' of that day, and of the cause he had at heart—the +abolition of serfdom. In reading this most thrilling story, one can +understand the evil times that gave birth to the terrible saying of the +peasant, "that a lord is a lord, even in hell."</p> + +<p>Yet it was the nobles themselves who abolished at one sweep all the +privileges of their order. It was by their unanimous consent that the +manumission of nearly eight millions of serfs was granted, at the same +time converting the feudal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span> holdings of some 500,000 families into +absolute freeholds.</p> + +<p>In Hungary it would appear that public opinion is generously receptive +of new impulses, and in this particular the Hungarians resemble us, as +they claim to do in many things, calling themselves "the English of the +East."</p> + +<p>"It is curious," said Baroness B—— to me one day, "that with all our +respect for British institutions, and everything that is English, that +we fail to copy their straight good sense. We have too many talkers, too +few workers. We are not yet a money-making nation; we have no idea of +serious work, and our spirit for business is not yet developed. Almost +all industrial or commercial enterprises are in the hands of Jews, +Armenians, Greeks, who are great scoundrels generally."</p> + +<p>"The Armenians are instinctive traders," I remarked.</p> + +<p>"Yes, true; just as we are the very reverse. But this change has come +over us. Taking again our cue from England, we see that trade can be +respectable, and those who follow it are respected—with you at least. +We try to <i>Englishify</i> ourselves, and some of the younger members of the +community make a funny hash of it. For instance, a rich young country +swell in our neighbourhood<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span> went over to England and came back in +raptures with everything, and tried to turn everything upside down at +home without accommodating his new ideas to the circumstances that were +firmly rooted here. You may see him now sit down to dinner with an +English dresscoat over his red Hungarian waistcoat. His freaks went far +beyond this, and he came to be known as the 'savage Englishman.'"</p> + +<p>I asked my hostess if our English novels were much read.</p> + +<p>"Everybody likes your English fiction," replied Baroness B——. "It is +immensely read, and has helped to promote the knowledge of the language +more perhaps than anything else. We, too, have our writers of fiction. +Jokai is the most prolific, but he has got to be too much an imitator of +the French school. One of his earlier novels, 'The New Landlord,' has +been translated into English, and gives a good picture of Hungarian life +in the transition state of things. For elegance of style he is not to be +compared to Gzulai Paul and Baron Eötvos."</p> + +<p>"There seems to be a growing interest in natural history and +literature," I remarked, "judging from the enormous increase of +newspapers and journals which pass through the post, both foreign and +local."</p> + +<p>"With regard to local journals," replied the Baroness, "we have the +'Osszehasonlitó irodalom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span>történelmi Lapok' ('Comparative Literary +Journal'), which is published at Klausenburg, at Herrmannstadt, and at +Kesmark in Upper Hungary. There are Natural History Societies, who +publish their reports annually. Added to this, there are few towns of +any size that have not their public libraries. I speak specially of +Transylvania, where we affect a higher degree of culture than in Hungary +Proper."</p> + +<p>Baroness B—— was very anxious to impress upon me that certainly in +Transylvania the ladies of good society do not affect "fast" manners or +style. "Very few amongst us," she said, "adopt the nasty habit of +smoking cigarettes. I am very sorry that Countess A—— has attempted to +introduce this fashion from Pest."</p> + +<p>Buda-Pest, though the capital, is not the place to find the best +Hungarian society. Many of the old families prefer Pressburg; and +Klausenburg is to Transylvania what Edinburgh was to Scotland, socially +speaking, before the days of railroads. In the season good society may +be met with at the various baths, but every year the facilities of +travel enable people to go farther a-field health-seeking and for +pleasure.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXIX.</h2> + +<h4>A visit at Schloss B———National characteristics—Robber +stories—Origin of the "poor lads"—Audacity of the +robbers—Anecdote of Deák and the housebreaker—Romantic story of a +robber chief.</h4> + + +<p>The three weeks I remained at Schloss B—— were amongst the most +agreeable days I spent in Transylvania. There were a great many visitors +coming and going, affording me an excellent opportunity of seeing the +society of that part of Hungary. With regard to the younger generation, +the Transylvanians are like well-bred people all the world over. The +ladies have something of the frankness of superior Americans—the sort +of Americans that Lord Lytton describes in 'The Parisians'—and in +consequence conversation has more vivacity than with us.</p> + +<p>In the elder generation you may detect far more of national peculiarity; +in some cases they retain the national dress, and with it the Magyar +pride and ostentation, so strongly dashed with Orientalism.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span> Then again, +in the houses of the old nobility, one is struck by many curious +incongruities. For example, Count T—— has a large retinue of +servants—five cooks are hardly able at times to supply his hospitable +board, so numerous are the guests—yet the walls of his rooms are simply +whitewashed, and the furniture is a mixture of costly articles from +Vienna and the handiwork of the village carpenter. A whole array of +servants, who are in gorgeous liveries at dinner, may be seen barefooted +in the morning.</p> + +<p>In talking with some of the elderly members of the family, I heard many +curious anecdotes of old Hungarian customs; but "the old order changeth" +here as elsewhere, and a monotonous uniformity threatens the social +world. Even as it is, everybody who entertains his friends at dinner is +much the same as everybody else, be he in Monmouth or Macedon. +Distinctive characteristics of race are found more easily in the common +people, who are less amenable to the change of fashion than their +superiors. Baroness B—— had a complete repertory of robber stories, +some of which are so characteristic that I will repeat them here.</p> + +<p>I have before alluded to the peculiarity which existed in the old system +preserving to the peasant his personal freedom, though the land was +burdened<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span> with duties. It was not till 1838 that the Austrians +introduced the conscription, and subsequently they carried out the law +with a brutality that made the innovation thoroughly detested by the +peasantry. Accustomed to their tradition of personal freedom, the forced +military service in itself was regarded with intense dislike. The richer +classes were enabled to pay a certain sum of money for exemption, but +the poor were helpless; they were dragged from their houses and sent to +distant parts of the empire, to serve for a long period of years. As +cases had not unfrequently occurred of the recruits running away, they +were subjected to the ignominy of being chained together in gangs; and +as if this was not enough, many superfluous brutalities were inflicted +by the Austrian officials.</p> + +<p>To escape from this hated service, many a young man fled from his home +in anticipation of the next levy of the conscription, and hid himself in +the shepherds' <i>tanya</i> in the plain. These remote dwellings in the +distant <i>puszta</i> were no bad hiding—places, and the fugitives were +freely harboured by the shepherds, who shared the animosity of the "poor +lads" against the Austrian conscription. In course of time these outlaws +found honest work difficult to procure; they became, in short, vagabonds +on the face of the earth, and ended<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span> by forming themselves into robber +bands. They had also their class grievance against the rich, who had +been enabled to buy themselves off from serving in the army. The numbers +of the original fugitives were soon increased by evil-doers from all +sides—ruffians who had a natural bent for rapine—and a plague of +robbers was the result, threatening all parts of Hungary. The mischief +grew to such serious proportions, and it transpired that the robbers had +everywhere accomplices in the towns and villages. Persons of apparently +respectable position were suspected of favouring them; they were called +"poor lads," and a glamour of patriotism was flung over the fugitives +from Austrian tyranny.</p> + +<p>During the war of independence these robber bands rallied round their +elected chief, Shandor Bozsa, and actually offered their services to the +Hungarian Government, as they desired to take part in the great national +struggle. The Provisional Government accepted their services, and they +came pouring in from every part of the country. At first they behaved +very well, and in fact many of these "irregulars" distinguished +themselves by acts of great valour. In the end it was the old story; +they soon showed a degree of insubordination that rendered them worse +than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span> useless to the regular army. By the time the struggle for +independence had found its melancholy ending at Villagos, these fellows +were again at their old tricks of horse-stealing and cattle-lifting, and +they went so far as to waylay even the <i>honved</i>, the national Hungarian +militia. The well-disposed part of the community was powerless to resist +the robbers, for after the disastrous events of 1849 the Austrian +Government prohibited the possession of firearms, even for hunting +purposes, so that villages and towns, one might almost say, were at the +mercy of a band of well-armed robbers. The Government were so busy +hunting down political conspirators, and hanging, shooting, and +imprisoning patriots, that they were indifferent to the increase of +brigandage. The statistics of the political persecutions which Hungary +suffered at the hands of Austria during the ten years that followed +Villagos were significant. Upwards of two thousand persons were +sentenced to death, nearly ten times that number were thrown into +prison, and almost five thousand Hungarian patriots were driven into +exile—amongst the number Deák, the yet-to-be saviour of his country.</p> + +<p>But to return to the robbers. They had spread themselves over the whole +land; from the forests of Bakony to Transylvania, from the Carpathians +to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span> the Danube, no place was free from these desperate marauders. They +committed incredible deeds of boldness. On one occasion seven or eight +robbers attacked a caravan of thirty waggons in the neighbourhood of +Szegedin, the cavalcade being on its way to the fair in that town. The +traders were without a single firearm amongst them, so that the +fully—armed brigands effected their purpose, though it was broad +daylight. Another time they entered a market town in Transylvania and +coolly demanded that the broken wheel of their waggon should be mended, +threatening to shoot down anybody who offered the slightest opposition. +The post was frequently stopped, but it came to be remarked, that though +the passengers were generally killed, the drivers escaped. This, +together with the fact that the post was always stopped when there were +large sums of money in course of transit, led the authorities to suspect +that their employés were in collusion with the robbers, and subsequent +events proved this to be the case.</p> + +<p>When the hostility of Austria had somewhat cooled down, the dangerous +up-growth of these robber bands attracted the serious attention of the +Government, and not only <i>gendarmerie</i> but military force were employed +against them. The officials to a man were Germans and Bohemians, +indifferently<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span> honest, and hated by the peasantry, who, after all, +preferred a Hungarian robber to an Austrian official. The consequence +was that they were not by any means very ready to depose against the +"poor lads," and the Government found themselves unequal to cope with +the difficulty, so things went from bad to worse.</p> + +<p>In 1867, when at last the reconciliation policy of Deák had effected a +substantial peace with Austria, the Hungarian Constitution being +reestablished, and the towns and <i>comitats</i> (counties) having got back +their prerogatives and self-government, the intolerable evil of +brigandage was at once brought before the attention of the Parliament +assembled at Buda-Pest. There were a great many speeches made upon the +subject, and Count Forgács with a considerable military force was +despatched to Zala and the adjoining country against the robbers. He +simply drove them out of one part of the country to carry on their +devastations in another, and dreadful robberies and murders were +reported from Szegedin. On several occasions the post was stopped, and +the passengers were invariably killed. They even stopped the railway +train one day at Péteri.</p> + +<p>Government were now obliged to take stronger measures. They recalled +Count Forgács, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span> despatched Count Rádaz as Royal Commissary with +augmented powers, Parliament in the mean time voting a grant of 60,000 +florins for the purpose.</p> + +<p>The energetic measures taken by Count Rádaz led to some remarkable +disclosures. He discovered that tradesmen, magistrates, and other +employés in towns and villages were in communication with the brigands, +and in fact shared the booty. It came to be remarked that certain +persons returned suddenly to their homes after a mysterious absence, +which corresponded with the commission of some desperate outrage in +another part of the country.</p> + +<p>In the space of fifteen months Count Rádaz had to deal with nearly six +hundred cases of capital offences, and no less than two hundred of the +malefactors were condemned to the gallows.</p> + +<p>"Wherever they can the peasants will shelter the 'poor lads' from the +law," said my friend. "It happened only last spring in our neighbourhood +that a robber had been tracked to a village, but though this had +happened on several occasions, yet the authorities failed to find him. +It was known that he had a sweetheart there, a handsome peasant girl, +who was herself a favourite with everybody. One day, however, the +soldiers discovered him hidden in a hay-loft. There was a terrible +struggle;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span> the robber, discharging his revolver, killed one man and +wounded another. At length he was secured, strongly bound, and placed in +a waggon to be conveyed to the nearest fortress. When passing through a +wood the convoy was set upon by a lot of women, who flung flowers into +the waggon, and a little farther on a rescue was attempted; but the +military were in strong force, and the villagers had to content +themselves with loud expressions of sympathy for the 'poor lad.' He was, +in truth, a handsome, gallant young fellow—open-handed, generous to the +poor, and with the courage of a lion—just the sort of hero for a +mischievous romance."</p> + +<p>The following story, related by my friend Baroness B——, proves that +there were men amongst these outlaws who were not destitute of patriotic +feeling. In the year 1867 a band of "poor lads" surprised a country +gentleman's house by night. It was their habit to ask for money and +valuables, and woe betide those who refused, unless they were strong +enough to resist the demand. Horrible atrocities were committed by these +miscreants, who have been known to torture the inhabitants of lonely +dwellings, finishing their brutal work by setting fire to house and +homestead.</p> + +<p>On the occasion above named the robber band consisted of more than a +dozen well-armed men,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span> and as the household was but small, resistance +was out of the question. They made a forcible entrance, and were going +the round of every room in the house, collecting all valuables of a +portable nature, when it chanced that they entered the guest-chamber, +that had for its occupant no less a person than the great patriot +Francis Deák. The intruders instantly pounced on a very handsome gold +watch lying on a table near the bedside. Mr Deák, thus rudely disturbed, +awoke to the unpleasant fact that his much-prized watch was in the hands +of the robbers. Giving them credit for some feelings of patriotism, he +simply told them who he was, adding that the watch was the keepsake of a +dear departed friend, and begged they would restore it to him. On +hearing his name the chief immediately handed the watch back, +apologising "very much for breaking in on the repose of honoured Mr +Deák, whom they held in so much respect," adding "that the nature of +their occupation obliged them to make use of the hours of the night for +their work."</p> + +<p>The chance of interviewing Mr Deák was not to be neglected, so the +robber chief sat down by the bedside of the statesman and had a chat +about political affairs, and finally took his leave with many +expressions of respect. Not an article of Mr Deák's was touched; they +even contented them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span>selves with a very moderate amount of black-mail +from the master of the house, and no one was personally injured in any +way.</p> + +<p>My next story is a very romantic one; it was related to me by an English +friend who was travelling in Hungary as long ago as 1846, when the +circumstance had recently occurred. It seems that in those days a +certain lady, the widow of a wealthy magnate, inhabited a lonely castle +not far from the principal route between Buda and Vienna. She received +one morning a polite note requesting her to provide supper at ten +o'clock that night for twelve gentlemen! She knew at once the character +of her self-invited guests, and devised a novel mode of defence. Some +people would have sent post-haste to the nearest town for help, but the +<i>châtelaine</i> could easily divine that every road from the castle would +be watched to prevent communication, so she made her own plans.</p> + +<p>At ten o'clock up rode an armed band, twelve men in all; immediately the +gate of the outer court and the entrance door were thrown open, as if +for the most honoured and welcome guests. The lady of the castle herself +stood in the entrance to receive them, richly dressed as if for an +entertainment. She at once selected the chief, bade him welcome, gave +orders that their horses should be well cared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span> for, and then taking the +arm of her guest, she led him into the dining-hall. Here a goodly feast +was spread, the tables and sideboard being covered with a magnificent +display of gold and silver plate, the accumulation of many generations.</p> + +<p>The leader of the robber band started back surprised, but immediately +recovering his presence of mind, he seated himself calmly by the side of +his charming hostess, who soon engaged him in conversation about the gay +world of Vienna, whose doings were perfectly familiar to them both. At +length, when the feast was nearly ended, the chief took out his watch +and said, "Madame, the happiest moments of my life have always been the +shortest. I have another engagement this night, but before I leave allow +me to tell you that in appealing to my honour, as you have done +to-night, you have saved me from the commission of a crime. Bad as I am, +none ever appealed to my honour in vain. As for you, my men," he said, +looking sternly round with his hand on his pistol, "I charge you to take +nothing from this house; he who disobeys me dies that instant."</p> + +<p>The chief then asked for pen and paper, and writing some sentences in a +strange character, handed it to his hostess, saying, "If you or your +retainers should at any time lose anything of value,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span> let that paper be +displayed in the nearest town, and I pledge you my word the missing +articles shall be returned." After this he took his leave, the troop +mounted their horses and departed.</p> + +<p>My friend told me that he was enabled to verify the story; and he +subsequently discovered the real name of the robber chief. He was an +impoverished cadet of one of the noblest families in Hungary. His fate +was sad enough; lie was captured a few months after this incident, and +ended his life under the hands of the common hangman.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXX.</h2> + +<h4>Return to Buda-Pest—All-Souls' Day—The cemetery—Secret burial of +Count Louis Batthyanyi—High rate of mortality at Buda-Pest.</h4> + + +<p>Some matters of business recalled me to Buda-Pest in the midst of a +round of visits in Transylvania. The great hospitality of my new friends +would have rendered a winter in that delightful country most agreeable, +but the holiday part of my tour was over, and circumstances led me to +pass some months in the capital.</p> + +<p>I got back just in time for All-Souls' Day. The <i>Fête des Morts</i> is +observed with great ceremony throughout Hungary, especially at +Buda-Pest. In the afternoon of this day a friend and myself joined the +throng, who were with one accord making their way eastward along the +Radial Strasse, the great thoroughfare of Pest. It appeared as if the +whole population of the town had turned out; private carriages, +tramways, droskies alike were all crammed, driving in the same direction +with the ceaseless stream of pedestrians. It was the day for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span> the living +to visit their dead! Attired in black, almost every one carried a +funeral wreath; even the poorest and the humblest were taking some +floral offering to their beloved ones who sleep for evermore in the +great cemetery.</p> + +<p>There is a dynamic force in the sympathy of a crowd. I had the sensation +of being carried along with the moving masses, without the exercise of +my own will, I hardly know how one could have turned back. And on we +went, the light of the short winter day meanwhile fading quickly into +the gloom of night. Once beyond the gaslighted streets, the sense of +darkness in the midst of the surging multitude was oppressive and +unnatural. We were borne on towards the principal gate of the cemetery, +and here the effect was most striking. We left the outer darkness, and +stepped into an area of light; beyond the belt of cypress and of yew +there was so brilliant an illumination that it threw its glowing +reflection on the clouds that hung pall-like over the whole city.</p> + +<p>In all that crowded cemetery—and it is crowded—there was not a single +grave without its lights. The most ordinary had rows of candles marking +the simple form of the gravestone; but there were costlier tombs, with +an array of lamps in banks of flowers beautifully arranged; and in the +mausoleum<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span> of Batthyanyi the illuminations were effected by gas in the +form of architectural lines of light. At this point the crowd was +greatest. To visit the tomb of the martyred statesman is deemed a +patriotic duty. The particulars relating to the disposal of Count +Batthyanyi's body after his judicial murder in 1849 are not very +generally known; the facts are as follows.</p> + +<p>At the close of hostilities in 1849, Haynau, commissioned by the Vienna +Government, condemned people to death with unsparing barbarity—it was a +way the Austrians had of stamping out insurrections. Amongst their +victims was Count Louis Batthyanyi, some time President of the Hungarian +Diet. Haynau wanted to have him hung at the gallows, but he was +mercifully shot, at Pest on the 6th October 1849. It is said that the +infamous Haynau was nearly mad with rage that his noble victim escaped +the last indignity of hanging. His remains were ordered to be buried in +a nameless coffin in the burial-ground of the common criminals,.and for +many years it was supposed that he had received no other sepulchre. This +was not so, however, for two priests who were greatly attached to the +magnate's family procured possession of his body, and secretly conveyed +it to the church in the Serviten Gasse, where they built up the coffin +in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span> the wall, and carefully preserved it for years. When the +reconciliation with Austria took place, concealment being no longer +necessary, they revealed their secret. The coffin was then opened, and +it was found that the features of the unfortunate Batthyanyi had been +singularly well preserved. Several who had fought for freedom by his +side in 1848 looked once more on the face of their leader. The +subsequent funeral in the new cemetery was made the occasion of a very +marked display of patriotic feeling. Later an imposing monument was +erected, but Count Batthyanyi's best and most enduring monument is the +part he took in the emancipation of the serfs.</p> + +<p>Turning aside from the public demonstrations around the tombs of poets +and patriots, we wandered down the more secluded alleys of the cemetery. +In a lonely spot, quite away from the crowd and the glare, we came upon +an exquisite little plot of garden with growing flowers, shrubs, and +cypress-trees, tended, one could see, with loving care, "and in the +garden there is a sepulchre." I shall not easily forget the look of +ineffable grief visible on the face of an elderly man who was arranging +and rearranging the lights round and about the family grave. We noticed +that the names on the slab were those of a wife and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span> mother, followed by +her children, several of them, sons and daughters, the dates of their +decease being terribly close one upon another. I had a conviction that +the lonely man we saw there was the only survivor of his family; I feel +sure it must have been so. It was very touching the way in which he +(aimlessly, it seemed to me) moved first this light and then the other, +or grouped them together around the vases of sweet flowers that decked +the graves. It was all that remained for him to do for his beloved ones; +and we could see the poor man was vainly occupying himself, lingering +on, unwilling to leave the spot!</p> + +<p>We had not much fancy for returning amongst the patriotic crowd gathered +about the gaslighted Valhalla, so we made our way out.</p> + +<p>We English must have our say about statistics whenever there is a +wedding or a funeral, and as a fact Buda-Pest comes out very badly in +its death-rate. It is only within the last two or three years that they +have taken to publish the comparative returns of the capital cities of +Europe, and now it appears that Buda-Pest is in the unenviable position +of having on an average the highest death-rate of any European town! By +some this is attributed to the great excess of infant +mortality—consolatory for the grown-up people, as reducing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span> their risk; +but the children, who die like flies before they are twelve months old, +may say with the epitaph in the country churchyard—</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"If then we so soon were done for,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What the deuce were we begun for?"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>I do not speak as one with authority, but duly-qualified persons tell me +that nursery reform is much needed in Hungary. I know not what it is +they do with the children, only it seems the system is wrong somewhere, +as the bills of mortality clearly testify.</p> + +<p>Then, again, the position of Pest is not healthy; it lies low, indeed +some part of the city is built on the old bed of the Danube. The +drainage, however, is very much improved of late years, and the +magnificent river embankments have done much to obviate the malaria +arising from mud-banks.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXI.</h2> + +<h4>Skating—Death and funeral of Deák—Deák's policy—Uneasiness about +the rise of the Danube—Great excitement about inundations—The +capital in danger—Night scene on the embankment—Firing the +danger-signal—The great calamity averted.</h4> + + +<p>The winter is usually a very pleasant season at Buda-Pest. There is +plenty of amusement; in fact, during the carnival, parties, balls, and +concerts succeed one another without cessation. The Hungarians dance as +though it were an exercise of patriotism; with them it is no languid +movement half deprecated by the utilitarian soul—it is a passion +whirling them into ecstasy. But dancing was not the only diversion. The +winter I was at Buda-Pest a long spell of enduring frost gave us some +capital skating. The fashionable society meet for this amusement in the +park, where there is a piece of ornamental water about five acres in +extent. Here the Skating Club have established themselves, having +erected a handsome pavilion at the side of the lake to serve as a +clubhouse.</p> + +<p>From time to time <i>fêtes</i> are given on the ice. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span> was present on more +than one occasion, and I must say it would be difficult to imagine a +more animated or a prettier scene. The Hungarians always display great +taste in their arrangements for festive gatherings. During the gay +carnival of 1876 "all went merry as a marriage-bell" till the sad news +spread that the great patriot Deák was sick unto death. Then we heard +that he had passed away from our midst—I say "our midst," for Hungary +throws a glamour over the stranger that is within her gates, and, moved +by irresistible sympathy, you are led to rejoice in her joy and mourn +with her in her sorrow.</p> + +<p>Buda-Pest presented on the day of Deák's funeral a scene never to be +forgotten. It was a whole people mourning for their friend—their safe +guide in time of trouble, the statesman who of all others had planted a +firm basis of future prosperity.</p> + +<p>Francis Deák was endowed with that rare gift of persuasion which can +appeal to hostile parties, and in the end unite them in common patriotic +action. Any one who has attentively considered the state of parties in +Hungary during the last decade will know with what irreconcilable +elements the great statesman had to deal. To the Magyars he said, "He +who will be free himself must be just to others;" while to the Slavs he +said,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span> "Labour with us, that we may labour for you." "Reconciliation" +and "compromise" with Austria were the most unpopular words that could +be uttered at that time, yet Deák bravely spoke them in his famous open +letter on Easter day 1865. He continued his calm and steady appeal to +public opinion till his patriotic efforts were rewarded by the close of +that long-standing strife between the Hungarian people and their king.</p> + +<p>On the day of the funeral the ground was white with snow, the cold was +intense, but a vast concourse of people followed Deák to his grave. On +the road to the cemetery every house was hung with black, the city was +really and truly in mourning; and well it might be, for their great +peace-maker was dead, the man who beyond all others of his generation +had the power to restrain the impatient enthusiasm of his countrymen by +wise counsels that had grown almost paternal in their gentle influence.</p> + +<p>While we were still thinking and talking of Deáks political career, a +very present cause for anxiety arose in reference to the state of the +Danube. The annual breaking up of the ice is always anticipated with +uneasiness, for during this century no less than thirteen serious +inundations have occurred. This year there was reason<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span> for alarm, for +early in January the level of the river was unusually high, and a +further rise had taken place, unprecedented at that season.</p> + +<p>The greatest disaster of the kind on record took place in 1838, when the +greater part of Pest was inundated, and something like four thousand +houses were churned up in the flood; nor was this all, for the loss of +life had been very considerable, owing to the sudden nature of the +calamity on that occasion. The recollection of this terrible disaster +within the living memory of many persons kept the inhabitants of +Buda-Pest very keenly alive to any abnormal rise of the Danube waters. +There were, besides, additional circumstances which created uneasiness +and led to very acrimonious discussions. In recent years certain +"rectifications" had been effected in the course of the Danube, which +one-half of the community averred would for ever prevent the chance of +any recurrence of the catastrophe of 1838. But there are always two +parties in every question—"Little-endians" and "Big-endians"—and a +great many people were of opinion that these very "rectifications" were, +in fact, an additional source of peril to the capital.</p> + +<p>The case stands thus: the river, left to its own devices, separates +below Pest into two branches, called respectively the Soroksár and the +Promontar;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span> these branches continue their course independently of each +other for a distance of about fifty-seven kilometres, forming the great +island of Csepel, which has an average width of about five kilometres. +By certain embankments on the Soroksár branch the <i>régime</i> of the river +has been disturbed, and according to the opinion of M. Révy, a French +engineer,<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> this has been a grave mistake, and he thinks that the +Danube misses her former channel of Soroksár more and more. He further +remarks in the very strongest terms upon an engineering operation "which +proposes the amputation of a vital limb, conveying about one-third of +the power and life of a giant river when in flood—a step which has no +parallel in the magnitude of its consequences in any river with which I +am acquainted."</p> + +<p>Now let us see which side the Danube took in the controversy in the +spring of 1876. On the 17th of February the public mind had been almost +tranquillised by the gradual fall of the water-level, but appearances +changed very rapidly on the morning of the 18th, for alarming +intelligence came to Buda-Pest from the Upper Danube. It seems that a +sudden rise of temperature had melted the vast deposits of snow in the +mountains of the Tyrol and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span> other high ranges which send down their +tributary waters to the Danube. A telegram from Passau announced the +startling news that the waters of the Inn had risen eleven feet since +the afternoon of the previous day, and further news came that the Danube +had risen twelve and a half feet in the same time. Following close upon +this came intelligence of a disastrous inundation at Vienna which had +caused loss of life and property. The boats and barges in the winter +harbour of the Austrian capital had been dragged from their anchorage, +covering the river with the <i>débris</i> of wreckage; in short, widespread +mischief was reported generally from the Upper Danube.</p> + +<p>There was a prevalent idea that Buda-Pest had been saved by the flood +breaking bounds at Vienna, but events proved that our troubles were yet +to come. There was a peculiarity in the thaw of this spring which told +tremendously against us. It came westward—viz., down stream instead of +up stream, as it usually does. This state of things greatly increased +the chances of flood in the middle Danube, as the descending volume of +water and ice-blocks found the lower part of the river still frozen and +inert. Even up to the 21st the daily rise in the river was only six +inches, and if the large floes of ice which passed the town had only +gone on their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span> course without interruption all might still have been +well. Unfortunately, however, this was far from being the case. It seems +that at Eresi, a few miles below Buda-Pest, where the water is shallow, +the ice had formed into a compact mass for the space of six miles, and +at this point the down-drifting ice-blocks got regularly stacked, rising +higher and higher, till the whole vast volume of water was bayed back +upon the twin cities of Buda and Pest, the latter place being specially +endangered by its site on the edge of the great plain.</p> + +<p>The authorities now devised plans for clearing away this ice-barrier, +which acted as an impediment to the flow of the river. They tried to +blow it up by means of dynamite, but all to no purpose; and it soon +became apparent that the danger to the capital was hourly on the +increase. At Pest the excitement and alarm became intense, for the +mighty waters were visibly and inexorably rising. We saw the steps of +the quay disappear one after another; then the whole subway of the +embankment became engulfed. Ominous cracks appeared in the asphaltic +promenade of the Corso, and the public were warned not to approach the +railings, lest they should give way bodily and fall over into the water, +which was lapping at the stonework. The "High-Water Commission" found it +necessary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span> to close all the drains, and steam-pumps were brought into +requisition; the town was in fact besieged by water, and the enemy was +literally at the gates. The ordinary business of life was suspended. The +greeting in the street was not, "Good-day; how are you?" but, "What of +the Danube?" "Do you know the last reading of the register?" "Does the +water still rise?"</p> + +<p>"Still rising"—this was always the answer. On the morning of the 23d +the river had risen upwards of two feet in twenty-four hours. Hundreds +of people now thought seriously of flight from the doomed city. There +was a complete exodus to the heights behind Buda. The suspension bridge +was crowded day and night by the citizens, carrying with them their +wives, their children, and a miscellaneous collection of valuables. In +the town the shopkeepers removed their goods to the upper stories, +plastering up the doors and windows of the basement with cement; and +careful householders laid in provisions for several days' consumption. +The authorities had enough on their hands; amongst other things they had +to provide means of rescue, if necessary, for the inhabitants of Old +Buda, New Pest, and other low-lying quarters. The names of all public +buildings standing on higher levels, or otherwise suitable as places of +refuge,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span> were notified in the event of a catastrophe. Boats also were +drawn up on the Corso and in some of the squares. From the want of these +precautions there had resulted that lamentable loss of life in 1838.</p> + +<p>Furthermore, the public were to be informed when the danger became +imminent by the firing of cannon-shots from the citadel on the lofty +Blocksberg, which dominates the town on the Buda side. The day of the +24th had been wild and stormy, the evening was intensely dark; but +notwithstanding, thousands, nay half Pest, crowded the river-bank. For +hours this surging multitude moved hither and thither on the Corso, +drawn together by the sense of common danger and distress.</p> + +<p>I was there amongst the rest, peering into the darkness. My brother's +arm was linked in mine, and we stood for some time on the Corso, just +above the fruit-market, facing Buda; but nothing, not even the outline +of the hills, was visible in the thick, black darkness of the night. +"Ah! what is that?—look!" cried my brother, with a pressure of the arm +that sent an electric shock through my body. Yes, sure enough, there was +a flash of fire high up on the Blocksberg that made a rift in the +darkness; and then, before we had time for speech, there came a sharp, +ringing, detonating sound that made every window in the Corso rattle +again.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span> Once, twice, thrice the booming cannon roared out its terrible +warning. It was the appointed signal, and we all knew that now the +waters had risen so high that Old Buda and other low-lying districts +were in danger.</p> + +<p>That was a terrible night. The general excitement was intense, and there +were few people, I imagine, in all Pest who slept quietly in their beds. +Every hour news came of the spread of the inundation. The waters were +pouring in behind Pest from the upper bend of the river. Matters looked +very serious indeed. All communication with the suburb of New Pest was +cut off by the inroads of the flood. The night, with its pall of +darkness, seemed interminable; but at length the morning came, and—God +help us!—what a sea of trouble the light revealed! Whole districts +under water; churches and palaces knee-deep in the flood; and above +Pest—a widespread lake creeping on over the vast plain.</p> + +<p>The only news of the morning was a despairing telegram from Eresi that +the barrier of ice there was immovable. This meant, as I have said +before, that there was no release for the pent-up waters in the ordinary +course. The accumulated flood must swamp the capital, and that soon. The +river had ceased to flow past; it was no longer the "blue<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span> Danube" +running merrily its five miles an hour, but a dead sea, an inexorable +volume of water, slowly, silently creeping up to engulf us. Pest is a +city which literally has its foundations made on the sand; a portion of +it is built on the old bed of the Danube. Assuming a certain point as +zero, the official measurements were made from this, and notices were +published that if a maximum of twenty-five feet were attained by the +rising waters, then Pest must inevitably be flooded.</p> + +<p>As evening came on, with the cloudy forecast of more rain, the gravest +anxiety was visible on the face of every soul of that vast multitude. +This anxiety was intensified when it was announced that the latest +measurement was twenty-four feet nine inches; and what was simply +appalling, that the register marked six inches rise in less than an +hour. It was clear to every one that the critical moment had arrived. +There was little to hope, and much to fear. Darkness fell upon as dismal +a scene as imagination could well conceive. If the water once overlapped +the embankment at the fruit-market, it must very soon pour in in vast +volume; for the streets there are considerably lower than the level of +the Corso—as it was, several large blocks of ice had floated or slid +over on the quay. At this spot a serious catastrophe was apprehended.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span></p> + +<p>I think it must have been ten o'clock (my friends and I had just taken a +hasty supper) when the fortress on the Blocksberg again belched forth +its terrible sound of warning. This time there were six shots fired; +this was the signal of "Pest in danger." A profound impression of alarm +fell on the assembled multitude. Some went about wringing their hands; +others left the Corso hastily, going home, I imagine, to tell their +women to prepare for the worst. I was unconscious at the time of taking +note of things passing round me, and it seems strange, considering the +acute tension of my nerves, that I saw, and can now recall with +persistent accuracy, a lot of trivial and utterly unimportant incidents +that happened in the crowd. I remember the size and colour of a dog that +manifested his share in the common excitement by running perpetually +between everybody's legs, and I could draw the face of a frightened +child whom I saw clinging to its mother's skirts.</p> + +<p>We never quitted the Corso. Though this was the third night we had not +taken off our clothes, it was impossible to think of rest now. I felt no +fatigue, and I hardly know how the last hour or two passed, but I heard +distinctly above the murmur of voices the town clocks strike twelve. +Just afterwards, a man running at full speed broke through the crowd,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span> +shouting as he went, "The water is falling! the water is falling!" He +spoke in German, so I understood the words directly. There was great +excitement to ascertain if the report was correct. Thank God! he spoke +words of truth. The gauge actually marked a decrease of no less than two +inches in the height of the river, and this decrease had taken place in +the space of half an hour. The river had attained the highest point when +the danger-signal was fired. It had never risen beyond, though the level +had been stationary for some time.</p> + +<p>Every one was surprised at the rapid fall of the Danube; it was +difficult to account for. It soon came to be remarked that the vast +volume of water was visibly moved onward. If the river was flowing on +its way, that meant the salvation of the city—the fact was most +important. I myself saw a dark mass—a piece of wreckage, probably, or +the carcass of an animal—pass with some rapidity across a track of +light reflected on the water. It was difficult to make out anything +clearly in the darkness, but I felt sure the object, whatever it was, +was borne onward by the stream.</p> + +<p>It was a generally-expressed opinion that something must have happened +farther down the river to relieve the pent-up waters. Very shortly +official news arrived, and spread like wildfire, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span> the Danube had +made a way for itself right across the island of Csepel into the +Soroksár arm of the river.</p> + +<p>Csepel is an island some thirty miles long, situated a short distance +below Pest. The engineering works for the regulation of the Danube had, +as I said before, closed this Soroksár branch, and the river, in +reasserting its right of way to the sea, caused a terrible calamity to +the villages on the Csepel Island, but thereby Hungary's capital was +saved.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXII.</h2> + +<h4>Results of the Danube inundations—State of things at +Baja—Terrible condition of New Pest—Injuries sustained by the +island garden of St. Marguerite—Charity organisation.</h4> + + +<p>Though Buda-Pest had escaped the worst of the threatened calamity, the +state of the low-lying suburbs of the town on both sides of the river +was very serious, and, as it turned out, weeks elapsed before the waters +entirely subsided. The extent of the Danube inundations in 1876 was far +greater than the flood of 1838; the latter was localised to Buda-Pest, +where, from the suddenness of the catastrophe, the sacrifice of life was +far greater than at present. But on this occasion the mischief was wide +spread indeed. From Passau to Orsova the banks of the Danube were more +or less flooded. The havoc below Pest was wellnigh incalculable. The +river had in places spread itself out like a small sea, inundating lands +already in seed; this was specially the case at Paks, where both banks +of the river are equally low—as a rule, the left side was the more +flooded the whole way along.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span></p> + +<p>At Baja the destruction to property was most serious. Some very +important works had just been completed, and these were all swept away +two days after the Danube had burst over the Csepel Island at Pest. It +is a matter of interest to note the travelling rate of the flood, which +from being ice-clogged was less rapid than one would suppose. Baja is +120 miles below Pest.</p> + +<p>The works here referred to were in parts a canal, to feed the old +Francis Canal, which connects the Danube and Theiss, in order to prevent +the stoppage of traffic, unavoidable at low water. The water and ice +brought down by the flood hurled themselves with such force against the +closed gates of the canal that they were burst open, and a masonry wall +7 feet in thickness and 250 in length was entirely overthrown. This +incident, together with many others, helps to illustrate the action of +water in flood as a factor in certain geological changes—the gorge of +Kasan, to wit, where the Danube has broken through the Carpathian chain.</p> + +<p>In the course of little more than a day the waters at Buda-Pest had +fallen two and a half feet; but afterwards the fall was very slow +indeed, which circumstance greatly protracted the misery of the +unfortunate inhabitants of Old Buda and New Pest, the two districts most +seriously compromised.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span> Joining a relief party, I went in a pontoon to +visit New Pest. Vast blocks of ice were lying heaped up amidst the +<i>débris</i> of the ruin they had made; whole terraces and streets were only +distinguishable by lines of rubbish somewhat raised above the flood: the +devastation was complete.</p> + +<p>On our way to the pontoon we passed a tongue of land which had not been +submerged, with a few houses intact. In this street, if it may be so +called, a crowd of more than a hundred women was collected; these were +mostly seated on boxes or other fragments of furniture that had been +saved; one and all had their faces turned towards the waste of waters, +where their homes had been. I shall never forget their looks of mute +despair; there was no crying, no noise, their very silence was a gauge +of the utter misery that had befallen them.</p> + +<p>The sea of trouble in which we found ourselves was strewn with wreckage +of all kinds, including the bodies of many domestic animals. Doubtless +many lives were lost; it will perhaps never be known how many. It was +unfortunate that no service was organised for saving life at the +bridges. Several lamentable accidents and loss of life took place owing +to the drifting away of boats and barges up stream. A friend of mine saw +a barge with four men on board jammed in between blocks of ice, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span> +hurried under the suspension bridge and down the stream. No one was able +to respond to the heart-rending appeals of the men, who very probably +might have been saved if simply ropes had been hanging from the bridge. +I myself saw a poor fellow perish in those churning waters; it was +terrible to think of his thus drowning in the presence of thousands of +fellow-creatures.</p> + +<p>The amount of wreckage that passed Buda-Pest gave one some idea of the +frightful amount of damage higher up the stream; there were heaps of +barrels, woodstacks, trees, furniture, and even houses with their +chimneys standing!</p> + +<p>The beautiful island of St. Marguerite, just above Buda-Pest, suffered +most severely. It was four feet under water; and the drift ice did +immense damage to the trees, causing abrasions of the bark at eight to +ten feet above the ground.</p> + +<p>It may well be imagined that the Charity Organisation Committee had +enough on their hands. Nearly 20,000 people sought the shelter provided +in the public buildings and other places appointed by the authorities, +and for fully a month after the catastrophe thousands had to be fed +daily at the public expense.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIII.</h2> + +<h4>Expedition to the Marmaros Mountains—Railways in Hungary—The +train stopping for a rest—The Alföld—Shepherds of the plain—Wild +appearance of the Rusniacks—Slavs of Northern Hungary—Marmaros +Szigeth—Difficulty in slinging a hammock—The Jews of +Karasconfalu—Soda manufactory at Boeska—Romantic scenery—Salt +mines—Subterranean lake.</h4> + + +<p>The spring was already melting into summer—and the melting process is +pretty rapid in Hungary—when an opportunity occurred enabling me to +visit the north-eastern part of the country with a friend who was going +to the Marmaros Mountains on business. Even this wild and remote +district is not without railway communication, and we took our tickets +for Szigeth, in the county of Marmaros, learning at the same time, to +our great satisfaction, that we could go straight on to our destination +without stopping. Though my friend is a Hungarian the route was as new +to him as to myself.</p> + +<p>The railway system has been enormously extended in this country during +the last ten years. In Transylvania, in the Tokay Hegyalia, in the +Zipsland, and in the mining district of Schemnitz a whole net<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span>work of +lines has been opened up. Our route from Debreczin to Szigeth is one of +those recently opened. The railway statistics of Hungary are very +significant of progress. In 1864 only 1903 kilometres were open, whereas +ten years later the figures had risen to 6392 kilometres; and the +extension has been very considerable even subsequently, though +enterprise of every kind received a check in 1873, from which the +country has not yet recovered.</p> + +<p>I confess I was very glad to have come in for the days of the iron +horse, for it would be difficult to imagine anything more tiresome than +a drive on ordinary wheels across the vast Hungarian plain. It is so +utterly featureless as to be even without landmarks. Except for the +signs of the heavenly bodies, a man might, in a fit of absence, turn +round and fail to realise whether he was going backwards or forwards. +Right or left, it is all the same monotonous dead level, with scarce an +object on which to rest the eye. Here and there a row of acacia-trees +may be seen marking the boundary of an estate, and near by the sure +indication of a well in the form of a lofty pole balanced transversely; +but even this does not help you, for "grove nods at grove," and what you +have just seen on the right-hand side is sure somehow to be repeated on +the left, so you are all at sea again.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span></p> + +<p>Sometimes a mirage deludes the traveller in the Hungarian plain with the +fair presentment of a lake fringed with forest-trees; but the semblance +fades into nothingness, and he finds himself still in an endless waste, +"without a mark, without a bound." Dreary, inexpressibly dreary to all +save those who are born within its limits; for, strange to say, they +love their level plain as well, every bit as well, as the mountaineer +loves his cloud-capped home.</p> + +<p>This plain—the Alföld, as it is called—comprises an area of 37,400 +square miles, composed chiefly of rich black soil underlain by +water-worn gravel—a significant fact for geologists. It is worthy of +remark that the Magyar race is here found in its greatest purity. Here +the followers of Arpad settled themselves to the congenial life of +herdsmen. At the railway stations one generally sees a lot of these +shepherds from the <i>puszta</i>, each with his axe-headed staff and +sheepskin cloak, worn the woolly side outwards if the weather is hot. +They can be scented from afar, and their scent, of all bad smells, is +one of the worst. The fact is, the shepherds keep their bodies well +covered with grease to prevent injurious effects from the very sudden +changes of temperature so common in all Hungary. This smearing of the +skin with grease<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span> is also a defence against insects, which seems +probable, if insects have noses to be offended.</p> + +<p>Nowhere does the intrusion of modern art and its appliances strike one +more curiously by force of contrast than in the wilder parts of Hungary. +Just outside the railway station life and manners are what they were two +centuries ago, and yet here are the grappling-irons of civilisation. No +doubt a change will come to all this substratum of humanity, but it +takes time. Even the railways in these wilder parts have not exactly +settled themselves down to the inexorable limits of "time tables." It +occurred on this very journey that we stopped at some small station, for +no particular reason as far as I could see, for nobody got in or out; +but the heat was intense, and so we just made a halt of nearly an hour. +I could not make out what was up at first, but looking out I saw the +stokers, pokers, and engine-driver all calmly enjoying their pipes, +seated on the footboard on the shady side of the train! Some one or two +people remarked that the officials in this part of the world were lazy +fellows, but the passengers generally appeared in no great hurry, and +after a while the train moved on again. At several places on the line we +passed luggage trains waiting on the siding for their turn to be sent on +to Buda-Pest. In many of these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span> open trucks we noticed a considerable +number of those fine Podolian oxen, common in these parts, and lots of +woolly-haired pigs, that look for all the world like sheep at a +distance.</p> + +<p>The effect of tapping these out-lying districts is already producing its +natural result; the cultivator finds a ready market for his produce, and +the value of land is rising, and "<i>must</i> rise in Hungary," says +Professor Wrightson in his report on the agriculture of the +Austro-Hungarian empire.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></p> + +<p>In approaching Debreczin we noticed frequent instances of the +efflorescence of soda-salts upon the surface of the soil. This +occurrence greatly impairs the fertility of some parts of the Alföld. +Land drainage would probably cure this evil, but I do not fancy any +serious experiments have been tried. Skill and labour have not yet been +brought to bear on the greater part of the land in Hungary. It is a +country where a vast deal has yet to be done, and such are the +prejudices of the common people that improvements cannot be introduced +at once and without some caution; in fact, the material conditions of +the country itself and the climate necessitate considerable experience +on the part of any foreigner who may settle in Hungary and think to +import new fashions in agriculture.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span></p> + +<p>Stopping at Debreczin only long enough to get a little supper at the +station restaurant, we pursued our journey through the night. I do not +imagine that we lost much that was worthy of note owing to the darkness, +for the line continues to traverse a sanely plain utterly devoid of good +scenery. Towards morning we passed two important towns—namely, Nagy +Károly and Szathmár. The hitter is the seat of a Catholic bishop, and +has no less than 19,000 inhabitants—a good-sized place for Hungary. In +1711 the peace between the Austrians and Rákoczy was signed in this +town. Not far from here are the celebrated gold, silver, and lead mines +of Nagy Banya.</p> + +<p>We arrived at the junction station of Kiraly-haza early in the morning, +and there learned the agreeable news that we must wait ten hours, though +only a few miles from our destination. From this place there is a line +to Sátoralja-Uihely, a junction on the main line between Buda-Pest and +Lemberg. The town of Kiraly-haza is situated in a wide valley bounded by +high mountains. The plain is left far behind, and we are once more under +the shadow of the Carpathians. The heat of the day was intense, and +there was not much in the immediate neighbourhood to tempt us out in the +broiling sun, so we just got through the time as best we could. The food +was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span> very bad and the wine execrable, an adulterated mixture not worthy +of the name. This is a rare occurrence in Hungary, and it ought not to +have been the case here, for there are good vineyards close to the town.</p> + +<p>It was getting towards evening before our train appeared, and when it +stopped at the station as wild a looking crew turned out of the +carriages as I ever remember to have seen. On inquiry I found that these +people were Rusniacks. Their occupation at this time of the year is to +convey rafts down the Theiss. It seems their work was done, and they +were returning by train. After the halt of ten minutes, and when the +passengers were resuming their seats, I found that these fellows were +all crowded into some empty horse-boxes attached to the train. The +officials treated them as if they were very little better than cattle. +These people, with their shoeless feet encased in thongs of leather, +with garments unconscious of the tailor's art, and in some instances +regardless of the primary object of clothes as a human institution, were +the most uncivilised of any I had yet seen in Hungary.</p> + +<p>These Rusniacks, or "Little Russians," as they are called, are tolerably +numerous—not less than 470,000, according to statistical returns. They +are to be found almost exclusively in the north-east of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span> Hungary. They +were fugitives in the old days from Russia, to whom they are intensely +antagonistic, having probably suffered from her persecutions. In +religion they are dissenters from the orthodox Greek Church, +assimilating more with Roman Catholicism. These people are another +variety in the strange mixture of races to be found in Hungary. It is +thought, and it would seem probable, that the very fact of the military +conscription will help to civilise these Rusniacks by drawing them out +of their savage isolation in the wild valleys of the Marmaros Mountains.</p> + +<p>There are many peculiarities respecting the races inhabiting the +northern parts of Hungary. It would be a great mistake to put the Slavs +of the north in the same category with the Slavs of the south: the +former are on far better terms with the Magyars; they are for the most +part contented, hard-working people, not troubling themselves at all +about Panslavism. The reason is not far to seek. The Slovacks, as they +are called by way of distinction, numbering about two millions, do not +belong to the Greek Church. The greater proportion are Roman Catholics, +the rest Lutherans and Calvinists. Many of the Catholics are said to be +descended from refugees who fled from the tyranny of the Greek Church in +Polish Russia.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span></p> + +<p>After leaving Kiraly-haza we got into charming scenery. As we approached +the Carpathians we passed through vast oak-forests, and here and there +had a glimpse of the Theiss rushing along over its stony bed. +Occasionally we caught sight of herds of buffaloes bathing in the river. +It is difficult to imagine that these fierce-looking creatures, with +their massive shaggy heads, can ever be tractable; yet they can be +managed, though only by kindness—"the rod of correction they cannot +bear." At length we reached the end of our railway journey. Marmaros +Szigeth is the present terminus of the line, and I should say will very +probably remain such; for the iron road would hardly meander through the +denies and over the heights of the Carpathians, to descend into the +sparsely-inhabited wilds of the Bukovina. We sought out the principal +inn at Szigeth, a wretched place, with only one room and a single bed at +our disposal.</p> + +<p>My friend took possession of the bed at my request, for I told him I was +quite independent of the luxury, having provided myself before I left +England with an excellent hammock made of twine. I had learned to sleep +in these contrivances during my naval volunteer days, but the order to +"sling hammocks" would not have been easy to obey under the present +circumstances. I was forced to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span> put my screws in the floor and hang my +net over some heavy furniture; but when I got in, the table that I had +chiefly depended upon gave way with a crash, and I found myself on the +floor. My friend laughed heartily; he had never seen a hammock before, +and, spite of my representations, I do not think he was properly +impressed by the great utility of the invention. Of course I was not to +be foiled, so I cast about for another method of "fixing." I tried +several dodges, but nothing answered exactly; something always gave way +after a few minutes of repose—either I came down with a bump, or some +abominable, ramshackle chest of drawers got over-turned.</p> + +<p>Now my friend was very tired and sleepy, and desired nothing so much as +a little repose. My experiments ceased to interest him, and the noise +caused by my repeated misfortunes irritated him. A large-minded man +would have admired my tenacity of purpose, but he did not. One can never +tell what people are till we travel with them. In a tone of mingled +solicitude and irritation he offered to vacate his bed in my favour. He +declared he would willingly lie on the hard floor, or indeed, if I would +only consent to take his place, he would sit bolt upright in a chair +through the livelong night.</p> + +<p>"I will do anything," he added piteously, "if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span> you will only be quiet +and not try to hang yourself any more in that horrible netting."</p> + +<p>I would not hear of my friend leaving his bed, and after one or two more +mischances self and hammock were suspended for the night at an angle a +trifle too low for the head. Except for the honour and glory of the +thing, perhaps I might have slept as well on the floor; but one does not +carry a patent contrivance all across Europe to be balked of its use +after all.</p> + +<p>My friend woke me once during the night by shaking me roughly. He said I +had nightmare, and made "such a devil of a row that he could not sleep." +I have some dreamy recollection of finding myself in a London +drawing-room in the inexpressibly scanty garments of a Rusniack, and +when I turned to leave in all decent haste I found the way barred by an +insolent fellow with the head of a buffalo bull. When I awoke in the +early morning I found my friend already dressed and rather sulky. He +observed that he had never met a man so addicted to nightmare as myself, +adding, that another time if I must sleep in my hammock, it would be +better to see that the head was higher than the feet.</p> + +<p>"It does not make any difference to me," I replied cheerfully, "I am as +fresh as a lark."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span></p> + +<p>There was no time for further discussion, for our breakfast was ready (a +very bad breakfast it was, too), and the vehicle we had chartered the +night before was also waiting to convey us some miles into the interior +of the country, to the soda manufactory at Boeska. On our way we passed +through the village of Karasconfalu, inhabited entirely by Polish Jews. +The dirt and squalor of this place beggar description. The dwellings are +not houses, but are simply holes burrowed in the sandbanks, with an +upright stone set up in front to represent a door; windows and chimneys +are unknown. If it were not for a few erections more like ordinary human +habitations, the place might have passed for a gigantic rabbit-warren. +As we drove through we saw some of the villagers engaged in slaughtering +calves and sheep in the middle of the road, the blood running down into +a self-made gutter; it was a sickening sight. The people themselves have +a most peculiar physiognomy, especially the men, who in addition to long +beards wear corkscrew ringlets, which give them a very odd appearance. +Their principal garment is a kind of long brown dressing-gown, which in +its filthy grimness suits the wearer down to the ground. The feet are +bound up in thongs of leather. The shoemaker's trade is apparently +unknown in these parts. The inhabitants of this delightful village have +the reputation of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span> being a set of born cheats and swindlers; if it is +true, then certainly the moral is plain, that dishonesty is not a +thriving trade. The fact is, being all of one sort, the profession is +overcrowded, and the result is that the sharpest amongst them emigrate, +or rather I should say go farther a-field to exercise their craft. I am +told that many of the low Jews, who make themselves a byword and a +reproach by their practices of cheating and usury throughout Hungary, +may be traced back to this foul nest in the Marmaros Mountains. It would +be well for the credit of the Jewish community in Hungary, as well as +elsewhere, if something were done to raise these people out of the utter +degradation which surrounds them from their birth.</p> + +<p>Not far beyond Karasconfalu we came upon Boeska, situated in the midst +of the most beautiful and romantic scenery, not at all suggestive of the +neighbourhood of a chemical manufactory. Putting up at the house of the +manager of the works, we remained here two or three days, during which +time we made some excursions into the heart of the mountains. One of our +drives took us some miles along the side of the beautiful river Theiss, +which though a proverbial sluggard when it reaches the plain, is here a +swift and impetuous stream. Our object was to see the timber-rafts pass +over the rapids; it was a very exciting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span> scene, and as this was a +favourable season, owing to the state of the river, we came in just at +the right time. The Rusniacks—the people generally employed in this +perilous work—certainly display great skill and coolness in the +management of their ticklish craft. If by any mischance the timbers come +in contact with the rocks, then the danger is extreme; and hardly a year +passes that some of the poor fellows do not get carried away in the +swirling waters, which have made for themselves deep and treacherous +holes in this part of the stream.</p> + +<p>The pine-trees in the forests of the Marmaros Mountains are simply +magnificent; the birch and oak are hardly less remarkable. It is really +grievous to see the amount of ruthless destruction which is allowed to +go on in these valuable forests, more especially in those belonging to +the State. It is the old story—the Rusniack herdsman, to get herbage +for his cattle, will set fire to the forest, and perhaps burn some +hundreds of acres of standing timber. The result brings very little good +to himself; but the blackened trunks of thousands of half-burned trees +bear witness to the peasant's inveterate love of waste, and the utter +inefficiency of the forest laws, or rather of their administration. +Throughout Hungary it is the same, the power of the law does not make +itself felt in the remoter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span> provinces. For example, in the year 1877 +there have been scores of incendiary fires in the county of Zemplin; +homesteads, hayricks, and woods have suffered, and yet punishment rarely +falls on the offender. Government should look to this, for lawlessness +is a most infectious disorder.</p> + +<p>The Marmaros district is chiefly known for the salt mines, which have +been worked here for centuries. Salt is a Government monopoly in +Hungary, and is sold at the high price of five florins the +hundredweight, forming, in fact, an important source of revenue. The +mines at Slatina, not far from Szigeth, are well worth a visit. One of +the chambers is of immense size; in this a pyramid of salt is left +untouched, and by its downward growth marks the progress of excavation. +At the foot of this pyramid is a little altar, where every year, on the +3d of March, mass is celebrated with great ceremony, that being the day +of Kunigunde, the patron saint of the mines.</p> + +<p>One of our expeditions was to visit the mines at Ronasick. Here, too, is +an enormous cave with a dome-shaped roof, one hundred and fifty feet +above the surface of the water, which covers the floor to the amazing +depth, it is said, of three hundred feet. Part of the visitor's +programme is to be paddled about on this subterranean lake. We<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span> embarked +on a raft slowly propelled by rowers; a cresset fire burning brightly at +the prow of our craft cast strange lights and shadows on the black +waters, added to which the shimmering reflection of the white-ribbed +walls had a very singular effect. But the sensation was still more weird +when we saw other mystic forms appearing from out the black darkness; +first a mere speck of red light was visible, till nearing us we beheld +other boats freighted with grim-looking figures that glided past into +the further darkness. These phantom-like forms, steering their rafts +through the black and silent waters, were grotesquely lit up from time +to time by the pulsating red firelight. It might have been a scene from +Dante's 'Inferno'!</p> + +<p>It was with the sense of escape from a living tomb that we emerged from +the depths below into the upper air, and here awaited us a sight never +to be forgotten, more especially for its singular contrast to the horrid +gloom of the under-world. Here, above ground, in the blessed free +expanse of earth and sky, we beheld the heavens ablaze with all the +intensest glory of a magnificent sunset. One's soul in deep gladness +drank in the ineffable loveliness of nature, as if athirst for the +beauty of light and life.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXIV.</h2> + +<h4>The Tokay district—Visit at Schloss G———Wild-boar +hunting—Incidents of the chase.</h4> + + +<p>My first expedition to the Tokay district was in the winter; I was then +the guest of Baron V——, who has a charming château, surrounded by an +English garden, in this celebrated place of vineyards.</p> + +<p>In the winter there is a very fair amount of good sport in this part of +Hungary. Sometimes one is enabled to go out hare-shooting in sledges; of +course the horses' bells are removed on these occasions. Hares are not +preserved in the Tokay district, but they are pretty numerous. I myself +shot fifty-four in the space of a few weeks, which is nothing compared +to an English battue of a single day; but then this is sport, and there +is immense pleasure in dashing right across country behind a pair of +fleet horses, thinking yourself well repaid if you bag a couple or three +hares in the afternoon's scamper. For wolf and wild-boar hunting one +must penetrate into the forests which extend in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span> rear of the +southern slopes of this Tokay range of hills.</p> + +<p>During my stay at G—— a party was got up for a few days' shooting in +the interior. On this occasion we were to shoot in Baron Beust's +forests, which extend over an area of about forty miles square; as it +may be supposed, the sport is not the easy affair it is in the +well-stocked parks of Bohemia.</p> + +<p>There was not snow enough for sledging, so we drove to the rendezvous on +wheels, using the springless carts of the country, the roads being far +too rough for ordinary carriages. Wrapped in our <i>bundas</i>, we were proof +against the cold. The wolf-skin collar turned up rises above the head +and forms a capital protection; and very necessary it was on this +occasion, for there was a keen cutting wind the day we started.</p> + +<p>I carried a smooth-bore breechloader charged with the largest buck-shot +in one barrel and with a bullet in the other. In Hungary the forests are +usually so thick that one scarcely ever fires at a long range, and heavy +shot at a short distance in a thicket is better than a bullet. After +driving in a break-neck fashion for about two hours we arrived at the +river Bodrog, a tributary of the Theiss. Nearly every winter the country +hereabouts is under water; I remember once seeing it when there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span> was all +the appearance of an extensive inland sea. Sometimes the inundations are +disastrous, but the ordinary flood is an accepted event, and no damage +accrues beyond the prevalence of marsh fever in April and May, when the +water recedes. This part of the country offers first-rate +wildfowl-shooting in the season.</p> + +<p>Everywhere in Hungary the different races are strangely mixed up +together: the Tokay Hegyalia, it is true, is chiefly peopled by Magyars, +and the language is said to be the purest Magyar spoken anywhere; but +there are Slavs and Jews amongst them, and our drive of twenty miles +brought us into an area where the Slavs predominate. The difference of +these races is very marked: the one, fair complexioned and blue eyed; +the Magyar, dark, almost swarthy amongst the lower classes. At +Olasz-Liszka, a small town within the Tokay district, there is an +Italian colony, as the name Olasz (Italian) would imply. As long ago as +the days of Bela II. this place was peopled by Italian immigrants from +the neighbourhood of Venice, invited hither by the king, who greatly +encouraged the cultivation of the vine.</p> + +<p>Go where you will in this country, there is a Babel of tongues. In this +instance our special coachman was a Bohemian, speaking his own<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span> +language—a very different dialect from the Slovacks who were the +"beaters" for our hunt. The gamekeepers, or rather the foresters (for +the game is of secondary consideration), were all Magyars. Their +language, as we know, bears no affinity to any of the rest. The marvel +is that the world gets on at all down here. The gentlemen of our party +spoke together indifferently German, French, and English.</p> + +<p>It is curious to hear the peasant come out with, "Why the Tartar are you +doing this?" for an angry expletive. It is a relic of the old troubled +times when the country suffered from the frequent depredations of Turks +and Tartars. The Tokay district, say the chronicles, was fearfully +harassed by the Turks as late as 1678.</p> + +<p>It is worth while recalling a contemporaneous fact. In 1529 the crescent +had been substituted for the cross on the Cathedral of Vienna to +propitiate the Turks, and it was not till 1683 that the symbol of the +dreaded Moslem was removed. When the Hungarians ceased to fear the Turk, +they ceased to hate him; and since 1848 they remember only the generous +hospitality of the Porte, and the cruel aggressions and treachery of the +Russians. The Slav has a longer memory, for to this day he repeats the +saying, "Where the Turk comes, there no grass grows."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span></p> + +<p>When we arrived at our destination our appetites were far too keenly set +to think about the Eastern Question, and right glad were we to see +active preparations for supper. The national dishes, the <i>gulyas hus</i> +and the <i>paprika handl</i>, were produced amongst a number of other good +things, such as roast hare. You get to like the <i>paprika</i>, or red +pepper, very much. I wonder it is not introduced into English cookery, +it makes such a pretty-coloured gravy. If the traveller finds himself +attacked by marsh fever, and should chance to be without quinine (a +great mistake, by the way), let him substitute a spoonful of <i>paprika</i> +mixed with a little red wine, repeating the dose every four hours if +necessary. While smoking our peace-pipes after supper, one of the +keepers came in to announce the welcome fact that it was snowing hard; +fresh-lain snow would materially increase our chances of tracking the +wild-boar.</p> + +<p>Next morning when we started the weather had somewhat cleared, which was +just as well, seeing we had to walk two or three miles to our first +battue. Arrived at the rendezvous, we found the "beaters" waiting for +us. They were a wild-looking crew were those Slovacks, with shaggy coats +of black sheepskin, and in their hands the usual long staff with the axe +at one end. Notwith<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span>standing their uncouth appearance, later experience +has shown me that the Slovacks, as a rule, are patient, hard-working +people.</p> + +<p>The forest where we were consisted entirely of beech and oak. The acorns +attract the wild-boar, which have increased in a very remarkable manner +in this locality. I was told that twenty years ago there were no +wild-boar in these forests, while now there are hundreds. This seems +odd, for the oak-trees are pretty well as old as the hills, and offered +the same temptation in the way of food formerly as now. In fact the +increase of the wild-boar is a serious nuisance to the vine-grower, for +they tramp across to the southern hill-slopes, and occasionally make +raids on the vineyards, devouring the grapes with unparalleled +greediness, and what is still worse, they will sometimes plough up and +destroy a whole plot of carefully-tended vineyard.</p> + +<p>Formerly there were many deer in these forests, but now there are only a +few roedeer. We saw no traces of wolves on this occasion, but there are +plenty in this part of the country.</p> + +<p>We were only ten guns, and were soon posted each man in his proper +position waiting for the <i>schwarzwild</i>, as the Germans say; but, alas! +nothing appeared till the beaters themselves came in sight. So we had to +organise battue number two. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span> beaters walk quietly forward, tapping +the trees now and then. This is quite noise enough for the purpose of +rousing the game; if they shouted or made too much row, the game would +get wild and scared.</p> + +<p>In the next battue I had hardly been five minutes at my post when I +heard from behind the breaking of dead branches, as of some animal +advancing slowly. It was a fine buck which made his appearance, but he +scented me and made off. Again about a hundred yards off I got a glimpse +of him between the trees. I fired with effect. We found him afterwards +about two hundred yards farther on, where he had fallen. It was very +provoking; up to lunch-time we sighted no wild-boar, though we saw by +the snow that they must have been about the hillside during the night. +We had soon a good fire blazing, at which robber-steak was nicely +cooked. I never enjoyed anything more. We washed down our repast with +good Tokay.</p> + +<p>After luncheon we commenced work again. By this time we had advanced +into the very heart of the forest. The smooth boles of the tall +beech-trees looked grand in their winter nakedness, rising like columns +from the white frost-bespangled ground. I took up my stand, gun in +readiness, waiting for the tramp, the snort, or the grizzly dark form of +the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span> wild-boar, but nothing came to disturb the utter solitude of the +scene.</p> + +<p>But hark! I hear shots fired repeatedly in the lower valley. I, too, +begin to look out with quickened pulse, peering into the misty depths of +the forest, and with ear alert for every sound, but all to no purpose. +Nothing comes my way, though again I hear two more shots echo sharply in +the narrow valley nearer to me than before. After the lapse of a few +minutes the beaters came up, breaking through the dead branches of +undercover. I knew now that my own chance was gone, but I was curious to +know what had happened, and joining two of my friends whose "stand" had +been near mine, we hurried down the valley to see what sport had turned +up for the other guns. On inquiry it appeared that at least seventy +wild-boars had passed close to one of our party, but the sight of so +many at once had made his aim unsteady, and he only succeeded in +wounding one of the number. The animal had dashed into the half-frozen +stream at the bottom of the valley, and our friend had to reload and +give him his final shot there.</p> + +<p>We formed one more battue, but nothing came of it, and it was already +high time to return to our quarters, for the whole scene was growing dim +in the wintry twilight. Some of the party, myself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span> included, went by +arrangement to the house of one of the foresters. The good people, in +their desire to be hospitable, gave us a warm reception. They had heated +the rooms to such an extent that we were almost baked alive.</p> + +<p>The next morning we resumed our sport. During the first battue eight +wild-boars were sighted. One was shot instantly; the others broke +through the line of beaters, but in doing so a very unusual thing +happened, for one of the foresters succeeded in killing a boar by a +tremendous blow from his axe. We were very much surprised that the +animal had come near enough, for as a rule they will not approach human +beings except when wounded, and then they are most formidable +assailants. I regret to say that one of our dogs was ripped up by one of +this herd of eight.</p> + +<p>This was the beginning and end of our sport for the day. Our indifferent +luck was to be accounted for from the fact of there being, comparatively +speaking, not much snow.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER XXXV.</h2> + +<h4>Tokay vineyards—The vine-grower's difficulties—Geology of the +Hegyalia—The Pope's compliment to the wine of Tállya—Towns of the +Hegyalia—Farming—System of wages at harvest—The different sorts +of Tokay wine.</h4> + + +<p>The vintage is the season of all others for Tokay; in former days it was +a very gay affair, for then every noble family in Hungary, especially +the bishops, had vineyards in the Hegyalia, and the magnates came to the +vintage with large retinues of servants and horses; and feasting and +hospitality were the order of the day. In the good old times every +important event in the family was celebrated by much drinking of Tokay, +but in those degenerate days other fashions prevail. Before their +kingdom was dismembered the Poles were the best customers for Tokay +wine, but they are too poor now to have such luxuries; added to this, +Russia has for nearly a century past laid an almost prohibitive duty on +Hungarian wine. The fiscal impositions of Austria have also weighed +heavily on Hungary's productions. At present North Germany and +Scandinavia are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span> amongst the most ready purchasers of Tokay; and England +is beginning to appreciate the "Szamarodni" or "dry Tokay," remarkable +for the absence of all deleterious sweetness.</p> + +<p>In good years the vintage of Tokay may be estimated at something like +150,000 <i>eimers</i>, an <i>eimer</i> being about two and a half gallons; but a +really good year is the exception, not the rule. For three years (since +1874) the vintages have all been below the average. The season of 1876 +was a complete failure; a disastrous frost on the 19th of May in that +year completely destroyed the hopes and prospects of the vine-grower. +Indeed he has a trying life of it, for his hopes go up and down with the +barometer. If his vines escape the much-dreaded May frosts, there is a +risk that the summer may be too wet for the grapes, which love sunshine. +Then, again, in the hottest summers there are violent hail-storms, and +in half an hour he may see his promising crop beaten to the ground. It +has been well remarked that "the weather seems to have no control over +itself in Hungary."</p> + +<p>The vine-grower's troubles do not end when the vintage is successfully +over. Tokay is a troublesome wine in respect to fermentation; it +requires three years before it can travel, and even when these critical +years are over, the wine will sometimes get<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span> "sick" in the spring—at +the identical time when the sap rises in the living plant.</p> + +<p>The unique quality of the Tokay is due to the soil, and perhaps to some +other conditions; but not to the peculiarity of the grape, for, as a +matter of fact, they grow a variety of sorts. The cultivation of the +vine appears to be of great antiquity in this part of the world. The +introduction of the plant is attributed to the inevitable Phœnician; +but, treading on more assured historic ground, we find that King Bela +IV., in the thirteenth century, caused new kinds of grapes to be +imported from Italy, and brought about an improvement generally in the +culture of the vine.</p> + +<p>But to return to the question of the soil. The Tokay Eperies group of +hills is one of several well-defined groups of volcanic rocks that exist +in Hungary and Transylvania. In the Tokay district the formations are +partly eruptive, partly sedimentary, but nowhere older than the Tertiary +period, say the geologists. The Hegyalia (which means "mountain-slopes" +in the Magyar tongue) forms the southern spur of the extended volcanic +region, composed of trachyte and rhyolithe, beginning at Eperies and +terminating in the conical hill of Tokay, which protrudes itself so +singularly into the Alföld, or plain.</p> + +<p>But the vine-growing district does not end at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span> Tokay; it continues on +the eastern slopes of the mountain range as far as Uihely, forming two +sides of an irregular triangle, and the total length, say from Szanto in +the west to Tokay, and from Tokay to Uihely, being about thirty-eight +miles.</p> + +<p>As a matter of fact, Tokay, which gives its name to the wine, does not +produce the best vintage; other localities are more esteemed. Tállya, +for example, situated a few miles east of Szanto, has long been +renowned. As early as the sixteenth century the excellence of the wine +from this district was acknowledged by infallible authority. It appears +that during the sitting of the Council of Trent, wines were produced +from all parts for the delectation of the holy fathers. George +Draskovics, the Bishop of Fünfkirchen, brought some of his celebrated +vintage, and presenting a glass of it to the Pope, observed that it was +<i>Tállya</i> wine. Whereupon his Holiness pronounced it to be nectar, +surpassing all other wines, exclaiming with ready wit, "Summum +Pontificum <i>talia</i> vina decent." This place, so happily distinguished by +Papal wit, is pleasantly situated on the side of the hill; it possesses +about 2100 acres of vineyards.</p> + +<p>The places in the Hegyalia are all called towns, though in reality they +are not much more than large villages. Tokay has 4000 inhabitants; it +is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span> at the foot of the hill, close to the junction of the Theiss and the +Bodrog; a ruined castle forms a picturesque object in the foreground, +and beyond is the far-stretching plain. Professor Judd says<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> that at +one period of their history "the volcanic islands of Hungary must have +been very similar in appearance to those of the Grecian Archipelago." +Looking at the conical-shaped hill of Tokay, and the other +configurations of the range, it is quite easy to take in the idea, and +under certain atmospheric conditions the great plain very closely +resembles an inland sea.</p> + +<p>At Tokay the Theiss becomes navigable for steamers, but the circuitous +course of the river prevents much traffic, more especially since the +extension of railways. The next place is Tarczal, and here the Emperor +of Austria has some fine vineyards. Some people have an idea that all +the wine grown in the whole district is Imperial Tokay, and that the +vineyards themselves, one and all, are imperial property. This is very +far from being the case; in fact, since 1848, the peasant proprietors +hold more largely than any other class. The easy transfer of land +facilitates the purchase of small lots, and the result is that every +peasant in the Hegyalia tries to possess himself of an acre or two, or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span> +even half an acre of vineyard. The cultivation seems to pay them well; +but a succession of bad seasons must be very trying, for the vineyards +cannot be neglected be the year good or bad.</p> + +<p>At Zombar, a village in this locality, there is a good instance of what +can be got out of reclaimed land; it was formerly under water for the +greater portion of the year. The soil is so rich in decayed vegetable +matter as to be almost black, and now grows excellent crops of tobacco +and Indian corn. The country north-east of Tokay is certainly the most +picturesque side, there is more foliage, and there is also water.</p> + +<p>The first time I drove through Bodrog-Keresztur, which is on this side, +I thought that, notwithstanding the pretty country, I had never seen so +desolate a place. The town was once famed for its markets, but the +railways have changed all this; almost every other house is a ruin, and +large trees may be seen growing between the walls.</p> + +<p>In the last century a company of Russian soldiers were stationed here +for the purpose of buying Tokay wine for the Russian Court.</p> + +<p>One of the prettiest little places in the Hegyalia is Erdö-Benye; it is +off the main road, right in amongst the hills. It boasts the largest +wine-cellar in the whole district; it has twenty-two ramifica<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span>tions at +two different levels, the whole being cut out of the solid rock; it is +more like a subterranean labyrinth than a cellar. This place was +formerly the property of the renowned family of Rákoczy, who played no +mean part in Hungarian history. Not far from Erdö-Benye are +mineral-water baths, romantically situated in the oak-forest.</p> + +<p>Sáros Patak and Uihely are the two most noteworthy towns in the +north-eastern side of the Tokay triangle. The first named has a +Calvinist college of some considerable reputation, a library of 24,000 +volumes, a printing-press, and a botanical garden. Uihely is the county +town of Zemplin. An agricultural show was held here last spring (1877), +which I attended. Our English-made agricultural implements were very +much to the fore on this occasion. Some people complain of these +machines on the score of their getting out of order rather easily, and +of the immense difficulty of having them repaired in the country. This +objection, I have heard, does not apply alike to all the English makers. +At this show there were some new kinds of wine-presses which attracted a +good deal of attention; before long no doubt not a few changes will be +effected in the process of wine-making in Tokay. Considering that +Hungary holds the third rank in Europe as a wine-producing country, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span> +whole question of the manipulation of wine is a very important one for +her.</p> + +<p>Amongst the live stock at this show I noticed some very fine merino +sheep. In Hungary the wool-producing quality is everything in sheep, as +mutton has hardly any value. This was only a country show, and the +horses, from an Englishman's point of view, were not worth looking at; +but there are plenty of fine horses in Hungary. The Government has been +at immense pains to improve the breed by introducing English and Arabian +sires. For practical purposes the native breed must not be decried; the +Hungarian horse, though small, has many excellent qualities. For +ordinary animals the prices are very low, which fact does not encourage +the peasants to take much care of the foals. On this occasion I bought a +couple of horses for farming purposes; the two only cost me about £11.</p> + +<p>With regard to farming, our English notions of "high farming" will not +do in Hungary; what is called the "extensive system" pays best. For +instance, if I were already farming, and had some disposable capital at +hand, I should find it pay me better to invest in buying more land than +in trying to increase the produce of what I had already in hand. After +some practical experience in the country, I have no hesitation in saying +that Hungary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span> offers a good field for the employment of English capital.</p> + +<p>Vineyards, on the other hand, can only be worked "intensively." Nothing +requires more care and attention. To begin with, the aspect of the vine +garden influences the quality of the wine immensely. Then there is the +soil. The best is the plastic clay (<i>nyirok</i>), which appears to be the +product of the direct chemical decomposition of volcanic rock. This clay +absorbs water but very slowly, and is, in short, the most favourable to +the growth of the vine. As the vines are mostly on the steep hillsides, +low walls are built to prevent the earth from being washed away. In the +early spring one of the first things to be done is to repair the +inevitable damage done by the winter rain or snow to these walls, and to +clear the ditches, which are carefully constructed to carry off the +excess of water. I should observe that in the autumn, soon after the +vintage, the earth is heaped up round the vines to protect them from the +intense cold which prevails here, and directly the spring comes, one +must open up the vines again. In Tokay the vines are never trellised, +they are disposed irregularly, not even in rows—the better to escape +the denudation of their roots by rain. Each vine is supported by an oak +stick, which, removed in autumn, is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span> replaced in spring after the +process of pruning. When the young shoots are long enough they are bound +to these sticks, and are not allowed to grow beyond them.</p> + +<p>No less than three times during the summer the earth should be dug up +round the roots of the vine, and it is very desirable to get the second +digging over before the harvest, for when harvest has once commenced it +is impossible to get labourers at any price. The harvest operations +generally begin at the end of June, and last six weeks. In the part of +Hungary of which I am now speaking the labourer gets a certain +proportion of the harvest. In this district he has every eleventh stack +of corn, and as they are fed as well during the time, a man and his wife +can generally earn enough corn for the whole year. The summers are +intensely hot, and the work in consequence very fatiguing. The poor +fellows are often stricken with fever, the result, in some cases, of +their own imprudence in eating water-melons to excess.</p> + +<p>It is not till the third or fourth week in October that the vintage is +to be looked for. It is not the abundance of grapes that makes a good +year; the test is the amount of dried grapes, for it is to these brown +withered-looking berries that the unique<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span> character of the-wine is due. +If the season is favourable, the over-ripe grapes crack in September, +when the watery particles evaporate, leaving the rasin-like grape with +its undissipated saccharine matter.</p> + +<p>In order to make "Essenz," these dry grapes are separated from the rest, +placed in tubs with holes perforated at the bottom. The juice is allowed +to squeeze out by the mere weight of the fruit into a vessel placed +beneath. After several years' keeping this liquid becomes a drinkable +wine, but of course it is always very costly. This is really only a +liqueur. The wine locally called "Ausbruch" is the more generally known +sweet Tokay, a delicious wine, but also very expensive. It is said to +possess wonderfully restorative properties in sickness and in advanced +age.</p> + +<p>Another quality, differently treated, but of the same vintage, is called +"Szamarodni," now known in the English market as "dry Tokay." This dry +wine preserves the bouquet and strength of the ordinary Tokay, but it is +absolutely without any appreciable "sweetness." In order to produce +Szamarodni the dry grapes must not be separated from the others. The +proportion of alcohol is from twelve to fifteen per cent.</p> + +<p>When first I saw the vintage in the Tokay district,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span> I was greatly +interested in the novelty of the whole scene. It is well worth the +stranger's while to turn aside from the beaten track and join for once +in this characteristic Hungarian festivity, for nowhere is the Magyar +more at home than in the vine-growing Hegyalia.</p> + + +<h4>THE END.</h4> + + +<h5>MUIR AND PATERSON, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.</h5> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image01" name="image01"></a><a href="images/01large.jpg"> + <img src="images/01.jpg" + alt="Map of the BANAT and TRANSYLVANIA with Mr. Crosse's Route" + title="Map of the BANAT and TRANSYLVANIA with Mr. Crosse's Route" /></a> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The Danube at Buda-Pest. Report addressed to Count Andrassy +by J.J. Révy, C.E. 1876.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Hungary and the Lower Danube, by Professor Hull, F.R.S., in +Dublin University Magazine, March 1874.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> Extract of a private letter, dated Buda-Pest, June 28th, +from Mr Landor Crosse, which appeared in the 'Daily News,' July 6, 1875: +"We have had one of the most dreadful storms that has happened here in +the memory of man. I must tell you that on Saturday evening I was taking +my coffee and cigar in the beautiful gardens of the Isle St Marguerite, +opposite Buda-Pest, when a little after six o'clock a fearful hurricane +arose very suddenly, sweeping over us with terrific force. Branches of +trees were carried along like feathers. After this came a dreadful +thunderstorm, accompanied by rain and hail, the hail breaking windows +right and left, even those that were made of plate-glass. The hailstones +were on an average the size of walnuts, and some very much larger. Two +trees were struck by lightning within thirty yards of me. I had a narrow +escape, for these large trees were shattered, and the fragments +dispersed by the hurricane; it was an awful moment, and I shall never +forget it as long as I live. +</p><p> +"Yesterday I went over to the Buda side, where twenty houses have been +entirely washed away. Nearly the whole of the town is flooded, and every +street converted into a river five or six feet in depth. It is estimated +that more than two hundred people have been drowned.... On Sunday +morning I saw the Danube bearing swiftly away the terrible wreckage of +the storm. There were large articles of furniture, the bodies of men, +women, and children, together with horses and cows, all floating on the +whirling waters.... It rained a waterspout for nearly five hours, and in +consequence the small valleys leading down from the mountain were in +some places thirty feet deep, for a time, in rushing water.... The +tramways in some places are destroyed; the mountain railway wrecked; the +vineyards on the hillside simply ruined.... You will scarcely credit me +when I tell you that a house situated at the bottom of the valley and +near the railway station was literally battered in by a <i>drift</i> of +hailstones. The doors and windows were burst in before the inmates could +escape, and they were actually buried alive in ice. When I saw the house +twenty-two hours afterwards it was still four feet deep in hailstones, +though they had been clearing them away with spades. Just as I got there +they recovered the body of a poor woman who had perished. From this +spot, and for about a mile up the valley, no less than fifty-seven +bodies were found."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Letters and Works, edited by Lord Wharncliffe, 1837, p. +351, 359.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> The robbers were subsequently taken and executed.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Hungary and Transylvania, 1839.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> 'Geographical Aspect of the Eastern Question,' Fortnightly +Review, January 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Transylvania: its Products and People.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> A Short Trip in Hungary and Transylvania.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> 'Report on the Agriculture of the Austro-Hungarian +Empire,' Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, vol. x. Part xi. No. +xx.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> The Ibis, vol. v., 1875. The Birds of Transylvania. By +Messrs. Danford and Brown.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Martin Diosy, Esq.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Vol. v., The Birds of Transylvania.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> A Short Trip in Hungary and Transylvania, p. 242.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> See The History of Protestantism, by Rev. J.A. Wylie, Part +29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> The Magyars; their Country and Institutions.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Boner's Transylvania, p. 624.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> A Description of Active and Extinct Volcanoes, by C. +Daubeny, p. 133. 1848.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> 'On the Ancient Volcano of the District of Schemnitz, +Hungary,' Quarterly Journal, Geo. Soc., August 1876.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> 'Hungarian Finances,' the Times, October 31, 1877.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> The waters of Borsék are much taken as an "after-cure."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> The Danube at Buda-Pest. Report addressed to Count +Andrassy by J.J. Révy, C.E. 1876.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Journal of Agricultural Society, vol. x. Part xi. No. +xx.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> Ancient Volcanoes of Hungary.</p></div> + +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Round About the Carpathians, by Andrew F. 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Crosse + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Round About the Carpathians + +Author: Andrew F. Crosse + +Release Date: March 12, 2006 [EBook #17972] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROUND ABOUT THE CARPATHIANS *** + + + +Produced by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Taavi Kalju, and the Online +Distributed Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net. +(This file was made using scans of public domain works +from the University of Michigan Digital Libraries.) + + + + + +ROUND ABOUT THE +CARPATHIANS + + +BY + +ANDREW F. CROSSE + +FELLOW OF THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY + + +WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS + EDINBURGH AND LONDON + MDCCCLXXVIII + +_The Right of translation is reserved_ + + +MUIR AND PATERSON, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + +CHAPTER I. + +Down the Danube from Buda-Pest--Amusements on board the +steamer--Basiash--Drive to Oravicza by Weisskirchen--Ladies of +Oravicza--Gipsy music--Finding an old school-fellow--The +_czardas_. 1 + + +CHAPTER II. + +Consequences of trying to buy a horse--An expedition into +Servia--Fine scenery--The peasants of New Moldova--Szechenyi +road--Geology of the defile of Kasan--Crossing the +Danube--Milanovacz--Drive to Maidenpek--Fearful storm in the +mountains--Miserable quarters for the night--Extent of this +storm--The disastrous effects of the same storm at +Buda-Pest--Great loss of life. 15 + + +CHAPTER III. + +Maidenpek--Well-to-do condition of Servians--Lady Mary Wortley +Montague's journey through Servia--Troubles in +Bulgaria--Communists at Negotin--Copper mines--Forest +ride--Robbers on the road--Kucainia--Belo-breska--Across the +Danube--Detention at customhouse--Weisskirchen--Sleeping +Wallacks. 33 + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Variety of races in Hungary--Wallacks or +Roumains--Statistics--Savage outbreak of the Wallacks in former +years--Panslavic ideas--Roumanians and their origin--Priests of +the Greek Church--Destruction of forests--Spirit of +Communism--Incendiary fires. 46 + + +CHAPTER V. + +Paraffine-works in Oravicza--Gold mine--Coal mines at +Auima-Steirdorf--Geology--States Railway Company's +mines--Bribery 54 + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Mineral wealth of the Banat--Wild ride to Dognacska--Equipment +for a riding tour--An afternoon nap and its consequences--Copper +mines--Self-help--Rare insects--Moravicza--Rare +minerals--Deutsch Bogsan--Reschitza 58 + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Election at Oravicza--Officialism--Reforms--Society--Ride to +Szaszka--Fine views--Drenkova--Character of the +Serbs--Svenica--Rough night walk through the forest 70 + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Hospitable welcome at Uibanya--Excursion to the Servian side of +the Danube--Ascent of the Stierberg--Bivouac in the +woods--Magnificent views towards the Balkans--Fourteen eagles +disturbed--Wallack dance 83 + + +CHAPTER IX. + +A hunting expedition proposed--Drive from Uibanya to +Orsova--Oriental aspect of the market-place--Cserna +Valley--Hercules-Bad, Mehadia--Post-office mistakes--Drive to +Karansebes--Rough customers _en route_--Lawlessness--Fair at +Karansebes--Podolian cattle--Ferocious dogs 90 + + +CHAPTER X. + +Post-office at Karansebes--Good headquarters for a +sportsman--Preparations for a week in the mountains--The party +starting for the hunt--Adventures by the way--Fine +trees--Game--Hut in the forest--Beauty of the scenery in the +Southern Carpathians 104 + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Chamois and bear hunting--First battue--Luxurious dinner 5000 +feet above the sea-level--Storm in the night--Discomforts--The +bear's supper--The eagle's breakfast--Second and third day's +shooting--Baking a friend as a cure for fever--Striking +camp--View into Roumania 118 + + +CHAPTER XII. + +Back at Mehadia--Troubles about a carriage--An unexpected night +on the road--Return to Karansebes--On horseback through the Iron +Gate Pass--Varhely, the ancient capital of Dacia--Roman +remains--Beauty of the Hatszeg Valley 131 + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +Hungarian hospitality--Wallack laziness--Fishing--"Settled +gipsies"--Anecdote--Old _regime_--Fire--Old Roman bath--The +avifauna of Transylvania--Fly-fishing 140 + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +On horseback to Petroseny--A new town--Valuable +coal-fields--Killing fish with dynamite and poison--Singular +manner of repairing roads--Hungarian patriotism--Story of +Hunyadi Janos--Intrusion of the Moslems into Europe 152 + + +CHAPTER XV. + +Hunting for a guide--School statistics--Old times--Over the +mountains to Herrmannstadt--Night in the open--Nearly setting +the forest on fire--Orlat 160 + +CHAPTER XVI. + +Herrmannstadt--Saxon immigrants--Museum--Places of interest in +the neighbourhood--The fortress-churches--Heltau--The Rothen +Thurm Pass--Turkish incursions 173 + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +Magyar intolerance of the German--Patriotic revival of the +Magyar language--Ride from Herrmannstadt to Kronstadt--The +village of Zeiden--Curious scene in church--Reformation in +Transylvania--Political bitterness between Saxons and Magyars in +1848 184 + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +Political difficulties--Impatient criticism of +foreigners--Hungary has everything to do--Tenant-farmers +wanted--Wages 195 + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +Want of progress amongst the Saxons--The +Burzenland--Kronstadt--Mixed character of its +inhabitants--Szeklers--General Bem's campaign 199 + + +CHAPTER XX. + +The Tomoescher Pass--Projected railway from Kronstadt to +Bucharest--Visit to the cavalry barracks at Rosenau--Terzburg +Pass--Dr Daubeny on the extinct volcanoes of Hungary--Professor +Judd on mineral deposits 209 + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +A ride through Szeklerland--Warnings about robbers--Bueksad--A +look at the sulphur deposits on Mount Buedos--A lonely lake--An +invitation to Tusnad 219 + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +The baths of Tusnad--The state of affairs before +1848--Inequality of taxation--Reform--The existing land +laws--Communal property--Complete registration of titles to +estates--Question of entail 232 + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +Fine scenery in Szeklerland--Csik Szent Marton--Absence of +inns--The Szekler's love of lawsuits--Csik Szereda--Hospitality +along the road--Wallack atrocities in 1848--The Wallacks not +Panslavists 243 + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +Ride to Szent Domokos--Difficulty about quarters--Interesting +host--Jewish question in Hungary--Taxation--Financial matters 252 + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +Copper mine of Balanbanya--Miners in the wine-shop--Ride to St +Miklos--Visit to an Armenian family--Capture of a robber--Cold +ride to the baths of Borsek 260 + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +Moldavian frontier--Toelgyes--Excitement about robbers--Attempt +at extortion--A ride over the mountains--Return to St Miklos 275 + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +Toplicza--Armenian hospitality--A bear-hunt--A ride over to the +frontier of Bukovina--Destruction of timber--Maladministration +of State property--An unpleasant night on the +mountain--Snowstorm 282 + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +Visits at Transylvanian chateaux--Society--Dogs--Amusements at +Klausenburg--Magyar poets--Count Istvan Szechenyi--Baron +Eoetvos--'The Village Notary'--Hungarian self-criticism--Literary +taste 291 + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +A visit at Schloss B------National characteristics--Robber +stories--Origin of the "poor lads"--Audacity of the +robbers--Anecdote of Deak and the housebreaker--Romantic story +of a robber chief 302 + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +Return to Buda-Pest--All-Souls' Day--The cemetery--Secret burial +of Count Louis Batthyanyi--High rate of mortality at Buda-Pest 315 + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +Skating--Death and funeral of Deak--Deak's policy--Uneasiness +about the rise of the Danube--Great excitement about +inundations--The capital in danger--Night scene on the +embankment--Firing the danger-signal--The great calamity averted 321 + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +Results of the Danube inundations--State of things at +Baja--Terrible condition of New Pest--Injuries sustained by the +island garden of St. Marguerite--Charity organisation 335 + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +Expedition to the Marmaros Mountains--Railways in Hungary--The +train stopping for a rest--The Alfoeld--Shepherds of the +plain--Wild appearance of the Rusniacks--Slavs of Northern +Hungary--Marmaros Szigeth--Difficulty in slinging a hammock--The +Jews of Karasconfalu--Soda manufactory at Boeska--Romantic +scenery--Salt mines--Subterranean lake 339 + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +The Tokay district--Visit at Schloss G------Wild-boar +hunting--Incidents of the chase 355 + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +Tokay vineyards--The vine-grower's difficulties--Geology of the +Hegyalia--The Pope's compliment to the wine of Tallya--Towns of +the Hegyalia--Farming--System of wages at harvest--The different +sorts of Tokay wine 364 + + +_Map of the Banat and Transylvania with Mr Crosse's route._ + + + + +ROUND ABOUT THE CARPATHIANS. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + Down the Danube from Buda-Pest--Amusements on board the + steamer--Basiash--Drive to Oravicza by Weisskirchen--Ladies of + Oravicza--Gipsy music--Finding an old schoolfellow--The _czardas_. + + +One glorious morning in June 1875, I, with the true holiday feeling at +heart, for the world was all before me, stepped on board the Rustchuk +steamer at Buda-Pest, intending to go down the Danube as far as Basiash. + +Your express traveller, whose aim it is to get to the other end of +everywhere in the shortest possible time, will take the train instead of +the boat to Basiash, and there catch up the steamer, saving fully twelve +hours on the way. This time the man in a hurry is not so far wrong; the +Danube between Buda-Pest and the defile of Kasan is almost devoid of +what the regular tourist would call respectable scenery. There are few +objects of interest, except the mighty river itself. + +Now the steamer has its advantages over the train, for surely nowhere in +this locomotive world can a man more thoroughly enjoy "sweetly doing +nothing" than on board one of these river-boats. You are wafted swiftly +onward through pure air and sunshine; you have an armchair under the +awning; of course an amusing French novel; besides, truth to say, there +is plenty to amuse you on board. Once past Vienna, your moorings are cut +from the old familiar West; the costumes, the faces, the architecture, +and even the way of not doing things, have all a flavour of the East. + +What a hotch-potch of races, so to speak, all in one boat, but ready to +do anything rather than pull together; even here, between stem and stern +of our Danube steamer, are Magyars, Germans, Servians, Croats, +Roumanians, Jews, and gipsies. They are all unsatisfied people with +aspirations; no two are agreed--everybody wants something else down +here, and how Heaven is to grant all the prayers of those who have the +grace to pray, or how otherwise to settle the Eastern Question, I will +not pretend to say. + +Meanwhile the world amuses itself--I mean the microcosm on board the +steamer: people, ladies not excepted, play cards, drink coffee, and +smoke. There is a good opportunity of studying the latest Parisian +fashions, as worn by Roumanian belles; they know how to dress, do those +handsome girls from Bucharest. + +When steam navigation was first established on the Danube, as long ago +as 1830, Prince Demidoff remarked, that "in making the Danube one of the +great commercial highways of the world, steam had united the East with +the West." It was a smart saying, but it was not a thing accomplished +when the Prince wrote his Travels, nor is it now; for though the "Danube +Steam Navigation Company" have been running their boats for nearly half +a century, they are in difficulties, "chiefly," says Mr Revy,[1] "from +the neglect of all river improvements between Vienna and Buda-Pest, and +between Basiash and Turn-Severin." He goes on to say that the dearest +interests of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy are involved in the +rectification of the course of the Danube, recommending a Royal +Commission to be appointed. Those who follow the course of the river may +see for themselves how little has been done, and how much remains to be +done before it can be safely reckoned one of the great commercial +highways of the world. + +We had started from Buda-Pest on Monday morning at seven o'clock, and +arrived at Basiash at nine the following morning. We were fortunate in +not having been detained anywhere by shallow water, so often the cause +of delay by this route. + +Up to the present time Basiash is the terminus of the railway; it is a +depot for coal brought from the interior, and though not out of its +teens, is a place fast growing into importance. + +As my object was to get to Oravicza in the Banat, I had done with the +steamboat, and intended taking the rail to my destination; but, in the +"general cussedness" of things, there turned out to be no train till the +evening. I did not at all enjoy the prospect of knocking about the whole +day amongst coal-sheds and unfinished houses, with the alternative +refuge of the inn, which was swarming with flies and redolent of many +evil smells; so I thought I would find some conveyance and drive over, +for the distance was not great. If there is anything I hate, it is +waiting the livelong day for a railway train. + +There chanced to be an intelligent native close by who divined my +thoughts, for I had certainly not uttered them; he came up, touched me +on the arm, and pointed round the corner. Notwithstanding the intense +heat of the day, the Wallack, for such he was, wore an enormous +sheepskin cloak with the wool outside, as though ready for an Arctic +winter. I followed him a few steps to see what he wanted me to look at; +the movement was quite enough, he regarded it evidently in the light of +ready assent, and in the twinkling of an eye he possessed himself of my +portmanteau and other belongings, motioned me to follow him, which I +did, and then found that my Heaven-sent friend had a machine for hire. + +I call it a machine, because it was not like anything on wheels I had +seen before: later on I became familiar enough with the carts of the +country; they are long-bodied, rough constructions, wonderfully adapted +to the uneven roads. In this case there were four horses abreast, which +sounds imposing, as any four-in-hand must always do. + +I now asked the Wallack in German if he could drive me to Oravicza, for +I saw he had made up his mind to drive me somewhere. To my relief I +found he could speak German, at all events a few words. He replied he +could drive the "high and nobly born Excellency" there in four hours. +The time was one thing, but the charge was quite another affair. His +demand was so outrageous that I supposed it was an implied compliment to +my exalted rank: certainly it had no adequate reference to the services +offered. The fellow asked enough to buy the whole concern outright--cart +and four horses! They were the smallest horses I almost ever saw, and +were further reduced by the nearest shave of being absolute skeletons; +the narrow line between sustaining life and actual starvation must have +been nicely calculated. + +We now entered upon the bargaining phase, a process which threatened to +last some time; all the stragglers in the place assisted at the +conference, taking a patriotic interest in their own countryman. The +matter was finally adjusted by the Wallack agreeing to take a sixth part +of the original sum. + +Seated on a bundle of hay, with my things around me, I was now quite +ready for the start, but the driver had a great many last words with the +public, which the interest in our proceedings had gathered about us. +Presently with an air of triumph he took his seat, gave a loud crack or +two with his whip, and off we started at a good swinging trot, just to +show what his team could accomplish. + +We took the road to Weisskirchen, leaving the Danube in the rear. The +country was fairly pretty, but nothing remarkable; fine scenery under +the circumstances would have been quite superfluous, for the dust was +two feet deep in the road, and the heels of four horses scampering along +raised such a cloud of it that we could see next to nothing. + +We had not proceeded far when the speed sensibly relaxed; I fancy the +horses went slower that they might listen to what the driver had to say, +he talked to them the whole time. He was not communicative to me; his +knowledge of German seemed limited to the bargaining process, a lesson +often repeated, I suspect. As time wore on the heat became almost +tropical; as for the dust, I felt as if I had swallowed a sandbank, and +was joyful at the near prospect of quenching my thirst at Weisskirchen, +now visible in the distance. + +Hungarian towns look like overgrown villages that have never made up +their minds seriously to become towns. The houses are mostly of one +story, standing each one alone, with the gable-end, blank and +windowless, towards the road. This is probably a relic of Orientalism. + +Getting up full speed as we approached the town, we clattered noisily +over the crown of the causeway, and suddenly making a sharp turn, found +ourselves in the courtyard of the inn. + +I inquired how long we were to remain here; "A small half-hour," was the +driver's answer. This was my first experience of a Wallack's idea of +time, if indeed they have any ideas on the subject beyond the rising and +the setting of the sun. + +I strolled about the place, but there was not much to be done in the +time, and I got very tired of waiting: the "half-hour" was anything but +"small;" however, one must be somewhere, and in Hungary waiting comes a +good deal into the day's work. I was rather afraid my Wallack was +indulging too freely in _slivovitz_--otherwise plum-brandy--a special +weakness of theirs; but after an intolerable delay we got off at last. + +Soon after leaving the town we came upon an encampment of gipsies; their +tents looked picturesque enough in the distance, but on nearer approach +the illusion was entirely dispelled. In appearance they were little +better than savages; children even of ten years of age, lean, mop-headed +creatures, were to be seen running about absolutely naked. As Mark Twain +said, "they wore nothing but a smile," but the smile was a grimace to +try to extract coppers from the traveller. Two miles farther on we came +upon fourteen carts of gipsies, as wild a crew as one could meet all the +world over. Some of the men struck me as handsome, but with a single +exception the women were terribly unkempt-looking creatures. + +It was fully six o'clock before we reached Oravicza; the drive of +twenty-five miles had taken eight hours instead of four, as the Wallack +had profanely promised. + +We entered the town with a feeble attempt at a trot, but the poor brutes +of horses were dead beat, and neither the pressure of public opinion nor +the suggestive cracking of the driver's whip could arouse them, to +becoming activity. + +Oravicza is very prettily situated on rising ground, and the long +winding street, extending more than two miles, turns with the valley. +Crawling along against collar the whole way, I thought the street would +never end. There are very few Magyar inhabitants in this place, which is +pretty equally divided between Germans and Wallacks; the lower part of +the town belongs to the latter, and is known as Roman Oravicza, in +distinction to Deutsch Oravicza. The population is altogether about +seven thousand. + +I fancy not many strangers pass this way, for never was a shy Englishman +so stared at as this dust-begrimmed traveller. I became painfully +self-conscious of the generally disreputable appearance of my cart and +horses, the driver and myself, when two remarkably pretty girls tripped +by, casting upon me well-bred but amused glances. All the womenkind of +Oravicza must have turned out at this particular hour, for I had hardly +passed the sisters with the arched eyebrows, when I came upon another +group of young ladies, who were laughing and talking together. I think +they grew merrier as I approached, and I am quite sure I was hotter than +I had been all day. "Confound the fellow! can't he turn into an +innyard--anywhere out of the main street?" thought I, giving my driver a +poke. He knew perfectly well where he was about to take me, and no +significant gestures of mine hastened him forward in the very least. +Presently, without any warning, we did turn into a side opening, but so +suddenly that the whole vehicle had a wrench, and the two hind wheels +jolted over a high kerbstone. Meanwhile the group of damsels were still +in close confab, and I could see took note that the stranger had +descended at the Krone. We were all in a heap in the courtyard, but we +had to extricate ourselves as best we could, for not a soul was to be +seen, though we had made noise enough certainly to announce our arrival. + +I pulled repeatedly at the bell before I could rouse the _hausknecht_, +and induce him to make an appearance. At length he deigned to emerge +from the recesses of the dirty interior. Having discharged the Wallack +in a satisfied frame of mind (he had the best of the bargain after all), +I was at leisure to follow mine host to inspect the accommodation he had +to offer me. A sanitary commissioner would have condemned it, but _en +voyage comme en voyage_. With some difficulty and delay I procured water +enough to fill the pie-dish that did duty for the washing apparatus. I +had an old relative of extremely Low Church proclivities who was always +repeating--for my edification, I suppose--that "man is but dust;" the +dear old lady would have said so in very truth if she had seen me on +this occasion. + +After supper I strolled into the summer theatre, a simple erection, +consisting of a stage at the end of a pretty, shady garden. Seats and +tables were placed under the lime-trees, and here the happy people of +Oravicza enjoy their amusements in the fresh air, drinking coffee and +eating ices. Think of the luxury of fresh air, O ye frequenters of +London theatres! + +The evening was already advanced, the tables were well filled; groups +gathered here and there, sauntering under the greenery, gay with +lanterns; and many a blue-eyed maiden was there, with looks coquettish +yet demure, as German maidens are wont to appear. + +A concert was going on, and I for the first time heard a gipsy band. +Music is an instinct with these Hungarian gipsies. They play by ear, and +with a marvellous precision, not surpassed by musicians who have been +subject to the most careful training. Their principal instruments are +the violin, the violoncello, and a sort of zither. The airs they play +are most frequently compositions of their own, and are in character +quite peculiar, though favourite pieces from Wagner and other composers +are also given by them with great effect. I heard on this occasion one +of the gipsy airs which made an indelible impression on my mind; it +seemed to me the thrilling utterance of a people's history. There was +the low wail of sorrow, of troubled passionate grief, stirring the heart +to restlessness, then the sense of turmoil and defeat; but upon this +breaks suddenly a wild burst of exultation, of rapturous joy--a triumph +achieved, which hurries you along with it in resistless sympathy. The +excitable Hungarians can literally become intoxicated with this +music--and no wonder. You cannot reason upon it, or explain it, but its +strains compel you to sensations of despair and joy, of exultation and +excitement, as though under the influence of some potent charm. + +I strolled leisurely back to the inn, beneath the starlit heavens. The +outline of the mountains was clearly marked in the distance, and in the +foreground quaint gable-ends mixed themselves up with the shadows and +the trees--a pretty picture, prettier than anything one can see by the +light of "common day." + +The following morning I set about making inquiries respecting the mines +which I knew existed in the neighbourhood of Oravicza. I found that an +English gentleman owned a gold mine in the immediate vicinity, and that +he was then living in the town. This induced me to go off at once to +call upon him, and I was immediately received in a very friendly manner. +This accidental meeting was rather curious, for on comparing notes we +found that we had been schoolfellows together at Westminster. H---- +being my senior, we had not known each other well; but meeting here in +the wilds, we were as old familiar friends. H---- kindly insisted on my +leaving the inn and taking up my quarters with him in his bachelor +residence, which was in fact big enough to accommodate a whole form of +Westminster boys. I was not at all sorry to avoid a second night at the +Krone, and gladly fell into my friend's hospitable arrangements. + +I was in great luck altogether, for that very evening a dance was to +come off at Oravicza, and my friend invited me to accompany him. Dancing +is one of the sins I compound for; moreover, I had a lively recollection +of the bright eyes I had encountered yesterday. + +Oravicza is a central place, in a way the chief town of the Banat. It +has a pleasant little society, composed of the families of the +officials, and of the military stationed there; they are mostly German +by origin. Amongst the belles of the evening I soon discovered my merry +critics of yesterday. I was duly presented, and we laughed together over +my "first appearance." It was one of the pleasantest evenings I ever +remember. I hate long invitations to anything agreeable; this party, for +instance, had the charm of unexpectedness. If unfortunately I should +prove not quite good enough to go to heaven, I think it would be very +pleasant to stop at Oravicza--supposing, of course, that my friends all +stopped there as well. + +Here I first danced the _czardas_; it is an epoch in a man's life, but +you must see it, feel it, dance it, and, above all, hear the gipsy music +that inspires it. This is the national dance of the Hungarians, favoured +by prince and peasant alike. The figures are very varied, and represent +the progress of a courtship where the lady is coy, and now retreats and +now advances; her partner manifests his despair, she yields her hand, +and then the couple whirl off together to the most entrancing tones of +wild music, such as St. Anthony himself could not have resisted. + +[Footnote 1: The Danube at Buda-Pest. Report addressed to Count Andrassy +by J.J. Revy, C.E. 1876.] + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + Consequences of trying to buy a horse--An expedition into + Servia--Fine scenery--The peasants of New Moldova--Szechenyi + road--Geology of the defile of Kasan--Crossing the + Danube--Milanovacz-Drive to Maidenpek--Fearful storm in the + mountains--Miserable quarters for the night--Extent of this + storm--The disastrous effects of the same storm at Buda-Pest--Great + loss of life. + + +My friend H---- is the very impersonation of sound practical sense. The +next morning he coolly broke in upon my raptures over the beauty of the +Oravicza ladies by saying, "You want to buy a horse, don't you?" + +Of course I did, but my thoughts were elsewhere at the moment, and with +some reluctance I took my hat and followed my friend to interview a +Wallack who had heard that I was a likely purchaser, and brought an +animal to show me. It would not do at all, and we dismissed him. + +A little later we went out into the town, and I thought there was a +horse-fair; I should think we met a dozen people at least who came up to +accost me on the subject of buying a horse. And such a collection of +animals!--wild colts from the Pustza that had never been ridden at all, +and other ancient specimens from I know not where, which could never be +ridden again--old, worn-out roadsters. There were two or three good +horses, but they were only fit for harness. I was so bothered every time +I put my nose out of doors by applications from persons anxious to part +with their property in horse-flesh, that I wished I had kept my +intentions locked in my own breast. I was pestered for days about this +business. There was an old Jew who came regularly to the house three +times a-day to tell me of some other paragon that he had found. When he +saw that it was really of no use, he then complained loudly that I had +wasted his precious time, that he had given up every other occupation +for the sake of finding me a horse. I dismissed this Jew, telling him +pretty sharply to go about his own business for once, adding that +nothing should induce me to buy a horse in Oravicza. + +One day H---- informed me that he was going over to Servia on a matter +of business, and if I liked to accompany him, I should see something of +the country, and perhaps I might find there a horse to suit me. The +Servian horses are said to be a useful breed, strong though small, and +very enduring for a long march. + +I was very ready for the expedition, so we hired a _leiterwagen_, which +is in fact a long cart with sides like a ladder, peculiarly suitable for +rough work. I was much surprised to find the Hungarians far less often +in the saddle than I expected; it is true, nobody walks, not even the +poorest peasant, but they drive, as a rule. + +We started one fine July morning in our machine for Moldova on the +Danube. The first place we came to was Szaszka, a mining village. Close +by are copper mines and smelting-works belonging to the States Railway +Company. I was told that they do not pay as well as formerly, owing to +the fact that the ore now being worked is poorer than before; it yields +only two per cent. of copper, a very low average. Nothing could well +exceed the dirt of Szaszka; we merely stopped long enough to feed the +horses, and were glad to get off again. + +On leaving this place the road immediately begins to ascend the +mountain, and may be described as a sort of pass over a spur of the +Carpathians. It was a very beautiful drive, favoured as we were, too, +with fine weather. The road on the northern side is even well made, +ascending in regular zigzags. After gaining the summit, we left the +post-road that we had hitherto traversed, and took our way to the right, +descending through a forest. The varied foliage was very lovely, and +the shade afforded us most grateful. It was an original notion driving +through such a place, for, according to my ideas, there was no road at +all; but H----, more accustomed to the country, declared it was not so +bad, at least he averred that there were other roads much worse. The +jolting we got over the ruts and stones exceeded anything in my previous +experience. How the cart kept itself together was a marvel to me, but it +accommodated itself by a kind of snakelike movement, not characteristic +of wheeled vehicles in general. Except for the honour and glory of +driving, I would as lief have walked, and I think have done the journey +nearly as soon; but my friend observed, "It was no good giving into bad +roads down in this part of the world." + +At one of the worst turnings we met several bullock-carts filled with +iron pyrites from the copper-smelting. The custom of the drivers of +these carts is to stop at the bottom of a steep bit of hill, and then +put five or six pairs of oxen to draw up one cart. The process is a slow +one, but is better for the oxen. We had great difficulty in passing in +safety, for unluckily at the spot we met them the trees were so thick +that they literally walled up the road, and on the other side there +chanced to be a very uninviting precipice, and of course we had the +place of honour. + +Soon after this little excitement was over we came upon a fine view of +the Danube, with a long stretch of Servian forests beyond. On we jolted, +till at length New Moldova was reached: this place has +smelting-furnaces, and in the neighbourhood are extensive copper mines. +The district is known as the Banat of Temesvar, an extensive area of the +most fertile land in Europe; rich black soil, capable of growing any +number of crops in succession without dressing. This part of Hungary +supplies the finest white flour, so much esteemed by the Vienna bakers, +and now sought after by the pastrycooks in England. + +There was a fair going on at New Moldova, which afforded me an +opportunity of seeing the peasants in their gala dresses. The place is +renowned for its pretty Wallack girls, and I certainly can bear witness +that I saw not a few handsome faces. But what struck me most was the +graceful movements of these damsels: their manner of walking was the +very poetry of motion. I daresay it was the more striking to me because +I had recently come from England, where fashion condemns the wearers of +high-heeled shoes to a rickety waddle! Even here, in these wilds, +fashion maintains a despotic rule. I understand black hair is the thing +at present, so every Wallack maiden dyes her hair to the regulation +colour, though Nature, who never makes a mistake, may have matched her +complexion with auburn locks. + +The costume is very pretty and peculiar; it consists of a loose chemise, +a short skirt of homespun, with a double apron front and back, formed of +a very deep thick fringe of various colours. This peculiar garment is +called an _obreska_; I think it has no counterpart in female fashions +elsewhere. When the under-garment is white and fresh the effect is very +good; but in the case of the very poor, if there are but scanty rags +beneath, then, to speak mildly, the fringe is an inefficient covering. +But to-day every damsel is in her best; and how jauntily she wears the +coloured scarf twisted round her head, which falls in graceful folds! +The Wallacks generally have their bare feet covered, not with boots, but +with thongs of leather, something in the form of a sandal. The Servian +women dress quite differently, wear tight-fitting garments, richly +embroidered when their means permit. The men also figure largely in +embroidery. + +In the evening the peasants had a dance on the open space in front of +the _czarda_, or village inn. Of course we were there to look on. I +should observe that we had arranged to stay the night at Moldova, for +the afternoon had been taken up in visiting a large manufactory for +sulphuric acid in the neighbourhood. The dance which wound up the day's +amusements can be easily described. "Many a youth and many a maid" form +a wide circle with arms interlaced, they move round and round in a +marzurka step to the sound of music. It appeared to me rather slow and +monotonous. I do not know whether the figure breaks up, leaving each +couple more to their own devices; but we left them still revolving in a +circle. + +The following morning we were off on our travels again. A short drive +took us to Old Moldova, a village within the Military Frontier, +regularly constructed, with guardhouse and other Government buildings, +facing the Danube. At this point begins the splendid road by the side of +the river, made by the Hungarian Government in 1840. It reaches as far +as Orsova, taking the left bank of the Danube. It would have been easier +to have followed Trajan's lead, and have made the road on the right +bank; but there were political reasons for deciding otherwise. The +Hungarian Government, as a matter of course, would only construct this +great work within their own territory: the other side of the river is +Servian. The engineering difficulties in making this road were very +great, but they have been everywhere overcome, and the result is a +splendid piece of work. + +Arriving at the Danube, we took a steamboat that would land us in +Milanovacz in Servia. The scenery here is magnificent; we were now in +the defile of Kasan. The waters of the mighty river are contracted +within a narrow gorge, which in fact cleaves asunder the Carpathian +range for a space of more than fifty miles. The limestone rock forms a +precipitous wall on either side, rising in some places to an altitude of +more than two thousand feet sheer from the water's edge. The scenery of +this wonderful pass is very varied; the bare rock with its vertical +precipice gives place to a disturbed broken mass of cliff and scaur, +flung about in every sort of fantastic form, or towering aloft like the +ruined ramparts of some Titan's castle. Over all this a luxuriant +vegetation has thrown a veil of exceeding beauty. + +The fact of the Danube forcing its way through the Carpathian chain in +this remarkable manner is a very interesting problem to the geologists, +and deserves more careful investigation at their hands than perhaps it +has yet received. They seem pretty well agreed in saying that there +must have been a time when the waters were bayed back, and when the vast +Hungarian plain was an inland sea or great lake. + +Professor Hull, in a recent paper on the subject,[2] states the fact of +the plains of Hungary being "overspread by sands, gravels, and a kind of +mud called _loess_, or by alluvial deposits underlaid by fresh-water +limestones, which may be considered as having been formed beneath an +inland lake, during different periods of repletion or partial +exhaustion, dating downwards from the Miocene period." + +The Professor goes on to say that "at intervals along the skirts of the +Carpathians, and in more central detached situations, volcanoes seem to +have been in active operation, vomiting forth masses of trachytic and +basaltic lava, which were sometimes mingled with the deposits forming +under the waters of the lakes. The connection of these great sheets of +water with these active volcanic eruptions in Hungary has been pointed +out by the late Dr. Daubeny. The gorge of Kasan, and the ridge about 700 +feet above the present surface of the stream, appear to have once barred +the passage of the river. At this time the waters must have been pent +up several hundred feet above the present surface, and thus have been +thrown back on the plains of Hungary. It was only necessary that the +barrier should be cut through in order to lay dry these plains by +draining the lakes. This was probably effected by the ordinary process +of river excavation, and partly by the formation of underground channels +scooped out amongst the limestone rocks of the gorge. These two modes of +excavation acting together may have hastened the lowering of the channel +and the drainage of the plains above considerably; nevertheless the time +required for such a work must have been extended, and it would appear +that while the great inland lakes were being drained, the volcanic fires +were languishing, and ultimately became extinct. Hungary thus presents +us with phenomena analogous to those which are to be found in the +volcanic district of Central France." It is a significant fact that even +at the present day the waters of the Platten See and other lakes and +swamps are diminishing, showing that the draining process is still going +on. + +The extent of the great lake of prehistoric times is forcibly brought +before us by the fact that the Alfoeld, or great plain of Hungary, +comprises an area of 37,400 square miles! Here is found the _Tiefland_, +or deep land, so wonderfully fertile that the cultivator need only +scratch the soil to prepare it for his crop. + +As it only took us four hours by steamer to go from Alt Moldova to +Milanovacz, we calculated that we might reach Maidenpek, our destination +in Servia, the same day by borrowing a few hours from the night, as an +Irishman would say. However, it turned out that there was so much +bargaining and dawdling about at Milanovacz before we could settle on a +conveyance that we did not get away till six o'clock--too late a great +deal, considering the rough drive we had before us. Immediately after +starting we began to wind our way up the mountain. The views were +splendid. The Danube at this part again spreads out, having the +appearance of a lake something like the Rhine near Bingen. We looked +right over into Transylvania and Roumania from the commanding position +afforded by the terraced road up which we slowly toiled. + +We had hardly gained the highest point when we remarked that the sky was +becoming rapidly overcast by clouds from the west. Our Servian driver +swore it would not rain; he knew the signs of the weather, he said, but +as he applied the whip and galloped his horses at every available +opportunity, it was clear he had an inner consciousness of coming +trouble. The road now led through a forest. Here and there a gap in the +thick foliage gave us a glimpse of the distant landscape, and of the +curious atmospheric effects produced by the coming storm. The clouds +rolled up behind us in dense masses, throwing the near mountains into +deep shadow, while the plain far beneath was flooded with bright +sunshine. + +The effect, however, was transitory, for the dark shadow soon engulfed +the distant plain, blurring the fair scene even while we looked upon it. +The change was something marvellous, so sudden and so complete. Up to +this time the air had been still, and very hot; but suddenly a fierce +wind came upon us with a hoarse roar--almost like the waves of the +sea--up the valley and over the hill-top it came, right down upon us, +tearing at the forest-trees. The branches, in all the full foliage of +leafy June, swayed to and fro as the wind went roaring and shrieking +down the hillside; the next moment the earth shook with the clap of a +terrific burst of thunder. + +The horses stood still and shuddered in their harness, and it was with +difficulty they were made to go on. It was evident the storm was right +over us, for now succeeded flash upon flash of forked lightning, with +thunder-claps that were instantaneous and unceasing. + +At the same time the windows of heaven were opened upon us, or rather +the sluices of heaven it seemed to me; for the rain descended in sheets, +not streams, of water. Without any adventitious difficulties, the road +was as objectionable as a road could be; deep ruts alternated with now a +bare bit of rock strewn with treacherous loose stones, and now a sharp +curve with an ugly slant towards the precipice. + +About half an hour after the storm first broke upon us it had become +night, indeed it was so dark that we could hardly see a pace in advance. +The repeated flashes of lightning helped us to make out our position +from time to time, and we trusted to the horses mainly to get us along +in the safe middle course. At moments when the heavens were lit up, I +could see the swaying branches of the fir-trees high above us battling +with the wind, for we were still in the forest. The sound of many waters +around on every side forcibly impressed us with the notion that we must +be washed away--a result not by any means improbable, for the road we +traversed was little better than a watercourse. + +I have experienced storms in Norway, and in the Swiss and Austrian Alps, +but I never remember anything to equal this outburst of the elements. + +To stop still or to go forward was almost equally difficult, but we +struggled on somehow at the rate, I should think, of a mile and a half +in the hour. The horses were thoroughly demoralised, as one says of +defeated troops, and stumbled recklessly at every obstacle. The driver +was a stupid fellow, without an ounce of pluck in his composition, and +declared more than once that he would not go on, preferring to stop +under such shelter as the trees afforded. We were of another mind, and +insisted on his pushing on. One of us walked at the horses' heads, and +thus we splashed and blundered on for three mortal hours, wishing all +the time that we had slept at Milanovacz. The route became so much worse +that I declared we must have missed the track. We were apparently in a +deep gully, traversed by a mountain torrent hardly a foot below the +level of our road; but the Servian said he knew we were "all right," and +that we should come directly to a house where we could get shelter. + +He had hardly spoken when H---- descried some lights not very far ahead, +and in less than ten minutes we came alongside a good-sized hut, which +turned out to be the welcome wine-shop the driver had promised us. Here +was a roof anyhow, so we entered, hoping for supper and beds in the +wayside inn. All our host could produce was a very good bottle of +Servian "black" wine and some coarse bread of the country, so stale +that we could hardly break it. This wine, which is almost as black as +ink, comes from Negotin, lower down the Danube, and is rather a +celebrated vintage I was informed. + +It was only in my untravelled mind that the idea of "beds" existed at +all. H---- knew better than to expect anything of the kind. All we could +do was to examine the place we were in with reference to passing the +night. The floor of the room consisted of hard stamped clay, which from +the drippings of our garments had become damp and slightly adhesive to +the tread. The furniture consisted of a few rough stools and three +tables. There was no question of any other apartment, there being only a +dark hole in the rear sacred to the family, into which every sense we +possessed forbade us to intrude. In peering about with the candles we +found that the floor was perfectly alive with insects--such strange +forms, awful in their strangeness--interesting, I daresay, to the +entomologist, but simply disgusting to one not given to collecting +specimens. + +If I were dying I could not have laid myself down on that floor, so we +dragged the three tables together. They were provokingly uneven, but +with the aid of a sheepskin _bunda_, and our carpet-bags for pillows, +we contrived something upon which to rest our tired limbs. I should +observe we had partially dried ourselves by a miserable fire fed with +wet wood; in fact, everything was wet--our plaids were soaked, and were +useless as coverlets. + +We had agreed to keep one candle burning, with the further precaution +that we should sleep and tie through the night; for it was a +cut-throat-looking place, and the countenance of the ordinary Servian is +not reassuring. It fell to my lot to have the first watch, and I lay +awake staring at the roof, no great height above us. Its dirt-stained +rafters were lit up by the candle, and I soon became aware that the +mainbody of the insects was performing a strategic movement highly +creditable to the attacking party--they dropped down upon us from the +beams! I will not pursue the subject farther, but as long as the candle +burned I did not sleep a wink. I suppose I must have dozed off towards +morning, for H---- roused me from a state of semi-unconsciousness, and +"up we got and shook our lugs." + +The first thing I saw on pushing open the door was the steaming carcass +of a sheep hung just outside, with a pool of blood on the very +threshold! In many places in Eastern Europe they have the disgusting +habit of slaughtering the animals in the middle of the street. + +As soon as we had swallowed a cup of hot coffee, which is always good in +this part of the world, we lost no time in clearing out of the wretched +hovel where we had passed the night. On every side there were traces of +last night's tempest--trees uprooted and lying across the road, walls +blown down, and watercourses overflowing. It came to my knowledge later +that we got part of the same storm that had fallen with such devastating +fury on Buda-Pest just twenty-four hours earlier.[3] + +It is a fact worth noting that this storm affected a large area of +Europe, travelling north-west to south-east. A friend writing from the +neighbourhood of Dresden made mention of a severe storm on the 24th of +June; it broke upon Buda on the 26th, reaching us down in Servia on the +27th. + +[Footnote 2: Hungary and the Lower Danube, by Professor Hull, F.R.S., in +Dublin University Magazine, March 1874.] + +[Footnote 3: Extract of a private letter, dated Buda-Pest, June 28th, +from Mr Landor Crosse, which appeared in the 'Daily News,' July 6, 1875: +"We have had one of the most dreadful storms that has happened here in +the memory of man. I must tell you that on Saturday evening I was taking +my coffee and cigar in the beautiful gardens of the Isle St Marguerite, +opposite Buda-Pest, when a little after six o'clock a fearful hurricane +arose very suddenly, sweeping over us with terrific force. Branches of +trees were carried along like feathers. After this came a dreadful +thunderstorm, accompanied by rain and hail, the hail breaking windows +right and left, even those that were made of plate-glass. The hailstones +were on an average the size of walnuts, and some very much larger. Two +trees were struck by lightning within thirty yards of me. I had a narrow +escape, for these large trees were shattered, and the fragments +dispersed by the hurricane; it was an awful moment, and I shall never +forget it as long as I live. + +"Yesterday I went over to the Buda side, where twenty houses have been +entirely washed away. Nearly the whole of the town is flooded, and every +street converted into a river five or six feet in depth. It is estimated +that more than two hundred people have been drowned.... On Sunday +morning I saw the Danube bearing swiftly away the terrible wreckage of +the storm. There were large articles of furniture, the bodies of men, +women, and children, together with horses and cows, all floating on the +whirling waters.... It rained a waterspout for nearly five hours, and in +consequence the small valleys leading down from the mountain were in +some places thirty feet deep, for a time, in rushing water.... The +tramways in some places are destroyed; the mountain railway wrecked; the +vineyards on the hillside simply ruined.... You will scarcely credit me +when I tell you that a house situated at the bottom of the valley and +near the railway station was literally battered in by a _drift_ of +hailstones. The doors and windows were burst in before the inmates could +escape, and they were actually buried alive in ice. When I saw the house +twenty-two hours afterwards it was still four feet deep in hailstones, +though they had been clearing them away with spades. Just as I got there +they recovered the body of a poor woman who had perished. From this +spot, and for about a mile up the valley, no less than fifty-seven +bodies were found."] + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + Maidenpek--Well-to-do condition of Servians--Lady Mary Wortley + Montague's journey through Servia--Troubles in Bulgaria--Communists + at Negotin--Copper mines--Forest ride--Robbers on the + road--Kucainia--Belo-breska--Across the Danube--Detention at + customhouse--Weisskirchen--Sleeping Wallacks. + + +We reached Maidenpek without further mishap, and here I began to make +inquiries again about a horse. I was informed that in some of the +villages farther up I should be sure to find the sort of horse I wanted, +and not sorry for an excuse for exploring the country, I agreed to go, +at the same time getting my friend to join me. + +We hired some horses for the expedition, and set off, a party of four: +three Englishmen (for we had picked up a friend at Maidenpek) and a Serb +attendant, who was to act as our guide. He rode a small plucky horse, +being armed with a long Turkish gun slung over his shoulder, while his +belt was stuck full of strange-looking weapons, worthy of an +old-curiosity shop. We were mounted on serviceable little nags, and had +also our revolvers. + +The ride was truly enjoyable. We soon left the road, and took our way +along a forest path in Indian file, our picturesque guide leading the +way. The path came to an end before long, and we then followed the +course of a little stream; but as it wound about in a most tortuous +manner we were obliged to be continually crossing and recrossing. +Sometimes we rode through a jungle of reeds, at least eight feet high; +then we had to scramble up a sandy bank. The horses were like cats, and +did their scrambling well; and at rare intervals we found ourselves on a +fair stretch of open lawn which fringes the dense forest. There were +bits here and there which reminded one of Devonshire, where the +luxuriant ferns dipped their waving plumes into the cool waters of the +rocky stream. In the forest, too, there were exquisite fairy-spots, +where, as Spenser says, is found "beauty enregistered in every nook." + +After a time the way grew more wild in the character of the scenery, and +at length the route we took was so rough that we had to dismount and +lead our horses up the side of a steep hill. It was tiresome work, for +the heat was intense; but gaining the top, we were rewarded by a grand +view of the Balkan Mountains rising directly south. We ought to have +made out Widdin and a stretch of the Danube at Palanka; but the middle +of the day is the worst time for the details of a distant view. + +Shortly after this we arrived at a small uncivilised-looking village. +The men were powerfully built in point of figure, and the women rather +handsome. Both sexes wear picturesque garments. This village, like many +others of the same kind, we found encircled by plum-orchards. Thousands +of barrels of dried plums are sent from Servia every year, not only to +Western Europe, but to America. Besides the consumption of the fruit in +its innocent form of prunes, it is made into the spirit called +_slivovitz_, the curse of Hungary and Roumania. + +We made a halt at this village, and sent out a man to look up some +horses. He brought in several, but none of them were strong enough for +my purpose. It was then proposed that we should ride on to the next +village. Here we got dinner but no horses. The meal was very simple but +not unpalatable, finishing up with excellent Turkish coffee. + +I am writing now of the _status quo ante bellum_, and I must say I was +struck with the well-to-do aspect of the peasants in Servia. By peasants +I mean the class answering to the German _bauer_. It is true they lack +many things that Western civilisation regards as necessaries; but have +they not had the Turks for their masters far into this century? Turning +over Lady Mary Wortley Montague's Letters,[4] there occurs the +following paragraph in her account of a journey through Servia in +1717:-- + +"We crossed the deserts of Servia, almost quite overgrown with wood, +through a country naturally fertile. The inhabitants are industrious; +but the oppression of the peasants is so great, they are forced to +abandon their houses, and neglect their tillage, all they have being a +prey to janissaries whenever they please to seize upon it. We had a +guard of five hundred of them, and I was almost in fears every day to +see their insolencies in the poor villages through which we passed.... I +was assured that the quantity of wine last vintage was so prodigious +that they were forced to dig holes in the earth to put it in. The +happiness of this plenty is scarcely perceived by the oppressed people. +I saw here [Nissa] a new occasion for my compassion. The wretches that +had provided twenty waggons for our baggage from Belgrade hither for a +certain hire being all sent back without payment, some of their horses +lamed, and others killed, without any satisfaction made for them. The +poor fellows came round the house weeping and tearing their hair and +beards in a most pitiable manner, without getting anything but drubs +from the insolent soldiers. I would have paid them the money out of my +own pocket with all my heart, but it would only have been giving so much +to the aga, who would have taken it from them without any remorse.... +The villagers are so poor that only force would extort from them +necessary provisions. Indeed the janissaries had no mercy on their +poverty, killing all the poultry and sheep they could find, without +asking to whom they belonged, while the wretched owners durst not put in +their claim for fear of being beaten. When the pashas travel it is yet +worse. These oppressors are not content with eating all that is to be +eaten belonging to the peasants; after they have crammed themselves and +their numerous retinue, they have the impudence to exact what they call +_teeth-money_, a contribution for the use of their teeth, worn with +doing them the honour of devouring their meat." + +This is a lively picture of Turkish rule a century and a half ago; it +helps us to understand the saying, "Where the Turk treads, no grass +grows." + +The insurrection in Bulgaria had just broken out when I was in Servia: I +cannot say I heard it much talked of; we, none of us, knew then the +significance of the movement. But great uneasiness was felt in reference +to the wide spread of certain communistic doctrines. A disturbance was +stated to have taken place a few days before at Negotin. The foreign +owners of property expressed themselves very seriously alarmed about the +communistic propagandists who were going round the country. No one +seemed certain as to the course events would take. + +However--to resume my own simple narrative--after dining in the little +village aforesaid, we set our faces again towards Maidenpek, returning +by another route, which afforded us some very romantic scenery. I +finished the difficulty about the horse by purchasing the one I had +ridden that day. He was smaller than I liked, but he had proved himself +strong and sure footed. I cannot say he was a beauty, but what can one +expect for seventeen ducats--about eight pounds English? + +The second day of our stay at Maidenpek was principally devoted to +inspecting some copper mines belonging to an English company. They +appeared to be doing pretty well. We next arranged to ride over to +Kucainia, a place some twenty-five miles off. It was settled that we +were to start at seven o'clock in the morning, but a dense white fog +obliterated the outer world--we might have been on the verge of Nowhere. +It was more than two hours before the fog lifted sufficiently to enable +us to proceed. We went on our way some three miles when a drenching +shower came on, and we took shelter in the cavernous interior of an +enormous, half-ruined oak-tree. Natural decay and the pickaxes of the +woodman seeking fuel for his camp-fire had hollowed out a comfortable +retreat from the storm. Surrounding the tree was a bed of wild +strawberries, which helped to beguile the time. When at length the +clouds cleared away, we resumed our saddles with dry jackets. But, as it +turned out, the half-hour we spent under the tree lost us the chance of +some fun. + +I must remark that our road lay the whole way through a majestic forest. +We were actually on the highroad to Belgrade, yet in many places it was +nothing more than a grass-drive with trees on either side. Looking some +way ahead when we found ourselves on a track of this kind, we observed +in the distance two men on horseback standing their horses in the middle +of the road, apparently waiting for some one to pass. One of the +fellows, armed with the usual long Turkish gun, seeing our approach, +came forward as if to meet us. We instinctively looked to our revolvers, +but as he came up we saw that the stranger on the black horse (he must +have been _once_ a splendid roadster) had no sinister intentions upon +us. It turned out that he was the pope from a neighbouring village. He +was in a great state of excitement, but shook hands with us all round +before uttering a word. He then told us that the diligence from Belgrade +had been stopped only half an hour ago by five brigands at the bottom of +the very hill we had just passed. The booty was by no means +insignificant. The robbers had made off with 7000 florins in gold; but +what seemed rather significant was the statement that though the driver +and the conductor of the diligence were both well armed, they had +offered but little or no resistance. They declared they were overpowered +by numbers. If there had been a shot fired we certainly must have heard +it. + +Later we ascertained that the money belonged to the copper-mining +company at Maidenpek; the loss was not theirs, however, as the +Government would have to reimburse it. It was just like our ill-luck to +wait out of the shower; but for that delay we should have come in for +the affray. I have my doubts as to whether our assistance would have +been particularly welcome to the driver of the diligence. Robbery on the +highroad is a capital offence in Servia.[5] + +Arriving at the next village, we found the whole place in a hubbub and +commotion. The men were arming and collecting horses. We went straight +to the post-office to hear the rights of the story; the facts were +mainly as I have related them. The excitement appeared to increase as +the crowd flocked in from the fields. Horses were being saddled, powder +served out, and arrangements made for a systematic battue of the +robbers. After amusing ourselves by watching the warlike preparations, +we rode on to Kucainia. + +We were hospitably received by a fellow-countryman who is working the +mines there. We did justice to his capital dinner, and told our robber +story, which our host capped with the rumours of a communistic rising +down south. + +After a short stay at Kucainia, we made arrangements for returning over +the Danube; but this time we proposed to strike the river at +Belo-breska, higher up than Milanovacz. We had dropped our other friend, +so H---- and I hired a light cart for the thirty miles to Belo-breska, +my new horse meanwhile being tied on behind, and so we jogged along. The +road was good, but, like the good people in Thackeray's novels, totally +uninteresting. We drove continually through fields of maize--I say +_through_ the fields, for there was no hedge or fence anywhere. The soil +appeared to be splendidly fertile and well cultivated. + +Arrived at Belo-breska, our object was to get across the Danube, and +luckily we found a large flat-bottomed boat used for cattle. The owner +demanded a ducat (about nine shillings) for taking us across. I thought +it a monstrous charge, but the fellow had us in his power. I do not +think the Servians are much liked by those who have to do business with +them. From all I heard, Canning's lines about the sharp practice of some +nearer neighbours would apply very well to the Servians:-- + + "In matters of commerce the fault of the Dutch + Is giving too little, and asking too much." + +No sooner had we landed on the Hungarian side of the river than up came +a customhouse official, who informed me that I must pay duty for my +horse. Of course, as a law-respecting Briton, I was ready enough to +comply; but the fellow could not tell me what the charge was, saying his +chief was absent, and might not be back for some hours. + +This was exasperating to the last degree; the more so that it seemed so +stupid that the man left in charge could not consult a tariff of taxes, +or elicit from the villagers some information. He was stolidly +obstinate, and refused to let my horse go at any price, though I offered +him what H---- and I both thought a reasonable number of florins for the +horse-duty. In less than ten minutes I had worked myself into a rage--a +foolish thing to do with the thermometer at 96 deg. in the shade; but H---- +was provokingly calm, which irritated me still more. There is an old +French verse which, rendered into English, says-- + + "Some of your griefs you have cured, + And the sharpest you still have survived; + But what torments of pain you endured + From evils that never arrived!" + +Now, a little patience would have saved me a useless ebullition of +temper. While I was still at white-heat up came the head official; +removing the cigar from his lips with Oriental dignity and deliberation, +he calmly answered my question, and having paid the money we went our +way. + +Our design was now to get to Weisskirchen, and sleep there, that place +being the only decent quarters within reach. Our road was over the +mountains--a lonely pass of ill repute. Several persons had been stopped +and robbed in these parts quite recently. The Government had formerly a +small guardhouse at the top of the pass; but it has been deserted since +1867, when the district ceased to be maintained as the Military +Frontier. Since that time crime has been very much on the increase all +along the border-country. The lawlessness that is rampant at the +extremities of the kingdom shows a weakness in the Central Government +which is very reprehensible. But for this laxity on the borders, the +recent Szeckler conspiracy for making a raid on the Russian railway +could never have been projected. + +We arrived all right at Weisskirchen, which was good-luck considering +the chances of an upset in the darkness, for night had overtaken us long +before our drive was half over. Thoroughly tired, we were glad enough to +draw up in the innyard, the same I had visited some weeks before; but +great was our disgust at being told that there was not a bed to be +had--every room was taken. We drove on to inn No. 2, where they had beds +but no supper. We were nearly starving, for we had had nothing to eat +since the morning, so back we had to go to No. 1 to procure supper. When +this important meal was finished, we had to make the return journey once +more. The streets were perfectly dark, and it was an affair of no small +difficulty to find our way. It happened to me that I stepped into +something soft and bumpy. I could not conceive what it was. I made a +long step forward, thinking to clear the obstacle, but I only stumbled +into another soft and bumpy thing. Was it a flock of sheep lying packed +together? The skins of the sheep were there, it is true, but as covering +for the forms of prostrate Wallacks. A lot of these fellows, wrapped in +their cloaks, were sleeping huddled together at the side of the street. +I found afterwards that this is a common practice with these people. The +wonderful _bunda_ is a cloak by day and a house by night. + +[Footnote 4: Letters and Works, edited by Lord Wharncliffe, 1837, p. +351, 359.] + +[Footnote 5: The robbers were subsequently taken and executed.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + Variety of races in Hungary--Wallacks or + Roumains--Statistics--Savage outbreak of the Wallacks in former + years--Panslavic ideas--Roumanians and their origin--Priests of the + Greek Church--Destruction of forests--Spirit of + Communism--Incendiary fires. + + +The mixture of races in Hungary is a puzzle to any outsider. There is +the original substratum of Slavs, overlaid by Szeklers, Magyars, German +immigrants, Wallacks, Rusniacks, Jews, and gipsies. An old German writer +has quaintly described the characteristics of these various peoples in +the following manner:-- + +"To the great national kitchen the Magyar contributes bread, meat, and +wine; the Rusniack and Wallack, salt from the salt pits of Marmaros; the +Slavonian, bacon, for Slavonia furnishes the greatest number of fattened +pigs; the German gives potatoes and vegetables; the Italian, rice; the +Slovack, milk, cheese, and butter, besides table-linen, kitchen +utensils, and crockery ware; the Jew supplies the Hungarian with money; +and the gipsy furnishes the entertainment with music." + +Coming to hard facts, the latest statistics of M. Keleti give 15,417,327 +as the total population of Hungary. Of these 2,470,000 are Wallacks, who +since the nationality fever has set in desire to be called Roumains; and +if you say Roman at once, they will be still better pleased. They were +in old time the overflow of Wallachia, now forming part of the Roumanian +Principality. The first historical irruption of the Wallacks was about +the end of the fourteenth century, when they became a terrible pest to +the German settlers in Transylvania, dreaded by them as much as Turk or +Tartar. They burned and pillaged the lands and villages of the peaceful +dwellers in the Saxon settlement; but at length they had become so +numerous that the law took cognisance of their existence and reduced +them to a state of serfdom, from which they were not relieved till 1848. + +A subject race has always its wrongs, and there is no doubt the haughty +Magyar nobles treated the Wallacks with great harshness and indignity. +It was the old story--good masters were kind to their serfs, but those +less fortunate had a bad time of it, what with forced labour and other +burdens. "A lord is a lord even in hell" is the saying of the peasants. + +Mr Paget[6] tells the story of an old countess he met in Transylvania, +who used to lament that "times were sadly changed, peasants were no +longer so respectful as they used to be; she could remember walking to +church on the backs of the peasants, who knelt down in the mud to allow +her to pass over them without soiling her shoes. She could also +remember, though less partial to the recollection, a rising of the +peasantry, when nothing but the kindness with which her mother had +generally treated them saved her from the cruel death which many of her +neighbours met with." + +The rising here mentioned took place in 1784, when two Wallacks named +Hora and Kloska were the leaders of a terrible onslaught upon the Magyar +nobles. The Vienna Government was accused on this occasion of being very +tardy in sending troops to quell the insurrection. It was the time when +the unpopular reforms of Joseph II. were so ill received by the Magyars, +and no good feeling subsisted between Hungary and the Central +Government. + +But the most frightful outbreak of the Wallacks was, as we all know, +within living memory. You can hear from the lips of witnesses +descriptions of horrors committed not thirty years ago in Transylvania. +Entire villages were destroyed, whole families slaughtered, down to the +new-born infant. + +The arms of the Wallacks were supplied by Austria, for whom they were +acting as a sort of militia at the time of Hungary's war of +independence. The Vienna Government has been very fond of playing off +the Wallacks and the Slavs against the Magyars: they have kept the pot +always simmering; if some fine day it boils over, they will have the fat +in the fire. + +Of course in Southern Hungary one hears enough about the Panslavic +movement, and Panslavic ideas. "The idea of Panslavism had a purely +literary origin," observes Sir Gardiner Wilkinson in his book on +Dalmatia. "It was started by Kolla, a Protestant clergyman of the +Slavonic congregation at Pesth, who wished to establish a national +literature by circulating all works written in the various Slavonic +dialects.... The idea of an intellectual union of all these nations +naturally led to that of a political one; and the Slavonians seeing that +their numbers amounted to about one-third of the whole population of +Europe, and occupied more than half its territory, began to be sensible +that they might claim for themselves a position to which they had not +hitherto aspired." + +But the Wallacks, or, as we will now call them, Roumains, are not Slavs +at all; they are utterly distinct in race, though they are +co-religionists with the Southern Slavs. "The Roumanians," says Mr +Freeman,[7] "speak neither Greek nor Turkish, neither Slave nor +Skipetar, but a dialect of Latin, a tongue akin not to any of their +neighbours, but to the tongues of Gaul, Italy, and Spain." He is +inclined to think these so-called Dacians are the surviving +representatives of the great Thracian race. + +Who they were is, after all, not so important a question as what they +are, these two millions and a half of Roumains in Hungary. To put the +statistical figures in another way, Mr. Boner,[8] writing in 1865, +calculates that the Roumains, naturalised in Southern Hungary, number +596 out of every 1000 souls in Transylvania. The fecundity of the race +is remarkable, they threaten to overwhelm the Saxons, whose numbers, on +the other hand, are seriously on the decrease. They are also supplanting +the Magyars in _Southern_ Hungary. + +I have myself seen villages which I was told had been exclusively +Magyar, but which are now as exclusively Roumain. It is even possible to +find churches where the service conducted in the Magyar tongue has +ceased to be understood by the congregation. + +To meet a Roumain possessed even of the first rudiments of education is +an exception to the rule: even their priests are deplorably ignorant; +but when we find them in receipt of such a miserable stipend as 100 +florins, indeed in some cases 30 florins a-year, it speaks for itself +that they belong to the poorest class. The Wallacks lead their lives +outside the pale of civilisation; they are without the wants and desires +of a settled life. Very naturally the manumission of the serfs in 1848 +found them utterly unprepared for their political freedom. Neither by +nature or by tradition are they law-respecting; in fact, they are very +much the reverse. + +The Roumain is a Communist pure and simple; the uneducated among them +know no other political creed. It is not that of the advanced school of +Communism, which deals with social theories, but a simple consistent +belief that, as they themselves express it, "what God makes grow belongs +to one and all alike." In this spirit he helps himself to the fruit in +his neighbour's garden when too lazy to cultivate the ground for +himself. + +This child of nature is by instinct a nomadic shepherd and herdsman; he +hates forests, and will ruthlessly burn down the finest trees to make a +clearing for sheep-pastures. It is impossible to travel twenty miles in +the Southern Carpathians without encountering the terrible ravages +committed by these people in the beautiful woods that adorn the sides of +the mountains. + +"The Wallacks find it too much trouble to fell the trees," says Mr +Boner. "They destroy systematically: one year the bark is stripped off, +the wood dries, and the year after it is fired.... In 1862, near +Toplitza, 23,000 _joch_ of forest were burned by the peasantry." + +Judging from what I saw during my travels in Hungary in 1875-76, I +should say the evil described by Mr Boner ten years before has in no way +abated. The Wallacks pursue their ruthless destruction of the forests, +and the law seems powerless to arrest the mischief. At present there is +wood and enough, but the time will come when the country at large must +suffer from this reckless waste. There are about twenty-three million +acres of forest in Hungary, including almost the only oak-woods left in +Europe. The great proportion of the forest-land belongs to the State, +hence the supervision is less keen, and the depredations more readily +winked at. Riding one day with a Hungarian friend, I asked what would be +the probable cost of a wooden house then building on the verge of the +forest. My friend replied, laughing, "That depends on whether the +builder stole the wood himself, or only bought it of some one else who +had stolen it; he might possibly have purchased the wood from the real +owner, but that is not very probable. So you see I really cannot tell +you what the house will cost." + +Incendiary fires are very common in Hungary. Here, again, the Wallacks +do their share of mischief. If they have a grudge against an active +magistrate or a thriving neighbour, his farmstead is set on fire, not +once, but many times probably. Added to this, the Wallack takes an +actual pleasure in wanton destruction. As an instance, an English +company who are working coal mines in the neighbourhood of Orsova have +been obliged within the last two years to relay their railway from the +mines to the Danube no less than three times, in consequence of the +Wallacks persistently destroying the permanent way and stealing the +rails. + +Notwithstanding all this the Wallacks are not without their good points. +They become capital workmen under certain circumstances, and they +possess an amount of natural intelligence which promises better things +as the result of education. "Barring his weakness for tobacco and +spirits, the much-abused Wallack is a useful fellow to the sportsman and +the traveller," said a sporting friend of mine who visits Transylvania +nearly every autumn. + +[Footnote 6: Hungary and Transylvania, 1839.] + +[Footnote 7: 'Geographical Aspect of the Eastern Question,' Fortnightly +Review, January 1877.] + +[Footnote 8: Transylvania: its Products and People.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + Paraffine-works in Oravicza--Gold mine--Coal mines at + Auima-Steirdorf--Geology--States Railway Company's mines--Bribery. + + +The old copper and silver mines of Oravicza are now abandoned, but the +industrial activity of the place is kept up by the working of coal +mines, which have their depot here. The States Railway Company are the +great owners of mines in this district. They confine their attention to +iron and coal. There are extensive paraffine-works in Oravicza; the +crude oil is distilled from the black shale of the Steirdorf coal, +yielding five per cent of petroleum. At Moldova, where we were recently, +the same company have large sulphuric acid works, employing as material +the iron pyrites of the old mines. Moldova had formerly the reputation +of producing the best copper in Europe, but the mines fell out of work, +I believe, in 1848. + +An English gentleman is working a gold mine near Oravicza with some +success. Subsequent to my visit his people came upon what I think the +miners call a "pocket" of free gold. Bismuth is also raised, though not +in large quantities. + +Wishing to see the coal mines at Steirdorf, I rode over the hills in +about four hours. As I left Oravicza in the early morning the view +appeared very striking. Looking back, I could see the little town +straggling along in the shadow of the deeply-cleft valley, while beyond +stretched the sunlit plain, level as a sea, rich with fields of ripe +corn. The mists still lingered around me in the mountains, rolling about +in the form of soft white masses of vapour, with here and there a +fringed edge of iridescence. The cool freshness of the morning and the +beauty of the varied scenery made the ride most enjoyable. + +Arriving at Steirdorf, I spent some hours in visiting the ironworks, +blast-furnaces, coke-ovens, &c. The coal produced here is said to be the +best in Hungary. The output, I am told, is 150,000 tons; but only +one-third of this is sold, the rest being used by the States Railway +Company for their own ironworks, and for the locomotive engines of their +line. + +Professor Ansted,[9] who made a professional visit to this part of the +country in 1862, remarks that "the iron is mined by horizontal drifts or +kennels into the side of the hills. The coal is mined by vertical +shafts. The ironstone is of the kind common to some parts of Scotland, +and known as blackband. There are as many as eight principal seams." + +I had sent a man in advance from Oravicza to take my horse back, as I +intended returning by rail. This mountain railway between Oravicza and +Auima-Steirdorf is a remarkable piece of engineering work. In a distance +of about twenty miles it ascends 1100 feet, in some parts as much as one +foot in five. They have very powerful engines and a cogwheel +arrangement, the line making a zigzag up the mountain-side. The effect +is very curious in descending to see another train below you creeping +uphill, now at one angle, now at another. + +Considering the expensive nature of the works, and the paucity of +passengers, I almost wonder that the States Railway Company did more +than construct a narrow gauge for the mineral traffic. This company, I +believe, is of Austrian origin, assisted by French capital--in fact, its +head office is in Paris. It obtained large concessions in the Banat +during the Austrian rule in Hungary, acquiring a considerable amount of +property at very much below its real value; in consequence the company +is looked upon with some degree of jealousy by the Hungarians. Of +forest-land alone it owns about 360 square miles. It has a large staff +of officials, mostly Germans, who manage the woods and forests on a +very complicated system, which pays well, but would probably pay better +if simplified. It has also a monopoly of certain things in its own +district, such as salt, &c. + +The prevalence of bribery is one of the causes seriously retarding +progress in Hungary. There is as yet no wholesome feeling against this +corruption, even amongst those who ought to show an example to the +community. They have also a droll way of cooking accounts down in these +parts, but there is a vast deal of human nature everywhere, so "let no +more be said." + +[Footnote 9: A Short Trip in Hungary and Transylvania.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + Mineral wealth of the Banat--Wild ride to Dognacska--Equipment for + a riding tour--An afternoon nap and its consequences--Copper + mines--Self-help--Bare insects--Moravicza--Rare minerals--Deutsch + Bogsan--Reschitza. + + +The neighbourhood of Oravicza is well worth exploring, especially by +those who like knocking about with a geological hammer. The mines in the +Banat were perhaps worked earlier than any other in this part of Europe. +The minerals of the district present a very remarkable variety. Von +Cotta, I imagine, is the best authority upon the Banat ore deposits. + +I had heard a good deal of the silver and copper mines of Dognacska, and +wishing to visit them, I induced my friend H---- to accompany me. We +arranged to go on horseback. I was very glad to escape the "carts of the +country," which, notwithstanding the atrocious roads, are the usual mode +of conveyance. It had always been my intention to ride about the +country, and with this view I brought my saddle and travelling apparatus +from London--English-made articles bear knocking about so much better +than similar things purchased on the Continent. + +I had an ordinary pigskin saddle, furnished with plenty of metal rings. +I had four saddle-bags in all, made of a material known as waterproof +flax cloth. It has some advantages over leather, but is too apt to wear +into holes. It is of importance to have the straps of your saddle-bags +very strongly attached. It is not enough that they are sewn an inch into +the bag, they should extend down the sides; for want of this I had to +repair mine several times. Attached to my bridle I had a very convenient +arrangement for picketing my horse. It consisted of a rope about twelve +feet long, neatly rolled round itself; this was kept strapped on the +left side of the horse's head. + +The chief pride of my outfit was a cooking-apparatus, the last thing +out, which merits a few words of description. It consisted of a round +tin box, eight inches in diameter, capable of boiling three pints of +water in two minutes and a half; of its own self-consciousness, the +sauce-pan could evolve into a frying-pan, besides other adaptations, +including space for a Russian lamp--a vessel holding spirit--with +cellular cavities for salt, pepper, matches, not forgetting cup, spoon, +and plate. The Russian lamp is a very useful contrivance, in case of +open-air cooking; it gives a flame six or seven inches long, which is +not easily affected by wind or draught. + +Amongst the stores I took out from England was some "compressed tea," +which is very portable. In riding, all powdery substances should be +avoided; I had on one occasion practical experience of this. I had +procured some horse-medicine, and giving my animal one dose, I packed +the rest very carefully, as I thought; on opening my saddle-bag after a +ride of twenty miles, I found, to my disgust, that this wretched white +powder had mixed itself up with everything. I wished I had made the +horse his own medicine-chest, and given him his three doses at once. + +Let the weather be ever so warm in Hungary, it is not wise to take even +a day's ride without a good warm plaid; the changes of temperature are +often very sudden, and herein is the danger of fever. The peasant says, +"In summer take thy _bunda_ (fur cloak)." + +To complete the catalogue of my travelling appendages, I may mention a +revolver, a bowie-knife, a compass, good maps of the country, and a +flask. My flask held exactly a bottle of wine; it was covered with thick +felt, which on being soaked in water has the effect of keeping the wine +quite cool for an incredibly long time, even in the hottest weather. I +have been told that the Arabs in the desert have long been up to this +dodge with respect to their water-bottles, which are suffered to leak a +little to keep up the evaporation. The food I carried was of course +renewed from time to time, according to circumstances. Naturally I +economised the lamp spirit whenever I could obtain sticks for boiling +the water, as the spirit could not always be procured in the Hungarian +villages. + +In starting for Dognacska and Reschitza, we had before us a ride of more +than thirty miles through a very rough country, and with uncertain +prospects of accommodation, so I took with me all my travelling +"contraptions," as they say in the west of England. The weather was +excessively hot the morning H---- and I started on our expedition. About +noon, after we had ridden some two hours, the sun's rays beat down upon +us with such force that we made an unintentional halt on coming to a +well by the wayside. It was one of those picturesque wells so familiar +in Eastern landscape--a beam balanced on a lofty pole, with a rod +hanging from one end, to which is attached the bucket for drawing +water. + +Not far from the well was one of those curious tree hay-stacks to be +seen in some parts of Hungary. It is the practice to clear away a +certain number of the middle branches of a tree, then a wooden platform +is constructed, on which a quantity of hay is placed in store for winter +use. This mushroom-shaped hay-rick receives a cover of thatch, out of +the centre of which comes the tree-top. + +The shade afforded by this wigwam on stilts looked most inviting just +then, and we yielded to the seduction. We got off, and throwing +ourselves at full length on the grass, allowed our horses to graze close +to us, without taking the trouble to picket them. + +The heat of the noonday was perfectly overpowering. The momentary shade +was an intense relief, for we had been in the unmitigated glare of the +sun the whole morning. Of course we quickly had out our cigar-cases, and +puffing the grateful weed, we were soon in full enjoyment of dignified +ease. We were in that idle mood when, one says with the lotus-eaters, +"taking no care"-- + + "There is no joy but calm! + Why should we only _toil_, the roof and crown of things." + +"Why, indeed, should we toil?" I repeated languidly, at the same time +gently and slowly breaking off the end of my cigar-ash. + +"Why, indeed?" echoed my friend in a sleepy tone; and, unlike his usual +wont, he was quite disinclined to argue the point, being too lazy for +anything. + +In another moment we had both sprung to our feet, most thoroughly roused +from our apathy; the fact was, a big brute of a sheep-dog suddenly +jumped in upon us, barking loud and fiercely. We very soon found means +to rid ourselves of the dog, but that was the least part of the +incident. It appeared that the noise and suddenness of the outburst had +so frightened our horses that they took to their heels and galloped off +as hard as they could tear. Of course we were after them like a shot, +but they had gone all manner of ways. I spotted my little Servian nag +breasting the hill to our right in grand style; the saddle-bags were +beating his flanks. A pretty race we had after those brutes of horses! +We had to jump ditches, and struggle up sandbanks, tear through +undercover, and finally H---- got "stogged" in a treacherous green +marsh. Was there ever anything so exasperating and ridiculous? + +After running more or less for three-quarters of an hour in a sweltering +heat, we came upon the horses in an open glade in the wood, where they +were calmly regaling in green pastures, like lotus-eaters themselves. +Never from that day forward have I forgotten the necessary duty of +picketing my horse. + +It was well on in the afternoon before we got to Dognacska, a mere +mining village, but prettily situated in a narrow valley. On +approaching, we found it to be a more uncivilised place than we had +expected, and we had not expected much. The children ran away screaming +at the sight of two horsemen, so travellers, I expect, are unknown in +these parts. We found out a little inn, indicated by a wisp of straw +hanging above the door, and here we asked to be accommodated; they were +profuse in promises, but as there was no one to look after the horses, +we had to attend to them ourselves. The woman of the house said the men +were all out, but would be back presently. We only took a little bread +and cheese, but ordered a substantial supper to be ready for us on our +return later in the evening. The fact was, we were in a hurry to be off +to look at the works. Lead, silver, iron, and copper are found at +Dognacska, but the working at present is a dead-alive operation. The +blast-furnaces for making pig-iron are of recent construction, but the +smelting-furnaces were very antiquated. + +It was the same answer everywhere, "All belongs to the Marquis of +Carrabas;" in other words, the States Railway Company owns both mines +and forests in all directions throughout the Banat, though at the same +time I was told that they do not undertake metallic mining. + +From what I gathered it would seem that the mines round here are not +really very rich. You cannot depend on the working as in Cornwall, for +they are without regular lodes. A rich "pocket" occurs here and there, +but then is lost, the deposit not holding on to any depth. + +We made a considerable round, and returned with appetites very sharp +set, and counted on the chicken with _paprika_ that we had ordered to be +ready for us. On arriving at the little inn, great was our disgust to +find it utterly silent and deserted; neither man, woman, nor child was +to be found in or about the place. With some difficulty we caught some +children, who were peering at us behind the wall of a neighbour's house, +and from these blubbering little animals, who I believe thought we were +going to make mince meat of them, we at length extracted the fact that +the people of the inn were gone off haymaking. This was really too bad, +for if they had only told us, we could have made our arrangements +accordingly, but here we were starving and not the remotest prospect of +supper. There was no use wasting unparliamentary language, so I began +foraging in all directions, while H---- busied himself in cutting up +wood to make a fire, a process not too easy with an uncommonly blunt +axe. My researches into the interior of the dwelling were not +encouraging; the fowl was not there, neither was the _paprika_. At +length I discovered some eggs and a chunk of stale bread stowed away in +a corner; there were a great many things in that corner, but "they were +not of my search"--ignorance is bliss. + +H---- had done his duty by the fire; he had even persuaded the water to +boil, which I looked upon as the beginning of soup. Happily for us I had +my co-operative stores with me. From the depths of one of my saddle-bags +I drew out a small jar of Liebig's meat--a spoonful or two of this gave +quality to the soup. I added ten eggs and some small squares of bread, +flavouring the whole mess with a pinch of dried herbs, salt, and +pepper--all from "the stores." The result was a capital compound: in +fact I never tasted a better soup of its kind; we enjoyed it immensely. +We had barely finished when in came the woman of the house; she looked +very much surprised, grumbled at our making such a large fire, and made +no apology for her absence. + +No one came in to clean and feed our horses, and though I offered a +liberal _trinkgeld_ to any man or boy who would attend to them, not a +soul could I get, they all slunk away. I believe they are afraid of +horses at Dognacska. Self-help was the order of the day, and we just had +to look after the poor brutes ourselves. + +We slept in the inn. My bed was made up in the place where I had found +the eggs and bread. I imagine it was the "guest-corner." I do not wish +to be sensational, and I am no entomologist, therefore I will not +narrate my experiences that night; but I thought of the Irishman who +said, "if the fleas had all been of one mind, they could have pulled him +out of bed." Fortunately the summer nights are short; we were up with +the early birds, and started before the heat of the day for Moravicza, +another mining village. + +It was a pretty ride. We went for some way alongside a mineral tramway, +which followed the bend of a charming valley. Then we came upon a new +piece of road, made entirely of the whitest marble; it looked almost +like snow. Afterwards our track lay through a dense forest of majestic +trees. We could not have found our way unassisted, but one of the mine +inspectors from Dognacska had been sent with us. It was a delicious +ride, the air still cool and fresh. Sometimes we were in the forest, +and later, skirting a rocky ravine, we followed for a while a mountain +stream. It was rough work for the horses, and once, when leading my +horse over a narrow foot-bridge, he slipped off and rolled right over in +the bed of the stream. Luckily he was none the worse for the accident: +these small Servian horses bear a great deal of knocking about. It was +surprising that the baggage did not suffer, but except getting a little +wet, there was no harm done. + +This district is famous, I believe, for several kinds of rare beetles +and butterflies. I saw some beautiful butterflies myself during our +ride. + +Before reaching Moravicza we passed some large iron mines, but they were +not in full swing. In the last century the copper mines of this district +yielded extraordinary returns. Baron Born, in his "Travels in the +Banat," mentions a deposit of copper ore reaching to the amazing depth +of 240 feet. Some very fine syenite occurs in large blocks close to +Moravicza, which might be very valuable if made more accessible. The +village is half hidden in a narrow valley. Here we were most hospitably +received by Herr W----. In his collection of minerals he has many rare +specimens from this locality, which is peculiarly rich in regard to +variety. This gentleman kindly gave me some good specimens of magnetite, +greenockite (sulphate of cadmium), aurichalcite, Ludwigite, and garnet. +Leaving Moravicza, we rode on to Deutsch Bogsan, then to Reschitza, +where we arrived in the evening. Here we found a tolerable inn, for it +is a place of some size. We remained two days here; it is a flourishing +little place, the centre of the States Railway Works. They make a large +quantity of steel rails, any number of which will be wanted if half of +the projected lines are carried out, which are only waiting the +settlement of the Eastern Question. + +In Reschitza there are large blast-furnaces and Bessemer converters. +Enormous quantities of charcoal are produced; in short, on all sides +there is evidence of mining activity. Narrow-gauge lines run in every +direction, serving the coal mines; there is besides a railway for the +public from Reschitza to Deutsch Bogsan, and from the latter place a +branch communicates with the main line between Buda-Pest and Basiash. + +The country round Reschitza is rather pretty, but more tame than what we +had seen in other parts. We returned to Oravicza by a shorter route, +riding the whole distance in one day, which we did easily, for the roads +were not so bad, and it was not much over thirty miles. In Hungary it is +frequently more a question of roads than of actual distance. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + Election at Oravicza--Officialism--Reforms--Society--Ride to + Szaszka--Fine views--Drenkova--Character of the + Serbs--Svenica--Rough night walk through the forest. + + +We got back to Oravicza just in time to witness an election, which had +been a good deal talked about as likely to result in a row. There were +two candidates in the field: one a representative of the Wallachian +party; the other a director of the States Railway Company. In +consequence of a serious disturbance which took place some years ago, +the elections are now always held outside the town. The voting was in a +warehouse adjoining the railway station. A detachment of troops was +there to keep order, in fact the two parties were divided from each +other by a line of soldiers with fixed bayonets. It was extremely +ridiculous. The whole affair was as tame as possible; no more show of +fighting than at a Quakers' meeting. Of course the States Railway +representative had it all his own way, the officials, whose name is +legion, voting for him to a man. A trainful of Wallacks arrived from +some distant place, but their ardour for their own candidate was drowned +in the unlimited beer provided for them by their opponents. + +From what I heard about politics, or rather about the Parliament, it +seems to me that their House of Commons, like our own, suffers from too +many talkers. The Hungarian is at all times a great talker, and when +politics open the sluices of his mind, his speech is a perfect avalanche +of words. His conversation is never of that kind that puts you in a +state of antagonism, as a North German has so eminently the power of +doing; on the contrary, the listener sympathises whether he will or no, +but on calmer reflection one's judgment is apt to veer round again. + +The members of the House of Commons number 441, and of these 39 are +Croats, who are allowed to use their own language by special privilege. +The members are paid five florins a-day when the House is sitting, and a +grant of four hundred florins a-year is made for lodgings. There is this +peculiarity about the Hungarian Parliament: hereditary members of the +Upper House can if they choose offer themselves for election in the +Lower House. Many of the hereditary peers do so, meanwhile resigning as +a matter of course their seat in the Upper Chamber. + +The reform of 1848 extended the franchise so far that in point of fact +it only stops short of manhood suffrage. The property qualification of a +voter is in some cases as low as a hundred florins yearly income. +Religious and political liberty was granted to all denominations. The +disabilities of the Jews were suffered to remain a few years later; but +in 1867 they were entirely removed, and at the present moment several of +the most active members of Parliament are of the Jewish persuasion. +Elections are triennial, an arrangement not approved by many true +patriots, who complain that members think more of what will be popular +with the constituents, whom they must so soon meet again, than of the +effect of their votes on measures that concern the larger interests of +the State. + +Oravicza was so seductive--with its pleasant society; its "land +parties," as they call picnics; its evening dances, enlivened by gipsy +music--that I remained on and on from want of moral courage to tear +myself away. I had thoughts of changing my plans altogether, and of +devoting myself to a serious study of the minerals of the Banat, making +gay little Oravicza my head-centre. Looking back after the lapse of +sober time, I doubt if science would have gained much. Well, well, I +made up my mind to go. "The world was all before me," but I--left my +paradise alone. I had no fair Eve "hand in hand" to help my wandering +steps. + +I do think that packing one's portmanteau is the most prosaic thing in +life. Shirts and coats must be folded, and one's possessions have a way +of increasing which makes packing a progressive difficulty. However, at +last I did persuade my portmanteau to shut, and forthwith despatched it, +with some other heavy things, to Hatszeg, a small town in Transylvania, +where I intended to be in the course of ten days. + +I was now bound for Uibanya, in the Valea Tissovitza, a few miles from +Orsova on the Danube. There is an English firm down there engaged in +working the coal mines, and I had an introduction to one of the +partners. I rode from Oravicza to Szaszka--the place had become quite +familiar to me by this time--and I slept there. The night was not long, +for I left before sunrise. It is the only way to enjoy the ride; for the +middle of the day in July is really too hot for exertion in this part of +the world, and I found it was best to rest during the great heat of the +day. From Szaszka I pushed on to Moldova, and judging from my former +experience of driving the same road, I must say I prefer the saddle +infinitely. I should observe that on leaving Szaszka I got into a dense +mist on the top of the mountain. Fortunately I knew my bearings. When +it cleared off I had a magnificent view all the way, reaching the Danube +about nine o'clock. Here I spent the day and night at the house of Mr +G----, with whom I was slightly acquainted, and who received me +hospitably. The next morning very early I started for Svenica, a lovely +ride along the Szechenyi road. I had been in the saddle from five to +eleven A.M., and reaching Drenkova, I was not sorry to stop on +account of the great heat. It has only a wretched inn, where myself and +horse fared very badly. The Danube steamers are not unfrequently obliged +to stop at Drenkova and reship their passengers into smaller boats. This +happens when the water is low, and sometimes when the season is very dry +the river has to be abandoned for the road. When the Eastern Question is +settled a vast number of improvements are to be carried out on the +Danube it is said. The first ought to be the deepening of the channel in +this particular part of the river. There would surely be no great +difficulty in removing the obstructions caused by the rocks. But there +are always political difficulties creeping up in this part of the world +to prevent the carrying out of useful works. + +My siesta over, I was off again, soon after three P.M., on my +way to Svenica. I had a splendid view of the river, and stopped my +horse more than once to watch the boatmen at their perilous work of +shooting the rapids. Getting to Svenica soon after six o'clock, I made +inquiries about the distance to Uibanya. No two people agreed, but the +chief spokesman declared it was a couple of hours' walk, and he +volunteered to show me the way. The inn was horribly dirty, as one might +expect from the appearance of the village, which is inhabited entirely +by Serbs, otherwise Rascians. It appears that a vast number of Slavs +from Servia took refuge in Hungary at the end of the seventeenth +century. Some were Roman Catholics, but they were mostly of the Greek +Church. A colony settled at Buda. Lady Mary Wortley Montague, writing +from that town in 1717, says that the Governor of Buda assured her that +the Rascian colony without the walls would furnish him with 12,000 +fighting men at any moment. They were always a card in the hands of the +Austrians against the Magyars. + +Leopold I. granted the Servian refugees very considerable privileges and +immunities, causing thereby great jealousy among the Hungarians. Always +favoured by the Government of Vienna, these people have invariably shown +themselves pro-Austrian; and in 1848 they were destined to be a thorn in +the side of the proud Magyars, who despised them, and took no pains to +disguise the feeling, even at a moment so singularly unpropitious as the +eve of their own rupture with Austria. It seems that in the month of May +in that eventful year the Rascians sent a deputation to Pesth, to the +Diet, setting forth certain grievances and demanding redress. The +Magyars rejected their petition with haughty contempt, "a grievous +fault," says General Klapka in his history. The result was that the +Rascian deputies returned home in a state of great disgust at their +reception, and immediately took up arms against the Hungarians. This was +before the Government of Vienna had thrown off the mask. These facts are +not without significance at the present time. The Rascians are strongly +imbued with ideas of Panslavism, and now disdain any other name than +that of Servians; it would be a great offence to call the humblest +individual of the race by the old appellation of Rascian or Ratzen. +These so-called Servian subjects of the crown of St. Stephen number +about 800,000! + +The subject is worth mentioning at some length, because a good deal of +confusion exists respecting this particular division of the great Slav +family. + +Judging from what I saw of the inhabitants of Svenica, I think they have +not progressed very far in the ways of civilisation. I could get nothing +in the whole place but a piece of bread; but I was not to be balked of +my tea, so I entered the principal room in the wretched little inn, and +proceeded to take out my cooking apparatus. I was obliged to content +myself with a thick fluid, which they called water; no better was to be +procured. Now it happens that my spirit-lamp, when it begins to boil up, +makes a tremendous row for two or three minutes, as if it meant to burst +up with a general explosion. This circumstance, and my other novel +proceedings, had attracted a lot of idlers round the door, and before +the tea-making was over a number of Serbs and Wallacks crowded into the +room in a state of excited curiosity, and it was with difficulty that I +defended my tea-machine from absolute dismemberment. Though my horse and +I had done a good day's work, I determined to push on to Uibanya, for it +seemed to be not much more than a two hours' walk; moreover, I had been +warned of the bad reputation of the people in the village. I had heard +it was not an uncommon trick with them to steal a traveller's horse in +the night, and quietly ship him over the Danube into Servia. I had no +fancy for losing my possessions in this way, so altogether it seemed +better to go on. + +When I started with the guide I had hired from Svenica, there was still +a good half-hour before sunset. We commenced at once climbing a very +steep and stony path, where I had to lead my horse; indeed at times it +was very much like getting my horse over the top of a high-pitched roof, +if such an exploit were possible. We shortly lost all trace of a path. I +turned several times to look at the fine glimpses of the Danube far +below us. Arriving at a fringe of wood, I was not a little surprised to +see emerge from thence a sturdy Wallack, carrying the usual long staff, +armed with an axe at one end. I say surprised, because he at once joined +in with us, and though I had not seen him during our climb, I had my +strong suspicions that he had followed us all the way. My guide spoke a +little German, and I demanded of him in a sharp tone what the other +fellow meant by joining us. My guide answered that he was afraid to +return alone, for that presently we should get into "the forest, where +it would be as dark as a cave," and he had asked the other man to come +with us from Svenica. As according to his own account he had traversed +the forest for nineteen years, I thought he might very well have gone +back alone; besides, if there was any truth in what he said, why should +he have made a mystery about his companion till we were some way on our +journey? + +We were now on the outskirts of a thick forest, the sun had set in +great beauty, but every hue of colour had now faded from "the trailing +clouds of glory;" faded, indeed, so quickly that before the fact of +twilight could be realised, it was already night! It was literally dark +as a cave when we penetrated into the forest. My guide had a lantern, +which he lighted; for it would, indeed, have been impossible to make any +progress without the light. Though we were again in a path, the way was +frequently barred by the trunks of fallen trees. We were still +ascending, occasionally coming upon a steep rough bit, difficult for the +horse on account of the loose stones. I think we must have looked very +much like a party of smugglers. The ex-forester walked first, swinging +his lantern as he moved; then came the Wallack volunteer, stumping along +with axe-headed staff. He wanted very much to fall into the rear, but +this I would not allow, and in a resolute tone ordered him forward. I +followed with my little grey horse close upon the heels of my +companions, keeping all the time a keen and suspicious eye upon their +movements. They spoke together occasionally, but I was profoundly +ignorant of what they said, not understanding a word of Wallachian. + +Where it was anyhow possible we went at a good pace, but the underwood +and fallen trees hindered us a good deal. My guide told me to look out +for wolves. These forests are said to be full of them in summer, and he +added that a lot of pigs belonging to a neighbour of his had been +carried off by the wolves only the night before. I took this opportunity +of telling him that I was a dead shot, pointing to my revolver, which +was handy; adding a piece of information that I made much of, namely, +that I was expected at Uibanya. + +The doubts I felt about the honesty of the guide and the other fellow +were increased by a suspicion that they were leading me the wrong way. +We had been three hours in the forest, always ascending. Now I knew that +my destination was situated in a valley. I asked repeatedly when we +should get there, and invariably came the same short answer, "Gleich" +(directly). I noticed that we were steadily walking in the same +direction, for the trees being less thick I could keep my eye on the +Polar star: this was so far satisfactory. Presently I saw a light or two +in the distance, and before long we came to a cottage, the first in what +turned out to be the little village of Eibenthal. Here we came upon a +party of miners, who gave me the pleasant information that we were still +an hour's walk from Uibanya! There was nothing for it but to go on. I +confess I breathed more freely in the open; we were quite clear of the +forest now. On we went, a regular tramp, tramp, through a long valley +skirted with woods on either side. This last part of the walk seemed +interminable. It was eighteen hours since I had started in the morning. +I was physically weary, and I really believe I went off to sleep for a +second or two, though my legs kept up their automatic motion. I am sure +I must have slept, for I had a notion, like one has sometimes in sleep, +of extraordinary extension of time. It seemed to me that for years of my +life I had done nothing else than walk under the starlit sky into a vast +cave of black darkness, which only receded farther and farther as the +swinging of the lamp advanced with its monotonous vibration of light. + +It was just midnight when I descried a faint light in the distance. It +grew as we tramped on. I knew therefore it was no deceptive star setting +in the horizon, but the welcome firelight of a human habitation. This +time it was my goal--Uibanya! I stopped for a moment and fired off a +couple of shots to announce our approach, whereupon some of the people +in the house rushed out to see what was up, and I made myself known by +an English "halloo," and out of the darkness came a voice saying, "All +right." + +"All's well that ends well," I said to myself as I paid my guide for +his night's work. I looked round for the Wallack, but the fellow had +sloped off! + +I was most kindly and hospitably received, and, O ye gods, with what an +appetite I ate the excellent supper quickly prepared for me! + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + Hospitable welcome at Uibanya--Excursion to the Servian side of the + Danube--Ascent of the Stierberg--Bivouac in the woods--Magnificent + views towards the Balkans--Fourteen eagles disturbed--Wallack + dance. + + +A couple of days after my arrival at Uibanya, my friend F---- kindly +arranged a little expedition into Servia, with the object of making the +ascent of the Stierberg, a mountain of respectable elevation, commanding +very fine views. Our guide was the postmaster of Plavishovitza, who +professed a knowledge of the country round about. We drove down to the +Danube, and there crossed the river in a primitive "dug-out," and almost +immediately commenced the ascent of the Stierberg. It became quite dark +by the time we got half-way up the mountain; this we were prepared for, +having made arrangements for camping out the night. We had brought with +us an ample store of provisions, not forgetting our plaids. The heat was +so great when we started that we dispensed with coats, and even +waistcoats, and went on rejoicing in the cool freedom of our +shirt-sleeves. Each wore a broad leather waist-belt, stuck round with +revolvers and bowie-knives. I believe we looked like a couple of the +veriest brigands. Had we only been spotted by a "correspondent," I make +little doubt that we should have been telegraphed as "atrocities" to the +London evening papers. + +The more civilisation closes round one, the more enjoyable is an +occasional "try back" into barbarism. This feeling made the mere fact of +camping out seem delightful. Our first care was to select a suitable +spot; we found a clearing that promised well, and here we made a halt. +We deposited our _batterie de cuisine_, arranged our plaids, and then +proceeded to make a fire with a great lot of dried sticks and logs of +wood. The fire was soon crackling and blazing away in grand style, +throwing out mighty tongues of flame, which lit up the dark recesses of +the forest. + +Now came the supper, which consisted of robber-steak and tea. I always +stuck to my tea as the most refreshing beverage after a long walk or +ride. I like coffee in the morning before starting--good coffee, mind; +but in the evening there is nothing like tea. The robber-steak is +capital, and deserves an "honourable mention" at least: it is composed +of small bits of beef, bacon, and onion strung alternately on a piece of +stick; it is seasoned with pinches of _paprika_ and salt, and then +roasted over the fire, the lower end of the stick being rolled backwards +and forwards between your two palms as you hold it over the hot embers. +It makes a delicious relish with a hunch of bread. + +Our camp-fire and its surroundings formed a romantic scene. We had three +Serbs with us as attendants, and there was F---- and myself, all seated +in a semicircle to windward of the smoke. The boles of the majestic +beech-trees surrounding us rose like stately columns to support the +green canopy above our heads, and in the interstices of the leafy roof +were visible spaces of sky, so deeply blue that the hue was almost lost +in darkness; but out of the depths shone many a bright star in infinite +brilliancy. The scene was picturesque in the highest degree. The +flickering firelight, our Serbians in their quaint dresses moving about +the gnarled roots and antlered branches of the trees, upon which the +light played fitfully, and the mystery of that outer rim of darkness, +all helped to impress the fancy with the charm of novelty. + +After supper was finished, and duly cleared away, we all disposed +ourselves for sleep, taking care to have the guns ready at hand, for we +might be disturbed by a wolf or a bear on his nightly rounds. Our +attendants had previously collected some large logs of wood, large +almost as railway-sleepers, to keep up a good fire through the night. +Wrapping my plaid round me, I laid myself down, confident that I should +sleep better than in the softest feather bed. I gave one more look at +the romantic scene, and then turned on my side to yield to the +drowsiness of honest fatigue. + +But, alas! there was no sleep for me. I had hardly closed my eyes when I +was attacked by a regiment of mosquitoes. I was so tormented by these +brutes that I never slept a wink. I sat up the greater part of the night +battling with them; and what provoked me more was the tranquillity of +F----'s slumbers. I could bear it no longer, so at three A.M. I +woke him up, saying it was time for us to be stirring if we wanted to +get to the top of the mountain to see the sun rise. I believe he thought +I need not have called him so early, and grumbled a little, which was +very unreasonable, for the fellow had been sleeping for hours to my +knowledge. Rousing our Serbs, we set them about making preparations for +breakfast; but when the water was boiled and the tea made, it turned out +to be utterly undrinkable. The water-cask had had sour wine in it, and +the water was spoiled. We consoled ourselves with the hope that we might +get some sheep's milk on the mountain. + +We reached the summit of the Stierberg before five o'clock; it has no +great elevation, but the position commands magnificent views of all the +surrounding country. Advancing to the verge of the precipice overlooking +the Danube, a sheer wall of rock 2000 feet in depth, we signalled our +arrival by discharging our rifles simultaneously. This "set the wild +echoes flying." Each cliff and scaur of the narrow gorge flung back the +ringing sound till the sharp reverberations stirred the whole defile. +Before the fusillade had ceased we beheld a sight I shall never forget. +The sound had disturbed a colony of eagles, who make their nests in +these rocky fissures. They flew out in every direction from the face of +the cliff, and went soaring round and round, evidently in much alarm at +the unwonted noise. We counted fourteen of these magnificent birds. I +wanted to get a shot at one, but they never came near enough. After +circling round for several minutes they flew with one accord to the +opposite woods, and were no more seen. + +The view from the Stierberg is splendid. On every side were stretches of +primeval forest. Bounding the horizon on the north-east we made out the +Transylvanian Alps; to the south lay Servia, and more distant still the +Balkan Mountains. As the sun rose higher, lighting up in a marvellous +way all the details of this fair landscape, we could see far eastward a +strip of the Danube flashing in the sunbeams. + +We turned reluctantly from the grand panorama, but we began to feel the +distressing effects of thirst. We had failed to procure any sheep's +milk, but the postmaster declared that when we got back to our +camping-place we should be able to find some fresh water. Arrived at +this pleasant spot, we rested under the beech-trees, and sent off two of +the Serbs to look for water. After waiting some time one of them brought +us some, but it was from a stagnant pool, alive with animalculae, quite +unfit to drink. I never remember suffering so much from thirst. The heat +was excessive, but happily before reaching the Danube we found a +delicious spring gushing out from the limestone rock. It was an +indescribable refreshment for thirsty souls. We further regaled +ourselves with a good meal at the village on the Hungarian side of the +Danube, after crossing again in the "dug-out." + +The pope of the village entered into conversation with us, and finding I +was a stranger he ordered a Wallack dance for our amusement. The +costumes of the women were picturesque, but the dance itself was a slow +affair, very unlike the lively _czardas_ of the Magyar peasant. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + A hunting expedition proposed--Drive from Uibanya to + Orsova--Oriental aspect of the market-place--Cserna + Valley--Hercules-Bad, Mehadia--Post-office mistakes--Drive to + Karansebes--Rough customers _en route_--Lawlessness--Fair at + Karansebes--Podolian cattle--Ferocious dogs. + + +During my stay at Uibanya the _Foerstmeister_ (head of the forest +department) from Karansebes came over on business, and he told us there +was to be a shooting expedition on the Alps in his district. He further +invited us to take part in it, and I gladly accepted, as it fitted in +very well indeed with my plans. Karansebes is directly on the route to +Transylvania, whither I was bound. The district we were to shoot over is +the rocky border-land between Hungary and Roumania. My friend +F----agreed to accompany me, and on our way we proposed visiting the +celebrated baths of Mehadia. Early one morning we started for Orsova, a +drive of thirty miles, splendid scenery all the way. The latter part of +our journey was by the side of the Danube, on the Szechenyi road again. + +We passed a number of hay-ricks in trees, which I have before described. +Some of them were built up in the form of an inverted cone. The +luxuriance of the foliage is very striking. Nothing can exceed the +beauty of the wild vines so frequent on the banks of the Danube. They +fall in graceful festoons from the trees; sometimes they reach across to +the trees on the other side of the road, forming a complete arch of +greenery. In the autumn the vine leaves turn to a glowing red, like the +Virginian creeper, and then the effect of this mass of rich colouring is +indeed glorious. Meanwhile gay butterflies of rare form fluttered about +among the trailing vines, and bright green lizards darted in and out of +the stone wall. Then an eagle or a vulture would swoop down from the +heights, and settle himself on some pinnacle of rock, where he remained, +motionless as a stuffed bird. + +When we reached Orsova we only stopped long enough to get some dinner +and take the usual siesta. This place is on the frontier; three miles +farther down you pass out of Hungary into Roumanian territory. Had we +stayed any time we should certainly have gone to see Trajan's bridge, +about eighteen miles hence. The so-called "Iron Gates" are just below +Orsova. The designation is a misnomer, for the river ceases to be pent +up between a defile, the hills recede from the shore, and the "Gates" +are merely ledges of rock peculiarly difficult for navigation. Orsova is +celebrated as the place where the regalia of Hungary were concealed by +Kossuth and his friends from 1849 to 1853. The iron chest which held the +palladium of the kingdom, the sacred crown of St Stephen, was buried in +a waste spot, covered with willows, not far from the road. There is a +somewhat Oriental look about Orsova. In the market-place there is a +profusion of bright-coloured stuffs, prayer-carpets, and Turkish +slippers. A narrow island of no great length, just below Orsova, is +still held by the Turks. There is a small mosque with minarets visible +amongst a group of the funeral cypress-tree, so characteristic of the +presence of the Turk. + +Our road to Mehadia was away from the river, following instead the lead +of a lateral valley. As we drove out of Orsova we passed a lot of +Wallack huts forming a kind of suburb. These huts are built of wattles +stuccoed with mud, always having on one side of the dwelling a space +enclosed by stockades some ten feet high; this is a necessary protection +for their animals against the depredations of wolves and bears, which +abound here. + +Leaving this village we continued our way through the Cserna Valley, +which has few signs of cultivation beyond the orchards and vineyards +that climb up the hillsides of the narrow ravine. On our left we passed +a ruined aqueduct of Turkish origin, eleven arches still remaining. As +we proceeded, the valley narrowed considerably, and the scenery became +more wild and striking. Here vegetation is in its richest profusion; the +parasitical plants are surpassingly graceful, wreathing themselves over +rocks and trees. + +Mehadia, or more strictly, Hercules-Bad, is the most fashionable bath in +Hungary. The village of Mehedia must not be confounded with it, for it +lies at a distance of six miles thence. The situation of Hercules-Bad is +extremely romantic. Above the narrow rocky valley rise bare limestone +peaks, girdled with rich forests of every variety of foliage. There are +two kinds of springs, the sulphurous and the saline. The Hercules source +bursts out from a cleft of the rock in such an immense volume that it is +said to yield 5000 cubic feet in an hour. The water has to be cooled +before it is used, the natural heat being as much as 131 deg. Fahrenheit. +Its efficacy is said to be so great that the patient while in the bath +"feels the evil being boiled out of him"! Some of the visitors had not +yet had their turn of cooking, I suppose, or if they had been boiled, +were rather underdone, for I met a good many gouty and rheumatic +patients still in the hobbling condition. + +The country round Mehadia is so wild, both in regard to the scenery and +to the native population, that the contrast of dropping suddenly into a +fashionable watering-place is very curious. This bath is much frequented +for pleasure and health by the luxury-loving Roumanians, who invariably +display the latest extravagance of Parisian fashion. Men in +patent-leather boots devoted to cards and billiards, while in the +immediate neighbourhood of glorious scenery, with bear and chamois +shooting to be had for the asking, seem to me "an unknown species," as +Voltaire said of the English. From what I learned of the ways of the +place it seems that the Magyar and Transylvanian visitors keep quite +aloof from the Roumanian coterie; they have never anything pleasant to +say of one another. At Boseg, a bath in the Eastern Carpathians which I +visited later, the separation is so complete that the Roumanians go at +one period of the season and the Hungarian visitors at another. + +It had always been my intention to stay a few days at the Hercules-Bad, +and I had given the place as an address for English letters. Accordingly +I presented myself at the _poste restante_. Seeing that I was a +Britisher, the postmaster gave me all the letters he possessed with +English postmarks. Many of them were of considerable antiquity. Out of +the goodly pile I selected some half-dozen that bore my name; but I was +greatly surprised to come across one that had made a very bad shot for +its destination. It bore the simple name of some poor Jacktar, with the +address "H.M.S. Hercules." + +The Romans had their _etablissement_ here. The present name comes from +the "Thermae Herculis" of classic times. There are many interesting +remains here--fragments of altars, sculptured capitals, and stones with +inscriptions, all telling the same story--the story of Roman dominion +and greatness. + +Just then we had no time for archaeology, for we wanted to push on to +Karansebes, and we stayed only a day and a half at Mehadia. As it was +more than we could comfortably manage to do the whole distance in a day, +we arranged to drive as far as Terregova and sleep there. We left +Mehadia early in the afternoon, F----'s groom riding my horse. The road +was excellent--all the roads are in the districts of the Military +Frontier. As an example of the quick temper of the Wallacks, I will +mention a little incident which happened on the road. We met some of +these people, and one of them, who was looking another way, stumbled +most awkwardly against the groom's horse, and very nearly met with an +accident. Though it was so clearly his own fault, he had hardly +recovered himself when, raising his axe, he was about to strike our +servant on the head. Meanwhile another fellow seized a big stone, which +I believe was going to make a target of the same head. Luckily I turned, +and seeing the scuffle, I was out with my revolver in a moment, pointing +it at the man with the axe. He understood my language, and made a hasty +retreat. F---- said he had no doubt it would have gone badly with the +groom if the distance between us had been greater. + +We were in for adventures in a small way that evening. Just after +sunset, when it was already rather dark in the valley, we found +ourselves suddenly stopped by a man, who leaped out from behind a rock, +seized the horses, and with a powerful grasp brought them down on their +haunches. F---- had the reins, so I jumped down and made straight at the +fellow, revolver in hand. I imagine he did not expect to find us armed, +or he found us literally too many for him, but diving into the bushes, +he was gone even quicker than he came. + +We had hardly got the horses into full trot again, when we noticed two +cartloads of Wallacks driving side by side on in front of us. When we +came up they would not let us pass, and continued this little game for +more than ten minutes, notwithstanding all our expostulations. They were +driving much slower than ourselves, and F---- began to lose patience; so +holding the horses well in hand, he told me to fire off my revolver in +the air. After this they thought proper to draw aside, but even then +leaving us so little room that we risked our necks in passing them in a +very awkward corner. I was told afterwards by the postmaster of +Karansebes that a diligence had fallen over the precipice at this very +place, only a very short time before, owing to the Wallack drivers +purposely obstructing the road. Such are the Wallacks--I beg their +pardon, Roumanians! + +When we got to Terregova, we were glad to find quite a decent inn, the +Wilder Mann, kept by civil people. After supper we had a chat with our +hostess, who being a regular gossip, was very pleased to tell us a lot +of stories about the wild character of the country-people. She was very +sorry that the frontier was no longer under the Austrian military rule, +for, she said, having been accustomed to the strict military system so +long, the Wallacks, now they have more liberty, have become utterly +lawless, and exceedingly troublesome to their German neighbours. She +added that the _gendarmes_, who were supposed to keep order in the +district, were far too few to be of any real use. She complained +bitterly against the Wallacks for firing the forests, and they had +become much worse since '48. "In fact the time will come," she said, +"when wood will be scarce, and then everybody will suffer; but they +don't think, and they don't care, and just lay their hands on anything." + +The Government certainly ought to look to the preservation of the +forests, and above all they ought to make the law respected amongst a +population which is so little advanced in civilisation as to be +indifferent to the first principles of order. The Wallacks want +education, and above all they want a decent priesthood, before they can +make any sound progress. With all their ignorance and lawlessness, it is +curious that they pride themselves on being descendants of the ancient +Romans, ignoring their "Dacian sires." + +The next day we went on to Karansebes--a good road and charming scenery. +This is the highroad into Transylvania, called the Eisenthor Pass; but +it hardly merits the name of pass, inasmuch as it only crosses the spur +of the hills. The distance from Orsova on the Danube to Hatszeg in +Transylvania is 110 miles: the district is known as the "Romanen +Banat," and, as the name imports, is principally inhabited by Wallacks, +otherwise Roumanians. + +We arrived at Karansebes in the afternoon, and by good-luck it chanced +to be fair-day. This is a central market for a considerable extent of +country, so that there is always a great gathering of people. In driving +into the town we passed a long bridge which crosses a low-lying meadow, +the central arch being sufficient to span the stream, at least in +summer. From this elevation we had a capital view of the fair, which was +being held in these meadows, and could look down leisurely on the whole +scene; and a very novel and amusing sight it was. + +There were hundreds of people; and what a variety of races and diversity +of costumes! The Wallack women, in their holiday suits, were the most +picturesque. Many of them were handsome, and they have generally a very +superior air to the men; they are better dressed and more civilised +looking. There were a sprinkling of Magyars in braided coats, or with +white felt cloaks richly embroidered in divers colours. But the +blue-eyed, fair-complexioned German was far more numerous. The Magyar +element is very much in the minority in this particular part of Hungary. +The Jews and the gipsies were there in great numbers--they always are +at fairs--in the quality of horse-dealers and vendors of wooden articles +for the kitchen. The Jew is easily distinguished by his black corkscrew +ringlets, and his brown dressing-gown coat reaching to his heels. This +ancient garment suits him "down to the ground;" in fact his yellow +visage and greasy hat would not easily match with anything more cleanly. +These Jewish frequenters of fairs are, as a rule, of the lowest class, +hailing either from the Marmaros Mountains in North-Eastern Hungary, or +from Galicia. + +The fair is really a very important exhibition of the products and +manufactures of the country, and it is well worth the attention of the +stranger, who may pass on with the motley crowd through streets of +stalls and booths. One _annexe_ is devoted to furniture, from a winged +wardrobe down to a wooden spoon. In another part you see piles of +Servian rugs, coarse carpets, sheepskin _bundas_, hairy caps of a +strange peaked form, broad hats made of reed or rush, and the delightful +white felt garments before mentioned, which are always embroidered with +great taste and skill. Horses, cows, and pigs are also brought here in +great numbers to exchange owners. The long-horned cattle are perhaps the +most striking feature in the whole fair. They are white, with a little +grey on the necks, flanks, and buttocks. Oxen are much used for hauling +purposes as well as for the plough. A pair of oxen, it is considered, +will do the work of four horses. + +Professor Wrightson says: "The Podolian is an aboriginal race, descended +from the wild urox (_Bos primigenius_). The race is remarkable for its +capability of resisting influences of climate, and its contentedness +with poor diet.... The Hungarian oxen are considered by naturalists as +the best living representative of the original progenitors of our +domestic cattle." Of the buffalo the same writer says: "It was +introduced into Hungary by Attila; it is found in the lowlands, on both +sides of the Danube and the Theiss, Lower Hungary, and Transylvania. In +1870 there were upwards of 58,000 in Transylvania, and more than 14,000 +in Hungary."[10] + +Later in my tour, when at Klausenburg, I had an opportunity of seeing an +extensive dairy where upwards of a hundred buffalo cows were kept. The +farm alluded to is admirably managed, and, I am told, yields very +profitable returns. + +It is the opinion of Professor Wrightson that cattle are diminishing in +Hungary owing to the breaking up of pastures and the recurrence of +rinderpest. He says he does not think that the English market can look +to Hungary for a supply of cattle at present. This gentleman did not, I +believe, visit Transylvania, and I am inclined to think the supply from +_that_ part of the kingdom is greatly on the increase; there the +pastures are _not_ in process of being turned into arable land, and the +rise in prices has given an impetus to the profitable employment of +capital in raising stock. + +In walking round the fair, we took notice of the horses. I could have +made a better bargain than I did in Servia. A useful cart-horse could be +bought, I found, for about six or seven pounds. I daresay I could have +picked out a few from the lot fit for riding, but of course they were +rough animals, mere peasant horses. Some of the colts, brought in a +string fresh from the mountains, were wild, untamed-looking creatures; +but hardly as wild as the Wallacks who led them, dressed in sheepskin, +and followed each by his savage wolf-like dog. The dogs are very +formidable in Hungary. It is never safe to take a walk, even in the +environs of a town, without a revolver, on account of these savage +brutes, who, faithful to their masters, are liable to make the most +ferocious attacks on strangers. This special kind of dog is in fact most +useful--to the shepherd on the lonely _puszta_, to the keeper of the +vineyard through the night-watches, when the wild boar threatens his +ravages--and in short he acts the part of rural police generally. + +In Hungary, as elsewhere, there are dogs of kindly nature and gentle +culture. I can record a curious instance of reasoning power in a dog +named "Jockey," who is well known at Buda Pest. He has the habit of +crossing over from Pest to Buda every morning of his life in one or +another of the little steamboats that ply backwards and forwards. He +regularly takes his walk over there, and then returns as before by +steamer. This is his practice in summer; but when winter arrives, and +the ice on the Danube stops the traffic of the steamboats, then Jockey +has recourse to the bridge. I believe there is no doubt of this +anecdote. Another instance of sagacity is attributed to him. His master +lost a lawsuit through the rascality of his attorney; Jockey feels so +strongly on the subject that he snarls and growls whenever a lawyer +enters his master's house. Here, of course, the instinct is stronger +than the powers of discrimination. + +[Footnote 10: 'Report on the Agriculture of the Austro-Hungarian +Empire,' Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, vol. x. Part xi. No. +xx.] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + Post-office at Karansebes--Good headquarters for a + sportsman--Preparations for a week in the mountain--The party + starting for the hunt--Adventures by the way--Fine trees--Game--Hut + in the forest--Beauty of the scenery in the Southern Carpathians. + + +We put up at the Gruenen Baum, the principal inn at Karansebes. My first +business was to worry everybody about my guns, which I had telegraphed +should be sent from Buda Pest to this place. I am afraid the postmaster +will never hear the name of an Englishman without associating the idea +of a fussy, irritable, impatient being, such as I was, about my guns. Of +course it was very provoking that they had not arrived. This postmaster +was a pattern official, an honour to his calling; he not only bore with +me, but he offered to lend me a gun if mine did not come. In Germany +there is a saying, "_So grob wie ein postbeamter_." The postmaster of +Karansebes was a glorious exception to the rule. + +On one occasion, while I was waiting in the office for an answer to one +of the many telegrams that I had despatched, a peasant woman came in +with a letter without an address. The postmaster seeing this, and +thinking she could not write, asked her to whom he should address the +letter. She was dreadfully indignant with him for his well-meant offer, +and said, "My son knows all about it--it is no business of yours." + +"But I can't forward it without an address," objected the postmaster. + +"Yes, you must," she rejoined, getting more and more angry--"you must; +that's what you are paid for doing." + +Here some other people came to the rescue, and by dint of all talking at +once for full twenty minutes, they induced her to give her son's +address; but it was a clear case of "convinced against her will," for as +she quitted the office she turned round and said, with a shake of the +head, "It's all very well to put that; but my son will know who it is +from." + +Karansebes is not at all a bad place as headquarters for the sportsman. +In the neighbourhood there is very good snipe-shooting in spring and +autumn. The fishing too is excellent for trout and grayling. The bear, +the wolf, and the chamois are to be met with on the heights, which form +this portion of the great horseshoe of the Carpathians. + +The day before our expedition we were occupied with a few necessary +preparations. When these matters were settled to our satisfaction, we +went off in good time to secure a few hours' sleep, as we were to start +at four A.M. + +F---- and I were up in capital time, eager for the day's work, and +anxious, moreover, not to keep the rest of the party waiting. There was +an Austrian general, however, amongst the number, and therefore we might +safely have slept another hour. The morning was very unpromising, the +rain descended in a dull persistent downpour. We tried to hope it was +the pride of the morning. The prospect was dreary enough to damp the +spirits of some of our party. One man found that urgent private affairs +called him hence; another averred he had an inflammatory sore throat. I +expected a third would say he had married a wife and could not come. +Happily, however, the weather cleared a little as the morning advanced, +and further desertions were arrested. + +At length the whole party got off in sundry _leiterwagen_, a vehicle +which has no counterpart in England, and the literal rendering of a +ladder-waggon hardly conveys the proper notion of the thing itself. This +long cart, it is needless to say, is without springs; but it has the +faculty of accommodating itself to the inequalities of the road in a +marvellous manner. It has, moreover, a snake-like vertebrae, and even +twists itself when necessary. + +My guns never came after all, and I was obliged to borrow. The one lent +me had one barrel smooth-bore, the other rifled. + +We drove for some distance along the Hatszeg highroad, then turned off +to the right. Continuing our course for some time, we came to the pretty +little village of Moeruel, where we breakfasted. It was quite the cleanest +and neatest Wallack settlement that I had seen at all. It is celebrated +for the beauty of its women. Several very pretty girls in their +picturesque costume were gathered round the village well, engaged in +filling their classical-shaped pitchers. Every movement of their arms +was grace itself. The action was not from the elbow, but from the +shoulder, whereby one sees the arm extended in the curved line of +beauty, instead of sticking out at a sharp angle, as with us Western +races. + +The weather had improved considerably. Our breakfast, for which we +halted on the further outskirts of the village, was very agreeably +discussed amidst much general good-humour. The peasants regarded us with +frank undisguised curiosity, coming round to watch our proceedings. + +After leaving Moeruel we got really into the wilds. A very bad road led +up through a magnificent valley, the scenery most romantic; indeed every +turn brought to view some new aspect, calling forth admiration. On our +right was a fine trout-stream of that delicious brown tint welcome to +the eye of the fisherman. At times the water was seen breaking over a +rocky bed with much foam and fret, and then would find for itself a +tranquil pool beneath the shadow of some mighty beech-tree. + +The foliage of the forest, which closed down upon the valley, was simply +magnificent. The trees in the Southern Carpathians are far finer than +those of the Austrian Alps; they attain a greater average height. The +variety, too, was very striking in many places. The strip of green +pasturage that bordered our road was fringed with weeping birch-trees, +which gave a singular charm to the woodland scene. + +A turn in the direction of the valley brought us within sight of the +high range of mountains forming the frontier between Hungary and +Roumania. Some of the higher summits were ominously covered with dirty +clouds. It was observed that they were lifting, at least some of the +most sanguine thought so. However, judging from my former experiences in +Upper Austria and Styria, I could not say that I thought it was a good +sign, supposing even they were lifting. I think myself there is better +chance of fine weather in high regions when the clouds descend and +disappear in the valleys. + +Coming shortly to the foot of the mountain, the Sarka, which is upwards +of 6000 feet in height, we made a temporary halt. We had now to change +our _leiterwagen_ for horses. All signs of a road had long ceased. On +the green knoll in front were a herd of shaggy mountain horses with +their Wallack drivers--as wild a scene as could well be imagined. Here +we unpacked our various stores of provisions, fortified ourselves with a +good dinner, and made necessary arrangements for the change of +locomotion. There was some trouble in properly distributing the things +for the pack-horses. Care had to be taken to give each horse his proper +weight and no more. It was also very important to see that the packages +were rightly balanced to avoid shifting. + +I had left my own horse at Karansebes, because he was in need of rest; +so F---- and I had to select horses from amongst the promiscuous lot +brought up by the "hunt." We chose out a couple of decent-looking +animals--indeed I rather prided myself on my selection, drew attention +to his good points, and rallied F---- on his less successful choice. + +At length everything was ready. Judging from the amount of baggage, the +commissariat department was all right. The order of march was this: ten +gentlemen, like so many knights on horseback with lances in rest, rode +on in front, in Indian file: our long alpen-stocks really somewhat +resembled lances. Each man had his gun slung behind. In the rear of +these gallant knights came a dozen pack-horses heavily laden, each with +his burden well covered up with sheepskins; behind again followed a lot +of Wallacks--these irregulars were to act as beaters. + +On we went in this order for seven hours. The pace was so slow that I +confess it made me impatient, but our path through the forest was too +narrow and too steep to do more than walk our horses in single file. The +character of the vegetation visibly changed as we ascended. We left the +oak and beech, and came upon a forest of pine-trees, and I thought of +the lines-- + + "This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, + Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight." + +The grey moss which hangs in such abundant festoons from the fir-trees +has a most singular effect, almost weird at times. These ancients of the +forest, with their long grey beards and hoary tresses, look very solemn +indeed in the gloaming. + +What unheeded wealth in these majestic trees, which grow but to decay! +Enormous trunks lay on every side: some had passed into the rottenness +which gives new life; and here fungi of bright and varied hues, grey +lichen, and green moss preserved together the contour of the gigantic +stem, which, prostrate and decayed now, had once held its head high +amongst the lordlings of the forest. + +In the last century these woods were tenanted by wild aurochs and the +ibex, but both are extinct now in Hungary. Red-deer and the roe are +still common enough. "The wild-cat, fox, badger, otter, marten, and +other smaller carnivora are pretty numerous." Mr Danford[11] goes on to +say that "feathered game is certainly not abundant. There are a good +many capercailzie in the quiet pine-woods, pretty high up, but they are +only to be got at during the pairing season. Hazel-grouse too are common +in the lower woods, but are not easily found unless the call-system be +adopted. Black game are scarcely worth mentioning as far as sport is +concerned. Partridges scarce, not preserved, and the hooded crows and +birds of prey making life rather hard for them." Mr Danford further +speaks of the chamois-eagle as "not rare in the higher mountains." The +fisher-eagle "generally distributed." The king-eagle also "not rare." +The carrion-vulture "common throughout the country," also the red-footed +falcon. At one time and another I have myself seen most of these birds +in the Carpathians, which form the frontier between Transylvania and +Roumania. + +Meanwhile I must resume the description of our march, which was a very +slow affair. As we ascended, the trees decreased in size. We had long +ago left the deciduous foliage behind us; but the pines themselves were +smaller, interspersed with what is called "crooked timber," which grows +in grotesque dwarf-like forms. The forest at last diminished into mere +sparse shrubs, and finally we reached the treeless region, called in +German the _Alpen_, where there is rich pasturage for cattle and sheep +during the summer. We were now on tolerably level ground, and I thought +we should get a trot out of our wretched horses, but no, not a step +faster would they go. I believe we went at the rate of about two miles +and a half an hour. We tried everything--I mean F----and I--to get the +animals to stretch out over the turf; but they set to kicking +vigorously, backing and rearing, so that to avoid giving annoyance to +our companions, we were obliged to give in, and let the brutes go their +own pace. + +We had gone but a very little way on the Alpen before we found ourselves +enveloped in a thick mist, added to which the track itself became +uncertain. We went on: if the saying "slow but sure" has any truth in +it, we ought to have been sure enough. My horse reminded me of the reply +of the Somersetshire farmer, who, when he was asked if his horse was +steady, answered, "He be so steady that if he were a bit steadier he +would not go at all." Notwithstanding that we moved like hay-stacks, and +the cavalcade seemed to be treading on one another's heels, yet, +ridiculous to say, we got separated from our baggage. Darkness set in, +and with it a cold drizzling rain--not an animated storm that braces +your nerves, but a quiet soaking rain, the sort of thing that takes the +starch out of one's moral nature. + +All at once I was aroused from my apathy by a shout from the front +calling out to the cavalcade to halt. I must observe a fellow on foot +was leading the way in quality of guide. A pretty sort of a guide he +turned out to be. He had led us quite wrong, and in fact found all of a +sudden that he was on the verge of a precipice! + +There was a good deal of unparliamentary language, expressed in tones +both loud and deep. It was an act of unwisdom, however, to stop there in +a heap on the grassy slope of a precipice, swearing in chorus at the +poor devil of a Wallack. I turned my horse up the incline, resolved to +try back, hoping to regain the lost track. It was next to impossible to +halt, for we had not even got our plaids with us--everything was with +the baggage-horses. Of course "some one had blundered." We all knew +that! The guide stuck to it to the last that "he had not exactly lost +his way." The fellow was incapable of a suggestion, and would have stood +there arguing till doomsday if we had not sent him off with a sharp +injunction to find some shepherds, and that quickly, who could take us +to the rendezvous. Being summer time, there would be many shepherds +about in different places on the Alpen, and the Wallack could hardly +fail to encounter some herdkeeper before long. + +We waited, as agreed, on the same spot nearly an hour, and then we heard +a great shouting to the right of us. This was the guide, who I believe +must have been born utterly without the organ of locality. He had found +some shepherds, he told us subsequently, not long after he had left us, +but then the fool of a fellow could not find his way back to us, to the +spot where we agreed to wait for him. There was a great deal of shouting +before we could bring him to our bearings: the fog muffled the sound, +adding to the perplexity. + +The shepherds now took us in tow. We had to go back some distance, and +then make a sharp descent to the right, which brought us to the +rendezvous, and we effected at last a junction with our lost luggage. +Arriving at the hut, which had been previously built for us, we were +delighted to find a meal already prepared; it was in fact a very +elaborate supper, but I think we were all too exhausted to appreciate +the details. I know I was very glad to wrap my plaid round me and +stretch myself on the floor. + +The next morning we were up with the first streak of dawn. It was with +some curiosity that I looked round at our impromptu dwelling and its +surroundings, upon which we had descended in total obscurity the night +before. The position of our camping-place was not badly chosen; we were +just within the girdle of forest above which rises the grassy Alpen. +About forty yards to the left or north-east of us was a small stream, +the boundary, it seems, between the Banat and Transylvania. We were +provided with two necessaries of life, wood and water, close at hand. + +The hut, however, was more picturesque than practical, as subsequent +events proved. The Wallacks had constructed it by driving two strong +posts into the ground about ten yards apart. A tree was placed across, +with a couple of smaller supports, and on this was made on a rough +framework a sloping roof to the windward side. The roofing consisted +entirely of leaves: it is called in German _laubhuette_, but is in fact +more of a parasol than an umbrella. I should have preferred a hut made +of bark, such as I have seen used by shepherds and sportsmen in Styria. + +The interior of the hut had a droll appearance. Bacon, sausages, +meal-bags, and various other things were hanging from pegs fastened into +the supports of the roof; and the gear belonging to ten sportsmen were +stowed away somehow. The place might have passed for the head-centre of +a band of brigands. + +The mountain on which we were encamped forms part of the western side of +a long valley, at the bottom of which, quite 2000 feet below us, is a +magnificent trout-stream. The sides of this valley are clothed with +dense forests, with broken cliffs obtruding in places. The height of the +Carpathians in this part of the range must not be taken as a gauge of +the scenery, which quite equals in grandeur the higher Alps in many +parts of Switzerland and the Tyrol. Comparisons are dangerous, for the +lovers of Switzerland will silence me with glaciers and eternal snow; +these advantages I must concede, still contending, however, for the +extreme beauty and wildness of the Southern Carpathians. The +characteristics of the scenery are due to the broken forms of the +crystalline rocks, the singular occurrence of sharp limestone ridges, +and the deep forest-clad valleys, traversed by mountain torrents, which +everywhere diversify the scene. + +[Footnote 11: The Ibis, vol. v., 1875. The Birds of Transylvania. By +Messrs. Danford and Brown.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + Chamois and bear hunting--First battue--Luxurious dinner 5000 feet + above the sea-level--Storm in the night--Discomforts--The bear's + supper--The eagle's breakfast--Second and third day's + shooting--Baking a friend as a cure for fever--Striking camp--View + into Roumania. + + +We started for our first battue in capital time, taking with us a crowd +of Wallack beaters. Our places were appointed to us by the director of +the hunt, and some of us had a stiffish climb before reaching the spot +indicated. At a right angle to this valley there protrudes one of those +characteristic limestone ridges; it terminates in an abrupt precipice or +declivity above the stream. My place was some half-way up, a good +position; for while I could see the course of the stream, I could +command a fair range of ground above me. + +It was impossible not to take note of the exquisite beauty of the whole +scene, particularly as it then appeared. The sun breaking through the +clouds, threw his sharply-defined rays of light into the depths of the +misty defile, playing upon the foam of the water, and giving life and +colour to the hanging woods. I hardly took it in at the time, but rather +remembered the details afterwards; for my thoughts were occupied in +trying to judge the distance up to which I might fire with any chance of +success--distances are always very deceptive on the mountains. + +I must observe that we hoped to get a shot at some bears, but the +chamois were the legitimate object of the hunt. The late autumn or early +winter is the best time for bear-hunting. + +I had not been long at my post when I heard two shots in quick +succession fired below me. I found a chamois had been shot. + +For our next battue we turned right-about face, the beaters coming from +the other side; but we had bad luck. One of our party saw a bear at some +distance, fired, and--missed it. The fact of a bear having been sighted +encouraged us in keeping up our battues pretty late, but nothing more +was shot that day. It was very disappointing, because if the bear was +thereabouts our numerous staff of beaters ought to have turned him up +again. Some of the party were altogether sceptical about a bear having +been seen at all. Of course the man who had fired held to the bear as if +it was the first article in his creed. The dissentients remarked that +"believing is seeing," as some one cleverly said of spiritualism. I +don't know whether it was better to think you had missed your bear or +had no bear to miss. + +When we returned to the hut in the evening we found that a couple of men +left in charge had made some great improvements. The Wallacks, who are +sharp ready-handed fellows, to do them justice, had in our absence cut +down some trees, split them with wooden pegs, and constructed out of the +rough timber a long table and a couple of benches. These were placed in +front of our hut; the supper was spread, the table being lighted with +some four lanterns, supplemented by torches of resinous pine-wood. + +The weather had been fair, though sport had been bad, so with a feeling +not "altogether sorrow-like" we sat down to a hearty good meal. One of +the dishes was chamois-liver, which is considered a great delicacy. We +had, indeed, several capital dishes, well dressed and served hot--a most +successful feast at 5000 feet above the sea-level. A vote of thanks was +proposed for the cook, and carried unanimously. The wines were +excellent. We had golden Mediasch, one of the best wines grown in +Transylvania, Roszamaber from Karlsburg and Bakatar. The peculiarity +about the first-named wine is that it produces an agreeable pricking on +the tongue, called in German _tschirpsen_. + +Before turning in we had a smoke, accompanied by tea with rum, the +invariable substitute for milk in Hungary. + +As there were four big fires burning in the clearing outside the hut, +the whole scene was very bright and cheerful. The wood crackled briskly, +the flames lit up the green foliage, and the moving figures of our +attendants gave animation to the picture. Amongst ourselves there were a +few snatches of song, and from up the hill where the Wallacks were +camped came a chorus of not unmusical voices. One after another of our +party dropped off, betaking himself to his natural rest. I was not the +last, and must have slept as soon as I pulled the plaid over my ears, +for I remembered nothing more. + +I daresay I slept two or three hours; it may have been more or less, I +don't know, but the next moment of consciousness, or semi-consciousness, +was an uneasy feeling that a thief was trying to carry off a large tin +bath that belonged to me, in my dream. As he dragged it away it seemed +to me that he bumped it with all his might, making a horrible row. +Meanwhile, oppressed by nightmare, I could not budge an inch nor utter a +cry, though I would have given the world to stop the thief. I daresay +this nonsense of my dream occupied but an instant of time. I woke to the +consciousness of a loud peal of thunder. "We are in for a storm," +thought I, turning drowsily on my other side, not yet much awake to the +probable consequences. + +There was no sleep for me, however. The rest of the party were, one and +all, up and moving about; and the noise of the storm also increased--the +flashes of lightning were blinding, and the crash of the thunder was +almost simultaneous. Through the open side of our hut I could see and +hear the rain descending in torrents; fortunately it did not beat in, +but it was not long before the wet penetrated the roof--that roof of +leaves that I had mentally condemned the day before. After the rain once +came through, the ground was soon soaking. + +It was a dismal scene. I sat up with the others, "the lanterns dimly +burning," and occupied myself for some time contriving gurgoyles at +different angles of my body, but the wet would trickle down my neck. + +We made a small fire inside the hut, essaying thereby to dry some of our +things. My socks were soaking; my boots, I found, had a considerable +storage of water; the only dry thing was my throat, made dry by +swallowing the wood-smoke. A more complete transformation scene could +hardly be imagined than our present woeful guise compared with the +merriment of the supper-table, where all was song and jollity. + +A German, who was sitting on the same log with myself, looking the +picture of misery, had been one of the most jovial songsters of the +evening. + +"Thousand devils!" said he, "you could wring me like a rag. This +abominable hut is a sponge--a mere reservoir of water." + +"Oh, well, it is all part of the fun," said I, turning the water out of +my boots, and proceeding to toast my socks by the fire on the thorns of +a twig. "Suppose we sing a song. What shall it be?--'The meeting of the +waters'?" + +I had intended a mild joke, but the Teuton relapsed into grim silence. + +The storm after a while appeared to be rolling off. The thunder-claps +were not so immediately over our heads, and the flashes of lightning +were less frequent; in fact a perfect lull existed for a short space of +time, marking the passage probably to an oppositely electrified zone of +the thunder-cloud. During this brief lull we were startled by hearing +all at once a frightful yelling from the quarter where the Wallacks were +camping, a little higher up than our hut. + +Amidst the general hullabaloo of dogs barking and men shouting we at +last distinguished the cry of "Ursa, ursa!" which is Wallachian for +bear. Our camp became the scene of the most tremendous excitement; +everybody rushed out, but in the thick darkness it was impossible to +pursue the bear. The more experienced sportsmen were not so eager to +sally out after the bear, as they were anxious to prevent a stampede of +the horses. When the latter were secured as well as circumstances would +permit, a few guns were fired off to warn the bear, and then there was +nothing for it but to watch and wait. The dogs went on barking for more +than an hour, but otherwise the camp relapsed into stillness. I spent +the remainder of the night sitting on a log before the fire, smoking my +pipe with the bowl downwards, for the rain had never ceased, and clouds +of steam rose from our camp-fires. The fear was that the powder would +get wet. I must have dropped off my perch asleep, for I picked myself up +the next morning out of a pool of water. It was already dawn, and +looking eastward I saw a streak of light beneath a dark curtain of +cloud, like the gleam on the edge of a sword, so sharp and defined was +it. This was hopeful; it had ceased raining too, and a brisk wind came +up the valley. + +There was plenty to be done, in drying our clothes and preparing +breakfast under difficulties. In the midst of this bustle a Wallack came +in to tell us that the bear had really got into the camp in the night, +and that he had killed and partly eaten one of the horses. This +confirmed the fact that the bear had been sighted by one of our party +the day before; though we missed him, he had had his supper, and we were +minus a horse. + +I followed the Wallack a few steps up the hill, and there, not far off, +on a knoll to the left, lay the carcass of the horse. It was a strange +sight! Crowds of eagles, vultures, and carrion-crows were already +feasting on the remains. Every moment almost, fresh birds came swooping +down to their savage breakfast. Bears do not always eat flesh; but it +seems when once tasted, they have a liking for it, and cease to be +vegetarians. A simple-minded bear delights in maize, honey, wild apples +and raspberries. + +Our guns required a good deal of cleaning before we were ready to start +for the second day's sport. + +The result of the battues were not satisfactory. A fine buck was shot, +and two or three chamois were bagged. We sighted no less than three +bears, but they all broke through the line, and got off into the lower +valleys. The provoking thing was that the bear or bears came again to +our camp the second night; but they were able to do no mischief this +time. The horses were kept better together, and the dogs scared the +intruders from close quarters I imagine. Fires certainly do not frighten +the bear in districts where they get accustomed to the shepherds' +fires. + +The third day of our shooting the weather was good, but we had no sport +at all. I believe we should have done better with a different set of +beaters, and this opinion was shared by several of our party. The +_Foerstmeister_ had made a mistake in choosing men from the villages in +the plain, instead of getting some of the hill shepherds, who know the +mountains thoroughly well, and are not afraid of a bear when they see +one. Some of our beaters were funky, I believe, and gave the bear a wide +berth I feel sure, otherwise we must have had better sport. + +During the evening of the third day F---- got a bad attack of fever, the +intermittent fever common in all the Danubian Provinces. After supper +the rain came on again, not violently, but enough to make everything +very damp. I felt that under the circumstances the hut was a very bad +place for him, so I cast about to see what I could do. As good-luck +would have it, not very far off I discovered a horizontal fissure in the +cliff, a sort of wide slit caused by one rock overhanging another ledge. +It was fortunately sheltered from the wind, and promised to suit my +purpose very well. + +I collected a pile of sticks and firewood, thrust them blazing into the +cavity, and fed the fire till the rocks were fit to crack with the heat. +I remembered having seen cottagers heat their ovens in this way in +Somersetshire. I now raked out the fire and all the mortuary remains of +insects, and then laid down a plaid thrice doubled for softness. Having +done this, I seized upon my friend, weak and prostrate as he was, and +shoved him into his oven like a batch of bread. I had previously given +him a big dose of quinine (without which medicine I never travel in +these parts), and now I set to work rubbing him, for he was really very +bad indeed. In ten minutes or so F----became warm as a toast. The +terrible shivering was stopped, so my plan of baking was succeeding +capitally. It is true he complained a little of one shoulder being +rather overdone, but that was nothing. The vigorous rubbing was of great +service also. I remembered the saying, "Whatever is worth doing at all +is worth doing well," so I rubbed my patient with a will. He objected +rather, but he was too weak to make any resistance, so I rubbed on. I +knew it would do him good in the end; so it did--I cured him. I think, +however, the cure was mainly due to the baking! + +After I had satisfied myself that my friend was going on well, I +arranged our waterproofs in front of the opening like curtains; and then +I turned in myself, for there was room for me too in the oven. The rain +descended pretty heavily in the night, but we slept well; and my patient +presented a most creditable appearance in the morning. + +On the fourth day some of our party bagged a few chamois, but the +incidents of the day were in no way remarkable. At night F---- and I +returned to our cave. The others had dubbed it the "Hotel d'Angleterre." +Considering the capability we had of warming-up, our quarters were not +half bad. + +The succeeding morning it was settled that we should strike our camp and +move on to a fresh place. The beaters were sent back, for they were not +a bit of good. Some of the party also left, amongst them my German +friend. I do not think he will ever join a bear-hunt again, and his +departure did not surprise us. After leaving our late quarters we rode +for some hours along a singular ridge, so narrow at places as to leave +little more than the width of the sheep-track on the actual summit. This +ridge, more or less precipitous, rises above the zone of forest, and is +covered with short thick grass. We passed, I should think, thirty flocks +of sheep at different times, attended by the wild-looking Wallacks and +their fierce dogs. + +We made a halt in the middle of the day, but the rain was coming down, +and we were glad to be soon off again. + +In the afternoon we got over into the Roumanian side of the frontier. +The lofty limestone ridge of which I have spoken is in fact the +boundary-line at this part. We were at an elevation of about 6000 feet, +judging from the heights above us, when suddenly, or almost suddenly, +the clouds were lifted which hitherto had enveloped us. It was like +drawing up the curtain of a theatre. I never remember to have seen +anything so striking as this sudden revealing of the fair world at our +feet, bathed in glowing sunlight. We beheld the plains of Roumania far +away stretched as a map beneath us; there, though one cannot discern it, +the swift Aluta joins the Danube opposite Nicopolis; and there, within +range of the glass, are the white mosques of Widdin in Bulgaria. We +looked right down into Little Wallachia, where woods, rocks, and streams +are tumbled about pellmell in a picturesque but unsettled sort of way. +The very locality we were traversing is the part where the +salt-smugglers used to carry on their trade, and many a sharp encounter +has been fought here between them and the soldiers. This is now a thing +of the past, since Roumania has also introduced a salt monopoly. + +We were treated to this glorious view for little more than half an hour; +the clouds then enveloped us again, and blotted out that fair world, +with all its brightness, as if it were not. A strong wind blew up from +the north, bringing with it a storm of rain and sleet which chilled us +to the bones. The horses went slower and slower. Including the noonday +halt, we had been ten hours in the saddle, and men and horses had had +pretty well enough. I never recollect a colder ride. + +We encamped that night in the forest. I looked out for another rock +oven, and found one not otherwise unsuitable for shelter; but +unfortunately this time the opening was to the windward side, so it was +useless for our purpose. It was a good thing F---- did not have a return +of his fever here, for we had to pass the night very indifferently. + +The next morning the weather continued so persistently bad in the +mountains that we voted the "hunt" at an end, and made the best of our +way towards Mehadia, from which place we were in fact not so very +distant. The descent was very rapid; at first through a thick forest, +then into the open valley, where the heat became intense. The change of +temperature was very striking. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + Back at Mehadia--Troubles about a carriage--An unexpected night on + the road--Return to Karansebes--On horseback through the Iron Gate + Pass--Varhely, the ancient capital of Dacia--Roman remains--Beauty + of the Hatszeg Valley. + + +After a week of such weather as we had had in the mountains, a +water-tight roof over one's head was in itself a luxury; so we were not +inclined to quarrel with our quarters at the hotel at Mehadia, had they +been even less good than they were. + +F---- and I wished the next day to get back to Karansebes; he had left +his carriage, and I my Servian horse. A Hungarian gentleman, one of the +late expedition, said he would arrange to have a _vorspann_, if we would +join him, as he also wanted to go there. This well-understood plan +insures to the traveller relays of horses, and we were only too glad to +acquiesce in the prospect of making the journey pleasantly and quickly. + +The driver who was to take us the first stage came in and asked for a +florin to get some oats for his horses. Very foolishly I gave him the +money, nothing doubting; and off he went to spend it on _slivovitz_, +the result being that he was soon drunk and incapable. If we had +realised the fact at once it might have been better, but we waited and +waited, not knowing for a long time what had happened. This upset all +our _vorspann_ arrangements, and to our great disgust the best part of +the day was wasted in seeking another vehicle and horses to take us to +Karansebes. At last we succeeded in obtaining a lumbering sort of +covered conveyance, whose speed we doubted from the first; but the +owner, who was to drive us, declared he would get us to our journey's +end in an incredibly short space of time. + +We took care to give no _pourboire_ in advance; but what with the +inevitable dilatoriness of the people down in these parts, it was after +seven o'clock before we left the Hercules-Bad, and we had fifty miles to +drive. + +Not even the ten hours of undisturbed consecutive repose in the downy +bed at the Mehadia hotel had made up the deficiency of sleep during the +foregoing week, and drowsiness overcame us. I think we must have had a +couple of hours of monotonous jog-trot on the fairly level road when I +fell asleep, and I suppose my companions did the same. + +I must have slept long and profoundly, for when I woke, pulling myself +together with some difficulty, having slept in the form of a doubled-up +zigzag, I found it was daylight. I was surprised that we were not +moving; I rubbed my eyes, and looked out at the back of the cart, and +there I saw a round tower on a slight eminence, encircled by a belt of +fir-wood, the very counterpart of a pretty bit of scenery I had noticed +in the twilight. I looked again, and sure enough it was just the tower +itself and no other, and the very same belt of wood. The explanation was +not far to seek. I was the first to wake up in our "fast coach." Every +mortal soul--and there were five of us, besides the four horses--had, it +seems, gone to sleep much about the same time that I did. The magic +sleep of eld must have fallen upon us. The simple fact was, we had +passed the night in the middle of the highroad. Was there ever anything +so ridiculous? + +We were about seven miles from Mehadia; I knew the country perfectly +well. Of course we made a confounded row with the idiot of a driver, who +certainly had been hired--not to go to sleep. I have known these +Wallacks drive for miles in a state of somnolency, the horses generally +keeping in the "safe middle course" of their own accord. As there were +some awkward turns not far ahead of us, it was perhaps just as well that +the horses stopped on this occasion. + +Well, we jogged on all that day, reaching Karansebes between one and two +o'clock. We had been some eighteen hours on the road! + +Here F---- and I parted, my friend returning to Uibanya, while I pursued +my way to Transylvania. + +I slept the night at Karansebes, rising very early; indeed I started +soon after four o'clock. I was again on my little Servian horse, who was +quite fresh after his long rest, and I saw no reason why I should not +reach Hatszeg the same evening, as the distance is not more than +forty-five miles. About two miles from Karansebes I passed a hill +crowned with a picturesque ruin, locally called Ovid's Tower. Tradition +fondly believes that Ovid spent the last years of his banishment, not on +the shores of the stormy Euxine, but in the tranquillity of these lovely +valleys. Certain it is that the name and fame of many of the great +Romans are still known to the Wallacks; and the story is told by Mr +Boner, that they have a catechism which teaches the children to say that +they have Ovid and Virgil for their ancestors, and that they are +descended from demigods! + +On my way I passed the villages of Ohaba, Marga, and Bukova. On arriving +at Varhely, or Gradischtie, as it is called in Wallack language, I found +that it was worth while to stay the night, for the sake of having the +afternoon to examine the Roman remains scattered about the +neighbourhood. + +The Wallack villages I had passed through were very miserable-looking +places: they are generally in the south of Transylvania. The houses are +mostly mere wattled wigwams, without chimneys; a patch of garden, rudely +hurdled in, with the addition of a high stockaded enclosure for cattle. +Some of the women are extremely pretty, and, as I have said before, the +costume can be very picturesque; but they are often seen extremely +dirty, in which case the filthy fringe garment gives them the appearance +of savages. + +Varhely is conspicuous for its dirt even among Wallachian villages, yet +once it was a royal town. It is built on the site of the famous +Sarmisegethusa, the capital of ancient Dacia. In Trajan's second +expedition against Decebalus, King of the Dacians, he came from Orsova +on the Danube by the same route that forms the highroad of this day--the +same I had traversed in my way hither. It is curious to reflect how +nation succeeding nation tread in each other's footsteps, through the +self-same valley, beneath the shadow of the old hills. Here they have +trudged, old Dacian gold-seekers, returning from the daily labours of +washing the auriferous sands of the mountain streams; here, too, have +tramped victorious Roman soldiers--Avars, Tartars, Turks, and other +intruders. A long and motley cavalcade has history marshalled along this +route for two thousand years and more! + +The old Dacians were strong enough we know to exact a yearly tribute +from Domitian: it was for this insult that Trajan marched upon Dacia, +defeating Decebalus at Klausenburg, in the heart of Transylvania, which +was at the time their greatest strong-hold. It was after this that the +Dacian king retreated upon Sarmisegethusa, and there Trajan came down +upon them through the Iron Gate Pass. Unable to defend themselves, the +Dacians set fire to their royal city and fled to the mountains. On these +ruins the Romans, ever ready to appropriate a good site, erected the +city of Ulpia Trajana, connecting it by good roads with the existing +Roman colonies at Karlsburg and Klausenburg. + +Unless the traveller had brought historic facts with him to Gradischtie, +he would hardly be induced to search for tesselated pavements and relics +of royalty amongst the piggeries of this dirty Wallack village. It is a +literal fact that a very fine specimen of Roman pavement exists here in +an unsavoury outhouse, not unknown to pigs and their congeners. + +This Hatszeg Valley, in the county of Hunyad, has long been celebrated +for the richness of its Dacian and Roman antiquities. These treasures +have unfortunately been dispersed about amongst various general +collections of antiquity, instead of being well kept together as +illustrative of local facts and history. The archaeologist must seek for +these remains specially in the Ambras collection of the Archaeological +Museum at Vienna, the National Museum at Buda Pest, in the Bruckenthal +Museum at Herrmannstadt, also in the Klausenburg Museum. Dr H. Finaly, +Professor of Archaeology at the University of Klausenburg, is the great +living authority on this interesting subject. To him I am indebted for +some information, conveyed in a letter to a private friend.[12] The +professor alludes to the fact of the treasures being all carried away, +adding that on the spot very little is to be found except the remains of +Roman encampments (_castra stativa_), Roman military roads, together +with the foundations of buildings, the materials of which however are +usually carried away by the peasants. Nor are the records of former +interesting discoveries to be found in one volume, but are dispersed +about in the various publications of learned societies, such as the +'Archaelogiaei Koezlemenyek' of the Hungarian Academy, the 'Year-Book of +the Transylvanian Museum,' and 'Verhandlungen und Mittheilungen' of the +Verein fur Siebenbuergische Landeskunde of Herrmannstadt. + +That the materials of the old Roman buildings are now used for baser +purposes, one has abundant proof; even in my hurried inspection I saw +many a sculptured stone and fragment of fluted column doing duty as the +support of a wretched Wallack shanty. Another evidence of the Roman +occupation of the country occurs in the case of certain plants now found +growing wild, which are exotic to the soil. This, I am told, occurs in a +marked manner at Thorda, which was known to be a Roman colony. The +plants, it may be presumed, were brought thither by the Roman +legionaries. The most picturesque bit of Roman antiquity is the Temple +at Demsus, within a short drive of Varhely. It is on a small eminence +overlooking a cluster of Wallack dwellings, and has long been used as a +church by these people. + +The Hatszeg Valley, which comprehends the district I am now describing, +is the pride of Transylvania, not less for its fertility than for its +beauty. It has the appearance of having been filled in former geological +ages by the waters of a widespread lake. + +It was a lovely afternoon, but very hot, when I rode into the little +town of Hatszeg. Everywhere is to be seen evidence of the careful +cultivation of the maize and other crops. Numerous villages dot the +plain and cluster amidst the thickly-wooded hillsides. And now we come +upon the railway system again, which has stretched out its feelers into +the wilds of the Southern Carpathians. The railroad enters Transylvania +by two routes. The main line is from Buda-Pest to Grosswardein, and so +on by Klausenburg--the Magyar capital--to the present terminus of +Kronstadt, one of the chief towns of the Saxon immigrants. This includes +a branch to Maros Vasarhely. It is proposed to carry this line over a +pass in the Carpathians to Bucharest. The second line of railway +entering Transylvania starts from Arad, and terminates at Herrmannstadt, +the Saxon capital, having a branch to the mineral district of Petroseny. + +It will be seen from the above that this "odd corner of Europe," as +Transylvania has been called, is fairly well off for iron roads; and +considering how short a time some portions of them have been opened, +they have already borne good fruit in developing the resources of the +country. + +[Footnote 12: Martin Diosy, Esq.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + Hungarian hospitality--Wallack laziness--Fishing--"Settled + gipsies"--Anecdote--Old _regime_--Fire--Old Roman bath--The + avifauna of Transylvania--Fly-fishing. + + +I had brought with me from London a letter of introduction to a +Hungarian gentleman residing near Hatszeg, and finding his place was not +far off, I rode over to see him the evening of my arrival. + +I had merely intended to make a call, but Herr von B----, with true +Hungarian hospitality, insisted that I should stay at his house as long +as I remained in the neighbourhood. + +"What! allow a stranger to remain at the inn?--impossible!" he said with +resolute kindness. + +It was in vain that I made any attempt to plead that I felt it was +trespassing too much on his hospitality. His answer was very decided. He +put the key of the stable which held my horse in his pocket, and turning +to one of his people he gave orders that my things should be brought +hither from the Hatszeg inn. + +I was soon quite at home with my new friends, a young married couple, +whose _menage_, though very simple, was thoroughly refined and +agreeable. As it was my first visit to a Hungarian house, I found many +things to interest me. Several of the dishes at table were novelties, +the variety consisting more in the cooking than in the materials; for +instance, we had maize dressed in a dozen different ways. It was +generally eaten as a sort of pudding at breakfast, at which meal there +was also an unfailing dish of water-melons. Of course we had _paprika +handl_ (chicken with red pepper), and _gulyas_, a sort of improved Irish +stew; and gipsy's meat, also very good, besides excellent soups and many +nameless delicacies in the way of sweets. + +All Hungarian men are great smokers, but as a rule the ladies do not +smoke; there are some exceptions, but it is considered "fast" to do so. + +The peasants in the Hatszeg Valley are all Wallacks, and as lazy a set +as can well be imagined; in fact, judging by their homes, they are in a +lower condition than those of the Banat. So much is laziness the normal +state with these people that I think they must regard hard work as a +sort of recreation. Their wants are so limited that there is no +inducement to work for gain. What have they to work for beyond the +necessary quantity of maize, _slivovitz_, and tobacco? Their women make +nearly all the clothes. Wages of course are high--that is the trouble +throughout the country. If the Wallack could be raised out of the moral +swamp of his present existence he might do something, but he must first +feel the need of what civilisation has to offer him. + +The village of Rea, where I was staying, is about the wildest-looking +place one can well imagine in Europe. The habitations of the peasants +are made of reed and straw; the hay-ricks are mere slovenly heaps, +partially thatched; the fences are made up of odds and ends. As for +order, the whole place might have been strewn with the _debris_ of a +whirlwind and not have looked worse. As a natural consequence of all +this slatternly disorder, fire is no uncommon occurrence; and when a +fire begins, it seldom stops till it has licked the whole place clean--a +condition not attainable by any other process. + +Fishing was a very favourite amusement with us, and Herr von B---- +several times organised some pleasant excursions with that object. One +day we went up the Lepusnik, a magnificent trout-stream. + +We drove across the valley, and then followed a narrow gorge near the +village of Klopotiva. The scenery was enchanting, but our fishing was +only moderately successful; for the trout were very much larger than in +the valley nearer home, and they bothered us sadly by carrying away our +lines. + +Some way up the valley we came upon a little colony of gipsies, who were +settled there. Their dwellings were more primitive than the Wallacks +even. The huts are formed of plaited sticks, with mud plastered into the +interstices; this earth in time becomes overgrown with grass, and as the +erection is only some seven feet high, it has very much the appearance +of an exaggerated mound or anthill, and would never suggest a human +habitation. + +A fire was burning in the open, with a tripod to support the iron +pot--just as we see in England in a gipsy's camp; and the people had a +remarkable resemblance in complexion and feature, only that here they +were far less civilised than with us. + +I entered one of the huts, in which by the way I could scarcely stand +upright, and found there a man employed in making a variety of simple +wooden articles for household use. The gipsies are remarkably clever +with their hands; many of these wooden utensils are fashioned very +dexterously, and even display some taste. The gipsy, moreover, is always +the best blacksmith in all the country round; and as for their music, I +have before spoken of the strange power these people possess of stirring +the hearts of their hearers with their pathetic strains. It has often +seemed to me that this marvellous gift of music is, as it were, a +language brought with them in their exile from another and a higher +state of existence. + +That these poor outcasts are capable of noble self-sacrifice, the story +I am about to relate will testify. Not far from this very gipsy +settlement, in a wild romantic glen, is a steep overhanging rock, which +is known throughout the country as the "Gipsy's Rock," and came to be so +called from the following tragical occurrence. It seems that many years +ago--about the middle of the last century, I believe--there was a famine +in the land, and the poor gipsies, poorer than all the rest, were +reduced to great straits. Some of them came to the neighbouring village +and begged hard for food. The selfish people turned them away, or at +least tried to do so; but one poor fellow would not cease his +importunities, and said that his children were literally starving. +"Then," said one of the villagers in a mocking tone, "I will give your +family a side of bacon if you will jump that rock." + +"You hear his promise?" cried the gipsy, appealing to the idle crowd. He +said not another word, but rushing from their midst, clambered up the +rock, and in another instant took the fatal leap! + +I see no reason to discredit the story, generally believed as it is in +the district; and, happily for the honour of human nature, it has many a +parallel, in another way perhaps, but equal in self-sacrifice and +devotion. + +The gipsies in Hungary are supposed to number at least 150,000. The +Czigany, as they are called, made their appearance early in the +fifteenth century, having fled, it is believed, from the cruelty of the +Mongol rulers. They were allowed by King Sigismund to settle in Hungary, +and were called in law the "new peasants." Before the reforms of 1848 +they were in a state of absolute serfdom, and could not legally take +service away from the place where they were born. The case of the gipsy +was the only instance in Hungary, even in the Hungary of the old +_regime_, of absolute serfdom; for oppressive as were the obligations of +the land-holding peasant to his lord, yet the relation between them was +never that of master and slave. As a matter of fact, if the Hungarian +peasant gave up his _session_--that is to say, the land he occupied in +hereditary use--he was free to go wheresoever he pleased, and was not +forced to serve any master. In practice the serf would not readily +relinquish the means of subsistence for himself and family, and +generally preferred the burden, odious though it was, of the _robot_, or +forced labour. This personal liberty, which the Hungarian peasant in the +worst of times has preserved, is deep-rooted in the growth of the +nation, and accounts for their characteristic love of freedom in the +present day. It was this that made the freedom-loving peasant detest the +military conscription imposed by the Austrians in 1849, an innovation +the more obnoxious because enforced with every species of official +brutality. + +The poor Czigany had not been so fortunate as to preserve even the +Hungarian serf's modicum of liberty. Mr Paget mentions that forty years +ago he saw gipsies exposed for sale in the neighbouring province of +Wallachia. + +There are a great many "settled gipsies" in Transylvania. Of course they +are legally free, but they attach themselves peculiarly to the Magyars, +from a profound respect they have for everything that is aristocratic; +and in Transylvania the name Magyar holds almost as a distinctive term +for class as well as race. The gipsies do not assimilate with the +thrifty Saxon, but prefer to be hangers-on at the castle of the +Hungarian noble: they call themselves by his name, and profess to hold +the same faith, be it Catholic or Protestant. Notwithstanding that, the +gipsy has an incurable habit of pilfering here as elsewhere; yet they +can be trusted as messengers and carriers--indeed I do not know what +people would do without them, for they are as good as a general +"parcels-delivery company" any day; and certainly they are ubiquitous, +for never is a door left unlocked but a gipsy will steal in, to your +cost. + +The gipsy is sometimes accused of having a hand in incendiary fires; but +I believe the general testimony is in his favour, and against the +Wallack, whose love of revenge is the ugliest feature in his character. +These people seem to forget the saying that "curses, like chickens, come +home to roost," for they will set fire to places under circumstances +that not unfrequently involve themselves in ruin. + +We were calmly sitting one day at dinner when we heard a great row all +at once; looking out of the window, we saw dense clouds of smoke and +flame not a hundred yards from the house. We rushed out immediately to +render assistance, but without water or engines of any kind it was +difficult to do much. However, Herr von B---- and myself got on the top +of the outhouse that was in flames, and stripped off the wooden tiles, +removing out of the way everything that was likely to feed the fire. +There stood close by a crowd of Wallacks, utterly panic-stricken it +seemed: they did nothing but scream and howl as if possessed. The +building belonged to one of them, but he only screamed louder than the +rest, and was not a bit of use, though he was repeatedly called on to +help. If the wind had set the other way, it would have been just a +chance if the whole village had not been burned down. In this instance +the fire was caused by mere carelessness. + +The number of excursions to be made in the Hatszeg Valley is endless. On +one occasion I took my horse and rode off alone to inspect mines and +mining works in the mountains. While looking over the ironworks at +Kalan, I was told of the existence of some Roman remains in the +neighbourhood, so taking a boy from the works with me to act as guide, I +set off, walking, to examine the spot. He led me into the middle of a +field, not far off the main road; and here I found the remains of a +Roman bath of a very interesting character. + +It was singularly constructed. I must observe first that there was a +protruding mass of rock rising about fifteen feet above the surrounding +ground, and of considerable circumference. In the middle of this there +was a circular excavation ten feet in diameter and ten feet deep. At the +bottom I discovered a spring of tepid mineral water, which flowed away +through a small section cut perpendicularly out of the wall of the great +bath; judging from other incisions in the stone, a wooden slide may have +been used to bay back the water. On the face of the rock I noticed a +Roman inscription, but too much mutilated for me to make anything of it. +An attempt had been evidently made to utilise this mineral water, for in +the field were some primitive wooden bathing-houses, and not far off +there was actually a little inn, but I fear the public had not +encouraged the revival of the Roman bath. + +In poking about after game or minerals, one frequently comes upon +evidence of the former occupation of the country. Speaking of game, the +partridges are not preserved, and they are scarce; of course I was too +early, but in autumn the woodcock-shooting, I understand, is first-rate. +Quails and snipes are also common in the Hatszeg Valley. + +Herr von Adam Buda, or, as one should say in Hungarian, Buda Adam (for +the Christian name always comes last), has devoted much time to the +avifauna of Transylvania. He has a fine collection of stuffed birds at +his residence at Rea, near Hatszeg. These are birds which he has himself +shot, and he is quite the local authority upon the subject. + +I have alluded to the trout-fishing in the district. I went out +frequently, and had generally very fair sport indeed. Mr Danford, in his +paper in 'The Ibis,'[13] in speaking of fishing, says: "Perhaps the best +stream in the country is the Sebes, which joins the Strell near Hatszeg. +The trout are not bad, one to two lbs. in weight; and the +grayling-fishing is really good--almost any number may be taken in +autumn, when weather and water are in good order. The Sil also, near +Petroseny, is a fine-looking river, and used to be celebrated for its +so-called 'salmon-trout;' but these had quite disappeared when we saw +it, having been blown up with dynamite, a method of fishing very +commonly practised in the country, but now forbidden by law. Indeed +fly-fishing is gaining ground, and English tackle in great demand." + +This practice of the wholesale destruction of fish by the use of +dynamite has not been stopped a moment too soon; and some time must now +elapse in certain waters before they can become properly stocked again. + +It was now time for me to quit the happy valley, and I bade adieu to my +kind friends near Hatszeg. I believe if I had remained to this day, I +should not have outstayed my welcome. I had come to pay a morning visit, +and I stopped on more than a fortnight. + +The Hungarian has a particularly pleasant way of greeting a stranger +under his own roof. He gives you the idea that he has been expecting +you, though in reality your existence and name were unknown to him till +he read the letter or the visiting-card with which you have just +presented him. + +I now sent my portmanteau, &c., on to Herrmannstadt, packed my +saddle-bags to take with me, and once more rode off into the wilds. My +destination this time was Petroseny. + +[Footnote 13: Vol. v., The Birds of Transylvania.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + On horseback to Petroseny--A new town--Valuable + coal-fields--Killing fish with dynamite and poison--Singular manner + of repairing roads--Hungarian patriotism--Story of Hunyadi + Janos--Intrusion of the Moslems into Europe. + + +The history of the town of Petroseny is as short as that of some of the +western cities of America. It began life in 1868, and is now the +terminus of a branch railway. + +Before the wicked days of dynamite, and as long ago as the year 1834, a +fisherman was leisurely catching salmon-trout up the Sil; he had time to +look about him, and he noticed that in many places the rocks had a black +appearance. He broke off some pieces and carried them home, when he +found that they burned like coal; in fact he had discovered a coal mine! +Those were simple-minded days, for instead of running off with these +valuable cinders under his arm, fixing on an influential chairman and a +board of directors for his new company, this good man did nothing but +talk occasionally of the black rock that he had seen when fishing. Many +years elapsed before any advantage was taken of this valuable discovery. +At length a more careful search was made, and it proved that coal +existed there in abundance! In 1867 mining was commenced on a large +scale by the Kronstaeder Company. The next year a town was already +growing up in the neighbourhood of the mines, and increased in a most +surprising manner. In 1870 the railway was opened from Petroseny to +Piski, on the main line from Arad. The growth of the place, however, +received a check in the financial crisis of 1873. + +The town itself is in no way remarkable, being a mere collection of +dwellings for the accommodation of the miners and the employes; but the +scenery in the neighbourhood is simply magnificent. In approaching +Petroseny the railway rises one foot in forty, no inconsiderable +gradient. + +The coal-fields are partly in the hands of Government, and partly owned +by the before-named Kronstaeder Company. Between these separate interests +there is not much accord. The Kronstaeders say that Government has not +behaved fairly or openly, but has secured to itself so many "claims" as +to damage considerably the prospects of the private speculators. + +While at Petroseny, I heard great complaints against the Government for +selling coal at such a low price that they must actually work at a +loss. The Kronstaeder Verein say they are prevented in this way from +making their fair profits, as they are obliged to sell down to the +others. It would appear to be a suicidal policy for the pockets of the +tax-payers to be mulcted for the sake of securing a prospective monopoly +and the ruin of a private enterprise. As it stands it is a pretty +quarrel. + +Writing in 1862, Professor Ansted says: "The coal of Hungary is of +almost all geological ages, and though none is first-rate in point of +quality, a large proportion is excellent fuel. The coals most valued at +the present moment in Hungary are those of the _Secondary_ and _not_ of +the _Palaeozoic_ period. But the great body of coal is very much newer; +it is _Tertiary_, and till lately was regarded as of comparatively +modern date. In the Ysil Valley there is a splendid deposit of _true_ +coal."[14] Since the time when the above was written the resources of +the Ysil or Sil Valley--viz., Petroseny--have been abundantly developed, +as we see, and it has been pronounced to be "one of the finest coal +mines in Europe." One of the seams of coal is ninety feet in thickness; +but up to the present time it has been found impossible to make it into +coke. + +The miners at Petroseny are great offenders in regard to the abominable +practice of killing fish by means of dynamite. It is very well to say +that the law forbids it; but the administrators of the law are not +always a terror to evil-doers, and perhaps the timely present of a dish +of fine trout does not sharpen the energies of the officials. Another +mode of destroying fish is practised by the Wallacks. There grows in +this locality a poisonous plant, of which they make a decoction and +throw it into the river, thereby killing great numbers of fish at a +time. + +While driving round Petroseny I had an opportunity of seeing the +Hungarian manner of making roads. The peasants have to work on the roads +a certain number of days in the year, and if they possess a pair of +oxen, these must also be brought for a specified time. An inspector is +supposed to watch over them. One afternoon we came upon a score of +peasants, men and women, who were engaged in mending a bridge. Their +proceedings were just an instance of how "not to do a thing." They were +placing trees across the gap, and the interstices they were filling up +with leafy branches, over which was thrown a quantity of loose earth and +stones well patted down to give the appearance of a substantial and even +surface. Of course the first rain would wash away the earth and leave as +nice a hole as you could wish your enemy to put his foot into. For all +purposes of traffic the bridge was safer with the honest gap yawning in +the traveller's face. + +It is said that the magistrates make matters easy and convenient for the +peasants, if the latter, by being let off public work, attend +gratuitously to the more pressing wants of the individual magistrate. + +"You see, nobody suffers but the Government," says the man of easy +conscience, not seeing that, after all, the good condition of the roads +concerns themselves more than the officials in the capital. + +In many things the Hungarians are like children, and they have not yet +grown out of the idea that it is patriotic to be unruly. The fact is, +the Central Government was so long in the hands of the Vienna Cabinet, +who were obnoxious in the highest degree to the Hungarians, that the +latter cannot get the habit of antagonism out of their minds, though the +reconciliation carried through by Deak in 1867 entirely restored +self-government to Hungary. "What do we want with money?" said a +gentleman of the old school. "Money is only useful for paying taxes, and +if we have not got it for that purpose, never mind!" + +On leaving Petroseny the route I proposed to myself was to take the +bridle-path over the mountains to Herrmannstadt. But in following this +out, I omitted to visit the Castle of Hunyad--a great mistake, for +castles are rare in this part of Europe, and the romantic and singular +position of Schloss Hunyad renders it quite unique in a way. It is +situated, I am told, on a lofty spur of rock, washed on three sides by +two rivers which unite at its base, a draw-bridge connecting the +building with a fortified eminence high above the stream. + +The place is associated with the name of Hungary's greatest hero, John +Hunyadi, who was born near by, and who subsequently built the castle. +The story of his birth, which took place somewhere about 1400, is +romantic enough. His mother was said to be a beautiful Wallack girl +called Elizabeth Marsinai, who was beloved by King Sigismund. When he +left her he gave her his signet ring, which she was to bring to him in +Buda if she gave birth to a son. + +Showing all proper respect to the wishes of its parents, a child of the +"male persuasion" made its appearance in due course of time; and the +joyful mother, accompanied by her brother, set off walking to Buda, with +the small boy and the ring for credentials. When resting by the way in a +forest the child began playing with the ring, and a jackdaw, who in all +ancient story has a weakness for this sort of ornament, pounced upon the +shining jewel and carried it off to a tree. The brother with commendable +quickness took up his bow and shot the bird; thus the ring was +recovered, and the story duly related to the king, who evolved out of +the incident a prophetic omen of the boy's future greatness. His majesty +had the child brought up at the Court, and bestowed upon him the town of +Hunyad and sixty surrounding villages. + +It was in the reign of Sigismund that the Turks first regularly invaded +Hungary; and the young Hunyadi soon distinguished himself by a series of +victories over the Moslems. To him Europe is indebted for the check he +gave the Turks. He forced them to relinquish Servia and Bosnia, and in +his time both provinces were placed under the vassalage of Hungary. We +may go further and say that had Hunyadi's plans for hurling back the +Moslem invaders been seconded by the other Christian powers, we should +not have the Eastern Question upon our hands in this our day. But, alas! +all the solicitations of this great patriot were met with short-sighted +indifference by the Courts of Europe. It is true that the Diet of +Ratisbon, summoned by the Emperor Frederick, voted 10,000 men-at-arms +and 30,000 infantry to assist in repelling the Turks; and it is true +that the Pope in those days was anti-Turkish, and vowed on the Gospels +to use every effort, even to the shedding of his blood, to recover +Constantinople from the infidels. The old chronicles give a curious +account of the monk Capestrano, who, bearing the cross that the Pope had +blessed, traversed Hungary, Transylvania, and Wallachia, to rouse the +people to the danger that threatened them from the intrusion of the +Moslem into Europe. Special church services were instituted; and at noon +the "Turks' bell" was daily sounded in every parish throughout these +border-lands, when prayers were offered up to arrest the progress of the +common enemy of Christendom. + +Hunyadi's son, Matthias Corvinus, rivalled his father as a champion +against the Turks. He was elected King of Hungary, and after reigning +forty-two years, passed away; and the people still say, "King Matthias +is dead, and justice with him." + +[Footnote 14: A Short Trip in Hungary and Transylvania, p. 242.] + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + Hunting for a guide--School statistics--Old times--Over the + mountains to Herrmannstadt--Night in the open--Nearly setting the + forest on fire--Orlat. + + +I found some difficulty while at Petroseny in getting a guide to convoy +me over the mountains to Orlat, near Herrmannstadt. My Hungarian friend +proposed that, choosing a saint's day, we should ride over to the +neighbouring village of Petrilla, where I would certainly find some +peasant able and willing amongst the numbers who crowd into the village +on these occasions. + +Accordingly we went over, and I was very pleased I had gone, for the +rural gathering was a very pretty and characteristic sight. The people +from all the country round were collected together in the churchyard, +dressed of course in their bravery, and a very goodly show they made. +They were the finest Wallacks I had seen anywhere; they were superior +looking in physique, and many of them must really have been well off, if +one may judge a man's wealth by the richness of the wife's dress. + +Some of the young girls were very pretty, and wore their silver-coin +decorations with quite a fashionable coquettish air. The Wallack women, +whether walking or standing, never have the spindle out of their hands: +the attitude is very graceful, added to which the thread must be held +daintily in the fingers. They are very industrious, making nearly all +the articles of clothing for the family. + +After a great deal of palavering--I think we must have spoken to every +able-bodied man in the churchyard--I at last induced a young Wallachian +to say he would accompany me. He spoke a little German, which was a +great advantage. I told him to procure himself a good horse, and to take +care that all his arrangements were completed before night, as I wished +to start very early the following morning. + +To this he replied that it would be quite necessary to start early, and +begged to know if five o'clock would be too soon; adding that as I must +pass through Petrilla, would I meet him at the corner of the churchyard? + +To this I agreed, repeating that we were to meet not a moment later than +five o'clock. My friend and I returned to Petroseny, and the afternoon +was occupied in making preparations for two days on the mountains. I +supplied myself with a good amount of _slivovitz_, as a medium of +exchange for milk and cheese with the shepherds, who understand this +kind of barter much better than any money transactions. + +The next day, when it came, brought a continuance of good weather, and I +was up betimes, looking forward with pleasure to the mountain ride. I +reached Petrilla a few minutes after five o'clock; but my man was not at +the churchyard corner, whereupon I rode all round the churchyard, +thinking he might by mistake have pitched on some odd corner, and be out +of sight under the trees. However, I looked in vain--a man on horseback +is not hidden like a lizard between two stones! Verily he was not there. + +I waited half an hour all to no purpose. I now resolved to try and find +out where he lived. I had understood that he belonged to the village. +After a great deal of trouble and bother, and poking of my nose into +various interiors where the families were still _en deshabille_, I +unearthed my guide. He coolly said that he was waiting for the horse, +which was to be brought to him by some other lazy fellow not yet up. + +I could not speak Wallachian, and he pretended not to understand a word +of my wrathful tirade in German, which was all nonsense, because I +found later that he spoke that language fairly well. I insisted that he +should come with me to find the horse, and so he did at last, in a +dilatory sort of way, and then it turned out that the animal was waiting +at the other end of the village for his rider. + +Well, thought I, we shall start now; but no, there were two to that +bargain. The Wallack calmly informed me that he must return to his hut, +for he had not breakfasted. Not to lose sight of him, I returned too. He +then with Oriental deliberation set about making a fire, and proceeded +to cook his _polenta_ of maize. I had got hungry again by this time, +though I had breakfasted at Petroseny before starting, so I partook of +some of his mess, which was exceedingly good, much better than oatmeal +porridge. + +In consequence of all these delays it was after eight o'clock before we +really started. The horse which my guide had procured for himself was a +wretched animal--a tantalising object for vultures and +carrion-crows--instead of being a good strong horse, as I had stipulated +he should be; but there was no help for it now, so on we went. + +My companion soon gave me to understand in good German that he was a +superior sort of fellow. He had been to school at Hatszeg, and knew a +thing or two. I have heard it stated that the Wallacks are so quick +that they make great and rapid progress at first, distancing the German +children; but that they seem to stop after a while, and even fall back +into ignorance and their old slovenly ways of life. + +On referring to the statistics of Messrs Keleti and Beoethy, I see that +only eleven per cent of Roumains (Wallacks) attend the primary schools, +and this percentage had not increased between the years 1867 and 1874. +The percentage of the Magyars attending the primary schools is +forty-nine per cent, while the Slavs, again, are twenty-one. + +"The world is only saved by the breath of the school-children," says the +Talmud. A conviction of this truth makes every inquiry into educational +progress extremely interesting. According to M. Keleti's tables, +fifty-three per cent of the males and sixty-two per cent of the females +in Hungary generally are still illiterates. This excludes from the +calculation children under six years of age. On comparing notes, other +countries do not come out so very much better. It is calculated that 30 +per cent of French conscripts are unable to read; moreover, in _our_ +"returns" of marriages in England in 1845, a percentage of forty-one +signed the register with _marks_. In 1874 the number of illiterates was +reduced to twenty-one per cent. + +I elicited a good many interesting facts from my Wallack guide, several +that were confirmatory of the terrible ignorance existing amongst the +priesthood of the Greek Church. The popes do not commend themselves to +the good opinion of the male part of the community, whatever hold they +may have on the superstition of the women. I cannot see myself how +things are to be mended till the position and education of the +priesthood are improved. It is said that, in the old days before '48, +when the peasants had to render forced labour to the lord of the land, +the Transylvanian nobles would have the village pope up to the castle, +and keep him there for a fortnight in a state of intoxication, thus +preventing his giving out the saints' days at the altar on Sunday. This +was done that their own harvest-work should proceed without the +inconvenience of suspending operations at a critical time on _fete_ +days, the people themselves being too ignorant to consult the calendar! + +The Magyar nobles are improved, and do not play these pranks now; but +very little progress, I imagine, has been made on the side of the +priests. Chatting with my Wallack guide helped to beguile the tedious +nature of the ride, an ascent over roughish ground all the way. Arriving +at the summit, we made a noonday halt. + +A fire was soon burning, whereat our dinner of robber-steak was +roasted; but the halt was shorter than usual, for I was anxious to push +on, remembering how much time had been lost at starting. + +We now gained the other side of the mountain-chain, passing the remains +of an old Turkish camp, the outlines of which were quite visible. From +this point there is a magnificent view, interminable forests to the +eastward clothing the deep ravines that score the hillsides. The +accidents of light and shade were particularly happy on this occasion, +bringing out various details in the picture in a very striking manner. +As a general rule, there is no time so unpropitious for scenic effect as +noonday. + +We passed from the grassy Alpen down into the thick of the forest, +losing very soon any glimpse of the distant view, or any help from +conspicuous landmarks. It was a labyrinth of trees, with tracks crossing +each other in a most perplexing manner. I could not have got on without +a guide. + +When the evening approached I thought it was time to look out for +quarters for the night. Our first necessity was water, but we went on +and on without coming upon a stream. It was provoking, for we had passed +so many springs and rivulets earlier in the day, and now darkness +threatened to wrap us round with the mantle of night before we had +arranged our bivouac. When the sun sets in the East, it is like turning +off the gas; you are left in darkness suddenly, without any intervening +twilight. As a fact one knows this perfectly well; but habit is stronger +than reason, and day after day I went on being perplexed, and often +unready for the "early-closing" system. + +"Water we must have," said I to the Wallack. "Let us strike off from the +direct route and follow the lead of this valley, we shall find water in +the bottom for a certainty." + +We hurried forward, leading our horses through the thick undercover, +always diving deeper into the ravine. At length I discovered a trickling +amongst the stones, and a little farther on we came upon a grassy spot +beneath some enormous pine-trees. It was an ideal place for a bivouac! + +When the horses had been carefully picketed, we proceeded to make a fire +and cook our supper, which consisted of gipsy-meat and tea. + +The meal finished to my perfect satisfaction, (how good everything +tastes under such circumstances!) I then stretched myself on a sloping +bank overspread by a thick covering of dry _needle-wood_, as the Germans +call the leaves of the fir-tree. How soft and clean it felt, and how +sweet the aromatic perfume that pervaded the whole place! Lighting my +pipe, I gave myself up to the perfect enjoyment of repose amidst this +romantic scene. The Wallack, covered by his fur _bunda_, was already +asleep, and save the bubbling of the water in the little stream, and the +crackling of the fire, there was absolutely not a sound or a breath. +Through the tasselled pine branches, festooned with streamers of grey +moss, I could see the stars shining in the blue depths of ether. One can +realise in these regions the intense _depth_ of the heavens when seen at +night; we never get the same effect in our "weeping skies." + +Before wrapping my plaid round me for the night, I threw some fresh wood +on the fire, which, crushing down upon the hot embers, sent up a +scintillating shower of sparks that ran a mad race in and out of the +greenery. I saw that the horses were all right, I put my gun handy, and +then I gave myself up to sleep. + +I do not know how long I had slept, but I was conscious of being +bothered, and could not rouse myself at once. I dreamed that a bear was +sniffing at me, but instead of being the least surprised or frightened, +I said to myself in my dream, as if it was quite a common occurrence, +"That's the bear again, he always comes when I am asleep." The next +moment, however, I was very effectually awakened by a tug that half +lifted me off the ground. I must mention that I had tied my horse's +halter to my waist-belt in case of any alarm in the night, for I sleep +so soundly always that no ordinary noise or movement ever wakes me. I +sprang up of course, calling the Wallack at the same time. Something had +frightened the horses, and they had attempted to bolt. We found them +trembling from head to foot, but we could not discover the cause of +their fright. I fired off my revolver twice; the Wallack in the meantime +had lighted a bundle of resinous fir branches as a torch. He had +carefully arranged it before he slept; it is a capital thing, as it +gives a good light on an emergency. + +After making an examination of the place all round, and finding nothing, +we made up a bright fire, and again laid ourselves down to rest. I had +my saddle for a pillow, and it was not half bad. Before giving myself +over to sleep I listened and listened again, but I heard nothing except +the hooting of the owls answering each other in the distance. The night +had grown very cold, and a heavy dew was falling, but notwithstanding +these discomforts I had another good nap. + +Next morning, after a hearty breakfast, we were off early. Instead of +going uphill again to recover our former route, we followed the stream, +which gradually increased in size, and we came at last to a place where +a dam had been thrown across the valley with the object of floating the +wood cut in the forest. This small lake was very pretty; the water was +as clear as crystal. Farther on we came upon another dam of larger +dimensions; but though it had evidently been quite recently constructed, +there was no one about, and no signs of wood-cutting. Here we began to +ascend again, and about mid-day got to a place called La Durs, a +customhouse for cattle coming from Roumania; it is not absolutely on the +frontier, but very near it. I heard later that this district has a bad +reputation for smugglers and robbers, the latter being on the increase, +it is said; always the same story of unrepressed lawlessness on the +frontier. + +We made no stay at the customhouse, but rode on a couple of miles +farther, where, coming upon a nice spring, we dined. Not a single +shepherd had we met, so there had been no chance of bartering for milk; +it was not surprising, because our track had been almost entirely in the +forests, and of course the shepherds are higher up on the Alpen. At this +last halting-place we nearly set the forest on fire. The grass was very +dry all round, and before I was aware of it, the fire ran along the +ground and caught the trees. It blazed up in an inconceivably short +time. I rushed up directly, to cut off what branches I could with my +bowie-knife; but though calling loudly to the Wallack to assist me, he +never concerned himself in the least. This exasperated me beyond +measure, seeing what mischief was likely to accrue from the +misadventure. Luckily a man came up, riding on one horse and leading +another, and he readily gave me a helping hand, and between us we put +out the fire. The Wallack never raised a finger! + +Getting into conversation with the new-comer, I found that he was going +to Orlat, whereupon I arranged to go on with him. Accordingly I paid my +guide, and was not sorry to have done with him, he had so disgusted me +about the fire, and I was especially glad to get quit of his wretched +horse, which had greatly retarded our progress. I transferred my +saddle-bags to the spare horse, and we got on much faster, reaching +Orlat by sunset. + +Before descending into the plain we had a magnificent view. +Herrmannstadt seemed almost at our feet, though in reality it was still +a long way off; the Fogaraser Mountains stretching away towards +Kronstadt, appeared in all their picturesque irregularity, and along the +plain at their base were scattered the villages of the Saxonland, each +with its fortress-church, a relic of the old time, when the brave +burghers had to hold their own against Turk and Tartar. + +At Orlat I found a small inn, but they had no travellers' room in it; +however some of the family were good enough to turn out, and I was very +glad to turn in, and that rather early. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + Herrmannstadt--Saxon immigrants--Museum--Places of interest in the + neighbourhood--The fortress-churches--Heltau--The Rothen Thurm + Pass--Turkish incursions. + + +The following morning a ride of ten miles brought me to Herrmannstadt. +Here I put up at the Hotel Neurikrer, a comfortable house; it was a new +sensation getting into the land of inns. The fact is, the Saxons are not +indifferent to the existence of inns; it relieves them of the necessity +of hospitality. The Hungarian will take the wheels off his guest's +carriage and hide them to prevent his departure, whereas the Saxon would +be more inclined to speed the parting guest with amiable alacrity. There +is an old-world look about Herrmannstadt that gives one the sensation of +being landed in another age; it is a case of Rip Van Winkle, only +"t'other way round," as the saying is: one has awakened from the sleep +in the hills to walk down into a mediaeval town, finding the speech and +fashions of old Germany--Luther's Germany! + +The Saxon immigrants in Hungary number nearly two millions. The greater +proportion of these is found in Transylvania; the rest, some forty +thousand, have a compact colony under the shadow of the Tatra Mountains, +in the north of Hungary, called from time immemorable the "Free +District." But it was to the slopes of the Southern Carpathians, to the +"land beyond the forest," where the first Saxons came and settled. It is +still called "Altland," being the oldest of their possessions in +Hungary. In fact this appellation of the "Oldland" belongs, strictly +speaking, to the Herrmannstadt district. Formerly no Hungarian was +allowed to settle in the town, so jealous were the burghers of their +privileges. I believe the earliest date of the Saxon immigration is +1143. The country had been wasted by the incursions of the Tartars, and +in consequence the Servian Princess Helena, widow of the blind King Bela +of Hungary, invited them hither during the minority of her son, Geysa +II. They appear to have come from Flanders, and from the neighbourhood +of Cologne. They were tempted to this strange land by certain privileges +and special rights secured to them by the rulers of Hungary, and +faithfully preserved through many difficulties; as a fact the Saxons of +Transylvania retained their self-government down to the middle of this +century. + +These people have played no unimportant part in European history; for +Herrmannstadt and Kronstadt, the sister towns of Saxon Transylvania, +were called the bulwarks of Christianity all through the evil days of +Moslem invasion. Herrmannstadt was called by the Turks the "Red Town" on +account of the colour of its brick walls. It was besieged in 1438 with a +force of 70,000 men headed by the Sultan Amurad himself, and great were +the rejoicings amongst the brave burghers when it became known that an +arrow directed from one of the towers had rid them of their foe! Trade +and commerce must have prospered, by all accounts, in those days; and +the burghers made themselves of importance, for King Andrew II., a man +far in advance of his time, summoned them to assist in consultation at +the Imperial Parliament. The wealth of Herrmannstadt is a thing of the +past; the place has now the appearance of a dead level of competence, +where riches and poverty are equally absent. There were no new houses +building to supply an increasing population, nor, I should say, had any +been built for many years. + +The town is prettily situated on a slight elevation above the +surrounding plain; it has the fine range of the Fogaraser Mountains as a +background. The old moat, where Amurad fell pierced by the well-directed +arrow, has been turned into a promenade; parts of the fortifications +remain in a state of picturesque ruin. Herrmannstadt is the seat of the +Protestant Bishop of Transylvania, and there is a fine old church, +which, however, has suffered severely in the process of restoration. + +The interior of the church is in that unhappy condition which bespeaks +the churchwarden's period--whitewash plastered over everything, +obliterating lights and shades and rare carvings beneath a glare of +uncouth cleanliness. In their desire to remove every object that could +harbour dust or obstruct the besom of reform, they have bodily removed +from the church many rich monuments and interesting effigies, and these +are to be seen huddled away in an obscure corner of the churchyard. The +church has a large collection of richly-embroidered vestments belonging +to the pre-Reformation days. + +Herrmannstadt is decidedly rich in collections. The Bruckenthal Library +contains an illuminated missal of great beauty; the execution is +singularly fine, and the designs very artistic. The curious thing is +that the history of this rare volume is unknown; by some it is believed +to have come from Bohemia during the time of the troubles in that +country, however nothing is positively known. The book is of the finest +vellum, containing 630 pages in small quarto. The pictures of +architecture and scenery are extremely interesting; the first represent +buildings familiar to us in old German towns, and the rural scenes +depict a variety of agricultural instruments, together with many details +of home life in the olden time. The colours of the birds and flowers are +as bright as if only finished yesterday. The ingenuity of the design is +very striking; no two objects are alike. It would have taken hours to +have looked over the volume thoroughly. + +In the palace, of which the museum forms a part, there is a gallery of +pictures, collected by the Baron Bruckenthal, formerly governor of +Transylvania. The history of these pictures is very curious, they were +mostly purchased from French refugees at the time of the first +revolution. It appears that both at that period, and at the revocation +of the Edict of Nantes, many French families had sought an asylum in +Hungary and Transylvania. In the Banat I am told there are two or three +villages inhabited entirely by people who came originally from France; +they retain only their Gallic names, having adopted the Magyar tongue +and utterly lost their own. This little colony of the Banat belonged of +course to the Huguenot exodus. I had now an opportunity of examining a +collection of the Roman antiquities obtained from the Hatszeg Valley. + +I remained several days at Herrmannstadt, principally for the sake of +resting my horse, which unfortunately had been rubbed by the saddle-bags +on my ride from Petroseny. I spent the time agreeably enough, exploring +the neighbourhood and making chance acquaintances. I bought here Bishop +Teusch's 'History of Transylvanian Saxons,' a handy-book in two volumes. +It interested me very much, especially reading it in the country itself +where so many stirring scenes had been enacted. + +Wishing to see some of the neighbouring villages, I set off one fine day +on a walking expedition. I chose Sunday, because on that day one can see +to best advantage the costume of the peasants. Hammersdorf is a pretty +enough village, "fair with orchard lawns," but not so charming as +Heltau, which, standing on high ground, commands an extensive view of +the whole plain, with the old "Red Town" in the foreground of the +picture. The church in this village is a very fine specimen of the +fortified churches, which are a unique feature of the Transylvanian +border-land. The origin of this form of architecture is very obvious; it +was necessary to have a defence against the incursions of the Tartars +and Turks, who for centuries troubled the peace of this fair land. In +every village of the Saxons in the south and east of Transylvania the +church is also a fortified place, fitted to maintain a siege if +necessary. The construction of these buildings varies according to +circumstances: the general character is that the sacred edifice is +surrounded, or forms part of a strong wall with its watch-towers; not +unfrequently a second and even a third wall surround the place. In every +case a considerable space of ground is enclosed around the church, +sufficient to provide accommodation for the villagers; in fact every +family with a house outside had a corresponding hut within the fortified +walls. Here, too, was a granary, and some of the larger places had also +their school-tower attached to the church. It happened not unfrequently +that the villagers were obliged to remain for some weeks in their +sanctuary. + +Heltau is an industrious little place. Here is manufactured the peculiar +white frieze so much worn by the Wallacks. Nearly every house has its +loom, but I was told the trade is less flourishing than formerly. The +woollen-cloth manufacturers of Transylvania have suffered very much from +the introduction of foreign goods; but, on the other hand, if they would +bestir themselves they might enormously increase their exports. Heltau +is a market-place, and reserves many old privileges very jealously. Its +inhabitants were often in dispute with the burghers of Herrmannstadt, +and on one occasion they had the audacity, in rebuilding their +church-tower, to place four turrets upon it. Their neighbours regarded +this with great indignation, for are not four turrets the sign and +symbol of _civic_ authority? The burghers of Herrmannstadt hereupon +obliged the men of Heltau to sign a bond, saying that "they were but +humble villagers," and promising to treat their haughty neighbours with +all due "honour, fear, and friendship." + +From Heltau I went on to Michaelsburg, an extremely curious place. In +the centre of a lovely valley rises a conical rock of gneiss, protruding +to the height of 200 feet or more. This is crowned by the ruins of a +Romanesque church. There are, I believe, only two other specimens of +this kind of architecture in the country. The time of the building of +Michaelsburg is stated to be between 1173 and 1223. Before the use of +artillery this fortified church on the rock must have been really +impregnable. Inside the walls I found a quantity of large round +stones--the shot and shell of those days; these stones were capable of +making considerable havoc amongst a besieging party I should say. The +custom was in the old time that no young man should be allowed to take +unto himself a wife till he had carried one such stone from the bed of +the river where they are found, to the summit of the rock within the +church walls. As these stones weigh between two and three hundredweight, +and the ascent is very steep, it was a test of strength. The villagers +were anxious to prevent the weaklings from marrying lest they should +spoil the hardy race. + +The view from the village itself is very pretty, home-like, and with a +more familiar look about the vegetation than I had seen elsewhere. There +were orchards of cherry-trees, and hedges, as in our west country, +festooned with wild hops and dog-roses. Every girl I met was busily +engaged plaiting straw as she walked. This straw is for hats of a +particular kind for which the place is famed. Besides this industry, the +people are great bee-keepers, and make a good trade by selling the +honey. The produce of the hives in the Southern Carpathians is the very +poetry of honey; it is perfectly delicious, not surpassed by that of +Hymettus or Hybla, so famed in ancient story. This "mountain honey" +sometimes reaches the London market, but, unfortunately, not with any +regularity. It is most difficult to make these people practical in their +trade dealings; and as for _time_, they must have come into the world +before it was talked about. + +I made a short excursion into the Rothen Thurm Pass, the principal road +across the Southern Carpathians, if we except the Tomoescher Pass from +Kronstadt, which, owing to local circumstances, has become more +important. The Rothen Thurm or Red Tower Pass is extremely picturesque. +It is traversed by the Aluta, which though rising in the Szeklerland in +the north-east, finds its way through the Carpathian range, flowing at +length into the Lower Danube. The red tower stands at the narrowest part +of the defile, an important position of defence; and not far from this +spot signal victory was gained by the Christians over the infidels. In +the year 1493 the Turks made one of their frequent raids into +Transylvania. They had succeeded in collecting a vast amount of booty, +including many fair young maidens and tender youths, and were returning +in long cavalcade through the Red Tower Pass. Here, however, they fell +into an ambuscade arranged by the men of Herrmannstadt, headed by their +burgomaster, the brave George Hecht. At a concerted signal the Saxons +rushed upon the despoilers with such a fierce and sudden onslaught, that +though the Turks far exceeded them in number, they were completely +overpowered. Many a turbaned corpse lay that day on the green margin of +the classical Aluta, and few, very few, of the hated Turks, it is said, +escaped over the frontier to tell the tale of their disaster. How many a +home must have been gladdened by the sight of the rescued children after +that happy victory! + +These abductions are not altogether a thing of the past. In the autumn +of 1875, the very date of my tour, a paragraph appeared in a Pest +newspaper stating that a young girl of great beauty in the neighbourhood +of Temesvar, in the Banat of Hungary, had been secretly carried off into +Turkey without the knowledge or consent of her parents. It was further +stated that these scandalous proceedings were of very frequent +occurrence in the border provinces. For some years past the supply of +beautiful Circassians has been deficient, it is said, so doubtless the +harems of Constantinople are supplied with Christian maidens to make up +the numbers. The late Sultan--I mean the one who committed suicide--was +considered a moderate man, and he had eight hundred women in his harem, +at least so a relative of mine was credibly informed at Constantinople. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + Magyar intolerance of the German--Patriotic revival of the Magyar + language--Ride from Herrmannstadt to Kronstadt--The village of + Zeiden--Curious scene in church--Reformation in + Transylvania--Political bitterness between Saxons and Magyars in + 1848. + + +My horse being all right again, I thought it high time to push on to +Kronstadt, which is nearly ninety miles from Herrmannstadt by road. +There is railway communication, but not direct; you have to get on the +main line at the junction of Klein Koepisch--in Hungarian, Kis Kapus--and +hence to Kronstadt, called Brasso by the non-Germans. This confusion of +names is very difficult for a foreigner when consulting the railway +tables. I have often seen the names of stations put up in three +languages. Herrmannstadt is Nagy Szeben. The confusion of tongues in +Hungary is one of the greatest stumbling-blocks to progress; and +unfortunately it is considered patriotic by the Magyar to speak his own +language and ignore that of his neighbour. + +It happened to me once that I entered an inn in a Hungarian town, and +addressing the waiter, I gave my orders in German, whereupon an elderly +gentleman turned sharply upon me, saying--also in German, observe--"It +is the custom to speak Hungarian here." + +"I am not acquainted with the language, sir," I replied. "German is not +to be spoken here--Hungarian or nothing," he retorted. I simply turned +on my heel with a gesture of impatience. It was rather too much for any +old fellow, however venerable and patriotic, to condemn me to silence +and starvation because I could not speak the national lingo, so in the +irritation of the moment I rapped out an English expletive, meant as an +aside. Enough! No sooner did the testy old gentleman hear the familiar +sound, invariably associated with the travelling Britisher in old days, +than he turned to me with the utmost urbanity, saying in French, "Pardon +a thousand times, I thought you were a German from the fluency of your +speech; I had no idea you were an Englishman. Why did you not tell me at +once? What orders shall I give for you? How can I help you?" It ended in +our dining together and becoming the best friends; in fact he invited me +to spend a week with him at his chateau in the neighbourhood. In the +course of conversation I could not help asking him why, as he spoke +German himself and the people in the inn also understood it--in fact I +am not sure but what it was their mother-tongue--why he would not allow +the language to be spoken? + +"We are Hungarians here," he replied, going off into testiness again, +"and we do not want that cursed German spoken on all sides. I, for one, +will move heaven and earth to get my own language used in my own +country. Ha, ha! the Austrians wanted us to have their officials +everywhere on the railway. We have put a stop to that; now every +man-jack of them must speak Hungarian. It gave an immensity of trouble, +and they did not like it at all, I can tell you." + +I did not attempt to argue with the old gentleman, for his views were +inextricably mixed up with feelings and patriotism. + +As a matter of fact, in the early part of this century the Magyar +language was hardly spoken by the upper classes except in communicating +with their inferiors; but when the patriotic Count Stephen Szechenyi +first roused his fellow-countrymen to nobler impulses and more +enlightened views, he held forth the restoration of the national +language as the first necessity of their position. In his time it meant +breaking down the barrier which separated classes. He was the first in +the Chamber of Magnates who spoke in the tongue understood by the +people; hitherto Latin had been the language of the Chambers. With the +exception of a group of poets--Varosmazty, Petoefy, Kolcsey, and the +brothers Kisfaludy--there were hardly any writers who employed their +native language in literature or science. Count Szechenyi set the +fashion, he wrote his political works in Hungarian, and what was more, +assisted in establishing a national theatre. + +There is perhaps no place where Shakespeare is so often given as at the +Hungarian theatre at Buda-Pest, and it is said by competent judges that +their translation of our great poet is unequalled in any language, +German not excepted. + +To a foreigner the Hungarian tongue appears very difficult, because of +its isolated character and its striking difference from any other +European language. In Cox's 'Travels in Sweden,' published in the last +century, he mentions that Sainovits, a learned Jesuit, a native of +Hungary, who had gone to Lapland to observe the transit of Venus in +1775, remarked that the Hungarian and Lapland idioms were the same; and +he further stated that many words were identical. As a Turanian +language, Hungarian has also an alliance with the Turkish as well as the +Finnish; but there are only six and a half millions of Magyars who speak +the language, and by no possibility can it be adopted by any other +peoples. + +For their men of letters it is an undeniable misfortune to have so +restricted a public; a translated work is never quite the same. The +question of language must also limit the choice of professors in the +higher schools and at the university. But political grievances are mixed +up with the language question, and of those I will not speak now, while +I am still in Saxonland, where they do not love the Magyar or anything +belonging to him. + +Returning to the itinerary of my route, I left Herrmannstadt very early +one morning, getting to Fogaras by four o'clock; it was about +forty-seven miles of good road. This little town is celebrated for the +cultivation of tobacco. There is a large inn here, which looked +promising from the outside, but that was all; it had no _inside_ to +speak of--no food, no stable-boy, nothing. After foraging about I got +something to eat with great difficulty, and feeling much disgusted with +my quarters, I sallied forth to find the clergyman of the place, to whom +I introduced myself. + +I spent the evening at his house, and found him a very jolly old fellow; +he entertained me with a variety of good stories, some of them relating +to the tobacco-smuggling. The peasants are allowed to grow the precious +weed on condition that they sell it all to the State at a fixed rate. +Naturally, if they otherwise disposed of it, they would be able to make +a much larger profit, as it is a monopoly of the State. They have a +peculiar way of mystifying the exciseman as to the number of leaves on a +string, for this is the regulation way of reckoning; besides which, +wholesale smuggling goes on at times, and waggon-loads are got away. +Occasionally there is a fight between the officials and the peasants. + +I had intended getting on to Kronstadt the next day, but I stopped at +the Saxon village of Zeiden. The clergyman, on hearing that there was a +stranger in the place, hastened to the inn, where he found me calmly +discussing my mid-day meal. He would not hear of my going on to +Kronstadt, but kindly invited me to be his guest. I heard a great deal +later of his unvarying hospitality to strangers. + +The next day being Sunday, of course I went to church with my host. The +congregation, including their pastor, wore the costume of the middle +ages; it was a most curious and interesting sight. I am never a good +hand at describing the details of dress, but I know my impression was +that the pastor--wearing a ruff, I think, or something like it--might +just have walked out of a picture, such as one knows so well of the old +Puritans in Cromwell's time. The dress of the peasants, though unlike +the English fashion of any period, had an old-world look. The married +women wore white kerchiefs twisted round the head, sleeveless jackets, +with a mystery of lace adornments. The marriageable girls sat together +in one part of the church, which I thought very funny; they wore +drum-shaped hats poised on the head in a droll sort of way. Some of them +had a kind of white leather pelisse beautifully wrought with embroidery. +Each girl carried a large bouquet of flowers. These blue-eyed German +maidens were many of them very pretty, and all were fresh looking and +exquisitely neat. It was an impressive moment when the whole +congregation joined in singing-- + + _"Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott;"_ + +"the Marseillaise of the Reformation," as Heine calls Luther's hymn, +"that defiant strain that up to our time has preserved its inspiring +power." + +The Reformation spread with wonderful rapidity throughout the length and +breadth of Hungary, more especially in Transylvania. It appears that the +merchants of Herrmannstadt, who were in the habit of attending the great +fair at Leipsic, brought back Luther's writings, which had the effect of +setting fire to men's minds. At one time more than half Hungary had +declared for the new doctrines, but terrible persecutions thinned their +ranks. According to the latest statistics there are 1,109,154 Lutherans +and 2,024,332 Calvinists in Hungary. The Saxons of Transylvania belong +almost exclusively to the Reformed faith; they had always preserved in a +remarkable degree their love for civil and political freedom, hence +their minds were prepared to receive Protestantism. Three monks from +Silesia, converts to Luther's views, came into these parts to preach, +passing from one village to another, and in the towns they "held +catechisings and preachings in the public squares and market-places," +where crowds came from all the country round to hear them. The peasants +went back to their mountain homes with Bibles in their hands; and since +that time the simple folk, through wars and persecutions, have held +steadfast to their faith. + +Herrmannstadt became a second Wittenberg: the new doctrine was not more +powerful in the town where Luther lived. Several bishops joined the +party of the seceders, and already the towns throughout Hungary had +generally declared for the Reformation; in many the "Catholic priests +were left, as shepherds without flocks."[15] When Popish ceremonies +aroused the ridicule of the people, and when even in country districts +the priests who came to demand their tithes were dismissed without their +"fat ducks and geese," there was a general outcry against the new +heresy. The Romish party knew their strength at the Court of Vienna. At +the instigation of the Papal legate Cajetan, Louis II. issued the +terrible edict of 1523, which ran as follows: "All Lutherans, and those +who favour them, as well as all adherents to their sect, shall have +their property confiscated and themselves be punished with death as +heretics and foes of the most holy Virgin Mary." + +While the monks were stirring up their partisans to have the Lutherans +put to death, a national misfortune happened which saved Protestantism, +at least in Transylvania. Soliman the Magnificent set out from +Constantinople in the spring of 1526 with a mighty host, which came +nearer and nearer to Hungary like the "wasting levin." King Louis lost +his army and his life at the battle of Mohacks, leaving the Turks to +pursue their way into the heart of the country, slaughtering upwards of +200,000 of its inhabitants. To this calamity, as we all know, succeeded +an internal civil war, resulting from the rival claims of John Zapolya +and the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria for the crown of Hungary. +Transylvania took advantage of this critical time to achieve her +independence under Zapolya, consenting to pay tribute to the Porte on +condition of _receiving assistance against the tyranny of Austria_. Thus +it came about that the infidel Turks helped to preserve the Reformation +in this part of Europe: they became the defenders of Protestant +Transylvania against the tyranny of Roman Catholic Austria. "Sell what +thou hast and depart into Transylvania, where thou wilt have liberty to +profess the truth," were the words spoken by King Ferdinand himself to +Stephen Szantai, a zealous preacher of the gospel in Upper Hungary, whom +he desired to defend. + +It is said that the first printing-press set up in Hungary was the gift +of Count Nadasdy to Matthias Devay, who was devoted to the education of +youth; and the first work that was issued from the press was a book for +children, teaching the rudiments of the gospel in the language of the +country. The same Protestant nobleman aided the publication in 1541 of +an edition of the New Testament in the Magyar tongue. "It is a +remarkable fact," says Mr Patterson,[16] "connected with the history of +Protestantism, that all its converts were made within the pale of +_Latin_ Christianity. In the nationalities of Hungary there belonged to +Latin Christianity the Magyars, the Slovacks, and the Germans." + +In Transylvania the progress of Protestantism was secured. In 1553 the +Diet declared in favour of the Reformation by a majority of votes, and +while the province was governed by Petrovich, during the minority of +Zapolya's infant son, he freed the whole of Transylvania from the +jurisdiction of the Roman hierarchy. + +When the Turks were finally expelled from Hungary by the second battle +of Mohacks in 1686, Protestantism had grown strong enough in +Transylvania to extract from the house of Hapsburg the celebrated +_Diploma Leopoldium_ (their Magna Charta), which secured to them +religious liberty once and for ever. + +[Footnote 15: See The History of Protestantism, by Rev. J.A. Wylie, Part +29.] + +[Footnote 16: The Magyars; their Country and Institutions.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + Political difficulties--Impatient criticism of foreigners--Hungary + has everything to do--Tenant-farmers wanted--Wages. + + +It is remarkable that the Saxons in Transylvania, who had suffered so +much tribulation from the religious persecutions of the house of +Hapsburg, preferring even to shelter themselves under the protection of +the Turk, should be the first to support the tyranny of Austria against +the Magyars in 1848. + +I visited at the house of a village pastor, who told me he had himself +led four hundred Saxons against the Hungarians at that time. The +remembrance of that era is not yet effaced; so many people not much +beyond middle age had taken part in the war that the bitterness has not +passed out of the personal stage. Pacification and reconciliation, and +all the Christian virtues, have been evoked; but underlying the calm +surface, all the old hatreds of race still exist. Nothing assimilates +socially or politically in Hungary. The troubled history of the past +reappears in the political difficulty of the present. And what can be +done when the Magyar will not hold with the Saxon, and the Saxon cannot +away with the Szekler? Are not the ever-increasing Wallacks getting +numerically ahead of the rest, while the Southern Slavs threaten the +integrity of the empire? + +Prosperity is the best solvent for disaffection. When the resources of +Hungary are properly developed, and wealth results to the many, bringing +education and general enlightenment in its train, there will be a common +ground of interest, even amongst those who differ in race, religion, and +language. It was a saying of the patriotic Count Szechenyi, and the +saying has passed into a proverb, "Make money, and enrich the country; +an empty sack will topple over, but if you fill it, it will stand by its +own weight." + +"You call yourselves 'the English of the East,'" I said one day to a +Hungarian friend of mine; "but how is it you are not more practical, +since you pay us the compliment of following our lead in many things?" + +"You do not see that in many respects we are children, the Hungarians +are children," replied my friend. "'We are not, but we shall be,' said +one of our patriots. You Britishers are rash in your impatient +criticism of a state which has not come to its full growth. It is hardly +thirty years since we emerged from the middle ages, so to speak; and you +expect our civilisation to have the well-worn polish of Western States. +Think how recently we have emancipated our serfs, and reformed our +constitution and our laws. Take into account, too, that just as we were +setting our house in order, the enemy was at the gate--progress was +arrested, and our national life paralysed; but let that pass, we don't +want to look back, we want to look forward. We have still to build up +the structure that with you is finished; we are deficient in everything +that a state wants in these days, and in our haste to make railways, +roads, and bridges, to erect public buildings, and to promote industrial +enterprises, we make certain financial blunders. You must not forget +that we in Hungary are much in the same state that you were in England +in the thirteenth century, before tenant-holdings had become general. We +shall gradually learn to see the advantages to be derived from letting +land on your farm system. There is nothing we desire so much as the +creation of the tenant-farmer class, which hardly exists yet. Large +estates would be far better divided and let as farms on your system. We +are in a transition state as regards many things in agricultural +matters. English or Scotch farmers would be welcomed over here by the +great landowners. Your countryman, Professor Wrightson, convinced +himself of this when he was here in 1873. If they could command some +capital, the produce of the land in many instances could be doubled." + +I asked my friend about labourers' wages, but he said it was difficult +to give any fixed rate. A mere agricultural day-labourer would get from +1s. 3d. to 1s. 6d.; sometimes the evil practice of paying wages in kind +obtained--viz., a man receives so much Indian corn (_kukoricz_). And not +unfrequently a peasant undertakes to plough the fields twice, to hoe +them three times, and to see the crop housed, for which he receives the +half of the yield provided he has furnished the seed. The peasants' own +lands, as a rule, are very badly managed; their ploughing is shallow, +and they do nothing or next to nothing in the way of drainage. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + Want of progress amongst the Saxons--The + Burzenland--Kronstadt--Mixed character of its + inhabitants--Szeklers--General Bem's campaign. + +It was a glorious morning when I left the comfortable village of Zeiden. +Before me were the rich pastures of the Burzenland, a tract which +tradition says was once filled up by the waters of a great lake, till +some Saxon hero hewed a passage through the mountains in the Geisterwald +for the river Aluta, thus draining this fertile region. + +The mountainous wall to the rear of Zeiden is clothed by magnificent +hanging woods, which at the time I describe were just tinged with the +first rich touches of autumn. It was a lovely ride through this fertile +vale. On every side I saw myself surrounded by the lofty Carpathians, or +the lesser spurs of that grand range of mountains; the higher peaks to +the south and south-east were already capped with snow. The village in +which I had so agreeably sojourned for a couple of days almost rises to +the dignity of a little town, for it has nearly 4000 inhabitants. +Considering its situation, on the verge of this rich plain, and many +other local circumstances, it is, I suppose, a very favourable example +of a German settlement in Transylvania. I had been struck by the extreme +neatness of the dwellings and the generally well-to-do air of the +people, but there is nothing progressive about these Saxons. I saw +plainly that what their fathers did before them they do themselves, and +expect their sons to follow in the same groove. There is amongst them +generally a dead level of content incomprehensible to a restless +Englishman. + +When I asked why they did not try to turn this or that natural advantage +to account, I was met with the reply, "Our fathers have done very well +without it, why should not we?" I could never discover any inclination +amongst the Saxons to initiate any fresh commercial enterprise either at +home or abroad, nor would they respond with any interest to the most +tempting suggestions as to ways and means of increasing their +possessions. It is all very well to draw the moral picture of a +contented people. Contentment under some circumstances is the first +stage of rottenness. The inevitable law of change works the +deterioration of a race which does not progress. This fact admits of +practical proof here. For instance, the cloth manufactures of +Transylvania are falling into decay, and there is nothing else of an +industrial kind substituted. The result is a decrease of the general +prosperity, and a marked diminution in the population of the towns. Nor +is this the case in populous places only. The Saxon villager desires to +transmit the small estate he derived from his father intact to his +_only_ son. He does not desire a large family; it would tax his energies +too much to provide for that. It is deeply to be lamented that a +superior race like the educated Saxons of Transylvania, who held their +own so bravely against Turk and Tartar, and, what was more difficult +still, preserved their religious liberty in spite of Austrian Jesuits, +should _now_ be losing their political ascendancy, owing mainly to their +displacement by the Wallacks. According to the last census, the German +immigrants in Hungary are estimated at 1,820,922. I have no means of +making an accurate comparison, but I hear on all hands that the numbers +are diminished. There are, besides, proofs of it in the case of villages +which were exclusively Saxon having now become partly, even wholly, +Wallachian. + +There are wonderfully few chateaux in this picturesque land. In my +frequent rides over the Burzenland I rarely saw any dwellings above what +we should attribute to a yeoman farmer. As a matter of fact there are +fewer aristocrats in this part of Hungary, or perhaps I should say this +part of Transylvania, than in any other. + +After my pleasant morning's ride I found myself at Kronstadt, and put up +at Hotel "No. 1"--an odd name for a fairly good inn. There is another +farther in town--the Hotel Bucharest--also a place of some pretension. +The charges for rooms generally in the country are out of all proportion +to the accommodation given. Travellers are rare, at least they used to +be before the present war; but Kronstadt is the terminus of the direct +railway from Buda-Pest, which, communicating with the Tomoescher Pass +over the Carpathians, is the shortest route to Bucharest. + +As far as the buildings are concerned, Kronstadt has much the air of an +old-fashioned German town. As you pass along the streets you get a peep +now and then of picturesque interior courtyards, seen through the +wide-arched doorways. These courts are mostly surrounded by an open +arcade. Generally in the centre of each is set a large green tub holding +an oleander-tree. This gives rather an Oriental appearance to these +interiors. The East and West are here mixed up together most curiously. +Amongst the fair-haired, blue-eyed Saxons are dusky Armenians and +black-ringleted Jews, wearing strange garments. By the way, the +merchants of these two races have ousted the Saxon trader from the +field; commerce is almost completely in their hands. + +The market-day at Kronstadt is a most curious and interesting sight. The +country-people come in, sitting in their long waggons, drawn by four +horses abreast, they themselves dressed in cloaks of snow-white +sheepskins, or richly-embroidered white leather coats lined with black +fur. The head-gear too is very comely, and very dissimilar; for there +are flat fur caps--like an exaggerated Glengarry--and peaked hats, and +drum-shaped hats for the girls, while the close-twisted white kerchief +denotes the matron. The Wallack maiden is adorned by her dowry of coins +hanging over head and shoulders, and with braids of plaited black +hair--mingled, I am afraid, with tow, if the truth must be spoken. + +Kronstadt is rather a considerable place; the population is stated to be +27,766, composed of Saxons, Szeklers, and Wallacks, who have each their +separate quarter. It is most beautifully situated, quite amongst the +mountains; in fact it is 2000 feet above the sea-level. The Saxon part +of the town is built in the opening of a richly-wooded valley. The +approach from the vale beyond--the Burzenland, of which I have spoken +before--is guarded by a singular isolated rock, a spur of the +mountain-chain. This natural defence is crowned by a fortress, which +forms a very picturesque feature in the landscape. Formerly the town was +completely surrounded by walls, curtained on the hillside, reminding one +of Lucern's "coronal of towers." In the "brave days of old" the +trade-guilds were severally allotted their forts for the defence of the +town--no holiday task for volunteers, as in our "right little, tight +little island." + +Though the dangers of the frontier are by no means a thing of the past, +the town walls and the towers are mainly in ruins, overgrown with wild +vines and other luxuriant vegetation. As no guidebook exists to tell one +what one ought to see, and where one ought to go, I had all the pleasure +of poking about and coming upon surprises. I was not aware that the +church at Kronstadt is about the finest specimen of fourteenth-century +Gothic in Transylvania, ranking second only to the Cathedral of Kashau +in Upper Hungary. + +My first walk was to the Kapellenburg, a hill which rises abruptly from +the very walls of the town. An hour's climb through a shady zigzag +brought me to the summit. From thence I could see the "seven villages" +which, according to some persons, gave the German name to the province, +Siebenbuergen, "seven towns." The level Burzenland looked almost like a +green lake; beyond it the chain of the Carpathian takes a bend, forming +the frontier of Roumania. The highest point seen from thence is the +Schuelerberg, upwards of 8000 feet, and a little farther off the +Koenigstein, and the Butschrtsch, the latter reaching 9526 feet. Hardly +less picturesque is the view from the Castle Hill. Quite separated from +the rest of the town is the quarter inhabited by the Szeklers. This +people constitute one of four principal races inhabiting Transylvania. +They are of Turanian origin, like the Magyars, but apparently an older +branch of the family. When the Magyars overran Pannonia in the tenth +century, under the headship of the great Arpad, they appear to have +found the Szeklers already in possession of part of the vast Carpathian +horseshoe--that part known to us as the Transylvanian frontier of +Moldavia. They claim to have come hither as early as the fourth century. +It is known that an earlier wave of the Turanians had swept over Europe +before the incoming of the Magyars, and the so-called Szeklers were +probably a tribe or remnant of this invasion, the date of which, +however, is wrapped in no little obscurity. + +This is certain, that they have preserved their independence throughout +all these ages in a very remarkable manner. "They are all 'noble,'" says +Mr Boner, "and proudly and steadfastly adhere to and uphold their old +rights and privileges, such as right of limiting and of pasture. They +had their own judges, and acknowledged the authority of none beside. +Like their ancestors the Huns, they loved fighting, and were the best +soldiers that Bem had in his army. They guarded the frontier, and +guarded it well, of their own free-will; but they would not be compelled +to do so, and the very circumstance that Austria, when the border system +was established, obliged them to furnish a contingent of one infantry +and two hussar regiments sufficed to alienate their regard."[17] In +another place Mr Boner says, "The Szekler soldier, I was told, was +'excessive,' which means extreme, in all he did." + +In the view of recent events, it may be worth while to recall to mind a +few particulars of General Bem's campaign in Transylvania. In no part of +Hungary was the war of independence waged with so much bitterness as +down here on these border-lands. The Saxons and the Wallacks were +bitterly opposed to the Magyars; and on the 12th of May, in the eventful +'48, a popular meeting was held at Kronstadt, where they protested +vehemently against union with Hungary, and swore allegiance to the +Emperor of Austria. Upon this the Szeklers flew to arms--on the side of +the Magyars, of course; throughout their history they have always made +common cause with them. In the autumn of the same year, Joseph Bem, a +native of Galicia, who had fought under Marshal Davoust, later with +Macdonald at the siege of Hamburg, and had also taken part in the +Polish insurrection of 1830, attached himself to the Hungarian cause. He +had formed a body of troops from the wrecks and remnants of other corps, +and soon by his admirable tactics succeeded on two occasions in beating +the Austrians at the very outset of his campaign; the latter of these +victories was near Dees, to the north of Klausenburg, where he defeated +General Wardener. The winter of that terrible year wore on. In +Transylvania it was not merely keeping back the common enemy, the +invader of the soil, but it was a case where the foes were of the same +township, and the nearest neighbours confronted each other on opposite +ranks. + +The Austrians meanwhile had called in the Russians to aid them in +crushing the Hungarians; and at the time it was believed that the Saxons +of Transylvania had instigated this measure. It is easy to understand +how the Russians would be hated along with their allies; it was a +desperate struggle, and well fought out by Magyars and Szeklers, ably +handled by General Bem. Herrmannstadt and Kronstadt both fell into his +hands, after a vigorous defence by the Austro-Russian garrisons; in +fact, by the middle of March '49, the whole of Transylvania, with the +exception of Karlsburg and Deva, was held by the troops of this +fortunate general. But, as we all know, the Hungarian arms were not so +successful elsewhere, and the end of that struggle was approaching, +which was to find its saddest hour at Villagos on the 13th of August, +when the Hungarians were cajoled into laying down their arms before the +Russians! + +The rest of the miserable story had better not be dwelt upon. Much has +changed in these few years. Now a Hapsburg recognises the privilege of +mercy amongst his kingly attributes. The last words of Maximilian, the +ill-fated Emperor of Mexico, were, "Let my blood be the last shed as an +offering for my country." Since then capital punishment has become of +rare occurrence in Austria; and remembering his brother's death, the +Emperor, it is said, can hardly be induced to sign a death-warrant! + +[Footnote 17: Boner's Transylvania, p. 624.] + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + The Tomoescher Pass--Projected railway from Kronstadt to + Bucharest--Visit to the cavalry barracks at Rosenau--Terzburg + Pass--Dr Daubeny on the extinct volcanoes of Hungary--Professor + Judd on mineral deposits. + + +Kronstadt is a capital place as headquarters for any one who desires to +explore the neighbouring country. One of my first expeditions was to +Sinia, a small bath-place in the Tomoescher Pass, just over the +borders--in fact in Roumania. Here Prince Charles has a charming +chateau, and there are besides several ambitious Swiss cottages +belonging to the wealthy grandees of Roumania. My object was not so much +to see the little place, as it was to explore this pass of the +Carpathians, now so familiar to newspaper correspondents and others +since the Russo-Turkish war began. + +As I mentioned before, a railway is projected from Kronstadt through +this pass, which will meet the Lemberg and Bucharest line at Ployesti, +that station being less than two hours from the Roumanian capital. Up to +the present hour not a sod of this railway has been turned; but +curiously enough, with only two or three exceptions, all the "war maps" +have made the capital mistake of marking it down as a _completed_ line. +In the autumn of 1875, when I was there, the levels had been taken and +the course marked down; if it is ever really carried out, it will be one +of the most beautiful railway drives in Europe. It is a most important +link in the railway system of Eastern Europe. The Danube route is +frequently, indeed periodically, closed by the winter's ice, and +sometimes by the drought of summer, in which case the traveller who +wants to get to Roumania must take the train from Buda-Pest to +Kronstadt, and thence by road through the Tomoescher Pass to Ployesti. + +There is a diligence service twice daily, occupying fourteen hours or +thereabouts, dependent, of course, on the state of the roads, which can +be very bad--inconceivably bad. For the sake of the excursion I took a +place in the _postwagen_ one day as far as Sinia, where there is a +modern hotel and very tolerable quarters. The scenery of the pass is +very romantic. In places the road winds round the face of the precipice, +and far below is a deep sunless glen, through which the mountain torrent +rushes noisily over its rocky bed; at other times you skirt the stream +with its green margin of meadow--a pastoral oasis amidst the wild +grandeur of bare limestone peaks and snowy summits. The autumnal +colouring on the hanging woods of oak and beech was something more +brilliant than I ever remember to have seen; the effect of being oneself +in shadow and seeing the glory of the sunlight on the foliage of the +other side of the defile, was most striking. Above this ruby mountain +rose other heights with a girdle of dark fir, and higher still were +visible yet loftier peaks, clothed in the dazzling whiteness of +fresh-fallen snow. In the Southern Carpathians there is no region of +perpetual snow, but the higher summits are generally snow-clad late in +the spring and very early in the autumn. I was told there is good +bear-hunting in this district. + +While at Kronstadt I made the acquaintance of some Austrian officers +quartered in the neighbourhood. They kindly invited me to the cavalry +barracks at Rosenau, and accordingly I went over for a few days. The +barracks were built by the people of the village, or rather small town, +of Rosenau; for they were obliged by law to quarter the military, and to +avoid the inconvenience of having soldiers billeted upon them they +constructed a suitable building. The cavalry horses were nearly all in a +bad plight when I was there, for they had an epidemic of influenza +amongst them; but we found a couple of nags to scramble about with, and +made some pleasant excursions. One of our rides was to a place called +"The Desolate Path," a singularly wild bit of scenery, and curiously in +contrast to the rich fertility of Rosenau and its immediate +neighbourhood. This pretty little market town lies at the foot of a +hill, which is crowned with a romantic ruin, one of the seven burgher +fortresses built by the Saxon immigrants. There is a remarkably pretty +walk from the village to the "Odenweg," a romantic ravine, with +beautiful hanging woods and castellated rocks disposed about in every +sort of fantastic form. It reminded me somewhat of some parts of the +Odenwald near Heidelberg. Very likely the wild and mysterious character +of the spot led the German settlers to associate with it the name of +Oden. + +We also rode over the Terzburg Pass. The picturesque castle which gives +its name to this pass is situated on an isolated rock, admirably +calculated for defence in the old days. It belonged once upon a time to +the Teutonic Knights, who held it on condition of defending the +frontier; but they became so intolerable to the burghers of Kronstadt, +that these informed their sovereign that they preferred being their own +defenders, and thus the castle and nine villages were given over to the +town. The Germans who had left their own Rhine country for the sake of +getting away from the robber knights were not anxious for that special +mediaeval institution to accompany them in their flitting, we may be +sure. The democratic character of the laws and customs of the Germans of +Transylvania is a very curious and interesting study; in not a few +instances these people have anticipated by some centuries the liberal +ideas of Western Europe in our own day. + +After returning from the visit to my military friends at Rosenau, I was +told I must not omit to make some excursions to the celebrated mineral +watering-places of Transylvania. The chief baths in this locality are +Elopatak and Tusnad. The first named is four hours' drive from +Kronstadt. The waters contain a great deal of protoxide of iron, +stronger even than those of Schwalbach, which they resemble. Tusnad, I +was told, is pleasantly situated on the river Aluta, an excellent stream +for fishing. The post goes daily in eight hours from Kronstadt. The +season is very short, being over in August. Tusnad is said to contain +one hundred springs of different kinds of water. I am not a +water-totaller, so I did not taste all of them when I visited the place +later on; but undoubtedly alum, iodine, and iron do severally impregnate +the various springs. + +I remembered reading long ago Dr Daubeny's work on "Volcanoes," in which +he says that Hungary is one of the most remarkable countries in Europe +for the scale on which volcanic operation has taken place. There are, it +is stated, seven well-marked mountain groups of volcanic rocks, and two +of these are in Transylvania. The most interesting in many respects is +the chain of hills separating Szeklerland from Transylvania Proper. It +is within this district that most of the mineral springs are found. + +These volcanic rocks are of undoubted Tertiary origin, say the +geologists. The whole range is for the most part composed of various +kinds of trachytic conglomerate. "From the midst of these vast tufaceous +deposits, the tops of the hills, composed of trachyte, a rock which +forms all the loftiest eminences, here and there emerge.... The trachyte +is ordinarily reddish, greyish, or blackish; it mostly contains mica. In +the southern parts, as near Csik Szereda, the trachyte encloses large +masses, sometimes forming even small hillocks, of that variety of which +millstones are made, having quartz crystals disseminated through it, and +in general indurated by silicious matter in so fine a state of division +that the parts are nearly invisible. The latter substance seems to be +the result of a kind of sublimation which took place at the moment of +the formation of the trachyte.... Distinct craters are only seen at the +southern extremity of the chain. One of the finest observed by Dr Bone +was to the south of Tusnad. It was of great size and well characterised, +surrounded by pretty steep and lofty hills composed of trachyte. The +bottom of the hollow was full of water. The ground near has a very +strong sulphureous odour. A mile to the SSE. direction from this point +there are on the tableland two large and distinct _maars_ like those of +the Eifel--that is to say, old craters, which have been lakes, and are +now covered with a thick coat of marsh plants. The cattle dare not graze +upon them for fear of sinking in. Some miles farther in the same +direction is the well-known hill of Budoshegy (or hill of bad smell), a +trachytic mountain, near the summit of which is a distinct rent, +exhaling very hot sulphureous vapours.... The craters here described +have thrown out a vast quantity of pumice, which now forms a deposit of +greater or less thickness along the Aluta and the Marosch from Tusnad to +Toplitza. Impressions of plants and some silicious wood are likewise to +be found in it."[18] + +Since Dr Daubeny's time there have been many observers over the same +ground, the most distinguished being the Hungarian geologist Szabo, +professor at the University of Buda-Pest. A countryman of our own has +also taken up the subject of the ancient volcanoes of Hungary, and has +recently published a paper on the subject. Professor Judd has confined +his remarks principally to the Schemnitz district in the north of +Hungary. But the following passage refers to the general character of +the formation. Professor Judd says:[19] "The most interesting fact with +regard to the constitution of these Hungarian lavas, which in the +central parts of their masses are often found to assume a very coarsely +crystalline and almost granitic character, while their outer portions +present a strikingly scoriaceous or slaggy appearance, remains to be +noticed. It is, that though the predominant felspar in them is always of +the basic type, yet they not unfrequently contain _free quartz_, +sometimes in very large proportion. This free quartz is in some cases +found to constitute large irregular crystalline grains in the mass, just +like those of the ordinary orthoclase quartz-trachytes; but at other +times its presence can only be detected by the microscope in thin +sections. These quartziferous andesites were by Stache, who first +clearly pointed out their true character, styled 'Dacites,' from the +circumstance of their prevalence in Transylvania (the ancient Dacia)." + +In concluding this highly instructive and interesting memoir of the +volcanic rocks of Hungary, Professor Judd says: "The mineral veins of +Hungary and Transylvania, with their rich deposits of gold and silver, +cannot be of older date than the Miocene, while some of them are +certainly more recent than the Pliocene. Hence these deposits of ore +must all have been formed at a later period than the clays and sands on +which London stands; while in some cases they appear to be of even +younger date than the gravelly beds of our crags!" + +For any one who desires to geologise in Hungary and Transylvania there +is abundant assistance to be obtained in the maps which have been issued +by the Imperial Geological Institute of Vienna, under the successive +direction of Haidinger and Von Hauer. "These are geologically-coloured +copies of the whole of the 165 sheets of the military map of the empire; +and these have been accompanied by most valuable memoirs on the +different districts, published in the well-known 'Jahrbuch' of the +Institute. Franz von Hauer has further completed a reduction of these +large-scale maps to a general map consisting of twelve sheets, with a +memoir descriptive of each, and has finally in his most valuable and +useful work, 'Die Geologie und ihre Anwendung auf die Kenntniss der +Bodenbeschaffenheit der Osterrungar. Monarchie,' which is accompanied by +a single-sheet map of the whole country, summarised in a most able +manner the entire mass of information hitherto obtained concerning the +geology of the empire." + +I have given this passage from Mr Judd's paper because there exists a +good deal of misapprehension amongst English travellers as to what has +really been done with regard to the geological survey of Austro-Hungary. + +[Footnote 18: A Description of Active and Extinct Volcanoes, by C. +Daubeny, p. 133. 1848.] + +[Footnote 19: 'On the Ancient Volcano of the District of Schemnitz, +Hungary,' Quarterly Journal, Geo. Soc., August 1876.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + A ride through Szeklerland--Warnings about robbers--Bueksad--A look + at the sulphur deposits on Mount Buedos--A lonely lake--An + invitation to Tusnad. + + +Feeling curious not only about the geology of the Szeklerland, but +interested also in the inhabitants, I resolved to pursue my journey by +going through what is called the Csik. I made all my arrangements to +start, but wet weather set in, and I remained against my inclination at +Kronstadt, for I was impatient now to be moving onwards. + +When I was in Hungary Proper they told me that travelling in +Transylvania was very dangerous, and that it was a mad notion to think +of going about there alone. Now that I was in Transylvania, I was amused +at finding myself most seriously warned against the risk of riding alone +through the Szeklerland. Every one told some fresh story of the +insecurity of the roads. Curiously enough, foreigners get off better +than the natives themselves; people of indifferent honesty have been +known to say, "One would not rob a stranger." It happened to me that +one day when riding along--in this very Szeklerland of ill-repute--I +dropped my Scotch plaid, and did not discover my loss till I arrived at +the next village, where I was going to sleep. I was much vexed, not +thinking for a moment that I should ever see my useful plaid again. +However, before the evening was over, a peasant brought it into the inn, +saying he had found it on the road, and it must belong to the Englishman +who was travelling about the country. The finder would not accept any +reward! + +There was a fair in the town the day I left Kronstadt. The field where +it is held is right opposite Hotel "No. 1," and the whole place was +crowded with country-folks in quaint costumes--spruce, gaily-dressed +people mixed up with Wallack cattle-drivers and other picturesque +rascals, such as gipsies and Jews, and here and there a Turk, and, more +ragged than all, a sprinkling of refugee Bulgarians. Though it was a +scene of strange incongruities--a very jumble of races--yet it was by no +means a crowd of roughs; on the contrary, the well-dressed, well-to-do +element prevailed. The thrifty Saxon was very much there, intent on +making a good bargain; the neatly-dressed Szekler walked about holding +his head on his shoulders with an air of resolute self-respect--they +are unmistakable, are these proud rustics. Many a fair-haired Saxon +maiden too tripped along, eyeing askance the peculiar "get-up" of the +Englishman as he was about to mount his noble steed and ride forth into +the wilds. If I was amused by the crowd, I believe the crowd was greatly +amused at my proceedings. Mine own familiar friend, I verily believe, +would have passed me by on the other side, I cut so queer a figure. As +usual on these occasions, I had sent forward my portmanteau, this time +to Maros Vasarhely; but everything else I possessed I carried round +about me and my horse somehow, and I am not a man "who wants but little +here below." + +Besides my _toilette de voyage_, I had my cooking apparatus, a small jar +of Liebig's meat, and some compressed tea, and other little odds and +ends of comforts. I had also provided myself with some bacon and +_slivovitz_ for barter, a couple of bottles of the spirit being turned +into a big flask slung alongside of my lesser flask for wine. Nor was +this all, for having duly secured my saddle-bags, I had the plaid and +mackintosh rolled up neatly and strapped in front of the saddle; then my +gun, field-glass, and roll of three maps were slung across my shoulders. +_Nota bene_ my pockets were full to repletion. In my leathern belt was +stuck a revolver, handy, and a bowie-knife not far off. + +But the portrait of this Englishman as he appeared to the Kronstadt +people on that day is not yet complete. His legs were encased in Hessian +boots; his shooting-jacket was somewhat the worse for wear; and his hat, +which had been eminently respectable at first starting, had acquired a +sort of brigandish air; and to add to the drollery of his general +appearance, the excellent little Servian horse he rode was not high +enough for a man of his inches. + +With my weapons of offence and defence I must have appeared a "caution" +to robbers, and it seems that the business of the fair was suspended to +witness my departure. I was profoundly unconscious at the time of the +public interest taken in my humble self, but later I heard a very +humorous account of the whole proceeding from some relatives who visited +Kronstadt about three weeks afterwards. I believe I am held in +remembrance in the town as a typical Englishman! + +Well, to take up the thread of my narrative--like Don Quixote, "I +travelled _all_ that day." If any reader can remember Gustave Dore's +illustration of the good knight on that occasion, he will have some idea +of how the sky looked on this very ride of mine. As evening approached, +the settled grey clouds, which had hung overhead like a pall all the +afternoon, were driven about by a rough wind, which went on rising +steadily. The grim phantom-haunted clouds came closer and closer round +about me as darkness grew apace, and now and then the gust brought with +it a vicious "spate" of rain. With no immediate prospect of shelter, my +position became less and less lively. I had not bargained for a night on +the highroad, or lodgings in a dry ditch or under a tree. Indeed those +luxuries were not at hand; for trees there were none bordering the road, +or in the open fields which stretched away on either side; and as for a +_dry_ ditch, I heard the streams gurgling along the watercourses, which +were full to overflowing, as well they might be, seeing that it had +rained for three days. + +My object was to reach the village of Bueksad, but where was Bueksad now +in reference to myself? I had no idea it was such a devil of a way off +when I started. I had foolishly omitted to consult the map for myself, +and had just relied on what I was told, though I might have remembered +how loosely country-people all the world over speak of time and space. + +When at length the darkness had become perplexing--_entre chien et +loup_, as the saying is--I met a peasant with a fierce-looking +sheep-dog by his side. The brute barked savagely round me as if he meant +mischief, and I soon told the peasant if he did not call off his dog +directly I would shoot him. He called his dog back, which proved he +understood German, so I then asked if I was anywhere near Bueksad. To my +dismay he informed me that it was a long way off; how long he would not +say, for without further parley he strode on, and he and his dog were +soon lost to view in the thick misty darkness. + +Not a furlong farther, I came suddenly upon a house by the roadside, and +a man coming out of the door with a light at the same moment enabled me +to see "Vendeglo" on a small signboard. Good-luck: here, then, was an +inn, where at least shelter was possible; and shelter was much to be +desired, seeing that the rain was now a steady downpour. On making +inquiries, I found that I was already in Bueksad. The peasant had played +off a joke at my expense, or perhaps dealt me a Roland for an Oliver, +for threatening to shoot his dog. A _paprika handl_ was soon prepared +for me. In all parts of the country where travellers are possible, the +invariable reply to a demand for something to eat is the query, "Would +the gentleman like _paprika handl_?" and he had better like it, for his +chances are small of getting anything else. While I was seeing after my +horse, the woman of the inn caught a miserable chicken, which I am sure +could have had nothing to regret in this life; and in a marvellously +short time the bird was stewed in red pepper, and called _paprika +handl_. + +I was aware that Count M---- owned a good deal of property in the +neighbourhood of Bueksad, and as I had a letter of introduction to his +bailiff, I set off the next morning to find him. My object in coming to +this particular part of the country was principally to explore that +curious place Mount Buedos, mentioned by Dr Daubeny and others. I wanted +to see for myself what amount of sulphur deposits were really to be +found there. Count M----'s bailiff was very ready to be obliging, and he +provided me with a guide, and further provided the guide with a horse, +so that I had no difficulty in arranging an expedition to the mount of +evil smell. + +Having arranged the commissariat as usual, I started one fine morning +with my guide. We rode for about two hours through a forest of majestic +beech-trees, and then came almost suddenly, without any preparation, +upon a beautiful mountain lake, called St Anna's Lake. It lies in a +hollow; the hills around, forming cup-like sides, are clothed with +thick woods down to its very edge. Looking down from above, I saw the +green reflection of the foliage penetrating the pellucid water till it +met the other heaven reflected below. The effect was very singular, and +gave one the idea of a lovely bit of world and sky turned upside down; +it produced, moreover, a sort of fascination, as if one must dive down +into its luring depths. No human sight or sound disturbed the weird +beauty of this lonely spot. I longed at last to break the oppressive +silence, and I fired off my revolver. This brought down a perfect volley +of echoes, and at the same time, from the highest crags, out flew some +half-dozen vultures; they wheeled round for a few moments, then +disappeared behind the nearest crest of wood. + +My guide soon set about making a fire; and while dinner was being +cooked, I bethought me I would have a bath. I took a header from a +projecting rock, but I very soon made the best of my way out of the +water again. It was icy cold; I hardly ever recollect feeling any water +so cold--I suppose because the lake is so much in shadow. After the meal +we pushed on to Buedos, another two hours of riding; this time through a +forest so dense that we could scarcely make our way. At last we reached +a path, and this brought us before long to a roughly-constructed +log-hut. This, I was told, was the "summer hotel." Further on there +were a few more log-huts, the "dependence" of the hotel itself. The +bathing season was over, so hosts and guests had alike departed. This +must be "roughing it" with a vengeance, I should say; but my guide told +me that very "high-born" people came here to be cured. + +It is a favourite place, too, for some who desire the last cure of all +for life's ills; a single breath of the gaseous exhalations is death. +One cleft in the hill is called the "Murderer;" so fatal are the fumes +that even birds flying over it are often known to drop dead! The +elevation of Mount Buedos is only 3800 feet; there are several caves +immediately below the highest point. The principal cave is ten feet high +and forty feet long, the interior being lower than the opening. A +mixture of gases is exhaled, which, being heavier than the atmosphere, +fills it up to the level of the entrance; and when the sun is shining +into the cave, one can see the gaseous fumes swaying to and fro, owing +to the difference of refraction. + +I experienced a sensation which has often been noticed here before. On +entering the cave, and standing for some minutes immersed in the gas, +but with my head above it, I had the feeling of warmth pervading the +lower limbs. I might have believed myself to be in a warm bath up to +the chest. This is a delusion, however, for the gaseous exhalation is +pronounced by experimenters to be cooler, if anything, than the air; I +suppose they mean the air of an ordinary summer day. The walls of the +cave arc covered with a deposit of sulphur, and at the extreme end drops +of liquid are continually falling. This moisture is esteemed very highly +for disease of the eyes; it is collected by the peasants. The gas-baths +are resorted to by persons suffering from gout or rheumatism. They are +taken in this manner: The patient wears a loose dress over nothing else, +and arriving at the mouth of the cave, he must take one long breath. +Instantly he runs into the dread cavern, remaining only as long as he +can hold his breath; he then rushes back again. One single inhalation, +and he would be as dead as a door-nail! How the halt and lame folk +manage I don't know, but my guide was eloquent about the wonderful cures +that are made here every year. + +There are a variety of mineral springs in different parts of the +mountain. At the source some have the appearance of boiling, from the +quantity of carbonic acid gas given off; but it is only in appearance, +for the water is very cold. + +The springs which yield iron and carbonic acid are much used for +drinking. There are also some primitive arrangements for bathing near +by. A square hole is cut in the ground; this is boarded round, and a +simple wooden shed, like a gigantic dish-cover, is put over it. Here +again my guide said that miraculous cures are wrought annually. It is a +wonder that anybody is left with an ache or a pain in a country which +has such wonderful waters. I think my guide thought I was a doctor, who +was searching for a new health-resort, and he was quite ready to do his +share of the puffing. + +On Mount Buedos itself, in other parts than the cave, there occurs a good +deal of sulphur; specimens are often found distributed which are very +rich indeed. The place certainly deserves a thorough exploration, with a +view to utilising the sulphur deposits; but it is so overgrown with +vegetation that the search would involve considerable trouble and +expense. + +There is a fine view from Mount Buedos towards Moldavia. I was fortunate +in having good lights and shades, and therefore enjoyed the prospect +most thoroughly. I should like to have remained longer on the summit, +but not being prepared for camping out it was not possible; so very +reluctantly we set about returning. + +My guide led me back to Bueksad by another route, a rough road, with +deep ruts and big stones that must make driving in any vehicle, except +for the honour and glory of it, a very doubtful blessing. But bad roads +never do seem to matter in Hungary. Everybody drives everywhere; they +would drive over a glacier if they had one. Occasionally we came upon +some charming bits of forest scenery. The trees were grand, especially +the beech; they were of greater girth than any I had yet seen in +Transylvania. I noticed many mineral springs by the roadside; one could +distinguish them by the deposit of oxide of iron on the stones near by. + +When I got back to Bueksad, I found the bailiff waiting to tell me that +Count M---- and Baron A---- desired their compliments, and would be +pleased to see me at Tusnad, if I would go over there. I had no +introduction to these noblemen, and mention the invitation as an +instance of Hungarian hospitality. They had simply heard that an +Englishman was travelling about the country. + +I rode over to Tusnad the following day, and found it, as I had been led +to expect, a very picturesque little place, a number of Swiss cottages +dropped down in the clearing of the forest, with a good "restauration," +built by Count M---- himself. When I was there the season was over; but +I am told that it is full of fashionables in June and July, and that the +waters have an increasing reputation. My attention was drawn to the +singular fact of two springs bubbling up within six feet of each other, +which are proved by chemical analysis to be distinctly different in +composition. I fancy Count M---- was much amused at the fact of an +English gentleman travelling about alone on horseback, without any +servants or other impedimenta. I remember a friend of mine telling me +that once in Italy, when he declined to hire a carriage from a peasant +at a perfectly exorbitant price, and said he preferred walking, the +fellow called after him, saying, "We all know you English are mad enough +for anything!" + +I don't know whether the Hungarian Count drew the same conclusion in my +case, but I could see he was very much amused; I don't think any other +people understand the Englishman's love of adventure. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + The baths of Tusnad--The state of affairs before 1848--Inequality + of taxation--Reform--The existing land laws--Communal + property--Complete registration of titles to estates--Question of + entail. + + +I mixed exclusively in Hungarian society during my stay at the baths of +Tusnad. With Baron ---- and Herr von ---- I talked politics by the hour. +The Hungarians have the natural gift of eloquence. They pour forth their +words like the waters of a mill-race, no matter in what language. My +principal companion at Tusnad spoke French. The true Magyar will always +employ that language in preference to German when speaking with a +foreigner; but as often as not the Hungarians of good society speak +English perfectly well. The younger generation, almost without +exception, understand our language, and are extremely well read in +English literature. + +I had so recently left Saxonland, where public opinion is opposed to +everything that has the faintest shade of Magyarism, that I felt in the +state of Victor Hugo's hero, of whom he said, "Son orientation etait +changee, ce qui avait ete le couchant etait le levant. Il s'etait +retourne." The transition was certainly curious, but I confess to +getting rather tired of the mutual recriminations of political parties; +respecting each other's good qualities, they are simply colour-blind. + +After the Saxons had been allowed to drop out of the conversation, I led +my Magyar friend to talk of the state of things before 1848, and to +enlighten me as to the existing condition of laws of property. My +Hungarian--who, by the way, is a man well qualified to speak about legal +matters--showered down upon me a perfect avalanche of facts. Leaving out +a few patriotic flashes, the substance of what he told me was much as +follows. I had especially asked about the recent legislation on the land +question. + +"In the old time, before '48, the State, the Church, and the Nobles were +the _sole_ landowners. The holding of land was strictly prohibited to +all who were not noble; but to the peasants were allotted certain +tracts, called for distinction 'session-lands.' For this privilege the +peasant had to give up a tenth part of the produce to the lord, and +besides he had to work for him two, and in some cases even _three_, days +in the week. The _robot_, or forced labour, varied in different +localities. The lord was judge over his tenants, and even his bailiff +had the right of administering twenty-five lashes to insubordinate +peasants. The _time_ of the forced labour was at the option of the lord, +who might oblige his tenant to give his term of labour consecutively +during seed-sowing or harvest, at the very time that the peasant's own +land required his attendance. It may easily be imagined that this was a +fruitful cause of dispute between the lord and his serfs. + +"But the most glaring act of injustice under the old system was that +_all the taxes_ were paid by the session-holding peasantry, while the +nobles were privileged and tax-free. They absolutely contributed nothing +to the revenue of the country in the way of direct taxes! + +"This peculiarity of the Constitution made it the interest of the Crown +to _preserve_ the area of the tax-paying peasant-land against the +encroachments of the tax-free landlord. It often happened that on the +death or removal of a peasant-holder the lord would choose to absorb the +session-land into the _allodium_, which, being tax-free, resulted in a +loss to the imperial revenue. To prevent this absorption of +session-lands by the landlord, and also to accommodate the burdens of +the peasantry, which had become almost intolerable in the last century, +owing to the tyranny of the feudal superiors--to prevent this, I repeat, +a general memorial survey with a view to readjustment took place in 1767 +by command of Maria Theresa. + +"This very important settlement, which came to be known as the +'URBARIAL CONSCRIPTION,' laid down and defined the rights and +services of the peasants, and the amount of land to be held by them. The +nobles henceforth were obliged to find new tenants of the peasant class +in the event of the 'session-lands' becoming vacant. Likewise their +unjust impositions on the serfs were restricted, and the _rights_ of the +latter, in respect to wood-cutting and pasturage on the lord's lands, +were established by law. + +"This was all very well as far as it went," said my friend; "but the +inequality of taxation and the forced labour were crying evils not to be +endured in the nineteenth century. Our people who travelled in England +and elsewhere came back imbued with new ideas. We in Transylvania assume +the credit of taking the lead in liberal politics. Baron Wesselenyi was +one of the first to advise a radical reform, and others--Count Bethlen, +Baron Kemeny, and Count Teleki--were all agreed as to the necessity of +bringing about the manumission of the serfs. It is an old story now. I +am speaking of the third and fourth decades of the century, and +political excitement was at white-heat. The extreme views of Wesselenyi +raised a host of opponents among his own class, who regarded the +prospect of reform as nothing short of class suicide. Everything else +might go to the devil as long as they retained their privileges; the +devil, however, is apt to make a clean sweep of the board when he has +got the game in his own hands, but these noble wiseacres could not see +that. In other parts of the country good men and true were working up +the leaven of reform. The great patriot Szechenyi, as long ago as 1830, +when he published his work on 'Credit,' had shown his countrymen their +shortcomings. He had proved to them that their laws and their +institutions were not marching with the spirit of the age; that, in +short, the 'rights of humanity' called for justice. What this truly +great man did for the material improvement of his country could hardly +be told between sunrise and sundown. You practical English were our +teachers and our helpers in those days, when bridges had to be built, +roads to be made, and steam navigation set up in our rivers. English +horses were brought over to improve the breed in Hungary, and English +agricultural machinery still turns out treasure-trove from our fields. +But beyond all this, what we saw and admired in England's history was +her constitutional struggles for liberty; the efforts made by freedom +within the pale of the law; her capacity, in short, for self-reform. You +see how it is, my dear sir, that everything English is so popular with +us in Hungary." + +I bowed my acknowledgments, and begged my friend to proceed with his +narrative of events. + +"Well, to go back to our own history," he continued, in a tone which had +in it a shade of melancholy, "you see from 1823 to the eve of 1848 the +Diet had been tinkering at reform in a half-hearted sort of way, but the +Paris revolution let loose the whirlwind, and events were precipitated. +I need not tell you there was a standing quarrel between us and the +reactionary rulers in Vienna. It was the deceitful policy of Austria to +bring about a temporary show of agreement between us. The Archduke +Stephen was appointed Viceroy, assisted by a council composed entirely +of Hungarians. Now mark this turning-point in our history. The first Act +of this Diet, presided over by Count Batthyanyi, was to abolish at one +sweep the class privileges of the nobility. Roundly speaking, eight +millions of serfs received their freedom by that Act! Nor was this all, +the important part remains to be told--and I do not think foreigners +always realise it--the Act further enforced that the session-lands held +by the peasants became henceforth _their freehold property_. Half, or +nearly half, the kingdom thus, by the voluntary concession of the +nobles, became converted from a feudal tenure, burdened with duties, +into an absolute freehold. + +"Like every sudden change, the result was not unmixed good. The Wallacks +especially were not prepared for their emancipation; they thought +equality before the law meant equality of goods." + +I now inquired how the working of the land laws was carried out, and to +this my friend replied:-- + +"As a lawyer I can give you an exact statement in a few words. The +disturbed state of the country after the war of independence, which +followed immediately upon the emancipation of the serfs, prevented for a +while the effective realisation of the great reform of '48. However, in +1853 several imperial decrees were promulgated, by means of which the +changed system was worked out in detail. 'Urbarial courts' were +instituted to inquire into the amount of compensation due to the lords +of the manors who had lost the tithes and the 'forced labour' of the +former serfs. To meet this compensation 'State urbarial bonds' were +created and apportioned; they bear five per cent. interest, and are +redeemable within eighty years, with two drawings annually. The fund for +this compensation is raised by a special tax on every Hungarian subject; +not only the freed peasant pays towards the fund, but the lord himself, +and those who never had any feudal tenants. + +"The peasants had also to receive their compensation for the loss of +pasturage and the right of cutting wood on the lord's demesne. In lieu +of these privileges they received allotments of forest and pasturage as +absolute property. The land thus acquired by the peasants is in fact +_parish property_, or in other words, communal property. This is the +only instance in which the parish appears as landowner, for all other +peasant property, with the exception of the parish buildings, such as +the school, is the property of the respective peasants. The parish +authorities regulate the usage of the common pasturage and common +forest. The sale or cutting down of the latter is subject to the +permission of the county authorities." + +I now proceeded to question my friend about the laws respecting the +transfer of land, and especially about the registration of titles of +estate. To these inquiries he replied as follows:-- + +"Land in Hungary is the absolute property of that person, or corporate +body, who appears as owner in the registry. A limitation of claim to +ownership does not exist with us; indeed it is contrary to the law. The +_Avitische Patent_ of 1854 prescribed further that every one should be +regarded as the rightful owner who actually held the property in +1848--_i.e._, the _status quo_ of 1848 to be accepted as the basis. The +_Urbarium_ of Maria Theresa was, in short, the stand-point in all these +arrangements, whether it was the sessional lands of tenants formerly +held in hereditary use, now freehold, or the _allodium_ of the noble. +Immediately succeeding the _Avitische Patent_, the _registration of +land_ was made law, in conformity with which all estates had been +surveyed and entered on the registry as belonging to those owners who +possessed the same in consequence of the above-named patent." + +"But how about disputed inheritance-lands held by mortgagees, and other +contingencies always arising in regard to estates?" I asked. + +"I am sorry to say that dreadful cases of injustice were caused by this +enactment. Whole families were reduced to beggary, and the greatest +rascals obtained possession by this law of enormous estates, simply +because they happened to hold the land in 1848, and the rightful owner +did not advance his claim within the prescribed time. The evil could +not be redressed, and in 1861, when the Hungarian Constitution was +reinstated, the Diet of that year was obliged to accept and confirm the +_Avitische Patent_, and the registration of land as directly following +it. The grievances are past, but the benefit remains to us and our +children. In Hungary at the present time the transfer of land is as +simple as buying or selling the registered shares of a railway company. +The registry forms the basis of every transaction connected with landed +property, and, as we lawyers say, what is not entered there _non est in +mundo_. Mortgages must be set down against the registered title. +Contracts of leases are also entered, and in the case of farms being +taken, caution-money, amounting generally to a quarter's rent, must be +deposited with the authorities." + +"One more question. Are there no entailed estates amongst your +aristocracy?" + +"Very few, indeed, even among the richest aristocracy. An Act of +entailment can, it is true, be founded, but it is rarely permitted, +being looked upon with disfavour for reasons of political economy. Such +an Act would require in any case the special permission of the sovereign +and of Government; and then the estate is placed under a special court. +Without special permission from this court neither an alteration of the +Act can take place, nor is sale or mortgage allowed. Hungarian law also +interposes some restrictions in the case of a testator, who must leave +by will at least half his property to his children. And with regard to +women, the law with us is specially careful to preserve a woman's legal +existence after marriage." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + Fine scenery in Szeklerland--Csik Szent Marton--Absence of + inns--The Szekler's love of lawsuits--Csik Szereda--Hospitality + along the, road--Wallack atrocities in 1848--The Wallacks not + Panslavists. + + +The charming scenery of the Szeklerland, and the kindly hospitality of +the people, induced me to linger on. I had many a ride through those +glorious primeval forests, where the girth of the grand old oak-trees +and their widespreading branches are in themselves a sight to see: the +beech, too, are very fine. Climbing farther, the deciduous woods give +place to sombre pine-trees--the greybeards of the mountain. A great +charm in this part of the country, at least from a picturesque point of +view, is the affluence of water. Every rocky glen has its gurgling rill, +every ravine its stream, which, at an hour's notice almost, may become a +mountain torrent, should a storm break over the watershed. A plague of +waters is no unfrequent occurrence, as the farmer in the valley knows to +his cost. Fields are laid under water, and the turbulent streams often +bring down great masses of earth and rock in a way that becomes +"monotonous" for the man who has to clear his land or his roads of the +_debris_. Mr Judd remarks that the volcanic rocks of Hungary have +"suffered enormously from denuding causes." Every fresh storm reminds +one that the process is in active operation. + +After finally leaving Tusnad, I rode on to Csik Szent Marton, where, as +there was no inn, I had to present myself at the best house in the place +and crave their hospitality. My request was taken as a matter of course, +and they received me with the greatest kindness; in fact it was with +great difficulty that I could get away the next day. My host entreated +me to remain longer, and when he found that I was really bent on +departing, he gave me several letters of introduction to friends of his +along the road I was likely to travel. It was a very acceptable act of +kindness, for there are hardly any inns in this part of the country. "If +Transylvania is an odd corner of Europe," then is the Csik or +Szeklerland a still more odd corner; by no possibility can it ever be +the highroad to anywhere else. I am not surprised that my lawyer friend +said that there were still some lawsuits pending in connection with the +allotments of forest and pasturage in this part of Hungary, though +everything was definitely settled elsewhere. The Szekler is as +troublesome and turbulent in some respects as his own mountain streams; +added to which he dearly loves a lawsuit: it is in the eyes of the +peasant a patent of respectability, as keeping a gig formerly was in +England. + +"Why do you go to law about such a trifle?" observed a friend of mine to +his neighbour. + +"Well, you see I have never had a lawsuit, as all my neighbours have had +about something or another; so, now there is the chance, I had better +have one myself!" + +It is well for the lawyers that there is "a good deal of human nature" +everywhere, especially in Hungary, otherwise they would have a bad time +of it, where the legal expenses of "transfer" are a few florins, whether +it be for an acre of vineyard or for half a _comitat_. I must observe, +however, that in the sale of lands or houses, Government intervenes with +a heavy tax on the transaction. + +Leaving my hospitable entertainers at Csik Szent Marton, I went on to +Csik Szereda, where I was kindly taken in by the postmaster. In this +case I was provided with a letter; but a stranger would naturally go to +the postmaster or the clergyman to ask for a night's lodging. At first I +felt diffident on this score; but I soon got over my shyness, for in +Szeklerland they make a stranger so heartily welcome that he ceases to +regard himself as an intruder. In out-of-the-way places one is looked +upon as a sort of heaven-sent "special correspondent." There is a story +told of Baron ----, one of the nearly extinct old-fashioned people, who +regularly, an hour or so before the dinner-hour, rides along the nearest +highroad to try and catch a guest. It has even been whispered that on +one occasion a couple of intelligent-looking travellers, who declined to +be "retained" for dinner, were severely beaten for their recalcitrant +behaviour, by order of the hospitable Baron. The story is well founded, +and I daresay took place before '48, when anything might have happened. + +I can bear witness that I have never myself been ill-treated for +declining Hungarian hospitality, but when in Saxonland something very +much the reverse occurred to me. I once entered a village at the end of +a long day's ride, and stopping at the first house, asked for a night's +lodging, whereupon I was told to ask at the next house. They said they +could not take me in, excusing themselves on the score of an important +domestic event being expected. I went on a little farther, though the +"shades of night were falling fast," and repeated my request at the next +house. I give you my word, there were _more_ domestic events--always +the same excuse. I began to calculate that the population must be +rapidly on the increase in that place. It was too much. I entered the +last house of that straggling village with a stern resolve that not even +new-born twins should bar my claim to hospitality! + +I found the postmaster at Csik Szereda a very intelligent man, with a +fund of anecdotes and recollections, which generally centred in the +troubles of '48. As I mentioned before, the Szeklers rose _en masse_ +against the Austrians. One of their officers, Colonel Alexander Gal, +proved himself a very distinguished leader. Corps after corps were +organised and sent to aid General Bem. "It was a terrible time; the men +had to fight the enemy in the plain while our old men and women defended +their homesteads against the jealous Saxons and the brutal Wallacks." + +It was not in one place, or from one person, but from every one with +whom I spoke on the subject, that I heard frightful stories of Wallack +atrocities. In one instance a noble family--in all, thirteen persons, +including a new-born infant--were slaughtered under circumstances of +horrible barbarity within the walls of their castle. The name I think +was Bardi; it is matter of history. + +Amongst other horrors, the Wallacks on several occasions buried their +victims alive, except the head, which they left above ground; they +would then hurl stones at the unfortunate creatures, or cut off the +heads with a scythe. It was not a war of classes but of race, for the +poor peasants amongst the Magyars and Szeklers fared just as badly at +the hands of the infuriated Wallacks as the nobles. + +The belief is still held that the Vienna Government instigated the +outbreak. Certainly arms had been put into the hands of these +uncivilised hordes under the pretence of organising a sort of militia. +Metternich knew the character of these irregulars, as he had known and +proved the character of the Slovacks in Galicia in the terrible rising +of the serfs in 1846. His complicity on that occasion has never been +disproved. + +The winter of 1848-49 must have been a time of unexampled misery to the +Magyars of Transylvania. The nobles generally dared not remain in their +lonely chateaux; it was not a question of bravery, for how could the +feeble members who remained home from the war guard the castle from the +torches of a hundred frantic, yelling wretches, who, with arms in their +hands, spared neither age nor sex? For the time they were mad--these +Eastern people are subject to terrible epidemics of frenzy! + +The Szekler town of Maros Vasarhely, which was strong enough to keep the +Wallacks at bay, was the sanctuary of the noble ladies and children of +that part of Transylvania. It was so full of fugitives that the +overcrowding was most distressing. A lady, the bearer of an historic +name, told me herself that she and seven of her family passed the whole +winter in one small room in Maros Yasarhely. Added to the discomfort and +insalubrity of this crowding, they were almost penniless, having nothing +but "Kossuth money." For the time the sources of their income were +entirely arrested. In this instance one of the children died--succumbed +to bad air and privation. Another patrician dame kept her family through +the winter by selling the vegetables from her garden; this together with +seventeen florins in silver was all they had to depend upon. Add to this +the misery of not hearing for weeks, perhaps even for months, from their +husbands or sons, who were with the armies of Goergey or Bem. + +The Magyars were not always safe in the towns, for at Nagy Enyed, a +rather considerable place, the Wallacks succeeded in setting fire to it, +and butchered all the inhabitants who were not fortunate enough to +escape their fury. In the neighbourhood of Reps the castles of the +nobility suffered very severely. Grim incidents were told me, things +that were too horrible not to be true--infants spiked and women +tortured. One cannot dwell upon the details! What struck me as very +remarkable was the fact that Magyars and Wallacks are now dwelling +together again in peace side by side. It reminds one of the people who +plant their vines again on Vesuvius directly an eruption is over. In the +last century, in 1784, there was a dreadful outbreak of the Wallacks. +Individually they are really not bad fellows--so it seemed to me--and +one hears of fewer murders among them than perhaps in Ireland. The +danger exists of leaders arising who may stir up the nationality +fever--the idea of the great _Roumain_ nation that looms big in their +imagination! + +They love neither Croatians, Slavonians, nor Austrians, and they are no +longer a safe card to play off against the Magyars; but indeed I would +fain believe that better and wiser counsels now prevail. Austria is not +the Austria of '48, any more than the England of to-day is the same as +England before the Reform Bill. + +The autumn evenings were getting long, and after supper, as I sat +smoking my pipe by the stove in the simple but scrupulously neat +apartment of my host, he, in his turn, asked me about England. It is +very touching the warmth with which these people in the far-off "land +beyond the forest" speak of us. "We never can forget how kindly England +received our patriots." This, or words like it, were said to me many +times, and always the name of Palmerston came to the fore. "He cordially +hated the Austrians." What better ground of sympathy? + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + Ride to Szent Domokos--Difficulty about quarters--Interesting + host--Jewish question in Hungary--Taxation--Financial matters. + + +From Szereda I went to Szent Domokos. It was a long ride, and I was +again nearly benighted. However, I reached my destination this time just +as the last streak of daylight had departed. + +I had some difficulty in making the people I met understand that I +wanted the postmaster's house. No one, it appeared, could speak a word +of German. At length I found the place; but a new difficulty arose. The +postmaster, it seemed, was away, as far as I could make out from his +wife. She seemed greatly puzzled, not to say alarmed, at seeing an armed +horseman ride up, who demanded hospitality; and I daresay she was the +more puzzled at not being able "to place me," as the Yankees say, for +she asked me if I was a Saxon, an Austrian, or a Turk? My appearance, I +suppose, was rather uncouth and alarming. She was young and very +pretty--an Armenian, I learned afterwards. These women are apt to have +Oriental notions about men, and she was evidently afraid to ask me in. + +There was I, with my tired horse, completely up a tree. I thought to +myself, I cannot stay in the street, so pushing my way through a sort of +courtyard, I found out what appeared to be the stable. This I took +possession of, all the time making the most polite bows and gestures, +for we hardly understood a word of each other's language. There was no +help for it, I must make myself at home. I put the horse up, I relieved +him of his saddle and saddle-bags, and seeing a bucket and a well not +far off, I fetched some water. By this time the young woman had called +in some neighbours, and I could see them watching me from behind the +half-closed doors and windows. I must observe I had lighted my own +lantern that I always carried with me, so that my proceedings were made +quite visible to the cautious spectators. They never attempted to +interfere with me, and I went on doing my work quietly and +unostentatiously. The position was ludicrous in the highest degree! + +While I was yet foraging for my horse's supper, by good-luck in came the +postmaster. He spoke German, and I was soon able to make all square. He +was as civil as possible, offering me at once the hospitality of his +roof, which in fact I had already assumed. I saw he was very anxious to +remove the unpleasant impression of his wife's mistake. He bade me +welcome many times over, he thanked me for the honour I did him in +offering to sleep under his humble roof, and further persisted in +calling me "Herr Lord." It was in vain that I corrected him on this +point. "I was an Englishman, therefore I must be a 'Herr Lord,' and +there was an end of it." + +When Mr Boner was travelling in Szeklerland he was also, _nolens +volens_, raised to the peerage, so I suppose it is a settled conviction +of the people that we are all lords in Great Britain. + +We had for supper a capital _filet d'ours_ from a bear that had been +shot only two days before. I enjoyed my supper immensely; the wine was +as good as the food. My pretty hostess laughed a good deal over the +false alarm my appearance had created. Her husband interpreted between +us, but I promised to learn Hungarian before I paid them another visit. +My host proved himself to be a very intelligent man; I had an +exceedingly interesting conversation with him after supper. He +complained bitterly of the heavy pressure of taxation, saying that +Government ought to manage things more economically, for that every year +now there was a deficit. + +"Yet your country is rich in natural resources, as rich almost as +France, barring her advantages of seaboard." + +"Yes, we have wealth under the soil," he replied, "and what we want is +capital to develop our resources. Herein Austria has stood in our way; +you know the old policy of Austria, as far back as Maria Theresa's time, +which was to make Hungary Catholic, to make her poor, and to turn her +people into Germans. This last they will never do; but they have +succeeded in their second project only too well. They have made us poor +enough, they have discouraged manufactures and industries of every kind. +We wish for free trade, but Austria is opposed to it. The manufactures +of Bohemia must be nursed, and accordingly we are made to suffer. We +want to be brought into contact with our customers in Western Europe; we +want, in fact, to get our trade out of the hands of the Jews." + +"I wish to ask you your candid opinion about the Jews. Some people say +they are the curse of the country; others again, that Hungarian commerce +would be nowhere without them." + +"I will tell you what happens," replied my friend, evading a direct +answer to my latter observation. "A wretched Jew comes into this +village, or some other place--it does not matter, it is always the same +story. He comes probably from Galicia as poor as a rat, he settles +himself in the village, and sells _slivovitz_ on credit to the foolish +peasant, who, besotted with drink and debt, gets into his meshes; in the +end, the Jew having sucked the blood of his victims, possesses himself +of their little property, finds himself the object of universal hatred, +and then he moves on. He makes a fresh start in some other place, +beginning on a higher rung of the ladder; and you will find him sitting +in the highest seats before he has done." + +"If your people were less of spendthrifts and managed their affairs +themselves, then the Jews would cease to find a harvest amongst you." + +"Yes, that is true," he answered; "but we are not practical; we do not +organise well. The Jew always manages to be the middle-man between +ourselves and the consumers." + +"But without the Jew you would perhaps not even get so near to the +consumer," I observed quietly. + +My host puffed out a volume of smoke, and after a pause observed, before +he placed his pipe again between his lips, "In this part of the country, +in the Szeklerland, the better class of merchants are nearly all +Armenians." + +Apropos of the tax question, I have looked into the matter since, and I +am rather surprised to find the proportion not so heavy as I thought; on +the whole population it is about L1 a-head--certainly less than is borne +by many other states. In England, I believe, we are taxed at over L2 +a-head. Then, again, it is true that since 1870 there has been an annual +deficit, and the equilibrium of income and expenditure can hardly be +counted upon just yet; still things are moving in the right direction. +The Hungarians have been reproached for managing their finances badly +since the compromise with Austria in 1867, when the revenue came +exclusively under their own control. But in answer they say, that having +so lately entered the community of states, they found themselves in the +position of a minor who comes into house and lands that have need of +every sort of radical repair and improvement. Hungary has had to spend +heavily upon road-making, bridges, railroads, sanatory and other +economic improvements, and very heavily for rectification of the course +of the Danube; in fact they have ambitiously set themselves too much to +do in the time. They have rendered Buda-Pest, with its magnificent river +embankments, one of the finest capitals in Europe. The Magyar does +everything with a degree of splendour that savours of the Oriental. +They know not the meaning of the homely adage which tells a man to "cut +his coat according to his cloth." + +Added to the pressure of accumulated expenses, Hungary has had a +succession of bad harvests--she has been passing through the seven lean +years. The last season has shown, however, a decided improvement, so we +may hope the bad corner is turned. I am informed that this year the +schedule for unpaid--viz., arrears of--taxes is completely wiped off. +Then, again, the income-tax in the space of five years ending 1874 +increased from 5,684,000 florins to 27,650,000 florins! + +The financial account of the current year is reassuring. At the sitting +of the Hungarian Diet on the 30th October,[20] the minister, in +presenting the estimates for 1878, said that in 1876 and 1877 the +expenditure had been reduced by L1,250,000. It was not possible to +continue at the same rate, and the net reduction next year would be +L360,000. It is true the deficit of 1877 is L1,600,000, a sufficiently +grave sum; but to judge the position fairly it is necessary to look at +the budgets of former years. In 1874, "in consequence of rather too +hasty investment of money in railways and other public works," the +deficit was L6,000,700; in 1876 it had fallen to L3,100,000. The present +year, therefore, shows a steady reduction of those ugly figures at the +wrong side of the national account. + +[Footnote 20: 'Hungarian Finances,' the Times, October 31, 1877.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + Copper mine of Balanbanya--Miners in the wine-shop--Ride to St + Miklos--Visit to an Armenian family--Capture of a robber--Cold ride + to the baths of Borsek. + + +Having expressed a wish to see the copper mine at Balanbanya, which is +some five miles from Szent Domokos, my host proposed to drive me over +the next morning. When the morning came the weather looked most +unpromising; there was a steady downpour, without any perceptible break +in the clouds in any quarter. I had made up my mind to go, and as after +the noonday meal it cleared slightly, we started. The mud was nearly up +to the axletree of our cart. After driving some time we reached a wild +and rather picturesque valley, in which rises the Alt, or, as it is +called when it reaches Roumania, the Aluta. The course of this stream is +singularly tortuous, winding about through rocks and defiles, often +changing its direction, and finally making a way for itself through the +Carpathian range. + +As we approached the copper mine it had all the appearance of a volcano, +for a heavy cloud of smoke hung over the spot like a canopy. This mine +has been worked for many years; formerly it paid well, but now it is in +the hands of a company, who are working at a loss, if I could believe +what I was told. + +I have repeatedly noticed in Hungary that people commit themselves to +works of this kind without the technical knowledge necessary to carry +them on successfully. The necessary capital, too, is generally wanting +to bring these mining operations to a successful issue; added to this +the managers are often not conspicuous for their honesty. + +I went over these works, and gave particular attention to the refinery. +Some of the processes for collecting the metal are ingeniously simple +and effective. The copper-ore is remarkably pure, being, it is said, +free from arsenic and antimony. The concern ought to pay, for the copper +is so well esteemed that it obtains the best price in the market. + +After inspecting the place, we went into the inn to have some supper, +and while there, several miners came in. I had heard that they were +renowned for their mining songs down in these parts, so I made friends +with the men and begged them to sing. After a little persuasion and a +refilling of glasses they began. + +The music of their songs was very mournful, and the words equally so, +descriptive of the dangers the poor miner had to encounter in searching +for ore in the gloomy depths of the earth. I believe my companion, the +postmaster, was very puzzled to understand what could interest me in +these rough miners. The scene was exceedingly picturesque; for some six +or eight of these stalwart fellows, with skin and clothes reddened by +the earth, sat by a long table, each with his flask of wine before him, +while the flicker of an oil-lamp threw its yellow light over the group. +One of the men spoke German, and with him I talked. He had elicited from +me the fact of my being an Englishman, whereupon he asked me a variety +of questions about our mines and our forests. Finally he inquired +whether our bears were as large as theirs. When I told him we had none +he could not credit it, saying, "But you must have bears on the +frontier?" When I explained that we lived upon an island he seemed much +surprised. I saw that his natural politeness prevented his saying what +was in his mind, but it was evident he thought that if the English lived +in an island they could not be such a great people after all. + +Not wishing to put my host to expense, more especially as the expedition +was undertaken solely for my benefit and at my suggestion, I paid the +score at the Balanbanya Inn without saying anything. I was very vexed to +find, however, that by doing so I had offended my companion very much. +He reminded me that I was a stranger in Szeklerland and his guest, and +it was contrary to all his ideas of hospitality that I should be the +paymaster. Instead of starting homewards, as we were ready to do, he +ordered more wine and some sardines, being the greatest delicacy the +house afforded. I was obliged to make a show of partaking of something +more, though I had amply supped. For these extras of course my friend +paid, but he was only half appeased, and was never quite the same again. + +The following morning I left the house of my too-hospitable +entertainers. My destination now was St Miklos. My road thither lay +through a pine-forest, as lonely a tract as could well be imagined, for +there were no signs whatever of human habitations. Certainly the weird +solitude of a pine-wood is more impressive than any other kind of forest +scenery. Under the impervious shade and the long grey vistas, one moves +forward with something of a superstitious feeling, as though one were +intruding into the sanctuary of unseen spirits. I cannot say that I was +a prey to such idle fancies, for the spirits I was likely to meet would +be very tangible enemies. This district had a bad reputation, owing to +several robberies having been committed in the neighbourhood; in fact +the whole country was just then under martial law. I was well armed, and +being alone I kept my weather-eye open; but I saw not even the ghost of +a brigand, and reached St Miklos in safety. + +It is usual when incendiary fires or robberies have been rife in any +district to place that part of the country under the _Statorium_, so +that if any person or persons are caught in _flagrante delicto_, they +are summarily tried and hung before a week is over. When I was in +Transylvania in the autumn of '75, the whole of the north-eastern corner +was under the _Statorium_. + +At St Miklos I put up at the house of an Armenian, who received me with +a most frank and kindly welcome, conducting me to the guest-chamber +himself after giving orders to the servants to attend to my horse. St +Miklos is charmingly situated in the valley of Gyergyo, at an elevation +of nearly 3000 feet above the sea-level. Here one is right in amongst +the mountains, the higher summits rising grandly around. The scenery is +very fine. There are interminable forests on every side, broken by +ravines and valleys, with strips of green pasture-land. In former times +these primeval woods were tenanted by the wild aurochs, but now one sees +only the long-horned white cattle and the wiry little horses belonging +to the villages that nestle about in unexpected places. St Miklos is +almost entirely inhabited by Armenians. There is a market here, and it +is considered the central place of the district. The year before my +visit the town was nearly destroyed by fire. Upwards of three hundred +houses were burned down in less than three hours. The loss of property +was considerable, including stores of hay and _kukoricz_ (Indian corn). +Since this conflagration, which caused such widespread distress in the +place, they have established a volunteer fire brigade. This ought to +exist in every village. Prompt action would often arrest the serious +proportions of a fire. It would be a good thing if some substitute could +be found for the wooden tiles used for roofing; in course of time they +become like tinder, and a spark will fire the roof. The houses in +Hungary are not, as a rule, constructed of wood, as in Upper Austria and +Styria, nor are they nearly so picturesque as in that part of the world. +In some Hungarian villages the cottages are painted partly blue and +partly yellow, which has a very odd effect; and throughout the country +they are built with the gable-end to the road. + +When I was at St Miklos there was great excitement over the recent +capture of a famous robber chief, whose band had kept the country-side +in a state of alarm for some months past. I was asked if I would like to +go and see him, and of course I was glad to get a sight at last of one +of the robbers of whom I had heard so much in my travels. I was never +more surprised than, on arriving in front of a very shaky wooden +building, to be told that this was the prison. A few resolute fellows +might have easily broken in and effected the rescue of their chief. + +There was no romance about the appearance of the miserable wretch that +we found within, stretched on a rough bed with wrists and feet heavily +ironed. These manacles were hardly needed, for he was severely wounded, +and seemed incapable of rising from his pallet. I never saw so repulsive +a countenance; and the flatness of the head was quite remarkable. His +eyes were very prominent, and had the restless look of a hunted animal, +which was painful in the extreme; but there was absolutely no redeeming +expression of human feeling in the dark coarse face. Well, there was +something human about him though. I was told he had been photographed +that morning, and that he had expressed considerable satisfaction at the +idea of his portrait being preserved. He was under sentence of death! +There were various stories told of his capture, but I think the +following is the true account. It appears that he and his gang made +their appearance from time to time in the forest round the well-known +watering-place of Borsek. When visitors were on their way to the baths, +they were frequently stopped by the robbers in a mountain pass, in the +immediate neighbourhood of a dense forest that stretches far away for +miles and miles over the frontier. It was the custom of the robbers to +demand all the money, and they would relieve the travellers of their fur +cloaks and overcoats, and other useful articles; but if they did not +offer any resistance, they were permitted to go on uninjured, to take +their cure at the baths. I should doubt, however, that anybody would be +welcome there without a well-filled purse; at least I judge so from what +I heard of the eminently commercial character of the place. + +The robbers had the game in their own hands for a long while, but they +made a mistake one fine day. They stopped a handsome equipage, which +seemed to promise a good haul; but lo, behold, it was the +_Obergespannirz_, the lord-lieutenant of the county! He had four good +horses, and so saved himself by flight. But the authorities now really +bestirred themselves, and the soldiers were called out to exterminate +this troublesome brood. They were accompanied by a renowned bear-slayer +who knew the forest well. It was with great difficulty that they +succeeded at last in tracking the robbers, or rather robber, for it was +only the chief who was trapped after all. It appears that the soldiers +and their guide came upon a small hut surrounded by almost impenetrable +thickets. The hunter crept on in advance of the rest, and looking into +the interior through the chinks of timbers, he saw a man drying his +clothes by a small fire. He quietly said, "Good-day." The robber started +up, and seizing his gun, flung open the door and fired his fowling-piece +at once at his visitor. Fortunately the powder proved to be damp, or he +must have received the full charge. The bear-slayer was now in close +quarters, and fired off his revolver within a short distance of the +other's head. The shot took effect, and he fell in a heap stunned and +senseless. At first they thought he was dead, and it is marvellous that +the well-aimed discharge did not kill him. His skull must have been +uncommonly thick. This fellow was known to be the leader. The rest of +the gang had probably escaped into Moldavia, from whence they came. + +My friends at St Miklos were kind enough to promise to get up a +bear-hunt for me, and it was arranged that I should go and see the +baths of Borsek, and return on Saturday night, so as to be ready for the +bear-hunt on Sunday. The "better observance of the Sabbath" is always +associated with bear-hunting in these parts. + +I left St Miklos in a snowstorm, though it was only the 16th of +September--very early for such signs of winter. I was not prepared for +wintry weather. It frustrated my plans and expectations a good deal. I +was disappointed, too, in the climate, for I had always heard that the +late autumn is about the finest time for Transylvania. + +I have invariably remarked that whenever I go to a new country it is the +signal for "abnormal meteorological disturbances," as they call bad +weather in the newspapers. My own notion is that weather is a very mixed +affair everywhere. + +For three mortal hours I rode on through a blinding snowstorm. At length +I espied the ruin of an unfinished cottage by the wayside, and here I +bethought me I would take shelter and see after my dinner; for whatever +happens, I can be hungry directly afterwards--I think an earthquake +would give me an appetite. + +My unfurnished lodgings were in as wild a spot as imagination could +picture. No wonder that the builder had abandoned the construction of +this solitary dwelling; why it had ever been commenced passes my +comprehension. It was just at the entrance of a mountain valley, +treeless, stony, and rugged, through which there were at intervals the +semblance of a track--a desolate, God-forgotten-looking place. On +consulting the map I found that the "road" led to Moldavia. I resolved +it should not lead me there. Here then, in this dreary spot, with its +gable-end to the road, and turning away from the prospect--and no +wonder--stood the carcass of a cottage. My horse and I scrambled over +the breach in the wall, where a garden never had smiled, and got into +the roofless house. It was with considerable difficulty that I found +sticks enough for my kitchen fire. I had to try back on the route I had +passed, for I remembered not far in the rear a group of firs standing +sentinels in the pass. I always took care to have an end of rope in my +pocket; with this I tied up my fagot, shouldered it, and returned to the +house of entertainment. The result of my trouble was a blazing fire, +whereat I cooked an excellent robber-steak. I made myself some tea, and +afterwards enjoyed--yes, actually enjoyed--my pipe. There is a pleasure +in battling with circumstances, even in such a small affair as getting +one's dinner under difficulties. + +After washing-up (by good-luck there was a stream near by), I packed up +my belongings, and giving a last look around to see that I had left +nothing, I departed without as much as a _pourboire_ for "service," one +of the advantages of self-help. + +The prospect for the rest of my ride was not lively, a good ten miles +yet to be done on a bad road. It had ceased to snow, but the clouds kept +driving down into the valley as if the very heavens themselves were in a +state of mobilisation. It is curious to notice sometimes in the higher +Carpathians how the clouds march continuously through the winding +valleys; always moving and driving on, these compact masses of vapour +are impelled by the currents of air in the defiles which seam the +mountains. + +My way was now through an interminable pine-forest, the road stretching +in a perfectly straight line and at a perceptible rise. Indeed it was +uphill work altogether. The ceaseless dripping of the rain made the +whole scene as cheerless as it well could be. The snow had turned to +cold dull rain, which was far more depressing. I wished the mineral +springs at Borsek had never been discovered. It was too late to turn +back to St Miklos, where I devoutly wished myself, so I had nothing to +do but plod on with my waterproof tight round me. It was impossible to +go fast, for in places the mud was very deep and the road was beset +with big stones. + +It was dark when I reached Borsek, and again I wished I had never come. +The inn was very uncomfortable; there was no fireplace in any of the +rooms. The baths are only used in the height of summer, and if it turns +cold, as it does sometimes at this elevation, people I suppose must +freeze till it gets warm again. I had come a fortnight too late; the +world of fashion departs from Borsek at the end of August. Ten or twelve +springs rise within a short area, and vary curiously in quality and +temperature. The source which is principally used for exportation is +remarkable for the quantity of carbonic acid it contains. About 12,000 +bottles are filled every day; some 1500 on an average break soon after +corking, owing partly to the bad quality of the bottles. There is a +glass manufactory in the place, and though they have good material they +turn out the work badly. + +The export trade in the mineral waters is very large. They are much +valued for long sea voyages, as the water keeps for years without losing +its gaseous qualities.[21] + +The baths of Borsek belong to two different parishes, and they are by no +means agreed as to the management. Some years ago the principal spring +was struck by lightning and entirely lost for a time, but after much +digging it was found again. The situation of Borsek is extremely +romantic, and in the height of summer it must be very delightful; but in +summer only--let no one follow my example and go there out of season. Of +course the place is surrounded by magnificent forests, but it is a +crying shame to see how they have been treated. In every direction there +is evidence of the ravages of fire. You may see in a morning's walk the +blackened stems of thousands of trees, the results of Wallack +incendiarism. If the Wallacks go on destroying the forests in this way, +they will end in injuring the value of the place as a health resort; for +the efficacy of the perfumed air of the pine-woods is well known, +especially for all nervous diseases. + +The houses are badly built at Borsek, and the arrangements for comfort +are very incomplete. Most of the habitations appear to have been run up +with green wood; the result may be pleasant and airy in summer, when the +balmy breeze comes in from cracks in the doors and window-frames, but +except in great heat, a perforated house is a mistake. People have to +bring their own servants and other effects. I should say a portable +stove would not be a bad item amongst the luggage. + +The Borsek waters are very much drunk throughout Hungary, especially +mixed with wine. Everywhere I noticed that eight people out of ten would +take water with their wine at meals. In the district round there is +splendid pasturage for cattle. Large numbers of cattle fed in these +parts are now sent to Buda-Pest and Vienna. The serious drawback to +Borsek is its great distance from a railway. The nearest station is +Maros Vasarhely, which is nearly ninety miles away. The drive between +the two places is very fine--that is, the scenery is fine, but the road +itself is execrable. A telegraph wire connects Borsek with the outside +world, but the post only comes twice a-week. + +[Footnote 21: The waters of Borsek are much taken as an "after-cure."] + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + Moldavian frontier--Toelgyes--Excitement about robbers--Attempt at + extortion--A ride over the mountains--Return to St Miklos. + + +Instead of going back to St Miklos by the same route, I resolved to +diverge a little if the weather permitted. I wanted to visit Toelgyes, a +village on the frontier of Moldavia, which is said to be very pretty. +The weather decidedly improved, so I rode off in that direction. The +road, owing to the late rains, was in a dreadful state. All the mountain +summits were covered with fresh snow; it was a lovely sight. The +dazzling whiteness of these peaks rising above the zone of dark +fir-trees was singularly striking and beautiful. The effect of sunshine +was exhilarating in the highest degree, and the contrast with my recent +experience gave it a keener relish. + +At Toelgyes there is a considerable trade with Moldavia in wood. Quite a +fresh human interest was imparted to the scene by this industry. By the +side of the stream small rafts were in course of construction, and the +trunks of the trees were being placed in position to make the descent of +the stream. The woodman's axe was heard in the forest, and many a +picturesque hut or group of huts were to be seen by the roadside, where +the woodmen and their families live, to be near their work. The labour +of getting the timber along these tortuous mountain streams is very +great. A ready market is found at Galatz, where a great deal of this +wood is sent. + +I remained the night at Toelgyes. The whole place was in a state of +excitement about brigands; every one had some fresh rumour to help swell +the general panic. A company of soldiers were kept constantly patrolling +the roads in the neighbourhood. I should say they were pretty safe not +to encounter the robbers, who are always well informed under those +circumstances. + +In studying my pocket-map, I found that there was clearly a short cut +over the mountains to St Miklos. On inquiry I extracted the confirmation +of the fact with difficulty, and I had still more difficulty in inducing +anybody to go with me as a guide. At length I secured the services of a +fellow who was willing to go for a tolerably substantial +"consideration." I was afraid to work my way entirely by the map, for +roads are apt to be vague in these parts. Ten chances to one whether +you know a road when you see it; it might be a green sward, or the +rubbly dry bed of a mountain torrent, or a cattle-track; it may lead +somewhere or nowhere. Unassisted you may wander all manner of ways. + +I made my start very early in the morning, for I had a long way to go, +and my guide was on foot; there was not much use in being mounted, +considering the pace that the roughness of the road forced us to take. +Before leaving Toelgyes I had a row with the innkeeper. He made a most +exorbitant demand upon me, at least three times over what was properly +due. I told him at once that I declined to pay the full amount he asked. +I knew perfectly well what the charge ought to be, and I said I should +pay that and no more. Hereupon he got very angry, and informed me that +he should not saddle my horse or let me go till I had paid him in full. +I immediately went into the stable and saddled the horse myself; I then +put down on the window-seat the money which I considered was due to him, +giving a fair and liberal margin, but I was not going to be "done" +because I was a foreigner. I ordered my guide to proceed, and I myself +quickly rode out of the place. The innkeeper worked himself up into a +tremendous rage, and declared he would have me back, or at least he +would have his cold meat and bread back that I had ordered for the +journey. I gave my horse the rein, and left the fellow uttering his +blessings both loud and deep. + +We had ten miles of as bad a road as any I had yet seen in my travels. +The mud in some places was two feet deep. We followed the windings of a +stream called the Putna Patak, and came presently to a wayside inn +frequented by foresters. Here we made a short halt, got a bottle of +decent wine and a crust of bread. Immediately on quitting this place we +turned into a less frequented path, and began a stiffish ascent. It was +a superb day, and I enjoyed it immensely, not having been much favoured +by weather lately. Our route was through a thick forest, the trees, as +usual in these, magnificent, with their gigantic girth, and +widespreading branches. At times I got a glimpse of the snowy mountain +summits standing out against the intensely blue sky. + +At mid-day I told the guide to look out for the next spring, for there +we would dine. We did not find a spring for some time, at least not by +the wayside, and I was reluctant to lose time by wandering about. At +length when we had secured a water-tap--viz., a little trickling rill +flowing between some stones and spongy moss--we found ourselves in a +difficulty about the fire. There was plenty of wood, but it was all +soaking wet and would not burn. Luckily a fir-tree was spied out, which +provided us with a good quantity of turpentine, and with this we +persuaded the fire to blaze up a bit. We cooked the dinner, had a smoke, +a short rest, and then _en avant_--always through the forest. + +Later in the afternoon, emerging from the wood, we came upon a grassy +plateau which commanded a glorious view of the Transylvanian side of the +Carpathians. I was glad to see the familiar valley of Gyergyo away +westward, with its numerous villages and green pasturage. The same +physical peculiarity pervades the whole of Hungary. Whenever you get a +vale of any extent, it is as flat as if it were a bit of the great +plain. Everywhere you have the impression that formerly the waters of a +lake must have covered the level verdure of the valley. As soon as I +caught sight of St Miklos I dismissed my guide, for his services were no +longer required, and I could get on quicker without him. I had still a +long distance to go, for I was not far below the summit. I was extremely +anxious to get into safe quarters before dark, so I made the best of the +way, leading my horse down the steep bits, and mounting again for a +short trot where it was possible. + +On arriving at the house of my Armenian friends at St Miklos, happily +before sundown, I was greatly disappointed to find that there would be +no bear-hunt the next day. Those detestable robbers had turned up again, +and the people who were to have formed part of the sporting expedition +were obliged to go robber-hunting, a sport not much to their taste I +fancy. + +It appeared that the fellows had entered an out-of-the-way inn, or +rather wine-shop, and boldly ordered the owner to procure for them a +certain amount of gunpowder, which they required should be ready for +them the next day, and failing to carry out their orders, they +threatened to shoot him. He was obliged to promise, for there were five +of them, and except women he was alone in the house. They drank a +quantity of his wine, and asked for no reckoning, saying they would pay +for it the next day along with the gunpowder. + +Directly they had left the premises, the innkeeper set off as fast as +his legs could carry him to St Miklos to ask for help. The robbers +seemed to be such bunglers that one would judge them to be new to the +business; but the innkeeper's terror knew no bounds, and he declared +they were awful-looking cut-throats. Two of the men were caught the +next day. I saw them brought into the village heavily manacled; they +were harmless-looking Wallacks, not very different in appearance from my +guide over the mountain. Though armed with guns, they made no +resistance; and when they were discovered they had called out lustily to +the soldiers not to fire, for they would give themselves up. I expect +they were let off with imprisonment, but I never heard the end of the +story. I owed them a grudge for spoiling my bear-hunt, which I missed +altogether, for I could not wait until the following Sunday. + +I left St Miklos with an introduction to some rich Armenians at +Toplicza, where I intended making my next halt. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + Toplicza--Armenian hospitality--A bear-hunt--A ride over to the + frontier of Bukovina--Destruction of timber--Maladministration of + State property--An unpleasant night on the mountain--Snowstorm. + + +At Toplicza I was very hospitably received by the family to whom I took +the letter of introduction from my friends at the last place. +Unfortunately I could not converse with the elders of the family, for +they spoke no German, and my Hungarian was limited. However, there was a +charming young lady with whom I found no difficulty in getting on; she +understood not only the language but the literature of Germany. + +A bear-hunt was soon proposed in my honour. The headman of the village +was brought into our council, and he quickly sent round orders that +everybody was to appear the following day--which conveniently happened +to be _fete_ day--for a hunt. Those who had guns would be placed at +different "stands," and those who had no guns were expected to act as +beaters. + +The _Richter_, or headman, was a fine specimen of a Wallack; he was six +feet three, broad chested, with flowing black hair--a handsome fellow of +that type. I told him I should not like to fight him if he knew how to +use his fists. He was pleased at the little compliment. The next day the +Wallacks came pouring in from all the outlying parts of the village. It +was really a very picturesque sight. The men wore thongs of leather +round their feet in place of boots; and those who had no guns were armed +with the usual long staff surmounted by the formidable axe-head. + +A great deal of time was wasted in preparations. The Wallacks are the +most dilatory people in the whole world. It was nearly three o'clock +before we got to the forests where we hoped to give Bruin a rendezvous. +The guns that some of the party carried were "a caution"--more fit for a +museum of armoury than for anything else. The Wallacks try to remedy the +inefficiency of their guns by cramming in very large charges of powder, +at least two bullets, and some buckshot besides. I often thought the +danger was greater to themselves than to the bear. They never fire over +twenty-five yards, and in fact generally allow the bear to come within +twelve yards, when they pepper away at him. + +At last we were in position. It is usual to have a second gun, but I +had only my rifle and revolver; unfortunately my gun was with my baggage +at Maros Vasarhely. After waiting for some time without hearing anything +but the creaking of the pine-trees in the wind, the advance of the +beaters was at length audible. You hear repeated thuds with their axes +on the trees, and you know that they are beating up your way. All at +once I heard the unmistakable tread of some heavy four-footed beast. I +held my breath, fearing to betray my presence. Nearer and nearer came +the heavy tread, the branches cracking as the animal broke its way +through the thicket. It must be a bear of the largest size, thought I, +with a glow of delight warming up my whole frame at this supreme moment. +I had just raised the rifle to my shoulder, when--judge my disgust--when +emerging from the thicket I saw a stray ox make his appearance! I could +hardly resist putting a bullet into the stupid brute's carcass, but I +remembered that I should have to pay for that little game. + +We moved on to another part of the forest, and the same programme of +taking our positions and arranging the course of the beaters was gone +through; but we met with no success. This was the more provoking, +because on our return we found the fresh slot of a bear. He had +evidently just saved himself in time; the marks of his claws were quite +visible in the soft mud. + +These footprints were all we were destined to see, for evening was +drawing on, and it was impossible to pursue the sport any farther. Of +course we commenced operations far too late in the day; it was simply +ridiculous to begin at such a late hour in the autumn afternoon. It was +very disappointing; but there is so much of mere chance in bear-hunting, +that where one man has the luck to kill four or five in a season, +another may go on for two years following without getting as much as a +shot. + +The sportsman will be glad to hear, though the farmer is of quite +another mind, that bears, wolves, and wild-boar are increasing very much +in the Carpathians generally. I have mentioned this fact before, but I +allude to it again because it was everywhere corroborated. On all sides +this increase is attributed to the tax on firearms, which deters the +peasants from keeping them down. They are often too poor to pay for a +shooting licence and the gun-tax. + +Toplicza has some warm mineral springs. Warm water seems to be turned on +everywhere in Hungary. One of these springs is situated close to the +river, where a simple kind of bath-house has been constructed. The water +contains iodine. While at Toplicza I heard that somewhere up in the +mountains on the Bukovina side there is a large deposit of sulphur. The +accounts were very vague, but I thought I should like to have a look at +the place. The district was pronounced to be so unsafe, and so many +robbers had appeared on the scene lately, that I thought proper to take +two men with me; one as a guide, for he had been there before, and a +forester armed with a gun. + +My friends the Armenians kindly insisted on providing me with everything +necessary in the shape of food; and one day, the weather being fine, I +started at noon on this expedition along with my attendants. We soon got +into the forest again. The size of the trees was almost beyond belief; +but, alas! many of them had been destroyed in the same ruthless manner +that I have so often alluded to in my travels. Here were half-burned +trunks of splendid oak-trees lying rotting on the ground in every +direction, showing clearly that the forest had been fired. The attempt +at a clearing, if that was the object, was utterly abortive; for when +the trees are down a thick undercover grows up, more impervious by far, +and there is less chance of obtaining pasturage than ever, but the +Wallack never reasons upon this. The State reckons the value of its +"forests" at something like 27,000,000 florins, and yet there is no +efficient supervision of this property, which, from the increasing +scarcity of wood in Europe, must become in time more and more valuable. +The mines of Hungary are estimated in round numbers at 210,000,000 +florins, and here again there is a lamentable absence of wise +administration. The mining laws, I understand, are at present under +revision. Foreign enterprise is not discouraged, but I cannot go so far +as to say that the adventure would not meet with difficulties from local +obstructions of an official or semi-official nature. + +We had started from Toplicza in beautiful weather, but before sunset a +complete change came on, and heavy rain set in. This was a very +uncomfortable look-out, for we could see nothing that offered us +anything like a decent shelter for the night. The guide urged us to go +on, for he said there was a hut at the top of the mountain; so we beat +our way along through the driving rain, and eventually came to the top. +We soon found the hut, but it was a mere ruin; it might have been in +Chancery for any number of years, indeed one end had tumbled in. It was +as uninviting a place to spend a night in as could well be imagined. +Fortunately one corner was still weather-proof, the fir bark of the roof +yet remaining intact. We had to be careful, however, about the roof, +which consisted of stems of trees supported longitudinally. It was easy +to see that a very little incautious vivacity on our part would bring +the whole structure down on our heads. Water was found not far off, and +we soon had a fire, which blazed up cheerfully. Its warmth was very +necessary, for it was bitterly cold and damp. I had brought with me a +hammock made of twine; this I slung in the driest corner, and after +supper I turned in and was soon asleep. The faculty of sleep is an +immense comfort. A man may put it high up on the credit side in striking +the balance of good and evil in his lot. + +When I awoke the next morning, I found that the weather was worse than +ever. The mist was so dense that the Wallack guide said it was perfectly +impossible to go on, in fact we might consider ourselves lucky if we +were able to get back without mischance. Not to be daunted, I waited +till nearly noon, thinking it was possible that the mist might rise, and +restore to us the bright skies of yesterday. A change came, but not the +one we hoped for. The cold rain turned into snow, so it would have been +sheer madness to think of going on. + +We were in a wretched plight, crowded together in the corner of the +ruined hut, and snow as well as "light" came in "through the chinks that +time had made." Owing to a change in the wind, the smoke of the fire +outside drifted in; and there was evidence of a worse drift--that of the +snow, which before nightfall I daresay may have buried the cottage out +of sight. + +I now gave orders for returning, and just as I stepped out of the hut, +or was in the act of leaving, one of the heavy beams from the roof fell +upon me; it caught me on the back of my head--a pretty close shave! The +ride back, with the consciousness of having failed to attain the object +I had in view, was depressing. Nothing could be more unlovely than these +once glorious forests. In parts we had to pass through a mere morass, +into which my horse kept sinking. + +At last we got back to Toplicza. The forester and the Wallack thought +themselves amply compensated by a few paper florins. I daresay they kept +off the rheumatism by extra potations of _slivovitz_. As for myself, +having been dipped, yea, having even undergone total immersion in the +morass, I felt like those extinct animals who have left their +interesting bones nice and dry in the blue lias, but who in daily life +must have been "mud all over." I presented such a spectacle on my +return, that I consider it was an instance of the greatest +kindness--indeed it must have been a severe strain on the hospitality +of my friends to give me house-room. + +As my garments had not the durability of those of the Israelites in the +wilderness, it became a very desirable object to effect a junction with +my portmanteau, which was sitting all this time at Maros Vasarhely. The +weather, too, had calmed my ardour for the mountains, and I resolved to +strike into the interior of Transylvania, and see something of the +towns. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + Visits at Transylvanian chateaux--Society--Dogs--Amusements at + Klausenburg--Magyar poets--Count Istvan Szechenyi--Baron + Eoetvos--'The Village Notary'--Hungarian self-criticism--Literary + taste. + + +I must now drop the itinerary of my journey and speak more in +generalities; for after leaving the wilder districts of the Szeklerland, +I took the opportunity of presenting some of the letters of introduction +that I brought with me from England. + +For the succeeding six weeks or more I spent my time most agreeably in +the chateaux of some of the well-known Transylvanian nobles. For the +time my wild rovings were over. The bivouac in the glorious forest and +robber-steak cooked by the camp fire--the pleasures of "roughing +it"--were exchanged for the charms of society. + +And society is _very_ charming in Transylvania. Nearly all the ladies +speak English well, and are extremely well read in our literature. To +speak French is a matter of course everywhere; but they infinitely +prefer our literature, and speak our language always in preference when +they can. + +The works of such men as Darwin, Lyell, and Tyndall are read. I remember +seeing these, and many other leading authors, in a bookseller's shop in +Klausenburg. It is true this last-named place is the capital--viz., the +Magyar capital--of Transylvania, but in most respects it is a mere +provincial town. + +A friend and myself happened to be lunching one day in the principal +inn--it was in the _salle a manger_--and we were talking together in +English. Presently I noticed a remarkably little man at the next table, +who looked towards us several times; finally he got up from his chair, +or rather I should say got down, and making a sign to us equivalent to +touching his hat, he said, "Gentlemen, I am an Englishman; I thought it +right to tell you in case you should think there was no one present who +understood what you were talking!" It was very civil of the little +fellow, for we were talking rather unguardedly about some well-known +personages. I then asked him how he came to be in this part of the +world, and he told me he was a jockey, and had been over several times +to ride at the Klausenburg races; but he added he was very sorry that +they always took place on a Sunday! There is certainly no "_bitter_ +observance of the Sabbath" in Hungary generally. Offices are open, and +business is conducted as usual--certainly in the morning. + +There is some good coursing in the neighbourhood of Klausenburg, which +is kept up closely on the pattern of English sport. I had two or three +good runs with the harriers, and on one occasion got a spill that was a +close shave of breaking my neck. Count T---- had given me a mount. The +horse was all right, but not knowing the nature of the country, I was +not aware that the ground drops suddenly in many places. Coming to +something of this kind without preparation, the horse threw me, and I +was pitched down an embankment upwards of twelve feet in depth. Several +people who saw the mishap thought it was all up with me, but, curiously +enough, I was absolutely unhurt. A pull at my flask set me all right, +and I walked back the five miles to Klausenburg. The horse unfortunately +galloped away, and was not brought back till the next day, and then +minus his saddle; however, it was recovered subsequently. + +In the present scare about hydrophobia the following is worth notice. +One day when walking in the principal street of Klausenburg I heard a +great barking amongst the dogs, of which there were some dozen following +a closed van. On inquiry I found that once a-week the authorities send +round to see if there are any dogs at large without the regulation +tax-collar. If any such vagabonds are found they are consigned to the +covered cart, and are forthwith shot. This excellent arrangement has the +effect of keeping down the number of dogs; besides, there is the +safeguard attendant upon the responsibility of ownership. The funny part +of the matter is that the tax-paying dogs are not the least alarmed at +the appearance of the whipper-in, but join with great show of public +spirit in denouncing the collarless vagrants. + +Klausenburg has not the picturesque situation of Kronstadt, but it is a +pleasant clean-looking town, with wide streets diverging from the Platz, +where stands the Cathedral, completed by Matthias Corvinus, son of +Hunyadi. This famous king, always called "the Just," was born at +Klausenburg in 1443. + +As Herrmannstadt and Kronstadt are chiefly inhabited by Saxon +immigrants, and Maros Vasarhely is the central place of the Szeklers, so +may Klausenburg, or rather Kolozsvar, as it is rightly named, be +considered the Magyar capital of Transylvania. + +The gaieties of the winter season had not commenced when I was there, +but I understand the world amuses itself immensely. The nobles come in +from their remote chateaux to their houses, or apartments, as it may be, +in town, and then the ball is set going. + +There is a good theatre in Klausenburg. I found the acting decidedly +above the average of the provincial stage generally. I saw a piece of +Moliere's given, and though I could only understand the Hungarian very +imperfectly, I was enabled to follow it well enough to judge of the +acting. + +Shakespeare is so great a favourite with the Hungarians that his plays +are certainly more often represented on the stage at Buda-Pest than in +London. The Hungarian translation of our great poet, as I observed +before, is most excellent. + +It was a band of patriotic poets who first employed the language of the +Magyars in their compositions. Hitherto all literary utterance had been +confined to Latin, or to the foreign tongues spoken at courts. The rash +attempt of Joseph II. to denationalise the Magyar and to Germanise +Hungary by imperial edicts had a violent reactionary result. The +strongest and the most enduring expression is to be found in the popular +literature which was inaugurated by such men as Csokonai and the two +brothers Kisfaludy, who were all three born in the last century. The +songs of Csokonai have retained their hold on the people's hearts +because, and here is the keynote--"because they breathe the true +Hungarian feeling." The insistent themes of the Magyar poets were the +love of country, the joys of home, the duty of patriotism. Such was the +soul-stirring 'Appeal' ('Szozat') of Varosmazty, the chief of all the +tuneful brethren, the Schiller of Hungary. Born with the nineteenth +century, and at once its child and its teacher, he died in 1855--too +soon, alas! to see the benefits accruing to his beloved country from the +wise reconciliatory policy of his dear friend Deak. His funeral was +attended by more than 20,000 people, and the country provided for his +family. + +Whenever the poets of Hungary are mentioned the name of Petoefy will +occur, and he was second to none in originality of thought and poetic +utterance. An intense love of his native scenery, not excepting even the +dreary boundless Alfoeld, afforded inspiration for his genius. His poetic +temperament and pathetic story give him a certain likeness to the brave +young Koerner, dear to every German heart. Petoefy was engaged in editing +a Hungarian translation of Shakespeare when he was interrupted by the +political events of 1848. His pen and sword were alike devoted to the +cause of patriotism, and entering the army under General Bern, he +became his adjutant and secretary. During the memorable winter campaign +in Transylvania he wrote proclamations and warlike songs. We all know +the story of the Russian invasion of Transylvania at Austria's appeal, +and how the brave Hungarians fought and fell at the battle of +Schaessburg. This engagement took place on the 31st of July '49. Petoefy +was present, and indeed had been seen in the thick of the fight; but in +the evening he was missing from the roll-call, and, strange to say, his +remains, though searched for, were never identified. The mystery which +hung over his fate caused many romantic stories to be circulated, and +not a few claimants to his name and fame have arisen. Even within the +last three months a report has reached his native village that he had +been seen in the mines of Siberia, where he has been kept a prisoner all +these years by the Russians! + +The language of the Magyars was heard not in poetry alone, but in the +sternest prose. "Hungary is not, but Hungary shall be," said Count +Szechcnyi. The men who worked out this problem were politicians, +writers, and orators. Foremost among them may be reckoned Baron Eoetvos, +one of the most liberal-minded and enlightened thinkers of the day. His +efforts were specially directed to improving the education of all +classes of the community. With this end and aim he worked unceasingly. +He held the post of Minister of Cultus and Education in the first +independent Hungarian Ministry in 1848, but withdrew in consequence of +political differences with his colleagues. Again in 1867 he held the +same _porte-feuille_ under Count Andrassy, but died in 1870 universally +regretted. His best known literary productions arc two novels, 'The +Carthusian' and 'The Village Notary,' The latter highly-interesting, +indeed dramatic story, may be recommended to any one who desires to know +what really were the sufferings entailed upon the peasantry under the +old system of forced labour. It is one of those fictions which, as old +Walter Savage Landor used to say, "are more true than fact." It was the +'Uncle Tom's Cabin' of that day, and of the cause he had at heart--the +abolition of serfdom. In reading this most thrilling story, one can +understand the evil times that gave birth to the terrible saying of the +peasant, "that a lord is a lord, even in hell." + +Yet it was the nobles themselves who abolished at one sweep all the +privileges of their order. It was by their unanimous consent that the +manumission of nearly eight millions of serfs was granted, at the same +time converting the feudal holdings of some 500,000 families into +absolute freeholds. + +In Hungary it would appear that public opinion is generously receptive +of new impulses, and in this particular the Hungarians resemble us, as +they claim to do in many things, calling themselves "the English of the +East." + +"It is curious," said Baroness B---- to me one day, "that with all our +respect for British institutions, and everything that is English, that +we fail to copy their straight good sense. We have too many talkers, too +few workers. We are not yet a money-making nation; we have no idea of +serious work, and our spirit for business is not yet developed. Almost +all industrial or commercial enterprises are in the hands of Jews, +Armenians, Greeks, who are great scoundrels generally." + +"The Armenians are instinctive traders," I remarked. + +"Yes, true; just as we are the very reverse. But this change has come +over us. Taking again our cue from England, we see that trade can be +respectable, and those who follow it are respected--with you at least. +We try to _Englishify_ ourselves, and some of the younger members of the +community make a funny hash of it. For instance, a rich young country +swell in our neighbourhood went over to England and came back in +raptures with everything, and tried to turn everything upside down at +home without accommodating his new ideas to the circumstances that were +firmly rooted here. You may see him now sit down to dinner with an +English dresscoat over his red Hungarian waistcoat. His freaks went far +beyond this, and he came to be known as the 'savage Englishman.'" + +I asked my hostess if our English novels were much read. + +"Everybody likes your English fiction," replied Baroness B----. "It is +immensely read, and has helped to promote the knowledge of the language +more perhaps than anything else. We, too, have our writers of fiction. +Jokai is the most prolific, but he has got to be too much an imitator of +the French school. One of his earlier novels, 'The New Landlord,' has +been translated into English, and gives a good picture of Hungarian life +in the transition state of things. For elegance of style he is not to be +compared to Gzulai Paul and Baron Eoetvos." + +"There seems to be a growing interest in natural history and +literature," I remarked, "judging from the enormous increase of +newspapers and journals which pass through the post, both foreign and +local." + +"With regard to local journals," replied the Baroness, "we have the +'Osszehasonlito irodalomtoertenelmi Lapok' ('Comparative Literary +Journal'), which is published at Klausenburg, at Herrmannstadt, and at +Kesmark in Upper Hungary. There are Natural History Societies, who +publish their reports annually. Added to this, there are few towns of +any size that have not their public libraries. I speak specially of +Transylvania, where we affect a higher degree of culture than in Hungary +Proper." + +Baroness B---- was very anxious to impress upon me that certainly in +Transylvania the ladies of good society do not affect "fast" manners or +style. "Very few amongst us," she said, "adopt the nasty habit of +smoking cigarettes. I am very sorry that Countess A---- has attempted to +introduce this fashion from Pest." + +Buda-Pest, though the capital, is not the place to find the best +Hungarian society. Many of the old families prefer Pressburg; and +Klausenburg is to Transylvania what Edinburgh was to Scotland, socially +speaking, before the days of railroads. In the season good society may +be met with at the various baths, but every year the facilities of +travel enable people to go farther a-field health-seeking and for +pleasure. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + A visit at Schloss B------National characteristics--Robber + stories--Origin of the "poor lads"--Audacity of the + robbers--Anecdote of Deak and the housebreaker--Romantic story of a + robber chief. + + +The three weeks I remained at Schloss B---- were amongst the most +agreeable days I spent in Transylvania. There were a great many visitors +coming and going, affording me an excellent opportunity of seeing the +society of that part of Hungary. With regard to the younger generation, +the Transylvanians are like well-bred people all the world over. The +ladies have something of the frankness of superior Americans--the sort +of Americans that Lord Lytton describes in 'The Parisians'--and in +consequence conversation has more vivacity than with us. + +In the elder generation you may detect far more of national peculiarity; +in some cases they retain the national dress, and with it the Magyar +pride and ostentation, so strongly dashed with Orientalism. Then again, +in the houses of the old nobility, one is struck by many curious +incongruities. For example, Count T---- has a large retinue of +servants--five cooks are hardly able at times to supply his hospitable +board, so numerous are the guests--yet the walls of his rooms are simply +whitewashed, and the furniture is a mixture of costly articles from +Vienna and the handiwork of the village carpenter. A whole array of +servants, who are in gorgeous liveries at dinner, may be seen barefooted +in the morning. + +In talking with some of the elderly members of the family, I heard many +curious anecdotes of old Hungarian customs; but "the old order changeth" +here as elsewhere, and a monotonous uniformity threatens the social +world. Even as it is, everybody who entertains his friends at dinner is +much the same as everybody else, be he in Monmouth or Macedon. +Distinctive characteristics of race are found more easily in the common +people, who are less amenable to the change of fashion than their +superiors. Baroness B---- had a complete repertory of robber stories, +some of which are so characteristic that I will repeat them here. + +I have before alluded to the peculiarity which existed in the old system +preserving to the peasant his personal freedom, though the land was +burdened with duties. It was not till 1838 that the Austrians +introduced the conscription, and subsequently they carried out the law +with a brutality that made the innovation thoroughly detested by the +peasantry. Accustomed to their tradition of personal freedom, the forced +military service in itself was regarded with intense dislike. The richer +classes were enabled to pay a certain sum of money for exemption, but +the poor were helpless; they were dragged from their houses and sent to +distant parts of the empire, to serve for a long period of years. As +cases had not unfrequently occurred of the recruits running away, they +were subjected to the ignominy of being chained together in gangs; and +as if this was not enough, many superfluous brutalities were inflicted +by the Austrian officials. + +To escape from this hated service, many a young man fled from his home +in anticipation of the next levy of the conscription, and hid himself in +the shepherds' _tanya_ in the plain. These remote dwellings in the +distant _puszta_ were no bad hiding--places, and the fugitives were +freely harboured by the shepherds, who shared the animosity of the "poor +lads" against the Austrian conscription. In course of time these outlaws +found honest work difficult to procure; they became, in short, vagabonds +on the face of the earth, and ended by forming themselves into robber +bands. They had also their class grievance against the rich, who had +been enabled to buy themselves off from serving in the army. The numbers +of the original fugitives were soon increased by evil-doers from all +sides--ruffians who had a natural bent for rapine--and a plague of +robbers was the result, threatening all parts of Hungary. The mischief +grew to such serious proportions, and it transpired that the robbers had +everywhere accomplices in the towns and villages. Persons of apparently +respectable position were suspected of favouring them; they were called +"poor lads," and a glamour of patriotism was flung over the fugitives +from Austrian tyranny. + +During the war of independence these robber bands rallied round their +elected chief, Shandor Bozsa, and actually offered their services to the +Hungarian Government, as they desired to take part in the great national +struggle. The Provisional Government accepted their services, and they +came pouring in from every part of the country. At first they behaved +very well, and in fact many of these "irregulars" distinguished +themselves by acts of great valour. In the end it was the old story; +they soon showed a degree of insubordination that rendered them worse +than useless to the regular army. By the time the struggle for +independence had found its melancholy ending at Villagos, these fellows +were again at their old tricks of horse-stealing and cattle-lifting, and +they went so far as to waylay even the _honved_, the national Hungarian +militia. The well-disposed part of the community was powerless to resist +the robbers, for after the disastrous events of 1849 the Austrian +Government prohibited the possession of firearms, even for hunting +purposes, so that villages and towns, one might almost say, were at the +mercy of a band of well-armed robbers. The Government were so busy +hunting down political conspirators, and hanging, shooting, and +imprisoning patriots, that they were indifferent to the increase of +brigandage. The statistics of the political persecutions which Hungary +suffered at the hands of Austria during the ten years that followed +Villagos were significant. Upwards of two thousand persons were +sentenced to death, nearly ten times that number were thrown into +prison, and almost five thousand Hungarian patriots were driven into +exile--amongst the number Deak, the yet-to-be saviour of his country. + +But to return to the robbers. They had spread themselves over the whole +land; from the forests of Bakony to Transylvania, from the Carpathians +to the Danube, no place was free from these desperate marauders. They +committed incredible deeds of boldness. On one occasion seven or eight +robbers attacked a caravan of thirty waggons in the neighbourhood of +Szegedin, the cavalcade being on its way to the fair in that town. The +traders were without a single firearm amongst them, so that the +fully--armed brigands effected their purpose, though it was broad +daylight. Another time they entered a market town in Transylvania and +coolly demanded that the broken wheel of their waggon should be mended, +threatening to shoot down anybody who offered the slightest opposition. +The post was frequently stopped, but it came to be remarked, that though +the passengers were generally killed, the drivers escaped. This, +together with the fact that the post was always stopped when there were +large sums of money in course of transit, led the authorities to suspect +that their employes were in collusion with the robbers, and subsequent +events proved this to be the case. + +When the hostility of Austria had somewhat cooled down, the dangerous +up-growth of these robber bands attracted the serious attention of the +Government, and not only _gendarmerie_ but military force were employed +against them. The officials to a man were Germans and Bohemians, +indifferently honest, and hated by the peasantry, who, after all, +preferred a Hungarian robber to an Austrian official. The consequence +was that they were not by any means very ready to depose against the +"poor lads," and the Government found themselves unequal to cope with +the difficulty, so things went from bad to worse. + +In 1867, when at last the reconciliation policy of Deak had effected a +substantial peace with Austria, the Hungarian Constitution being +reestablished, and the towns and _comitats_ (counties) having got back +their prerogatives and self-government, the intolerable evil of +brigandage was at once brought before the attention of the Parliament +assembled at Buda-Pest. There were a great many speeches made upon the +subject, and Count Forgacs with a considerable military force was +despatched to Zala and the adjoining country against the robbers. He +simply drove them out of one part of the country to carry on their +devastations in another, and dreadful robberies and murders were +reported from Szegedin. On several occasions the post was stopped, and +the passengers were invariably killed. They even stopped the railway +train one day at Peteri. + +Government were now obliged to take stronger measures. They recalled +Count Forgacs, and despatched Count Radaz as Royal Commissary with +augmented powers, Parliament in the mean time voting a grant of 60,000 +florins for the purpose. + +The energetic measures taken by Count Radaz led to some remarkable +disclosures. He discovered that tradesmen, magistrates, and other +employes in towns and villages were in communication with the brigands, +and in fact shared the booty. It came to be remarked that certain +persons returned suddenly to their homes after a mysterious absence, +which corresponded with the commission of some desperate outrage in +another part of the country. + +In the space of fifteen months Count Radaz had to deal with nearly six +hundred cases of capital offences, and no less than two hundred of the +malefactors were condemned to the gallows. + +"Wherever they can the peasants will shelter the 'poor lads' from the +law," said my friend. "It happened only last spring in our neighbourhood +that a robber had been tracked to a village, but though this had +happened on several occasions, yet the authorities failed to find him. +It was known that he had a sweetheart there, a handsome peasant girl, +who was herself a favourite with everybody. One day, however, the +soldiers discovered him hidden in a hay-loft. There was a terrible +struggle; the robber, discharging his revolver, killed one man and +wounded another. At length he was secured, strongly bound, and placed in +a waggon to be conveyed to the nearest fortress. When passing through a +wood the convoy was set upon by a lot of women, who flung flowers into +the waggon, and a little farther on a rescue was attempted; but the +military were in strong force, and the villagers had to content +themselves with loud expressions of sympathy for the 'poor lad.' He was, +in truth, a handsome, gallant young fellow--open-handed, generous to the +poor, and with the courage of a lion--just the sort of hero for a +mischievous romance." + +The following story, related by my friend Baroness B----, proves that +there were men amongst these outlaws who were not destitute of patriotic +feeling. In the year 1867 a band of "poor lads" surprised a country +gentleman's house by night. It was their habit to ask for money and +valuables, and woe betide those who refused, unless they were strong +enough to resist the demand. Horrible atrocities were committed by these +miscreants, who have been known to torture the inhabitants of lonely +dwellings, finishing their brutal work by setting fire to house and +homestead. + +On the occasion above named the robber band consisted of more than a +dozen well-armed men, and as the household was but small, resistance +was out of the question. They made a forcible entrance, and were going +the round of every room in the house, collecting all valuables of a +portable nature, when it chanced that they entered the guest-chamber, +that had for its occupant no less a person than the great patriot +Francis Deak. The intruders instantly pounced on a very handsome gold +watch lying on a table near the bedside. Mr Deak, thus rudely disturbed, +awoke to the unpleasant fact that his much-prized watch was in the hands +of the robbers. Giving them credit for some feelings of patriotism, he +simply told them who he was, adding that the watch was the keepsake of a +dear departed friend, and begged they would restore it to him. On +hearing his name the chief immediately handed the watch back, +apologising "very much for breaking in on the repose of honoured Mr +Deak, whom they held in so much respect," adding "that the nature of +their occupation obliged them to make use of the hours of the night for +their work." + +The chance of interviewing Mr Deak was not to be neglected, so the +robber chief sat down by the bedside of the statesman and had a chat +about political affairs, and finally took his leave with many +expressions of respect. Not an article of Mr Deak's was touched; they +even contented themselves with a very moderate amount of black-mail +from the master of the house, and no one was personally injured in any +way. + +My next story is a very romantic one; it was related to me by an English +friend who was travelling in Hungary as long ago as 1846, when the +circumstance had recently occurred. It seems that in those days a +certain lady, the widow of a wealthy magnate, inhabited a lonely castle +not far from the principal route between Buda and Vienna. She received +one morning a polite note requesting her to provide supper at ten +o'clock that night for twelve gentlemen! She knew at once the character +of her self-invited guests, and devised a novel mode of defence. Some +people would have sent post-haste to the nearest town for help, but the +_chatelaine_ could easily divine that every road from the castle would +be watched to prevent communication, so she made her own plans. + +At ten o'clock up rode an armed band, twelve men in all; immediately the +gate of the outer court and the entrance door were thrown open, as if +for the most honoured and welcome guests. The lady of the castle herself +stood in the entrance to receive them, richly dressed as if for an +entertainment. She at once selected the chief, bade him welcome, gave +orders that their horses should be well cared for, and then taking the +arm of her guest, she led him into the dining-hall. Here a goodly feast +was spread, the tables and sideboard being covered with a magnificent +display of gold and silver plate, the accumulation of many generations. + +The leader of the robber band started back surprised, but immediately +recovering his presence of mind, he seated himself calmly by the side of +his charming hostess, who soon engaged him in conversation about the gay +world of Vienna, whose doings were perfectly familiar to them both. At +length, when the feast was nearly ended, the chief took out his watch +and said, "Madame, the happiest moments of my life have always been the +shortest. I have another engagement this night, but before I leave allow +me to tell you that in appealing to my honour, as you have done +to-night, you have saved me from the commission of a crime. Bad as I am, +none ever appealed to my honour in vain. As for you, my men," he said, +looking sternly round with his hand on his pistol, "I charge you to take +nothing from this house; he who disobeys me dies that instant." + +The chief then asked for pen and paper, and writing some sentences in a +strange character, handed it to his hostess, saying, "If you or your +retainers should at any time lose anything of value, let that paper be +displayed in the nearest town, and I pledge you my word the missing +articles shall be returned." After this he took his leave, the troop +mounted their horses and departed. + +My friend told me that he was enabled to verify the story; and he +subsequently discovered the real name of the robber chief. He was an +impoverished cadet of one of the noblest families in Hungary. His fate +was sad enough; lie was captured a few months after this incident, and +ended his life under the hands of the common hangman. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + Return to Buda-Pest--All-Souls' Day--The cemetery--Secret burial of + Count Louis Batthyanyi--High rate of mortality at Buda-Pest. + + +Some matters of business recalled me to Buda-Pest in the midst of a +round of visits in Transylvania. The great hospitality of my new friends +would have rendered a winter in that delightful country most agreeable, +but the holiday part of my tour was over, and circumstances led me to +pass some months in the capital. + +I got back just in time for All-Souls' Day. The _Fete des Morts_ is +observed with great ceremony throughout Hungary, especially at +Buda-Pest. In the afternoon of this day a friend and myself joined the +throng, who were with one accord making their way eastward along the +Radial Strasse, the great thoroughfare of Pest. It appeared as if the +whole population of the town had turned out; private carriages, +tramways, droskies alike were all crammed, driving in the same direction +with the ceaseless stream of pedestrians. It was the day for the living +to visit their dead! Attired in black, almost every one carried a +funeral wreath; even the poorest and the humblest were taking some +floral offering to their beloved ones who sleep for evermore in the +great cemetery. + +There is a dynamic force in the sympathy of a crowd. I had the sensation +of being carried along with the moving masses, without the exercise of +my own will, I hardly know how one could have turned back. And on we +went, the light of the short winter day meanwhile fading quickly into +the gloom of night. Once beyond the gaslighted streets, the sense of +darkness in the midst of the surging multitude was oppressive and +unnatural. We were borne on towards the principal gate of the cemetery, +and here the effect was most striking. We left the outer darkness, and +stepped into an area of light; beyond the belt of cypress and of yew +there was so brilliant an illumination that it threw its glowing +reflection on the clouds that hung pall-like over the whole city. + +In all that crowded cemetery--and it is crowded--there was not a single +grave without its lights. The most ordinary had rows of candles marking +the simple form of the gravestone; but there were costlier tombs, with +an array of lamps in banks of flowers beautifully arranged; and in the +mausoleum of Batthyanyi the illuminations were effected by gas in the +form of architectural lines of light. At this point the crowd was +greatest. To visit the tomb of the martyred statesman is deemed a +patriotic duty. The particulars relating to the disposal of Count +Batthyanyi's body after his judicial murder in 1849 are not very +generally known; the facts are as follows. + +At the close of hostilities in 1849, Haynau, commissioned by the Vienna +Government, condemned people to death with unsparing barbarity--it was a +way the Austrians had of stamping out insurrections. Amongst their +victims was Count Louis Batthyanyi, some time President of the Hungarian +Diet. Haynau wanted to have him hung at the gallows, but he was +mercifully shot, at Pest on the 6th October 1849. It is said that the +infamous Haynau was nearly mad with rage that his noble victim escaped +the last indignity of hanging. His remains were ordered to be buried in +a nameless coffin in the burial-ground of the common criminals,.and for +many years it was supposed that he had received no other sepulchre. This +was not so, however, for two priests who were greatly attached to the +magnate's family procured possession of his body, and secretly conveyed +it to the church in the Serviten Gasse, where they built up the coffin +in the wall, and carefully preserved it for years. When the +reconciliation with Austria took place, concealment being no longer +necessary, they revealed their secret. The coffin was then opened, and +it was found that the features of the unfortunate Batthyanyi had been +singularly well preserved. Several who had fought for freedom by his +side in 1848 looked once more on the face of their leader. The +subsequent funeral in the new cemetery was made the occasion of a very +marked display of patriotic feeling. Later an imposing monument was +erected, but Count Batthyanyi's best and most enduring monument is the +part he took in the emancipation of the serfs. + +Turning aside from the public demonstrations around the tombs of poets +and patriots, we wandered down the more secluded alleys of the cemetery. +In a lonely spot, quite away from the crowd and the glare, we came upon +an exquisite little plot of garden with growing flowers, shrubs, and +cypress-trees, tended, one could see, with loving care, "and in the +garden there is a sepulchre." I shall not easily forget the look of +ineffable grief visible on the face of an elderly man who was arranging +and rearranging the lights round and about the family grave. We noticed +that the names on the slab were those of a wife and mother, followed by +her children, several of them, sons and daughters, the dates of their +decease being terribly close one upon another. I had a conviction that +the lonely man we saw there was the only survivor of his family; I feel +sure it must have been so. It was very touching the way in which he +(aimlessly, it seemed to me) moved first this light and then the other, +or grouped them together around the vases of sweet flowers that decked +the graves. It was all that remained for him to do for his beloved ones; +and we could see the poor man was vainly occupying himself, lingering +on, unwilling to leave the spot! + +We had not much fancy for returning amongst the patriotic crowd gathered +about the gaslighted Valhalla, so we made our way out. + +We English must have our say about statistics whenever there is a +wedding or a funeral, and as a fact Buda-Pest comes out very badly in +its death-rate. It is only within the last two or three years that they +have taken to publish the comparative returns of the capital cities of +Europe, and now it appears that Buda-Pest is in the unenviable position +of having on an average the highest death-rate of any European town! By +some this is attributed to the great excess of infant +mortality--consolatory for the grown-up people, as reducing their risk; +but the children, who die like flies before they are twelve months old, +may say with the epitaph in the country churchyard-- + + "If then we so soon were done for, + What the deuce were we begun for?" + +I do not speak as one with authority, but duly-qualified persons tell me +that nursery reform is much needed in Hungary. I know not what it is +they do with the children, only it seems the system is wrong somewhere, +as the bills of mortality clearly testify. + +Then, again, the position of Pest is not healthy; it lies low, indeed +some part of the city is built on the old bed of the Danube. The +drainage, however, is very much improved of late years, and the +magnificent river embankments have done much to obviate the malaria +arising from mud-banks. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + Skating--Death and funeral of Deak--Deak's policy--Uneasiness about + the rise of the Danube--Great excitement about inundations--The + capital in danger--Night scene on the embankment--Firing the + danger-signal--The great calamity averted. + + +The winter is usually a very pleasant season at Buda-Pest. There is +plenty of amusement; in fact, during the carnival, parties, balls, and +concerts succeed one another without cessation. The Hungarians dance as +though it were an exercise of patriotism; with them it is no languid +movement half deprecated by the utilitarian soul--it is a passion +whirling them into ecstasy. But dancing was not the only diversion. The +winter I was at Buda-Pest a long spell of enduring frost gave us some +capital skating. The fashionable society meet for this amusement in the +park, where there is a piece of ornamental water about five acres in +extent. Here the Skating Club have established themselves, having +erected a handsome pavilion at the side of the lake to serve as a +clubhouse. + +From time to time _fetes_ are given on the ice. I was present on more +than one occasion, and I must say it would be difficult to imagine a +more animated or a prettier scene. The Hungarians always display great +taste in their arrangements for festive gatherings. During the gay +carnival of 1876 "all went merry as a marriage-bell" till the sad news +spread that the great patriot Deak was sick unto death. Then we heard +that he had passed away from our midst--I say "our midst," for Hungary +throws a glamour over the stranger that is within her gates, and, moved +by irresistible sympathy, you are led to rejoice in her joy and mourn +with her in her sorrow. + +Buda-Pest presented on the day of Deak's funeral a scene never to be +forgotten. It was a whole people mourning for their friend--their safe +guide in time of trouble, the statesman who of all others had planted a +firm basis of future prosperity. + +Francis Deak was endowed with that rare gift of persuasion which can +appeal to hostile parties, and in the end unite them in common patriotic +action. Any one who has attentively considered the state of parties in +Hungary during the last decade will know with what irreconcilable +elements the great statesman had to deal. To the Magyars he said, "He +who will be free himself must be just to others;" while to the Slavs he +said, "Labour with us, that we may labour for you." "Reconciliation" +and "compromise" with Austria were the most unpopular words that could +be uttered at that time, yet Deak bravely spoke them in his famous open +letter on Easter day 1865. He continued his calm and steady appeal to +public opinion till his patriotic efforts were rewarded by the close of +that long-standing strife between the Hungarian people and their king. + +On the day of the funeral the ground was white with snow, the cold was +intense, but a vast concourse of people followed Deak to his grave. On +the road to the cemetery every house was hung with black, the city was +really and truly in mourning; and well it might be, for their great +peace-maker was dead, the man who beyond all others of his generation +had the power to restrain the impatient enthusiasm of his countrymen by +wise counsels that had grown almost paternal in their gentle influence. + +While we were still thinking and talking of Deaks political career, a +very present cause for anxiety arose in reference to the state of the +Danube. The annual breaking up of the ice is always anticipated with +uneasiness, for during this century no less than thirteen serious +inundations have occurred. This year there was reason for alarm, for +early in January the level of the river was unusually high, and a +further rise had taken place, unprecedented at that season. + +The greatest disaster of the kind on record took place in 1838, when the +greater part of Pest was inundated, and something like four thousand +houses were churned up in the flood; nor was this all, for the loss of +life had been very considerable, owing to the sudden nature of the +calamity on that occasion. The recollection of this terrible disaster +within the living memory of many persons kept the inhabitants of +Buda-Pest very keenly alive to any abnormal rise of the Danube waters. +There were, besides, additional circumstances which created uneasiness +and led to very acrimonious discussions. In recent years certain +"rectifications" had been effected in the course of the Danube, which +one-half of the community averred would for ever prevent the chance of +any recurrence of the catastrophe of 1838. But there are always two +parties in every question--"Little-endians" and "Big-endians"--and a +great many people were of opinion that these very "rectifications" were, +in fact, an additional source of peril to the capital. + +The case stands thus: the river, left to its own devices, separates +below Pest into two branches, called respectively the Soroksar and the +Promontar; these branches continue their course independently of each +other for a distance of about fifty-seven kilometres, forming the great +island of Csepel, which has an average width of about five kilometres. +By certain embankments on the Soroksar branch the _regime_ of the river +has been disturbed, and according to the opinion of M. Revy, a French +engineer,[22] this has been a grave mistake, and he thinks that the +Danube misses her former channel of Soroksar more and more. He further +remarks in the very strongest terms upon an engineering operation "which +proposes the amputation of a vital limb, conveying about one-third of +the power and life of a giant river when in flood--a step which has no +parallel in the magnitude of its consequences in any river with which I +am acquainted." + +Now let us see which side the Danube took in the controversy in the +spring of 1876. On the 17th of February the public mind had been almost +tranquillised by the gradual fall of the water-level, but appearances +changed very rapidly on the morning of the 18th, for alarming +intelligence came to Buda-Pest from the Upper Danube. It seems that a +sudden rise of temperature had melted the vast deposits of snow in the +mountains of the Tyrol and other high ranges which send down their +tributary waters to the Danube. A telegram from Passau announced the +startling news that the waters of the Inn had risen eleven feet since +the afternoon of the previous day, and further news came that the Danube +had risen twelve and a half feet in the same time. Following close upon +this came intelligence of a disastrous inundation at Vienna which had +caused loss of life and property. The boats and barges in the winter +harbour of the Austrian capital had been dragged from their anchorage, +covering the river with the _debris_ of wreckage; in short, widespread +mischief was reported generally from the Upper Danube. + +There was a prevalent idea that Buda-Pest had been saved by the flood +breaking bounds at Vienna, but events proved that our troubles were yet +to come. There was a peculiarity in the thaw of this spring which told +tremendously against us. It came westward--viz., down stream instead of +up stream, as it usually does. This state of things greatly increased +the chances of flood in the middle Danube, as the descending volume of +water and ice-blocks found the lower part of the river still frozen and +inert. Even up to the 21st the daily rise in the river was only six +inches, and if the large floes of ice which passed the town had only +gone on their course without interruption all might still have been +well. Unfortunately, however, this was far from being the case. It seems +that at Eresi, a few miles below Buda-Pest, where the water is shallow, +the ice had formed into a compact mass for the space of six miles, and +at this point the down-drifting ice-blocks got regularly stacked, rising +higher and higher, till the whole vast volume of water was bayed back +upon the twin cities of Buda and Pest, the latter place being specially +endangered by its site on the edge of the great plain. + +The authorities now devised plans for clearing away this ice-barrier, +which acted as an impediment to the flow of the river. They tried to +blow it up by means of dynamite, but all to no purpose; and it soon +became apparent that the danger to the capital was hourly on the +increase. At Pest the excitement and alarm became intense, for the +mighty waters were visibly and inexorably rising. We saw the steps of +the quay disappear one after another; then the whole subway of the +embankment became engulfed. Ominous cracks appeared in the asphaltic +promenade of the Corso, and the public were warned not to approach the +railings, lest they should give way bodily and fall over into the water, +which was lapping at the stonework. The "High-Water Commission" found it +necessary to close all the drains, and steam-pumps were brought into +requisition; the town was in fact besieged by water, and the enemy was +literally at the gates. The ordinary business of life was suspended. The +greeting in the street was not, "Good-day; how are you?" but, "What of +the Danube?" "Do you know the last reading of the register?" "Does the +water still rise?" + +"Still rising"--this was always the answer. On the morning of the 23d +the river had risen upwards of two feet in twenty-four hours. Hundreds +of people now thought seriously of flight from the doomed city. There +was a complete exodus to the heights behind Buda. The suspension bridge +was crowded day and night by the citizens, carrying with them their +wives, their children, and a miscellaneous collection of valuables. In +the town the shopkeepers removed their goods to the upper stories, +plastering up the doors and windows of the basement with cement; and +careful householders laid in provisions for several days' consumption. +The authorities had enough on their hands; amongst other things they had +to provide means of rescue, if necessary, for the inhabitants of Old +Buda, New Pest, and other low-lying quarters. The names of all public +buildings standing on higher levels, or otherwise suitable as places of +refuge, were notified in the event of a catastrophe. Boats also were +drawn up on the Corso and in some of the squares. From the want of these +precautions there had resulted that lamentable loss of life in 1838. + +Furthermore, the public were to be informed when the danger became +imminent by the firing of cannon-shots from the citadel on the lofty +Blocksberg, which dominates the town on the Buda side. The day of the +24th had been wild and stormy, the evening was intensely dark; but +notwithstanding, thousands, nay half Pest, crowded the river-bank. For +hours this surging multitude moved hither and thither on the Corso, +drawn together by the sense of common danger and distress. + +I was there amongst the rest, peering into the darkness. My brother's +arm was linked in mine, and we stood for some time on the Corso, just +above the fruit-market, facing Buda; but nothing, not even the outline +of the hills, was visible in the thick, black darkness of the night. +"Ah! what is that?--look!" cried my brother, with a pressure of the arm +that sent an electric shock through my body. Yes, sure enough, there was +a flash of fire high up on the Blocksberg that made a rift in the +darkness; and then, before we had time for speech, there came a sharp, +ringing, detonating sound that made every window in the Corso rattle +again. Once, twice, thrice the booming cannon roared out its terrible +warning. It was the appointed signal, and we all knew that now the +waters had risen so high that Old Buda and other low-lying districts +were in danger. + +That was a terrible night. The general excitement was intense, and there +were few people, I imagine, in all Pest who slept quietly in their beds. +Every hour news came of the spread of the inundation. The waters were +pouring in behind Pest from the upper bend of the river. Matters looked +very serious indeed. All communication with the suburb of New Pest was +cut off by the inroads of the flood. The night, with its pall of +darkness, seemed interminable; but at length the morning came, and--God +help us!--what a sea of trouble the light revealed! Whole districts +under water; churches and palaces knee-deep in the flood; and above +Pest--a widespread lake creeping on over the vast plain. + +The only news of the morning was a despairing telegram from Eresi that +the barrier of ice there was immovable. This meant, as I have said +before, that there was no release for the pent-up waters in the ordinary +course. The accumulated flood must swamp the capital, and that soon. The +river had ceased to flow past; it was no longer the "blue Danube" +running merrily its five miles an hour, but a dead sea, an inexorable +volume of water, slowly, silently creeping up to engulf us. Pest is a +city which literally has its foundations made on the sand; a portion of +it is built on the old bed of the Danube. Assuming a certain point as +zero, the official measurements were made from this, and notices were +published that if a maximum of twenty-five feet were attained by the +rising waters, then Pest must inevitably be flooded. + +As evening came on, with the cloudy forecast of more rain, the gravest +anxiety was visible on the face of every soul of that vast multitude. +This anxiety was intensified when it was announced that the latest +measurement was twenty-four feet nine inches; and what was simply +appalling, that the register marked six inches rise in less than an +hour. It was clear to every one that the critical moment had arrived. +There was little to hope, and much to fear. Darkness fell upon as dismal +a scene as imagination could well conceive. If the water once overlapped +the embankment at the fruit-market, it must very soon pour in in vast +volume; for the streets there are considerably lower than the level of +the Corso--as it was, several large blocks of ice had floated or slid +over on the quay. At this spot a serious catastrophe was apprehended. + +I think it must have been ten o'clock (my friends and I had just taken a +hasty supper) when the fortress on the Blocksberg again belched forth +its terrible sound of warning. This time there were six shots fired; +this was the signal of "Pest in danger." A profound impression of alarm +fell on the assembled multitude. Some went about wringing their hands; +others left the Corso hastily, going home, I imagine, to tell their +women to prepare for the worst. I was unconscious at the time of taking +note of things passing round me, and it seems strange, considering the +acute tension of my nerves, that I saw, and can now recall with +persistent accuracy, a lot of trivial and utterly unimportant incidents +that happened in the crowd. I remember the size and colour of a dog that +manifested his share in the common excitement by running perpetually +between everybody's legs, and I could draw the face of a frightened +child whom I saw clinging to its mother's skirts. + +We never quitted the Corso. Though this was the third night we had not +taken off our clothes, it was impossible to think of rest now. I felt no +fatigue, and I hardly know how the last hour or two passed, but I heard +distinctly above the murmur of voices the town clocks strike twelve. +Just afterwards, a man running at full speed broke through the crowd, +shouting as he went, "The water is falling! the water is falling!" He +spoke in German, so I understood the words directly. There was great +excitement to ascertain if the report was correct. Thank God! he spoke +words of truth. The gauge actually marked a decrease of no less than two +inches in the height of the river, and this decrease had taken place in +the space of half an hour. The river had attained the highest point when +the danger-signal was fired. It had never risen beyond, though the level +had been stationary for some time. + +Every one was surprised at the rapid fall of the Danube; it was +difficult to account for. It soon came to be remarked that the vast +volume of water was visibly moved onward. If the river was flowing on +its way, that meant the salvation of the city--the fact was most +important. I myself saw a dark mass--a piece of wreckage, probably, or +the carcass of an animal--pass with some rapidity across a track of +light reflected on the water. It was difficult to make out anything +clearly in the darkness, but I felt sure the object, whatever it was, +was borne onward by the stream. + +It was a generally-expressed opinion that something must have happened +farther down the river to relieve the pent-up waters. Very shortly +official news arrived, and spread like wildfire, that the Danube had +made a way for itself right across the island of Csepel into the +Soroksar arm of the river. + +Csepel is an island some thirty miles long, situated a short distance +below Pest. The engineering works for the regulation of the Danube had, +as I said before, closed this Soroksar branch, and the river, in +reasserting its right of way to the sea, caused a terrible calamity to +the villages on the Csepel Island, but thereby Hungary's capital was +saved. + +[Footnote 22: The Danube at Buda-Pest. Report addressed to Count +Andrassy by J.J. Revy, C.E. 1876.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + + Results of the Danube inundations--State of things at + Baja--Terrible condition of New Pest--Injuries sustained by the + island garden of St. Marguerite--Charity organisation. + + +Though Buda-Pest had escaped the worst of the threatened calamity, the +state of the low-lying suburbs of the town on both sides of the river +was very serious, and, as it turned out, weeks elapsed before the waters +entirely subsided. The extent of the Danube inundations in 1876 was far +greater than the flood of 1838; the latter was localised to Buda-Pest, +where, from the suddenness of the catastrophe, the sacrifice of life was +far greater than at present. But on this occasion the mischief was wide +spread indeed. From Passau to Orsova the banks of the Danube were more +or less flooded. The havoc below Pest was wellnigh incalculable. The +river had in places spread itself out like a small sea, inundating lands +already in seed; this was specially the case at Paks, where both banks +of the river are equally low--as a rule, the left side was the more +flooded the whole way along. + +At Baja the destruction to property was most serious. Some very +important works had just been completed, and these were all swept away +two days after the Danube had burst over the Csepel Island at Pest. It +is a matter of interest to note the travelling rate of the flood, which +from being ice-clogged was less rapid than one would suppose. Baja is +120 miles below Pest. + +The works here referred to were in parts a canal, to feed the old +Francis Canal, which connects the Danube and Theiss, in order to prevent +the stoppage of traffic, unavoidable at low water. The water and ice +brought down by the flood hurled themselves with such force against the +closed gates of the canal that they were burst open, and a masonry wall +7 feet in thickness and 250 in length was entirely overthrown. This +incident, together with many others, helps to illustrate the action of +water in flood as a factor in certain geological changes--the gorge of +Kasan, to wit, where the Danube has broken through the Carpathian chain. + +In the course of little more than a day the waters at Buda-Pest had +fallen two and a half feet; but afterwards the fall was very slow +indeed, which circumstance greatly protracted the misery of the +unfortunate inhabitants of Old Buda and New Pest, the two districts most +seriously compromised. Joining a relief party, I went in a pontoon to +visit New Pest. Vast blocks of ice were lying heaped up amidst the +_debris_ of the ruin they had made; whole terraces and streets were only +distinguishable by lines of rubbish somewhat raised above the flood: the +devastation was complete. + +On our way to the pontoon we passed a tongue of land which had not been +submerged, with a few houses intact. In this street, if it may be so +called, a crowd of more than a hundred women was collected; these were +mostly seated on boxes or other fragments of furniture that had been +saved; one and all had their faces turned towards the waste of waters, +where their homes had been. I shall never forget their looks of mute +despair; there was no crying, no noise, their very silence was a gauge +of the utter misery that had befallen them. + +The sea of trouble in which we found ourselves was strewn with wreckage +of all kinds, including the bodies of many domestic animals. Doubtless +many lives were lost; it will perhaps never be known how many. It was +unfortunate that no service was organised for saving life at the +bridges. Several lamentable accidents and loss of life took place owing +to the drifting away of boats and barges up stream. A friend of mine saw +a barge with four men on board jammed in between blocks of ice, and +hurried under the suspension bridge and down the stream. No one was able +to respond to the heart-rending appeals of the men, who very probably +might have been saved if simply ropes had been hanging from the bridge. +I myself saw a poor fellow perish in those churning waters; it was +terrible to think of his thus drowning in the presence of thousands of +fellow-creatures. + +The amount of wreckage that passed Buda-Pest gave one some idea of the +frightful amount of damage higher up the stream; there were heaps of +barrels, woodstacks, trees, furniture, and even houses with their +chimneys standing! + +The beautiful island of St. Marguerite, just above Buda-Pest, suffered +most severely. It was four feet under water; and the drift ice did +immense damage to the trees, causing abrasions of the bark at eight to +ten feet above the ground. + +It may well be imagined that the Charity Organisation Committee had +enough on their hands. Nearly 20,000 people sought the shelter provided +in the public buildings and other places appointed by the authorities, +and for fully a month after the catastrophe thousands had to be fed +daily at the public expense. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + + Expedition to the Marmaros Mountains--Railways in Hungary--The + train stopping for a rest--The Alfoeld--Shepherds of the plain--Wild + appearance of the Rusniacks--Slavs of Northern Hungary--Marmaros + Szigeth--Difficulty in slinging a hammock--The Jews of + Karasconfalu--Soda manufactory at Boeska--Romantic scenery--Salt + mines--Subterranean lake. + + +The spring was already melting into summer--and the melting process is +pretty rapid in Hungary--when an opportunity occurred enabling me to +visit the north-eastern part of the country with a friend who was going +to the Marmaros Mountains on business. Even this wild and remote +district is not without railway communication, and we took our tickets +for Szigeth, in the county of Marmaros, learning at the same time, to +our great satisfaction, that we could go straight on to our destination +without stopping. Though my friend is a Hungarian the route was as new +to him as to myself. + +The railway system has been enormously extended in this country during +the last ten years. In Transylvania, in the Tokay Hegyalia, in the +Zipsland, and in the mining district of Schemnitz a whole network of +lines has been opened up. Our route from Debreczin to Szigeth is one of +those recently opened. The railway statistics of Hungary are very +significant of progress. In 1864 only 1903 kilometres were open, whereas +ten years later the figures had risen to 6392 kilometres; and the +extension has been very considerable even subsequently, though +enterprise of every kind received a check in 1873, from which the +country has not yet recovered. + +I confess I was very glad to have come in for the days of the iron +horse, for it would be difficult to imagine anything more tiresome than +a drive on ordinary wheels across the vast Hungarian plain. It is so +utterly featureless as to be even without landmarks. Except for the +signs of the heavenly bodies, a man might, in a fit of absence, turn +round and fail to realise whether he was going backwards or forwards. +Right or left, it is all the same monotonous dead level, with scarce an +object on which to rest the eye. Here and there a row of acacia-trees +may be seen marking the boundary of an estate, and near by the sure +indication of a well in the form of a lofty pole balanced transversely; +but even this does not help you, for "grove nods at grove," and what you +have just seen on the right-hand side is sure somehow to be repeated on +the left, so you are all at sea again. + +Sometimes a mirage deludes the traveller in the Hungarian plain with the +fair presentment of a lake fringed with forest-trees; but the semblance +fades into nothingness, and he finds himself still in an endless waste, +"without a mark, without a bound." Dreary, inexpressibly dreary to all +save those who are born within its limits; for, strange to say, they +love their level plain as well, every bit as well, as the mountaineer +loves his cloud-capped home. + +This plain--the Alfoeld, as it is called--comprises an area of 37,400 +square miles, composed chiefly of rich black soil underlain by +water-worn gravel--a significant fact for geologists. It is worthy of +remark that the Magyar race is here found in its greatest purity. Here +the followers of Arpad settled themselves to the congenial life of +herdsmen. At the railway stations one generally sees a lot of these +shepherds from the _puszta_, each with his axe-headed staff and +sheepskin cloak, worn the woolly side outwards if the weather is hot. +They can be scented from afar, and their scent, of all bad smells, is +one of the worst. The fact is, the shepherds keep their bodies well +covered with grease to prevent injurious effects from the very sudden +changes of temperature so common in all Hungary. This smearing of the +skin with grease is also a defence against insects, which seems +probable, if insects have noses to be offended. + +Nowhere does the intrusion of modern art and its appliances strike one +more curiously by force of contrast than in the wilder parts of Hungary. +Just outside the railway station life and manners are what they were two +centuries ago, and yet here are the grappling-irons of civilisation. No +doubt a change will come to all this substratum of humanity, but it +takes time. Even the railways in these wilder parts have not exactly +settled themselves down to the inexorable limits of "time tables." It +occurred on this very journey that we stopped at some small station, for +no particular reason as far as I could see, for nobody got in or out; +but the heat was intense, and so we just made a halt of nearly an hour. +I could not make out what was up at first, but looking out I saw the +stokers, pokers, and engine-driver all calmly enjoying their pipes, +seated on the footboard on the shady side of the train! Some one or two +people remarked that the officials in this part of the world were lazy +fellows, but the passengers generally appeared in no great hurry, and +after a while the train moved on again. At several places on the line we +passed luggage trains waiting on the siding for their turn to be sent on +to Buda-Pest. In many of these open trucks we noticed a considerable +number of those fine Podolian oxen, common in these parts, and lots of +woolly-haired pigs, that look for all the world like sheep at a +distance. + +The effect of tapping these out-lying districts is already producing its +natural result; the cultivator finds a ready market for his produce, and +the value of land is rising, and "_must_ rise in Hungary," says +Professor Wrightson in his report on the agriculture of the +Austro-Hungarian empire.[23] + +In approaching Debreczin we noticed frequent instances of the +efflorescence of soda-salts upon the surface of the soil. This +occurrence greatly impairs the fertility of some parts of the Alfoeld. +Land drainage would probably cure this evil, but I do not fancy any +serious experiments have been tried. Skill and labour have not yet been +brought to bear on the greater part of the land in Hungary. It is a +country where a vast deal has yet to be done, and such are the +prejudices of the common people that improvements cannot be introduced +at once and without some caution; in fact, the material conditions of +the country itself and the climate necessitate considerable experience +on the part of any foreigner who may settle in Hungary and think to +import new fashions in agriculture. + +Stopping at Debreczin only long enough to get a little supper at the +station restaurant, we pursued our journey through the night. I do not +imagine that we lost much that was worthy of note owing to the darkness, +for the line continues to traverse a sanely plain utterly devoid of good +scenery. Towards morning we passed two important towns--namely, Nagy +Karoly and Szathmar. The hitter is the seat of a Catholic bishop, and +has no less than 19,000 inhabitants--a good-sized place for Hungary. In +1711 the peace between the Austrians and Rakoczy was signed in this +town. Not far from here are the celebrated gold, silver, and lead mines +of Nagy Banya. + +We arrived at the junction station of Kiraly-haza early in the morning, +and there learned the agreeable news that we must wait ten hours, though +only a few miles from our destination. From this place there is a line +to Satoralja-Uihely, a junction on the main line between Buda-Pest and +Lemberg. The town of Kiraly-haza is situated in a wide valley bounded by +high mountains. The plain is left far behind, and we are once more under +the shadow of the Carpathians. The heat of the day was intense, and +there was not much in the immediate neighbourhood to tempt us out in the +broiling sun, so we just got through the time as best we could. The food +was very bad and the wine execrable, an adulterated mixture not worthy +of the name. This is a rare occurrence in Hungary, and it ought not to +have been the case here, for there are good vineyards close to the town. + +It was getting towards evening before our train appeared, and when it +stopped at the station as wild a looking crew turned out of the +carriages as I ever remember to have seen. On inquiry I found that these +people were Rusniacks. Their occupation at this time of the year is to +convey rafts down the Theiss. It seems their work was done, and they +were returning by train. After the halt of ten minutes, and when the +passengers were resuming their seats, I found that these fellows were +all crowded into some empty horse-boxes attached to the train. The +officials treated them as if they were very little better than cattle. +These people, with their shoeless feet encased in thongs of leather, +with garments unconscious of the tailor's art, and in some instances +regardless of the primary object of clothes as a human institution, were +the most uncivilised of any I had yet seen in Hungary. + +These Rusniacks, or "Little Russians," as they are called, are tolerably +numerous--not less than 470,000, according to statistical returns. They +are to be found almost exclusively in the north-east of Hungary. They +were fugitives in the old days from Russia, to whom they are intensely +antagonistic, having probably suffered from her persecutions. In +religion they are dissenters from the orthodox Greek Church, +assimilating more with Roman Catholicism. These people are another +variety in the strange mixture of races to be found in Hungary. It is +thought, and it would seem probable, that the very fact of the military +conscription will help to civilise these Rusniacks by drawing them out +of their savage isolation in the wild valleys of the Marmaros Mountains. + +There are many peculiarities respecting the races inhabiting the +northern parts of Hungary. It would be a great mistake to put the Slavs +of the north in the same category with the Slavs of the south: the +former are on far better terms with the Magyars; they are for the most +part contented, hard-working people, not troubling themselves at all +about Panslavism. The reason is not far to seek. The Slovacks, as they +are called by way of distinction, numbering about two millions, do not +belong to the Greek Church. The greater proportion are Roman Catholics, +the rest Lutherans and Calvinists. Many of the Catholics are said to be +descended from refugees who fled from the tyranny of the Greek Church in +Polish Russia. + +After leaving Kiraly-haza we got into charming scenery. As we approached +the Carpathians we passed through vast oak-forests, and here and there +had a glimpse of the Theiss rushing along over its stony bed. +Occasionally we caught sight of herds of buffaloes bathing in the river. +It is difficult to imagine that these fierce-looking creatures, with +their massive shaggy heads, can ever be tractable; yet they can be +managed, though only by kindness--"the rod of correction they cannot +bear." At length we reached the end of our railway journey. Marmaros +Szigeth is the present terminus of the line, and I should say will very +probably remain such; for the iron road would hardly meander through the +denies and over the heights of the Carpathians, to descend into the +sparsely-inhabited wilds of the Bukovina. We sought out the principal +inn at Szigeth, a wretched place, with only one room and a single bed at +our disposal. + +My friend took possession of the bed at my request, for I told him I was +quite independent of the luxury, having provided myself before I left +England with an excellent hammock made of twine. I had learned to sleep +in these contrivances during my naval volunteer days, but the order to +"sling hammocks" would not have been easy to obey under the present +circumstances. I was forced to put my screws in the floor and hang my +net over some heavy furniture; but when I got in, the table that I had +chiefly depended upon gave way with a crash, and I found myself on the +floor. My friend laughed heartily; he had never seen a hammock before, +and, spite of my representations, I do not think he was properly +impressed by the great utility of the invention. Of course I was not to +be foiled, so I cast about for another method of "fixing." I tried +several dodges, but nothing answered exactly; something always gave way +after a few minutes of repose--either I came down with a bump, or some +abominable, ramshackle chest of drawers got over-turned. + +Now my friend was very tired and sleepy, and desired nothing so much as +a little repose. My experiments ceased to interest him, and the noise +caused by my repeated misfortunes irritated him. A large-minded man +would have admired my tenacity of purpose, but he did not. One can never +tell what people are till we travel with them. In a tone of mingled +solicitude and irritation he offered to vacate his bed in my favour. He +declared he would willingly lie on the hard floor, or indeed, if I would +only consent to take his place, he would sit bolt upright in a chair +through the livelong night. + +"I will do anything," he added piteously, "if you will only be quiet +and not try to hang yourself any more in that horrible netting." + +I would not hear of my friend leaving his bed, and after one or two more +mischances self and hammock were suspended for the night at an angle a +trifle too low for the head. Except for the honour and glory of the +thing, perhaps I might have slept as well on the floor; but one does not +carry a patent contrivance all across Europe to be balked of its use +after all. + +My friend woke me once during the night by shaking me roughly. He said I +had nightmare, and made "such a devil of a row that he could not sleep." +I have some dreamy recollection of finding myself in a London +drawing-room in the inexpressibly scanty garments of a Rusniack, and +when I turned to leave in all decent haste I found the way barred by an +insolent fellow with the head of a buffalo bull. When I awoke in the +early morning I found my friend already dressed and rather sulky. He +observed that he had never met a man so addicted to nightmare as myself, +adding, that another time if I must sleep in my hammock, it would be +better to see that the head was higher than the feet. + +"It does not make any difference to me," I replied cheerfully, "I am as +fresh as a lark." + +There was no time for further discussion, for our breakfast was ready (a +very bad breakfast it was, too), and the vehicle we had chartered the +night before was also waiting to convey us some miles into the interior +of the country, to the soda manufactory at Boeska. On our way we passed +through the village of Karasconfalu, inhabited entirely by Polish Jews. +The dirt and squalor of this place beggar description. The dwellings are +not houses, but are simply holes burrowed in the sandbanks, with an +upright stone set up in front to represent a door; windows and chimneys +are unknown. If it were not for a few erections more like ordinary human +habitations, the place might have passed for a gigantic rabbit-warren. +As we drove through we saw some of the villagers engaged in slaughtering +calves and sheep in the middle of the road, the blood running down into +a self-made gutter; it was a sickening sight. The people themselves have +a most peculiar physiognomy, especially the men, who in addition to long +beards wear corkscrew ringlets, which give them a very odd appearance. +Their principal garment is a kind of long brown dressing-gown, which in +its filthy grimness suits the wearer down to the ground. The feet are +bound up in thongs of leather. The shoemaker's trade is apparently +unknown in these parts. The inhabitants of this delightful village have +the reputation of being a set of born cheats and swindlers; if it is +true, then certainly the moral is plain, that dishonesty is not a +thriving trade. The fact is, being all of one sort, the profession is +overcrowded, and the result is that the sharpest amongst them emigrate, +or rather I should say go farther a-field to exercise their craft. I am +told that many of the low Jews, who make themselves a byword and a +reproach by their practices of cheating and usury throughout Hungary, +may be traced back to this foul nest in the Marmaros Mountains. It would +be well for the credit of the Jewish community in Hungary, as well as +elsewhere, if something were done to raise these people out of the utter +degradation which surrounds them from their birth. + +Not far beyond Karasconfalu we came upon Boeska, situated in the midst +of the most beautiful and romantic scenery, not at all suggestive of the +neighbourhood of a chemical manufactory. Putting up at the house of the +manager of the works, we remained here two or three days, during which +time we made some excursions into the heart of the mountains. One of our +drives took us some miles along the side of the beautiful river Theiss, +which though a proverbial sluggard when it reaches the plain, is here a +swift and impetuous stream. Our object was to see the timber-rafts pass +over the rapids; it was a very exciting scene, and as this was a +favourable season, owing to the state of the river, we came in just at +the right time. The Rusniacks--the people generally employed in this +perilous work--certainly display great skill and coolness in the +management of their ticklish craft. If by any mischance the timbers come +in contact with the rocks, then the danger is extreme; and hardly a year +passes that some of the poor fellows do not get carried away in the +swirling waters, which have made for themselves deep and treacherous +holes in this part of the stream. + +The pine-trees in the forests of the Marmaros Mountains are simply +magnificent; the birch and oak are hardly less remarkable. It is really +grievous to see the amount of ruthless destruction which is allowed to +go on in these valuable forests, more especially in those belonging to +the State. It is the old story--the Rusniack herdsman, to get herbage +for his cattle, will set fire to the forest, and perhaps burn some +hundreds of acres of standing timber. The result brings very little good +to himself; but the blackened trunks of thousands of half-burned trees +bear witness to the peasant's inveterate love of waste, and the utter +inefficiency of the forest laws, or rather of their administration. +Throughout Hungary it is the same, the power of the law does not make +itself felt in the remoter provinces. For example, in the year 1877 +there have been scores of incendiary fires in the county of Zemplin; +homesteads, hayricks, and woods have suffered, and yet punishment rarely +falls on the offender. Government should look to this, for lawlessness +is a most infectious disorder. + +The Marmaros district is chiefly known for the salt mines, which have +been worked here for centuries. Salt is a Government monopoly in +Hungary, and is sold at the high price of five florins the +hundredweight, forming, in fact, an important source of revenue. The +mines at Slatina, not far from Szigeth, are well worth a visit. One of +the chambers is of immense size; in this a pyramid of salt is left +untouched, and by its downward growth marks the progress of excavation. +At the foot of this pyramid is a little altar, where every year, on the +3d of March, mass is celebrated with great ceremony, that being the day +of Kunigunde, the patron saint of the mines. + +One of our expeditions was to visit the mines at Ronasick. Here, too, is +an enormous cave with a dome-shaped roof, one hundred and fifty feet +above the surface of the water, which covers the floor to the amazing +depth, it is said, of three hundred feet. Part of the visitor's +programme is to be paddled about on this subterranean lake. We embarked +on a raft slowly propelled by rowers; a cresset fire burning brightly at +the prow of our craft cast strange lights and shadows on the black +waters, added to which the shimmering reflection of the white-ribbed +walls had a very singular effect. But the sensation was still more weird +when we saw other mystic forms appearing from out the black darkness; +first a mere speck of red light was visible, till nearing us we beheld +other boats freighted with grim-looking figures that glided past into +the further darkness. These phantom-like forms, steering their rafts +through the black and silent waters, were grotesquely lit up from time +to time by the pulsating red firelight. It might have been a scene from +Dante's 'Inferno'! + +It was with the sense of escape from a living tomb that we emerged from +the depths below into the upper air, and here awaited us a sight never +to be forgotten, more especially for its singular contrast to the horrid +gloom of the under-world. Here, above ground, in the blessed free +expanse of earth and sky, we beheld the heavens ablaze with all the +intensest glory of a magnificent sunset. One's soul in deep gladness +drank in the ineffable loveliness of nature, as if athirst for the +beauty of light and life. + +[Footnote 23: Journal of Agricultural Society, vol. x. Part xi. No. +xx.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + + The Tokay district--Visit at Schloss G------Wild-boar + hunting--Incidents of the chase. + + +My first expedition to the Tokay district was in the winter; I was then +the guest of Baron V----, who has a charming chateau, surrounded by an +English garden, in this celebrated place of vineyards. + +In the winter there is a very fair amount of good sport in this part of +Hungary. Sometimes one is enabled to go out hare-shooting in sledges; of +course the horses' bells are removed on these occasions. Hares are not +preserved in the Tokay district, but they are pretty numerous. I myself +shot fifty-four in the space of a few weeks, which is nothing compared +to an English battue of a single day; but then this is sport, and there +is immense pleasure in dashing right across country behind a pair of +fleet horses, thinking yourself well repaid if you bag a couple or three +hares in the afternoon's scamper. For wolf and wild-boar hunting one +must penetrate into the forests which extend in the rear of the +southern slopes of this Tokay range of hills. + +During my stay at G---- a party was got up for a few days' shooting in +the interior. On this occasion we were to shoot in Baron Beust's +forests, which extend over an area of about forty miles square; as it +may be supposed, the sport is not the easy affair it is in the +well-stocked parks of Bohemia. + +There was not snow enough for sledging, so we drove to the rendezvous on +wheels, using the springless carts of the country, the roads being far +too rough for ordinary carriages. Wrapped in our _bundas_, we were proof +against the cold. The wolf-skin collar turned up rises above the head +and forms a capital protection; and very necessary it was on this +occasion, for there was a keen cutting wind the day we started. + +I carried a smooth-bore breechloader charged with the largest buck-shot +in one barrel and with a bullet in the other. In Hungary the forests are +usually so thick that one scarcely ever fires at a long range, and heavy +shot at a short distance in a thicket is better than a bullet. After +driving in a break-neck fashion for about two hours we arrived at the +river Bodrog, a tributary of the Theiss. Nearly every winter the country +hereabouts is under water; I remember once seeing it when there was all +the appearance of an extensive inland sea. Sometimes the inundations are +disastrous, but the ordinary flood is an accepted event, and no damage +accrues beyond the prevalence of marsh fever in April and May, when the +water recedes. This part of the country offers first-rate +wildfowl-shooting in the season. + +Everywhere in Hungary the different races are strangely mixed up +together: the Tokay Hegyalia, it is true, is chiefly peopled by Magyars, +and the language is said to be the purest Magyar spoken anywhere; but +there are Slavs and Jews amongst them, and our drive of twenty miles +brought us into an area where the Slavs predominate. The difference of +these races is very marked: the one, fair complexioned and blue eyed; +the Magyar, dark, almost swarthy amongst the lower classes. At +Olasz-Liszka, a small town within the Tokay district, there is an +Italian colony, as the name Olasz (Italian) would imply. As long ago as +the days of Bela II. this place was peopled by Italian immigrants from +the neighbourhood of Venice, invited hither by the king, who greatly +encouraged the cultivation of the vine. + +Go where you will in this country, there is a Babel of tongues. In this +instance our special coachman was a Bohemian, speaking his own +language--a very different dialect from the Slovacks who were the +"beaters" for our hunt. The gamekeepers, or rather the foresters (for +the game is of secondary consideration), were all Magyars. Their +language, as we know, bears no affinity to any of the rest. The marvel +is that the world gets on at all down here. The gentlemen of our party +spoke together indifferently German, French, and English. + +It is curious to hear the peasant come out with, "Why the Tartar are you +doing this?" for an angry expletive. It is a relic of the old troubled +times when the country suffered from the frequent depredations of Turks +and Tartars. The Tokay district, say the chronicles, was fearfully +harassed by the Turks as late as 1678. + +It is worth while recalling a contemporaneous fact. In 1529 the crescent +had been substituted for the cross on the Cathedral of Vienna to +propitiate the Turks, and it was not till 1683 that the symbol of the +dreaded Moslem was removed. When the Hungarians ceased to fear the Turk, +they ceased to hate him; and since 1848 they remember only the generous +hospitality of the Porte, and the cruel aggressions and treachery of the +Russians. The Slav has a longer memory, for to this day he repeats the +saying, "Where the Turk comes, there no grass grows." + +When we arrived at our destination our appetites were far too keenly set +to think about the Eastern Question, and right glad were we to see +active preparations for supper. The national dishes, the _gulyas hus_ +and the _paprika handl_, were produced amongst a number of other good +things, such as roast hare. You get to like the _paprika_, or red +pepper, very much. I wonder it is not introduced into English cookery, +it makes such a pretty-coloured gravy. If the traveller finds himself +attacked by marsh fever, and should chance to be without quinine (a +great mistake, by the way), let him substitute a spoonful of _paprika_ +mixed with a little red wine, repeating the dose every four hours if +necessary. While smoking our peace-pipes after supper, one of the +keepers came in to announce the welcome fact that it was snowing hard; +fresh-lain snow would materially increase our chances of tracking the +wild-boar. + +Next morning when we started the weather had somewhat cleared, which was +just as well, seeing we had to walk two or three miles to our first +battue. Arrived at the rendezvous, we found the "beaters" waiting for +us. They were a wild-looking crew were those Slovacks, with shaggy coats +of black sheepskin, and in their hands the usual long staff with the axe +at one end. Notwithstanding their uncouth appearance, later experience +has shown me that the Slovacks, as a rule, are patient, hard-working +people. + +The forest where we were consisted entirely of beech and oak. The acorns +attract the wild-boar, which have increased in a very remarkable manner +in this locality. I was told that twenty years ago there were no +wild-boar in these forests, while now there are hundreds. This seems +odd, for the oak-trees are pretty well as old as the hills, and offered +the same temptation in the way of food formerly as now. In fact the +increase of the wild-boar is a serious nuisance to the vine-grower, for +they tramp across to the southern hill-slopes, and occasionally make +raids on the vineyards, devouring the grapes with unparalleled +greediness, and what is still worse, they will sometimes plough up and +destroy a whole plot of carefully-tended vineyard. + +Formerly there were many deer in these forests, but now there are only a +few roedeer. We saw no traces of wolves on this occasion, but there are +plenty in this part of the country. + +We were only ten guns, and were soon posted each man in his proper +position waiting for the _schwarzwild_, as the Germans say; but, alas! +nothing appeared till the beaters themselves came in sight. So we had to +organise battue number two. The beaters walk quietly forward, tapping +the trees now and then. This is quite noise enough for the purpose of +rousing the game; if they shouted or made too much row, the game would +get wild and scared. + +In the next battue I had hardly been five minutes at my post when I +heard from behind the breaking of dead branches, as of some animal +advancing slowly. It was a fine buck which made his appearance, but he +scented me and made off. Again about a hundred yards off I got a glimpse +of him between the trees. I fired with effect. We found him afterwards +about two hundred yards farther on, where he had fallen. It was very +provoking; up to lunch-time we sighted no wild-boar, though we saw by +the snow that they must have been about the hillside during the night. +We had soon a good fire blazing, at which robber-steak was nicely +cooked. I never enjoyed anything more. We washed down our repast with +good Tokay. + +After luncheon we commenced work again. By this time we had advanced +into the very heart of the forest. The smooth boles of the tall +beech-trees looked grand in their winter nakedness, rising like columns +from the white frost-bespangled ground. I took up my stand, gun in +readiness, waiting for the tramp, the snort, or the grizzly dark form of +the wild-boar, but nothing came to disturb the utter solitude of the +scene. + +But hark! I hear shots fired repeatedly in the lower valley. I, too, +begin to look out with quickened pulse, peering into the misty depths of +the forest, and with ear alert for every sound, but all to no purpose. +Nothing comes my way, though again I hear two more shots echo sharply in +the narrow valley nearer to me than before. After the lapse of a few +minutes the beaters came up, breaking through the dead branches of +undercover. I knew now that my own chance was gone, but I was curious to +know what had happened, and joining two of my friends whose "stand" had +been near mine, we hurried down the valley to see what sport had turned +up for the other guns. On inquiry it appeared that at least seventy +wild-boars had passed close to one of our party, but the sight of so +many at once had made his aim unsteady, and he only succeeded in +wounding one of the number. The animal had dashed into the half-frozen +stream at the bottom of the valley, and our friend had to reload and +give him his final shot there. + +We formed one more battue, but nothing came of it, and it was already +high time to return to our quarters, for the whole scene was growing dim +in the wintry twilight. Some of the party, myself included, went by +arrangement to the house of one of the foresters. The good people, in +their desire to be hospitable, gave us a warm reception. They had heated +the rooms to such an extent that we were almost baked alive. + +The next morning we resumed our sport. During the first battue eight +wild-boars were sighted. One was shot instantly; the others broke +through the line of beaters, but in doing so a very unusual thing +happened, for one of the foresters succeeded in killing a boar by a +tremendous blow from his axe. We were very much surprised that the +animal had come near enough, for as a rule they will not approach human +beings except when wounded, and then they are most formidable +assailants. I regret to say that one of our dogs was ripped up by one of +this herd of eight. + +This was the beginning and end of our sport for the day. Our indifferent +luck was to be accounted for from the fact of there being, comparatively +speaking, not much snow. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + + Tokay vineyards--The vine-grower's difficulties--Geology of the + Hegyalia--The Pope's compliment to the wine of Tallya--Towns of the + Hegyalia--Farming--System of wages at harvest--The different sorts + of Tokay wine. + + +The vintage is the season of all others for Tokay; in former days it was +a very gay affair, for then every noble family in Hungary, especially +the bishops, had vineyards in the Hegyalia, and the magnates came to the +vintage with large retinues of servants and horses; and feasting and +hospitality were the order of the day. In the good old times every +important event in the family was celebrated by much drinking of Tokay, +but in those degenerate days other fashions prevail. Before their +kingdom was dismembered the Poles were the best customers for Tokay +wine, but they are too poor now to have such luxuries; added to this, +Russia has for nearly a century past laid an almost prohibitive duty on +Hungarian wine. The fiscal impositions of Austria have also weighed +heavily on Hungary's productions. At present North Germany and +Scandinavia are amongst the most ready purchasers of Tokay; and England +is beginning to appreciate the "Szamarodni" or "dry Tokay," remarkable +for the absence of all deleterious sweetness. + +In good years the vintage of Tokay may be estimated at something like +150,000 _eimers_, an _eimer_ being about two and a half gallons; but a +really good year is the exception, not the rule. For three years (since +1874) the vintages have all been below the average. The season of 1876 +was a complete failure; a disastrous frost on the 19th of May in that +year completely destroyed the hopes and prospects of the vine-grower. +Indeed he has a trying life of it, for his hopes go up and down with the +barometer. If his vines escape the much-dreaded May frosts, there is a +risk that the summer may be too wet for the grapes, which love sunshine. +Then, again, in the hottest summers there are violent hail-storms, and +in half an hour he may see his promising crop beaten to the ground. It +has been well remarked that "the weather seems to have no control over +itself in Hungary." + +The vine-grower's troubles do not end when the vintage is successfully +over. Tokay is a troublesome wine in respect to fermentation; it +requires three years before it can travel, and even when these critical +years are over, the wine will sometimes get "sick" in the spring--at +the identical time when the sap rises in the living plant. + +The unique quality of the Tokay is due to the soil, and perhaps to some +other conditions; but not to the peculiarity of the grape, for, as a +matter of fact, they grow a variety of sorts. The cultivation of the +vine appears to be of great antiquity in this part of the world. The +introduction of the plant is attributed to the inevitable Phoenician; +but, treading on more assured historic ground, we find that King Bela +IV., in the thirteenth century, caused new kinds of grapes to be +imported from Italy, and brought about an improvement generally in the +culture of the vine. + +But to return to the question of the soil. The Tokay Eperies group of +hills is one of several well-defined groups of volcanic rocks that exist +in Hungary and Transylvania. In the Tokay district the formations are +partly eruptive, partly sedimentary, but nowhere older than the Tertiary +period, say the geologists. The Hegyalia (which means "mountain-slopes" +in the Magyar tongue) forms the southern spur of the extended volcanic +region, composed of trachyte and rhyolithe, beginning at Eperies and +terminating in the conical hill of Tokay, which protrudes itself so +singularly into the Alfoeld, or plain. + +But the vine-growing district does not end at Tokay; it continues on +the eastern slopes of the mountain range as far as Uihely, forming two +sides of an irregular triangle, and the total length, say from Szanto in +the west to Tokay, and from Tokay to Uihely, being about thirty-eight +miles. + +As a matter of fact, Tokay, which gives its name to the wine, does not +produce the best vintage; other localities are more esteemed. Tallya, +for example, situated a few miles east of Szanto, has long been +renowned. As early as the sixteenth century the excellence of the wine +from this district was acknowledged by infallible authority. It appears +that during the sitting of the Council of Trent, wines were produced +from all parts for the delectation of the holy fathers. George +Draskovics, the Bishop of Fuenfkirchen, brought some of his celebrated +vintage, and presenting a glass of it to the Pope, observed that it was +_Tallya_ wine. Whereupon his Holiness pronounced it to be nectar, +surpassing all other wines, exclaiming with ready wit, "Summum +Pontificum _talia_ vina decent." This place, so happily distinguished by +Papal wit, is pleasantly situated on the side of the hill; it possesses +about 2100 acres of vineyards. + +The places in the Hegyalia are all called towns, though in reality they +are not much more than large villages. Tokay has 4000 inhabitants; it +is at the foot of the hill, close to the junction of the Theiss and the +Bodrog; a ruined castle forms a picturesque object in the foreground, +and beyond is the far-stretching plain. Professor Judd says[24] that at +one period of their history "the volcanic islands of Hungary must have +been very similar in appearance to those of the Grecian Archipelago." +Looking at the conical-shaped hill of Tokay, and the other +configurations of the range, it is quite easy to take in the idea, and +under certain atmospheric conditions the great plain very closely +resembles an inland sea. + +At Tokay the Theiss becomes navigable for steamers, but the circuitous +course of the river prevents much traffic, more especially since the +extension of railways. The next place is Tarczal, and here the Emperor +of Austria has some fine vineyards. Some people have an idea that all +the wine grown in the whole district is Imperial Tokay, and that the +vineyards themselves, one and all, are imperial property. This is very +far from being the case; in fact, since 1848, the peasant proprietors +hold more largely than any other class. The easy transfer of land +facilitates the purchase of small lots, and the result is that every +peasant in the Hegyalia tries to possess himself of an acre or two, or +even half an acre of vineyard. The cultivation seems to pay them well; +but a succession of bad seasons must be very trying, for the vineyards +cannot be neglected be the year good or bad. + +At Zombar, a village in this locality, there is a good instance of what +can be got out of reclaimed land; it was formerly under water for the +greater portion of the year. The soil is so rich in decayed vegetable +matter as to be almost black, and now grows excellent crops of tobacco +and Indian corn. The country north-east of Tokay is certainly the most +picturesque side, there is more foliage, and there is also water. + +The first time I drove through Bodrog-Keresztur, which is on this side, +I thought that, notwithstanding the pretty country, I had never seen so +desolate a place. The town was once famed for its markets, but the +railways have changed all this; almost every other house is a ruin, and +large trees may be seen growing between the walls. + +In the last century a company of Russian soldiers were stationed here +for the purpose of buying Tokay wine for the Russian Court. + +One of the prettiest little places in the Hegyalia is Erdoe-Benye; it is +off the main road, right in amongst the hills. It boasts the largest +wine-cellar in the whole district; it has twenty-two ramifications at +two different levels, the whole being cut out of the solid rock; it is +more like a subterranean labyrinth than a cellar. This place was +formerly the property of the renowned family of Rakoczy, who played no +mean part in Hungarian history. Not far from Erdoe-Benye are +mineral-water baths, romantically situated in the oak-forest. + +Saros Patak and Uihely are the two most noteworthy towns in the +north-eastern side of the Tokay triangle. The first named has a +Calvinist college of some considerable reputation, a library of 24,000 +volumes, a printing-press, and a botanical garden. Uihely is the county +town of Zemplin. An agricultural show was held here last spring (1877), +which I attended. Our English-made agricultural implements were very +much to the fore on this occasion. Some people complain of these +machines on the score of their getting out of order rather easily, and +of the immense difficulty of having them repaired in the country. This +objection, I have heard, does not apply alike to all the English makers. +At this show there were some new kinds of wine-presses which attracted a +good deal of attention; before long no doubt not a few changes will be +effected in the process of wine-making in Tokay. Considering that +Hungary holds the third rank in Europe as a wine-producing country, the +whole question of the manipulation of wine is a very important one for +her. + +Amongst the live stock at this show I noticed some very fine merino +sheep. In Hungary the wool-producing quality is everything in sheep, as +mutton has hardly any value. This was only a country show, and the +horses, from an Englishman's point of view, were not worth looking at; +but there are plenty of fine horses in Hungary. The Government has been +at immense pains to improve the breed by introducing English and Arabian +sires. For practical purposes the native breed must not be decried; the +Hungarian horse, though small, has many excellent qualities. For +ordinary animals the prices are very low, which fact does not encourage +the peasants to take much care of the foals. On this occasion I bought a +couple of horses for farming purposes; the two only cost me about L11. + +With regard to farming, our English notions of "high farming" will not +do in Hungary; what is called the "extensive system" pays best. For +instance, if I were already farming, and had some disposable capital at +hand, I should find it pay me better to invest in buying more land than +in trying to increase the produce of what I had already in hand. After +some practical experience in the country, I have no hesitation in saying +that Hungary offers a good field for the employment of English capital. + +Vineyards, on the other hand, can only be worked "intensively." Nothing +requires more care and attention. To begin with, the aspect of the vine +garden influences the quality of the wine immensely. Then there is the +soil. The best is the plastic clay (_nyirok_), which appears to be the +product of the direct chemical decomposition of volcanic rock. This clay +absorbs water but very slowly, and is, in short, the most favourable to +the growth of the vine. As the vines are mostly on the steep hillsides, +low walls are built to prevent the earth from being washed away. In the +early spring one of the first things to be done is to repair the +inevitable damage done by the winter rain or snow to these walls, and to +clear the ditches, which are carefully constructed to carry off the +excess of water. I should observe that in the autumn, soon after the +vintage, the earth is heaped up round the vines to protect them from the +intense cold which prevails here, and directly the spring comes, one +must open up the vines again. In Tokay the vines are never trellised, +they are disposed irregularly, not even in rows--the better to escape +the denudation of their roots by rain. Each vine is supported by an oak +stick, which, removed in autumn, is replaced in spring after the +process of pruning. When the young shoots are long enough they are bound +to these sticks, and are not allowed to grow beyond them. + +No less than three times during the summer the earth should be dug up +round the roots of the vine, and it is very desirable to get the second +digging over before the harvest, for when harvest has once commenced it +is impossible to get labourers at any price. The harvest operations +generally begin at the end of June, and last six weeks. In the part of +Hungary of which I am now speaking the labourer gets a certain +proportion of the harvest. In this district he has every eleventh stack +of corn, and as they are fed as well during the time, a man and his wife +can generally earn enough corn for the whole year. The summers are +intensely hot, and the work in consequence very fatiguing. The poor +fellows are often stricken with fever, the result, in some cases, of +their own imprudence in eating water-melons to excess. + +It is not till the third or fourth week in October that the vintage is +to be looked for. It is not the abundance of grapes that makes a good +year; the test is the amount of dried grapes, for it is to these brown +withered-looking berries that the unique character of the-wine is due. +If the season is favourable, the over-ripe grapes crack in September, +when the watery particles evaporate, leaving the rasin-like grape with +its undissipated saccharine matter. + +In order to make "Essenz," these dry grapes are separated from the rest, +placed in tubs with holes perforated at the bottom. The juice is allowed +to squeeze out by the mere weight of the fruit into a vessel placed +beneath. After several years' keeping this liquid becomes a drinkable +wine, but of course it is always very costly. This is really only a +liqueur. The wine locally called "Ausbruch" is the more generally known +sweet Tokay, a delicious wine, but also very expensive. It is said to +possess wonderfully restorative properties in sickness and in advanced +age. + +Another quality, differently treated, but of the same vintage, is called +"Szamarodni," now known in the English market as "dry Tokay." This dry +wine preserves the bouquet and strength of the ordinary Tokay, but it is +absolutely without any appreciable "sweetness." In order to produce +Szamarodni the dry grapes must not be separated from the others. The +proportion of alcohol is from twelve to fifteen per cent. + +When first I saw the vintage in the Tokay district, I was greatly +interested in the novelty of the whole scene. It is well worth the +stranger's while to turn aside from the beaten track and join for once +in this characteristic Hungarian festivity, for nowhere is the Magyar +more at home than in the vine-growing Hegyalia. + +[Footnote 24: Ancient Volcanoes of Hungary.] + + +THE END. + + +MUIR AND PATERSON, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. + + +[Illustration: Map of the BANAT and TRANSYLVANIA with Mr. Crosse's +Route] + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Round About the Carpathians, by Andrew F. 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