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.]