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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.]