Round About the Carpathians Part 4

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 const.i.tuents, 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 pa.s.sengers 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 a.s.sured 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 pet.i.tion 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 princ.i.p.al 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 circ.u.mstance, 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 st.u.r.dy 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 G.o.ds, with what an appet.i.te 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 s.p.a.ces 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 amus.e.m.e.nt. 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 _Forstmeister_ (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 pa.s.sed 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 ma.s.s of rich colouring is indeed glorious. Meanwhile gay b.u.t.terflies 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 pa.s.s 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 sh.o.r.e, 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 pa.s.sed 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 s.p.a.ce 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 pa.s.sed 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 surpa.s.singly 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.