THE MILITARY FRONTIERS.
MILITARY CONSTITUTION--CARLSTADT FRONTIER--BANAL
FRONTIER--SLAVONIA--BANAT FRONTIER.
The border of the Austrian empire from Povile on the coast of the
Adriatic Sea to the Northern frontiers of Dalmatia, and thence through
Croatia, Slavonia, the Banat and Transylvania, to Bukowina, has a
military constitution peculiar to itself. In this tract, containing
nearly a million of inhabitants, the men capable of bearing arms must
always hold themselves in readiness to abandon the plough and home,
for the purpose of averting the dangers with which they are threatened
by rapacious neighbours, or by commodities impregnated with
pestilence.
The inhabitant of the frontiers, at once a husbandman and a soldier,
holds his lands on condition of taking up arms when required. In
Transylvania he is the absolute proprietor of the ground he
cultivates: in the Banat, Slavonia and Croatia, he is bound by certain
restrictions somewhat like those of the feudal tenures of old, without
however being obstructed in the enjoyment of the fruits of his
industry.
The perfidy of an individual draws down punishment on himself alone:
his family still retains its right to the possession of his lands, and
this right also devolves to females when they marry of their own
choice, and continue to reside upon them; nay even when there is not a
male left in the house capable of bearing arms, still the land is not
taken away.
As all the males capable of bearing arms are not called out at once,
and every house cannot furnish the number proportioned to the land
belonging to it, some other method of equalizing the burdens has been
found necessary. To this end a moderate tax is levied upon the land,
and from this fund a certain allowance is made to each person while in
actual service. Towards the repairing and keeping up of the public
works, such as buildings, roads and the like, each inhabitant of the
frontiers performs gratuitously a certain quantity of labour
proportionate to the extent of his land.
Agriculture and the breeding of cattle are the principal resources of
the inhabitants of the frontiers. In order that the most necessary
trades may not be wanting, particular places are appointed where the
mechanic, artist, tradesman and merchant may exercise their respective
professions without being subject to military duty. These places are
called military communities, and have regular municipal institutions
like other towns.
The rest of the frontier territory is divided into regimental
districts, of which seventeen are appropriated to infantry, one to
cavalry, and one to the Pontoneers or Watermen. Each regimental
district contains on an average from forty to fifty thousand souls.
Out of the males fit for service in each district two battalions are
formed in time of peace. The house to which each man on duty belongs,
furnishes him with food and clothing, and the state with arms and
ammunition. In peace his chief occupation consists in protecting the
frontiers from the incursions of the Turks, the depredations of
banditti, and the introduction of the plague and contraband goods.
These men are stationed in watch-houses partly of masonry and partly
elevated on high poles, which are erected along the whole frontier at
such moderate distances that one post can alarm and assist the other
in case of emergency. This chain of posts is strengthened, when the
danger of attack or of infection by the plague becomes more imminent.
CARLSTADT FRONTIER. THE VICE-HARAM-BASSA OF THE SZERESSANS.
Besides the frontier cordon there is in the Carlstadt and Banal
frontier a chosen band of clever, trusty, and tried guards called by
the ancient appellation of Szeressans. They go according to
circumstances either singly or in companies, on foot or on horseback
to discover the most secret plans and stratagems of their rapacious
Turkish neighbours, which they seldom fail to counteract and
frustrate, and are particularly ingenious in the discovery of
concealed plunder.
The chief of these Szeressans is styled Haram-Bassa. When fully
equipped, he wears a sort of red uniform coat and waistcoat, blue
pantaloons, and a sharp-pointed cap of green cloth, turned up with a
red and white striped stuff. His arms consist of a musquet, with which
he hits his man with never failing certainty at the distance of three
hundred paces, a pair of pistols for nearer objects, a Turkish knife
and a sword for close quarters; and on busy days there is none of
these weapons perhaps but what he employs. In bad weather a wide red
mantle with a hood covers both his person and his arms.
[Illustration: TANASZIA DOROJEVICH. _VICE HAROM-BASSA OF THE
SERISCHANS._]
The second in command, called Vice-Haram-Bassa, is represented in the
annexed plate. He is armed like his superior, but appears here in his
ordinary dress. His pipe is his constant companion. His horse, with
his red mantle thrown carelessly over the saddle when he dismounts, is
his constant companion and grazes by his side. The horse in this
country is seldom allowed a feed of oats; grass in summer and hay in
winter constitute the whole of his subsistence. But little attention
is paid to him in other respects, nay more frequently the horse is
teased and ill used by his master; hence he is generally unsteady and
shy, and a stranger must use great caution in riding him. These
animals are small, hardy, and sure-footed, and are extremely useful
for carrying moderate loads over the mountains, and for riding in
steep, rugged, and scarcely beaten roads. They have their own pace
which the rider must let them pursue, or he is more likely to be
dismounted than to make them stir from the spot.
In the mountains of Croatia the horses are seldom employed for
draught; and it is at the risk of life or goods that they are
harnessed to any vehicle. If, however, by coaxing, this point has been
accomplished, and the driver has set them a-going, he cannot answer
for their proceeding. Each pulls a different way; the rotten harness,
perhaps, botched together at the moment when it is wanted, snaps at
the least strain; the drivers, generally as numerous as the horses,
are as far from agreeing as the latter. The utmost confusion of course
arises on the least accident. The men invoke all the saints and all
the devils to their assistance: in the most fortunate event, the
vehicle is left behind, but more commonly it is broken to pieces.
Whoever, therefore, values a whole skin will do well not to trust
himself in this mountainous region to any vehicle without the greatest
precaution. On the high road from Carlstadt to Zeng the traveller will
find horses trained to draw, but not in the by-roads in the interior
of the country.
In their manners and way of life, as well as in their clothing and
arms, the people of the frontiers hold an intermediate place between
the Oriental and the European. The husbandman goes out armed to his
agricultural labours, and with trembling he commits the seed to the
bosom of the earth. Unless he keeps constantly on the watch the green
corn is either cut down or fed off; and when the farmer has reaped his
scanty crop he is frequently obliged to fight his way home with it.
In winter the frontiers are more safe, and the duty of guarding them
is less arduous than in summer. The footmarks in the snow betray the
retreat of the robber, and there is no friendly thicket to shelter
him: he is therefore not very willing to venture forth amid tempests
and intense cold for the sake of a precarious and uncertain gain. On
the other hand, the inclemency of the weather renders the service of
the frontier posts more severe. Nothing but the iron constitutions of
these men could withstand the incessant changes of temperature. One
day perhaps a furious north or north-east wind brings snow, covers all
the roads and freezes every limb: the next an equally tempestuous
south-east, produces a thaw and suddenly inundates the country. The
houses, slight and unsubstantial, suffer from both, and the roofs and
out-buildings are destroyed by the fury of the storm.
Amid these incessant changes, the winter in these elevated regions is
unhealthy and destructive. When the storm keeps all inhabitants
closely imprisoned in the smoky huts, the frontier-man on duty at his
post, frequently receives a visit from a hungry wolf prowling about in
quest of prey. Thus engaged in an incessant conflict with a rude
nature and savage neighbours, is it surprising that these people
should have advanced no farther than a half-civilized state!
UNMARRIED FEMALE OF THE DRAGATHAL.
The features and dress of the unmarried female of the Dragathal belong
to Italy; but the Croat and the Wende are here mingled with the
Italian. Language, manners, and costume indicate the intermixture of
nations between Trieste and Zeng, and exhibit in visible gradations
the transition from one to another.
The districts of the regiments of Licca and Ottochacz are intersected
by bare, craggy mountains, which form a broken elevated tract not
unlike in appearance to the deserts of South Africa. These mountains
consist chiefly of chalk, naked and rugged at the top, and bearing
lower down a scanty vegetation. The valleys and plains are covered
with a thin layer of mould, but are in part as dreary as the mountains
which surround them.
The elevated situation, the vicinity of the sea, and the want of wood,
expose this country to the fury of the tempests and to all the
caprices of the weather. For weeks together bleak north and north-east
winds prevail; all at once they change to milder, but equally violent
gales from the south and south-east. As the temperature suddenly
varies with the change of the wind, from the most intense cold to
thaw, or a mild day is succeeded by a frosty night, so also the falls
of rain or snow are generally sudden and excessive.
In these parts the cottages must be built low, and the nearly flat
roof of boards, fastened with long projecting wooden pins, must be
farther secured by very heavy stones--a precaution employed for the
same reason among the mountains of Switzerland. The soil must never be
lightened for the reception of the seed, otherwise it would scarcely
fail to be blown away like dust. The poor, shallow, hard ground
therefore can scarcely be expected to produce good crops; and such as
it does bear are exposed to other dangers before they attain maturity.
Millet, the favourite grain of the husbandman, is frequently cut off
by a single frost in the beginning of September.
Under such circumstances, the fruitful and middling years could not
make amends for the unfavourable seasons even to an industrious
people, and much less to the inhabitants of these frontiers, who are
apt to consider labour as not belonging to their vocation. The
government is in consequence frequently obliged to step in to their
relief, and to save them by abundant supplies from starvation.
Regularity and perseverance are not virtues of these people. Like men
in a state of nature they are fond of variety and of extremes.
Military service, hunting, the transport of wares on horses, and
traffic on the cordon are occupations which they like: domestic and
agricultural employments are too tedious and quiet, and these
therefore in general fall to the share of the women.
If, however, one of these men goes out at all to the fields, he first
chats away some hours by the side of the fire in the middle of the
floor; and when he is urged to repair to his work, he coolly replies,
that a wise man never leaves his house till the sun is over his
fields. He is remiss at every kind of labour; whether he is using the
hoe, the axe, the trowel, or the spade, he handles it as though he
were afraid of hurting the implement. To him work is worse than severe
want. The wife on the other hand is incessantly employed. All the
apparel worn by herself, her husband, and her children, is, with some
trifling exceptions, her own work. She spins, dyes, and weaves the
linen and woollen stuffs for this purpose, and makes them up into
garments, besides washing and attending to her house and kitchen. The
shoes alone, made of untanned hide, are the work of the man. Hard
labour and early marriages cause the women to lose all the charms of
youth much sooner than in many other countries.
The character of the country from Trieste to Zara is uniformly the
same. The width of the plain, which intervenes between the sea and the
range of naked mountains, alone distinguishes the nature of the
country in this long tract, and determines the degree of vegetation
peculiar to each spot. The Draga of the Fiume is destitute of the
majesty of wood, and of the refreshing verdure of extensive
pasturages. The olive, the fig-tree and the vine indeed here furnish
their valuable fruit, but they confer neither affluence nor the
appearance of it.
[Illustration: UNMARRIED FEMALE of OTTOCHACZ.]
UNMARRIED FEMALE OF OTTOCHACZ.
The annexed plate represents an unmarried female of Ottochacz. She
wears a long open jacket without sleeves, neatly embroidered on the
edges, and her hair, carefully plaited in tresses, is covered with a
cap of red cloth. The apron universally exhibits a variety of gay
colours. Married women are distinguished from virgins by wearing one
of these aprons behind as well as before, and a large cloth resembling
a mantle over the head and shoulders.
In Upper Croatia, in the county of Warasdin, for example, the dress of
the women considerably resembles the above, but is more elegant. On
the head is placed a large square of white linen, forming a roll in
front, one fold falling over the back and two lying on the shoulders.
The margins are adorned with borders of coarse lace two or three
inches deep. The vest is of woollen cloth, fitted to the body, without
sleeves, and descending below the knees, where it is trimmed with a
few coloured stripes, generally red and bordered by fringe or lace.
The white shift-sleeves hang large and loose, and are likewise
ornamented with coarse lace. The vest is of two kinds, either opening
on the sides or before, so as to display the laced front of a bodice
held together by clasps, formed of bunches of coloured glass beads.
Below the vest about two inches of a white petticoat appear, and below
this another petticoat neatly plaited; and beneath all, boots either
of black or yellow leather. They likewise wear coarse linen shawls
folded round their shoulders and arms.
BANAL FRONTIER.
The districts of the two Banal regiments are situated on the decline
of the mountains into the plain. They present a great diversity of
ground and scenery. Considerable forests, beautiful valleys, and
extensive pastures succeed each other; and notwithstanding the change
of country, the character of the inhabitants remains the same.
The indigence and want of activity prevailing among the people of
these districts has been ascribed, and not unjustly, to the excessive
magnitude of the houses. The village of Boroevich was formerly at
least inhabited almost exclusively by the family after which it was
named, and there were houses which contained from fifty to one hundred
inmates. Such houses furnished many men for the service, but at the
same time they were nurseries of discontent and crimes.
Before the division of families was authorized by law, the father of
each with his immediate offspring remained in the original habitation.
On the marriage of any of his descendants, the new couple built
themselves a tenement contiguous and a chamber without a window. Here
they slept and deposited what belonged to them exclusively. The father
still retained and managed the general property. In his house were the
common fire and table for the whole family, no individual being
allowed to cook for himself. This separation, however, promoted
neither peace nor prosperity: the law therefore interfered and fixed
the principles for the partition of too large family-communities. Time
will soon show how much the industry and morality of these people have
been improved by this measure, without any prejudice to the service.
UNMARRIED FEMALE OF GLINA.
In the annexed representation of a young female of Glina, we again
observe the red cap, but of a different form from that shown in the
last engraving. In this instance it merely covers the crown of the
head, the hair of which is tressed on each side and turned up behind.
The tresses are frequently adorned with shells, metal rings, and other
trinkets, and the costume in general resembles in cut and fashion that
of the upper frontiers.
[Illustration: UNMARRIED FEMALE of GLINA.]
WOMAN OF DUBITZA.
False tresses, hanging down low and covered with a handkerchief, give
a peculiar character to the head-dress of the women in the environs of
Dubitza. The apron is fastened on by a belt decorated with coins; the
wide, open sleeves of the chemise are neatly bordered with embroidery,
and over it is worn a long open jacket.
The river Unna here forms the boundary between the Turkish and
Austrian empires. The decayed fortress of Dubitza itself, on the right
bank of that river, belongs to the former. Nature has rendered the
valley watered by the Unna one of the most fertile and delightful of
the abodes of man. The hills gently rise on each bank of the river,
which has a strong navigable current, and vegetation finds a rich soil
to their very tops. The climate too is mild; but man is the only
obstacle to the improvement of these advantages. The Turks and Turkish
subjects in this valley have long been reckoned the most pestilent
disturbers of the tranquillity of their neighbours. Being eternally at
variance among themselves, it is not surprising that they should annoy
the inhabitants of the Austrian frontiers.
SLAVONIA.
In many parts of the Banal frontier the country and its inhabitants
strongly remind the spectator of the upper regimental districts, but
the scene is totally changed on entering Slavonia. These frontiers are
marked by great rivers and by sandy and muddy marsh-land. Here the
husbandman does not dread the fury of tempests, but the inundation of
waters. The genial warmth of a climate more than mild produces a
profusion of the finest fruits. The soil supplies man with abundance
of corn and wine, and animals with rich herbage. The very forests
support besides various species of game hundreds of thousands of
monstrous swine, great numbers of which are sent to the capital, and
thus contribute not only to the subsistence but to the opulence of the
inhabitants. The river Save, which forms the Southern boundary of the
country, and facilitates commercial communication, protects the
Slavonian from the incursions of his predatory neighbours better than
fortifications and sentinels. What nature affords and industry
acquires, he therefore enjoys in peace and security. He is in
consequence much more civilized and assiduous than his neighbours on
the Western frontiers; his dress is neater, his food and implements
are superior, his cattle are better treated and better fed; in short
every thing about him denotes greater affluence.
For the sake of greater security, and to accelerate civilization, the
scattered houses were collected into villages upon the road. The
inhabitants now enjoy in peace the benefit of this regulation; and the
traveller blesses that power, which commanded the roads to be planted
with trees which, while they afford him a refreshing shade from the
intense heat, supply the inhabitants with food for the lucrative
silk-worm.
Attempts have been made in other parts of Hungary to rear this insect,
and with considerable success, owing to the encouragement afforded by
government. The greatest yearly produce was in 1801, when the royal
silk-establishments yielded about eighteen thousand pounds weight, and
those of private individuals about three thousand. By far the greater
part comes from the military frontiers.
CLEMENTINIAN WOMEN.
At the beginning of the last century emigrants from Bosnia, calling
themselves Clementinians, settled in the villages of Hertkovze and
Nikinze in the Peterwardein regiment. Their earlier history and the
origin of their name are involved in obscurity: but so much is
certain, that their ancestors migrated thither from Albania, and were
there converted to the Catholic religion. They differ from their
neighbours in language, customs, religious ceremonies, way of life and
physiognomy.
The frontispiece to this volume represents females belonging to this
tribe. The figure in the middle exhibits a bride in her wedding
attire: on her left stands one of her companions in her usual holiday
apparel: and both are listening attentively to the instructions of the
industrious housewife on the left of the print. From the coronet of
feathers which adorn the head of the bride, and reminds us of the
natives of Guinea and Mexico, to the neat slipper of fish-skin which
covers the foot, all is of native material and workmanship. The women
spin, weave, dye, and make all their apparel and personal ornaments
with peculiar neatness. They attend with truly commendable assiduity
to the household concerns, while the men till the ground.
Distinguished by purer morals, and therefore more highly respected,
they consider it beneath them to mingle their blood with that of the
other inhabitants of the frontiers; but conduct themselves invariably
as a peaceable tribe among unsettled and turbulent neighbours.
BANAT FRONTIER.
The sandy surface of that part of the Banat which lies between the
Danube and the Lower Nera, is very little elevated above the level of
those rivers, by which, when they are swollen, it is in a great
measure inundated. In the south-east corner of the German Banat
regiment, the loose sand is drifted into moving hills. It has not
unfrequently buried fields and houses, and occasioned the gradual
desertion of whole villages; but by judicious plantations it is now
confined within narrower limits. One of the most fertile of tracts,
the granary of the frontiers, is thus enclosed between dry sand and
morasses. A motley mixture of settlers, Germans, Hungarians,
Slavonians of various tribes, and Walachians, live together in a small
district of the German Banat regiment, and mostly retain the language,
costume, manners and way of life of their respective ancestors.
PEASANT OF THE BANAT FRONTIER.
The coat and pantaloons of the Walachian, the original native of the
country, in his holiday dress, are of white cloth, the ornaments being
neatly worked by the women in coloured worsted. In fashion this dress
resembles the costume of his progenitors, the ancient Dacians, as
delineated on Trajan’s pillar. The head is covered either with a round
hat, or the still more ancient sheep-skin cap.
The Walachian styles himself a Roman in his language, which is a
medley of corrupt Latin and Illyrian; but it is very rarely that Roman
valour can be discovered in him. He dislikes the military profession,
and it is very long before he becomes habituated to its hardships: but
yet none endures with greater fortitude, sufferings and privations
which cannot be avoided. His wants are very moderate. He cheerfully
and thoughtlessly consumes what he has as long as it lasts, and
afterwards fasts with exemplary resignation. He does not always duly
respect the property of others, but cheerfully shares what he
possesses with those who need relief.
WOMAN OF THE BANAT.
The Walachian women, like those of Croatia, being obliged to perform
the operations of agriculture as well as to attend to the domestic
concerns, lose at an early age all traces of beauty. Those of the
pleasant valley of Saska, are distinguished by more polished manners,
a more healthy look, and superior cleanliness and neatness in dress,
from the inhabitants of the plains.
In the mountains contiguous to this valley are coppermines wrought by
German settlers, the example of whose industry and consequent comforts
has not been wholly lost on their Walachian neighbours.
The head-dress, somewhat resembling a soldier’s cap, and the two
aprons, one before and the other behind, distinguish the matron from
the unmarried female. In addition to all her other occupations, the
wife is obliged to take her infant children with her wherever she
goes, whether to her work in the fields, to church, or to visit a
neighbour. The infant is laid in a low open box, to which are attached
cords, by means of which it is slung over the shoulder of the mother.
If a tree happens to be near, the box is suspended from it by the
cords, and the infant swings as in a hammock, while the mother does
her work in the fields.
The house, built of wood and earth, affords but scanty room for the
family of the Walachian and the young cattle which lodge under the
same roof. He was formerly an utter stranger to stables, barns, and
granaries. Like the Tartar, when his old situation no longer suited
him, he drove his cattle farther, packed up his habitation and his
furniture and utensils, and fixed his abode in another place. Pains
were long taken to excite in him a taste for more solid and spacious
dwellings, in the hope of habituating him to a permanent residence and
its advantages; and they have not been unsuccessful. In the upper
valley of the Nera and of the Almasch, on the woody hills bordering
which the Walachian long roved about for the sake of the pasturage
they afforded, are now to be seen regular villages, with houses of
masonry, barns and stables.
The cultivation of corn and the breeding of cattle are almost the only
resources of their inhabitants. The people of the Almasch, however,
pursue another occupation of a peculiar kind, that is, the feeding of
snails, which they collect in the woods in spring, keeping them in
particular spots in their gardens surrounded with ditches till winter,
and then selling them. They are known far and near by the name of
Caransebes snails.
Dr. Bright saw at Keszthely a pen for snails, which are in request in
Hungary as well as in Germany, as an article of food. This pen was
formed by boards two feet high, the upper edge of which was spiked
with nails an inch long and half an inch asunder. This barrier the
animals never attempt to pass. The snail, the _helix pomatia_, is in
great demand at Vienna, where sacks of them are regularly exposed in
the market for sale.